Dear Parents,

This week is a very special week for St Patrick’s as we prepare to celebrate our school feast day tomorrow. St Patrick was a man of great courage, faith and conviction and is credited with using the shamrock to explain the concept of the Trinity. Tomorrow our school community will celebrate the wonderful life of St Patrick and his dedication to a life of Christian example and prayer. We look forward to a fun day of celebrations.

Congratulations are extended to Juliet Pearce and Charlie Hindmarsh on their selection to the Archdiocesan Football (Soccer) Team. Both Juliet and Charlie will play in the McKillop Trials to be held on 23rd April at Goulburn. We wish them both the very best.

St Patrick’s will be moving to roll out the COMPASS administration program early next term. COMPASS is a web based school management system, designed to improve school efficiency, and enable more communication with the school community. The COMPASS Team will start delivering training to staff next week.

Busy times here at St Patrick’s as we head towards the end of term. We welcome the CE Diversity And Inclusion Team to St Patrick’s this Thursday and next week the CE CATALYST Team. The support of our CE colleagues is very welcome as we work together for the best outcomes for our students.

We are very excited to announce the purchase of 15 new IPads for our Kindergarten students. The iPads will be used to enhance and support teaching and learning in Early Stage 1. The iPads should arrive early Term 2.

Perfect weather conditions today for our school Cross Country. Congratulations to all our students on a wonderful day of participation. We will finish off the week by acknowledging st Joseph’s feast day and celebrating harmony day. It is so lovely to be able celebrate all these school events again this year.

We ask St Patrick’s blessings on our school and community in a special way this week.

Christine Baron

Principal 

St Patrick’s Day

Everyone is looking forward to celebrating the feast of our Patron Saint tomorrow. It is a special day for us and a day that the children look forward to.

The gift of Christian faith was given to the people of Ireland through the work of St Patrick. This is a reminder to us that the faith, the gifts and the grace we receive from God are not for our benefit alone, but rather, they are given to us for the benefit of others as well.

We will celebrate Mass at 10 am and of course everyone is welcome to join with us to celebrate St Patrick. At Recess, our School Captains will cut a delicious green cake, which will be shared among the children. We thank Alicia Hargreaves for organizing a sausage sizzle for lunch and in the afternoon, we will enjoy a tabloids afternoon in our Peer Support Groups.

Lord, help me to see the good, help me to see the grace of God at work in myself, in others and in your Church. Amen.

St Joseph’s Feast Day

On Friday 19^th March we celebrate the Feast of St Joseph. Pope Francis has dedicated this year to St Joseph the Patron Saint of the Universal Church. St Joseph has many titles within the Church which reflect the wonderful supportive qualities he portrayed in his life as the husband of Mary and the earthly father of Jesus.

We will honour St Joseph with a Liturgy at 12:30 pm at School.

Prayer to St Joseph

Hail, guardian of the Redeemer,

Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

To you God entrusted his only Son;

In you Mary placed her trust;

And with you Christ became man.

Blessed Joseph, to us too,

Show yourself a father

And guide us in the path of life.

Obtain for us grace, mercy and courage,

And defend us from every evil. Amen

Fourth Sunday of Lent

How can we, as much, or as little as we have, be the light that drives change? How can we “Be more”, and use our gifts to make a difference in the lives of others?

Prayer of Intercession

We pray for the inspiration and courage to shine the light on global injustices, and to let our own light shine unto others, so that we may be agents of change who bring about the kingdom of God on earth.

Thank you to those families who have already bought into school their Project Compassion Boxes. Your generous donations will make a difference to many lives.

Holy Week at St Patrick’s

On Holy Thursday, the children will present the events of Holy Week and the Stations of the Cross within the school grounds. We will begin the journey of Jesus from Palm Sunday through to Jesus being taken down from the cross after his death and placed in the tomb.

We invite families to join us to witness this re- enactment of Jesus’ last week before his death. Please join us at 11:30 am on Holy Thursday at School.

There will be a note regarding costumes sent home this week.

Sacramental Programs for 2021

We are in the process of setting dates for Reconciliation, Confirmation and Eucharist. These dates will be announced very soon, as we are just awaiting confirmation from Father George and the Archbishop. We will advise you as soon as we know.

Kate Howe

REC

The SRC are organising an Easter Egg Raffle to be drawn on the last day of Term 1, HOLY THURSDAY.  Could all families please consider donating an Easter egg or Easter item towards the fundraiser.   All proceeds will go towards Project Compassion.  Could all chocolate please be dropped to Mrs Fairall at the front office.  The SRC will be selling tickets at lunchtime starting next week. 

St Patrick's SRC

Harmony day is on the Sunday 21st of March 2021, but we are going to celebrate it on Friday 19th of March 2021.

On Harmony day we celebrate all the different cultures and all students can wear orange to support the day.

In the afternoon we are going to be doing sports, art and  crafts run by the SRC.                    

We are going to have normal lunch orders for lunch as per our normal Fridays. 

Celebrate different cultures and remember everyone belongs.

