Newsletter 24 October 2025

Principal's Message

Friday 24 October 2025 - Term 4 Week 2 

Dear Parents and Carers,

What a wonderfully busy and fulfilling couple of weeks we’ve had! As the term progresses, it’s heartening to see the vibrant community spirit that makes St Augustine’s such a special place for our children to learn and grow.

Celebrating Our Grandparents 

Our Grandparent’s Day celebrations last week were an enormous success! It was truly special to see so many of our students' grandparents join us for the beautiful liturgy, the enthusiastic classroom visits, and the lovely picnic lunches. The warmth and love in the school grounds were palpable. Thank you to everyone who made the trip—your presence means the world to our students and enriches our school community immensely.

Uniform Policy

This is a reminder that proper school uniform standards include wearing black school shoes from Monday to Thursday. Joggers are not permitted on these days. We understand that uniform costs can sometimes present a challenge and if money is an issue, please contact the school office - we will happily provide school shoes for your child. 

Blue for Bea Day: Community Fundraiser 

This Friday, October 31st, we will be launching a special community fundraiser called Blue for Bea. We are asking students to wear a blue accessory eg a ribbon, hair clip, wig, socks - anything blue will do and bring in a gold coin donation.  This particular appeal is to support one of our own families: Mr. Lambert and his daughter, Beatrix (Bea). Bea was born at 26 weeks and has numerous complex medical needs, requiring 24-hour care and essential therapies and equipment. This day is about coming together as a community to help ease the significant financial burden on the Lambert family. We are aware that we have asked for contributions for several special days recently, and we appreciate your generosity. 

Canteen Volunteers Desperately Needed! 

Our canteen is an essential part of the school but it cannot run without volunteers! We are currently in desperate need of helpers. If you have a few hours to spare, or can only manage a one-off day to help bridge a gap in the roster, please contact the school office. 

Bring in a Brom! Bromeliad Donations 

Following the wonderful landscaping work near the entrance, (thanks to Nick O'Halloran from The Perfect Detail) we've decided to add some beautiful, low-maintenance colour! We are asking our parent community to donate a Bromeliad cutting (often called a 'pup') from home if you have them. We plan to plant these under the existing palm trees to create a vibrant, tropical display. If you have a pup ready to go, please drop it off at the school office any time next week. 

Grace and peace,

Peter Watts

Faith and Mission News

All Souls Day and St Augustine’s School Parish Mass

All Souls' Day, celebrated on November 2nd, is a day for remembering and praying for loved ones who have passed away. This year All Souls Day falls on a Sunday and children are invited to write the names of loved ones who are deceased on the candle below, decorate it (optional), cut it out and bring it to the 9am Mass on Sunday 2 November. Velcro dots will be available outside the church before Mass to stick on the back of the candle. The children will carry these candles during the entrance procession, attach them to the felt board in front of the altar (a teacher will be there to help) and will then join their parents in the pews. Primary aged children will be invited to attend Children’s liturgy (from 9:05 to approx 9:30am ) in the Curran Centre where adults break open the Word for them in a child friendly way.

The ‘candle’ can be collected either from the LARC by the children at lunch times or from the adult leaders at Children’s Liturgy this Sunday.

Meet Christa Morrow

 Hi! I’m Christa, the St Augustine’s Parish Youth Coordinator. I began this role in January 2025, supporting youth ministry for high school students and young adults (18–35), and more recently, I’ve also been involved with primary school ministry. Before returning to full-time youth ministry, I worked as a high school teacher and youth minister in Port Macquarie. Getting to know Jesus has filled my life with so much goodness, and I feel blessed to help young people experience that same love and joy. If you see me around, please come and say hello!

Youth Group for Years 6 -12

This term, our Year 6 students are invited to attend the St Augustine’s Parish Youth group. Click HERE for more details.

Ministry For Primary School Students

Ministry opportunities for Primary aged children and registration forms can be found on this link.  St Augustine’s Parish Youth Ministry for Primary School Aged Students

Children’s Liturgy at Sunday 9am Mass 

Children’s Liturgy is for Primary School aged children. These children explore the readings of the day in a child friendly way in the Curran Centre led by two adult parishioners. A registration form needs to be completed for each child attending.

St Augustine’s Parish Children’ Choir

The St Augustine’s children’s choir will be singing at the 5.30pm Sunday Mass on the 26th of October. All primary aged children are welcome to join rehearsals at 3.30 at the church on the 17th and the 21st October.  Click HERE for the  registration form if you would like to join this choir.

St.AY n Glow

St.AY n Glow is a lunch club for Year 6 students where they develop youth ministry skills and their faith. Run by Christa Morrow, the Youth Coordinator in our parish, the students are working on making videos. We are excited to see what they create!

Family Matters

Lavish Love at Home

‘Pilgrims of Hope’

Many classes have begun their ‘pilgrimage’, working through the activities on the poster below. This pilgrimage will take almost all year to complete and we look forward to sharing some of the experiences that bring us closer to God.

Naomi Loader - Assistant Principal Mission
Maria Woods - Leader of School Evangelisation

GRANDPARENT'S DAY

Our Grandparents Day celebration this year was linked to 'World Values Day' which was celebrated globally on the day prior to our celebration. Our students reflected on how their grandparents teach them important values such as kindness, cooperation and respect. The song ‘Part of Me’ and testimonies from Mr Watts (a new grandfather) and Om Ning Mong Tha (grandfather of four of our students) helped us to acknowledge the importance of grandparents in our lives. Our Art Sale held to support students in our sister school in India raised $ 1530. A big thank you to all the generous grandparents who supported this cause.

