Last Friday Year 3 Blue presented an amazing assembly focusing on the spirit of Christmas. The students shared how it is important to spread love and kindness throughout the season of Christmas and that it was about giving to others. 3 Blue shared some great examples of how we can give to others (donating to charity Christmas appeals) in a very entertaining and engaging way! Thank you 3 Blue for your wonderful assembly!
Christmas Carols & Primary Awards Night
Thank you to all of our Primary families for attending our Primary Carols and Awards Evening. It was a wonderful celebration of Christmas Music, and a celebration of the year, with recognition of those K-5 students who received awards on the night. A special thank you to Ms Laura van Rijn for her preparation, and coordination of the event – a huge task!
Year 6 Graduation Mass & Awards Night
On Tuesday night we celebrated a huge milestone for our Year 6 graduating class of 2024. Our Year 6 students, families and College staff celebrated a beautiful Mass, followed by our annual Year 6 Awards. It was a beautiful occasion and a fantastic celebration of our Year 6 cohort. We wish our Year 6’s every success as they move into our secondary campus here at Newman College, or move onto another secondary school. We know they all have bright futures ahead of them.
Transition Days
Last Friday was a fantastic day for all of our K-5 students as they met their new 2025 teachers and classmates and participated in fun activities as a new class. All students came home with a ‘Meet the Teacher’ page to learn more about their 2025 classroom teacher.
Newman Norms / Medals of Marcellin
As it is the end of term, our winning faction (with the most ‘medals’) has been revealed at each campus! The results were very close amongst the factions. Our winning factions were:
Marian: Brigid
Lavalla: Knox
Students in these factions received a prize of wearing free dress on Monday. Congratulations to these students.
Our Newman Norms have been a great success this year and will return next year, with our token system adapted to suit our new Guilds.
All students in Pre-Primary to Year 6 are asked to bring in headphones/earphones for the start of the 2025 school year, to be stored in the classroom, utilised with devices and for other purposes when required.
Stationery Items for 2025 Lavalla Students
There are no booklists for students in Years 3/4/5/6. Supplies will be provisioned by the classroom teachers. Students will however require the following items (teachers may have already provided your child with a specific list during the transition afternoon):
pencil case
ruler
sharpener
highlighters x2
eraser x 2
coloured pencils
coloured textas
lead pencils x 8
scissors
glue sticks x 5
whiteboard markers x 5
5 x blue pens & 5 x red pens (Year 5 & 6 only)
iPad Program 2025
The College will continue with its rollout of College-owned and managed iPads. In 2025, students in Years 2 – 5 will have a College owned and managed iPad. Students in Years 6 will continue to use their BYOD iPad.
Sacramental Program – Years 3, 4 & 6
Students in Years 3, 4 and 6 in 2025 will be preparing to receive the Sacraments of Reconciliation, Eucharist and Confirmation.
If your child is preparing to receive a sacrament you will need to contact your Parish and complete the enrolment process. Further information regarding the Sacramental Program can be found via the links below and the 2025 information should be available before the beginning of the 2025 school year.
A reminder, parents continue to have access to a FREE URSTRONG parent membership. We hope that as a URSTRONG Family, you will reinforce the important messages of empowerment, self-compassion, & kindness at home.
Reports
Primary reports are available to view via SEQTA Engage.
Should your child not be returning to Newman College in 2024, we remind parents of the requirement to download all reports from SEQTA Engage by 31 December. After this time the student record is archived.
