Dear Families and Friends

Celebration of Learning

It was lovely to see so many parents and grandparents at our Celebration of Learning day last Wednesday. Visitors to our classrooms were able to see student learning in action, bookwork displays, a selection of written work and group performances of creative arts and science. Many parents have contacted the school to express their appreciation of this opportunity and congratulate the student and teachers. Our next Celebration of Learning day will be on the 5^th of September. We do hope you can call in and see the great learning taking place around our school.

Thank you to all the parents who have been coaching our students in a variety of sports this term. Special mention to Mr David Scott, Mr Michael Lane, Mr Jason Flanagan, Mr Scott Wilson and Mrs Michelle McDonnell who assisted in lunchtime coaching and supporting the students on the day. Thank you to all the parents who travelled to Canberra on the weekend to support their children playing at GIO Stadium in the Rugby Union. This was a great opportunity for the students to gain more experience competing at a higher level in front of a stadium crowd. Well done students.

Newsletter Survey

Thank you to the 14 parents who responded to the survey in last week’s Newsletter about the proposed changes to the frequency of our Newsletter service. This survey is gathering initial data as to how regularly it is accessed and its publication cycle. At present, 33% of our parent body regularly don’t access our weekly Newsletter. The survey will remain open until Friday.

At this stage, responses indicate a preference for a Newsletter to be published every 2nd week and a weekly Bulletin containing updates of the coming week emailed to parents every Friday.

Your responses will be collated and further discussed at our Community Council Open Meeting on the 21st June, commencing at 5:30.

https://goo.gl/forms/ulMCHiuqiTbQkoCD2

NAPLAN and A to E Reporting Information

A NAPLAN and A to E Reporting Information evening will be held at the school on the 21^st June, commencing at 5:30pm. This information session will be followed by an open Community Council meeting for all to attend. Hope to see you there. Please RSVP your attendance from our FaceBook Page

Semester 1 Reports and Parent / Teacher Interviews

Semester One school reports will be sent home on Friday, 22nd June. All Parents and Caregivers are invited to attend Parent/teacher Interviews on the 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th of July to discuss your child’s progress. This is an opportunity to ask questions and gather more detail about the information provided on the student report card as well as finding out ways to assist your child's learning and provide support where needed.  

To assist with improving the interview process, we are inviting parents to give feedback via a short survey. Two questions will be asked on the survey and your responses are much appreciated. I will inform the school community of any changes to the interview structure in next week’s Newsletter.

https://goo.gl/forms/hztVedvSHO9S0Ttl2

Athletics Carnival

This Thursday we will be holding our Athletics Carnival at the Owen Vincent Oval. The Kindergarten, Year 1 & 2 Carnival will commence at 12pm - 1pm. All other students will head to the ovals first thing in the morning. We appreciate those who have already offered their assistance. If you can help lend a hand with the running of events, setting or cleaning up please contact the front office asap. We hope to be finished by 2pm. If you wish to collect your child after the event please ensure that you complete an absent form and let your child's teacher know.

Have a great week,

5 and 6 Liturgy

Thank you, Years 5 and 6 for leading the school Liturgy on Friday. The theme was about coming together as a community.

RECONCILIATION and FIRST HOLY COMMUNION

Reconciliation and Holy Communion Sacraments will be made together this year.

Reconciliation will be during the preparation retreat day on Friday 24^th August.

First Holy Communion will be celebrated on Saturday the 25^th August.

Mass and Liturgy Times:

This term, Mass will be on Fridays at 12pm and Liturgies will be Friday at 12:30pm.

Liturgies may be held at the school, pending the weather on the day.

Dates to mark on your calendar:

08/06- Mass led by Staff (12pm)
15/06- Liturgy led by Years 3 and 4 (12:30pm).

22/06- Mass led by Staff and Leaders (12pm).
29/06- Liturgy led by Kinder (12:30pm).
06/07- End of term Mass led by SRC (12pm).

