Dear Parents and Carers, 

A very big welcome back to you all as we begin another school year. We hope the holidays were relaxing and filled with many memorable family times. An extra special welcome is extended to our new staff member Mr Tarron Makeham and all our new families which include the Hufton, Knight-Gregson, Miller, Smart and Tobin families. We are delighted to have you join our St Patrick’s school community.

It has been delightful to welcome 10 new Kindergarten to our St Patrick’s School family. A big welcome to Juno, Chelsea, Alfie, Sophia, Angus, Fred, Pippi, Harry, Olivia and Hamish as they begin their educational journey here with us. We are also delighted to welcome Reuben Smart in Year 3, who has joined our Year 3/4 class. All our new students have settled in beautifully to our school and are already a valued part of our school family. We look forward to journeying with them throughout their Primary School education.

St Patrick’s School staff attended the Faith in Learning, System CATALYST Day in Canberra last Monday, along with 2,300 other CECG staff members. We felt privileged to be part of this inspiring gathering of professional presenters that continue to inspire staff and leaders, on the most current research around the Science of Learning that underpins the pedagogy that we are using in our classrooms to provide best practice that support all learners in our schools. It was also humbling to be part of such a larger Archdiocesan gathering that is journeying together as a school system.

We have several important events coming up this week at school. Our St Patrick’s School swimming carnival will be held this Thursday 9^th February at the Gundagai Pool followed by our Opening School Mass on Friday 10^th February at St Patrick’s Church commencing at 12pm. Parents and family members are most welcome to join us this year for both events.

Our school community would like to extend our most sincere congratulations to Mr Phil Smith who was named as Gundagai Citizen of the Year at the recent Gundagai Australia Day Awards. Mr Smith who is Riley and Fletcher’s grandfather, was recognized for his work with CAN ASSIST, services to Gundagai Rugby League and his volunteer work. We are very proud of you Mr Smith and thank you for your services to the Gundagai community.

Best wishes for a happy week ahead.

Christine Baron

Principal

Welcome back to a new school year. I hope you were able to enjoy a lovely Christmas and holiday time with your family. I hope that 2023 will be a safe and positive year for all our school community.

Loving God, at the beginning of this new school year we ask you to bless the students, the teachers and staff and parents of our school, that together we may grow in faith, hope and love as we learn from you and each other how to follow your Son, Jesus.

Opening School Mass

On Friday 10^th February we will celebrate our Opening School Mass at 12 noon in St Patrick’s Church.

During this Mass we will present our School Captain’s with their badges, introduce our Year Six leadership group and present badges to the newly elected SRC Representatives for 2023. Our new students will also be presented with a welcome gift.

We warmly welcome members of our school community to join with us to celebrate our first Mass of 2023.

Welcome Fr Joe

In January Fr Yoseph Neonbasu joined our St Patrick’s Parish as our new Parish Priest. We would like to welcome him and support him in his role. Father’s homeland is Indonesia. He studied and was ordained for the priesthood here in Australia.

Father has a very big job, as he is the only priest looking after the Tumut Mission which includes Gundagai, Tumut, Batlow, Adelong and surrounding towns.

Father likes to be called Fr Joe. He is looking forward to meeting our St Patrick’s children and their families.

Altar Serving

Thank you to all our super Altar Servers who continued to carry out their important ministry throughout the holidays. Your service is always appreciated by all in the Parish.

Kate Howe

REC

Our little Kindergarten group certainly have settled into their first week of BIG SCHOOL and continue to shine.  Thank you to our Yr 6 Buddies for taking extra special care of our new kindergarten class.

Just a reminder that the Kindergarten class will have their first "Rest Day" tomorrow (Wednesday 8th of February) and I am sure they will be looking forward to a day at home 

Registrations still being taken.

Dance Classes resume Monday, 6 February at our Studio, Behind the Old Hospital.

We offer classes in kinder gym, gymnastics, acro, cheer, ballet, pointe, tap, jazz, hip hop, contemporary, and pilates. Experienced and qualified teachers.

Ages from 3 and up.

We offer dancing at local events, tap exams, eisteddfod competition, dancing for fun and End Of Year Concert.

Please follow us on Facebook (Christine Wishart Dance Studio) where it is regularly updated. 

For enquiries please phone Christine on 0427 782 954.

Congratulations to our new 2023 Student Representative Council members.  The students have voted and the teachers have tallied the results which are as follows: 

Year 2 - Kaydee Smith and Fletcher Smith 

Year 3 - Anna Murphy (for Term 1), Lane Johnson & Jimmy Robinson 

Year 4 - Emma Brown, Dale Paton 

Year 5 - Christyne Calub and Archie McDonnell 

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

We look forward to working with you and know that you will be creative and show iniative in being the "Student Voice" at St Patrick's. 

The SRC Bages and Captains Badges will be presented at Friday's Opening Mass at 12pm

Just a reminder to our families to regularly check Compass for updates and reminders that have been set by staff for upcoming events.  

We are still waiting on consent from quite a few parents for our Swimming Carnival event on this Thursday.  

If you are able to log into your Compass App (if you are using your smart phone) click on the "More" option on the bottom right hand side and then click on events and then the "Action Required" arrow which will take you to the consent page.  Scroll to the bottom and type your name then click submit. 

If you have any issues then please contact the office and I can talk you through it. 

Thursday Sport

Call for Coaches/Managers/Assistance 

Parents are always welcome to volunteer to train or assist sporting teams in preparation for Gala Days. Not only is it rewarding but alot of fun! If you would like to participate in any of the following events please contact Mrs Wilson 

Thursday 9th March - Soccer Gala Day at Tumut for Yr 3/4 and Yr 5/6 (private transport arranged) Tarron Makeham and Lisa Wilson teachers in charge

Friday 24th March - School Cross Country for K - Yr 6

Tuesday 9th May -Mortimer Shield at Twickenham Oval Tumut (more detail at a later date) this is for the Yr 5/6 Rugby League Tackle and Girls Leaguetag.  

Rugby Union - Years 3-6  March 31 Gala Day 10’s Tumut

Trent Barrett - Year 3/4 Gundagai  Date TBC, Rugby League and League Tag

**Please note travel to and from most  gala days is provided by parents. **

Thank you to our wonderful parents for volunteering to cook cupcakes, cookies and to volunteer your time on a Friday to work in the canteen.  We are extremely grateful for your time. 

Friday 10th Feb

Cookies:  Bonita Taylor & Claire Somerville 

Canteen Volunteers: Alicia Hargreaves & Amy Ryder 

Monday Cupcakes ( 13th February)

Cooks: Jacintha Bedford and Fiona Worldon 

Friday 17th Feb:

Cookies: Tash Smith & Simone Jones 

Canteen Volunteers: El Williams & Kate Graham 

Monday Cupcakes (20th February) 

Cooks: Tracy Murphy & Jessie McLennan 

We had quite a few children celebrate their birthday in the school holidays and we would like to extend our wishes to the following: 

25th December - Emily Ryan 

27th December - Christyne Calub 

28th December - Garvita Joshi 

29th December - Darby Jones

14th January - Harrison Campbell & Jasper Rui 

22nd January - Dale Paton 

2nd February - Archie McDonnell 

4th February - Lachlan Morgan 

6th February - Fletcher Smith 

7th February - Taite Johnson