SWIMMING
2025 Primary Staffing
Please see below for 2025 Primary Classroom Staffing
Blue
Green
Red
PK
Colomba Iannitelli EA: Helen Cawley
Megan Bankes EA: Julie Topini
Kindy
Sarah Francia EA: Lisa Matthews EA: Helen Cawley
Lisa Carbone EA: Suzanne Pluske EA: Kate Bartlett
Kelly Simpson EA: Elliana Celisano EA: Meegan Seaborn
Pre-Primary
Sarah Isherwood EA: Naomi Fisher
Amy Donnelly EA: Lisa Matthews (M) EA: Lucinda Hope (T-F)
Rebecca Rose EA: Lisa Johns
1
Tess McKenna
Lauren Guarino
Holly Cooper
2
Alessia Chiera
Catherine Nicolau
Amy Dawson
3
Melissa Heaver
Juliet Ferris
Sharon McAuliffe
4
Sarah Dalton
Drew Elliott
Erica Horn
5
Delia Kretzmann
Josh Houwen
Lucy Zambonetti (M-T) Robyn Hatchett (W-F)
6
Imogen Crostella
Adam Read
Lara Gray
Marian
Lavalla
General
Maria Franklyn, Trish Eindorf, Julie Romano
Pauline Tutungis, Rosa Testa, Arden Lavelle
Special Needs
Kathy Biancuzzo, Alicia Salvati, Kate McMahon, Danae Florias, Siena Parrisis, Hannah Volleman
Please see below for 2025 Primary Specialist Staffing
Marian
Lavalla
Performing Arts
Kellie Thwaites
Music
Laura van Rijn
Visual Art
Sarah Spencer
Melissa Corbett
Physical Education
Lara Vlahov
Tasha Richards
Languages (Italian)
Maria Lynch
Technologies
Justin Kirry
Library
Alison Le Dan Technicians: Tania Bailey & Catherine Hall
SHINE (Y1-6)
Clare Cole-Carter
Maths Extension (Y1-2)
Edwina Battersby
Maths Extension (Y3-6)
Clare Cole-Carter
Maths Support
Edwina Battersby
Jane Short
Literacy Support
Education Assistants
Anne-Marie Terry Education Assistants
Social Worker
Caryl Gioia
Please note that Languages are only compulsory (as per SCSA requirements) for students in Year 3 and above. Next year, Marian students will participate in a new Technologies specialist subject, and Lavalla students will continue with Italian.
Primary Admin Staff
Lavalla: Amanda Johnson
Marian: Jess Wiedermann (M-W) & Jen Scott (Th-F)
Primary Leadership Team
Head of Primary: Ryan von Bergheim
Leader of Learning Primary: Catherine Young
Leader of Wellbeing Primary (PK-1): Edwina Battersby
Leader of Wellbeing Primary (Y2&3) & Religious Education Coordinator: Jane Short
Leader of Wellbeing (Y4-6): Justin Kirry
Merry Christmas
As we wrap up the 2024 school year, on behalf of the entire Primary staff, I want to thank all Primary families for their support throughout 2024. It has been a wonderful year, with plenty to reflect upon and celebrate. I wish all families a very Merry Christmas and hope you enjoy a relaxing and special time together as a family over the Christmas holiday period. I look forward to seeing students return to school for Term 1, 2025. 2025 is shaping up to be Newman College’s biggest year yet!
We would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank our secondary Leaders of Wellbeing for their commitment to and support of our secondary students in 2024. We would like to particularly extend our appreciation to Mr Will Hofman for his support of our Year 7 students this year in their transition to Newman College.
In 2025, the following staff will be responsible for the holistic development of our secondary students, along with the Pastoral Care Group teachers:
The Year 12 Ball for the Class of 2025 is scheduled for Wednesday 29 January 2025 at Fraser’s Restaurant. Our Class of 2025 excitedly received their ball tickets on their last day this term. We look forward to welcoming our Class of 2025 to the Ball as they begin their final year at Newman College.
Parent Information Evening – Monday 3 February 2025
Parents/guardians and secondary students are asked to attend the College on the evening of Monday 3 February 2025. Parents/guardians and their children are expected to attend the year-level information sessions run by the relevant Leader of Wellbeing. In addition to these sessions, students and parents/guardians are invited to attend other sessions that specialist staff will run on the evening. Some of these sessions include:
Ministry opportunities,
Wellbeing,
Academic support,
Academic extension, and
Sporting opportunities.
We look forward to seeing all parents/guardians and their children at the College on the evening, as it is a great way to set your child up for a successful year in 2025. Please note that students are expected to attend in school uniform. Further information will be provided to families in early 2025.
