St Patrick's Primary School Gundagai eNewsletter

Dear Parents and Carers,

Things certainly changed rapidly over the weekend when we were given very short notice of an impending lockdown at 5pm on Saturday afternoon for all rural NSW. We appreciate the support, patience and understanding of our families, as we have had to make a very quick turnaround to ensure our Remote Learning platform was ready to roll out on Wednesday. Staff have worked extremely hard over the past two days, to ensure that classroom programs and learning can continue at home and that our students have access to the Remote Learning Platform. It is our priority that education for all our students, continues to meet the needs of all learners and that we proceed in the safest way possible as required by NSW Health Regulations.

Worryingly, the Delta Strain seems to spread easily, quickly and to children. This has placed an even greater impact on our school community. NSW Health has placed schools at Level 4 (highest level) of restriction. Therefore, we advise that school is open for children of essential workers, or if they have no one to care for them at home. Otherwise, we ask that you please keep your child/ren at home.

The directives from NSW Government and Catholic Education are clear. We need to minimise our movement in the community and contact with one another. This goes against everything our schools are about, but we must make a priority of keeping each other safe, well and healthy. For the students that do come to school, we will ensure hygiene and physical distancing measures are in place. Minimal staff will be rostered to be on-site each day. We ask parents to please let us know, by contacting the front office, if your child/ren are attending school on any given day to ensure we have adequate supervision and care in place.

Please remember we are here to support our families in everyway possible through this period of time. If you need to ask questions, please contact your child’s teacher or ring our front office. We understand the additional stress Remote Learning may place on our families and we want you to know that we are only ever a phone call or an email away.

We continue to pray that our families and community stay safe.

Best wishes for the week ahead,

Christine Baron

Principal

Confirmation Preparation Day

Last Wednesday our Confirmation Candidates gathered to attend a Preparation Day.

During the day the children were able to reflect on their learning and understanding of the Sacrament of Confirmation.

The children also presented their research projects on their chosen saint. This was a great sharing time with a chance to hear about wonderful men and women who lived their life with great devotion to God and to the people around them. The children articulated the outstanding qualities that each of these Saints possessed and what they admired about them.

Saturday’s 3pm Confirmation

On Saturday we experienced the wonderful celebration of Confirmation. Eight members of our Parish were presented to Father George who confirmed them with the Holy Spirit. The children reverently and confidently took the next step of their faith journey in front of family and Sponsors.

As we know Saturday afternoon did not go as we had planned, and we were very disappointed that our plans had to change at the last minute, but this was out of our control. When we are able, to celebrate our second Confirmation Mass, it will be as special as we had originally planned.

We congratulate the Candidates on receiving this special Sacrament and their commitment to their preparation beforehand. These children have shown great maturity and dedication in their learning of the Sacrament of Confirmation.

We thank Father George for administering the Sacrament of Confirmation to the children of St Patrick’s Parish and to both Father George and Father Namora for their continued guidance and support to our Parish.

We also thank the Sacramental Team – Anne Saunderson, Madeline Ryan, Cal Reardon and Denise Reardon for their commitment and dedication to lead the Sacramental life of our Parish. We are so grateful for all you do.

We also thank Mr Peter Gain for offering to be our Acolyte for both Masses and assisting us on our Preparation Day. Emmy Gaskin and Nate Tozer did a wonderful job as the Altar Servers at the 3pm Mass. A special mention to Alec Magnone for his generous offer to serve at the two Confirmation Masses.

A special thank you to parishioners Marie Nelson and Ann Elphick for the beautiful floral arrangements in the Church.

May the Spirit of the Lord be upon you.

Kate Howe

REC

Congratulations to our 3pm Confirmation group who were able to go ahead with the Sacrament of Confirmation last Saturday evening. It was a beautiful ceremony. Our Confirmation candidates were an exceptional group and presented themselves in such a prayerful and reverent manner during all parts of the Mass but in particular the ‘Laying of Hands’ and the actual Confirmation. Our hearts and thoughts went out to the 5pm group who could not go ahead with their special ceremony, as the lockdown came into effect at 5pm. We will re-schedule another time soon for this group of students who were fully prepared and ready for this special event.

