Holy Family Catholic Primary School Kelso eNewsletter

SCHOOL CALENDAR

Week 6
2-3.6.25 PSSA AFL
2.6.25 Care Group Session
3.6.25 7.30pm P&F Meeting. Staffroom. All welcome
4.6.25 Netball Schools Cup Gala Day
5-6.6.25 PSSA Rugby 7's

Week 7
9.6.25 Kings Birthday Public Holiday
11.6.25 CPS Cross Country
13.6.25 2.15pm Assembly. Hall. All welcome

In 2025 our parents have access to the Google HFS Parent Calendar.
Click on the link below to access the Google Calendar.

Please click here to access our Google Calendar!

PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE

Living Reconciliation Every Day More than a week—it's who we are.

The 2025 theme for National Reconciliation Week, Bridging Now to Next, reminds us that reconciliation is about movement—about taking the lessons of the past and using them to build a better tomorrow. As students, families, and staff, may we continue walking side by side in hope and compassion, committed to shaping a future where dignity, truth, and love guide every step.

At Holy Family, reconciliation is not just a theme we visit once a year—it is a part of who we are, how we learn, and how we live together as a Catholic school community. Rooted in our belief that we are gathered in love, we are committed to fostering a culture where respect, listening, and justice are at the heart of everything we do.

Through prayer and reflection, we are connecting reconciliation with our faith. We recognise that Jesus calls us to be peacemakers, truth-seekers, and builders of right relationships. As a community inspired by the Holy Family—Jesus, Mary, and Joseph—we look to their example of love, trust, and courage as we walk together on this important journey.

As part of our commitment to living reconciliation, we held a special liturgy for National Sorry Day last week. This was a student-led service, guided beautifully by our First Nations students and coordinated by Mrs Louise Davies, our Religious Education Coordinator, in collaboration with our Aboriginal Education Officer, Mrs Susan Wardman. It was a meaningful and respectful opportunity for our community to pause, reflect, and pray together.

Thank you, Miss Paula, the didgeridoo group, and the choir for leading us in song and creating a powerful reverence and unity. Thank you also to the families who joined us—your presence made the liturgy all the more special and reflective.

Mrs Alison Curtin - Acting Principal

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL MESSAGE

Understanding Your Child’s School Report: Learning Strengths & Goals

At Holy Family, we believe that clear and meaningful feedback is essential in supporting student learning. Our school reports provide parents and carers with a clear picture of their child’s progress. Report comments for Religious Education, English, and Mathematics are structured into two key sections: Learning Strengths and Learning Goals.

Learning Strengths: This section outlines how well your child has met or is working towards key areas of the curriculum. It highlights areas where they are demonstrating progress, mastery, or emerging skills. Learning strengths provide insight into their achievements and the areas in which they are building confidence.

Learning Goals: This section identifies specific areas for further development. Learning goals set out clear steps for your child to work on, helping them strengthen their understanding and skills. Teachers will set goals focused on helping students to transfer their learning so all students will have goals, regardless of the overall grade they achieve. Some goals may also include ways in which parents and carers can support learning at home.

Examples include:

Continue developing fluency by reading aloud daily and discussing texts.
Regularly practises counting backwards to support solving subtraction problems.
Practise using number facts in problem-solving to increase fluency and automaticity (number facts include addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division).

By understanding these sections of the report, parents can celebrate their child’s progress and provide meaningful support at home. If you have any questions about your child’s report or their learning journey, please reach out to your child’s teacher, or myself for further discussion.

Mrs Amanda McGinnes - Acting Assistant Principal

REC NEWS

Celebrating Pentecost – A Message for Our Families
This coming weekend, we joyfully celebrate the Feast of Pentecost, a powerful moment in our Church when the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles, just as Jesus had promised. Strengthened by the Spirit, the apostles were filled with courage and wisdom to share the Good News with all they met.

