Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to Week 2, Term 2! It’s been an unusually warm and dry start to the autumn season. Due to the continued warmer weather conditions and issues with uniform supplies we are extending the summer uniform for an additional week. Students are asked to be in Winter uniform by the beginning of Week 4 now please.

POPE FRANCIS: The passing of His Holiness, Pope Francis on Easter Monday certainly shocked global communities especially after we witnessed Pope Francis giving his annual Urbi et Ori blessing to the world on Easter Sunday. Pope Francis will long be remembered for his kindness, humility, justice and compassionate outreach to the marginalised and poor. May we continue to live out this legacy in our everyday lives. As the Conclave now gather in Rome to elect a new Pope, we pray that they will be guided by the Holy Spirit in their decision making. We are all waiting for the signal of white smoke from the Sistine Chapel to signify our new Pope has been elected!

SMITH FAMILY: Our thoughts and prayers have been with Caitlin, Brad, Riley, Fletcher, Eddie and Chelsea after their home was guttered by a devastating house fire during the school holidays. We were glad to hear all that the family were safe and not home at the time of the fire. Please keep the family in your prayers as they work on rebuilding their lives and home. We are currently organising some school fundraising activities to assist the family. More information soon.

NEW STUDENT AMENITIES: Our new students amenities block is well underway. Demolition of the current block was carried out over the school holidays. Inground work and cement is being laid this week. Our temporary student ablution block has been established, and students are now used to the slight routine changes in using these amenities. Joseph from Mattoni Building Company has been fantastic to work with and is constantly working to ensure student and teacher safety is prioritized.

2026 ENROLLING NOW: Our 2026 Enrolling now campaign begins! If you know of anyone that may be considering St Patrick’s in 2026, please promote our Open Day on Friday 16 May (Week 3) from 9.30-11.30am. We are hoping for another year of strong enrolments in 2026. Please help promote our beautiful school community!

MOTHER’S DAY: Wishing all our beautiful mums, grandmothers and all the wonderful women who inspire, nurture and support us, a very relaxing and spoilt day on Sunday. We hope to see many of you on Friday at 11.00am as we celebrate Mothers’ Day as a school community.

Christine Baron

Principal

St Patrick, Pray for us

Pope Francis

On the 21^st April our beloved Pope Francis passed away. People all over the world mourned an amazing man. There have been beautiful tributes to Pope Francis who inspirationally lead our Catholic Church for 12 years. Pope Francis possessed a kind heart, a brave voice and was a friend to all. Jesus’ words in the Bible tell us: “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21).

The Conclave to elect a new Pope will begin on May 7^th. We pray for the Cardinals in this time of prayer and discernment, may the Holy Spirit be upon them.

Reconciliation

Our Year 3 children have begun their preparation for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Through this Sacramental preparation, the children come to an understanding that one of the greatest gifts we have been given is free will. We are all capable of making both ‘good’ and ‘poor’ choices and these choices affect others. Reconciliation is about being sorry for our wrong choices and coming back to be with our forgiving Father.

This Sacrament is for Catholic children in Year 3 or others who may have not yet received this Sacrament. If you know of any children from the other schools who are ready for this Sacrament could you, please pass on this information.

On Saturday night the children and their parents gathered at Mass to make their commitment pledge in front of the parishioners.

We pray for our children as they journey towards this Sacrament.

The Sacrament of Reconciliation will be celebrated on Friday 30^th May at 9:30 am.

Mother’s Day

On Friday 9^th May at 11.00am St Patrick’s will celebrate our wonderful Mums, Grandmothers and special ladies with a delicious morning tea and Mass. We look forward to welcoming these amazing women to this special event.

Please RSVP today to assist us with catering.

Lord God, we lift up all mothers to You. Grant them the strength to face the daily challenges with courage and the wisdom to guide their children towards a life of faith and service. Encourage them when they are weary and inspire them when they feel overwhelmed. Bless them with Your peace and love, now and forever. Amen.

‘Happy Mother’s Day to all the special ladies in our lives.’

Project Compassion Boxes

Thank you to those families who have returned their Project Compassion Boxes. If you still have yours at home, please return it to school as soon as possible. Every contribution regardless of its size makes a difference.

Through your kindness and generosity, vulnerable families and communities are now able to pave the way for a brighter and more just future.

I hope to forward the collections to Caritas Australia at the end of this week.

