Dear Parents and Carer’s,

Term 3 continues to speed by and we are already in Week 8. It’s certainly great to see the weather warming up and classroom doors being opened up again as we enter into Springtime.

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL ANNOUNCEMENT:  I am delighted to announce that Mrs Natasha Flanagan has accepted the role of Acting Assistant Principal during Term 4 while Mrs Wilson is on LSL. Mrs Flanagan has held this position before and will be a great addition to the school leadership team.

ARCHDIOCESAN PUBLIC SPEAKING: Congratulations to Indi and Taite who attended the Archdiocesan Public Speaking finals in Bateman’s Bay yesterday. We are so proud of both of them for their commitment to continuing practice sessions and efforts in the lead up to the finals. A huge thank you is extended to Mr Gain who continued to offer his expert help through the last few weeks. Indi received a Participation Certificate and Taite was runner up. Well done to both Indi and Taite we are very proud of you both. 

SRC MINI OLYMPICS DAY: The recent Olympic games and Paralympic games have inspired the SRC to host a special day this Thursday 12 September for all students K-6. The students are encouraged to dress in the colour of their assigned country and to particpate in a wide range of activities representing olympic events. The games will be held down at Stan Crowe Oval commencing at 11.30am. Thank you to Mr Makeham and the SRC for organising such an exciting event!

MARTY’S MUSIC CONCERT: This Friday 13 September, our students learning musical instruments with Marty’s Music, will present their very first concert. Parents and family members are welcome to attend this very special presentation. Please be seated in the Learning Hub by 9.25am.

CATALYST UPDATES: Last Tuesday, Mrs Eccelston attended a NSW Curriculum Day in Cootamundra. Mrs Eccleston enjoyed the opportunity to connect with other HITP school leaders and learn about new initiatives and programs that will continue to improve our teaching practice into the future.

Today we welcomed Sommer Johnson from COGLearn, who visited our school to observe current HITP practices as well as demonstrate some maths lessons and HITP initiatives to teachers. Teachers were released to observe lesson demonstrations as well as receive feedback from Sommer. This has been a most beneficial project from COGlearn. Staff have continued to embrace daily HITP practices into their classroom teaching practices to ensure all students are engaged and active partcipants in learning.

Tomorrow we welcome Campbell Sloane from COMPASS to St Patrick’s School. Campbell worked alongside our teachers providing opportunities for learning how to achieve maximun benefit and the most recent updates through the COMPASS portal.

BUILDING AND MAINTENANCE UPDATES: We are very excited to announce that after several meetings and consultations with CECG Building and Maintenance Team, we will be upgrading our current student bathrooms in the near future. Plans and the new bathroom designs have been received and will be looked at in further detail. Plans for the COLA area are also being discussed. Watch this space!

WEEKS 9 and 10: Next week I will be attending the APPA Trans Tasman conference. The theme of the conference is ‘TOGETHER Leading Learning! Some fantastic keynote speakers have been engaged to address the conference along with a variety of workshops. Following the conference, I will be taking a weeks LSL. Unfortunately as previously advised, Mrs Katrina McGrath who was to be Acting Principal during my leave, has made contact to say that she is unwell and following medical advice is no longer unable to be present at St Patrick’s School during Weeks 9 and 10.  Therefore Mrs Lisa Wilson will be Acting Principal during that time. A huge thank you to Mrs Howe who will now attend the Year 5/6 excursion to replace Mrs McGrath and to Mrs Flanagan who will be in charge of St Patrick’s School during Week 10. We are very grateful to all staff for their flexibility and support in supporting our students during these unexpected staffing events and making sure students are always our number one priority.

Best wishes,

Christine Baron

Principal

It is hard to believe how quickly this term is flying by. There have been so many wonderful events taking place at St Patrick’s that are keeping us on our toes.

I would like to thank Kindergarten and Year One for the way they presented their very first Mass for the year, in honour of Father’s Day. The children were so excited and very capably fulfilled their roles. It was great to have so many fathers, grandfathers, and father figures in the Church to be part of this celebration. 