Year 9 Colour Run
The Year 9s participated in a wonderful celebration of their last three years of secondary school: marking the halfway point of secondary education. The oval was a sea of colour with our Year 9 students and teachers enjoying one another’s company. It was a fantastic way to end the year for our Year 9 students celebrating their hard work and commitment following by a pizza lunch. We would like to thank Mrs Lucy Lane (Leader of Wellbeing Year 9) for her organisation and facilitation of such a wonderful event for our Year 9 students.
We would like to wish all of our secondary families and friends a very Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and a safe holiday break. We look forward to welcoming everyone back at the start of the 2025 academic year.
On Wednesday evening this week, we welcomed back our Year 11 students who have been visiting the Philippines on immersion for the past ten days. During this time, students visited three organisations, each dedicated to improving the lives of young children and members of their community through the provision of education, family support, housing, and other social services. Additionally, students also visited the Marist Asia Pacific Centre which is where young Marist brothers across the region come for their formation, as well as the local Marist school, which like Newman College, has approximately 1800 students ranging from the age of 5 to 18 years of age.
One of the things students were most struck by on their journey, was their visit to Olongapo City and the PREDA Foundation. Celebrating their fiftieth anniversary this year, students met with their founder, Fr. Shay Cullen. As a young Irish missionary, he arrived in the Philippines ready to do all the things normally expected of a young priest – celebrating masses, spending time in the community, and speaking with school children. But as he said in his own words, he soon came to discover that no matter his work, it was clear in the city that ‘vice had conquered virtue’. Over the next 50 years, Fr. Shay worked hard, alongside the community, government agencies, and human rights organisations to improve the lives and experiences of thousands of young boys and girls.
Fr Shay shared his story to illustrate to students the importance of putting action to our faith. Whilst we can go to mass each Sunday, and learn in class about the life of Jesus, this means little if we are not prepared to live out the Gospel values in our everyday gestures and actions. Fr Shay was very real in his assessment to our students – he did not expect that we would come and ‘change lives’ in our few days at the Foundation, nor did he expect that our students would return home to live lives as dedicated missionaries. But what he did communicate to the students, is that no matter where they may find themselves in the world, whether it be as a teacher, doctor, electrician, or salesperson…that we find some time in our life to give service to others. In some small but meaningful way, that we can live our lives not just for ourselves, but for our community – especially for those who are poor, vulnerable, or who need protection.
Christian Service Learning
At Newman College, we encourage this faith in action through our Christian Service Learning program. This has given many students over the years the opportunity to develop a Christian spirit and to experience what it means to not just espouse a Christian life, but to live it too. We also know there are many of our families and staff who give of their own time in the community too, providing a first-hand example for our students to learn from.
This year, we reviewed our Christian Service Learning program to include students in our primary school, so that they may also have the chance, at a level appropriate to their age, to engage in service to others. We have also examined how Christian Service looks in the secondary school – highlighting the Gospel values that underpin service at each year level, and seeking to tie this into what students are learning in Religious Education, as well as our Marist characteristics.
I would invite families to read our proposed program in the link below, sharing any questions or feedback via the feedback link. It is our great hope that as a College, and more importantly, as a community, we can seek to build a Christian spirit of service in all of our students, helping to fulfil Marcellin Champagnat’s vision to form good Christians and good citizens.
Thank you for your donations towards the St Vincent de Paul Christmas Hamper Appeal. Even though we are not able to include fresh food in the hampers, the hampers are very keenly sought after by those we help. Many less well-off members of our community are really finding it difficult to feed their families and provide a roof over their heads. Your help is very much appreciated by them.
Thank you. Happy Christmas.
Br John Furlong
President of the Floreat-Wembley Conference of the St Vincent de Paul
Christmas Mass Times
Our Lady of the Rosary, Doubleview
Christmas Eve Tuesday December 24
6.00pm Family Mass
8.30pm Carols – Mass 9.00pm
Christmas Day Wednesday December 25
8.00am Mass
10.00am Mass
Christmas Eve at 6.00pm would be the main family Mass.
