Dear Parents & Carers, 

Last week it was an absolute pleasure to take our four School Captains to the celebration of 200 years of Catholic Education in Australia. We are very grateful to Mr Ross Fox and Catholic Education for assisting with funds to hire a bus with our local Catholic Schools to Canberra, to attend the special celebration. The Mass was held at St Christopher’s Cathedral in Manuka and was led by His Grace, Archbishop Christopher Prowse. (Archbishop of Canberra and Goulburn). Mrs Howe and I accompanied our four captains and immensely enjoyed the opportunity to connect with other Catholic schools on such a special occasion.

We are very proud of our 145 year history of providing a Catholic education to the Gundagai community. I have been doing some light research on the history of St Patrick’s School and would like to share these interesting facts.

• The first Catholic School opened in Gundagai in 1876 with the first classes taking place in the church, which was easily converted into a school room during the week.
• Little is known about the school or teachers at the time, except for Miss Mary Jane Walsh who taught at the school from 1884.
• The religious orders associated with the school were the Sisters of Mercy (until 1964), Sisters of Divine Saviour (1964-1967) and the Sisters of the Holy Faith (1968-1979). The Sisters of Mercy arrived in 1885 with Mother M Stanislaus as the head superior, taking charge of the school. The school was subsequently named St Stanislaus.
• The school was entirely run from donations made by the people and it was a credit to St Patrick’s Parish that the school survived so well.
• The school was built on the present day ‘Flash Jack’ accommodation site, while the infant’s school was located in the now Presbytery building.
• The name was changed to St Patrick’s in the late 70’s when the school was relocated to its present location.
  
  

I am sure that there is so much more to share over throughout the year as we continue to celebrate the history of Catholic Education.

Congratulations to Sophie and Charlie on an awesome performance at the Archdiocesan Carnival in Narooma yesterday. Both students are to be congratulated on their individual performance in the pool and as representatives of our school and the Western Region schools. We are very proud of both students.

Thank you to parents who were able to attend the Parent Information sessions last Wednesday evening. It was a great opportunity to visit your child/rens classrooms and hear about the wonderful learning opportunities offered this year. If you were unable to attend, please make sure you receive one of the class hand-outs.

Our turfed area is taking shape and we are excitedly waiting for the finish date which is drawing near. Arcscape are hoping to be putting the final touches down this Wednesday. Fingers crossed we will be having our golf sporting lesson on our beautiful new area.

This week I will be attending the annual Catholic Leaders Day and Retreat in Bowral. Please contact Mrs Wilson if needed in my absence.

We would also like to congratulate Kim Paton on accepting the chair position for Community Council at the AGM held last week and welcome Kate Graham, Sam Johnson and Lisa Ryan.  More details in our community council report below. 

Wishing you all a wonderful week ahead.

Christine Baron

Principal

St Patrick pray for us.

Wow! There are so many wonderful things to report to you this week that are happening around our School. 

Celebrating 200 Years of Catholic Education in Australia

Last Wednesday Mrs. Baron, our School Captains Jess, Juliet, Jack, Locky and I travelled to St Christopher’s Cathedral in Canberra to attend a special Mass to celebrate the marking of 200 years of Catholic Education in Australia. The Mass was led by Archbishop Christopher Prowse and was concelebrated by several priests including Father Bernie Hennessy, our past Parish Priest.

The Mass was beautifully presented and the choir from Merici College was amazing. Archbishop Christopher’s message in his homily was that we are the head, the heart, the hands and the feet of Jesus and our task is to do His work on this earth every day.

Although, we did not get to see Father Bernie after Mass, I spoke with him on the phone and he sends his love to all his friends in Gundagai.

I would like to congratulate our School Captains on being wonderful ambassadors of our School. After Mass they met the Archbishop and had a photo taken with him. These children were a credit to their families and our School.

Project Compassion Boxes

Last week the Project Compassion Boxes were sent home to each family. During Lent we are asked to help support those in need through the work of Caritas Australia. Remember every little bit counts.

