Week 10 is upon us, and we now only have another week left of Term 4. What a year 2021 has been! Just when we thought the worst of COVID 19 was behind us last year, the Delta variant became the new challenge. We are grateful to have come through this year again relatively unscathed with our school, family, and community members safe. Learning has continued despite the challenges that have been thrown our way with Level 3 restrictions and protocols in place for the past two terms.  This Friday will be an opportunity to gather as a school community to reflect on the year that has been, while celebrating the achievements and successes of another school year. We look forward to welcoming our families back into our school grounds for the first time in a very long time.

Last Thursday, we reached a most exciting point with the new School administration building. Our builder Tom Gaskin and team, Representatives from the Parent Building Committee, CE staff and our architect John Clark, witnessed our School Captains ‘cut the ribbon’ and ‘hand over of the keys’ to our new administration area. The building now requires a final council inspection before it can be occupied. We are very excited that this area is so near to being occupied.

Work on our new cultural space began over the weekend. The back wall of the Learning Hub (facing First Ave) will become the backdrop for the new mural. Local Aboriginal elders and family members have been engaged to paint the mural which will depict the story of the 1852 Great Flood and the bravery of Yarri and Jacky Jacky. This area is envisaged to become an outdoor learning area for our students.

As the school year draws to an end, it is important to recognise all those who have helped make this such a successful year of learning and achievements. A huge thank you goes to the awesome staff of St Patrick’s School  for their continued dedication and contribution to meeting the learning needs of all students. We are so fortunate to have such a great team of professional people. Thank you to the members of the Community Council, who continually volunteer their time and commitment for the benefit of our school community. Thank you to our wonderful parents for your continued support and dedication to your children and our school and finally, thank you to our amazing, beautiful students who always give their best day in and day out, striving to continue to learn, improve and achieve. We are so proud of our each one of you and all that you have achieved across the school year.

Our best wishes go out to our Year 6 students as their time at St Patrick’s comes to an end. We wish Jezanna, Juliet, Jess, Lilly, Harry, Alec, Nick, Locky, Ollie and Jack, all the very best as prepare for High School and new endeavours. Best wishes to each of you and may St Patrick’s spirit guide you always.

May the blessings of Christmas and the New Year be with each of our families. Enjoy your holidays and we look forward to 2022.

Christine Baron

It is hard to believe that we are at the end of yet another year. This year has bought many challenges to all of us, and the way we live our lives has changed. At times it has been stressful and demanding, but together we worked through these situations.

I would like to thank Mrs Baron for her leadership throughout 2021 and her ability to keep abreast of the protocols and keep our school functioning throughout.

It has been a very busy year with three Sacraments celebrated in our Parish. We thank everyone who was involved in helping our children on their faith journey. We extend our heartfelt thanks to Father George and Father Namora for their spiritual guidance.

Advent

On Saturday we lit the second candle on the Advent wreath. The second candle, also purple, represents faith. It is called the “Bethlehem Candle” as a reminder of Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem. Help us God, in this time of Advent, bless our eyes and ears that we may see and hear Jesus.

End of Year Mass

We look forward to Friday’s Mass. It will be wonderful to be able to celebrate the Year Six Graduation and Thanksgiving Mass. We have greatly missed being able to gather and pray in the Church. We hope that our Year Six children will know that they are special and we thank them for the contribution they have made to our school over the years.

Unfortunately, due to Covid restrictions our Mass will be closed to the general community with only Year Six Parents able to attend.

St Vincent de Paul Christmas Appeal

This Mass is traditionally our chance to support and give items of food to the St Vincent de Paul Society. The Society will compile hampers from the items and distribute these to those in our community who need assistance during the festive season.

The children will bring their items of food as part of the Offertory Procession. Please remember to bring your donation to Mass.

Whatever you can give will be appreciated.

Altar Servers

Thank you to our wonderful Altar Servers for their support throughout 2021. Your efforts are always appreciated by all in the Parish. We welcome our new volunteers and look forward to watching them grow into this role. Thank you to Father George who spent time with the children on Friday helping them learn the protocols of Altar Serving.

Christmas Masses

Christmas Eve 24th Dec 7.30pm : Jack Peterson & Eliza Hargreaves

Christmas Day 25th Dec 8.00am :

Sunday 26th Dec 8.00am : James Reardon  

• If you can assist with Altar Serving on these days, would you please contact the school.

Wishing you all a happy and holy Christmas and a safe and relaxing holiday season.

Kate Howe

REC

Thank you to everyone who contributed to the street stall last week. It was a massive effort from all involved and we managed to raise $4,781.20 which is an amazing result! It shows what can be achieved when we all work together, and it sets a wonderful example for our children. We have received lots of positive feedback from the community about our baking, the presentation of our stall and the great raffle prizes. We appreciate your hard work and generosity during this busy time of year, and we hope everyone enjoyed their street stall purchases. 

From Kate Graham and Simone Jones '.

We are delighted to announce that in 2022 we have been able to employ four CSAs to support student learning.

Mrs Samantha Johnson and Mrs Gemma Crowe are new additions to our school staff. Mrs Johnson has recently completed her Certificate 3 in Children’s services while Mrs Crowe has a Bachelor of Education. Mrs Crowe has been working as a CSA during Term 4. We welcome them both as part of the St Patrick’s School team in 2022. Ms Tash Smith and Mr Braith Crane will also continue in their roles as CSAs. This will enable us to provide additional support for all students K-6 as needed.

