Term 3 Parent-Teacher-Student Interviews

On Monday 1 July, all parents/guardians received an email regarding Term 3 Parent-Teacher-Student Interviews. The online booking system is currently open and will close on Tuesday 9 July at 11.59pm.

Parent-Teacher-Student Interviews will occur online via Zoom at the following days and times:

• Monday 15 July (1.30pm – 6.32pm) Please note, this is a Student Free Day so that students can attend.
• Monday 22 July (3.30pm – 8.32pm)

If parents are unsuccessful securing an appointment with a particular teacher, they are welcome to contact them directly via email.

If at any time you require assistance with Parent-Teacher-Student Interview bookings, please contact the IT Department at helpdesk@stritas.qld.edu.au 

Staffing Changes in Semester 2

This coming term will see several staff taking entitled leave, including maternity leave, as well as necessary personal and long service leave; this has necessitated a number of changes to the teachers who will be guiding classes through their learning. There are also several teachers who are returning after taking leave during Term 2. With the number of changes that are occurring, it is vital that all families and students check MySRC to see their most current timetable.

Whilst changing teaching staff is not ideal, it has been unavoidable, and leadership has worked hard to ensure that disruptions are kept to a minimum. Please understand that your child’s learning needs are being taken care of by the teacher they will be working with. It is the role of each teacher to ensure that every student is appropriately challenged and stretched in their learning so that she can attain her best. This will continue during Semester 2 at St Rita’s College.

I thank parents for their continued support in partnering with teachers to ensure that each student reaches their full potential.

Academic Awards Assembly

The Semester 1 Academic Awards Assembly will be held on Friday 19 July at 8.35am and parents of award recipients are welcome to attend. The list of Academic Award recipients will be finalised by Monday 15 July.

Year 9 and 10 2025 Subject Selection (current Year 8 and 9 families)

Students and parents/guardians are invited to attend the online Subject Selection evening on Wednesday 10 July. This is an important evening that will cover student core learning next year, as well as information to inform elective subject choices. Attendance by all Year 8 and 9 students with at least one parent/guardian is compulsory. All information including Zoom links are available via the respective Subject Selection Pages on MySRC (accessed here).

• Year 9 2025 (current Year 8 students) will meet online via Zoom at 6.00pm.
• Year 10 2025 (current Year 9 students) will meet online via Zoom at 7.00pm.

Parents are strongly recommended to engage in intentional conversations with their child/ren about their decisions regarding subject choices. Families can engage in the videos, information, and Options Booklet located on their respective Subject Selection page prior to the evening.

Further information will be emailed to parents on Monday 8 July.

Year 10 SET Plan Meetings

Current Year 10 students and their parents/guardians received important information about their SET Plan meeting on Monday 1 July.

In Year 10, all schools work with students and their parents/caregivers to develop a Senior Education and Training Plan (SET Plan). Developing this plan helps students to structure their learning in Years 11 and 12 around their abilities, interests, and ambitions. This plan helps students decide which learning options they should choose to achieve their full potential, creating opportunities for further education/training and their career goals.

SET Plan meetings will occur via Zoom on Monday 15 July between 9.00am – 11.00am. Parents/Guardians can book this meeting by visiting the Parent Teacher Interviews/SET Plan Meeting page on MySRC and following the prompt to book interviews.

The online booking system is currently open and will close on Tuesday 9 July at 11.59pm. This meeting is compulsory for all students with a minimum of one parent/guardian.

Term 3 Overviews for Year 5 and Year 6 have been published to the Primary Years page on the Parent Hub.

Please read through these documents to familiarise yourself with the learning content being taught in Year 5 and Year 6 next term. On the first page, we have listed the curriculum information across all six (6) core subject areas. On the second page, we have mapped out the assessment schedule across the term. Please note that final assessment dates will be confirmed on the MySRC Calendar by the start of Term 3 on Monday 8 July.

The Term 3 Afternoon Schedule will be published by the first week of next term on the Primary page of the Parent Hub.

To register your daughter for any afternoon activities please contact the relevant department.

Please use the link below to register for Chess Club and Homework Club. Spaces within these clubs is limited, so please register early to avoid disappointment.

Click here to register for Homework Club (Weeks 3-7)

Click here to register for Chess Club (Weeks 4-10)

This term, our Primary classes will participate in workshops facilitated by Let's Chat: Confident Bodies, Confident Kids.

