Term 2 Week 10 - Thursday 3rd July 2025
Note From the Principal
Celebrations
In previous editions of the Weekly Review I have told you about the gift from the Parramatta Sisters of Mercy of a beautiful statue of Our Lady of Mercy, and the installation in April of the stained glass windows in Mercy Chapel. Yesterday morning the school gathered for a blessing of these works of art in a lovely ceremony led by Fr Walter Fogarty and attended by some of the Parramatta Sisters of Mercy, the teachers and students who designed the Chapel windows, the stained glass window manufacturers and some other guests. The blessing was live streamed to students and staff through a video link, where they participated in the blessing with those in their homeroom.
The blessing was a beautiful celebration of the Mercy charism and our school’s historical journey. It was live streamed to each homeroom, where, through the opportunities of technology, each student could be involved in this important school event. It is opportunities such as these that invite each of us to belong to this exceptional community. I’d like to thank all those involved in making it a successful and thoughtful event.
Sisters of Mercy with the statue gifted to the school
Father Walter blessing the new stained glass windows
This term, as you know, we have been supporting the Parramatta Women’s Shelter in our awareness and fundraising efforts.
Yesterday we also held the Lip Sync Finals, the very last fundraising event for this term’s focus. It was a fun event, with lots of talent shown, and the winners of this event were ‘The Ed Heads’ from Year 12 and runners up were '16 Teen Doing 16' from Year 11.
We were blessed to have Julia Fleming and Dannielle Miller from the Parramatta Women’s Shelter and the Walk the Talk Program join us on the judging panel; in addition to being impressed by the quality of the event and the performances, they were also very grateful to the school community for the generosity shown throughout the term.
As a school, we contributed a donation of $7000, an additional $3300 in vouchers, approximately $2000 of groceries and a number of crochet blankets prepared by the Charity Crochet Group.
Thank you all very much for this generosity and for teaching your daughters to be so graceful in their support of women and children in our local community.
Dannielle Miller (4th from left) and Julia Fleming (3rd from right) were guest judges at the Lip Sync Final
Car Park and Kiss and Drop Update
The new staff car park and kiss and drop area for both high schools, Catherine McAuley and Parramatta Marist High School, is very near to completion. However, there are still some approvals to be given from government bodies before we can use it.
At this stage, the carpark and kiss and drop area remain closed for the start of Term 3. I will be able to give an update on the status of this important infrastructure in my Term 3 letter to you at the conclusion of the holiday break.
Compass Survey
Early in the term we conducted a survey of your Compass accessibility. It is very important that our communication to you is reliable, and that you receive information from us in a timely and effective manner.
From the survey, we were able to correct the small number of incorrect email addresses and phone numbers on our files, identify parents and carers who required additional support to use Compass appropriately, and find out about some glitches.
Some parents or carers expressed a concern that sometimes you may not receive the app notifications on your mobile device. This seems to be a glitch, and we are working with the CSPD Compass Team to investigate and resolve this issue.
Difficulties logging into the Compass app were also identified, as well as challenges navigating Compass and switching between multiple school accounts. If you experience any issues with access or navigation, please contact our ICT team at wccictservices@parra.catholic.edu.au for assistance. In addition, Compass cheat sheets can also be found on your Compass dashboard under the title ‘Useful Information For Parents’.
Useful Information for Parents on the Compass feed
Please note that although your dashboard says that school fees can be paid through Compass, this module is not open to us at the moment and Compass cannot be used for school fee payments. We are investigating this and hope to improve this service soon. Fee information and payment instructions will continue to be provided through existing school channels.
Best Wishes For An Enjoyable Break
Our school office will be closed from 3.00pm tomorrow afternoon and will re-open at 9.00am on 14 July 2025 for phone enquiries only. The school office will be completely open on 21 July. School resumes for students on Wednesday, 23 July 2025.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the teachers and staff at Catherine McAuley for their diligence and focus on your daughters as they provide a quality education that encompasses all areas of school - academic, spiritual, social, physical. They are a wonderful team, and your daughters are lucky to have them.
I wish your daughters a relaxing break in the next two weeks. As I always do, I encourage them to read from a range of types of texts, including fiction and quality media, to maintain their critical literacy and to keep their minds active. They should also do something physical and something to nurture their spirits each day.
We look forward to seeing students on their return to school on 23 July well rested and ready for Term 3’s challenges and learning.
Mary Refalo
Principal
News From the School Captains
Hello McAuley Community!
Yesterday was an exciting day for our school, with two big events that we want to share with you. We started the morning with a reverent ceremony to bless the new stained glass windows and Our Lady of Mercy statue in our Mercy Chapel. We wanted to give a big congratulations to the past and present students that helped work on this initiative. This beautifully crafted stained glass design would not have been possible without the excellence and creativity of these students and staff. Each panel is a representative of a Mercy value, and the traditions of our school. We encourage all students to take time to admire our Mercy Chapel when walking through Mercy Square and attend Wednesday morning Mass.
To make this day even more exciting, we were thrilled to watch the grand finale of the lip sync battle! We thank everyone for participating and recognise the courage it takes to get on stage and perform. Congratulations to the winners and runners up, as well as all who participated. This initiative's aim was to raise money for the Parramatta Women's Shelter, and we were lucky enough to have two representatives join us to help judge the performances. We thank them for joining us and hope they enjoyed the range of fun performances, from Ed Sheeran to Katy Perry!
Hooray to the last day of Term 2, and here we come holidays!! This holidays we encourage all of the students to have a restful break and catch up on the work to be rejuvenated for next term.
See you next term!
Kaitlin and Emily
School Captains
Lip Sync Winners - Year 12 performance
Lip Sync Runners Up - Year 11 performance
Pray With Us
The Pope's Prayer Intention for July, for Formation in Discernment
Need To Know
Upcoming Fortnight
Term 3 Week 1
- Term 3 commences
- Pupil Free Day - Monday 21st July
- Pupil Free Day - Tuesday 22nd July
- Year 9 Activity Day
- PDSSSC Netball Gala Day
Term 3 Week 2
- Year 11 2026 Subject Information Evening
- Years 7 & 10 Vaccination Program Catch Up - Tuesday 29th July
- Catherine McAuley Hosting Japanese School
News Articles
- School Gathers For The Blessing Of Statue and New Stained Glass Windows In The Mercy Chapel
- Charity Crochet Group – Warming Hearts This Winter
- Creative and Performing Arts Celebrated At The Mid Year Showcase
- Year 10 Geography Students Explore The South Coast On Overnight Field Trip
- A Successful Environment Week Organised By Catherine McAuley Students
- Year 8 Students Develop Google Sites To Support Mental Health and Wellbeing
Our School on Social Media
Follow Catherine McAuley Westmead on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn for regular updates. A recent post is shown below:
AROUND THE CLASSROOMS - Year 8 Japanese students had a wonderful immersive experience on Friday as they participated in a Japanese Drumming Workshop. In addition to learning how to play a Japanese drum, the students were able to practise their Japanese language skills.