Dear Parents, Carers and Community Members

Well, Semester 1 is ending, and the students and staff are looking forward to a well-earned winter break.  As Principal, I look back at our students’ achievements this semester with pride, as there has been much to celebrate within our school community.  On the sporting field, in the areas of mathematics and science, the creative and performing arts, community service and the individual achievements by students academically.  We are not a big school compared to other schools in Newcastle, Port Macquarie and Sydney yet we have individual students and teams doing themselves, their families and St Clare’s proud.

Reports for Semester 1 will be open through Compass Friday, 30 June.  These reports indicate how well your child or children have been able to engage in their learning, and aspire to be the best they can be, while also recognising their achievements and efforts.  Reports are also a good vehicle for parents to open up conversations about what is working well and what areas need attention to make improvements in their learning.

At the start of the year, I challenged the students to be the best they can be ‘to be successful’ and I asked them to think about this question.  How are you going to achieve personal excellence, be successful this year?  The questions I now ask the students as we reach the midpoint of the year.  How are you going at achieving personal excellence?  Have you been successful in obtaining your goals?  What do you need to do or change to showcase the best of you?  Remember, you will need to take ownership for your learning, set yourselves clear goals and work hard to achieve these goals.

Bishop Michael Kennedy

We had the pleasure of the Bishop for the Maitland/Newcastle diocese, Bishop Michael Kennedy visit the St Clare’s community on Friday, 23 June. It was a great opportunity for the staff and students to meet and listen to the Bishop especially considering the last time a Bishop visited the school our current Year 12 students were in year 7.

Bishop Michael in his address to the community shared his life story from a student to his role as a Bishop and leader of our faith community.  In particular, he spoke about the point in his life after initially starting his young adult life as a teacher, to where he felt the calling of God.  The thoughts, the processes he went through before making the decision to commit himself to God and start his journey as a faith leader.

It was also a unique opportunity for the school community to come together and celebrate with two of our students being presented in person with Bishops Award for 2022 by Bishop Michael.  The Bishop Awards recognise the efforts of students and young people of faith within our diocese who have contributed to the community through their Parish, church group or church agency.  This may include involvement in groups or agencies such as Caritas, Youth Ministries, St Vincent de Paul, Vinnies or similar church groups.  This also includes contributions made within parishes e.g., Liturgy and Youth Ministries.  

The two recipients of the Bishop Award were Emily Boere and Ava Doherty, both year 8 students.  Below I have included the citations that were read out as Bishop Michael presented the awards to the girls.

Ava Doherty & Emily Boere

Emily Boere -

Emily has been an active member in her Parish and at her school St Clare's.  Emily also volunteers at the local CatholicCare Community Kitchen of her own volition.  Emily is a kind person who wants to support others in any capacity she can.

Emily has been an altar server in both Old Bar and Taree since she was 8 years old.  Emily understands that other people need support and chooses to do this through her actions and participation in her faith community.

Emily demonstrates the Gospel values specifically in the Service of those in need, such as the Community Kitchen and in being an active part of Mini Vinnies and St Clare’s Taree Environmental group.  Emily works for others with Faith, Love and Compassion because she wants to make the world a better place the best way she can.

Ava Doherty -

From a very early age, Ava has participated in her local church and Parish, attending Mass every Sunday.  Ava has served at the altar for over seven years and has developed good relationships with parishioners of all ages.

Ava tries to be a good example of what it means to be a Catholic Christian, for example, when her friends have issues, she is able to help because of what she has learned and what she has been taught in church. 

Ava participates in many parish activities such as: 

• Celebrating feast days, dressing up for All Saints Day, participating in various roles in the Christmas and Easter celebrations, participating in Corpus Christi and Stations of the Cross.
• Helping out in the piety store and assisting in selling Catholic Lighthouse CDs.
• Helping promote and sell tickets for Parish cinema screenings, such as St Paul the Apostle, Unplanned, and Apparition Hill at Fay’s Twin Cinemas.
• Helped raise money for new church items.
• Assisted high school students to raise money to attend the Australian Catholic Youth Festival and renovations to the church hall.  