St Cecilia’s, Floreat
Christmas Eve Tuesday 24 December
6.00pm Mass
Christmas Day Wednesday 25 December
9.30am Mass
Holy Spirit, City Beach
Christmas Eve, Tuesday 24 December
6.00pm Christmas Vigil Children’s Mass (Carols at 5.30pm)
Well, we have reached the end of the term and the conclusion to the 2024 academic year! We celebrated and gave thanks for 2024 in recent days with the Thursday Community Mass, liturgies and assemblies. In each celebration, we focused on the joy of the year, our expression of Marist characteristics and the various contributions of our students to College life. In recent days, we experienced the Christmas joy of the Primary Christmas Carols and Kindy – Year 5 Awards, the Marian Advent Liturgy, the celebration of the Education Support Music Rocks End of Year Christmas Concert, Ministry and Discovery Festivals for Years 7 to 9, the 2025 Year 12 Leaders Marist Leadership Camp and the Year 6 Graduation and Awards event. Our Year 11 Philippines Immersion have returned from a truly enriching experience and our Marist Cricket team are enjoying the competition of the Marist Carnival. The term’s end reflects the nature of our whole year program – wonderful opportunities for our students to Shine Through Discovery.
Awards Ceremonies
On Friday 22 November, we celebrated the Year 7-11 Awards Ceremony in the Gymnasium and Marist Auditorium. Students who have excelled in academic, service, leadership, the arts and sport were recognised. It was wonderful to host so many families who attended the function. The Kindergarten to Year 5 Awards and Primary Carol Evening was a wonderful family evening on Friday, 29 November. Again, it was so pleasing to acknowledge student achievement and be led in the singing of carols by each year group. The final awards event was our Year 6 Celebration Mass and Awards where we acknowledged the end of the Primary journey for the class.
Staff Farewells
Newman College is fortunate to have 259 dedicated staff to support our students. In any year there is movement and we offer a sincere thank you to the staff who will be moving on, whether they have been with us for a short period or many years. Each has made contributions which have helped our students flourish. Some are moving into leadership positions in other schools, which speaks highly of their abilities as leaders, and the support Newman College has provided in nurturing their leadership. Some staff are moving into retirement. Many of our other departing staff will take their great experience and formation at the College and add to the rich fabric of their new schools. Farewell to
Retiring
Steve Halley Wright – Director of Finance and Operations
Liliana Bellandi – Teacher, Secondary
Kathy Fryer – Education Assistant Special Needs, Secondary
Peta Ing – Education Assistant Special Needs, Secondary
Sharon MacBean – Teacher, Primary
Promotional Roles at other schools
Sarah Ellam – Acting Deputy Principal Secondary
Cameron Tremayne – Head of Health and Physical Education
Moving to other schools
Kate O’Keefe – Japanese Teacher, Primary
Charlotte MacLean – Teacher, Primary
Jane Ward – Teacher, Secondary
Joel Kandiah – Teacher, Secondary
Renee Passell – Teacher, Secondary
Annette Doe – Education Assistant, Primary
Elija Meegan – Education Assistant, Secondary
Non Teaching Staff
Jennifer Smith – Relief Coordinator
Kellie Pethick – Senior Laboratory Technician
Finishing after Short Term Contracts for Leave Cover
Lauren O’Brien – Teacher, Primary
Tamara Bastow – Art Teacher, Primary
Rosalba Bottega – GATE Teacher, Primary
A particular farewell to two of the College Executive:
Mr Steve Halley-Wright
Steve has been at Newman College for 17 years, undertaking the senior leadership role of Finance Director and Director of Finance and Operations. He has been an outstanding Marist leader and overseen the development of the College in providing first-class facilities for our students, staff and families. Steve is moving to retirement and will be greatly missed by the Newman College community.
Mrs Sarah Ellam
Sarah joined Newman College three years ago as a Leader of Wellbeing on the Marcellin Campus. An experienced middle leader, Sarah quickly made her way into senior leadership as the Acting Deputy Principal, Secondary. She has been an outstanding leader at the College and now moves to the ongoing role of Deputy Principal at Holy Cross College.
We wish Steve, Sarah and all our departing staff all the best for the future.
