Dear Parents and Carers,

The final week of Term 4 has arrived! The 2022 school year has certainly been an improvement on the past two school years in terms of extra curricula events and parent and community engagement opportunities. It’s hard to believe that only 10 months ago we began our school year under strict Level 4 COVID restrictions where we not only restricted visitors and family members, wore masks, and followed strict hygiene regulations once again, but we also had to monitor and record student attendance and use this data to report COVID numbers daily to our community as well as ask every student and staff member to adhere to RATS tests every second day, as an added extra to our daily school routine. It has certainly been so refreshing to see these regulations slowly relax and Public Health Orders lift as the year has progressed. Term 4 was certainly the most celebrated term as we once again opened our doors to families and community events with opportunities to celebrate once again as a whole school community.

We have experienced a blended version of remote and on-site learning across the school year. Thankfully remote learning times were short lived, and we were able to manage remote situations in class groups rather than moving the whole school to a remote learning platform. Principals and school leadership teams were given more autonomy in being able to make decisions based on their individual context in regard to what could and couldn’t take place as the school year progressed. Sport mostly went ahead in normal formats this year and while there were a few activities that required online formats, overall, these events were relatively few and far between this year. COVID has certainly enabled us to move quickly to manage on-site and remote situations in a more flexible way.

So as we finish off another school year we look forward to new adventures in 2023. Thank you to all who have contributed to the success of the 2022 school year. We are very grateful to our families that have continue to support us through some challenging times across the school year and once again admire you for the resilience and strength that has been shown to overcome whatever obstacles we have encountered along the way.

Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday and every blessing for 2023.

With thanks

Christine Baron

Principal

St Patrick, Pray for Us.

It is hard to believe that we are at the end of yet another year. This year seems to have flown and we have fitted lots into it. I would like to thank our school community for their continued support in all activities undertaken.

We extend our heartfelt thanks to Father George and Father Namora for their spiritual guidance and in leading our children on their faith journey. We will greatly miss our Parish Priests and hope they will be supported in their new parishes.

There is a Parish farewell to both Father’s, this Saturday night after Mass at The Family Hotel. Everyone is most welcome. RSVP to Peter Gain – 0417 060 155 asap.

In January, we will welcome Father Jo. Last week, Father Jo visited the school and made a visit to each classroom chatting to the children. He is looking forward to his appointment as Parish Priest of St Patrick’s.

St Vincent de Paul Christmas Appeal

Thank you, St Patrick’s families for your wonderful response to the St Vincent de Paul Christmas Appeal. There was a very generous amount if items bought to our End of Year Mass. These items will be made into Christmas hampers and distributed to those in our community who need a little boast to make their Christmas a little more enjoyable. Your generosity is greatly appreciated.

Christmas Mass

This year there will only be one Christmas Mass celebrated. Mass will be at 6 pm on Christmas Eve.

All children who are at this Mass, are invited to take part in the entrance procession and bring baby Jesus to his place in the manager.

Altar Servers

We take this opportunity to thank our wonderful Altar Servers who continue to make an outstanding contribution to our Parish community. We have recently welcomed a new group of children to this ministry. Over the coming weeks they will begin their roles under the guidance of our more experienced leaders.

Please check your rosters over the holidays. If you are unable to server on the allocated date, please arrange a swap.

Wishing you all a happy and holy Christmas and a safe and relaxing holiday season. May you enjoy spending time with family and friends.

Kate Howe

REC

Thank you Mrs Howe and Father George for a lovely Yr 6 Graduation Mass on Friday 9th December. Thank you also to the families and children for your kind donations of perishable food for the St Vincent de Paul Appeal. Your generosity and kindness is overwhelming. 

Good Luck and Best Wishes to Anson, Akacia, Sophie, Ellie, Tahlira, James, Charlie, Gracie & Eliza. We sure are going to miss your personalities, your smiles, sense of humour and chats at school.  We wish you all the success as you take on High School. Good Luck with the journey and remember you can succeed at anything you work hard at.  We will miss you

CRITERION HOTEL CHRISTMAS FAMILY FUNDAY-SATURDAY 17^th December from 11.30-3.00pm.

The event will be held outside on the grassed area of the hotel.

All money raised goes to support St Patrick’s School.

