About Us
Welcome to St Catherine’s School
Welcome to St Catherine’s Catholic Primary School Lalor West.
It is an absolute honour to welcome you all to our culturally diverse learning community. We inspire our students to contribute to a greater good and enriching life both within St Catherine’s and beyond. We are a community of faith; a meeting place of staff, students, parents and the wider parish community, where witness is given to the Gospel values and where the dignity and importance of each person is promoted through the teachings of Jesus Christ.
From its inception St Catherine’s has been seen as a community school, and this feature has continued to be cherished as it has grown. Whilst being distinctly Catholic we are in open dialogue with other faith traditions. A feature of our school community is its multicultural and multi-faith nature.
Students, parents and staff are seen as partners in our school community. Family engagement in their child’s learning is encouraged and valued. Families are welcomed to participate in a range of learning opportunities and programs as both a teacher and learner.
At St Catherine’s we inspire our students to contribute to a greater good and an enriching life both within St Catherine’s and beyond. I look forward to sharing in the journey of your child’s education where they can flourish and be the best they can be.
I invite you to join our community to give your children the opportunity to flourish.
Many blessings
Tracey Brincat
Principal
Educational Philosophy
St Catherine’s Catholic Primary School, Lalor West is part of the mission of the Catholic Church serving and providing opportunities for life in St Clare’s Parish Thomastown West. As a school, we are committed to providing quality Catholic Education and call on the spirit of St Catherine of Siena to guide and inspire us to shine brightly in the wider community.
Our school is proud to be closely engaged with our culturally diverse community where we value and respect all children and foster a love of learning. We provide a welcoming, inclusive and safe learning environment fostering educational excellence, and we celebrate the development and growth of all children – spiritually, socially, physically and intellectually. Our emphasis is on engaging students in a faith that permeates through the curriculum.
We also aim to provide a physically safe and emotionally secure environment, where each child feels accepted and respected, and is challenged to work to their full potential. We aim to uphold excellent quality of teaching and deliver a curriculum of rigour and breadth
St Catherine’s staff are committed to using evidence-based research pedagogy. They are lifelong learners committed to the continual improvement of their practice and excellence in teaching who enhance learning opportunities for students through explicit instruction whilst being innovative and creative. Our school approach is focused on learning using consistent routines. Teachers spend time getting to know each child, respecting difference, embracing diversity, meeting individual needs, providing support and challenge, and making appropriate adjustments to teaching based on observation and formative assessment.
St Catherine’s community believes in the inherent beauty that every child in our care is formed in the image of God. We believe that all students are created equal and therefore have the same right to realise their potential. Our curriculum is dynamic to reflect the real world of which we are a part because children learn better from meaningful activities. We aim to empower our students to become autonomous thinkers and self-confident learners so that they have the necessary attitudes, processes, skills and knowledge to meet their ever-widening, ever-changing personal and social needs.
Vision Statement
The Community Vision at St Catherine’s Catholic School
With the Lord as my light, our community is inspired to live out the teaching of Christ.
We aspire to be confident, active learners who respond positively to challenge and have the courage to be of service to others.
St Catherine Of Siena
‘If you are what you should be, you will set the whole world on fire.
Let the truth be your delight…proclaim it…but with friendliness’ – St Catherine
St Catherine’s feast day 29 April
St Catherine is the patron saint who inspires the vision of our school. Catherine of Siena is a role model for being brave and true, the qualities that St Catherine’s school strives to instil in its community. St Catherine was a vocal young woman who had the courage to voice her opinions and spoke up and out for Christ. She spoke from her heart, strength, and soul.
Catherine was born on March 25, 1347, in Siena, Italy, the youngest of 25 children. When she was six, Catherine had a vision of Christ above the Church. As she grew in age, she decided to devote her life to God. At sixteen, Catherine joined the Third Order of St Dominic.
St Catherine was one of the most brilliant theological minds of her day; her writings and messages continue to resonate within the church today. St Catherine was the first woman Doctor of the Church who was given the unique title Doctor of Wisdom.
St Catherine was challenged by church hierarchy but remained a champion for social justice. Her accomplishments in only her thirty-three years on earth were achieved through her unity with God.