The Mass was followed by a super BBQ lunch enjoyed by many. It is always a great opportunity for our Dads and Grandfather’s to come into the school for a social gathering. I think there were many yarns told and great conversations.

Mass – Week 8

Year Two will be presenting our Mass this week. We welcome you to join with us to celebrate at 12pm. Hope to see you there.

Important dates for your diary

Grandparents Morning Tea and Mass

A date for your calendar –

25^th October – Week 2 Term 4.

Make it a date to celebrate our wonderful Grandparents. A Grandparents Mass will be celebrated at 12 noon.

Sacramental Program - Eucharist - Term Four

We will begin our preparation for the Sacrament of the Eucharist early in Term 4. We have 14 candidates for First Holy Communion, who are very eager for their preparation to commence.

Parents, please put these dates in your diary so we avoid clashes with other events. Tuesday lessons are for children only, while Saturdays lessons are for Parent and child.

Week 2

Lesson 1 - Tuesday 22^nd October 3:30 pm to 4:30 pm

Lesson 2 - Saturday 26^th October 4:45 pm – 5:50 pm - 6 pm for 

                  Commitment Mass

Week 3

Lesson 3 - Tuesday 29^th October 3:30 pm to 4:30 pm

Lesson 4 - Saturday 2^nd November 4:45 pm – 5:50 pm - 6 pm Mass

Week 4

Lesson 5 - Tuesday 5^th November 3:30 pm to 4:30 pm

Lesson 6 - Wednesday 6^th November Preparation Day 9:15 am – 3:00 pm

**** Sacrament of First Holy Communion**** - Saturday 9^th November – 6pm Mass  (Week 4).

Come, Holy Spirit

Archdiocesan Assembly

You are all invited to take part in the Archdiocesan Assembly that will explore the theme ‘Come Holy Spirit’. This will focus on celebrating the Year of the Holy Spirit and explore new opportunities foe evangelisation and synodality in the life and mission of our local Church going forward.

This is a chance for all to gather, discuss and discern the Holy Spirit at work in our midst.

Where: Canberra, Narooma, Cooma, Young, Goulburn

When: Friday – Sunday 18 – 20 October

Detailed information, registration and formation materials at cgevangelisation.org.au/assembly

Kate Howe

REC

Mr Ferguson will be taking LSL during Weeks 9 and 10 of Term 3. Mrs Denise Drabble will replace Mr Ferguson’s roles as CST and classroom teacher for Year 6 in Week 9. Mrs Flanagan will replace Mr Ferguson as classroom teacher on Friday of Week 9. We wish Mr Ferguson and his family a relaxing break and look forward to seeing him again in Term 4.

Mrs Baron will be attending the Australian Primary Principal’s Assocation (APPA) conference during Week 9 and taking LSL during Week 10. Unfortunately as previously advised, Mrs Katrina McGrath who was to be Acting Principal during my leave, has made contact to say that she is unwell and following medical advise is no longer able to be present at St Patrick’s School during Weeks 9 and 10. Mrs Wilson will be in charge during Weeks 9 and 10, with Mrs Flanagan in charge at St Patrick’s while Mrs Wilson is away on the Year 5/6 excursion. Mrs Flanagan will step into her Assistant Principal role early. Thank you to Mrs Eccleston for taking Year K/1 during Week 10. CECG have been informed of the changes and have approved all staffing arrangments during Week 10.

Mrs Wilson will be taking LSL during Term 4, from Monday 14 October to Friday 29 November. Mrs Wilson will be replaced by Mrs Casey Hillier. Ms Hillier is well known to our students as one of our regular casual teachers and very respected by all students and staff. We look forward to having Ms Hillier join our staff team next term. 

This Thursday Mr Makeham and our SRC Leaders have organised a Mini Olympics Day.  The students will have an early morning tea and then head down to Stan Crowe Ovals for their activities planned out by the SRC Members. 

