Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to Term 3! We have had an exciting start to Term 3 with the start of the Little Champions Gymnastics program, Little Learners Program, First Reconciliation classes and the Bookweek celebrations to be held later this week. It has been lovely to welcome back all our students and especially our new student, Alec Bell-Magnone who has joined our Year 4 class. Welcome Alec! We also welcome Alec’s mum and dad, Rachel and Steve to our school community.

STAFF NEWS:

Congratulations are extended to Mrs Kate Howe, who has been successful in her application as the new Religious Education Co-ordinator of St Patrick’s. Mrs Howe’s experience and strong links to St Patrick’s Parish will make her a great asset in this role. Mrs Howe has also accepted the role of Child Safety Advocate (CSA) and will be working in these roles EVERY Friday.

Mrs Natasha Flanagan resigned from both of these positions at the end of Term 2, due to her ongoing medical issues and has taken another term’s leave. We wish Mrs Flanagan a speedy recovery and thank her for her dedication to her the role as REC over the past few years and CSA this year. We hope to see Mrs Flanagan back in Term 4 to resume her role as Classroom Support Teacher (CST).

We also extend a huge welcome to Miss Bethany Bruce and Ms Tash Smith as our new Classroom Support Assistants (CSAs). Ms Smith will work every Monday to Thursday (replacing Ms Heidi Luff) and Miss Bruce will work Tuesday and Wednesdays (replacing Mrs Kristi Francis).

THIS WEEK:

BOOKWEEK CELEBRATIONS. We are super excited about some of the ‘Super-Heroes’ that will be arriving at school on Thursday for our Bookweek celebrations. We also look forward to sharing this special occasion with grandparents and friends.

LITTLE LEARNERS: It was a great start to this program last Friday with 10 children turning up to our first session. Thank you to Ms Tash Smith for co-ordinating such a lovely program, ‘All About Me’. Little Learners will continue EVERY Friday from 9.30-11.00am and anyone with children from 0-5 years are welcome to attend.

FIRST RECONCILIATION CLASSES: Thank you to Mrs Reardon, Mrs Howe, Mrs Saunderson, and Mr Ferguson for the wonderful start to the First Reconciliation class preparation. These classes will be held every Saturday from 4.30-5.45pm (excluding this Saturday) in St Patrick’s School Hall. First Reconciliation will be celebrated on Friday 23^rd August.

Looking forward to the St Patrick’s Trivia Night on Friday 9^th August.

Enjoy the beautiful rain,

Christine Baron

Principal

Thank you to the SRC for organising our Beanies for Brain Cancer Fundraiser. This was a most successful event with over $200.00 raised from our school community and the generous support of Mrs Renee Lindley from the sales in her business Wren Store & Styling. The money raised, has been forwarded onto the Mark Hughes Foundation for their continued research. We pray that one day there will be a cure for this insidious disease. Thank you everyone. Well done.

On Saturday afternoon children from our Parish began their preparation for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. These children and their parents gathered to embark on another important step on their faith journey. The children participated reverently, engaged in their activities and listened to the story of ‘The Loving Father’. They discussed the loving and poor choices that they may make in everyday life.

We pray for Sophie Graham, Eliza Hargraves, Boston Hayne, Charlie Hindmarsh, Ellie McDonnell, Gracie Peterson, James Reardon, Tahlira Rose, Hugh Ryan, Joel Sharman and Akacia Winchester as they prepare for this special Sacrament. The Sacrament of Reconciliation will be celebrated on Friday 23^rd August at 10 am in St Patrick’s Church.

There will be a new Altar Serving Roster being sent home this week. Thank you to the servers and their families for the wonderful support to the Parish. This is a valuable contribution to our Parish community. Please remember if you are unable to serve on your allocated night please arrange a swap, phone numbers are listed on the roster.

This Friday Year 5/6 will be leading us in our Mass. Everyone is most welcome to attend on Friday at 12 noon.

The St Patrick’s School community extends our sincere sympathy to Jack Field and his daughter Claire on the recent passing of their beautiful wife and mother, Remi. Jack was the dedicated grounds person at St Patrick’s for many years. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Field family at this sad time.

Dear Lord, we ask that you be present in this space.

Lord, as we prepare for the coming of a new term 

make us ready, attentive and available to hear you.

Thank You for the gift of being able to rise each day

 with the assurance that You walk through it with us.     

Walking with You in Faith and Knowledge,

Mrs Howe

 REC

Community Council Open Meeting

The next Community Council meeting is scheduled for Thursday 8 August at 6.00pm. The first half an hour of the meeting will be open to anyone wishing to raise anything with Council - this could be a fundraising proposal, an idea for school improvements, or you may simply want to know more about how the Council operates.

This is a great opportunity to meet with the whole Council and discuss any ideas or concerns in an open setting. Please email the School at office.stpatricksgundagai@cg.catholic.edu.au or Chairperson Renee Lindley at renee_lindley@yahoo.com.au if you wish to attend the meeting, along with an outline of what you'd like to discuss with the Council.

Just a reminder that you are welcome to raise concerns or questions with Council members at any time. Your parent Council representatives are Renee Lindley, Craig Hargreaves, Kim Paton, Jackie Tozer, Emma Peterson, John Morgan, Peter Gailey, Michael Leanne, Gemma Crowe and Michelle McDonnell. Principal Chris Baron and Assistant Principal Lisa Wilson also sit on the Council and are available should you wish to raise school matters.

Our Year 3/4 and 5/6 are currently preparing their class speeches on the following topics.

