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Term 1 Week 3 - Thursday 15th February 2024

Notes from the Principal

This week has been an immense one at Catherine McAuley, with our Opening Mass on Friday, the annual Swimming Carnival on Tuesday and the Ash Wednesday liturgy yesterday. Each event was enormously successful, with students representing themselves and their school to the best of their abilities.

During these events we celebrate our faith, or our community, or both, and they bring together all members of our school in ways that bind us and that build our commitment to one another. They are important for us to do early in the year because they set an expectation for participation and allegiance, and they offer students opportunities for ‘striving for higher things’ in all areas of their lives.

We hope your daughters have enjoyed this week as much as we have.

Yesterday, Ash Wednesday, also marked the start of Lent, the Christian time for reflection on our actions and a time for recommitting to actions that are God-centred and life-giving for those around us. In the Pray With Us section of this newsletter, you will find a prayer for Lent, reminding us how it can be a time for renewal for all of us.

Mary Refalo
Principal

News from the Assistant Principal

The school year is well and truly underway having celebrated our Opening School Mass and Ash Wednesday Liturgy, joined together as a community for the School Swimming Carnival, where so many girls were involved in many ways to support their House, and the beginning of trials and selections for a range of co-curricular sporting teams, performing arts, public speaking and debating teams. In amongst these events girls have been involving themselves in many groups and activities at lunchtime led by our student leaders and staff.

All the information regarding when different activities and groups are being held is available to the students on their Compass News Feed. We look forward to meeting the families of our Year 7 students on Friday 1st March at the Year 7 Welcome Afternoon when Year 7 students can show their families around the school, including their homeroom and locker. More information will be sent directly to Year 7 families.

In 2024 our wellbeing focus is to build resilience in students while maintaining mental and emotional wellbeing. Wellbeing refers to a positive sense of self and belonging as well as the capacity to make positive and healthy choices for ourselves and in our relationships. Wellbeing refers to the experience of using one’s gifts to flourish in all aspects of life and for those gifts to be available for the service of others. Student wellbeing is inextricably connected to learning in a reciprocal relationship. Good learning is necessary for wellbeing and good wellbeing is necessary for learning.

Students experience a tremendous amount of physical and mental growth on a daily basis. Between school, co-curricular activities, work and their social life, adolescents face lots of new experiences and challenges. Being resilient gives them the ability to tackle these head-on, bounce back from any setbacks and have the best chance at succeeding. It allows them to learn and grow in all situations – two skills that are crucial to wellbeing and development. Resilience will also help them to approach new situations, people or experiences with confidence and a positive mindset, which will make them more likely to succeed.

The following two resources: Study Skills Handbook and Safe on Social will assist parents to guide their daughters in a range of ways throughout the year.

Study Skills Handbook
Our school is a subscriber to the study skills website www.studyskillshandbook.com.au including the Study Samurai Video Library.

This website will help students develop essential skills for academic success. There are units of work on improving time management skills, how to study, research skills, summarising, technology use, brain and memory, as well as many wellbeing topics in the Study Samurai Library. Everything you need to know about becoming a more powerful learner and improving your marks at school can be found on this site. For example, learn how the colour of your room affects your ability to study, what the best study techniques are for your type of brain, how to improve your handwriting and useful software and apps to block yourself from technology distractions.

There are also a range of useful handouts, grids and planners at the bottom of the ‘THINGS TO PRINT’ page.

To access the handbook, go to www.studyskillshandbook.com.au and login with these details:

username: mcauley
password: 189results

Leaders of Learning Wellbeing refer to this website regularly. In the coming weeks Leaders of Learning Wellbeing will be highlighting the importance of a positive mindset and how to change negative thoughts. When you change your negative thinking, you look more for the good in your life. Your communication becomes more positive and your focus is on your strengths rather than your weaknesses. In a better positive state not only do you learn quicker and easier but your relationships and other areas of your life improve.

Safe On Social
Catherine McAuley Westmead has partnered with Safe On Social to provide resources and information to better educate all members of our community in the area of cyber safety. Safe on Social delivers an online platform designed for parents, teachers and students, as well as providing a number of webinars to empower and educate our community on the most current and most-talked about cyber safety topics.

The Safe On Social Parent Program is an easy to use program you can access anywhere, anytime. Designed and taught by cyber safety experts with busy parents in mind, this down to earth, relatable and current content is how you can stay up-to-date with what your children are accessing and doing online, all the while educating, informing, and empowering yourself to have important conversations. Access to the Parent Program provides:

Short, easy to understand videos on key online safety topics
Resource library for deeper knowledge and tips and tricks
24/7 email assistance from Safe on Social team of cyber safety experts

How To Access Parent Program For The First Time:
To log into their online portal, simply click the link below, go to the ‘sign up now’ button, create your profile and enjoy immediate access:

Program URL: https://safeonsocial.thinkific.com/courses/parent-program
Discount code: sosparent100 (*please enter this code at the time of creating your profile and the cost will default to $0.00)

Program Dashboard:
Once you’ve created your profile you can bookmark the URL below which is the student dashboard and will be where you can log in at any time to access the resources:

Dashboard URL: https://safeonsocial.thinkific.com/users/sign_in

Debbie Grigson
Assistant Principal

From the School Counsellor

Back to School Anxiety
Starting the school year can be a stressful time for both parents and daughters. There may be big changes like commencing high school, switching to a new school, having new teachers and new friends.

Some helpful suggestions to help your daughter navigate through the school year:

Make the time to listen to them and help problem solve. Ask simple questions like, things they like about school, bring out memories from previous school years. Highlight positive moments and use them as a reminder that school can be rewarding and fun.
Find a time to talk when they are relatively calm. Enquire about how they are feeling at that moment. Allow them to list out the feelings. This helps to clarify what is happening for them and relieves the pressure they may be experiencing.
Practise the mindful ‘check in’ which is a very useful tool to scan the internal turmoil they might be experiencing, noticing physical sensations, the state of mind and any thoughts or emotions arising that are present. Remind them to instil this into their daily routine.

If you have any concerns about your daughter’s mental health, feel free to contact the School Counsellors; Mrs Suzan Boulattouf (Mon-Fri) or Mrs Kathryn Rogers (Wed-Fri) on 02 9849 9100 during school hours.

Susan Boulattouf
School Counsellor

Pray With Us

Need To Know

Upcoming Fortnight

Term 1 Week 5

Year 9 Study Skills Seminar
Year 12 2023 High Achievers Assembly
NSW All Schools Triathlon Championships

Term 1 Week 6

Catholic Schools Week - School Tour Morning
PDSSSC 15 Years Girls Netball
International Women's Day Assembly
International Women's Day Breakfast
Year 12 Hospitality Excursion
School Photos

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:

AROUND THE CLASSROOMS ➡️ Year 8 English 📚📚 Reading in the library 📖 Once a fortnight Year 8 students visit the library for a reading session. Students are free to explore the shelves and read a book that appeals to them. English Teacher Ms Shipley says a favourite book at the moment is 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire' by Susan Collin; 'The One of Us Series' by Karen M. McManus and 'The Good Girl's Guide to Murder' by Holly Jackson.