Finally, students enjoy the time away from school, come back safe and ready to learn.

‘Together with Christ we serve our community’.

Inspired by GOSPEL VALUES and the practical examples of St Mary of The Cross MacKillop and St Clare of Assisi our Mission is to…

CONNECT LEARN ASPIRE RESPECT ENGAGE

Kind Regards

Phillip Gibney
Principal

A reminder to all parents and students about St Clare’s expectations on uniform and grooming.  The School Executive and staff of St Clare’s are concerned about the students’ presentation – uniform and grooming.  We understand that there have been some issues regarding supply of our uniform especially with school track pants and school sport shorts.  We are in the process of rectifying this and are working closely with Workwise to supply a new sport uniform from a different supplier.  In the interim, we have agreed that on sports days students may wear navy tracksuit pants and plain green or navy shorts that can be purchased from Lowes, Big W and Target.  These alternatives are not to have large logos emblazoned e.g., like NIKE, Adidas etc.

We are proud to be a Catholic school that endeavours to provide an experience of high-quality interpersonal relationships of care and support.  As a result, the culture of the school needs to be respectful of the individual, a safe and secure environment and one that is healthy allowing students to become discerning self-disciplined and contributing members of society.

The wearing of the formal school uniform, and wearing it correctly, are signs of self-respect and respect for others in the school community.  It is a symbol of community membership, common purpose, and beliefs.  In terms of safety, the uniform provides for modesty, identity and is protective in the daily school environment.  The uniform sets boundaries and parameters for dress and personal presentation.  The setting of such boundaries and students’ compliance with them are important in developing self-discipline, perspective and balance in life and a sense of right and wrong.

We kindly ask that all parents and carers to please read the uniform and grooming expectations set out below and support the school by ensuring your child/children are correctly attired and groomed for school each day.  We would prefer not to place students on detention, exclude students from offsite activities or be constantly contacting home about students not meeting these expectations.

Students must wear the regulation uniform and be appropriately groomed from the time they get to school until the time they leave school, this includes all activities that students participate in offsite.

CLOTHING

• Students are not to wear T-shirts under shirts/blouses when the motif is clearly visible through the shirt/blouse, or the arms or collar of the under-garment are clearly visible.
• Only Year 11 & 12 students are to wear the optional jacket chosen for their year group.
• Male students wear grey socks - must be at or above ankle length
• Female students wear white socks - must be at or above ankle length
• Sport day – students wear white socks - must be at or above ankle length
• Sport uniform is worn to school on sport day.
• On PDHPE lesson day full and correct sports uniform can be worn to school otherwise students must wear formal school uniform
• Coloured knitwear, if worn, must be covered by the correct school knitwear. Hoodies are not acceptable.
• If for any special circumstances a student cannot wear the full uniform on any given day a note from parents must be supplied. The note must be signed and dated by the parents and presented to their Leader of Wellbeing (LOWE)

SHOES

• Black, leather, tongued, lace-up and polishable school shoes for all students. Boots of any kind are not acceptable.
• Running or Cross training sneakers must be worn for all sporting activities and PDHPE. NO CASUAL style shoes are acceptable including gym style boots.

JEWELLERY

• The only acceptable jewellery is a watch, a ring and a small, silver or gold metal stud or sleeper, maximum 2 per ear lobe.
• Jewellery is to be kept to a minimum. Eyebrow, nose, face, tongue and lip jewellery are not acceptable.