As we reflect on this special day, we pray that the same Holy Spirit fills our hearts and homes with the gifts of love, understanding, and faith. May we be inspired to speak and act in ways that reflect the light of Christ, becoming true witnesses of His love and hope in our world.

A Prayer for Pentecost
Come, Holy Spirit,
fill the hearts of your faithful
and kindle in them the fire of your love.
Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created,
and You shall renew the face of the earth.

O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit
did instruct the hearts of the faithful,
grant that by the same Holy Spirit
we may be truly wise and ever enjoy His consolations.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Wishing you and your family a blessed Pentecost!

Sacraments:
Bishop McKenna has set the following dates, times and places to celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation for 2025.

The dates are:

Sat 7th June 5.00pm Cathedral
Sun 8th June (Pentecost Sunday) 10.00am Cathedral
Sun 29th June 8.00am Assumption
Sun 29th June 6.00pm Assumption
Sat 9th August 5.00pm Cathedral
Sun 10th August 10.00am Cathedral

Mass Times
For the latest up-to-date Mass times, please click below:

Cathedral Parish Mass Times

Mrs Louise Davies - Acting REC

SPELLING BEE SUCCESS!

Congratulations to our talented students who represented our school at the Bathurst Diocesan Spelling Bee competition last week in Wellington. A special congratulations to Year 6 student Harry Dawson who achieved 1st place in the Stage 3 competition and to Ethan Pender, who secured 2nd place in the Stage 2 competition. We’re also incredibly proud of Seraphina Malfroy, Yr 6 and Murphy Jones, Yr 4 who also demonstrated outstanding perseverance and progressed through to the final on the day. Well done to all our spelling champions!

SPORTS REPORT with Mrs Blaire Clarke

AFL Paul Kelly Cup: Last Monday two teams consisting of students from Year 5 and 6, competed in the local finals of the Paul Kelly Cup in Orange. Despite facing cold, wet, and rainy conditions throughout the day, both teams showed great determination and teamwork on the field. Their hard work paid off as they advanced to the semi-finals, a remarkable achievement in such challenging weather. Although they didn’t progress to the finals, the students displayed outstanding teamwork and determination. Thank you to Mr Hartmann and Mr Dennis for taking our teams and training them during lunch time.

Rugby 7s: Last week our HFS Rugby 7’s team travelled to Molong for the Rugby 7s finals. The teams faced some fierce competition coming away with two wins. Although they didn’t progress to the finals, the boys and Kale assure us the bus trip was one of the highlights of the day! Thank you to Mr Hardy, Mr Taylor and Mrs Wardman for taking our students and extra thanks to Mr Hardy for driving the bus.

Kalesita Kaufusi: A very busy week for Year 6 student Kalesita Kaufusi. Kalesita is in Sydney today and tomorrow for the Australian Football Championships (NSWPSSA). On Thursday and Friday, Kalesita will compete in the NSWPSSA Girls Rugby 7’s Championships in Blacktown. This is an incredible opportunity for Kalesita and we wish her all the best this week.

Cross Country: On June 11th seven students from Holy Family will travel to Eastern Creek to compete in the Polding Cross Country. We wish the following students all the best on the course next week: Harry Dawson, Thomas Montgomerie, Patrick Montgomerie, Hugh Hutton, Hamish Adair, Leo Windsor and Quinn Ross.

Netball Schools Cup: This Wednesday 4th June Holy Family will have 18 teams competing in the Netball Schools Cup. Could students please be at the Bathurst Netball Courts (Durham St) by 9am to be marked off. Games will commence at 9.30am and finish at approximately 2.30pm. Students need to wear their sports uniform and bring warm clothing on the day. Students will also need to bring their recess, lunch and water. A canteen will be available on the day.

Soccer Gala Day: On Friday 20th June (Week 8) there will be a Soccer Gala Day at Proctor Park. Students have indicated their interest in attending this day. We are currently finalising teams and will have a Compass Event coming soon with information regarding this day. Games will commence at 10am and conclude at 2.30pm (approximately). The students will be transported by bus to and from Holy Family School to Proctor Park.

