Dear Parents

This week we enter the season of Lent, a 40-day season that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends at sundown on Holy Thursday. Lent is a period of preparation to celebrate Jesus' Resurrection at Easter.

Lent is a good time for self-renewal; a time to accept and challenge what we may be holding onto that is not serving us. It’s a time we are invited to grow closer to God through prayer, fasting and helping others, as Jesus did.  

PRAYER is our conversation with God. In these exchanges we develop a closer and more intimate relationship with God. This relationship fosters gratitude for our blessings and provides support during challenging times. Prayer can be experienced through mass, individually or with a community.

FASTING: Fasting is an ancient, sacred Lenten tradition. Fasting involves abstaining from certain foods or activities as a form of self-discipline and sacrifice.  Traditionally Catholics abstain from eating meat on Fridays for the duration of Lent.

ALMSGIVING: acts of charity or generosity for those in need.

Some ideas our students and staff have previously engaged in to participate in Lent:

• Attend mass each week during Lent
• Do set jobs without being asked
• Give up barista coffee and donate the extra money to a charity 
• Volunteer at a local organisation (YAPS, St Vincent de Paul, Lifeline)
• Write a letter of thanks to friends and family
• Give up ice cream, lollies, fast food, alcohol, chocolate
• Clean out cupboards and donate to a charity
• Don’t eat meat on a Friday
• Help mum and dad around the house
• Meditate
• Reach out to someone you’re estranged from
• Reduce screen time and play a family board game instead
• Enjoy silence in creation - walk on the beach, sit and listen to sounds of the Red Arrow

Dear Lord
Guide me as I humbly seek to repent and return to your love. 
May humility guide my efforts to be reconciled with you 
and live forever in your abundant grace.
Transform me this Lent, heavenly Father. 
Give me the strength to commit myself to grow closer to you each day.

Amen.

Katherine Boot
Principal

Please prioritise your child’s learning and plan 2025 family holidays around these dates.

Term 1: Wednesday, January 29 → Friday, April 4 (10 Weeks)

Term 2: Tuesday, April 22 → Friday, June 27 (10 Weeks)

Term 3: Monday, July 14 → Friday, September 19 (10 Weeks)

Term 4: Tuesday, October 7 → Friday, December 5 (9 Weeks)

Public Holidays

• Friday 18 April: Good Friday (School Holidays) 
• Monday 21 April: Easter Monday (School Holidays) 
• Friday 25 April: ANZAC Day
• Monday 5 May: Labour Day
• Friday 18 July: Cairns Show Day
• Monday 6 October: King’s Birthday

Student Free Days

• Thursday 17 July - Cairns Show Holiday

Prep Vision Screening 

Monday, March 3

• NAPLAN Practice Writing - Year 5

Tuesday, March 4

• Shrove Tuesday - 
• Years 5 and 6 bring a plate of pancakes to sell
• All years bring 50c to purchase a pancake
• School Photo Day 
• Correct school uniform required - extravagant hair pieces will be removed for photos
• 5:30 School Board meeting (members only)

Wednesday, March 5

• Ash Wednesday
• 10:00 Liturgy in the church

Thursday, March 6

• NAPLAN Practice Omnibus - Year 3 & 5

Friday, March 7

• 8:30 Assembly - 5A leading prayer
• 9:15 - Cross Country Walkthrough

Saturday, March 8

• 4:15 Reconciliation preparation session 2 in the Hall
• 5:30 Parish Mass - led by Bishop Joe, sacramental candidates encouraged to attend

Week  7 - BOOK FAIR

The library is open between 8:10-8:30 and 2:50-3:30 for parents to purchase books.

Tuesday, March 11

• 8:30 Parent Engagement - Coffee on the Deck
• 5.00 - 6.00 Classroom Open Night
• Book Fair open during this time

Wednesday, March 12

• 9:00 NAPLAN - Writing

Thursday, March 13

• 9:00 NAPLAN - Reading
• 2:15 Assembly

Friday, March 14

• Year 3 - Year 6 Cross Country at the Northern Reserve

Saturday, March 15

• 4:15 Reconciliation preparation session 3 in the Hall
• 5:30 Parish Mass - sacramental candidates encouraged to attend