Thoughts/ Questions / Reflection for the week: Visio Divina 

Visio Divina invites the viewer into "divine seeing." Visio Divina shares origins with the ancient practice of Lectio Divina. (Lectio Divina calls for a slow, careful interaction with scripture through meditation and prayer, allowing a word or phrase to rise in one's consciousness, a holy word to be savoured and examined.) Similarly, Visio Divina invites one to encounter the divine through images. A prayerful consideration of and interaction with a photograph in the magazine, icon, piece of art, or other visual representation allows the viewer to experience the divine in a unique and powerful way.

Visio Divina can be practiced individually or with a group in a small group or worship setting by using a piece of art as a focal point for prayer. Scripture can also be paired with the image in order for the viewer to reflect on the scripture through the art.

Use this image of ‘The most Holy Body and Blood of Christ’, to encounter the divine.

1) Prepare: Close your eyes, breathe, clear your mind, and ask God to enter into this time of prayer with you. Ask God to speak to you through this image.

2) Lectio (read): Open your eyes and scan the image. Note what draws your interest, but continue to scan the whole image. Close and rest your eyes a minute.

3) Mediatio (meditate): Open your eyes and let your eyes be led. Focus on just the part of the image that caught your eyes and name it. Close your eyes, seeing that piece of the image in your mind.

4) Oratio (pray): Open your eyes and look again at the piece of the image that caught your eye. Allow it to bring forth a word, image, or emotion. Close and rest your eyes.

5) Contemplatio (contemplation): Open your eyes and gaze at the whole image. What is God speaking to you today through this image? How will you respond to Him? Spend time processing that with God. Pray or journal about it.

God Bless, Mrs Flanagan REC

This Thursday, 7 June we will be holding our St Patrick's Athletics Carnival at the Owen Vincent Oval. We had sent home a helpers request slip last week if you haven't sent it back yet please do - many hands make light work and a successful event for all involved.

MORTIMER SHIELD - League Tag

On the 31st of May St Pat's presented the Yr 5/6 girls along with Addison Fairall, Sadie Eccleston and Abby Mcdonnell from year 4 to play in the Mortimer Shield League Tag competition in Tumut.

Our first game was against Gundagai Public at 10:25. The final score was 20-4. Gundagai Public won, but it was our first game.  We all tried our best.In our second game we versed Tumut public and we won 24-4. Our third game we versed McAuley, it was a close one but we won by 16-12. We were so close to losing but that all changed in our second half by scoring another try. In our last game we versed small schools Nangus/Brungle/Bongongo, we won with a result of 24-12.

After the big day and all our hard work we all were exhausted with a couple of bruises but we all had a good day. It was a close one but we did not make it through to the final, but we all tried our best. Sadie got the player of the day, we all think she deserved it.

Abbey said “On behalf of the St Patrick’s girls team we would like to thank our manager Mrs Lisa Wilson and our coach Jason Flanagan/ in other words my father, for coaching us and for training us as well.  Also special thanks to parents who drove over either their own child or other children as well".

Mortimer Shield – Rugby League

On Thursday 31st of May the Year 5/6 boys went to Tumut to play Mortimer Shield.

Our first game was against Tumut PS at 11:15AM. They won 16-0.

Our second game was against Tumbarumba PS at 12:10PM. We won 4-0.

Our third game was against Mcauley Central School at 1:20PM. We lost 14-12. Our games went for 30 minutes with 15-minute halves.

Overall we had a great day even though we didn’t win.

Thanks to Scott Wilson and Mr Powell for coaching us, thanks to Lincoln Fallon, Sam Turk, Dallas Miller, Seamus McMahon and Sidney Radford for helping us out so we had a team.Thanks to Fred Turk for taking photos and our parents for taking us over.