Please click here for an overview of the session for each year level (Year 5 25th July and Year 6 9th July)

These sessions are provided as part of the Health units for Years 5 and 6 this term. If you would prefer your child not to participate in these sessions, please let us know by Monday 8 July.

This semester our Year 6 students will embark on their final year of Primary schooling. We look forward to marking this significant milestone and Year 6 families will receive details regarding the End of Primary Celebration in coming weeks.

Our recent Year 6 Canberra Trip was a huge success with the girls enjoying an action-packed week learning about Australian history, visiting significant historical and cultural landmarks and braving the chilly Canberra weather to explore our nation’s capital.

A special thank you to Mrs Brennan for the time and effort that went into organising this incredible trip for our girls. Thank you also to Mrs Hukins, Mr Robinson, Mrs Skelton and Mrs Toohey for travelling with the girls and helping to provide this special learning opportunity.

Whilst the sights and history that we discover in Canberra are exciting, the resilience and independence required for such a trip is a testament to the Year 6 students. Spending a week away from their families is a significant step that required bravery, self-awareness and self-regulation. The girls were independent young women who looked after themselves and each other, demonstrating persistence, determination, courage and compassion. Thank you to our Year 6 students for being such wonderful representatives of our College community.

Each day was in itself an adventure with such a busy and exciting itinerary! Highlights from the trip include:

• Visiting the Royal Australian Mint the same morning that the Bluey Coin was released!
• Visiting the House of Representatives and the Senate in Parliament House
• Paying our respects at the War Memorial and learning about the incredible men and women who have kept our country safe
• Seeing snow for the first time at Thredbo
• Going up the chairlift to (nearly!) the top of Mt. Kosciusko
• Exploring the Botanical Gardens
• Sitting in the red leather chairs of the Senate at Old Parliament House
• Visiting Government House and learning about the role of the Governor-General
• And many, many more!

Year 5 2025

Over the holidays, we were excited to welcome our Year 5 2025 cohort onto our campus for the Year 5 Sports Clinic. Over 60 students participated in exciting sessions of volleyball, netball, tennis and touch football. Each student departed at the end of the day with new friendships and connections being made. Thank you to our Sports Team for facilitating this opportunity for our newest students and to the Pantry staff for providing their delicious lunch. We look forward to welcoming our Year 5 2025 students back later this year as part of our Ready for Rita’s Orientation Program!

Year 7 2027

Our current Year 6 students, along with the incoming Year 7 cohort of 2025, enjoyed two wonderful days brimming with enthusiasm and sportsmanship. Guided by our dedicated sports team, the students engaged in a variety of athletic activities. To add to the excitement, Principal Mrs Maree Trims made a surprise visit. Her visit not only boosted their spirits but also provided an opportunity for her to connect with both our current students and soon to be newest members of our school community. 

St Rita’s College will be hosting the Resourceful Adolescent Program (RAP) in Term 3. This is an optional program, which we are offering to Year 7 students and their parents/guardians.

RAP has been developed to promote positive coping strategies amongst adolescents and help parents provide support to their children through the teenage years. More information may be accessed here.

The students will participate in RAP-Adolescents (RAP-A) while parents and guardians will participate in RAP-Parents (RAP-P). Both programs will be run by Gail Murton who is a highly experienced Guidance Counsellor who worked at St Rita’s for 15 years before semi-retiring a few years ago.

The proposed program schedule is as follows:

• RAP-A (5 sessions): Friday 19 July 8.00am-8.55am weekly for five weeks until Friday 16 August.
• RAP-P (3 sessions): Tuesday 16 July 8.00am-10.00am, Tuesday 23 July 8.00-10.00am, and Tuesday 6 August 8.00-10.00am

Cost: There is no cost to attend the program. Each parent/guardian participant will require a workbook, which is $20 each. This cost will be added to your College account.

Numbers are limited and places will be allocated as the registrations are received. Please only register if you and your child can meet the attendance commitment for all sessions.

If you are interested in attending, please complete the form found here.

If you have any queries, please email pmatheson@stritas.qld.edu.au

All students from Year 5 to Year 12 are invited to create entries for the annual Nagle Prize. This is a competition across Australia for the NEAA - Presentation schools.