*Kids eat free (with the purchase of a main meal)

*Jumping Castle

*Face Painting-gold coin donation

*Old Kentucky Mobile Animal Farm with the cutest animals

*A visit from the Gundagai Rural Fire Service

*And of course a visit from Santa Claus and all his helpers! Photos available

Fr George will be saying his final Thanksgiving Mass this Saturday the 17^th December at 6pm in St Patrick’s Church. Families are welcome to join the Parish Community for dinner at Lott’s Hotel following Mass in honour of Fr George and Fr Namora’s service to the Gundagai community. Please contact Peter Gain by email prgainconsulting@westnet.com.au if you would like to attend this dinner. Dinner cost is each persons responsibility.

The Back to School NSW Vouchers program provides 3 x $50 vouchers, totalling $150 for each eligible student. The vouchers can be used: towards the cost of school uniforms, shoes, bags, textbooks and stationery. 

Deyanne Field from Moeys, Gundagai has been approved to be a provider for the NSW Government Back to School Allowance - $50.00 x 3 each per child a total of $150.00 each which is to be spent on back to school item's between Jan & June 23. 

St Patricks students could benefit from this by purchasing - school shoes, joggers, backpacks, lunch boxes, pencil cases, socks etc. 

All you need to go is "Apply for Back to School Vouchers" on the link below to see if you are eligible. 

https://www.service.nsw.gov.au/back-to-school-vouchers

Term 4 concludes-Friday 16^th December at 3:15pm. Year 6 traditional ringing of the school bell will take place from 3.00pm onwards.

2023 Term 1 Starting Dates:

Friday 27^th January-Staff PD Day

Monday 30^th January-CE CATALYST System Day in Canberra

Tuesday 31^st January-Staff Preparation Day 

Wednesday 1^st February-Students K-6 begin Term 1

Congratulations to our Year 5 students who have been selected for the following leadership areas in 2023.

School Captains: Abigail Bock and Charlotte McDonnell, Jack Ryan and Nate Tozer

Sport Specialists: Emmy, Miya, Darby and Ryan

Hospitality Hosts: Nate, Tessa, Faith and Charlotte

Media Moguls: Garvita and Lachlan

Environmental Enthusiasts:  Amy, Abigail, Jack Paton and Jack Ryan

Congraulations to our Week 10 Term 4 Student of the Month and Principal's Awards.  What a lovely way to finish the term.

Student of the Month: 

Kindergarten: Imogen Graham & Lance Crowe

Yr 1 : Archie Peterson

Yr 2 : Mackenzie Little 

Yr 3: Molly Lott 

Yr 4: Chase Robinson 

Yr 5: Emmy Gaskin

Yr 6: Ellie McDonnell 

Principal's Awards

Drue Summers, Akacia Winchester and Isabella Melksham 

School Market Stalls – St Patrick’s Day Fair 2023

A reminder to all families to note down the date of our St Patrick’s Day Fair – 18^th March 2023.

As part of our fundraising efforts on the day; each Class will be in charge of a market stall

Please see below the allocation of Market Stalls for each 2023 Class:

With the Christmas and New Year period approaching, why not have a clean out and send in your unwanted treasures for us to sell.

Please keep in mind, the items do need to be suitable for sale. Items should not be broken or damaged and clothing should be washed and unstained.

IMPORTANT!!

Stall items for Year 2 and Year 3/4 will need to be returned to school by the end of WEEK 3 – 17/02/2023; this will allow time for sorting.

Should families have any queries regarding the stalls now or during the school holidays, I am more than happy for you to contact me – 0422 154 298 or smjohnson7103@gmail.com

Thank you for your continued support of our fundraisers and I wish you all a happy and safe Christmas and New Year.

Sam Johnson

Fundraising Co-Ordinator

Thank you to all of our 2022 Altar Servers and families for your support throughout the year. 

Saturday 17th December - Emmy Gaskin & Christyne Calub

Saturday 24th December (Christmas Eve Mass) - Harry Peterson, Sophie Graham & Nate Tozer

Saturday 31st December - Ellie McDonnell & Archie McDonnell 

Saturday 7th January - Eliza Hargreaves, Lachlan Hargreaves & Sophie Graham 

We would like to wish all the following students a happy birthday and to the students who will also be celebrating a birthday in holidays. 

11 December - Indi Cole

14 December - Josie Lott 

25 December - Emily Ryan 

27 December - Christyne Calub 

28 December - Garvita Joshi 

29 December - Darby Jones 

31 December - Anson Chew 

We hope you all have a great day celebrating