Dear Parents and Carer’s,

Term 3 continues to speed by and we are already in Week 8. It’s certainly great to see the weather warming up and classroom doors being opened up again as we enter into Springtime.

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL ANNOUNCEMENT:  I am delighted to announce that Mrs Natasha Flanagan has accepted the role of Acting Assistant Principal during Term 4 while Mrs Wilson is on LSL. Mrs Flanagan has held this position before and will be a great addition to the school leadership team.

ARCHDIOCESAN PUBLIC SPEAKING: Congratulations to Indi and Taite who attended the Archdiocesan Public Speaking finals in Bateman’s Bay yesterday. We are so proud of both of them for their commitment to continuing practice sessions and efforts in the lead up to the finals. A huge thank you is extended to Mr Gain who continued to offer his expert help through the last few weeks. Indi received a Participation Certificate and Taite was runner up. Well done to both Indi and Taite we are very proud of you both. 

SRC MINI OLYMPICS DAY: The recent Olympic games and Paralympic games have inspired the SRC to host a special day this Thursday 12 September for all students K-6. The students are encouraged to dress in the colour of their assigned country and to particpate in a wide range of activities representing olympic events. The games will be held down at Stan Crowe Oval commencing at 11.30am. Thank you to Mr Makeham and the SRC for organising such an exciting event!

MARTY’S MUSIC CONCERT: This Friday 13 September, our students learning musical instruments with Marty’s Music, will present their very first concert. Parents and family members are welcome to attend this very special presentation. Please be seated in the Learning Hub by 9.25am.

CATALYST UPDATES: Last Tuesday, Mrs Eccelston attended a NSW Curriculum Day in Cootamundra. Mrs Eccleston enjoyed the opportunity to connect with other HITP school leaders and learn about new initiatives and programs that will continue to improve our teaching practice into the future.

Today we welcomed Sommer Johnson from COGLearn, who visited our school to observe current HITP practices as well as demonstrate some maths lessons and HITP initiatives to teachers. Teachers were released to observe lesson demonstrations as well as receive feedback from Sommer. This has been a most beneficial project from COGlearn. Staff have continued to embrace daily HITP practices into their classroom teaching practices to ensure all students are engaged and active partcipants in learning.

Tomorrow we welcome Campbell Sloane from COMPASS to St Patrick’s School. Campbell worked alongside our teachers providing opportunities for learning how to achieve maximun benefit and the most recent updates through the COMPASS portal.

BUILDING AND MAINTENANCE UPDATES: We are very excited to announce that after several meetings and consultations with CECG Building and Maintenance Team, we will be upgrading our current student bathrooms in the near future. Plans and the new bathroom designs have been received and will be looked at in further detail. Plans for the COLA area are also being discussed. Watch this space!

WEEKS 9 and 10: Next week I will be attending the APPA Trans Tasman conference. The theme of the conference is ‘TOGETHER Leading Learning! Some fantastic keynote speakers have been engaged to address the conference along with a variety of workshops. Following the conference, I will be taking a weeks LSL. Unfortunately as previously advised, Mrs Katrina McGrath who was to be Acting Principal during my leave, has made contact to say that she is unwell and following medical advice is no longer unable to be present at St Patrick’s School during Weeks 9 and 10.  Therefore Mrs Lisa Wilson will be Acting Principal during that time. A huge thank you to Mrs Howe who will now attend the Year 5/6 excursion to replace Mrs McGrath and to Mrs Flanagan who will be in charge of St Patrick’s School during Week 10. We are very grateful to all staff for their flexibility and support in supporting our students during these unexpected staffing events and making sure students are always our number one priority.

Best wishes,

Christine Baron

Principal