Filter Content
I have been watching with concern reports of the health of Pope Francis. Over the years I have been heartened by his practical and inclusive understanding of how we can be the hands and feet of Christ. He has certainly caused me to reconsider what it means for me to be a Catholic and how this informs how I live and work. Perhaps we might all find time to do for him what he has always done for us: pray.
We belong to a community where not all of us are Catholic: we are richer for that diversity. However, there are some aspects of our faith tradition that we want all students to experience, so that they may learn and reflect on what this means for them, wherever they are on their faith journey. This week we marked Ash Wednesday and the start of lent - a time of preparation for Easter and the salvation it signifies. The Caritas project was launched this week - it is our major Term 1 fundraising focus, when we are able to focus on those who are doing it much tougher than us - and who need our help. Please consider what you may contribute.
I was pleased to attend - albeit briefly - the Secondary Swimming Carnival today. Such events allow students the opportunity to support their House and to connect with others in a less formal setting than regular school days provide. Parents seeking enrolment often mention the sense of community that our College offers and events such as today’s contribute to this.
I do hope that Whole-College, Primary and Secondary events such as today’s are by parents to require attendance and to extend the experience of our students promoting physical and social development.
Katherine Nelson
Principal
By now students are establishing patterns of work and behaviours at school and home which will determine to a large extent their success or otherwise for the term and possibly the year.
Message from Mrs Hinton
I’d like to thank Mrs Emma Hiscox for stepping in as the Deputy Principal, Primary for the time I was away. I had a fabulous time on long service leave. My family and I went overseas and enjoyed the cold weather change and visiting with friends although -23 in Calgary was a bit too cold for me. I’d also like to thank Mrs Kelly Bennett for stepping into the Assistant Principal role in Learning and Teaching and Mrs Kate Gibbs for working the time in Year 6. It’s great to be back and see the staff and students settled into their year. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if I can be of support in any way - shinton@prspne.catholic.edu.au
Parents are key…
As parents and caregivers, you play a vital role in shaping your child’s habits and behaviours by setting expectations and maintaining open communication. This can involve creating consistent routines for reading or homework, ensuring they wear the correct uniform, or making sure they get enough rest. At St. Catherine’s, we highly value the partnership between families and the school. We encourage communication through phone calls, emails, and face-to-face meetings. The Compass Portal is also a valuable tool that allows you to stay connected with your child’s teachers and notify the school of absences. On the secondary campus, Compass is also used by our VET and pathway officers and teachers to share job opportunities, including apprenticeships and other important updates.
https://prspne-qld.compass.education/
Absences
Research in Queensland shows a clear link between regular school attendance and improved student achievement. Attending school every day is crucial for success. Under Queensland law, parents/carers must ensure their child is enrolled and attends school all day, every school day—unless there is a valid reason. Acceptable reasons for absence include illness, school sporting events, or excursions.
If your child is absent, please notify the school using one of the following methods:
Compass App – Submit an attendance note
Phone – Primary: 4945 1414 | Secondary: 4945 1630
Email – enquiries@prspne.catholic.edu.au
Your support in ensuring consistent attendance helps set students up for success!
Parent-Teacher Conferences
Parent-teacher conferences this term will occur in Week 9 on the following days and times:
- Tuesday 25th March from 3.30 to 4.30
- Wednesday 26th March from 3.30 to 6.30
These structured interviews offer a formal opportunity to discuss your child's progress thus far in the year. Compass serves as the booking platform for these conferences. Whether through the mobile app or your computer, access the 'Conferences' section where meeting times are available for all parents/guardians with your Compass Parent Portal credentials. Parents and caregivers will receive an email from the school when interviews are open to make bookings. If you are unable to secure a meeting with your child’s teacher/s, please make contact with the teacher. This can also be done through the compass app.
Warm regards,
Samantha Hinton (Deputy Primary)
Kate Moretto (Deputy Secondary)
In the Early and Middle Years….
