Dear Parents and Carers, 

Week 4 marks the beginning of our Lenten journey towards Easter. Today we celebrated Shrove Tuesday with a special pancake breakfast followed by the sacred Burning of the Palms. Tomorrow Ash Wednesday Mass will be celebrated in the church at 12pm. Ash Wednesday is the beginning of 40 days of prayer, reflection and self-sacrifice as we focus on deepening our relationship with Jesus through the Lenten season. Thank you to staff for cooking up a delicious pancake breakfast for the students and to Mrs Howe for the beautiful ceremony this morning.

Congratulations to all our students who represented at the WR Swimming Carnival yesterday in West Wyalong. Special congratulations to Sophie Graham and Charlie Hindmarsh who have been selected to represent at the Archdiocesan Carnival at next level. We are extremely proud of all our students and the effort and sportsmanship they showed at the carnival and this was reflected in a beautiful email I received from a parent last night.

‘I just wanted to give a little feedback on today’s carnival in West Wyalong. St Pat’s might not have heaps of great swimmers, but there is no lacking in the enthusiasm department, nor in the great sportsmanship. I am a little emotional thinking about it and it’s not even my kid only!

I saw:

* kids who didn’t win congratulating the winners (from other schools!!)

* some of the best cheering I’ve seen - and cheering for everyone in our school

* parents all happy to help timekeep

* cheering kids from all other schools who were coming last and needed cheering on

* big cheering when stragglers finished races, from all schools (beautiful!!)

* congratulating others on their swims when they returned to camp - high 5’s all round!!

So proud of them all and how well they represented our little school. Some of them may not ever make the olympics, but we have some amazing little humans!!

Parents are invited to attend our Parent Information Night next Wednesday evening 24th February. We are looking forward to welcoming you and providing information about the term/year ahead.

This year marks 200 years of Catholic Education in Australia. A celebration Mass will be held at St Christopher’s Cathedral in Canberra next Wednesday with Mrs Howe and I representing St Patrick’s School. We are very proud of our part in the 200 year history with St Patrick’s (formerly St Stanislaus) providing 145years of continuous quality Catholic Education in the Gundagai district. What an achievement!

The weather is looking wonderful for another exciting Gundagai Show weekend. A wonderful opportunity to celebrate and come together as a community.

Blessings for the week ahead.

Christine Baron

Principal

St Patrick pray for us.