With the change of season the Uniform Shop has been very busy. While every effort is made to keep the shop well stocked there will be times where orders will need to be placed with suppliers and therefore there can sometimes be a wait for uniforms. To avoid disappointment please place orders as early as possible. For emergency items such as ties, hats, jumpers there will be 2^nd hand items available from the School Office at any time. All other uniform orders can be sent in with your child or emailed to the School Office and these orders will then be filled by Bec on Tuesday afternoons. Once items are paid for they will be available for collection from the office or sent home with your child. If you are unsure of clothing sizes the uniform shop is open on Tuesday afternoons and uniforms can be tried on. Please contact Bec if you cannot attend the school during Uniform Shop opening hours and she may be able to arrange for your child to try uniforms on during school hours.

The astro turf area has been identified as a high priority item for Community Council. This will be a major financial undertaking and will greatly improve the school environment for the students. We have had a great start to the fundraising for this year which will certainly help with this project. As details of the project become available they will be shared with the school community.

We have now had a full term of the new school office opening hours of 9:30am to 3:30pm. Unfortunately, the administration hours for St Patrick’s is allocated by Catholic Education in Canberra. This has required an adjustment for us all and the Community Council would like to thank everyone for their understanding during the transition. The school has endeavoured to put in place procedures to assist parents and students with the new office hours. Vince or a Community Council Representative are always available should you want to discuss any matters relating to office hours or any other school matters.

At our last meeting elections were held for the positions of Chairman and Vice Chairman. We would like to welcome Renee Lindley as Chairman and Craig Hargreaves to Vice Chairman respectively.  The Community Council would like to thank our outgoing chairman Chris McDonnell for his commitment & leadership over the last two and a half years and we look forward to his continued contribution as a Community Council member.

The next Community Council Meeting will take place on the 21^st June. As this is scheduled as an open meeting, everyone is invited to attend a presentation on the A-E reporting system and NAPLAN at 5:30pm and then attend the Community Council meeting at 6:30pm. This is a great opportunity to experience Community Council if you are considering joining or if you have items that you would like discussed by Community Council.

Week 5 – The Best Way to Play

During Peer Support this week the children will be looking at how to play in a friendly way in order to maintain friends and build positive relationships. Through various activities, children will discover the importance of taking turns and having consistent rules throughout a game.

This week please help your child practise these skills by encouraging them to play games with siblings, family or friends.

KINDERGARTEN: Skye Sommerville - showing care and concern for others.

YEAR 1/2: Ellie McDonnell - putting in a super effort in Mathematics when working with money.

YEAR 3/4: Jessica McDonnell - contributing to class discussions with thoughtful responses.

YEAR 5/6: Lochie Wilson - a confident problem solver in Mathematics.

RESPONSIBLE: Andrew Cole, Nicholas Quine, Rylee Flanagan, Sarah Scott, Oliver Gailey & Henry Hindmarsh

RESPECTFUL: Joseph Gailey, Emily Ryan, Sarah Scott x 2, Sam Crane & Lochie Wilson

SAFE: Riley Smith, Christyne Calub & Sarah Scott

Happy birthday to the following people who celebrate their birthdays this week.

Alixandria Kerin celebrates her birthday today - June 4th!

We wish you all the very best for your special day!

RUGBY UNION CHAMPIONSHIPS GIO STADIUM

On Sunday the 3rd on June the Year 5/6 boys went to Canberra to play Rugby Union. Our first game was at 2:12 pm we played a ten-minute game against St. Bernard’s from Bateman’s bay, and we won thanks to Lochie Wilson receiving a pop pass from Sam Crane, for a runaway try down the sideline on the last play.

For the second game, we versed Griffith and they were a strong team but we did not succeed to win that game. Then at half-time of the Brumbies 500 plus match, we walked around the stadium giving high fives to all the crowd.   

We had a good time in Canberra, special thanks to Dave Scott and Mick Leane for training us and giving up their Sunday and making us play the best we possibly could. Also a big thanks to the parents for travelling to Canberra with us on Sunday.