SAVE THE DATE
Parent-Teacher Conferences – March 25 & 26
We warmly invite parents to attend our upcoming Parent-Teacher Conferences on Tuesday 25th and Wednesday 26th March. Bookings open at 9 am on March 17th and can be made via the COMPASS portal.
PT Conferences are a valuable opportunity to discuss your child’s progress with their teachers. We strongly encourage high school students to attend alongside their parents, reinforcing the student-parent-teacher partnership that fosters success in the classroom.
We look forward to seeing you there!
NAPLAN 2025
A final reminder that NAPLAN will be held next week for students in Years 3, 5, 7 & 9.
For students in Years 7 & 9, it is very important that they bring a corded set of headphones and have their devices fully charged in preparation for the tests.
The College is required to conduct Catch up testing for students who are absent during the testing period. These catch up tests will take place from Monday 17th - Wednesday 19th March. If students are absent beyond this period, they will be marked absent for the tests they have missed and no report will be generated.
The testing schedule is as follows:
|
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
|
|
First session 9 -10.30am |
Writing |
Reading |
Numeracy |
|
Second session 11.15 - 12.55am |
Conventions of Language |
Advisory Visiting Specialists
We are fortunate at SCCC to be supported by our Advisory Visiting Specialist (AVS) team who are a branch of Townsville Catholic Education that provide ongoing support to both our students and staff. These visiting specialists offer professional industry knowledge in the areas of inclusive education, hearing impairment and speech and language difficulties. During the year, our visiting specialists will provide professional development for teachers, perform observations of student learning, conduct assessments regarding learning barriers and work with our inclusive education team to ensure that all our students can be successful as they access the curriculum.
Our advising visiting specialists are;
- Tegan Golding (Speech Pathologist)
- Karyn Parnell (Hearing Impairment)
- Jodi Parker (Inclusion)
In addition to the AVS team, we have school-based staff who provide social-emotional support for our students. Sarah Purvis is our College Chaplain who offers specific pastoral support across P-12. Our school guidance counselor, Hayley Moore, continues his work with individual students or small groups to target any social emotional concerns in either a formal or informal context.
We are so very lucky to have access to these specialist services to support our students.
~Emma Hiscox & Erin Laguna~
Assistant Principals - Learning and Teaching
In the Senior Years….
Learning Tasks Overview
This year, students and parents can continue to access assessment results through the Learning Tasks feature on Compass for Years 11 and 12, as well as Year 10 Religion and Ethics. In addition to results, feedback is provided to aid in the progression of learning. When results are available, either the classroom teacher or myself will email both students and parents to notify them that results and feedback are accessible.
Year 12 Preliminary Results
For Year 12 subjects, the released results are preliminary and subject to change after the confirmation process. Confirmation is a quality assurance procedure conducted by QCAA (Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority) to ensure the comparability of student results for summative internal assessments in General subjects. This process only occurs in Year 12 (units 3 and 4, or units 1 and 2 for Alternative Sequence).
Accessing Learning Tasks on Compass
To access Learning Tasks, follow these steps:
- Open Compass.
- Open the student’s profile link.
- Click on the “Learning Task” tab.
- A list of tasks will appear. Click on the individual tasks to view results and feedback.
If you experience any difficulties logging in to Compass, please contact the office for assistance.
~ Sooraj Fowdar~
Senior Phase Teaching and Learning Leader
Our primary students embraced the spirit of the day by purchasing pancakes, with all proceeds donated to Project Compassion.
