From the P&F Association

Welcome back to our families and students to what will be an amazing 2025! A special welcome to all our new families to the College. We look forward to meeting you over the next few weeks.

The first few weeks of Term 1 have been quite busy. The P&F hosted the Welcome Morning Teas for our new families joining the primary and senior school and then we had Ms Skerman’s Welcome Drinks kicking off the year to a great start. We hope that you made new connections, shared experiences and were able to see how vibrant our community is.

We have several P&F events planned for 2025 that we are excited about. Our first major event is the International Women’s Day Supper on 6 March 2025. See details below.

Other events (just to name a few) are outlined below:

• Trivia night
• Disco Night – Prep to Year 6
• Mother’s Day Lunch – Save the Date details below
• Mother’s Day and Father’s Day Breakfast & stalls
• Colour Fun Run – Prep to Year 6

Outside of these events your Parent Representatives have been working hard to get year groups catching up very soon, keep an eye out for invitations. They are very excited to catch up with familiar faces and meet new ones. If you haven’t done so make sure you connect with your Year Group via the Santa Sabina College WhatsApp by completing the online form to ‘Join Groups’ found on Veritas Online .

To hear more of the great things that the P&F Association are doing for our community, please join us at our General Meeting to be held on 26 February 2025 at 6:30pm. Details below.

The P&F Executive Committee are excited to be back again for another fun and eventful year. We hope that our events strengthen friendships and allow new ones to form. However, a great deal of behind the scenes work is undertaken to ensure our events run smoothly and are enjoyable for all. We can’t do our roles without the help and support of each parent and carer. We will be calling out for volunteers throughout the year, and we would greatly appreciate it if you can assist us in any way possible. Please reach out to us if you have any questions. We look forward to a great year ahead.

Warm regards

Jumana Commisso 
Communications Coordinator
P&F Committee

Upcoming Events

Parents and Friends (P&F) General Meeting 

We would love to see as many of you as possible attend our first Parents and Friends (P&F) General Meeting of the year.

🗓 Date: Wednesday 26 February 2025

⏰ Time: 6:30pm 

📍 Location: Benincasa, Secondary Campus, Santa Sabina College (within Building 4, see map below)

This meeting is a fantastic opportunity for us to come together, share ideas, and discuss plans to support our school and children. Your input and participation is invaluable to us. If you have any items you would like to add to the Agenda, please send them to the P&F Secretary, Mary, via email at secretary@ssc.nsw.edu.au  by 5:00pm, Wednesday 26 February 2025.

We look forward to seeing you there.

International Women’s Day

The Santa Sabina College Ex-Students’ with Parents and Friends’ Associations are again hosting an exciting IWD evening at the College. This year the P&F are thrilled to be sponsoring all College students by covering half of the ticket cost, meaning students can now access this inspiring event for just $25 each!

We have also invited some of our most recent graduates to return to the College and connect with our current students including Olympian Bridget Clark (2020) and Annabel Cowley (2018) Canva Software Engineer and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Ambassador UTS.

This year’s theme, ‘March Forward for ALL women and girls‘ promises an evening of insightful discussions and panels, followed by supper and drinks in the Siena Centre.

📅 Date: Thursday 6 March 2025

⏰ Time: 6:00pm 

📍 Location: Santa Sabina College – Lecture Theatre – TAC Building, 90 The Boulevarde, Strathfield

Places are filling fast, secure your spot now and celebrate our Santa Sabina College Women.

SAVE THE DATE – Mother’s Day Lunch

We can’t wait to see all our mothers, grandmothers and carers celebrating all things mum!

🌟 Prep, Kindergarten, Year 5 & Year 7 Mums’ & Dads’ Night out! 🌟

This is a chance for both new families joining our school and returning families to meet and mingle with each other in their children’s year group. It will be a great opportunity to make new friends and to have a night out without the kids! 

Please respond to the below Expression of Interest by Thursday 20 February to be included. The P&F look forward to welcoming everyone to each night. 

Mums’ Night Out

📅 Date:    Friday 14 March 2025

⏰Time:     6:30pm 

📍 Location:     Organica Concord

Cost:        Approx $60 – includes canapes, prosecco & up to four cocktails 

Please register your expression of interest via the link below and we will contact you directly with confirmation and final payment details.

Dads’ Night Out

📅 Date:     Friday 21 March 2025

⏰Time:       6:30pm for a 7:00pm start

📍 Location:     North Strathfield Kingpin Bowling

Cost:        Approx $60 – includes one hour bowling, food & welcome drinks

Please register your expression of interest via the link below and we will contact you directly with confirmation and final payment details.

Parent Education – Debra Brodowski

Hope

Hello all and welcome to 2025!

I’m Debra Brodowski (call me Deb) and my role within the P&F is Parent Education Coordinator. I have been a member of the Santa Sabina community since 2016, with my daughters both now in high school (where did the time go!). My day job is as a Psychologist, so combining my day job with my all-the-time job as a parent, I hope to share with you some thoughts to consider whilst you are here with your child at Santa Sabina College.

Twenty twenty-five is shaping up to be yet another big year… A year of firsts for everyone, wherever you may be on your parenting journey at the College.

Twenty twenty-five for the Catholic community is also a special Jubilee year, which occurs every 25 years. To mark the Jubilee year, Pope Francis has declared the theme to be ‘Pilgrims of Hope’. I treasure this theme as hope is such a fundamental characteristic for us to hold as a community.

How do we instill hope in our young people though? For some, it’s part of their character and something that comes without effort. For most, it’s something we need to practise to embrace; it’s easy to be caught up in negativity in the world today.

Teaching hope is a valuable gift, it’s the belief that things can get better, even when times are tough, and that we have the power to make a positive difference in our world (we will shake the world!). Some ideas to consider when nurturing hope in our young people include:

• Encourage their ideas and dreams. Support their hopes and dreams and encourage them to try.
• Support them to solve problems with them when challenges emerge. Listen and support them. Be present. It is particularly important not to ‘clear the way’ for your young person when challenges arise, but be a partner in problem solving, support their ideas, encourage solutions, and celebrate when the obstacle has been overcome. This approach fosters a positive mindset and where hope is nurtured.
• Talk openly about your own feelings. This is an important part of role modelling hope. Sharing your own challenges, demonstrating that sometimes ‘it’s ok to not be ok’ and how you overcome these challenges in your own life shows that challenges can be overcome.
• Support self-compassion. Being kind to yourself, particularly when mistakes are made, helps show your young person to learn how to forgive yourself and move forward.

It is important to tailor these key strategies to the age of your young person as well as their individual differences.

By consistently nurturing these qualities, it can help your young person develop a strong sense of hope and resilience, allowing them to forge forward through 2025.