Ms Bec Austin-Payne, a Smith Family representative, thanked the students who had volunteered to be a part of The Smith Family’s ‘Student to Student Reading Program’
Catherine McAuley has had a number of students volunteer their time each week to participate in The Smith Family’s ‘Student to Student Reading Program’.
This program sees the McAuley students spend one hour each week reading with a buddy to help and encourage them with their reading. The program is conducted online with the Catherine McAuley students matched with primary school students who are not known to them.
Ms Bec Austin-Payne, The Smith Family representative, thanked the student volunteers in person at the school assembly last week. “For four months of the year these students gave up an hour of their week to help support a reader facing disadvantage”, Ms Austin-Payne told the assembly. “The program has a 96% success rate. This means of the over 1500 students who go through the program nationally each year, 96% of them who finish the program come out with a better reading ability than when they came into the program. This is an incredible statistic and shows the incredible job which these buddies do”.
“The program helps build the confidence of the young readers and helps them not only reach their reading age but also exceed and thrive in the school environment”, said Ms Austin-Payne. “The work of the buddy goes beyond just the reading, it also extends to building a connection and having a bond with the reader to help them with their confidence, their reading and their overall educational journey”.
Ms Austin-Payne gave out certificates and badges to the Catherine McAuley student volunteers. “I am very thankful to be here today and privileged to thank our buddies in person”, she said.
Students who were volunteers for the 'Student to Student Reading Program'
Jacqui Hamilton | School Development Officer
Catherine McAuley Westmead
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More News
04 Jul 2025
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END OF TERM 2 😀 Best wishes for an enjoyable break. The school office will be closed from 3pm today and will re-open at 9am on Monday 14th July for phone enquiries only. The school office will be completely open on Monday 21st July. School resumes for students on Wednesday, 23rd July.
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The Catherine McAuley Weekly Review for Thursday, 3rd July 2025 is now available:
03 Jul 2025
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PARRAMATTA WOMEN’S SHELTER 💜 Thank you to all members of the Catherine McAuley school community who have donated items to The Big Give for donation to the Parramatta Women’s Shelter. The photo doesn’t truly capture the large amount of items which have been received but there are approximately $2000 worth of groceries!!
03 Jul 2025
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Thank you to the guest judges for yesterday’s Lip Sync Final 🎤 Julia Fleming and Dannielle Miller from the Parramatta Women’s Shelter and the Walk the Talk Program. As a school, we have contributed a donation to Parramatta Women’s Shelter of $7000, an additional $3300 in vouchers, approximately $2000 of groceries and a number of crochet blankets prepared by the Charity Crochet Group.!! 🙌 🙌 Thank you to all students, families and staff for helping the school support this worthy cause! 😍😍 @parrawomensshelter @womenscommunitysheltersau
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Congratulations to the Year 12 winning performance ('The Ed Heads') at the Lip Sync Final yesterday. Highlight clip!
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LIP SYNC FINALS 🤩 Yesterday the Lip Sync Finals was held, the school’s last fundraising event this term for the Parramatta Women’s Shelter. Well done to all the student acts who were selected to perform and to the teachers who performed a final surprise act! 1st Place - Year 12 ‘The Ed Heads’ Runners Up - Year 11 ‘16 Teen Doing 16’ Additional acts were from Year 7, Year 9 and Year 12.
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From Facebook
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From Facebook
AROUND THE CLASSROOMS ➡ Year 8 PDHPE classes participated this week in an information session with a facilitator from Kids Helpline. The students said they enjoyed learning about what services this 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, phone counselling service offers. Some quotes from the students are below: “This session was a great way to understand what people our age can be going through and how talking to someone can make a big difference in somebody's life.” “Grace, the Kids Helpline Facilitator, was really helpful because she told us that if we have an issue, either in school or outside of school, she can talk to us at any time, whether it’s morning or afternoon. She told us most calls are in the afternoon after kids come back from school.” Kids Helpline Official “I really enjoyed the interactive call with the Kids Helpline Facilitator and found everything we were told about the calls interesting. For example, we were advised what we would be told when we call them, how long calls can go for, how they help people who have aged out of the service (they help people who are 5 - 25 years old so if anyone turns 26 then Kids Helpline will help them find another service) and more. After the call, if I wanted to call the Kids Helpline I would feel very comfortable to do so.”
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