This year's theme is Hospitality and how St Rita's College displays this value through good works or deeds.

Entries can be in any medium eg. short story, poem, musical piece, small video, or drama piece. There are many more options such as short stories, poems or drama pieces (script) as a PDF/ musical piece as a score and lyrics/small video as an audio-visual file.

Entries close on Wednesday 24 July.

All entries are to be uploaded to MySRC.

Mrs Qureshi and Mrs Trims will choose one primary entry and one secondary entry to represent St Rita's College.

Every year, all schools in Australia participate in the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD). The NCCD process requires schools to identify information already available in the school about supports provided to students with disability. These relate to legislative requirements under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the Disability Standards for Education 2005, in line with the NCCD guidelines (2019).

Information provided about students to the Australian Government for the NCCD includes:

• year of schooling
• category of disability: physical, cognitive, sensory or social/emotional
• level of adjustment provided: support provided within quality differentiated teaching practice, supplementary, substantial or extensive.

This information assists schools to:

• formally recognise the supports and adjustments provided to students with disability in schools
• consider how they can strengthen the support of students with disability in schools
• develop shared practices so that they can review their learning programs in order to improve educational outcomes for students with disability.

The NCCD provides state and federal governments with the information they need to plan more broadly for the support of students with disability.

The NCCD will have no direct impact on your child and your child will not be involved in any testing process. The school will provide data to the Australian Government in such a way that no individual student will be able to be identified – the privacy and confidentiality of all students is ensured. All information is protected by privacy laws that regulate the collection, storage and disclosure of personal information. To find out more about these matters, please refer to the Australian Government’s Privacy Policy.

Further information about the NCCD can be found on the NCCD Portal.

If you have any questions about the NCCD, please contact the College.

The next P&F meeting will be held on Tuesday 16 July at 6.00pm and all parents/guardians are welcome. The meeting will be held in the College Library, please enter via the Reception Doors off the Main Driveway.

Please click here to propose any agenda items you would like raised at the next meeting or future meetings. This agenda item form is also available on the P&F page of MySRC, alternatively please submit contact the P&F Committee via email Pandf@stritas.qld.edu.au

Mrs Pattie Pozzebon
P&F President

• Tuesday 16 July: P&F Meeting 
• Tuesday 20 August: P&F Meeting
• Wednesday 28 August: Father Daughter Breakfast
• Thursday 10 September: P&F Meeting

For a full list of P&F meeting dates and events please visit the Parents & Friends page of MySRC, accessible via the Parent Hub.

The College Scarf is now available to pre-order online. It is due to arrive back in stock around the second week of July. Students will be advised via the app when it arrives in store for collection.

We have a new items available through the Boutique:

• Sleeper Earrings – gold & silver - $19 each
• Brown flat shoe laces - $3.50
• Brown show polish - $13

Parents and Guardians are invited to join us for our Collins and Nagle House Community Mass on Tuesday 23 July at 8.00am. The mass will be held in the College Chapel.

Principal, Mrs Maree Trims, is excited to invite all College parents to the inaugural Book Club for Parents & Guardians.

Join us for a rich discussion surrounding The Popular Girls by Dr Mary Kaspar. In this groundbreaking self-help book for parents, clinical psychologist Dr Mary Kaspar deconstructs popularity and its links to our girls' wellbeing.

The Popular Girls comes highly recommended by author Rebecca Sparrow, who will be working with staff, students and parents as part of our Book Week celebrations. Rebecca talks to thousands of school students (and their parents!) every year about friendship, resilience, giving back and how to have a more positive experience online.

The Popular Girls can be purchased on Dr Mary Kaspar's website for those who wish to read it before the event.

Event:

Thursday 8 August

7.00pm - 8.30pm

St Rita's College Library

Wine and cheese provided

Tickets:

The St Rita's College Book Club for Parents & Guardians is a free event.

RSVP:

Please register for this event using this Humanitix link by Monday 5 August 2024.

St Rita's College has again decided to #ROCKTHECHOP this year for Cancer Council Australia's Ponytail Project. The project raises money to fund life-changing research and ensure Cancer Council Queensland can support communities going through their cancer journeys. Students grow their hair throughout the year while raising money, then have their ponytails chopped in August. 

Click here to learn more and donate. 

We are excited for the highly anticipated St Rita’s College Father and Daughter Breakfast - an annual tradition you won’t want to miss, proudly hosted by our P&F Association. 