|
Class |
Representative |
|
6A |
Madelyn McIntyre |
|
6B |
Max Bellert |
|
5A |
Kallen Lomman |
|
5B |
Zavier Woolston |
|
4A |
Molly Bellert |
|
4B |
Levi Stokes |
|
3A |
Tenielle Atkins |
|
3B |
Caleb Woolston |
| YEAR 1 | Peggy Deicke, Averie Taylor, Ella-Rose Hart, Harry Wronski
|
| YEAR 3 | Samuel Price, Alice Tivendale, Khershton Piratheepan, Kelsey Magee |
| YEAR 5 | Harry Gibbs, Mackenzie Bennett, Anna Deicke,Ella McElhinney |
Week 6 Mercy Awards
| Prep | Jordan McNichol, Archer Horsford, Emma Connors, Oscar Harris, Hayley Magee |
| YEAR 2 | Isla Johnston, Jack Turner, Jack Mee, Pippa Davis |
| YEAR 4 | Bua O'Dwyer, Eden McKerrow, Luka Stevens |
| YEAR 6 | Jadyn Gordon, Grace Fairweather, Juliette Clark, Lyndon Courtenay |
Bandicoot Book Club
Many thanks to Rob Taylor and Brad Sobbot, who invited us to be part of Taylor’s Bandicoot Bookclub. As part of this program, a book gets awarded each month to a student who has made a noticeable improvement with his reading. Congratulations to Seamus King who received our first book award for 2025 for his reading level improvement.
Eco Warriors
Last week during first break our very eager Eco Warriors spent their time picking up rubbish across both campuses to commemorate Clean Up Australia Day which was on last Sunday.
National Sea Week
JoJo's February Sponsor Update
From the Guidance Counsellor
Here is the link to your special report:
https://prspne.catholic.schooltv.me/wellbeing_news/special-report-wellbeing-barometer-2025-au
Warm regards,
Hayley Moore
Guidance Counsellor
Keep up the great work Emma.
Local Spirits: Year 11/12 Ag Practices Explore Proserpine's Agave Farm
Mrs Brown- Kenyon and Mrs Grossi took the year 11/12 ag practices class to the Proserpine agave farm to look at their practices.
This unit in Ag we are looking at land based plant production with a focus on value add products and growing for a particular market. The agave farm truly highlighted this process having a very specialised crop for a specific product, agave spirit. Dean the head distiller on site gave us a run through of how the crop is grown through harvesting and then how they cook, ferment, distil and then package their product for market. It is a very interesting and exciting venture happening right here in our backyard and they're really paving the way for agave spirit outside of Mexico.
Year 3 Presentation
This term, Year 3 have been exploring days that we celebrate or commemorate in Australia including ANZAC Day Christmas, Easter, Australia Day, Harmony Day, Sorry Day & NAIDOC week. The students presented an assembly item to showcase their learning.
Lions Youth of the Year
Exploring the Brain in Year 11 Psychology
Our Year 11 Psychology students have been diving into the fascinating world of neuroscience by studying the structure of the brain. To bring their learning to life, they got creative and crafted brain hats, a fun and interactive way to visualise different regions and functions of the brain.
If your student came home wanting to learn an instrument please register your interest below:
On Wednesday 14th May we will be holding our 3rd biennial Career and Industry Day here at school. This is also National Careers Week.
Our Career and Industry Day has been initiated to provide much needed information on post school training and employment options to our students as well as information on local industry and the support services available. This is not a “Careers Expo” as such but a showcase of local industry and employment opportunities. The primary audience for the event are our Secondary students, in particular those in the senior years (Years 10-12), parents and caregivers. Our students from years 7-9 will be able to check out the displays and be inspired by the range of information available. We also involve our Primary students with dress ups and activities planned for the day.
The event will be held on our Secondary Campus on Renwick Road in Proserpine in our Multi-Purpose Hall and surrounds, and will run from 9am until approximately 11.30am. Following this there will be information sessions run for our senior students from various presenters from a range of industries.
Exhibitors will have the opportunity to have a representative provide information to our students by a traditional ‘trade stall’ site. There will be practical displays/hands on activities to give insight into trades, technology and businesses. Most importantly guests will be able to chat to our students about their own career journey.
If you have an interesting Career journey and would like to be part of this exciting and important community event please register your interest ASAP. Please contact Melissa Pepper or Jess Brown-Kenyon via email vet_pathways@prspne.catholic.edu.au or phone 49451630. Please indicate any requirements you may have ie: access to power etc. Once confirmations have been received a program of events will be developed and provided for you.
Congratulations to Sophie Palmero, Indi Gough, Molly Smith, Klarissa Croucher and Mila Westley for being selected in the Whitsunday Netball team.
