St Patrick's Primary School Gundagai eNewsletter

Dear Parents,

Our first school term for 2023, finishes this Thursday afternoon. We have certainly accomplished a lot over the past 10 weeks! This week is a very special week on our Christian calendar as we celebrate Holy Week. This is a special week to reflect on Jesus’ passion and death, culminating in his glorious resurrection on Easter Sunday. Our students are currently involved in special Holy Week activities that help them understand the significance of this very special week.

A very special welcome is extended to Winnie Huang who has joined our Year 4 class. We also extend a special welcome to Winnie’s parents, Emma and John. We are delighted to have another family join our St Patrick’s school community.

This week we sadly farewell the Murphy family as they head off to new adventures. Our very best wishes are extended to Joseph and Anna, as they join new school communities. A special thankyou to Michael and Tracey, who have been very committed to our school and great supporters of fundraising activities. We will miss the Murphy family very much and wish them every happiness for the future.

Please take care over the Easter and holiday break. I trust all families can find some time to recognise the solemnity of Easter and reflect on the meaning of sacrifice and commitment that the Easter story brings us. Also, importantly the joy and celebration of life that the resurrection reminds us of.

Wishing all of our beautiful families a very happy Easter and restful holidays! I look forward to catching up with everyone in Week 5 of Term 2.

Christine Baron

Principal

St Patrick, Pray for Us

Holy Week

Holy Week is an important time for Christians throughout the world. Holy Week, the final week of Lent, begins on Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter. Holy Week is a time when Catholics gather to remember and participate in the Passion of Jesus Christ. This week, we journey with Jesus from when He arrived in Jerusalem to when He was crucified.

Four special ceremonies commemorate the events of Christ’s Passion from His entrance into Jerusalem, when palm branches were placed in His path, through to His Last Supper and His arrest on Holy Thursday and Crucifixion on Good Friday, to Holy Saturday, the day that Christ’s body lay in the tomb, culminating on Easter Sunday when Jesus rose from the dead.

Masses will be celebrated in St Patrick’s Church on:

Holy Thursday – 7 pm
Good Friday – Stations of the Cross 10 am
Passion of Our Lord 3 pm
Easter Saturday - 6 pm

**** Helpers Needed*******

You and your family are invited and encouraged to assist in the Easter celebrations in our Parish. We need people to fill the jobs of:

readers
Altar Servers
Computer assistants

If you can assist in any way, it would be greatly appreciated. Please contact the school and I will get back to you.

Holy Week Activities

Yesterday the children in their Peer Support Groups began their Holy Week activities tracing Jesus’ journey. Each day they will celebrate an important event in Jesus’ story through Scripture, drama and song. On Holy Thursday we will come together as a whole school in a final collaboration of this memorable story. The children will have something special to take home. Please ask the children to sit with you and tell the story of their creation.

In this photo we Rueben Smart as Jesus entering Jerusalem on Plan Sunday.

Altar Servers

Altar servers are desperately wanted for Easter celebrations (see above).

Please remember to check your roster so that you can fulfil you Altar Serving duty.
If you cannot attend on your allocated day, remember it is your responsibility to arrange a swap. Phone numbers are provided on the front page of the roster.

Sacramental Classes – Reconciliation

Preparation for Reconciliation will begin on Tuesday 9^th May (Term 2 Week 3). If your child is in Year 3 you will need to complete a Registration Form. These are available through the Parish Office of from me. It would be appreciated if these could be done as soon as possible so we can organise our preparation.

Staff Spirituality Day

On Monday 24^th April the St Patrick’s Staff will join with Staff from McAuley Tumut, St Mary’s Batlow and St Joseph’s Adelong in a Spirituality Day lead by RE Team from Catholic Education Canberra. The theme of the day is ‘Walking Together.’ We look forward to this opportunity to deepen our faith journey through this opportunity.

Wishing you and your family a happy and safe Easter.

Kate Howe

All families have now received their Term 1 school fees. We ask families to please ensure that school fees are paid on time and that you keep up to date with fee payments. We highly encourage families to use the BPay option to commit to the regular payment of school fees.

