Newsletter - 04 September 2025
From our Principal
Dear Parents,
A well-known TV advertisement stirs up our sense of belonging to our home country. It shows Australian children’s choirs in different locations all over the world singing ‘I Still Call Australia Home’. It reminds us that despite all the problems of our nation, no matter how far away we go, deep down we still have a sense of belonging to our own country.
All of us face problems in our families, in the church and in society. Wherever there are two or more people, there can be hurts and divisions. Yet it is also through people that we come to know God and to be fulfilled personally. St Paul tells us that love is one thing that cannot hurt our neighbour. Our closest neighbours are members of our families. No matter how far we ‘roam’, home is the place where our family lives.
The Sunday we celebrate a very special day, Father’s Day. This is a good time to pause and appreciate a unique person that God has put into our lives - our father. It is easy to take fathers for granted. The natural hurts that arise in all families can cause us to forget the wealth of goodness and commitment that is also there.
Father’s Day gives us an opportunity to recall and affirm the particular gifts that fathers bring to families. This includes our personal fathers, grandfathers, single parent fathers, uncles and important father figures in our lives.
There is no ‘right’ way of showing appreciation of one’s father. The important thing is to do it. When expressing thanks to your dad it is a good idea to connect with something specific - a special quality or a specific incident in the past that typifies your father’s care and commitment. People can give presents, but the most important gift is the gift of appreciation. Every father knows that he is human and doesn’t always do things perfectly. He needs to hear from his children that he ‘must have done something right’ - maybe even magnificently!
Whether it is their sense of humour, ability to see the positive side of difficult situations, patience even when they are tired, or their wise words of encouragement and love, this Sunday we hope that all Emmanuel dads, grand-dads and uncles enjoy a wonderful day.
I was fortunate enough to be blessed by a wonderful father who had a huge influence on my life. He was not a man who could show his affection easily, but I know that he loved us all deeply. I am forever indebted to him for the many sacrifices he made for our family so that we could be where we are today.
Thank you, friend Jesus,
For my father who loved me,
For my grandfather who cared for me,
And for God, your father and mine,
Who made me and is always with me.
How lucky I am!
May God hold all fathers in the palm of his hand.
Happy Fathers’ Day to all our Emmanuel Fathers and Grandfathers. We hope your day is special and filled with many blessings.
Wishing you every blessing for the coming week,
Geraldine Rostirolla
Principal
NATIONAL CHILD PROTECTION WEEK (7 - 13 September)
National Child Protection Week is all about the ways that we can work together to build communities that support children and families. Children are safest when they are listened to, respected and believed.
In 2025, the National Child Protection Week message that ‘Every child in every community needs a fair go’ will be complemented with the theme ‘‘EVERY CONVERSATION MATTERS: Shifting Conversation to Action’.
Conversations are powerful tools to keep children and young people safe and well. Conversations can help us understand issues, craft solutions, value community knowledge, and build the brains and social connections of children and young people.
This year’s theme highlights that while open discussions are crucial, words alone are not enough: we must turn dialogue into meaningful action.
For resources and to find out more about this year’s campaign visit www.napcan.org.au
‘Child abuse and neglect is preventable. If we all work together as a community we can create an Australia where all children can grow up safe and well. What role can you play in supporting children and their families?’ (Leesa Waters, CEO, NAPCAN)
RE Matters
CELEBRATING OUR DADS
This morning, our school community gathered in the Marist Centre to celebrate and thank God for the gift of fathers. Miss Rostirolla led our celebration and our students participated prayerfully and sang beautifully. A very big THANK YOU to Mr Andrew Schembri who shared a reflection on what it means for him to be a father. He described the most important part of his role and explained the joy of having children to love, to guide and to grow up with. He even told a Dad Joke or two. The talents and efforts of everyone who organised, set up for and contributed to this time of prayer were very much appreciated.
Today we also hosted our annual Father’s Day Picnic and lots of dads and grandads joined the fun. A big THANK YOU to all who attended. We hope you had a lovely time with your children and grandchildren, and that Sunday is a day filled with love, laughter and happiness. Be sure to check out all the photos in next week’s newsletter.
MARY’S BIRTHDAY
On 8 September each year the Church celebrates Our Lady’s birthday. We do not usually celebrate the birthdays of the saints. Instead, we celebrate the day they died, because that is the day they were born to eternal life. But the birth of Mary is special. We celebrate her birthday because she came into this world full of grace and because she is the Mother of Jesus, Mother of the Church and our heavenly mother.
