Volume 14 Issue 11 Term 3, 5th September 2025

Principals Report

School Absences

Term Fees

Email copies of current accounts are emailed home from accounts@quilpie.catholic.edu.au , please check your emails to confirm your account balance.

St Finbarr's Pillar Awards 2025

Prep Transition Day

School Photo Orders

Forms went home with most Dad's on Thursday, please can they be returned to the school by this coming Monday 8th Sept, money can be sent in otherwise photos will be charged to your school account.

School Calander

📱 Stay Connected with St Finbarr's

• Have you saved the St Finbarr's Messaging Service number to your phone?
  👉 0436 349 942

• Have you synced the School Calendar to your phone yet?
  This is the fastest and easiest way to stay up to date with all upcoming events at St Finbarr's.

Once subscribed, all school events will automatically appear in your phone’s calendar—so you’ll never miss an important date again.

📅 Follow the simple steps below to subscribe to the online school calendar (when viewing the school newsletter on your phone):

 St Finbarr's School, Quilpie, Calendar

 St Finbarr's School, Quilpie Website

5/6 Class Update

It’s been a busy and exciting term for the 5/6 class, filled with hands-on learning, creativity, and new experiences! We were fortunate to welcome Miss Thompson, an education student completing her first practicum, into our classroom. As part of her teaching, she led a mock vote to help students understand the preferential voting system and the importance of the secret ballot. This engaging activity sparked great discussions about democracy and decision-making.

In Mathematics, students have continued to build their numeracy fluency through practical activities. We’ve been constructing fraction lines and using visual models to deepen our understanding of number concepts. The hands-on approach has made learning both fun and meaningful.

Our English lessons have taken a poetic turn this term. Students have been reading and writing poetry, exploring rhythm, imagery, and expression. This creative work tied in beautifully with our performance's at Charleville Performing Arts Festival last Friday.

The Arts have also been a major focus, with students diving into both drama and visual art. We’re excited to see the fruit of their hard work and enthusiasm.

Prep 1 Class

Our Prep 1 class has been buzzing with activity this term! Everyone has been working hard to get their projects ready for the Quilpie show next week, and the excitement is definitely building. We can’t wait to share all our wonderful work with you!

We were also very lucky to have a special visitor in our classroom—Mrs. Kathy Doherty. It was such a pleasure to have her join us. If you missed the news, Mrs. Doherty will be stepping into the role of Acting Principal starting next term and continuing through to Term 4 in 2026. We’re thrilled to have her leading our school and look forward to the journey ahead.

Cricket with Ms. Barron.

This term in sport, Ms Barron has been guiding our students through the exciting world of cricket—a game that’s all about timing, patience, speed, and teamwork. Whether they’re batting, bowling, or fielding, the kids have embraced every challenge with enthusiasm and energy. 

What’s been especially wonderful to see is that it doesn’t really matter what game they’re playing—our students simply love being active, learning new skills, and having fun together. Sport continues to be a highlight of the week!

Quilpie & District Sport

PPF 2025

Next meeting planned for Wednesday 10th 5pm

Book Week Dress up Day

What a great effort by our Students and Staff !

Charleville Performing Arts Festival

St Finbarr's Shines at the Charleville Performing Arts Festival

Last Friday, our entire school community travelled to Charleville to participate in the Charleville Performing Arts Festival. Congratulations to all our students on an outstanding day—what a remarkable success for St Finbarr's!

🎭 Verse Speaking Results

• Year 5/6 class proudly took home Gold

• Year 2/3 class received a Highly Commended award

• Prep/Year 1 class earned a well-deserved Bronze

🎶 Choir Performance

• Our whole school choir was awarded Gold for their videoed performance—an incredible achievement showcasing unity and talent.

🎹 Individual & Ensemble Performances Special congratulations to Nate, Oscar, Rosi, and Ella, who each won awards for their outstanding individual performances.

• Cleo and Ella were awarded Gold for their exceptional piano duet

• Rosie and Hailey earned a well-deserved Silver for their piano duet

We are so proud of every student who participated—your hard work, creativity, and courage truly made this day unforgettable. St Finbarr’s continues to shine brightly!