Please find attached CG Catholic Education school fee and levies timeframe for the collection of school fees. A full copy of this policy is available on our school website. St Patrick’s School adheres to this policy and timeline for the collection of school fees and levies. Please contact Mrs Baron or Mrs Fairall if you are having any issues keeping up with school fees. As per the timeline, families will be contacted if they are behind with school fees.

Thank you to families for committing to the payment of school fees and levies, as these payments support the fabulous resources and activities that we are able to implement to support the learning of all students.

CE_Fee_Process_and_Timeline.pdf

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Mrs Wilson will be Acting Principal and Mrs Kate Howe will be Acting Assistant Principal for the first four weeks of Term 2, while Mrs Baron is on leave. Mrs Howe will also continue in the role as REC during this time. Mrs Gemma Crowe and Mrs Wilson will teach Year 6 and Mrs Eccleston will teach Year 2 one extra day per week during this time. A very big thank you to Mrs Crowe and Mrs Eccleston for working extra days to ensure continuity of class programs.

Please check the COMPASS portal (under Events) and ensure you have provided permission for your child to attend the Healthy Harold van on the first week back of Term 2. The cost is $6.00 per child and will form the PD/Health unit of work during Term 2. Thank you to Community Council for subsiding the cost of the class visits. It is greatly appreciated.

Class Topics:

Year K/1-Harold’s Friendship

Year 2-Growing Good Friends

Year 3/4-The Inside Story

Year 5/6-Respect, Relate, Connect

PRIMARYFLYER.pdf

PRIMARYFLYER _pdf 1.20 MB

Healthy_Harold_flyer.pdf

Healthy_Harold_flyer _pdf 1.20 MB

General_Merchandise_Flyer.pdf

General_Merchandise_Flyer _pdf 5.24 MB

All students are invited to take part in the annual ANZAC Day March on Tuesday April 25th (last day of school holidays for students). Students are asked to wear full summer school uniform and bring a jumper of it is cool.

Students are asked to meet St Patrick’s staff outside Lott’s Family Hotel by 10:15am.

A free sausage sizzle will be held at Carberry Park following the March.

School Captains are invited to attend the Dawn ANZAC day service at ANZAC Grove at 6am to present a wreath on behalf of the St Patrick’s School community.

Term 2 will commence on Monday 24 April with Staff Professional Learning (no students). Following the Anzac Day Public Holiday on Tuesday 25 April, classes for all students Kindergarten to Year 11 will commence on Wednesday 26 April

School concludes for Term 1 at 3:15pm on Thursday 7th April.

Term 2 resumes for students on Wednesday 26th April

Staff return to work on Monday 24th April and will attend a Staff Spirituality Day at McAuley in Tumut with Tumut, Batlow and Adelong staff.

WR Cross Country-Friday 29th April at Grenfell

Harmony Day Celebration-Friday 5th May

Dental Clinic-Week 2

St Patrick’s Athletics Carnival-Thursday 11^th May

Mother’s Day celebrations-Friday 12^th May

Just a reminder that Term 1 School Fees are due this week. Thank you to the families that have made payment and continue to make regular weekly/fortnightly payments.

Payments can be made via your Compass App or by setting up a BPay Payment Plan using your BPay Reference number and Customer Reference Number. Fee Statements are sent out to your email monthly with balances owing.

We have had a reported case of Head Lice at the school. We would ask that you please check your child's hair and treat with appropriate Head Lice Treatment as soon as possible. Please report all cases. If we all work together we can eliminate the problem quickly.

FINAL CALL OUT FOR WINTER JACKET ORDERS

As previously advised in our last newsletter (Week 10 - Term 1) We will be placing a special order for Winter Jackets. This is not compulsory to purchase its just giving parents an easy option to order. Black or Navy coats are preferred during winter.

The jackets are $35.00

* Navy in Colour
* Waterproof
* Polar Fleece Lining with concealed zip
* Hood with draw cord
* Velco flap for pockets
* Hand warmer pocket
* Dry & Cosy

If you are interested in purchasing a jacket please contact the office with your size and details by this Friday 6th of May. Bec Gaskin will be placing this special order early next week and we will contact the families who have ordered one to drop in their cash or pay via EFTPOS at the front office.

The Catholic School Parents Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn (CSPACG) Council are actively promoting themselves and would like each school to assist by.