HAIR

• Hair is to be well groomed and kept tidy. No dreadlocks, no shaved patches, rat tails, skullets, mullets that are not able to be tied back neatly or other extremes.
• Long hair (longer than shoulder length) must be tied back at all times for both male and female students.
• Short hair - nothing under a No 3.
• Facial Hair - clean shaven at all times
• Colour - 1 or 2 shades from the natural looking colour of hair is acceptable. It is not acceptable to have patches, panels, streaks and tips that do meet this expectation.
• Hair accessories - plain black, navy blue, white, gold or green.

HATS

• All students must wear either the approved black bucket or broad brim hat supplied by Workwise clothing. Especially times when outside of the classroom and not in a shaded area, including before and after school, recess, lunch, during sport and PDHPE lessons.

BAGS

• Students will have appropriate school bags which allow for the care of the contents, including computer devices. No string/shoulder bags allowed.

MAKEUP/NAIL POLISH

• Makeup is not allowed, exceptions are given for Year 11 and 12 students, but must be kept to a minimum and natural looking.
• All students in Years 7 to 12 are not allowed to wear nail polish or have Gel or Acrylic nails.

BODY ART

• Tattoos are not acceptable and should not be visible at any time.

OUT OF UNIFORM

• Students who are “out of school uniform” must give a note of explanation from Parents/Guardians to their Year Level - Leader of Wellbeing. The note must contain the date and parent’s signature.
• The LOWE will issue a note for reference by other teachers and make a chronicle entry on the student’s compass file.
• Students out of uniform on more than three occasions or do not provide a note will receive a lunchtime uniform detention.
• Students who are “out of sport uniform” must wear the correct school uniform and change into sport style clothes. Students who do not follow this expectation will receive an automatic lunchtime uniform detention.
• Students will be encouraged to rectify unacceptable dress standards with a minimum of delay, prior to contact being made to parents to rectify the concern.
• items of uniform are available for sale from Workwise Clothing, 5 Marathon Street, Taree 6552 2371
• In cases of genuine need, advise the Principal, and the school will discuss the possibility of acquiring uniform items for students or subsidise cost.

The School Executive
Principal – Mr Phillip Gibney
Assistant Principal Teaching and Learning – Mrs Theresa Avery
Assistant Principal Wellbeing – Mrs Marian Parvin
Ministry Leader – Mr Jason Koenig

Mass Times

Forster-Tuncurry Catholic Parish

Current Mass times are Saturday, 5 pm, Sunday 8 am and 10 am.

Further updates can be viewed on the Forster-Tuncurry Parish Website:

Taree Catholic Parish

Saturday
4:00 pm Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Wingham:  Reconciliation & Rosary
4:45 pm Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Wingham:  Mass
6:15 pm Our Lady of the Rosary, Taree:  Mass

Sunday
9:30 am Our Lady of the Rosary, Taree:  Mass
7:30 am every 1^st and 3^rd Sunday of the month Our Lady of Fatima, Old Bar:  Mass
7:30 am every 2^nd Sunday of the month St Therese, Lansdowne:  Mass
7:30 am every 4^th and 5^th Sunday of the month Star of the Sea, Harrington:  Mass

Further updates can be viewed on the Taree Parish Website:

Year 9 students from our school will undertake an education tour of the National Capital in early August.  Students will be given the opportunity to participate in a variety of educational programs with a focus on Australia’s history, culture, heritage, and democracy.

The Australian Government recognises the importance of all young Australians being able to visit the National Capital as part of their Civics and Citizenship education.  To assist families in meeting the cost of the excursion the Australian Government is contributing funding of $45 per student under the Parliament and Civics Education Rebate program towards those costs.  The rebate is paid directly to the school upon completion of the excursion.

Phillip Carney
Canberra/Snowy Excursion Coordinator

Year 10 students have been learning about fabric embellishment and construction methods throughout the first semester and this has culminated in their cushion project.  All students combined a variety of dye application methods such as tie dyeing, marbling, ice dyeing and hombre dyeing with hand and machine embroidery.  Some students experimented further with patchwork, applique and programming and editing embroidery designs on the Janome S9.  The students should be proud of their first project in this course.