·         Year 3-Best Friends

·         Year 4-Good Advice

·         Year 5-Don’t Try this

·         Year 6-The View from the Top

The children will present their speech to the class in week 3.  Two finalists in each class will be selected based on a speech marking rubric.  The students have been busy working on their speeches in preparation for next week. 

·         Western Region Finals- 6 September

·         Archdiocesan Finals- 20 September-Boorowa

Good luck to all of our 3/4 and 5/6 classes next week 

L I T T L E    L E A R N E R S   P R O G R A M 

Last Friday 26th of July was our first Little Learners Playgroup session for the term.  Tash Smith our coordinator has set up a fantastic program to cater children from 0-5 yers of age.  All children, parents and grandparents are welcome to attend.  The program will continue EVERY Friday from 9.30am -11.00am

Every week will have a different theme and all you to do is turn up. 

Week 2 - 2nd August theme - "Winter"

Week 3 - 9th August theme - "Colours of the Rainbow"

Week 4 - 16th August theme - "Pirates" 

Week 5 - 23rd August theme - "Five Senses"

Week 1 Term 3
Our whole school will be starting Peer Support sessions this week.The children will be participating in a new module, Moving Forward which focuses on resilience.The experiences in the module help children to identify their qualities and strengths, develop skills, respond with a range of strategies and seek support when faced with challenges. In this session, the children will establish connections with the other members of their group and develop their group agreement to enable them to work well together.The children will discuss an example of a challenging situation and some resilient and non resilient responses. You might like to discuss with your child what they can do to help them take an active role in Peer Support.

Week 2  Term 3
This week in Peer Support children will have an opportunity to discuss their personal qualities and strengths.The children will identify their qualities and acknowledge how they contribute to their achievements. Through activities children recognise they used their strengths to achieve success and can be encouraged to approach future activities optimistically. Ask your child to describe their own qualities and strengths so you can recognise and acknowledge these.

Over the next few days parents and/or carers will be receiving an email from Catholic Education for their annual parent survey.  Please note that these surveys are due on or before 9 August.  Your cooperation with these parent surveys is very much appreciated. 

The Trent Barrett Shield Competition is to be held in Gundagai on Wednesday 28 August. We have entered a boy’s rugby league team and a girl’s league tag team. Both teams will be made up of Year 3/4 girls and boys.

Skills training sessions will be organised for the boys here at school in preparation for this competition, including a tackling/contact session on Thursday 22 August.  In order to participate in this skills clinic, your son will need to bring their football boots, headgear and mouthguard as protective equipment. 

The teams will train during sport on Thursdays or lunchtimes leading up to the competitions.   

If any parents are interested in coaching or managing these teams, please contact Craig Ferguson at school as soon as possible.

Our annual Trivia Night is fast approaching.  We anticipate this event to a fun night filled with lots of laughter and entertaining costumes.   We hope you are gathering your teams for this event. 

RSVP by this Friday 2nd of August. Please contact Jacki at the school to book your table.  It will be a night to remember. 

TUMUT BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION 

Team nomination forms for the 2019 Spring Competition are available from Pie in the Sky Bakery and Sportspower or www.tumut.basketball.net.au This season the committee will again be accepting Kindergarten aged children.  Please note that an additional Active Kids Voucher is now available for use between July and August for all school aged children. 

Team nominations must be submitted on or before Wednesday 14th August, 4pm-6pm at Club Tumut. 

Any registration enquiries can be made to the Registrar Debbie Webb on 0427 647 027 or through Tumut Basketball Facebook Page.  Further information for the upcoming comp can be found on the website. 

Week 10 Term 2

KINDERGARTEN/YEAR 1: Jayden Crossley For being a pleasant helper

YEAR 1/2:  Joseph Gailey for trying hard to show on task behaviours in the classroom

YEAR 3/4: Ellie McDonnell for taking a risk to present with animation and expression on the Hot Seat

YEAR 5/6: Isaac Pearce for displaying quality leardership in problem solving tasks

Week 1 - Term 3 

KINDERGARTEN/YEAR 1: Dale Paton Attentive listening and following instructions 

YEAR 1/2: Garvita Joshi Listening well and always participating in group discussions 

YEAR 3/4: Akacia Winchester for working hard to make number connections in Mathematics

YEAR 5/6: Molly McDonnell for confidently presenting a well researched and interesting earthquake slide show

Week 10 of Term 2 our Student of the Month Awards were awareded to the following students. Congratulations on your achievements

Kindergarten/Year 1 - Lachlan Hargreaves and Tyler Manns

Year 1/2 - Skye Somerville and Emmy Gaskin 

Year 3 / 4 - Anson Chew and Juliet Pearce 

Year 5 / 6 - Sarah Scott and Lily McDonnell 

Congratulations to our Wildcat Award Recipients 

Week 10 - Term 2

RESPONSIBLE: Gracie Peterson, Hugh Ryan, Savannah Manns, Eliza Graham, Jayden Crossley, Ollie Croweand Archie McDonnell 

RESPECT: Akacia Winchester, Hugh Ryan, Ollie Crowe, Ollie Gailey, Lincoln Fallon and Lachlan Hargreaves

SAFE: Hugh Ryan, Akacia Winchester and Ollie Gailey 

Week 1 - Term 3 

RESPONSIBLE:  Emma Ferguson, Indi Cole, Dale Paton 

RESPECT:  Eliza Graham, Emily Ryan, Molly McDonnell 

SAFE: Jayden Crossley, Conor Cotterill, Andrew Cole, Dale Paton, Savannah Manns, Denver Blundell 

Our very best birthday wishes to the following people who celebrate their birthdays recently.  

3rd July - Emma Ferguson

12 July - Lillian McDonnell 

29 July - Nicholas Quine