No. 22 Term 2 - Week 4 Newsletter, 2024
From the Principal
Showcasing our School
Last Wednesday we welcomed many prospective Years 5 and 6 students into our community for their BCHS Taster Day. Mrs Guy describes below the experiences of our visiting students but I would like to take a moment to express how impressive our Year 10 students were in welcoming and hosting the Years 5 and 6 students. Having an opportunity to develop interpersonal and leadership skills is very important. The Taster Day does form part of our Student Leadership Formation Program at the school. The Year 10 students were outstanding on this day and I thank them for showcasing our school. They show initiative, empathy and friendship, all very essential qualities of a leader.
Twilight Open Evening
This week we are very pleased to open our school to the wider community. For our prospective families, current families and for anyone who is genuinely interested in our school. During the evening, I will be presenting an information session discussing or work and answering any queries that you may have about our school.
We hope by having our school opened between 4:00pm and 6:30pm there will be a window of opportunity to come and visit. to assist us with catering please register:
Mother's Day
Yesterday we celebrated the wonderful gift of Mothers and in the month of May the Catholic church honours Mary, the Mother of God. As a secondary school with a Marist Charism, Mary is a very important person to us. Mary is an inspirational woman of faith and she is a loving, spiritual mother to us all. In my office I have a painting of Mary 'going to the hill country'. I purchased this painting by Frank Mesaric when I went to a Marist Conference in 2007. It is a source of inspiration to me every day. When I think of the challenges that Mary went through as a Mother, I realise how simple my life really is.
I hope all our Mothers, Grandmothers and significant carers had a wonderful day.
Yours in Christ
Lorraine Wolffe
Principal
Enrol for 2025
Enrolment applications for Year 7, 2025 (current Year 6 students) have opened. Please enrol now. Applications for other year levels are also available.
Online applications can be completed here:
When you have reviewed the information on this page, you can start an online application.
We understand that this is a very important decision and to assist you in deciding if Burdekin Catholic High School is the right school for your child. This week we have a very important event that will help you:
Twilight Open Evening - Thursday May 16
We firmly believe that an early connection to a school is vital to assist incoming students feel prepared to transition into secondary education.
To enquire about vacancies in other year levels, please contact our School Office 47832366.
From the Deputy Principal
Drama Festival
Preparations are well underway for this year’s Interschool Drama Festival performance. Burdekin Catholic High School will be performing Beowulf: On a Budget at the Burdekin Theatre on Friday, 31st May at 6:30 pm. Burdekin Catholic High School has a proud history of performances at the festival and this year we cannot wait to take to the stage.
Tickets are available from the Burdekin Theatre box office or online at
Curriculum Matters
On the student-free day staff participated in professional development focusing on Version 9.0 of the Australian Curriculum. Teachers worked on furthering their knowledge of the updated curriculum and applying this knowledge in their unit planning. Teachers were upskilled in the use of QCAA’s P-10 Planning Portal for the new curriculum. This portal allows teachers to develop their units and assessment in one place, resembling what teachers in the Senior School do in the creation of their internal assessment instruments. Further planning sessions for departments will take place over Semester 2 with the aim of all Curriculum and Assessment Plans for 2025 to be completed by the end of this year.
Year 7 and 8s began their new elective rotations this week. They will be studying these new subjects for the next thirteen weeks.
Next week some students will be participating in the Big Science Competition. This marks a return to external competitions for Burdekin Catholic High School after a little break. We hope to offer more of these opportunities for our students over the next two terms.
Eisteddfod
Chookas to our competitors in the Eisteddfod! If you have the chance, pop into the Burdekin Theatre to catch the performances on stage or the artwork on display.
Elisa Rigano
Deputy Principal
From the Assistant Principal - Pastoral
Taster Day
On Wednesday May 1st, we opened the Burdekin Catholic High School gates to the year 5 and 6 students in the local community for our ‘Taster Day’. The jam-packed schedule allowed students to experience ‘a day in the life of a BCHS student’. Students were introduced to our school and its state-of-the-art facilities, experienced a ‘timetable’ as they attended each of their ‘lesson’ activities and met our amazing staff. Rotations focused on the subject areas of The Arts, Science, Technologies and Health and Physical Education. Our Year 10 students are to be thanked and acknowledged for their role on this day as group leaders and activity helpers. ‘Love of Work’ is the year 10 Marist Charism of focus and on this day, our students embraced this charism as they stepped up and fulfilled their roles.
BCHS Taster Day
Use of Student Planner Reminder
Positive use of the student planner encourages organisation and discipline and is linked to improved quality of academic work. The student planner should be used to record subjects and prepare for the week ahead, as well as plan the completion of upcoming homework and assessments. Student planners are also used as a communication tool between students, parents, and teachers.
Students need to ensure they have recorded their subjects and assessments for the rest of this term. Each day, students need to record their homework or the focus for the lesson, check for upcoming assessment and plan their time to ensure submission timelines will be met.
Uniform Reminders
Burdekin Catholic High School prides itself on a long history and reputation amongst the community of impressive uniform standards. Our Uniform Policy can be found in our 2024 Pastoral Care and Wellbeing Policy accessible on the School website. Uniforms are checked during morning homeroom by homeroom teachers every day. When students are out of uniform and do not have a parental note to support this, they are issued with a uniform infringement on Compass. A reminder that for the third and consequent uniform infringement issued in a term, a Respect Room detention is then booked by the Pastoral Leader.