Second Week of Lent (school week beginning Monday 29^th February)

This week through Project Compassion we learn about 39-year-old Margret, a teacher at a vocational school for deaf students in the Solomon Islands. She was born deaf, so she knows the challenges it poses to education and employment. Apart from the difficulties the students all have, the school also faced water shortages, with not enough to supply staff and students with safe water for drinking, cooking, washing and growing vegetables.

Then Tropical Cyclone Harold damaged the school and its vegetable garden, amidst the threat of COVID-19. Staff and students rely on the vegetable garden to provide food for their meals.

With Caritas Australia’s support, the school installed water tanks, provided cyclone-proof building materials and helped to implement COVID-19 prevention measures. Margret’s school now has enough water for its students and the capacity to cater for more, with plans to boost food security, through increased agricultural production. 

• Around 60% of people in rural areas in the Solomon Islands don’t have access to piped water, while about 80% don’t have access to latrines or toilets. (UNICEF, 2019)
• Please support Project Compassion: caritas.org.au

“Aspire not to have more, but to be more.”

Reconciliation for Year 5/6

Father George will visit the Year 5/6 classroom this coming Friday to spend time with each child individually in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

In this season of Lent, we are encouraged to review our lives and make changes in our ways. Through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we have the opportunity, to say we are sorry for our wrong-doing and make a fresh start with help of our loving forgiving God.

Altar Serving Training

Father Namora will take the children on Friday 5^th March for a training session. We are very grateful to Father for making himself available to instruct our new servers and brush up good practice for our existing Altar Servers. Thank you, Father.

St Patrick’s Day

The 17^th  March is such a special day for our St Patrick’s community. It is a great day of celebrations to honour our Patron Saint.

The children will present a Parish Mass at 10 am. Please note the change in time for this Mass.  After Mass we will come up to school to cut a special St Patrick's Day cake for Recess.  Lunch will be a delicious sausage sizzle followed by a tabloid sports afternoon. 

Year of St Joseph

On January 16, 2015, Pope Francis gave a speech in the Philippines about his love for St. Joseph.  He described his special devotion to the sleeping St. Joseph. It was through dreams that God revealed His plans to St Joseph.

“So, when I have a problem, a difficulty, I write a little note and I put it underneath Saint Joseph, so that he can dream about it! In other words, I tell him: pray for this problem!”  ~ Pope Francis

To celebrate St Joseph’s Feast Day on 19^th March we will hold a special Liturgy at School to honour St Joseph.

Kate Howe

REC

World Day of Prayer
Friday 5^th March 2021 at 1pm

Lower St Pats Hall (entry Homer St)

Please bring a small plate of sandwiches and/or a slice to share

The theme this year is “Build on a Strong Foundation”, focusing on the parable of the wise and foolish builders. 

We will be praying for the country of Vanuatu – if you have been able to visit Vanuatu please do bring in any souvenirs, stories and photos to share. 

RSVP to Madeline Ryan, Secretary of St Patrick's Parish, Gundagai by email gundagai@cg.org.au or mobile 0478 000 526.  The Parish office is open Thursdays from 9.30am-3.00pm and Fridays 9.30am - 12pm 

Community Council held their first meeting of the year on the 9th of February where the nominations of three new members were approved. We would like to welcome Kate Graham, Lisa Ryan and Samantha Johnson to the Council and look forward to working with them. This meeting was quickly followed by our AGM held on the 23 February where the 2021 executive team was elected. 

Chair: Kim Paton

Vice Chair: Craig Hargreaves 

Secretary: Kate Graham

Treasurer: Jacki Carberry

Members: John Morgan, Michelle McDonnell, Michael Leanne, Lisa Ryan, Sam Johnson

Our first social event of the year was a lovely (if a bit wet) dinner at Lott's. It was great to see four of our new families join about 15 other families and teachers. We will attempt to hold these nights at the start or end of each term as a chance for families to get together in a relaxed setting. 

Hopefully by now you will have seen that our St Patrick's Day fundraiser for this year is a bus trip and exclusive showing of the movie Wild Mountain Thyme so please get together a group of friends and enjoy a great night out. Don't forget to invite friends from Wagga too.