Why not celebrate Mary’s birthday by spending time as a family and offering a prayer for each other? There are lots of beautiful ‘Mary’ prayers to share, including the Hail Mary and The Rosary.
Follow the links to listen to some lovely ‘Mary’ songs:
The Chapel will be open at lunchtime on Monday for prayer and reflection and classes will be invited to visit during the day.
CELEBRATING WITH THE MARIST SISTERS
The Marist Sisters celebrate the anniversary of their congregation on 8 September, the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was on that day in 1823 that Jeanne Marie Chavoin and Marie Jotillon, with the permission of the Bishop of Belley, came to live together in the parish of Cerdon, France, as a religious order. Since then, the Sisters have shared their love of God by living the Gospels as Mary did. They have served in many countries and communities in many different ways.
In 1983, at the invitation of Bishop Bernard Wallace, the Marist Sisters established Emmanuel Catholic School and Sister Joan Carmel McBride was our founding principal. We thank the Sisters and continue to pray for those who established and staffed our school and continue to share God’s love in the world today. Please include the Sisters who have worked in our school, and are listed below, in your prayers and give thanks for the gift they have been to our community.
Marist Sisters who ministered to Emmanuel Catholic School/College (1983-1992):
Sr Joan McBride, Sr Joan Sheppard, Sr Laurentia, Sr Austin, Sr Julia, Sr Bartholomew, Sr Maureen, Sr Clare, Sr Carmel, Sr Bernadette, Sr Marie Patricia, Sr Noelene, Sr Marie and Sr Judith.
To find out more about the Marist Sisters and their work in the world today click on the tab below:
ANOINTING MASS
Our Parish of North Mackay and Farleigh has a monthly Eucharistic Celebration to administer the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick to those who are unwell and/or elderly in the community. Yesterday our Year Four students attended the September Mass and participated in the ministries. They read and sang beautifully and had a lovely chat with some of the parishioners at the morning tea which followed the Mass.
A big thank you to Fr Raju who lead the celebration and made it so special for our students and all who participated.
Here is what some of students said about the Mass and those they accompanied.
We enjoyed talking to Greg. He told us some cool facts and that his daughter has five children. (Ben and Lachlan)
The lady I was sitting next to taught Miss Rostirolla in Grade 3. I thought that was pretty cool! (Violet)
I enjoyed listening to Marie’s stories. She was so kind. She even works at our tuckshop. (Savannah)
The two ladies I was sitting with told me about their grandkids love to go fishing with their grandad. (Audrina)
Theresa used to play hockey just like me! (Bianca)
I enjoyed listening to Christina talk about her family. She was so lovely. (Aisha)
I loved listening to my person talk about her family. She must love them so much. (Brooklyn)
Not only was there Mass, there was also people being anointed with oil and receiving a blessing. (Isabella)
DANIEL MORCOMBE CHILD SAFETY CURRICULUM
Throughout this term, our school will be implementing the Daniel Morcombe Child Safety Curriculum with students in all year levels. The curriculum is based on principles of best practice in child safety education and centres around three key messages: Recognise, React and Report.
It is important that these key safety messages are reinforced, both at school and home. I encourage you, wherever possible, to talk with your child about safety to help them stay safe now and in the future.
For weekly Gospel readings, reflections and meditations go to http://www.prayasyoucan.com.au/
Download this week’s parish bulletin @ https://rok.catholic.net.au/parish/mackay-st-josephs/#
For Parish News go to the Catholic Parish of North Mackay and Farleigh Facebook page.
VIRTUE OF THE FORTNIGHT – UNITY
“So powerful is the light of unity, that it can illuminate the whole world.” (Unknown)
Unity is inclusiveness. It helps people work and live together peacefully. When you practice unity, you feel connected to everyone and everything. It is achieved when we value each other. The joy of one is the joy of all. The hurt of one is the hurt of all. The honour of one is the honour of all.
“Where there is unity, there is strength.” (Unknown)
Noeleen Kliese
Assistant Principal Religious Education
Curriculum Corner
This week, we are thrilled to welcome literacy expert Louise Dempsey from The Literacy Place to our school for a two-day writing workshop that promises to ignite creativity and deepen understanding across classrooms.
