Granville’s native fauna inspires students for special launch
Recognising Granville's rich heritage helped motivate Holy Family Primary East Granville in the creation of their new owl mascot 'Bukbuk', as part of an amazing day of activities to launch the school's Positive Behaviour Support for Learning (PBS4L) program.
In designing Bukbuk, the school community consulted with Catholic Education’s Jarara Indigenous Education Unit in choosing an owl, native to the area, as their school mascot.
Jarara's Julie Waddell and Joshua Sly attended the launch, leading students through a smoking ceremony and working with students to educate them in Aboriginal culture.
There were also plenty of other exciting activities for students to enjoy and to ensure parents and families wouldn't miss out, the school streamed many of the events online.
“Bukbuk is native to our area and the mascot was designed by students and Joshua Sly from Jarara,” said Principal Cheryl Fortini. “Students then engaged in Aboriginal art and sport led by the team from Play On.
They left wearing the owl masks they made after a picnic lunch.”
Cheryl was full of praise for how the students engaged with the day's activities.
"Thank you for representing our school and for being the amazing, kind, caring and innovative individuals that you are, each and everyone of you makes Holy Family what it is," she said.
The day left the students with plenty of enduring positive memories and lessons about the importance of positive behaviour in their education and environment.
It also reinforces the school's key mantra of 'Live Safely, Love Respectfully, Learn Daily'.
View photos from the mascot launch
Find out more about Holy Family Primary East Granville
-
20 Aug 2026
From Facebook
Year 1 students have been making their own promises as they begin to explore the meaning of a covenant—a special promise between God and His people. Through their promises, students are learning that covenants are about love, trust and keeping our promises to one another. 💛 Year 5 have been exploring the world of data! 📊 They have been interpreting a range of graphs and writing statements about what they noticed, before collecting their own real-time data by tracking how often they contributed to class discussions. 💬 They will then use their data to create their own graphs and represent their findings visually! 📈📊19 Aug 2026
From Facebook
❄ Vinnies Winter Sleepout – Faith in Action ❄ Our students took part in a meaningful evening of prayer, meditation, learning and service as part of our Vinnies Winter Sleepout. Using David’s story and reflected on how quickly and unexpectedly people in our community can be one crisis away from homelessness. Students shared a simple meal of soup, a bread roll, fruit and water, before gathering in our Holy Family Prayer Garden for a Liturgy of the Word, where they led us beautifully in prayer and song. We finished the evening with a team-building challenge, constructing our own shelters. While this was a fun experience for us, it carried an important message, for many people, finding a safe place to sleep is not a game or a choice. It helped our students finish the night with a deeper sense of gratitude, compassion and responsibility to care for others. Through our Faith in Action initiatives, our Holy Family community has raised $1,277 so far to support the vision and mission of the St Vincent de Paul Society NSW and the important work they do supporting people experiencing hardship and homelessness. Thank you to our students, families and staff for continuing to put our faith into action.💙 Catholic Schools Parramatta Diocese Vinnies Australia