The students are to come to school in their peer support groups as countries (out of uniform in their groups colours - including a hat).  Each student should know their peer support group but for the parents they are:

1. USA - Red, White, Blue

2. China - Red, Yellow

3. England - Red, White

4. Australia - Green, Gold

5. India - Blue, Orange

6. Scotland - White, Navy, Blue 

7. New Zealand - Black, White 

8. Sweden - Blue, Yellow 

9. Italy - Red, Green, White 

10. France - Red, Blue, White

Expressions of Interest are now welcome for members to join the St Patrick’s School Community Council (SCC) Executive Committee in 2025

Just resharing this anyone still considering joining our Community Council Executive Team in 2025.  Contact Mrs Baron to express your interest. 

The council is advisory in nature and has key role in supporting the St Patrick’s School community of parents, carers, students, and staff in building an open, inclusive, welcoming, and collaborative school community environment.

The School Community Council will advise the Principal on important matters and provide support to the Principal and school leadership team in their decision-making process.  The School Community Council is also responsible for overseeing the Canteen and Uniform shop, all fundraising activities and programming for school facility improvements.  Most importantly, they are the voice for the parent body.

In 2025 there will be several vacant positions on the Community Council and as a result of this we are asking parents/guardians/carers to show their interest in being part of this School Community Council Executive Committee via an expression of interest process for the following positions:

• School Community Council Infants Parent Rep x 3
• School Community Council Primary Parent Rep x 4

The School Community Council AGM will be held on 18 February 2025 to vote for the positions of:

• Executive Committee Chair
• Executive Committee Treasurer
• Executive Committee Secretary

Expressions of interest need only be brief. A few lines about yourself, your connection to the school, involvement in the school community and reasons for your interest in being part of the School Community Council Executive Committee.  Please also advise if you wish to nominate for one of the Executive roles.

Please email the expression of interest to Chris Baron by 30 January 2025

Fun, friendship and fitness! Borambola certainly delivered! The interaction of our children was second to none. Allowing the children to problem solve and assist one another with minimal adult intervention was so powerful. Children had to work together to problem solve, show initiative and co operate in positive ways. Whether it be from putting on a harness to rock climb, encouraging one another to give activities a go or working as a team. Each of our children delivered!  

The conversations, work ethic and enthusiasm is to be congratulated and acknowledged.

What a sensational day year 3/4. We are so proud of you all. What a wonderful way to see you all flourish even when outside your comfort zone. You are all true champions and a pleasure to have taken on this excursion. And to do all of this while having so much fun! 

From 2025 onwards only two students will be elected as School Captains each year. Many different School Captain leadership models have been considered and discussed. In 2025, Year 6 will only be a small cohort with 8 students in total and for the next few years our Year 6 cohort will be approx. 10 students. This makes it difficult to come up with a leadership model that fits our school context. If our class groups were at a more consistent number each year, we would be able to apply a more consistent model.

Researched into how other smaller school such as St Patrick’s select Year 6 leadership positions was completed. Most schools of a similar size or smaller, do not have School Captains and only have leadership roles. However, as the School Captain roles are part of the history of St Patrick’s, it was decided not to change to this model.

The School Community Council parent representatives were consulted over the ongoing model for St Patrick’s who also voted for the change to two School Captains to be made a permanent model. This will help provide continuity each year of the number of School Captains elected rather than changing from two to four (or vice versa) again in the future.

In Year 6, all students are provided with the opportunity to apply for a leadership role. These roles become the focus for these students as school leaders and provide each student (or several students) with an area of leadership that they can undertake during their last year of primary school. Year 6 have the opportunity to attend leadership training and become Peer Support leaders during the year as well. They are also provided with additional privileges during their final year of school, that they look forward too.

As a school, we value the contribution to leadership from all our Year 6 students and look forward to working with them as role models and school leaders in 2025 and beyond.

Students from K-6 have been invited to attend Christine Wishart’s Dance Concert at Gundagai High School on Thursday 19 September. The students will be bused to and from the concert. The concert begins at 10.00am. We have several students from our school performing in the concert and we look forward to supporting them as they present on stage. As this is a local excursion, permission to travel is included under the General Consent permission signed by parents on COMPASS.