Week  8

Monday, March 17

• St Patrick’s Day - wear a green shirt with the remaining school uniform
• 2:15 Year 4 Liturgy in the Church 

Tuesday, March 18

• 8:30 Parent Engagement - Coffee on the Deck
• 9:00 NAPLAN - Conventions of Language

Wednesday, March 19

• 9:00 NAPLAN - Numeracy

Friday, March 21

• 8:30 Assembly - 4A Leading prayer

Week  9

Parent -Teacher interviews - recommended for all families in Term 1

Tuesday, March 25

• 8:30 Parent Engagement - Coffee on the Deck
• 1:50 Reconciliation in the church

Friday, March 28

• 8:30 Assembly
• Prep - Year 2 Cross Country at MoGC 

Week 10

Parent -Teacher interviews - recommended for all families in Term 1

Tuesday, April 1

• 8:30 Parent Engagement - Coffee on the Deck

Friday, April 4 (last day of Term 1)

• 8:30 Assembly 
• 11:15 Holy Week Liturgy in the church

Each year Mother of Good Counsel utilises school-based data and Cairns Diocesan Strategic Directions to engage in a review and planning cycle. From this inquiry, specific goals, priorities, targets and strategies are developed to enhance performance and achieve continuous improvement. 

MoGC’s 2025 School Annual Improvement priorities are to:

• Implement consistent Meditation practices across the school. Teachers reflect on RE units, core texts, resources and assessments and engage in a range of pedagogies to engage students e.g. Bibliodrama, Conversation Circle, Godly Play, Photo Yarn, Hermeneutical Communicative Model.
• Refine the established Tier 1 universal systems of support, and extend these to Tier 2 targeted systems of support. Staff participate in professional development relating to Universal Design for Learning to ensure students with diverse needs are included in the multi-tiered support system.eg. Sensory friendly classroom environments and supporting executive functions with classroom routines.
• Continue to roll out Version 9 of the Australian Curriculum. Staff engage with an external coach to strengthen pedagogy including the use of questioning and concrete materials across the school.
• Explore attendance data to understand the story of absenteeism of students attending below 80%. Working with the parent body to increase school engagement, with the goal of maintaining attendance at and above 80% of students attending school for 90% of the time.

In 2026, Mother of Good Counsel celebrates 90 years! If you or someone you know has a historical connection to MoGC, including memorabilia and photos, has a flair for event management or would like to be part of a committee to plan this special event, we’d love to hear from you. Please register your interest at secretary.nthcairns@cns.catholic.edu.au.

Term 1 school fees have been emailed to families and are due for payment on or before Monday, March 10 unless you have a direct debit in place. If you are experiencing hardship, please contact the office to arrange a meeting with Katherine Boot so support can be arranged. 

This week we welcome our new School Support Officer, Ms Chelsea to Mother of Good Counsel. Chelsea will be supporting staff and students in the Year 1 space. Please say hi and make her feel welcome.

Also commencing this week is our new groundsperson, Ricky. Ricky has been busy getting to know our space and we’re already noticing his attention to detail! 

School photographs were taken on Tuesday, March 4. Online orders can be made until Tuesday, March 18 using the link below. Orders can not be submitted through the school office.

Over the next few months you’ll notice some changes around the school. Work is commencing on the Parish Presbytery, preparing this space for renovation. Once refurbished, the building will become the parish house for our assisting Priest, Fr Santhosh. Fr Roy will also live there until his quarters have been renovated at the Bishop’s House.

We are looking forward to having our priests living close to the school, further strengthening our relationship with the Parish. 

We will soon be saying goodbye to the frangipani tree on the corner of Seymour Street and O’Keefe Street. Unfortunately the tree has outgrown the space and is causing issues with drainage on the Administration roof and Seymour Street ground level.

A huge thank you to our Year 5 and Year 6 Students and families for supplying us with lots of yummy pancakes to sell on Shrove Tuesday. Students were given the opportunity to purchase a pancake for 50c in the morning with the leftover pancakes being sold at Morning Tea and Lunchtime. The pancake sale raised $250 for Project Compassion. 

Ash Wednesday signifies the beginning of the Church’s season of Lent. Marking ashes on our foreheads is a public expression of our faith and humility. Lent is a time of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Prayer helps us to get closer to God and remember the promises made for us at our baptism. Through fasting, we give something up to show our love for God and to be more aware of those living in poverty. Almsgiving means to give to others to show we care about justice and we are thankful for what God has given us. 