Please keep in mind our annual Christmas appeal to support the St Vincent de Paul Society. At the end of year Mass, we are asked to donate food and household items that can be put together as hampers to assist those in our community who need some help during the festive season. Your generosity will be greatly appreciated.

To ensure we are able to provide a broad range of hamper items we have designated each class a specific item.

Kindergarten: Drinks (non-alcoholic)

Year One: Dinner Savoury Pantry (pasta, sauces, 2-minute noodles)

Year Two: Party Pantry (biscuits, nuts, chips, popcorn)

Year Three: Tins and Cans (fruit, soup, vegetables)

Year Four: Cleaning and Toiletries (spray & wipe, toothbrushes, laundry powder)

Year Five: Breakfast Savoury Pantry (cereals, spreads, food bars)

Year Six: Sweets and Desserts (mince pies, custard powder, chocolates, puddings)

OVERDUE LIBRARY BOOKS

Could all students that have library books at home please send them into school over the next few weeks.  All books need to be marked off as returned before we finish school. 

The 2021 Award Presentation will be held THIS Friday 10^th December on our school grounds. Anyone attending the Award Day presentation will be required to be fully vaccinated against COVID19 and show proof of their vaccination on entry to the school. Entrance to the school will be via Homer St gate entrance ONLY that morning please. The Award presentation will commence at 9.00am and conclude by approximately 10.30am. Social distancing measures of 2m 2 will be in place on the day and anyone who is unwell is asked not to attend the award presentation morning. Please bring chairs, picnic blankets, hats, water bottles etc. Each family is permitted to bring 6 fully vaccinated attendees to the Award Day.

In the event of inclement weather, the backup date will be Monday 13^th of December.

All students are asked to be in FULL summer school uniform for the Awards and whole school Mass. 

The Year 6 Graduation Mass will be held THIS Friday 10^th December commencing at 12.00pm in St Patrick’s Church. Once again due to restrictions on social distancing and numbers, ONLY fully vaccinated Year 6 parents (or two adults) may attend the Mass. Proof of vaccination will be required. Families must abide by the by 2m2 distancing regulation and only attend if they are well. The Mass will be closed to community members and parishioners.

Year 6 Parents are asked to please wear a mask inside the Church during the Graduation Mass.  Thank you 

Despite many attempts to organise a whole school end of year excursion, Level 3 restrictions have prevented any proposed excursion ideas from going ahead. Therefore, to celebrate the end of the school year, we have decided to host a Movie Day at school on Wednesday 15^th December. Students will remain in their cohorts for the movie sessions. Mr and Mrs Saunderson have also kindly offered to cook a sausage sizzle that will be offered free of charge for all students. Limit of two sausages per child. Drinks and an ice-cream will also be provided for each child.

Special thanks to Mr and Mrs Saunderson for this very generous offer and for volunteering their time to cook the sausage sizzle. We are very grateful.

Unfortunately, the Japanese Language Program is unable to continue. Trewalla Primary School, who have hosted the Japanese Program over the past 3 years are no longer able to provide the language program. Despite exploring many options, we were unable to find a Japanese Program to continue with. Therefore, the decision has been made to begin a new Language Program in 2022. Mandarin will be the new program offered to our Year 5/6 students. The costs involved in delivering an online program were prohibitive of continuing to offer a language program to Years 3-6. MEG Languages will provide this new online program to our Year 5/6 students.

Congratulations to our Week 8 and Week 9 Class Awards 

Week 8 - Friday 26th Nov

Kindergarten: Lilly Ferguson for positive behaviour and showing kindness to others 

Year 1 / 2 : Maeve Ryan for consistent effort and quality of work in all subject areas 

Year 3 / 4 : Lachlan Morgan for his participation in class and attention to detail in his home reading diary

Year 5 / 6 : Hugh Ryan for putting in a big effort with his Literature Circle Art response

Week 9 - Friday 3rd Dec

Kingergarten : Lilly Ferguson for excellent story writing 

Year 1 / 2 : Conor Cotterill for showing improvement in reading using Initialit skills to decode words

Year 3 / 4 : Skye Somerville for her consistent effort and quality of work in all subject areas 

Year 5 / 6 : Anson Chew for his enthusiastic participation during our Japanese lessons

Friday 28^th January-CATALYST Systems Day for all CECG staff

Monday 31^st January-Staff Planning Day

Tuesday 1^st February-Years K-6 Return to School

Thursday 3^rd February-2022 St Patrick’s Swimming Carnival

Wednesday 2^nd March-Ash Wednesday

Friday 8^th April-Last day of Term 1

Friday 4^th February

Wednesday 9^th February

Wednesday 16^th February

Wednesday 23^rd February

Saturday 11th December - Tahlira Rose & Locky Eccleston 

Saturday 18th December - Alexander Ryan & Hugh Ryan 

Christmas Eve Mass 7.30pm - Jack Peterson & Eliza Hargreaves 

Christmas Day Mass 8.00am - To Be Advised 

Boxing Day Mass 8.00am - James Reardon & TBC 

Happy Birthday to the following Students who have recently celebrated their birthday

25th November: Kingsley McDonnell

27th November: Tyler Manns 

27th November: Charlotte McDonnell 

5th December: Montanna Manns 

5th December: Nate Tozer

The Public Health Order in regard to vaccination status of staff, volunteers and parents attending St Patrick’s School has been extended until March 22^nd 2022.