All Year 6 students at St Catherine’s are considered School leaders. All students participate in our Ambassador Program, and some have dedicated captaincy roles. 

Our Year 6 girls lead by example, role modelling to our younger girls what epitomises a St Catherine’s girl in Barbreck.  

This week, our Year 6 leaders were in Canberra learning about our national history, democracy, and leadership. Our St Catherine’s leaders came face to face with our recently elected politicians at Parliament House. The girls were thrilled to see our Prime Minister and many other Members of the House of Representatives, as well as the opportunity to listen to Senators delivering speeches in the Senate. They heard maiden speeches from two new female Members of Parliament and were inspired by meeting the new Federal Member for Higgins, Dr Michelle Ananda-Rajah. 

Students brought their classroom learning to life by engaging in a role-play lesson where they introduced a bill, held a debate, and cast their votes. Students were separated into a government, an opposition, and a crossbench. After some animated debating, utilising skills developed in Debating Club, the students voted in favour of the bill to introduce a tax on sugar. 

After participating in an inspirational conversation with their local Member, students continued to discuss newly discovered aspirations for their own future throughout the day. I can safely say we have future leaders and politicians in Barbreck. 

Road Safety Concerns at Barbreck

At Barbreck we aim to always keep our girls safe, especially when near, or on, the road. We do not want to see any of our children involved in a road accident or to witness an accident. This year, we have seen some practices that have the potential for serious consequences. The following advice is given with your children’s safety at the heart of our decision making. We ask parents to kindly heed the following recommendations. 

Crossing the road 

Our Wellbeing and Health lessons teach our girls how to safely cross a street at the lights or at pedestrian crossings. 

Before School and at the end of the day, we are seeing a growing number of parents cross the street with their children from between parked cars without using the designated school crossing. This raises a number of safety concerns: 

• This practice goes against what we are teaching in class. 
• If children get used to crossing from between cars or not at the designated crossing, they are very likely to cross where they normally do when by themselves. The consequences for this habit are life threatening. 

Calling children across the road 

While calling children across the road may save a few minutes of walking to the designated crossing and back, it is setting a bad habit for the children. They too begin to look for gaps between cars and a possible time to dart across the road. The children know little about road rules, nor do they have the height to really see the situation on the road and they are often not looking at cars pulling out from, or into, pick-up areas. We ask all parents to refrain from calling their children across the road as the consequences of this habit are also life threatening. 

Dropping off or picking up from the middle of the road 

While this may save time, it is a very dangerous practice. Cars are constantly pulling into, or out of, car parks and rolling forward into the next park. The result could be a child caught between two cars. We ask all parents to refrain from this practice. 

Parking across the Barbreck Driveway 

This area is often filled with staff, parents and children and has the potential for someone to step out onto the road without realising they have. We ask all parents to refrain from parking across this driveway. 

 ♦

Out of School Hours Care – Term 3 Week 3 Activities and Vacation Care Bookings

Upcoming activities for Term 3 Week 3 are detailed here.

St Catherine’s School offers an Out of School Hours Care program to all ELC and Junior School families. The program is implemented by our provider ‘After the Bell’ and operates within the ELC building. Parents are reminded that if you need to use the Before School Care or After School Care service, registrations need to be made in advance with ‘After the Bell’. Please allow up to five business days for your registration to be processed before your child can begin attending the program. Registration is free. All families are encouraged to register so that they can use this service in the event that you are unable to pick up your child.

Before School Care – 7.00am to 8.45am

After School Care – 3.00pm to 6.00pm

Registrations can be completed via the ‘After the Bell’ website.

Please phone 9758 6744 for all inquiries.