Excitement is mounting for the Year 5/6 excursion and the count down is on!  The excursion will take place in Week 10, from Monday 23 September to Thursday 26 September. Parents are asked to please provide consent for the excursion via our school COMPASS portal. Payment for the excursion is DUE NOW please.

Teachers attending the excursion will be Mrs Wilson, Mrs Howe, Miss Baron and Ms Bartlett. Mrs Wilson will be present for the excursion up until Thursday morning. Following breakfast, she will leave to attend her sons Year 12 Graduation. Mrs Howe, Miss Baron and Ms Bartlett  will accompany the students to their final activity at Elizabeth Farm and home on Thursday afternoon.

We are delighted to be preparing towards a whole school play presentation this year, ‘The Wizard of Oz’. Class practice sessions have begun! Please place these dates in your diary:

• Matinee: Wednesday 20 Nov at 11.30am
• Night Performance: Thursday 21 Nov at 6pm

CREATIVE PARENT GROUP WANTED FOR ‘WIZARD OF OZ’ PRODUCTION:

We are currently seeking any parents/carers who would be interested in helping set the stage for our Wizard of Oz performance please. We have most of the props and backdrops ready but need a hand in setting up the display as well as creating any additional stage and entrance way ideas. Please contact Jacki in the front office if you are happy to lend a hand. Thank you

On Sunday our TOM team travelled to Sturt Public School in Wagga Wagga to present their long term and spontaneous challenges in the Social Sciences TechTOMics area. 

An event has happened causing the tectonic plates to move and release the Spirit of TOM causing a change to the Earth as we know it. The team had to come up with an event that would cause such a movement and what positive effects the Spirit of TOM had had on the Economy and Physical Environment. They needed to create a 10min script around a panel of experts and make 2D and 3D models to help explain - and they had to do it all themselves!

The process is very demanding in terms of time management, cooperation, and creative and logical thinking. The result was a joy and privilege - an entertaining, thorough and wholly child focussed presentation for the judges and audience. Congratulations to our TOM team of Harry Peterson, Archie McDonnell, Skye Somerville, Dylan Ryder, Emma Ferguson, Joey Gailey and Emily Ryan. Each member of the team brought something special to the product and process and we are very proud of their involvement in this prestigious competition.

Our final Little Learners session will be held on Friday 20 September. The theme is a Teddy Bear’s picnic. Mrs Johnson will be hosting a teddy bears picnic and children are asked to bring their favorite teddy bear or soft toy. The Little Learners will be presented with a certificate on the day to congratulate them on their participation in this great little program. Our thanks to Mrs Johnson for the wonderful program she has developed each week with variety of themes and activities that have appealed to our Little Learners. While our numbers each week have varied, we have consistently welcomed 20 or more children to the Little Learners program on a weekly basis.

Thank you to all our students who participated so enthusiastically in the Jump Rope for Heart skipping activities last term. We saw some great improvement in skipping skills and a new appreciation of the skipping ropes! Congratulations to all students who were able to gain sponsorship and raise money for the Heart Foundation. Students received their prizes last week.

Special congratulations to Hamish, Skye, Oliver, Lola and Kaydee who were the top five fundraisers from our school. They each received prizes to the value of the money they raised.

We look forward to welcoming our 2025 Kindergarten children to the Kindergarten Orientation Program on the following dates: 

2025 Parent Information session will also be held on Friday 22nd November from 9.00-10.30am to provide parents with information about starting dates and class programs.

Only a few more weeks of our Term 3 Canteen Roster.

Thank you to our wonderful parents for all your support and cooking during Term 3.  If you are able to help out during Term 4 then please email the office. We are always looking for volunteers to lend a hand even it its only once a term. 

A reminder that there will be NO CANTEEN on Friday the 27th September as the students will finish Term 3 on Thursday 26th of September.