American novelist, Ursula. K. LeGuin wrote ‘It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.’ The 2024 academic year ends with today’s newsletter and it has been quite a journey for our community. In our students, we witnessed a positivity and determination to make the most of every opportunity, event and program. Our whole staff have been professional and generous, not only through important in-class learning experiences but a full range of full co-curricular activities across the year. As always, we received great energy and support from our families throughout 2024. Thank you to for the many warm expressions of gratitude to teachers and staff in your Christmas messages. At the end of this article are the key Term 1 dates for 2025.
Advent and Christmas
We are in the season of Advent and we have begun this beautiful liturgical celebration which draws us towards Christmas. The notion of ‘waiting’ figures strongly in Advent; we await the birth of the Saviour. What an interesting message of patience and focus this presents for us against a backdrop of the more commercial tone of rush and a countdown of shopping days left until Christmas. May the Advent season sustain us in our waiting and give us courage in our living.
From all at Newman College, having the opportunity to support, guide and celebrate your child’s journey is the greatest privilege any educator and mentor can possibly have. I wish every student, staff, parent, guardian and family of our community a joyous and blessed Christmas. I know many parents will have only a small window of opportunity over the break for rest and time with their families, but I hope it is precious time. See you all for the new academic year in 2025!
2025 Information
The College will be sending out a Welcome Pack and pertinent information relating to the 2025 school year, prior to the commencement of students. A list of upcoming important College events for Term 1 can also be found here.
After extensive consultation and consideration of the future needs of the College, the following start and finish times will apply for classes from 2025:
Doors Open/First Bell
Start Time
Finish Time
PK-6 students
8:35am
8:40am
3:00pm
Y7-12 students
8:35am
8:40am
3:15pm
To support this change, Transperth has adjusted their services to ensure that all school buses will arrive by 8:30am. After-school teacher supervision will continue to be provided until all students are collected from Marian and Lavalla, giving families with children at both primary campuses time to manage pickups across the two sites.
Thank you to everyone who provided feedback. We value your input and appreciate your continued support.
2025 School Start Dates
Please refer to the table below for your child’s start date and time, as this will differ for each year group.
YEAR
DATE
TIME
VENUE
PK-6 Students
Thu 30 January
8.40am 8.40am
Marian – PK to Y2 Lavalla – Y3 to 6
Y7 Students Y12 Students Y8-11 New Students
Thu 30 January
8.40am 10.00am 8.30am
Founders Court Auditorium Main Administration
Year 8-11 Students
Fri 31 January
8.40am
Marcellin
Term One 2025 Key Dates
The table below provides a summary of some key events in the first few weeks of Term 1, 2025
EVENT
DATE
TIME
Parent Welcome Sundowner
31 January
5.30-7.30pm
Year 7-12 Information Evening
3 February
5.30-8.00pm
KG-Y6 Information Evening
6 February
5.00-7.30pm
High Achievers Assembly
13 February
9.35-10.50am
PK-12 Family Mass & Commissioning of Student Leaders
18 February
5.30-6.45pm
Primary Family Picnic
28 February
5.00pm-7.00pm
Newman Parents Forum
10 March
6.00pm-7.00pm
As events and activities for 2025 are confirmed, they will be added to the College Calendar. We kindly ask families to consult the calendar when planning holidays and other commitments and to support and prioritise College events whenever possible.
Reports
Primary reports are available to view via SEQTA Engage.
Secondary reports will be available through SEQTA Engage after Friday 6 December.
Students not returning in 2025
If your child will not be returning to Newman College in 2025, please ensure you download all reports from SEQTA Engage by 31 December. After this date, student records will be archived and no longer accessible.
Thank you
I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank all families for their invaluable contributions to our vibrant Marist community. Additionally, I would like to acknowledge the extraordinary work of our dedicated staff, who provide such rich learning experiences for our students. Thank you for continuing to entrust us with the responsibility of caring for your children and working together to develop them into good Christians and good citizens.
The College will be in touch early in the new year with the Welcome Booklet and Letters. Until then, I wish you and your families a wonderful holiday break and a blessed and holy Christmas.