Louise brings a wealth of experience and passion for writing instruction, and over Thursday and Friday, she will be working closely with both students and teachers to explore the building blocks of powerful writing. Her sessions will focus on:
- 🌟 Complex Sentences – helping students stretch their ideas and add depth
- 💬 WOW Words – expanding vocabulary to make writing more vivid and expressive
- 🔗 Conjunctions and Compound Sentences – strengthening sentence fluency and structure
On Thursday, Louise will engage directly with students and teachers in hands-on workshops, modeling strategies and guiding learners through rich writing experiences. Then on Friday, she will collaborate with our dedicated teaching staff—including the team from MacKillop—to further embed these practices into classroom instruction.
We are incredibly grateful to Louise Dempsey for sharing her expertise and inspiring our educators. Her visit is a wonderful opportunity to elevate writing across our school and empower students to become confident, expressive writers.
OPTIMINDS
CONGRATULATIONS to our OptiMinds teams who participated in the Regional Challenge Day on Sunday. Our Media Communications team won their division and our Language Literature team was awarded Spirit of OptiMinds. A big THANK YOU to our staff who facilitated their participation. You are AMAZING!
BOOK WEEK FUN
BOOK WEEK was a wonderful celebration of books, reading, storytelling and creativity. Throughout the week, classes explored the shorted listed books, read to and with each other and created displays. Our students and staff dressed up as their favourite book characters and lots of parents and grandparents joined our reading adventures. The Readers Theatre performance of ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’ was exciting and full of laughter. Lots of teams tested their book knowledge at our Trivia Challenge and surprised themselves with how much they knew. Students also had lots of fun guessing how many bookworms were in the jar and buying tickets in our Book Week raffle. Local author Nikki Townley’s visit and her fabulous picture book 'No Drama, Cane Farmer!' were a highlight. May the adventures continue.
Brooke Tomkinson
Assistant Principal Curriculum (Acting)
APA News
SCHOOL DISCO - RESCHEDULED FRIDAY 12 SEPTEMBER
DISCO SAUSAGE SIZZLE
All sausage sizzle pre-orders for 04 September disco have been cancelled due to being rescheduled.
Please pre-order your sausages for the rescheduled disco (Friday 12 September) for catering purposes only by midnight on Thursday 11 September via the NEW TryBooking link below.
CASH payment is to be made on the night
Amanda McDonald
Assistant Principal Administration
Strategic Priorities 2025
SchoolTV
CELEBRATING FATHER'S DAY - A SPECIAL REPORT
With Father’s Day just around the corner, this Special Report highlights how the role of fathers has changed dramatically over the centuries and the positive impact they can have on their children’s mental health. It is also a gentle reminder for them to ensure their own wellbeing and seek help if necessary.
A CONVERSATION CAN CHANGE A LIFE
R U OK? Day is our National Day of Action dedicated to reminding everyone that any day and every day is the day to ask, 'Are you OK?'
It inspires and empowers everyone to meaningfully connect with the people around them and start a conversation with those in their world who may be struggling with life.
You don't need to be an expert to reach out - just a good friend and a great listener.
Be sure to check out School TVs Special Report: R U OK? Day via our school website or the tab below.
Sporting News
SWIMMING CARNIVAL
Our Year 2-6 Interhouse Swimming Carnival will be held at the Pioneer Pool on Thursday 23 October.
Permission/Nomination Forms were emailed to the parents of students in Year 2 and in Years 3-6 on Monday 1 September. Please complete the form/s giving permission for your child/ren to participate in the carnival.
A form needs to be completed for each child, even if they are not participating in events.
Year 2 students will participate in NOVELTY EVENTS in the wading pool and on the grass. Students who can competently swim are also invited to nominate in a WIDTH EVENT.
Year 3-6 students may compete in either width OR length events, not both.
Please Note: Points towards Age Champion are only awarded for length events, and only 50m swimmers are eligible to compete in the relays.
Students swim in the age group that they turn in 2025.
Only students who are nominated by parents via the emailed form/s will be swimming on the day.
Forms must be submitted by 2:00pm on Wednesday 17 September.
We are looking forward to another wonderful carnival. Parents and friends are encouraged to attend and cheer on the students as they vie for house points and a day of friendly competition.
PREP AND YEAR ONE - BLUE WATER LAGOON VISIT - THURSDAY 23 OCTOBER
While the rest of the school are at the pool, our Prep and Year One students will enjoy a visit to the Blue Water Lagoon. Information and permission forms will be sent home to the parents of these students in the coming weeks.