Lent gets us ready for Easter, the most important time in the Church. Through prayer, fasting and almsgiving, we remember Jesus’s death and resurrection. Jesus brought the promise of hope to all people so that we may, “have life and have it to the full” (John 10:10). As we live into that fullness, may we come together to unite against poverty with love and hope.

Our Sacramental preparation began on Saturday March 1. Currently 25 of our students are preparing for the Sacrament of Reconciliation, one of the sacraments of healing. These sessions have been moved to a Saturday this year to make it easier for families to attend church afterwards as part of their preparation. Thank you to the families who attended the preparations on Saturday, our next session is Saturday March 8. This will be followed by 5:30pm Mass led by Bishop Joe this week! 

Thank you to the families who joined us for Hotdogs & Handball. We had massive turnout yet again for this term’s Fathering Project event. Fathers, father-figures and a sprinkle of mums came together with their children to experience a delicious hotdog along with enjoyable games of handball!

The event provided an opportunity for dads to enjoy some quality time with their children and also connect with other dads in a low-key, fun environment. We look forward to seeing even more fathers at our next Fathering Project event! 

Thank you to MoGC Connect for supporting this event and supplying the Hotdogs!

On Friday, February 28, staff and students took part in School Clean Up Australia Day. It was a great way to inspire our students to learn about the impact of rubbish on their local environment while playing an active role in their school. They had a ‘glovely’ walk! 

Throughout the year, students are provided with a range of opportunities to be engaged in:

• Chess Club 
• Eisteddfod Literary Competition 
• Choir
• Readers Cup
• Instrumental  - voice, violin, guitar (commences in Year 2)
• Sporting opportunities through Trinity Coast Central
• After- school sport - tennis, basketball, AFL, soccer etc

Unfortunately, due to staff availability, we are unable to offer Dance Club, nor enter a Dance Troupe into this year's Cairns Eisteddfod. Students can look forward to engaging in Hip Hop with Miss Sian in Term 2.

In the last Newsletter, we shared information about Second Step, our whole school approach to Social Emotional Learning. The Zones of Regulation are explicitly taught in the P-2 junior school, and the concepts embedded reinforced throughout the upper school.

Zones of Regulation is an approach used to support the development of self-regulation in children. All the different ways children feel and the states of alertness they experience are categorized into four coloured zones. We use Zones of Regulation to teach children how to:

•   Identify their feelings
•   Be aware of what zone they are in
•   Start to use tools to help be in the appropriate zone for the moment

Book Fair is a library fundraiser where families have the opportunity to visit and purchase quality books from our pop up book shop. The book shop is open for ONE week only, so make sure you drop in and help support the school and the library. 

• When: March 10 - 14
• Where: The Library
• Time: 8:10am - 8:30am & 2:50pm - 3:10pm daily
  5:00pm-6:00pm Tuesday, March 9 (open classroom evening)
• Payments: Eftpos available; NO cash 

If you are unable to make it to the library during Book Fair, you can purchase items from home.

• Go to:  https://parentpayments.scholastic.com.au/BookFairs
• Click Book Fairs
• Search for Mother of Good Counsel
• Enter the amount and pay
• Record the receipt number on the back of your child's wish list
• Ask your child to return the wish list to the Library as this will go into a draw to win a lucky prize

Orders and payments need to be completed before 3:00pm Tuesday 16 March.

This week, Year 3 and 5 students participate in the NAPLAN practice tests. On Monday, Year 5 completed the writing task, and tomorrow Years 3 and 5 sit the Omnibus task - a combination of reading, spelling, grammar, punctuation and numeracy. 

Practice tests provide students and teachers an opportunity to experience the online platform, question types and response styles. We are ready for the real thing later! A reminder of the MOGC testing schedule:

Year 5 iPads will not go home during the NAPLAN testing period, from Friday, March 7.

A reminder for students to register their interest in participating in the Literary Eisteddfod.