Eastern Region: The Eastern Region Athletics Carnival will be held on Thursday 7th August at MacKillop College. For those students who have progressed to the Eastern Region Athletics, a Compass Event will soon be released with information for parents regarding the day.

Mrs Blaire Clarke - Sports Coordinator

SCHOOL ATTENDANCE

As we enter Winter and the colder months, we know that seasonal illnesses become more common. To keep our school community healthy and maintain consistent learning, we want to clarify when students should and should not come to school. Please refer the flier below for helpful guidelines.

We appreciate parents' cooperation in helping us maintain a healthy and productive learning environment. If illness-related absences become frequent, prolonged, or appear inconsistent, we may request additional documentation (such as a doctor’s certificate) to ensure appropriate support and accountability.

MERIT AWARDS - Week 5 Assembly

Congratulations to our Week 5 Merit Award Recipients - Adaline Press, Riley Miller, Hudson Glover, Charlotte Conroy, Austin Seaman, Corben Fitzpatrick, Iylah Inwood, Franklin Carroll, Emily Farlow, Tatum Taylor, Addilyn Simmons, Olivia Callaghan, Eloise Goddard, Billie Gullifer, Lila Osborne, Slater Beard, Alba Gibbons, Aubree Curry, Alexander Phillp, Bowen Pleming, Owen Williams, Phoenix Richards, Molly Robins, Harry Conroy, Phoebe Worswick, Annabel Locke, Isla Nixon, Finlay Adair, Amelia Moore, Rosie Fearnley, Hessi Jayasinghe, Ethan Pender, Winnie Jones, Aoife Curran, Hugo Bourgeot, Addison Porter, Lara Baldi, Daniel Clements, Sophie Fogarty, Indianna Lewis, Scarlett Kelly, Jack Booth, Ella Conroy, Thor Heeley, Jax McClintock, Georgie Ballinger, Tyler Cafe, Halle Cafe, William Clarke, Koa Bowman.

ENROL NOW!

CLASS IN REVIEW - 2 Blue

Abercrombie House Excursion

On Friday the 23rd of May we went to Abercrombie House on a bus. A guide called Christoper took us to a grand ballroom. The ballroom roof had real gold on it. It was so pretty. We got to ask so many questions and then walked through the garden. We went into the drawing room which is a room where you relax after eating dinner. It is not for drawing in. We saw some animal taxidermy of a deer's head. We went upstairs past the bedrooms and the library that has 3000 books in it. We went down a spiral staircase that had no rail! After that we saw an old chapel, horses stables, lots of antique cars, 3 peacocks and a turtle. The house has over 40 rooms, 7 staircases and 14 chimneys for lots and lots of fireplaces. We ate recess in the ballroom and then we went outside for a photo and came back to school.

Written by Class 2 Blue

CANTEEN

SUSHI DATES for TERM 2: Sushi is supplied by Sushia and is only available for order via Flexischools (not available over the counter) Orders must be in by 9am on the day (no late orders)

Thursday, 12th June
Thursday, 3rd July

HOT DOGS & NEW MENU ITEMS: Within the Student Representative Council the students have requested the return of Hot Dogs! Moving forward they will be a regular menu item for Thursdays. There are also a few new other menu items including Pizza Rounder, Mac and Cheese, and Nuggets for the lunch menu now.

LUNCH ORDERS: Download the ‘Flexischools’ app to order your child’s lunch online. Full instructions can be found on our website and are also available via the link below. Please do not forget to order sauce along with the order.

Parents must order online for their child’s lunch order.

Open: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday
Closed: Tuesday & Friday

No ice blocks or slushies to be ordered with lunch orders - thank you. If you have any queries or would like to Volunteer please phone Vikki on 0439 964 462. (Please note, Marianne no longer works at Holy Family and Vikki is the current contact)

WHS NEWS

REPEATED MESSAGES: Car Drop Off & Pick Up Procedures

Morning- Car Drop Off:

Procedure: In the morning, it is a "3 cars in, 3 cars out" system.