MDSS INTERSCHOOL CRICKET COMPETITION
The Emmanuel Cricket team had a tough Round 4 match against the big hitters, Chelona State School. It was a close game, but they came away with the win by just a few runs. What a successful season they have had. One more game left in the season and a nervous wait to see if we have made the final as net run rates are calculated. Congratulations to our boys!
EMMANUEL OZTAG TEAMS
Planning for Oztag is now well underway. Thank you to those who returned their forms. I have forwarded names to Mackay Oztag and we are now working together to finalise teams. I am working with students to create team names and once these have been chosen, you will be able to register your child online and assign them to the correct team. Please look out for an email from me next week on how to register your child. We are still chasing some players who might like to join our Year 4 Oztag team and our Year 2 Oztag team. Please email lisa_bottcher@rok.catholic.edu.au if you have a Year 2 or Year 4 student who would be interested in joining an Emmanuel Oztag team.
Season Details:
- $95 per player + $20 yearly membership fee
- 10-week season (10 games) starting Wednesday 8 October
- Wednesday afternoons from 4:00pm
- No training required
- Runs for the duration of Term 4. There will be one game played in the first week of the school holidays when State Schools are still at school.
- This competition is open to all students 5 years and over
- Teams can be boys, girls or mixed
- Teams must have a minimum of eleven players, eight on the field
IMPORTANT: Please be aware that this competition needs parents to volunteer in order to be successful. Teams will not be able to register without a parent delegate. The parent delegate's job is to manage the team and sub students on and off during games. Emmanuel school staff will not be present to supervise this competition.
Lisa Bottcher
HPE Teacher
Around the School
YEAR 6 STUDENTS REACH FOR THE STARS WITH SOLAR SYSTEM MODELS
This term, our Year 6 students have been exploring the wonders of space—and their learning culminated in a truly stellar project. As part of their science assessment, students designed and built model solar systems, showcasing not only their understanding of planetary order and scale but also their incredible creativity and attention to detail.
From orbiting planets to glowing suns, each model reflected the effort and enthusiasm our students brought to their space studies. It was clear that the topic had sparked imaginations and inspired some truly out-of-this-world creations!
To celebrate their hard work, Year 6 invited the Year 2 students to view the models. Year 2 had studied the solar system earlier in the year, so this was a wonderful opportunity for cross-year learning and connection. The younger students were full of questions and excitement, and our Year 6s proudly explained their designs and shared fun facts about the planets.
It was a beautiful moment of peer learning, curiosity, and collaboration.
School Choir
Awards
Congratulations to the students pictured below who received an award in Week 7.
Outside of School Hours Care
PUPIL FREE DAY - Friday 05 September
Bookings are still available - please book via the
Xplor App
VACATION CARE PROGRAM
Finance
TERM 3 SCHOOL FEE STATEMENTS- OVERDUE
Term 3 Parent Accounts were emailed to all families on 15 July. Payments are now overdue as of Wednesday 30 July.
If you are making fee payments by Internet Banking, please ensure you use the six-digit Parent Code that appears on the top right hand corner of your Statement as your reference. Please contact the Finance Office if you have not received your statement, or if you wish to discuss making payments via a regular Direct Debit Authority.
Do you hold a current ‘means tested’ Government Health Care or Pensioner Concession Card? Parents/Carers with an eligible means tested Australian Government Health Care Card or Pensioner Concession Card can receive a 40% discount on the All-inclusive Education fee of all eligible students from the family (after any family discount has been applied).
2026 SCHEDULE OF FEES
The 2026 Fee schedule is now available in the link below:
Tuckshop News
TUCKSHOP NEWS
Due to work commitments and illness, the tuckshop is in need of volunteers for Mondays and Tuesdays. Please contact the office if you can assist on these days, even just for a few hours once a month.
Please Note: It is imperative that volunteers DO NOT attend tuckshop if they are unwell or have anyone at home who is unwell.
SWAP IT!
Parent Orbit
The Parent Orbit app, which is connected to Parent Lounge, will improve our communication with each other as it offers a quick and easy way to receive notifications, view academic reports, book Parent/Teacher interviews, add and acknowledge Student Absences, view and pay School Fees, accept or decline excursions via the Events and Payments tile, update student details, email class teachers and much more.
Notices
CASH ONLY - Please remember to bring small change when purchasing from the Uniform Shop.
Community News
