Dear Parents and friends,

St Vincent de Paul collection point.

Just a reminder that we have a St Vincent de Paul collection bin at the front of the school. As the cool weather has gone this is a great time to pass on any items of clothing/footwear the children have grown out of or no longer wear. The clothes may be sent along in a plastic bag and placed in our collection bin. Thank you in advance for helping others in need.

St Patrick’s Carols and Nativity Evening – Thursday 13 December

The students and teachers are busy preparing for the presentation of the Christmas Story to be held in our School grounds on Thursday the 13 December. This will be a great evening for families to join in the Christmas spirit, singing along to some great carols performed by the students of St Patrick’s. All parents, grandparents and friends most welcome.

Semester Two Reports and Interviews

At present, our teachers are finalising the Semester Two student reports to be sent home on the 7thof December. Parents and Caregivers are invited to attend Parent/teacher Interviews on the 17th and 18^th of December. Supervision will be provided in our library for children to wait whilst parents attend interviews.

End of year Interviews are an opportunity for you to discuss any concerns you may have with your child’s report with their teacher. Each interview is 10min minutes in duration and we encourage your child to be present during this interview.

Awards Day

This Friday, the 14^h of December we will be holding our annual Awards Day commencing at 9:30am in our hall. At this event, awards will be presented to those students who have excelled in a number of criteria.  The following awards will be given out: JMA Legal Award, Gundagai Real Estate, WFI Insurance Award, Bendigo Bank Award, Bethany Tout Award, Gundagai Pharmacy Award, Shirley Dean Award, Lions Club Award, Veronica Lawson Award, St Patrick’s Academic Awards and the Junior and Senior Library Awards. I would like to acknowledge the Gundagai business community and friends of St Patrick’s for donating these awards and supporting our students. We also wish to acknowledge the parent and friends who help each week with reading and Numeracy around the classes. During the awards event, outgoing school captains will address the community after which we will announce our School captains for 2019.

We will also be acknowledging and congratulating our Year Six and Kindergarten 2018 classes on having graduated.

Following the ceremony there will be a morning tea for Year 6 students, parents and friends. This will be an opportunity for parents to catch up and say farewell to those parents moving on. It will also be an opportunity to thank and acknowledge those who have assisted in our school in various ways.

At 12:00 pm we will be celebrating a thanksgiving mass and you are most welcome to attend. The children will present on offertory of non-perishable items to pass on to St Vincent de Paul as part of their Christmas relief to families in our local community. Items may be sent in with the students and given to their class teacher or the front office.

St Patrick’s Learning Technologies update.

Over the past three years, I have worked hard to ensure St Patrick’s has 21^st century learning technologies integrated into our classrooms. My previous experience as an ICT consultant in schools has guided my selection of industry standard devices and classroom interactive whiteboards.

My aim has been to lay a platform that is future focused and easily built upon.

Please follow the link below to access a full report of the available Learning Technologies currently at St Patrick’s Gundagai and the rationale behind their selection.

Link to Learning Technologies at St Patrick’s Gundagai

Enjoy the week,

REC News

School Christmas Nativity

This year we will be having our Christmas Nativity here at the school on Thursday 13^th December.

More information to come.

Father George Visit

Last Wednesday Father George visited the school and had a lovely time playing cricket and soccer with the children. We look forward to more visits from Father George and Father Namora.

Thoughts/ Questions / Reflection for the week: Visio Divina 

Use the image below to encounter the divine.

1. Study the picture slowly, taking a first glance noting the colours, people, places and things.  Remain with the image for one to two minutes. If you would like, jot down a few words about the image.
2. Take a second, deeper, look. Where is there movement? What relationships do you see? Engage your imagination. Where are you in the artwork? What do you see from that perspective? What deeper meaning emerges?
3. Respond to the image with prayer. Did the image remind you of an experience, person or issue for which you’d like to offer thanksgiving? In what way does God’s promise change, or not change how you visualize your relationship with the earth, each other, and God? Offer your thoughts as prayer to God.
4. Find your quiet centre. Breathe deeply. Relax your shoulders, arms and legs. Rest in this quiet. Let God pray in you. God prays beyond words.

Dates to mark on your calendar:

30/11- Mass led by Years 5 and 6 (12pm).

07/12- No Mass or Liturgy

13/12(Thursday)- School Nativity

14/12- End of Year Mass led by SRC (12pm).