Step 1: The first three cars will pull into the drop-off zone.
Step 2: Students will exit the vehicles promptly and safely.
Step 3: Once all three cars have exited, the next three cars will pull in

Safety Notes & Tips:

Children should be ready to exit the car quickly to maintain traffic flow.
The driver should remain in the car- “Kiss and Go”
Students should exit the car, by stepping straight onto the curb (not the road)
Do not wait in the queue alongside a bus- this is double parking and illegal
Families using the Visitor’s Carpark- please drive slowly and give way to buses and cars using the Car drop-off.

8.25-9.00 am: A staff member is present to welcome your child, and those arriving by bus who use the pedestrian crossing.

Afternoon- Car Pick Up:

Procedure: In the afternoon, we use a "5 cars in, 5 cars out" system to manage the higher volume of pickups.

Step 1: The first five cars will pull into the pick-up zone
Step 2: Students will be directed to their respective cars using a numbered system (1-5)
Step 3: Once all five cars have exited, the next five cars will pull in

Safety Notes & Tips:

Please remain in your vehicle at all times. Staff will assist students as needed
Please remind your children to stay attentive, sit together as a family, and be prepared to enter the car quickly when it arrives.
Do not wait in the queue alongside a bus- this is double parking and illegal
Families using the Visitor’s Carpark- please drive slowly and give way to buses and cars using the Car Pick Up

3.15-3.30pm: Staff are present to guide and support families using Car Pick-up. Please be guided by the staff member at the Front Gate, who directs the traffic flow for Car Pick-up and vehicles exiting from the Visitor’s Car Park.

Bike Safety @ HFS
We are working together to teach our children about the importance of safe riding to and from school. Helmets must always be worn and fitted correctly to protect young heads. Encourage your child to walk their bikes across roads and intersections for added safety. Riders should stick to the left-hand side, travel at a safe speed, and stay alert to traffic and pedestrians.

Let’s work together to ensure every child arrives at school and home safely!

Mrs McGinnes - WHS Committee Voice

MISS PAULA - MUSIC TUITION

Unfortunately there are no vacancies for private instrument tuition, Miss Paula is not taking a waiting list.
Miss Paula’s books are permanently closed.

P & F NEWS

Our P & F have been very busy lately organising events and fundraising activities.

Upcoming Events:
Term 2: Cookie Dough Drive: Expected delivery, 17th June.
Term 3: Disco
Term 4: Bunnings BBQ (November 9th) and a Colour Fun Run (date TBC)

Next Meeting: TONIGHT! Tuesday, 3rd June @ 7.30pm (Staffroom) All Welcome

ON-SITE AFTER SCHOOL CARE - Updated contact details!!

This is a continuing service available to our families. Care is available from 3.15pm - 6.00pm (or part thereof). Centacare is our provider and you can express interest by contacting:
• Noemi 0481 792 489 (Text until 2pm) and then 0491 147 453 after 2pm
• Email at: holyfamilyoshc@centacarebathurst.com.au
Noemi and the team can answer any questions you may have.

STUDENT NEWS

WIGS FOR KIDS AUSTRALIA - Rosie

Rosie is aiming to donate approximately 40cm (35cm is needed to actually make a wig), but she is aiming to raise enough funds to cover the entire cost of making a custom wig. Each wig provided by Wigs4Kids changes the life of a child facing medical hair loss, helping them feel more confident, comfortable and like themselves again.

Along with her friends, teachers and family cheering her on, the big CHOP will be on Friday, 27th June at 11:45am here at Holy Family School!!!

If you can spare some support in helping Rosie achieve her dream please use the link below. Every dollar donated brings her closer to fully funding the making of a wig - a beautiful, lasting gift.

https://fundraise.kidswithcancer.org.au/s/8184/8267/e