Australian Army Band Visit

The Australian Army Band Brisbane's Pep Band is a group in the style of a New Orleans street band. Made up of a small number of instruments that would normally be found in a marching band, this group plays fun covers of well-known songs as well as a couple of more traditional and modern New Orleans "brass band" style tunes. You can normally find them doing roaming performances at various community events like shows and open days as well as entertaining crowds and athletes in charity or Defence sporting events like Run Army, and even St Finbarr's School 

https://www.facebook.com/AustralianArmyBand

Happy Father's Day

Another lovely afternoon spent with our Fathers, Grandfathers, and father figures at our 2nd Annual Father's Day Luncheon and Soccer Match!
A huge thank you to everyone who was able to join us — and an extra shoutout to the competitive souls who took on the students in the soccer match. 

CTJ Day-Pupil Free Day 5th September

Today is CTJ Day. What is that, you ask? CTJ is an acronym for Consistency of Teacher Judgement which essentially means that teachers get together for a day of professional development outside the classroom environment to build teacher capacity to engage with the Australian Curriculum, understand its intent and develop teaching practices to make informed decisions about student learning. It's a very full day of learning for our teachers so that they can better assist our students by working on the planning, teaching and assessment of student work. So in a nutshell, Friday is a day off for students, so that the teachers can be students for a day!

Parent Teacher Interviews 8th-10th Sept

Parent teacher interviews will be conducted next week from Monday 8th Sept – 10th Wednesday 

All families have now been sent via Text from St Finbarr's Messaging Service a time to see your child's teacher, if you have not received a message please contact the Office asap.

This is an important meeting in understanding how your child’s learning is progressing. 

If due to extreme circumstance you cannot attend a session. We will try to organize another time which suits both your family and your teachers’ schedules. Please check you emails for your allotted time/s.

Show Holiday 12th Sept

School Uniforms

Don't forget as the weather warms up, we have a good supply of school uniforms, shorts, skorts and vests for those in-between days. Just go to the Office and they will sort you out.

Tuck-Shop 2025

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Horizons Magazine

In line with the diocese’s ongoing commitment to environmental responsibility, reducing waste, and managing costs, they are continuing to review how Horizons is distributed across the diocese, especially schools. TCSO has also highlighted a growing emphasis on digital communication within school communities.

Many schools have already embraced the digital version of Horizons, available at www.twb.catholic.org.au/horizons/, and have either significantly reduced or completely ceased receiving printed copies.

Following this trend and as per advice from TCSO, they will no longer be sending printed copies to primary schools by default.  This will come into effect for the issue out in September.

Child Protection Week 2025 (7-13 September)

The theme for Child Protection Week this year is a follow on from last year’s theme of “Every Conversation Matters.” As parents and carers, conversations between you and your children are vital – you are the most important people in your child’s life to advocate for them, listen to them, and share messages of safety and support.

This year during Child Protection Week we encourage parents and carers to speak with their children about their understanding of safety and their support networks. In particular, we encourage parents to educate themselves and have conversations with their children about online safety – an area we know that is a growing risk for our children and young people. You can access useful resources about online safety on the eSafety Commissioner’s website here: The hard-to-have conversations | eSafety Commissioner

Should any student be concerned about how they are being treated by an adult, or another child or young person, they are encouraged to speak up to a trusted staff member or one of our School Student Protection Contacts (SSPCs).  All students were reminded who our SSPCs are, and that they are depicted on the ‘Keeping Safe’ posters located around the school.

Child Protection really is everyone’s business, and we are committed to making our school a safe, secure, and protected place of learning for every

Term 3 2025

Calendars

Your Contact Details

If your details have changed in the past year, especially your emergency contacts, please let the Office know so our records are accurate and up to date.

Assembly

School Yard access

School Bell Times

Term Dates 2025

St Finbarr's Student Protection Contacts

It is a legislative requirement that all non-state schools have at least two nominated staff members to whom a student can report the behaviour of another staff member that the student considers inappropriate.  We call these specially trained staff members School Student Protection Contacts, or SSPCs.  Each SSPC has been nominated by the principal in recognition of their integrity, approachability and knowledge in the area of student protection.  Whilst students are encouraged to speak up to any trusted adult in the school community, it is important that they know they can access these specific staff members at any time should they have worries, queries or concerns. You will have noticed posters throughout the school depicting our current SSPCs.  The SSPCs are also published on our school website along with information about our student protection processes.  In everything we do at St Finbarr's student safety is our highest priority, therefore the SSPCs at our school are key personnel in our overall safeguarding processes.  Please see the poster depicting our current SSPC team.