Dear Parents, 

Welcome to Term 3! The students have returned from holidays with a positive mindset and have settled back quickly and quietly into school routine.Thank you to everyone for their patience with our email issues over the past week. Hopefully they have all been resolved and we are back on track again with email communication. If you have sent any emails over the past week and they have not been answered, please endeavour to contact us again.  

We are really pleased to be returning to onsite learning again and are most excited to be able to start off with the recommencement of some great activities for Term 3. We continue to abide by the NSW Government and Catholic Education guidelines to  ensure the safety of all in our school and local community. Staff will begin Term 3 by focusing on a new Mission and Vision Statement. 

YEAR 5/6 LEADERSHIP: 

Thank you to Mrs Wilson and Mrs Hughes for organising the wonderful leadership activities last week for our Year 5 and 6 leaders. The students entered into the spirit of the activities with great enthusiasm, which has initated some great ideas. We look forward to seeing some of the ideas come to fruition over the coming weeks. 

GYMNASTICS:  

It is great to have our Little Champions Gymnastics Program again. The students had a wonderful time attending the gymnastics session yesterday and learning new skills. Gymnastics will continue for the next 4 weeks. 

MJR: Our Making Jesus Real Program will also begin again this Friday. This will be part of our Peer Support Program run by our Year 6 leaders and ably supported by Year 5. The program focuses on the values inspired by St Patricks.

CREATIVE ARTS PROGRAM: will also recommence this Thursday. Each class will have a focus on one of the Creative Arts areas for the term. This program was successfully introduced in Term 1 and it is great to have it up and running again. 

LITTLE LEARNERS PRESCHOOL PROGRAM: Our Little Learners program will also begin again on Friday. Thank you to Ms Tash Smith who will lead theses sessions each Friday from 9.00am until 11.00am. This program is for all children 0-5 years of age. Parents are welcome to attend but must ensure COVIDSAFE practices are adhered too.  

BOOKFAIR: Our annual Bookfair begins today and will continue through until next Thursday. Mrs Hughes is most excited with the great range of books that will be available for purchase. Please remember to book a time by ringing the Front Office, if parents wish to view the selection, otherwise students will bring home a wishlist and parents can send in the money to school.  

CANTEEN: Many thanks to Mrs Leanne McDonnell for working with CE guidelines to recommence canteen each Friday. Canteen will start again this Friday with a few changes in place. Please remember students will require separate lunch order bags for recess and lunch orders. Lunch orders will be distributed to the classrooms. Students will not be permitted in the canteen. Many thanks to all our parent volunteer helpers for enabling canteen to go ahead this term. It is most appreciated. 

CHROMEBOOKS: A huge thank you is extended to the St Patrick’s Community Council for the purchase of 20 new Chromebooks. This has ensured that students from Years 2-6 will each have individual access to a Chromebook for learning. This will be a great support to students and teachers to ensure students are learning with the most updated and best access to technology.  

FR GEORGE-10th ANNIVERSARY of ORDINATION:  

Congratulations are extended again to Fr George on the celebration on the 10-year anniversary of his Ordination to the Priesthood. Many thanks to the organisers from St Patrick’s parish who organised a lovely dinner celebration last Saturday fortnight. Fr George gave a most humbling version of his life story and his determination to become a priest. The school community will also celebrate with Fr George this Friday at morning tea. We are very grateful to Fr George for his support, spiritual guidance and the wisdom he shares with our community. 

2021 ENROLMENTS: Please remember our enrolments are now open for 2021. We have been rolling out our advertising campaign via our school Facebook page and in the local media. Please like and share our FaceBook page and encourage families to book a personal tour.  

We thank God for the beautiful rain we have received over the past few days. It has certainly been wonderful to see the heavens open and have a proper fall of rain. 

Best wishes for a wonderful week ahead. 

Christine Baron 

Principal 

Welcome to Term 3. It has been a very busy start with lots of great things happening in our School and Parish.

Staff Spirituality Day

Our Staff gathered with the other Western Region Schools via Zoom to listen to Father Richard Leonard address the gathering on the topic: Catholic Identity: How can Catholic Education form believers in a media saturated culture.

This discussion was both inspiring and challenging. We were asked to discern many questions. Some key things I took away from this day were:

• The media is the modern day marketplace where minds and hearts are won and lost.
• The media plays a huge role in our daily life, but family and schools are so important in shaping our children in all aspects of their development
• Media can form values, opinions and distort images but, we as parents and educators need to be engaged in what our children see, hear and participate in.
• We need to have the value of hope in our world and certain sections of the media can discourage us to aspire to this value
• We as parents and educators need to praise and celebrate the values we hold dear
• Tell those around you whom you love, that you do love them
• Show your love to them by your actions
• Don’t hesitate to say these words, as everyone needs to hear them.
• If we live our lives with Gratitude, Forgiveness and Love our world will be a better place.

 Congratulations Father George – 10^th Anniversary of his Ordination

On Saturday 18^th July, Father George celebrated a special Mass and Parish dinner to mark the wonderful occasion of ten years being a priest. Father spoke to the gathering of his great desire since a small child to become a priest and serve God. His heartfelt speech about his journey to the Priesthood to where he is today was truly inspiring.

We would like to congratulate Father George and thank him for the wonderful work he does in our Parish and the leadership and care he provides to our children at St Patrick’s.

May God bless you Father, and hold you in the palm of His hand.

Making Jesus Real

This week in Peer Support Groups, we will begin our Making Jesus Real Program. The children will meet on Friday afternoon with their group  members from Kinder to Year 6. Our Year 5/6 children will lead these sessions, in how we can show that Jesus is present in everything that we think, say and do.