Written by Gracie and Locky

We would like to thank The Gundagai Neighbourhood Centre and Bonita Taylor for the generous donation of Big Life hardcover journals for each 3/4 and 5/6 student.   We trialed this worthwhile mindset and wellbeing program with our 5/6 leaders in 2020 and found it most contemporary and uplifting.   We will definitely put these to good use in our Health and Personal Development programs in 2021. 

Mrs Wilson

St Patrick's Community would like to extend our best wishes and  good luck to Charlie Hindmarsh who is off to compete at the MacKillop Swimming Championships on Monday 22nd of March at Sydney Olympic Aquatic Centre.   You have worked really hard with your swimming this season Charlie and we are all proud of your committment. 

Rugby Union Training 

On Wednesday, Tom and Rhianna from the southern inland rugby union taught us how to play rugby union and train for our Rugby Union Gala Day in Tumut, on Thursday the 25th of March. It is for all the schools in the district.  There has to be ten players on the field and 2 subs. This week Rhianna will be coming back on Thursday so don’t forget your headgear mouthguard and footy boots.  (Alec, Ollie, James)

Sporting Schools Grants

At St. Patrick’s we have been successful in applying for in advance and receive Sporting Schools Grant Funding each term for the school year.  Since 2019 we have sourced and pre-booked specialist coaches for skills sessions in: Hockey, golf, gymnastics, softball, tennis and volleyball.  We have also bought a cricket kit and tennis equipment with grant funds as well.

As a school our aim has been to expose the students to a variety of sports generally not offered within our local community.

We have set bookings in advance every year for gymnastics and tennis however our goal is to gradually work in a variety of sports like netball, rugby union, rugby league, and basketball.

Sporting organisations are advertising on various sites such as Facebook for Sporting Schools skills sessions, however these sessions have a student cost per session.  Please note these are not free.

We have been able to secure annually free skills training in the lead up to sports gala days such as Rugby 10’s, School Netball Cup, Mortimer Shield and Trent Barrett.

Rugby 10’s

A successful and enjoyable skills session was run by Southern Inland Development Officers Rhianna and Tom last Wednesday.  Another training session will take place this coming Thursday 18 March 12-1pm.  Could all 3/4  and 5/6 boys please bring the necessary equipment for training.  It is so pleasing to see boys who play sports from other codes giving this gala day a go.  Participation, teamwork and fun is the aim of the day.

PLEASE NOTE: Parents can attend the grounds on the Gala day but must sign in and follow COVID guidelines.

Netball Cup Tumut

Thank you to Gemma Crowe, Kate Graham and Bec Gaskin for volunteering their time to help coach/run the 3/4 teams on the day.  Thank you to Michelle Mc Donnell for organising the 5/6 team. 

Golf

Driving and putting skills have been taught so far by Jarrod in our weekly sports sessions.  Many children are thoroughly enjoying learning new skills. 

Book Club - Issue 2 orders need to be finalised by 19th of March.  If you are wanting to place an order from our latest book club catalogue please send in your order by no later than this Friday 19th of March 

Just some dates for families to write up on their home calendars as we head into the final few weeks of the busy end of Term 1 

* Netball Gala Day - Wednesday 24th of March 

* Rugby UnionThursday 25th March

* Easter Egg donations by Friday 26th March

* Easter Story presented by K-6 Thursday 1st April at 11.30am. Parents welcome

* Week 10 Assembly (Student of the Month) - Thursday 1st April 2:15pm St Patrick’s School Hall

* Easter Egg Raffle Drawn-Thursday 1st April

* Last day Term 1-Thursday 1st April at 3:15pm

Saturday - 20th March : Alec Bell-Magnone & Darby Jones 

Saturday - 27th March : Jessica McDonnell & Charlotte McDonnell 

Saturday - 3rd April (Holy Saturday):  James Reardon & Hugh Ryan 

Saturday - 10th April (Holidays) : Sophie Graham & Ollie Gailey 

Friday 19th March - Michelle McDonnell 

Friday 26th March (Last Canteen for Term 1)- Simone Jones 

NO CANTEEN IN WEEK 10 

Congratulations to our Week 6 and Week 7 Class Awards

Week 6 

Kindergarten:  Remi Taylor for great class participation 

Year 1 / 2 : Indi Cole for thoughtful participation in all class discussions 

Year 3 / 4 : Lachlan Morgan for his support helping his class peers whilst being on task himself 

Year 5 / 6 : Charlie Hindmarsh for increased input to class discussions plus a persuasive written piece on "You Should Try Soccer" 

Week 7

Kindergarten : Fletcher Smith for always working hard to complete work 

Year 1 / 2 : Lane Johnson for his enthusiastic participation in literacy discussions 

Year 3 / 4 : Garvita Joshi for her enthusiastic attitude toward all aspects of school 

Year 5 / 6 : Nicholas Little for his increased effort and committment to his learning tasks. Keep this going!

 W I L D C A T  A W A R D S 

Week 7: 

RESPONSIBILE - Hugh Ryan, Ellie McDonnell 

RESPECT: AB Ryan