Proserpine and Whitsunday Representatives
Congratulations to the following students for proudly representing Proserpine or the Whitsundays in their respective sports:Noah Farrow, Reef Peel, Finlay Farrell, Maxwell O'Keefe, Eli Gerrand, Harry Squires, Luke Sunter, Emily Ansen, Gracie Laguna, Molly Smith, Indi Gough, and Neve Barter.Your hard work and dedication are commendable, well done!
Tickets on sale now!
Tickets go on sale now and can be purchased through the Proserpine Entertainment Centre.
Spread the word and invite your family and friends, this is a show you won’t want to miss!
To provide our students with the invaluable experience of performing in a professional venue, we utilise our local Entertainment Centre, which comes with significant costs. We are looking for sponsorship and raffle prize donations from local businesses to help support this opportunity, including set design, costumes, lighting, and sound.
Would you be willing to support our production through a sponsorship or by donating an item, gift voucher, or service for a raffle? Your generosity will directly benefit our students, giving them the opportunity to showcase their talents and create an unforgettable experience for our school and wider community.
As a valued supporter, your business will be acknowledged in our school newsletter and on our social media platforms, providing excellent exposure to our engaged audience. This is a great opportunity to promote your business while supporting the arts and young performers in our community.
To learn more about sponsorship opportunities or to arrange the collection/drop-off of your in-kind donation, please reach out via the details below.
We sincerely appreciate your support and look forward to the
opportunity to collaborate with you!
Many thanks,
Louise Uhl
Marketing Officer
luhl@prspne.catholic.edu.au
07 4945 1414
In the event of a cyclone or severe weather impacting on our Catholic schools, regularly updated information will be available on the following:
- Townsville Catholic Education website www.tsv.catholic.edu.au LATEST NEWS section on homepage.
- Twitter – you can follow us on www.twitter.com/tceo.
- Facebook – you can follow us on www.facebook.com/TownsvilleCEO
. - Listen to local radio stations (ABC in all regions) plus various local commercial stations for updates.
- Instagram – Townsville_Catholic_Education.
- School’s web page
If a decision is made overnight to close schools, this message will be broadcast from 7am or earlier, if possible, through the local radio stations. Please refrain from calling schools as this causes disruption to vital communication networks, ask parents to be patient, information will be broadcasts as soon as practicable.
Please refer to the above methods of communication as your first source of information. Please use your best discretion in the interests of safety at all times.
Storybox Library resource
Did you know you can access Storybox, a terrific resource available to our College families that provides free access to awesome stories and helpful resources. Click the following link to check it out. https://storyboxlibrary.com.
2025 Term dates
| Term 1 | Tuesday 28 January - Friday 4 April |
| Term 2 | Tuesday 22 April - Friday 27 June |
| Term 3 | Monday 14 July - Friday 19 September |
| Term 4 | Tuesday 7 October - Friday 5 December |
Year 12 School Year concludes on Friday 21 November 2025
Secondary Classes (7-11) conclude on Friday 28 November 2025
Primary Classes (P-6) conclude on Friday 5 December 2025
Follow us on Social Media
Keep up to date with the latest information in regards to upcoming events and those that have happened on our social media platforms.
Please register your interest if an After School Activity Bus could be beneficial for you.
Lawn Bowls lessons for Women and Girls
2025 Whitsunday Voices - Short Story Competition
Exciting news!
We are pleased to announce the opening of our Whitsunday Voices Short Story Competition for students in grades 3-12 across the Mackay Region. This is a fantastic opportunity for your students to showcase their creativity and talent in writing.
Enter now! Entry is free - Follow the link below: https://www.whitsundayvoices.com.au/short-story-competition-copy
Eligibility: Students from grades 3-12 within the wider Mackay Region.
Guidelines: Head to our website for all competition details.
Attached you’ll find a poster for the competition to share digitally, print for your library, or display around your school.
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to Kristine at kdc@was.qld.edu.au.
Epic Walk for DV
Volleyball Sharks Camp
Whitsunday Regional Libraries - Children's Programs 5yrs and Under
Dental check up time!