At St Patrick’s, MAKING JESUS REAL (MJR) program is centred around the belief, that we are the image of Jesus to all people around us. We are His representatives and our actions should reflect His values. In the scriptures, Jesus says that we are part of his family and that the way we treat others should be reflective of the way we would treat Jesus.

“Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” (Matthew 25:40)

The values that we encourage and promote in MJR include: care and compassion, respect, honesty and trustworthiness, understanding, tolerance and inclusion. These values encourage students to do their best, treat others fairly, be responsible for their actions, follow principles of moral and ethical conduct and stand up for the rights of others.

We are all exciting to begin our sessions.

Sacramental Program 2020

This year the Sacraments of Reconciliation and First Holy Communion will be celebrated. These Sacraments are for children in Year 3 and for any child who may have missed out on Sacramental instruction in previous years.

We ask that Parents of children who are eligible for these Sacraments, enrol their child for the program on the Parish Website gundagai@cg.org.au

Please register ASAP

Preparation dates and Sacramental dates are yet to be finalised.

Altar Servers

Thank you to our Altar Servers and their very supportive parents, for the wonderful job they continue to do in serving our St Patrick’s Parish. We love seeing you in this important role supporting Father George and Namora. Keep up the great work.

A new Altar Serving Roster will go out with this Newsletter.

Kate Howe

REC

Thank you to our wonderful families and students who continue to support our Parish and Altar Serving.   Saturday night Mass is now on at 5pm during winter. Children who are rostered on are to arrive at 4.45pm

Saturday 1st August - Lincoln Fallon & Alec Bell-Magnone 

Saturday 8th August - Tahlira Rose & Sam Turck 

Saturday 15th August - Asher Jones & Josie Quine 

"Little Champions" Gymnastics

Our gymnastics program started yesterday - Monday 27th July with Ben Sharp.  The children enjoyed their morning of activities.  This program will run EVERY Monday up to and including Week 6 Monday the 24th August.  Sports uniform will need to be worn on Mondays and Thursdays up until Week 6.

SPORTS DAY- Thursday

We will also continue to conduct our usual Thursday sport  each week.  Sports uniform will need to be worn.

MORTIMER SHIELD / TRENT BARRETT  Rugby League

Adam Perry from NRL has confirmed that Mortimer Shield will go ahead this term but due to COVID-19 this year’s day we will be purely about fun, being involved and getting active again. Below are some dates we have started working on for the different age groups.

- Week 6 of Term 3 – Under 12’s (Usually Mortimer Shield) Boys Tackle, Girls Tackle (New option for the day..) and Girls League Tag in Tumut A set date will be confirmed soon.

- Year 3 & 4 Tackle and League Tag days will be held in early Term 4 2020

Please note their will be specific COVID-19 protocols being adhered to for the days. 

***If we have any parents wishing to help with coaching of these teams please contact Mrs Wilson***

Thank you to the Peterson Family (Jack & Harry) for the thoughtful donation of 20 Boomerang Bags from the Gundagai Craft Centre for the Yr 5/6's to put their knitting in.  We are extremely appreciative and thank them for their support of our "Knit for a Cause Project" 

Last week the 5/6's were involved in a 2 day leadership conference course designed by GRIP Leadership. The students were able to access an online Leadership Portal to interact with and follow with their own booklet.

The children were enthusiastic as they discussed the key themes: How to lead the way, Generosity, Ideas to Lead the Way, Bringing Ideas to Life, Managing groups and challenging behaviours.

At the end of the two days all children had a better understanding of their own capacities to be a leader and what leadership qualities they possessed.  The students participated enthusiastically and embraced the opportunity to enhance and improve their skills.

We look forward to the 5/6's putting what they learnt into practice when they help facilitate the MJR Friday sessions in peer support groups.

Little Learners Program will return this Friday 31st of July from 9am-11am. Tash Smith our Classroom Support Assistant will again be running this program.  Week 1 Theme will be " All About Me" Tash has activities organised and ready to go

If your child is starting school in 2021 and you are free on a Friday morning then please  come and join our 2 hour playgroup activities morning.  

Parents & younger siblings are welcomed to attend - Covid safety precautions will be put in place.  Morning Tea will be provided but we ask that all children bring their own drink bottles.   

• Tuckshop workers will bag up recess orders and put them in the class box’s and deliver to the classrooms. Teachers will hand out the recess bags. This will happen for lunch as well, the drinks for the children who ordered one will be in the box’s as well for the teachers to hand out with the lunch orders.
• Classroom box’s will be left outside the classrooms and the tuckshop workers are to collect them at the end of recess and lunch and wipe them out.

On Friday our Year 3/4 and Yr 5/6 Students were presented with a special Certificate from Michael McCormack MP Office for their participation in the 2020 ANZAC Day Writing Competition that saw Sadie Eccleston one of our Yr 6 Leaders the overall winner in her age division. Congratulations to Sadie and all our students that entered the competition.

Congratulations to our Week 1 Class Awards for Term 3 

Friday 24th July

Kindergarten/Year 1 - Jayden Crossley being a kind and generous class member

Year 2 - Joey Gailey for a focused start to Term 3 

Year 3/4 - Charlie Hindmarsh for his participation and sharing during class discussions

Year 5/6 - Maggie Peterson for her mature insight and initiative during the Leadership Days

Congratulations to our Week 1 Wildcat Awards 

RESPONSIBLE -  Reo Norden

Every year, all schools in Australia participate in the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Diability (NCCD).  The NCCD process requires schools to identify information already available in the school about supports provided to students with disability.  Please find attached some information regarding this data collection.