Shae-Lee Lacey, Rachel Su & Elise Zammit

Theresa Avery
Textiles Teacher &
Assistant Principal
Learning and Teaching

This June and July at St Clare's indigenous students from Years 9, 10 & 11 have engaged with a program known as Back on Trak run by Bamara supporting First Nations’ students with confidence and knowledge to focus on their learning.

The students are seen here connecting with their culture during art.

Robin Davies
Aboriginal Education Worker

During the month of June, Year 10 took part in the Push-Up Challenge.  From 1 June 1 to 23 June, each student and staff member that took part, completed 3144 push-ups each.  The Push-Up Challenge is designed to raise funds for several Mental Health services and to put the spotlight on the number of Australians that were lost to suicide in 2021 (3144 in 2021 alone). 

Our St Clare’s Community, that included students and teachers, completed over 44, 000 push-ups and raised $2225 for Lifeline.  Daily mental health statistics were sent to each participant and each morning during CLARE lessons and some lunchtimes, staff and students completed their exercises for the day.  Some days required more than 220 push-ups each.  Special mention and thanks goes to our top fundraising students Claire Downie and Nicholas Boere.

This was an excellent activity for our Year 10 students to take part in and we are very proud of our students and staff that were involved.  Not only was it a great way to start each school day, but it was also an excellent way to address and discuss some important topics.

I would like to thank and congratulate our Push-Up Challenge Student Ambassador Claire Downie who organised and facilitated the event at our School.  In the months leading up to the challenge, Claire attended webinars and communicated with event staff to ensure the smooth running of the challenge at our school.  Claire showed excellent leadership and organisational skills throughout the challenge and led by example everyday with her push-ups and fundraising.

We are already looking forward to the 2024 Push-Up Challenge!

James Collins
Year 10 Leader of Wellbeing and Engagement

The theme from Sunday’s readings was “be not afraid to stand up for what you believe in”.  Whether it be social justice, the environment or improving a person’s life all these issues are important.  St Clare’s Year 10 students have once again shown that they are prepared to do this in a practical way.  A group of three enthusiastic students, Harley Bunyan, Leo Small and Elise Zammit, volunteered at the CatholicCare Community Kitchen preparing and serving meals to those in need in our community.  The school community and parent body can be rightly proud of the manner in which the students interacted with the people bringing smiles to their faces knowing someone cares.  Well done. 

Elise Zammit, Leo Small & Harley Bunyan

Tim Masters
Community Kitchen Volunteer

Last Friday, a Year 7 class took the matter of school littering in hand – literally.  Working in pairs, the class donned hats and gloves while sharing a large garbage bag to reduce the amount of litter in the school yard – especially in the many gardens.

This end-of-term cleanup was a commendable action of community service for which class members are to be congratulated.

Ian Evans
Acting Careers Adviser

NSW All School - Football 

Congratulations to Saffron Grass, Year 12 on her selection in the NSW All Schools side, an amazing achievement.

Luke Rowe
School & Representative Sport Coordinator

NSW CCC - Netball 

Congratulations to Madison Paine, Year 11 on her selection in the Maitland Newcastle Diocesan Netball team to attend the NSWCCC Selections, a fantastic accomplishment.

Luke Rowe
School & Representative Sport Coordinator

13’s Country Cup Rugby League – Regional Finals

Congratulations to our 13’s Boys Rugby League team, who travelled up to Port Macquarie to compete in the regional finals of the Country Cup.  Our boys qualified for this event on the back of their strong performances in our local gala day held earlier in the term. 

St Clare’s encountered a well-coached and skilful MacKillop College from Port Macquarie in their opening fixture.  The game was a bruising end-to-end encounter with strong defence on display from both teams.  MacKillop crossed the try line twice late in the first half to take a 12-0 lead into halftime.  However, St Clare’s lifted and clawed their way back into the match with an early second half try.  MacKillop held their nerve in the end, despite numerous attacking raids on their try line from St Clare’s late in the match to secure a 12-4 victory.

