Principal's Welcome

St Patrick's Primary School is part of the Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn and situated at the Gateway of the Riverina, on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River at Gundagai, NSW.

St Patrick’s is a welcoming family school. Our personal approach with each family is central to our mission. We endeavour to achieve this goal by following the teachings of Jesus Christ, an exemplary teacher who brings light, hope and life to our world. We value the diversity of our families and the opportunities this diversity brings.  We also acknowledge parents as the first educators of their children. St Patrick’s staff are committed to supporting parents in this vital education process. They are caring and are dedicated to ensuring that the school-home partnership is productive and successful; a strong partnership that makes certain the best interests of the children is realised. Our personal approach with each family is central to our mission. Our vision, ‘Walk Together in Faith and Knowledge’, calls us to nurture and challenge each other within a caring Catholic environment where the love of life and an intrinsic motivation for learning are fostered.

We are proud of the unique educational environment we offer. Our learning environments engage, enable and empower all learners in a context that is flexible, promotes collaboration and a sense of community while addressing the multiple and interconnected learning needs of the whole child. We aim to provide a contemporary, quality education for the children in our care in all aspects of life. We are a student centred school developing the spiritual, social, emotional, intellectual and physical needs of our students. We emphasise the uniqueness of each person. Our aim is to develop resilient, self‐confident and informed individuals. Individuals who are able to voice their opinions in order to make a positive difference in society as young people and as adults. We achieve this by providing a rich curriculum and pedagogy that empowers the learner.

At St Patrick’s, showing care and concern for others is a big part of the transformational leadership we foster. We aim to build leaders who have the capacity and courage to strive for the common good of our community. The school places a strong emphasis on student welfare, student-teacher relationships and a positive behaviour for learning. A focus on the core values of Respect, Responsibility and Safety are central to our school's culture. 

We know educational leadership is most effective when it is shared throughout the school - among teachers, parents and students - and is focused on learning, quality teaching, well -being and building a collaborative community. When principals, teachers and parents work together to build a culture of shared leadership and responsibility for student learning and well-being, children do better and schools get better. 

An example of our commitment to engaging parents is our Supportive Playgroups which run throughout the year. This is an opportunity for parents of preschool children to be involved in a supportive playgroup that has a focus on engaging families in their children’s learning and build parenting and friendship networks. The playgroup focus is to support families to “see” the learning that occurs in everyday play and learning opportunities. Our Playgroups are followed by our Little Learners experience which allows children a more structured transition to the kindergarten program.

Please come and experience for yourself the warmth and energy of the St Patrick's community.  We look forward to welcoming you personally to our great school.

Christine Baron
Principal

School History

St Patrick’s is a Catholic Primary School caters for students in Kindergarten to Year 6, and has a current enrolment of 78 students. Our School has a very proud tradition of excellence dating back to 1886 when the Sisters of Mercy commenced Catholic Education in Gundagai. The Sisters of the Divine Saviour (Salvadorian Sisters) and the Holy Faith Sisters were also involved in educating the students for periods of time during the last century. From 1900 to 1979 St Patrick’s School was known as St. Stanislaus School after Sister Stanislaus who originally led the Mercy Sisters to Gundagai. The school's name was changed in 1979 back to St Patrick's.

Catholic Identity

St Patrick's strives to ensure prayer is the focal point of gatherings and celebrations and actively seeks to raise the consciousness of the school and wider community to social justice issues and needs by promoting Mini Vinnies and Making Jesus Real experiences. Making Jesus Real (MJR) is a programme designed to foster a relationship with Jesus that is real to the students and relevant to their daily lives. MJR is centred around the belief that we are the image of Jesus to all people around us. We are His representatives and our actions should reflect His values taught in the Gospel. MJR has a simple message – Jesus is part of our lives and can change the way we live; that we can make Jesus real through our daily actions and words.

We invite our school community to be active members of the parish, witnessing to their own faith and demonstrating in words and actions a commitment to the evangelising mission of the Church.