Term 2 Week 3 - Thursday 15th May 2025
Note from the Principal
Early this term, students across all year groups have shown excellence and integrity in a wide range of extra curricular activities, proudly representing themselves and their families in in-school activities and out-of-school competitions.
Just last night two groups of students in Years 8, 9 and 10 entered the Shakespeare Festival, where one group won the film category and the other won the category for their group devised performance in a powerful piece highlighting the universal messages we can learn about gender equity from Shakespearean texts.
This term, the Catherine McAuley Debating Teams in each of Years 7 to 12 are performing very well, with the Years 7, 8 and 12 Teams undefeated, Years 9 and 10 winning 3 of their 4 debates, and all teams winning their debates in the most recent round. This week was a bye for Catherine McAuley teams, and next week is the final round, with eliminations and finals taking place thereafter.
We are also inspired by the large number of students completing the Duke of Edinburgh Awards, with more than 40 enrolled in each of the Bronze and Silver Awards, and 13 enrolled in the Gold Award. The Duke of Edinburgh Award is a very prestigious and hard-earned award program. To achieve at each level of the award, students are required to commit to hours of service and they are expected to endure an outdoor hike. They are impressive role models of young women, and we are inspired by them.
We are also continually inspired by the many students who try out for sporting teams in the weekly PDSSSC competitions for schools in the CSPD network. In the summer season, the Junior 5-a-side soccer team were the undefeated champions in this competition. Needless to say, the girls (and their coaches) were overjoyed. This term students will compete in netball, football and rugby league with competitions starting next week.
We know that students who are engaged and participate actively are successful people. They are able to maintain good mental, physical and emotional health, and these factors are important contributors to academic success.
I would like to congratulate all students who are active participants in extra curricular activities, and I commend them on the integrity, excellence and courage they show when they push themselves to achieve just a little bit more.
This week we also held the Parents and Carers Meeting for Term 2. We had only a small group, but it is always wonderful to welcome those who attend. These meetings give us a good opportunity to share what is happening at school. Thank you to those who attended, and I look forward to seeing many more of you at future meetings.
Mary Refalo
Principal
News from the Assistant Principal
Late in Term 1 students in Years 8 - 12 were given the opportunity to provide feedback to some of their teachers. About 70% of students responded so there is validity in the data. The Leaders of Learning in each course have analysed the data with their staff and as a result will be focusing on instruction, deep learning and feedback.
The students will fill in these surveys again mid way through Term 3 and they will be analysed again to discover changes in student perception. Hopefully we will have a closer to 100% response.
Students are the best advocates of their learning and they need to be prepared to use their voice if they are not understanding any aspect of a lesson or assessment task.
Teachers at Catherine McAuley are totally committed to ensuring that each girl achieves at least one year’s learning growth each academic year and will use this data and other data sets to ensure this occurs.
As always we encourage you to contact your daughter’s teacher if you have any questions or concerns.
Michael Hall,
Assistant Principal
Pray With Us
Need To Know
- Principal's Report from the Parents & Carers Term 2 Meeting
Attending these meetings once a term is a great way to hear directly what is happening at the school - Years 7 and 10 Vaccination Program
- Study Skills Handbook - Fuel Your Body, Fuel Your Mind
Upcoming Fortnight
Term 2 Week 4
- Year 9 Reflection Day
- School Morning Tour
- CSDA Debating Competition Round 6
Term 2 Week 5
- Year 11 Drama Excursion
- CSDA Debating Competition Eliminations
- PDSSSC Years 7-9 Girls Football Gala Day
- Indigenous Veterans Service
News Articles
Our School on Social Media
Follow Catherine McAuley Westmead on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn for regular updates. A recent post is shown below:
All the best to our students beginning the HEX High Accelerator Program! Over the coming six weeks, they’ll be building real-world skills in innovation, leadership and entrepreneurship - all while developing their own impactful ideas and working towards a university credential. What an amazing opportunity!
Catherine McAuley has partnered with HEX (Higher Education Experience) to offer this program to selected Year 11 or 12 students. The program is designed to assist students with developing their creativity and problem solving skills, discover new technologies and the fast changing world of startups. On successful completion of the course, students will receive a Graduate Academic Record credentialled by the University of Sydney which can be used as recognised prior learning at certain universities both in Australia and overseas.