Competition Categories:

Students can showcase their writing talents in the following categories:

• Creative Writing (Years 1 - 6)
• Poetry Writing (Years 1 - 6)
• Letter Writing (Years 1 - 6)
• Journalistic Report Writing (Years 1 - 6)
• Script Writing (Years 1 - 6)
• Speech Writing (Years 1 - 6)

Competition Guidelines:

• Students must independently compose an original text from the sections/topics provided in the attached Literary Schedule. Students may choose a maximum of two sections.
• Texts submitted must be the student’s original and unaided work. Parents will be required to sign a Declaration confirming this closer to the submission date.

Important Dates:

• Nomination Due: Friday, March 21
• Submit a response to the emailed home parent slip, including students' nominated section/s (maximum of 2).
• Payment: $9/section enclosed in an envelope labeled with your child's name, to be handed in at the office.
• Final Written Submissions Due: Friday, April 18
• In accordance with the Eisteddfod Rules, submit a typed and printed copy of each submission to Mrs. Buckland or the office.
• Attach a completed and signed Declaration for each submission.

Mrs. Buckland will offer lunchtime support sessions before and after the holidays, with the majority of work to be completed during the Easter holiday break.

If your child hasn't nominated themselves for the Eisteddfod, please contact Breye Buckland, our Leader of Learning and Teaching, at bbuckland@cns.catholic.edu.au to receive a Parent Slip form.

On Tuesday, March 11 families are invited to visit classrooms between 5:00pm and 6:00pm. This is a student lead tour; a time to share the learning that has taken place so far this term, and an opportunity for you to meet your child’s classroom teacher.

The MoGC Book Fair will also be open for families during this time.

From the Parent Handbook:

In Term 1 of each Year, parents are asked to attend a meeting with their child’s teacher to discuss their growth and progress. Information is sent to the registered email address of families and through Parent Teacher Online (PTO), parents choose a suitable 15-minute time slot. In Term 3, parent-teacher interviews are held at teacher or parent request.

These meetings take place in the final two weeks of school. Please check your inbox from next week to secure your preferred time. Email invitations are sent to the main contact registered through the enrolment process. Staff can accommodate ONE interview time per student. Families requiring an additional time slot can organise a meeting outside this two-week period.

Prep 2026 enrolment interviews are underway. If you, a family member or friend have a child commencing Prep next year, please contact the office or submit an online enrollment form to secure your interview placement.

Your child looks to you for guidance - not just in what you say, but in how you handle life’s challenges. Fathers play a key role in building resilience and confidence in their children by modelling how to navigate difficulties with strength and perseverance.

Show Resilience in Everyday Moments

When your child sees you staying calm under pressure, solving problems, and bouncing back from setbacks, they learn how to do the same.

Try this: Next time you face a challenge, talk to your child about how you’re handling it. Show them that setbacks are part of life and that perseverance is key to overcoming them.

By leading with resilience, you help your child develop the confidence to take on life’s ups and downs.

Frankie competed at the FNQ Long Course Swimming Championships on the weekend and won the U10 girls Age Champion.

Frankie has been selected to represent Peninsula later this month.  

There is a legislative requirement that any volunteers at our school fulfil each of the following:

• Be a parent OR hold a Blue Card for working with Children
• Complete Volunteer Training (Online, available at out school website) every 2 calendar years
• Sign in and out, at the office, for every volunteer session. 

MoGC Connect Meeting

If you have a topic you’d like raised at the MoGC Connect meeting, send agenda items to mogc.connect@cnsstu.catholic.edu.au.

2025 Parent Contacts 

If you have a question about your child’s year level, are looking for information or need some guidance on where to direct an enquiry, these parents contacts are happy for you to reach out to them:

• Prep: Stacey Watt: staceylwatt@outlook.com
• Year 1: Louise Bernstein: louise.bernstein@blueoceanic.com &
  Emma Smith: emmajb21@hotmail.com
• Year 2: James Rickman: jamesrickman@yahoo.com.au
• Year 3: Paula Kelly: paulajkelly81@gmail.com
• Year 4: Jenny Gangell: jenny.gangell@gmail.com
• Year 5: Joeleen Bettini: joeleenb1@bigpond.com & Bindi Cooper: coopernb@outlook.com
• Year 6: Kate & Carl Vogler: katevogler@hotmail.com

Coffee on the Deck

Parents and carers are invited to join us for Coffee on the Deck each Tuesday between 8:30 and 9:00. This is a great opportunity to chat with staff and meet other families. 

STUDENTS OF THE WEEK