Dear Parents and Carers,
Acting Principal’s Message
As we enter Week 8, the excitement of the festive season and end of the school year activities has started to build.
Carols Concert
It was so wonderful to have the Christmas Carols Evening last Wednesday. Thank you to Mrs Brymora and the staff for ensuring the children were well prepared and for joining in with the staff band and choir. Thank you to Mr Ward and our concert band, for their festive musical pieces that started the evening. The children sang beautifully, and it was such a special evening celebrating with our school and parish community. A special mention to Daniela P, Isaiah S and Oscar K for their performance, you are all very talented, and we are so proud of you. Thank you also to all the families that attended on the evening and joined in the singing. It was greatly appreciated that the majority of the children remained with their families, or visited other family and friends who were also in attendance. There were a small number of children that were using the elevator, running along the upper balconies, and climbing on the bag racks, while others were at the OOSH “banging” on the windows so hard, that the alarm was activated.
Christmas Craft
This Friday 1 December is our Christmas Craft sessions from 12:15 – 2:00pm. Parents/carers are welcome to join their child during these sessions, and children can wear Christmas themed clothing. Please ensure appropriate footwear, that covers the whole foot, hats and clothes that provide cover from the sun are worn e.g. no singlet tops or tank tops. Late bookings can only be added to sessions that still have available spaces, as all sessions have space for 25 children.
Poetry Evening
I had the pleasure of attending the Poetry Evening last night at the Comedy Club. Thank you to Mrs Sheridan and Mrs McNeil for organising an excellent evening, and to our wonderful poets. The audience was entertained by humour, insightful, and inspiring poetry, and I was amazed at the depth of meaning and imagery in the poems written by our children. It was also so lovely to see so many families attending last night, we look forward to Poetry Night 2024!
New staff members for 2024
With several planned staffing changes at the end of the school year, and following a robust and thorough recruitment process, we are delighted to confirm our appointments and welcome new staff members for 2024:
- Mrs Carly Kelly will be joining our Year 2 teaching team, in a job-share capacity with Mr Luke Smith our Religious Education Coordinator. Mrs Kelly joins us from the Archdiocese of Sydney, where she has worked since 2011, with time also spent working in the Broken Bay Diocese. Mrs Kelly has mentored new scheme teachers, has experience with gifted education and an interest in diverse learning.
- Mr Jye Bowen will be joining our Year 4 teaching team. Mr Bowen has worked within the Maitland-Newcastle Diocese since 2019, at several of our fellow Diocesan schools. As well as his role as a teacher, Mr Bowen is a keen surfer, he also has a strong interest in several sports, and we welcome his additional expertise in this area.
- Mrs Tegan Jones will be joining our Year 5 teaching team. Mrs Jones joins us from the Toowoomba Diocese, where she has taught since 2011, prior to this, Mrs Jones was employed in the Armidale Diocese. As well as her role as a teacher, Mrs Jones has held mentoring and coaching roles, has a passion for embedding technology into her classroom and plays an active role in her parish.
We look forward to welcoming Mrs Kelly, Mr Bowen, and Mrs Jones to our team for 2024. We look forward to working with them, and the expertise and enthusiasm they will bring to St Therese’s.
Our staff list has now been confirmed for 2024, and the teaching staff are as follows:
KN – Miss Danika Graham
KW – Miss Jess LeCompte (Mrs Elli Hunt will return T3 part-time)
KL – Mrs Kylie Lunn
1N – Miss Jennifer Curtain
1W – Miss Mikaela McIntosh
1L – Mr Liam Ireson
2N – Miss Alex Toscano
2W – Mr Luke Smith (Mon, Tues + alt Wed) / Mrs Carly Kelly (alt Wed + Thurs-Fri)
2L – Mrs Naomi Parker (Mon-Tues) / Mrs Melinda Helmers (Wed-Fri)
3N – Mrs Amy Karbowiak (Wed-Fri) / Teacher for Mon-Tues (TBC) (Ms Shazmey Murray will return T3 part-time)
3W – Mrs Julia Briggs
3L – Ms Teresa Sokulsky
4N – Ms Therese Jackman (Mon-Wed) / Mrs Trish McNeil (Thurs – Fri)
4W – Mr Jye Bowen
4L – Mrs Leanne Kepreotes
5N – Mrs Tegan Jones
5W – Mrs Kristy Healey (Mon-Wed)/ Mrs Bernadette Duffy (Thurs-Fri)
5L – Mr Anthony Moore
6N – Mr Donald Paton
6W – Mrs Melissa Pyers (Mon-Wed) / Mrs Naomi Venables (Thurs-Fri)
6L – Miss Carly Mortimer
Kaylene Maretich
Acting Principal