Principal's Report
Dear Parents,
It has been a great start to Term 2 with this glorious autumn weather. Thank you to everyone who came along to the ANZAC day ceremonies on Sunday and represented our school or another community organisation. It was wonderful to be able to gather once again as a community to commemorate this special historical event. A special thank you to the students, parents and teachers who braved the early morning cold to represent our school at the dawn service as well. St Patrick’s was very well represented at both events.
Special congratulations are extended to Christyne Calub who has received the Michael McCormack ANZAC Day writing award for her entry in the writing competition. Christyne entered a piece of writing titled ‘On Anzac Day’ and was picked from 100’s of entries. We are super proud of you Christyne and look forward to Mr McCormack or a representative fromm his office, coming to present her with her special award and book prize.
We are delighted to announce that St Patrick’s has received additional funding to support the implementation of an Intensive Learning Support (ILS) program. The NSW Government funding has been received in recognition of the challenges of learning that arose from COVID and the impact of bushfires and floods in 2021. $31 million has been provided for non-government schools to implement a small group tuition program aimed at ensuring that schools can identify students who would benefit the most from intensive support. This support will be tailored to students' requirements to ensure that their educational outcomes continue to improve in 2021. The support comes in the form of implementing MacLit and a Reading Tutor program for Years 3-6 and the MiniLit program for Years 1/2 from Term 3 onwards. Teachers and support staff will be trained in these programs and the programs rolled out in the form of intensive small group support based on results from our PAT Reading assessment data.
The NAPLAN assessment program for 2021 will be conducted in an online format commencing in Week 4. It is very important that all Year 3 and Year 5 students are present at school during Week 4 from Tuesday 11th May to Friday 14th May. Thank you.
Best wishes for a wonderful week ahead,
Christine Baron
Principal