Tune into "Sounds of the Mountains" radio station (FM94.1) every Wednesday at 2.15pm to hear about what our classes and school have been up to over the week.

Week 10 - Year 4 Students - Zoe Paton & Charlie Ryder

Only 3 more Friday Nights left for our Meat Raffles at Lotts Hotel.  Thank you to all of our volunteers for helping out with the Friday Night Raffles.  Special Thank you to Brad Field and Doug McDonnell who often step in to help out on nights we are short on volunteers. We are grateful for your help and support.

Congratulations to our Week 6 and Week 7 Class Awards

Week 6 - 30th August 

Kindergarten Anna Nicholls for always showing kindness and positivity 

Year 1 Isla-Faith Masikesa for being responsible and always making good learning choices

Year 2 Josie Lott for her enthusiasm for Maths

Year 3 Remi Taylor for a competitive and positive attitude when playing Maths Games

Year 4 Zoe Morgan for working well with others

Year 5 Molly Lott for applying feedback in order to improve

Year 6 Emily Ryan for improvements in note taking and research on The First Fleet

Week 7 - 6th September 

Kindergarten Charlotte Kennedy for positive and enthusiastic attitude to learning

Year 1 Pippi Nicholls for trying her best in all areas of learning

Year 2 Harley Rose for his application and effort toward his learning

Year 3 No Award - Away for Excursion 

Year 4 No Award - Away for Excursion 

Year 5 Emma Brown for work ethic during learning tasks 

Year 6 Isabella Boswell for improved note taking and drafting when writing information reports

Congratulations to our Week 6 and Week 7 WildCat Awards

Week 6 

RESPONSIBLE - Lane Johnson

RESPECT - Max Zhu, Kaydee Smith, Lilly Ferguson, Harry Peterson, Nick Quine, Gus Hufton

SAFE - Ammy Wu, Max Zhu

Week 7 

RESPONSIBLE - Kingsley McDonnell, Anna Nicholls, Harry Barton, Corby Rose

RESPECT - Kingsley McDonnell, Dylan Ryder, Emma Ferguson, Olivia Smart

SAFE - Anna Nicholls, Sarah Gailey

WEEK 10:

Monday 23-Thursday 26 September: Year 5/6 excursion to Sydney

Thursday 26 September:  Term 3 concludes for students

Friday 27 September: Staff Development Day (NO Students)

Term 4: IMPORTANT DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Monday 14 October: Staff Development Day

Tuesday 15 October: K-6 students return to school

Thursday 17 October: Tennis lessons for sport begin

Tuesday 22 October: First Holy Communion lessons begin

Friday 25 October: Grandparents Day celebrations

Saturday 26 October: 6pm First Holy Communion Commitment Mass

Wednesday 20 November: 11.30am Wizard of Oz Matinee

Thursday 21 November: 6pm Wizard of Oz Night Performance

Wednesday 11 December: Year 6 Graduation dinner

Friday 13 December: 2024 Awards Day and Year 6 Graduation Mass

Wednesday 18 December: Term 4 Concludes

Sending out a BIRTHDAY CHEER to the following students who have celebrated a birthday recently. 

1st September - Olivia Smart 

4th September - Charlie Ryder

6th September - Pippi Nicholls and Lola Eccleston 

7th September - Jimmy Robinson 

We hope you all had a wonderful birthday surrounded by family and friends. 

SAVE THE DATE for an upcoming Cricket Coaching Clinic on Tuesday 8th October from 9.30am - 3.30pm at the Gundagai High School.  More details will be provided closer to the date but if you are looking for a school holiday activity then put this in your calendar.

Registrations have opened for our 2024 Basketball Competition. Follow the link to register your child/childrens interest in joining this competition and follow the Gundagai Basketball Association Facebook page for updates.  Registrations close THIS FRIDAY 13th September 

registration.basketballconnect.com

Gundagai District Services Club are holding a Family Fun Charity Day on Saturday 21st September at the Sportsclub in support of Save our Sons Duchenne Foundation.