St Clare’s strong defence was again on display in their second-round encounter against Great Lakes College.  St Clare’s raced out to an early 6-0 lead, set up off the back of some creative and skilful backline moves.  However, ill-discipline saw St Clare’s reduced to 12 players for the entire second half, stretching St Clare’s already tiring defensive efforts.  St Clare’s eventually conceded a try in the final moments of the match to come away with a hard fought and gritty 6-6 draw.

Our boys regrouped for their third and final match against McAuley Catholic College.  McAuley opened the scoring with a length of the field run away try to take an early 6-0 lead.  However, our boys responded with some strong ball carrying and line running to level the scores 6-6 at halftime.  St Clare’s started slowly in the second half with fatigue setting in, which saw McAuley again take the lead 12-6.  St Clare’s never gave up and scored a late consolation try to eventually go down 12-10.

 

Lastly, a big thank you to Mrs Parvin, Rory Clarke and Hayden Robertson for their time and dedication in training, coaching, and supporting our team, without their outstanding and tireless efforts events such as this would not be possible.

Matthew Collier
Country Cup Rugby League Coordinator

Mathematics Workshop and Homework Support takes place on Mondays at lunchtime in room 10.  Students have the opportunity to have support for homework or be in a space with a mathematics teacher present to complete more challenging work or preparing for tasks.  This is available to all year groups.

Michael Morson
Leader of Learning, Mathematics

Term 3 2023

Girls Fire & Resilience School Holiday Program

Dear Parents & Students

Invitation to Girls Fire and Resilience School Holiday Program, 11, 12 & 13 July

We are excited to announce a unique opportunity for teenage girls aged 14-18 to participate in the Girls Fire and Resilience School Holiday Program, organised by Girls on Fire. This experiential learning program aims to empower young women by providing them with essential skills in personal, home, and community safety while fostering leadership and resilience in emergency situations.

Girls on Fire, in collaboration with the NSW Fire & Emergency Services will deliver three consecutive 1-day workshops during the July school holiday period.  Each workshop can accommodate up to 20 participants, ensuring a personalised and engaging learning experience for every attendee.

Program Details:

Date:  11 July – Kempsey; 12 July – Wauchope; 13 July - Laurieton
Time:  9 am – 3 pm.  Please register at 08:45 am
Venue:  Kempsey Fire Station; Wauchope RFS Fire Control Centre; Laurieton Fire Station
Cost:  FREE - Yes, this is a FREE program.

During the 1-day camp, participants will undertake a series of physical and problem-solving activities in small teams.  These activities are designed to build confidence, enhance teamwork skills, and develop critical thinking abilities.  By emulating the operations of fire and emergency services, the program provides hands-on experiences that expose participants to real-world scenarios.

Key Program Benefits:

Personal, Home, and Community Safety:  Participants will learn crucial safety measures that can be applied to their daily lives, homes, and communities, empowering them to become leaders in community resilience during emergencies.

Volunteer and Career Opportunities:  The program offers insights into volunteer and career pathways within fire and emergency services, presenting girls with a valuable foundation for future opportunities.

Confidence Building:  Through engaging activities, participants will enhance their self-confidence, allowing them to overcome challenges and develop a sense of personal resilience.

Teamwork and Problem-Solving:  Working in small teams, the program encourages collaboration, effective communication, and problem-solving skills, fostering a supportive and inclusive learning environment.

We believe this presents a fantastic opportunity for your students to develop essential life skills while engaging in a unique and empowering experience.  It aligns perfectly with your school's commitment to providing well-rounded education and empowering students to become confident, resilient, and responsible individuals.

To register your daughter for this program, please use this link:

If you have any questions or require further information, please do not hesitate to contact me directly on 0417 461 417 or

Kind regards

Bronnie Mackintosh
Founder & Director