Easter Altar Servers

An extra big thank you to our Altar Servers who volunteered to server over the Easter Ceremonies. Your effort and dedication to this ministry is much appreciated. We even had our past students helping out, which is to be commended. Well done Archie and Harry Peterson, Lochie Hargreaves, Sarah Gailey, Leila Gaskin, AB and Hugh Ryan and James Reardon.

Kate Howe

REC

We really live in a great community filled with love, support and kindness.   We will be selling raffle tickets at school to the children during recess and lunch times.  All proceeds will be donated to the Smith Family (Riley, Fletcher, Eddy and Chelsea) after a fire destroyed their family home.  We have toys/items donated from The Sisters of Charity on offer.  Tickets will be $2.00 each or 3 for $5.00. 

The Mega Raffle will be on display in the office foyer and tickets will be sold next week. 

This is a great way for our children to reach out and assist our little mates.  Cash Donations will also be accepted to assist the family and can be left at the front office. Thank you Mrs Carberry for organising this special fundraiser for the children.  

We would like to extend our best wishes to our Yr 3/4 boys rugby union team and Mr Makeham as they all head to Wagga tomorrow to participate in the next level of Rugby Union after a successful win in Tumut last term. Play safe and have fun. 

During this term while our new toilet block is being renovated we will have tradesman using the bottom gate near the play equipment.  Please use the main entrance to enter/exit the school for safety reasons.   Vehicles with trailers will be using the bottom gate. 

We have lots of children at school wearing the new SPG Caps and the look great. Thank you to Danika from Moeys for working tirelessly over the school holiday period to have the navy winter jackets and caps ready for families to purchase.  Danika also has a supply of the green pants for the girls. 

We apologise for the delay in delivery of the homework folders and library bags.  The artwork has been approved for this new company and the order has been placed.  Tash Smith has a list of families still owed the orders. 

Due to the delay in our order for uniforms being sent we have allowed the students to continue to wear summer uniform for another week. 

Students from Years 3-6 will be participating in our annual WR Public Speaking competition this term in readiness for the finals in early Term 3. The topics for each class are:

· Year 3 - If animals could talk, what would they say? (2 mins)

· Year 4 - A much needed invention (2 mins)

· Year 5 - What would I do with a time machine? (3 mins)

· Year 6 - What mistakes teach us? (3 mins)

NCCD is a Nationally Consistent Collection of Data of school students with disability. Mr Ferguson is our Learning Support Teacher and works closely with staff and students. The defination of disability used for NCCD is broken into four categories including sensory, cognitive, social-emotional and physical.  Over the next few newsletter we will be sending through information about the NCCD program. 

Welcome Back to Term 2 of Radio News with our Yr 5/6 Students.

Tune into "Sounds of the Mountains" radio station (FM94.1) every Wednesday at 2.15pm to hear about what our classes and school have been up to over the week.

 Week 2 (Wednesday 7th May) Ollie Crowe and Maeve Ryan 

Week 3 (14th May) - Reuben Smart and Zoe Morgan 

Week 4 (21 May) - Conor Cotterill and Jasper Rui 

Week 5 (28th May) - Charlie Ryder and Indi Cole 

Congratulations to our Week 1 Class Awards for Term 2.  

Kindergarten - Macie Hand for her enthusiastic approach to all school activities

Year 1/2 - Olivia Smart for her consistent participation in all learning areas (Absent for photo) 

Year 3 - Clancy Smart for positive application and recall in Mathematics

Year 4 - Parker Melksham for great Mathematical thinking 

Year 5 - RV Calub for her optimism and positivity in all class tasks and discussions 

Year 6 - Dale Paton for consistent initiative in all class learning and leadership

Congratulations to our Week 1 Wildcat Awards. 

RESPONSIBLE - Leo Lewis, Lance Crowe, Ryan Robinson, Anna Nicholls, Alfie Eccleston 

RESPECT - Lucy Nicholls, Dale Paton, Ollie Crowe, Kingsley McDonnell, Daphne Simpson, Hallie Butt, Charlston Rizalde, Sam Hufton, Ned Phelps, Charlotte Grange, Anna Nicholls, Tannah Elliott, Charlotte Kennedy 

SAFE - Anastasia Chittick, Lance Crowe, George Ryan

Only a few birthdays were celebrated during the Easter Holidays. We hope you had a wonderful birthday with family and friends

21st April - Harley and Phoenix Rose 

23rd April - Charlotte Grange