God Bless, Mrs Flanagan REC

OPEN FORUM POSTPONED: The Community Council has decided to postpone Thursday night's open forum. Given the time of year, the meeting clashes with other community events, so we think it best to hold it over to first term next year. A lot of work has been put into the Sport program and presentation, and we would like to have as many parents as possible attend. It will also be a good opportunity to meet our new acting Principal Christine Baron. We will be in touch first week back to confirm the new Open Forum date. 

Thank you for your understanding.

Renee Lindley 

Community Council Chairperson

Week 5 Term 4

KINDERGARTEN:  Andrew Cole - Trying hard to include finger spaces in writing

YEAR 1/2: Eliza Hargreaves - Consistent role model to her peers

YEAR 3/4:  Sadie Eccleston - Setting and maintaining high standards of work and behaviour 

YEAR 5/6: Benji Leane - Working collaboratively during a group science project

Week 6 Term 4 No Assembly and no awards were given out

Happy birthday to the following people who have celebrated their birthdays over the last few weeks.

Emmy Gaskin celebrated her birthday on 17 November and 

Don Cotterill celebrates his birthday today 26 November 

Our very best wishes to you on your special day!

Last Friday students from years 3, 4 & 5 travelled to Canberra on an excursion.

First, they travelled to Parliament House and were taken on a tour by a guide. We saw a sculpture of Parliament House made out of Lego in the foyer. We went to the Senate and the House of Representatives and learnt all about the past Prime Ministers of Australia. We were taken to a specially designed room so that we could have our own role play of being in the House of Representatives. I was an Independent and we had a Government and an Opposition. We passed a bill that there would be no ads during children's programs on television. Afterwards, we went for lunch at Lake Burley Griffin. We walked around the lake and saw Captain Cook's fountain spraying water on the hour. The highlight of the visit to Parliament House for me was getting to experience what happens in the House of Representatives during the role playing.

Lily McDonnell

We bused over to the AIS where we took a tour around Athletics and Swimming Training areas. The pool is heated to 26 deg as is the air in the space. This ensures that the athletes don't catch a cold or injure themselves. We then went to the gym where the athletes come every day to train. We learnt about the fastest Australian sprinter who lifted a weight of 720kg on his legs! We watched a volleyball match as the athletes trained. We went to the gymnastics training centre and guessed what all of the equipment was called. Next, we went to an area where there were lots of activities set up so that we could experience what the athletes do. They had wheelchair racing, push bike racing, snow skiing and tobogganing to mention a few. This area was the highlight for me of the visit and my favourite activity was the tobogganing.

Thank you to our parents for getting us up and going early, the bus driver for taking us there and back, our tour guides and our Teachers, Mrs Wilson and Mr Ferguson.

Isaac Pearce

Just a reminder that our last day for Canteen will be on Friday 7th of December. There will be no Canteen on the 14th of December as this is our Awards Ceremony.   Thank you to all parents and grandparents for your continued support and cooking throughout the year.

   

Swimming this Thursday

Thank you to Birdie for conducting our tennis coaching over the last 6 weeks. The children have had a wonderful time. Isabella Boswell and Jack Peterson were awarded a tennis racquet each for their enthusiasm and participation across the term.

With the weather hopefully on the climb this week we will be swimming for sport on Thursday.  Please ensure your children have their swimmers, towel, sunscreen and pool entry fee of $2.00 should you not hold a season ticket.  Please ensure all clothing is marked with your child's name so that nothing goes missing. 

LETTER TO SANTA LIONS CLUB PROJECT

 Santa has placed his Special Letterbox at the Gundagai Newsagency for your child to post their Santa letter by Tuesday 11^th December.  They will receive a personal non-committal reply. 

 Please ensure that your child’s name and address is on the envelope or letter.  It would be appreciated if a $2 donation is enclosed with the letter.  All monies collected are used to assist those less fortunate.

From Santa’s Little Lion Elf

SRC NEWS

St Vincent De Paul Christmas Appeal

This week we are launching St Vincent De Paul Christmas appeal. Families are asked to support this appeal to help the many family and community members who need our help to make Christmas a bit more special in 2018.

Donations of non- perishable items include biscuits, tinned goods, Christmas goodies, gift vouchers, lollies and toys are greatly appreciated.

The hampers will be offered up to a representative from St Vinnies on our Final School Mass.

Thank you in anticipation for your generosity.