Catholic Schools Week Food for Thought

Students at St John's Primary carried buckets of water in solidarity with those who need to carry water just to survive.

St John’s Primary, Riverstone and Trinity Primary School, Kemps Creek thought outside the box when it came to Catholic Schools Week this year. These celebrations were ‘food for thought’ for both of these outstanding Catholic Education Diocese of Parramatta learning communities.

Each school set out to show everyone their amazing learning spaces and highlight their sense of community with some fun and educational activities.

St John’s Primary focused on helping the less fortunate by raising funds for Caritas Australia.

St John’s Primary Assistant Principal Jackie Willard said students carried buckets of water in solidarity with those who need to carry water just to survive.

"The parents sponsored their children for every lap walked,’’ Mrs Willard said.

"We then tasted food from the 'Caritas Kitchen' where parents and teachers donated food from around the world."

Students sampled food from around the world in the Caritas Kitchen, raising money for Caritas Australia

"The students could taste this food and all money raised went to Caritas. Our parents were then invited to open classrooms."

"It was a fabulous couple of days with fantastic community participation.’

The school community even had local Member for Greenway Michelle Rowland MP join them for their celebrations too. Michelle is a graduate of another great local Catholic School in Western Sydney, St Bernadette’s Primary, Lalor Park.

Students were joined by MP Michelle Rowland, who is a graduate of St Bernadette's in Lalor Park, another great Catholic school in Western Sydney!

At Trinity Primary School they had lots of fun at their ‘Pop Up’ learning activities each morning.

Trinity Primary Principal Cathy Hey said they began the week with teachers sharing their favourite picture books.

"On Tuesday the children arrived at school to see a makerspace pop up and a water painting pop up,’’ Mrs Hey said.

"On Wednesday the children did some hands-on mathematics with a life-size carrot patch.’’

Overall both schools had a fantastic time celebrating Catholic Schools Week and their enthusiasm attracted a lot of positive community engagement.

Written By

St John's Primary School Riverstone
www.stjohnsriverstone.catholic.edu.au

23 Sep 2026
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18 Sep 2026
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On Monday, seven of our Year 6 students represented our school at the Socktober launch and soccer gala day held by Catholic Mission, CSPD and the Wanderers soccer club. They had a great day of playing soccer with other schools in the diocese. They also spent some time learning about the country of Malawi and difficulties faced by many of its citizens. The students also learnt how to make soccer balls out of recycled materials. This year, Catholic Mission is raising funds to build a school in Malawi to provide education to 800 students. St John’s will be supporting Catholic Mission’s appeal early next term with a fundraising initiative led by the Year 6 students who attended the Socktober Gala day and other volunteers from our Mini Vinnie’s team. If you would like to contribute to our school fundraising page earlier, please click on this link. https://www.socktober.org.au/fundraisers/stjohnsriverstone/socktober-2026 Keep a look out for our Term 4 Faith In Action initiatives which we will be sharing shortly. Thank you for supporting our fundraising efforts for Catholic Mission and the Socktober appeal.