Sharing the flyer with all families
Like/Follow the CSPACG Facebook Page from the school Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/cspacgcouncil

CSPACG_Flyer_23.pdf

CSPACG_Flyer_23 _pdf 1.11 MB

Students and teachers will be practising Emergency Evacuation procedures this week. This is a mandatory requirement that students are able to exit a building safely in the event of a fire or other emergency situation.

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Just a quick reminder to anyone that may have lent a cash tin to our St Patrick's Fair Stalls they are sitting in the front office awaiting collection. If you could please collect by this Thursday.

Thank you

We would like to congratulate Lane Johnson on his Swim in Sydney last week. Lane came 4th in his heat and swam 49sec which is super fast for a young boy like Lane.

Congratulations Lane you did yourself, your family and our school proud.

Harmony Day, which is traditionally celebrated on March 21st each year, is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the wonderful diversity of cultures that makes up our St Patrick’s School community. Each year St Patrick’s organised a beautiful cultural lunch. As the next few weeks are extremely busy, with the support of our Tuckshop coordinator Mrs Hargreaves, we will now celebrate Harmony Day on Friday 5th May (Term 2). We invite students to wear the colour orange on this day or wear traditional costume.

We would love to hear from families that would be interested in bringing along a tradition dish that the children can try. Last year was such a successful day and we had so many different dishes for our children and staff to sample.

Please contact the school or Alicia Hargreaves if you would be interested in cooking up a dish to share. We have plenty of time but need to have an idea of how many dishes we have to offer.

Volunteers Needed

Community Council are again running our annual Friday Night Meat Raffles at Lotts Family Hotel starting Term 2.

Community Council are calling for volunteers to join the roster, if you are able to assist please contact the school office 69441085 or Craig Hargreaves 0428 471 525.

It is a great socal opportunity to get to know other parents in our school community; so if any of our long-standing families would like to reach out to our new families to join the roster that would be fantastic.

Raffles will begin on Friday 21st April, so please contact the School or Craig ASAP to enable the roster to be completed.

EASTER_2023_APRIL_Clinic.pdf

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Congratulations to our Week 8 and Week 9 Class Awards

Week 8 - 24th March 2023

Kindergarten - Hamish Tobin for neat presentation of work

Yr 1 - Josie Lott for active participation in Daily Review and all class activities

Yr 2 - Kaydee Smith for being a kind and inclusive class member

Yr 3 - Leila Gaskin for always being on task and completing her work

Yr 4 - Indi Cole for consistent application to all learning areas

Yr 5 - Christyne Calub for displaying a positive atittude in all areas

Yr 6 - Tessa Crowe for demonstrating leadership and initiative

Week 9 - 31st March 2023

Kindergarten - Harry Ryder for his positive class participation

Yr 1 - Harley Rose for his consistent application to all learning and for being a kind and supportive class member.

Yr 2 - Fletcher Smith for his enthusiasm during "Ultimate Frisbee"

Yr 3 - Jasper Rui for being a helpful and supportive class member

Yr 4 - Eliza Graham for always completing her work quickly and efficiently

Yr 5 - Emily Ryan for facing challenges and tasks with persistence and determination

Yr 5 - Isabella Boswell for always striving to give her best

Yr 6 - Abigail Bock for confident solving of fractions with mixed denominations

Congratulations to our Week 9 WildCat awards

RESPONSIBLE - Sarah Gailey and Harry Campbell

Keep up the fantastic work in class and out in the playgound

Thank you to our families and children for your continued support every week for our Altar Serving duties. Please arrive 15mins prior to Mass to allow time to change and greet the parishioners.

Saturday 8th April

(Easter Saturday) - Christyne Calub & Indi Cole

Saturday 15th April - Nick Quine & Joey Gailey

Saturday 22nd April - Taite Johnson & Riley Smith

Saturday 29th April - Emmy Gaskin & Nate Tozer

Tune into "Sounds of the Mountains" radio station (FM94.1) every Wednesday at 2.15pm to hear about what our classes and school has been up to over the week. Catch up with our Yr 6 leaders as they share our weekly news report:

Week 10 5th April: Emmy Gaskin & Faith Miller

Happy Birthday to the following students who have recently celebrated a birthday