Further details will be shared in Term 3.

Get ready for an exciting day at the St Rita’s College Race Day, brought to you by our P&F Association, proudly supported by the Sports SubCommittee.

More information will be shared in the coming weeks.

Please ensure your student’s medical and contact details are up to date in Operoo. 

When creating or updating your daughter's Operoo profile, please ensure the email address you enter is the same as the email address held by the College database. This is important to allow the information you provide in Operoo to sync with College systems.

You are also encouraged to enter a Secondary Contact’s email address and mobile number. This person should be the official Secondary Contact you have lodged with the College and not someone such as an Aunt or Uncle who is an Emergency Contact. (In most circumstances, Mum or Dad is the Primary Contact and visa versa for the Secondary Contact.) Emails and SMS will be sent to this Secondary Contact for notification purposes only. This person will not be able to view or edit the student’s profile nor view and respond to forms sent out by the system. Even though Operoo states Secondary Contacts as ‘Optional’, having this entered is beneficial for the College if we need to use Operoo to urgently email or SMS parents in the event of a closure or other sudden whole-of-school circumstance. 

Emergency Contacts should be persons other than the legal parents/guardians - a trusted relative or friend who would ordinarily be able to attend the school to collect your child should the need arise and the parents are unavailable.

Operoo accounts are ‘owned’ by the parent. As such, the College can view information, but cannot alter information. This may only be done by the parent owner.

A Qkr! account allows parents and guardians to pay for Pantry (Tuckshop) and Boutique (Uniform Shop) items using a credit or debit card without pre-loading funds to a third party account. Term 2 Pantry menus and Boutique items are available for online ordering.

Click here for step-by-step instructions for downloading the Qkr App to your device, creating student profile/s, and ordering and making payments. Parents who prefer to use web ordering can do so.

All parents and visitors coming onto campus are to visit College Main Reception at the Nagle Building (not Student Services) and Sign In and Sign Out regardless of the purpose or length of your visit. This procedure is required even if you are dropping off an essential item to your child. 

When visiting campus parents are to park off campus and walk to Main Reception.

Matters such as forgotten lunches and forgotten uniform items can be addressed by students visiting Student Services for assistance and do not require parents to come to campus.

It is important that parents/guardians update the College with changes to home and/or work email addresses and telephone numbers. If a parent/guardian needs to be contacted urgently due to illness or accident, telephone is used. Email is used for a variety of purposes including fortnightly distribution of the College newsletter, Verbis, and particularly by teaching staff to connect with parents. Please use the Update Details function in MySRC to make any changes.

Emergency Contacts should be persons other than the legal parents/guardians - a trusted relative or friend who would ordinarily be able to attend the school to collect your child should the need arise and parents be unavailable.

In accordance with our College policy, students are not to carry or use mobile devices during school hours.

Please be advised, that mobile phones are to be turned off and placed in a student’s locker from 8.30am-3.04pm and no phones or smartphones are to be used when making Pantry or Boutique purchases. 

A mobile phone may only be used under explicit teacher instruction, for that lesson only. If a mobile phone/device is seen during school hours it will be confiscated. Similarly, students are not to wear headphones, ear buds, earphones or AirPods unless under direct teacher instruction.

Acceptable and Unacceptable Uses of mobile phones and listening devices and other regulations are listed in the College mobile phone policy. Please ensure your daughter is familiar with this policy.

As per our Conditions of Enrolment, A full Term’s notice in writing must be given to the Principal before any student is withdrawn. The notice must be given no later than one (1) week before the end of the preceding Term. This ensures a smooth transition process for both the student and the school. If this notice is not given, parents/carers agree to pay one (1) Term’s tuition fees.

Cars driven by students are not to enter the school grounds. No student is to be a passenger in a student-driven car unless prior notification in writing is given to the Principal by the parents/guardians of both the driver and the passenger(s).

The College encourages our student drivers to register their name and vehicle make/colour/registration with the Principal’s Assistant, Mrs Tuite. Residents will often telephone the College to report concerns with parking or obstruction to driveways. The College will then aim to locate the driver and rectify the problem. A driver register has often avoided residents contacting authorities regarding their concern.

To register your daughter driving to school and her vehicle, please email Mrs Tuite at principal@stritas.qld.edu.au