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Pastoral Care

SAVE THE DATE - FUN FETE - FRI NOV 14

'Wear Blue for Bea' Day - Friday 31 October

On Friday 31 October 2025 students are invited to wear a blue accessory to school (and regular sports uniform) for a gold coin donation. Your blue accessory could be a wig, socks or a ribbon - anything blue will do! We are raising funds to help support our beautiful Lambert family.

Beatrix is the daughter of our much-loved PE teacher, Nick Lambert.  She was born in December 2023 at just 26 weeks and has faced immense challenges, including severe Cerebral Palsy, chronic lung disease, and feeding and vision impairments. She requires 24/7 care, daily therapy, and ongoing medical support. Nick and Lucy are juggling her complex needs while working as teachers, but they urgently need help.

We're fundraising for essential items not fully covered by the NDIS: a larger vehicle for her mobility needs ($45,000), a hospital-grade bed ($10,000), and intensive swallowing therapy ($4,500). Every donation helps give Bea the best chance at life during these crucial early years - please donate or share her story today.

If you would like to read more, donate or share please go to: https://gofund.me/18cea65fa

K-2 Parent Storytelling 2025

News from the LARC

Overdues

Students will be receiving overdue notices in LARC lessons this week and next. These are a friendly reminder of books that they need to find and return. You do not need to pay for the book if you are able to return it

Kindergarten 2026 preschool borrowing

If you have a child enrolled to start Kindergarten in 2026 please bring them into the LARC to borrow a Preschool Pack which contains seven books for you to share with your child. You are welcome to return and borrow these as regularly as you would like.

Mini Vinnies WACKY WEDNESDAY

What a wonderfully wacky fashion parade at lunchtime on Wednesday! Selecting our wacky winners was a very tough job for the Mini Vinnies Judges... Many thanks go to our school community for supporting this fundraiser - the proceeds will go to our Mini Vinnies Christmas Appeal.

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Kinder visit Coffs Coast Wildlife Sanctuary

As part of their Learning Module unit, Kindergarten has been exploring living things in Coffs Harbour. On Wednesday 22 October Kindergarten visited the Coffs Coast Wildlife Sanctuary to learn about our local marine and land animals, and how we as a community can care for them and their environment. A wonderful experience!

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Happy Families

Term 4 Live Event Entitled: Raising Responsible, Respectful Kids Wednesday 5 November, 7pm AEST / 8pm AEDT On-demand gratification has become the modern-day norm, and our children have never known anything different. As a result, parents are noticing a clear pattern of declining levels of resilience and frustration tolerance. We naturally want them to be happy and successful, but we also recognise that a sense of entitlement can hinder their journey. While our hearts yearn to give them the world, we know it’s equally important to nurture gratitude, responsibility, and respect within their hearts. Our children are growing up in a world defined by instant gratification. They’ve never known a time when things weren’t immediately accessible, which has contributed to declining resilience and frustration tolerance. As parents, we yearn to give them the world and shield them from disappointment, but we also know that fostering gratitude, responsibility, and respect is essential for their true happiness and success. Entitled with Dr Justin Coulson will dive deep into the issue of entitlement. We’ll explore its root causes, its impact on our children’s development, and most importantly, we’ll equip you with practical strategies to turn things around. You’ll learn how to shift your child’s mindset from “gimme” to “thank you”, and how to foster a sense of appreciation even in an age of abundance. In this presentation, we will navigate the challenges of parenting in today’s world and discover how to raise children who are not just responsible and respectful, but empowered, resilient, and ready to make a positive contribution to the world.  Register to receive the webinar link as well as email reminders here: https://happyfamiliesfamilyeducation.ac-page.com/answers-with-dr-justin-entitled-register-hfs

Sport News

NSWPSSA Athletics Championships

A big congratulations to Angus Morgan who competed in the 12/13 Year Boys 1500m event at the NSWPSSA Athletics Championships this week.  Angus ran an incredible time of 4:56 and finished 18th in the state!  Well done Angus on an incredible achievement.  We are very proud of you representing St Augustine’s School at such a high level of athletics.

Upcoming Event Reminder

St Augustine’s Representative Swimming Trials (Years 1-5)

Wednesday 3 December 2025

Representative swimmers ONLY. Please refer to the email sent Tuesday 21 October. 

For your child to attend this carnival, please complete the Nomination Form before the due date, Friday 7 November. 

CANTEEN NEWS

Canteen Roster  

Week beginning 27 October

• Monday - Help Needed   
• Tuesday -   K Hunn   
• Wednesday - C Jones   
• Thursday - J Murphy, D Kelly 
• Friday -  W McLean, L Horne, Dinah  

Week beginning 3 November     

• Monday - Chrissy 
• Tuesday -   A Jurkovic  
• Wednesday - C Jones  
• Thursday -  L Hardajer  
• Friday - W McLean, L Lawler, B McClurg     

Notices

 AFLW Game – Sydney Swans vs Essendon Bombers

When: Saturday, 1 November 2025
Where: C.ex Coffs International Stadium
Gates open: 3:30pm
First bounce: 5:05pm

Join us for an exciting AFLW Round 12 clash between the Sydney Swans and the Essendon Bombers right here in Coffs Harbour!

 More info: AFLW Game Details