Simone Jones and Kate Graham have organised a spring fundraiser for our school. They have approached Chaston St Nursery Wagga who have sourced out the best of their Treloar Roses which are of high quality. The roses will be potted roses and are $25.00 each (availability is limited). Orders are coming in quickly as limited roses were purchased. A flyer was sent home via email on Monday. If you would like to place an order please email Kate Graham on communitycouncil.stpats@gmail.com

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Community Council is very excited to announce that the uniform shop is going online!

The shop can be found at https://st-patricks-primary-school-gundagai.square.site/

The link to the online shop is also provided on the uniform shop tab of the St Patrick's School website.

Orders can be placed at anytime convenient to you and they will be filled and sent home with your child on Tuesdays/Wednesday.

The new process will also mean that emergency orders only will be filled by school staff using the paper or email order forms. All other orders will be filled on the next Tuesday.

The current ordering process will still be in place for anyone who wishes to continue to use them although receipts will be issued by text message or email.

We are very excited to be able to offer this new service and ask that you please work with us to improve the process if there are any teething issues. If you have any questions please contact Community Council on communitycouncil.stpats@gmail.com or Bec Gaskin on uniformshop.stpats@gmail.com

Kind Regards

Community Council.

The school will remain open for children of essential workers or that have no one to care for them at home. These students will have access to the same Remote Learning activities that students at home have access to. Only ONE mode of learning will be provided for all students.

These students will be required to:

Wear their winter school uniform
Wash and sanitise their hands upon arriving at school and regularly throughout the day
Bring recess and lunch to school each day
Bring their own filled water bottle. Please note there will be limited access to the bubblers
Social distance in the classroom and where possible in the playground

Students need to be prepared that they will have different teachers each day as staff will be at school on a rotational basis. Minimum staff will be onsite each day. Please continue to let staff or Jacki know if your child will be attending and the days they will be here to ensure there is adequate supervision each day. If your child/ren will be here some days and not others, they will be required to bring their home learning pack and school device EVERY time they attend on-site learning.

Thank you for your assistance with these matters.

Students will be required to ‘meet’ with their teacher at the times specified each day.

This is required for Attendance Marking purposes

Kindergarten-9.00-9.30am

Year 1/2-9.30-10.00am

Year 3/4-10.00-10.30am

Year 5/6-11.00 -11.30am

Follow the class timetable that their classroom teacher has set and complete activities.

Recess will be held from 10.30-11.00am

Lunch will be 12.30-1.30pm

Please remember we do not expect parents to ‘teach’ as we would in a regular classroom. Do your best and get through whatever activities you can through the day. Remember to add in lots of breaks and other activities. Children learn in a variety of ways.

We are delighted to welcome Miss Hannah Baron to St Patrick’s Staff in the role of Classroom Support Assistant (CSA). Hannah replaces Miss Bethany Bruce while she is completing her teaching practicum with our Year 3/4 students. Hannah has had previous experience working as a CSA as well as students with disabilities and will work at St Patrick’s until the end of term. Welcome Miss Baron!

Unfortunately, we will have to postpone our school production of Alice the Musical. We will look at a new date once we know more about the current restrictions. Year 5/6 students are asked to continue practicing their lines during Remote Learning.

The Wagga Wagga Music School provide tuition in most instruments and voice. Marie Dewhirst, Proprietor, travels to the schools for private lessons on a Tuesday. The students have a rotating roster so they do not miss the same subject each week. Payment for lessons by bank transfer ($35.00 per lesson). The WWMS is a registered CKV provider and accepts $100.00 creative kids vouchers (CKV).

Contact Marie on 0418 652 844 to organise lessons or to find out more information about this program. A permission note advising the school that your child will be taking lessons should be handed to their classsroom teacher for school records. For more information please do not hesitate to email Marie on dewey00@bigpond.com