Below are some reminders regarding uniforms taken directly from the policy:
- Students are permitted to wear: a watch (not a smartwatch), one plain ring, one plain gold or silver chain with or without a small plain pendant, one pair of plain and small earrings in the lower earlobe only. Permitted styles include sleepers, huggies and studs.
- Male students are not permitted to wear earrings.
- Students are not permitted to wear make-up, false eye lashes or fake tan.
- No visible body piercings (except lower earlobes) including tongue piercings and/or body art (e.g., tattoos or eyebrow tracks).
- Students may wear natural nail polish only or traditional French tips. No form of coloured nail polish is permitted. Length of nails must not impact on daily classroom routine.
- Male students are to be clean shaven unless communicated with the school for cultural reasons.
- Hairstyles must be neat and tidy, with no extremes of cut, style, or colour, which deviates significantly from the natural hair colour. Undercuts, mullet cuts and shaved portions (tracks) of hairstyles are not acceptable. Hair length for males should not extend beyond collar-length and must be out of the eyes. Long hair for females should be tied back off the face and fringe cannot impact vision.
Chiara Guy
Assistant to the Principal - Pastoral Care
From the Assistant Principal - Religion
Happy Mother's Day
Happy Mother’s Day to all our mothers and carers. The BCHS community congregated to celebrate the work that our mothers do with a Mass on Wednesday followed by light refreshments. This year the theme for Mass was Shining Stars. From the moment were born we have looked up to our mothers for guidance, reassurance, encouragement, and love. Mothers are there for us in times of darkness and jubilation. The bible has multiple references to stars. The most obvious one is the Star of Bethlehem. It appears in the nativity story of the Gospel of Matthew Chapter 2 where wise men form the East are inspired by the star to travel to Jerusalem. Every student and staff member decorated paper stars to illustrating the qualities our mothers possess. This spectacular constellation was the centrepiece of the sacred space. These stars are now in the student foyer for students to see. Thank you to Father Truong for delivering a homily reminding us to love one another and to connect with friends, family and God.
Congratulations to Sharon Contzonis, who won the arrangement of flowers. We would also like to thank the CWL ladies for attending the Mass, their unwavering support for our students and school is deeply appreciated.
Mohter's Day Mass
Youth Mass
Youth Mass is approaching on Sunday 26 th May, 5:30 pm at the Sacred Heart Church. All students, family and staff are invited. I will be asking for readers, singers and musicians to ssist with the Mass.
Antonetta Delle Cort
Assistant Principal - Religious Education
School Sport
U13 Boys Interschool Sport - 10s Rugby League
Over weeks 1-3 of Term 2 the Burdekin Catholic High School U13 Boys Rugby League team played a series of games against the other local high schools. The first two weeks of the competition consisted of two games each against Ayr State High School, and combined Home Hill State High School and Burdekin Christian College teams. The team played many of their games under-manned but showed incredible resilience to earn a spot in the final to be played in Week 3 against Ayr State High School.
The team was excited to be playing again with a home ground advantage on the school oval. A fast pace first half saw the contest being played end to end. Barnstorming runs from Flynn Kovacich, Jax Lammon, and Hayden Zandonadi provided a great platform for Perry Munro to run the ball and find space. Jarvis Galletta and Leytonn Vidler tackled everyone that ran near them, ensuring that their opposition be kept scoreless. The edges were always safe with Parker Oar and Chase Nucifora on the wing. Going into half time the scores were locked at nil all. Running out for the second half the team knew exactly what they needed to do to win. They passed the ball wider which created enough space for Nate Giddy to burrow through the defensive line to score the only try of the game, making the boys the winners of the
interschool competition 4-0.
As a school community we are incredibly proud of the efforts by this group of boys and congratulate them on their achievement. A special mention also to Mason Pavone who was a critical part of the team in the first week of competition which helped the team make the final however, was not able to play due to injury. Thank you to Demi Smith and Harrison Lammon for refereeing, and Hunter Petersen and Chelby Frazer-Wilson for being linesman during these games.
Champion Basketball School of Queensland Townsville Regional Tournament
Div 2 Boys Team won 5 out of 6 games and Div 2 Girls Team won 4 from 6 but both losses were 1 point and 2 points. We were the smallest school by far in the competition but we had the biggest hearts.The BCH Bears never received a warning or tech foul, thanked every ref and scorer and never gave up. We had an awesome group of parents who coached - Lauren Roncato and Brett Eathorne and more parents who scored every game. Also, a big thank you to Mrs Eathorne and Mr Keryk - Super Managers!
Under 13 Netball Team
A huge congratulations to the Under 13 Netball Team for making the final this week of the school district netball competition. After a very close game Ayr State High came out on top 11 - 8. Thank you to our coach Mrs Loizou and Tayah Gibson and Chloe Steel (absent) assistants for your commitment also. Congratulations to our Under 13 girls!
From the Business Manager
School Fees
If for any reason you are finding it difficult to pay school fees, please contact me to discuss the matter. You are most welcome to email me apovedaprieto@bchs.catholic.edu.au
Just a reminder that our preferred way of payment is now BPAY and those details are on your statement. There are number of ways you can pay, by credit card or cash or we can set up a direct debit through Pay way. You may also pay via Compass.
If you currently pay your fees by direct debit, please check that the fortnightly amount is enough to cover your fees for the year, as there has been an increase. If you are unsure, please contact me.
If the statement does not look accurate and you do not agree with balance or if you have any issues or
questions regarding the statements please do not hesitate to contact me.
Aimee Poveda
Business Manager