Our new canteen coordinator Alicia Hargreaves has been working hard to find a solution that would allow us to offer canteen while the new admin build is in progress. I think students and parents alike were happy to see the return of canteen last week, thanks Alicia for all your hard work on this one.

Plenty of exciting things are happening in the school with the astro turf area nearing completion, with the laying of the turf this week. I'm sure this will be a well utilised area once complete. The upgrade to this area is part of the NSW Grant Funding we received last year, and it is great to see the hard work coming to fruition.

Work on the new admin building also commenced over the Christmas break. Getting this build through from design to work beginning has been a very long process (about 7 years) so we were are very excited to see Tom Gaskin and staff turn up over the holidays to begin the build. This build will improve facilities for admin, sick bay, improve security of the school and make our entrance more inviting. It will also include an all abilities toilet for students and visitors.

Our next meeting is scheduled for 23 March 2021. If you have anything you would like discussed at the next meeting please contact the school or one of the Community Council Members.

Kim Paton

Chair

We would like to congratulate Charlie Hindmarsh and Sophie Graham who on Monday 1st of March participated at the C&G Swimming Carnival in Narooma.  Sophie came 5th in her Backstroke with a big improvement in her time.  Charlie Hindmarsh also swam exceptionally well in Butterfly coming 2nd place and has gained himself a position in the Archdiocese swimming team to compete at the NSWCPS Swimming Carnival on 22nd of March at Sydney Olympic Park. Congratulations to both our little superstars you have done yourself, your family and St Patrick's proud. 

The perfect date night or just a reason to go see a movie.  In conjuction with our St Patrick's Day, Madeline Ryan is organising an Irish Movie Night on Friday 19th of March at Wagga Forum 6 Cinemas  - cost is $25.00 per person which includes movie, drink on arrival and nibblies. The screening is at 8pm. There will be a bus departing Gundagai at 6pm for an extra $10.00 per person.   Bookings are essential online via Eventbrite.com.au (search St Patricks Movie).  

Australian Dental Health NSW - School Dental Initiative will be visiting our school with their dental health van on Monday 26th of April  (This is not the same group that visited our school over 12 months ago) 

ADHNSW will provide a full examination.  If your child needs fillings they will contact you. If your child is not Medicare eligible they will do a FREE check.  

Forms have been sent home and MUST be returned.  All forms will need to be scanned and emailed to ADHNSW prior to consultation. 

On Friday 26th of February we held our first Student of the Month Award presentation at St Patrick's Hall.   This award is presented to students in Week 5 and Week 10 of each term.  The award is for learning excellence, consistent effort to achieve at their best, cooperative/collaborativve learning behaviours and displaying a positive learning attitude towards all tasks. Congratulations to the following students:

Kindergarten - Fletcher Smith 

Year 1 - Maeve Ryan 

Year 2 -  Molly Lott 

Year 3 - Isabella Boswell 

Year 4 Abigail Bock 

Year 5 - Tahlira Rose

Year 6 - Alec Bell-Magnone 

W I L D C A T     A W A R D S 

Week 4 

RESPONSIBLE - Jessica McDonnell

RESPECT - Nick Little, Ollie Gailey, Jezanna Winchester

SAFE - Jessica McDonnell, Jezanna Winchester 

Week 5

RESPONSIBLE - Akacia Winchester, James Reardon

RESPECT - Locky Eccleston, Ellie McDonnell, Jessica McDonnell 

SAFE - James Reardon, Darby Jones 

Tuckshop Roster 

Friday 5th March - Alicia Hargreaves 

Friday 12th March - Madeline Ryan 

Friday 19th March - Michelle McDonnell 

Radio News

Every Wednesday at 2:15pm tune into "Sounds of the Mountains" local radio station for our weekly school report.

Week 6 - 3rd of March: Ollie Gailey & Jezanna Winchester

Week 7 - 10th of March: Harry Crowe & Alec Bell-Magnone

Week 8 - 17th March: Locky Eccleston & Nick Little