Term 1 - Week 6

Message from the Principal

Dear Parents and Carers 

This week has been one of varying emotions. Whilst on Monday we celebrated the easing of Covid restrictions at school we have also been rocked by the devasting events unfolding in Lismore and Queensland with catastrophic floods and the frightening images coming out of Ukraine. It is quite fitting as we move into the season of Lent that our focus shifts from ourselves to being other-centred. To being more Christ-like. I ask, as a school community, that we keep at the forefront of our thoughts and prayers those who have been affected by recent events. I also ask that we pray for our world leaders, that they may come together to find a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Ukraine, showing compassion for humankind and wisdom in their choices.  

We put out a call for help on Thursday for supplies greatly needed to help in the clean up as the flood waters recede in Coraki. Whilst this little town is only one of the many devasted by the floods, it feels great that we can make a small difference in what seems like a monumental task for most of northern NSW. Thank you to all the families who responded to this call for help. I have attached a link to some books you may find useful when talking to your children about recent events Children’s Health Natural Disasters .

With all the trials that people are facing at the moment, I feel blessed that our community of St Patrick’s is doing well compared to many. Covid (touch wood) hasn’t had a huge impact on our staff and families -some schools are really struggling. We are open for business and are prioritising the wellbeing of our staff and students. We are very happy to be here! 

Wishing you all a great week ahead. I hope the sun shines brightly over the weekend to lift everyone’s spirit, and to get some much needed washing done! 

Take care 

Lucy Harvey 
Principal

Welcome

I would like to take this opportunity to officially welcome Mrs Rachelle McKenzie as Senior School Officer Clerical to St Pat’s. Rachelle is a dedicated, enthusiastic and very caring presence in our school. I know she looks forward to getting to know you all throughout the year.

Ash Wednesday Liturgy

This week began our Lenten journey to Easter. Thank you to Mr Lockwood and Year 6 for a beautiful Ash Wednesday liturgy. Thank you, Fr Gerard, for presiding and thank you to all the students for their very reverent participation.

Wellbeing Week

This week is also fittingly Wellbeing Week at St Patrick’s. Week 6 of every term is being set aside to focus on our community’s wellbeing. This term’s theme is “Friendship”. Our theme is perfect as we reconnect with cohorting restrictions being lifted and parents being permitted back on site.        Throughout this week, the staff and students will be discussing what being a good friend is: what it looks like, sounds like, feels like. It’s time to celebrate life returning to ‘normal’ whilst thinking of how our actions can help build a strong community. It is through the hand of friendship that we can not only create a solid foundation at St Pat’s but also extend that hand of friendship to those in need. Try to find the time to perform a random act of kindness. The smallest of gestures can have a profound impact on the wellbeing of another. You may never know the burden another shoulders but that load can be made lighter in unexpected ways through a simple kind act, an act of friendship. I would like to thank our Wellbeing Team, Mrs Fiona Walker, Mrs Liz Walker and Mr Lockwood for their organisation and motivation to ensuring wellbeing is a priority in our school.

COVID Update

As you are aware, CSNSW, in alignment with the Government, has begun to ease the Covid restrictions around schools. We are excited that we no longer need to cohort and it’s been wonderful to see the students building connections with their peers across all grades. It has also been wonderful to see you, our parents and carers, back on site. We are planning to have a big celebration as a community for St Patrick’s Day, the first as a whole school in a very long time! With the easing of restrictions, we still need to be mindful of Covid safe measures. Students, parents and visitors will continue to use the hand sanitiser on entering the school. Adults will also need to practice social distancing. Don’t forget to collect your RAT kits from Rachelle at Admin!

Contacting the School

To ensure your message is communicated to the correct person.  Please send all emails to admin@swansea.catholic.edu.au.

School Photos Advance Notice

This year’s school photos will take place on FRIDAY 8^TH APRIL. Please be aware that this is the last day of term so please avoid early holidays where possible.

Whole School Picnic Lunch – Keep the date

Lock in FRIDAY 18^TH MARCH for a whole school picnic lunch at 11am to celebrate St Patrick’s Day (moved from the 17^th due to CSO commitments).

P&F / PEG

In the last newsletter, I mentioned that I was meeting with Cath Garret-Jones (Professional Officer Family Engagement) from the CSO regarding the best way to gain parent input into both models previously undertaken at St Pat’s. I have met with Cath and feel very motivated and enthusiastic about reinvigorating parent engagement at St Pat’s. Cath’s first step in this process will be to communicate with our newest families of Kinder, Year 1 and Year 2 to participate in a ‘Listening Lounge’. At a later date, Cath will also make contact with our parents in the primary classes for their valuable input. I will let you know when to expect contact from Cath.

Free Desks

We still have a few student desks available for free. If you would like one, please contact Rachelle in Admin. Take one, get another free!!

Message from RE Coordinator

Lent / Ash Wednesday

This week we celebrate the beginning of the Season of Lent with Ash Wednesday.  Lent is a time put aside to prepare ourselves for the celebration of Easter.  For children a simple way of explaining Lent is about making Lent a time of focus on being a better person by:

• Praying more
• Fasting, which may mean giving up something we do not need. This may be food such as chocolate or could include time in front of the television, iPad, electronic games etc
• Almsgiving, which could include putting aside some of their pocket money to assist in a worthy cause such as Project Compassion

On Wednesday we celebrated a liturgy, as a whole Catholic community.  Thank you to Fr Gerard for making the time in his busy schedule to lead our school community in this liturgical celebration.  During these celebrations all that were present were sprinkled with ash on their forehead.  These ashes are made from the blessed palms used in the Palm Sunday celebration of the previous year and symbolise the dust from which God made us.  As the ashes are applied the priest speaks the words, “Repent and believe in the Gospel.”  

These words and actions are a symbol of our penance, and they help us develop a spirit of humility and sacrifice, particularly during Lent.

Commissioning of School Leaders

We will be celebrating the Commissioning of our School Leaders at our St Patrick’s Day Liturgy at 9.30am. The Year 6 Leaders will be receiving their Leaders Badges and will be making their pledges to the St Patrick’s Community.  All parents are welcome to attend.

Project Compassion

This week the season of Lent begins with Ash Wednesday, which also marks the beginning of the annual Caritas Australia Project Compassion Appeal. Donations to Project Compassion allows Caritas Australia, the Catholic Agency for International Aid and Development, to work with local communities around the world to end poverty, promote justice and uphold dignity.

The theme of Project Compassion 2022 is ‘For All Future Generations’ and reminds us that the good that we do today will extend and impact the lives of generations to come. It invites us to make the world a better place by working together now and finding long-term solutions to global issues.  We encourage you to put your compassion into action this Lent through your prayer, fasting and almsgiving by supporting Project Compassion. Each family will receive a Project Compassion box or you can donate online via the Caritas Australia website at lent.caritas.org.au

Daniel Lockwood 
Religious Education Coordinator

Message from the Assistant Principal

NAPLAN 2022

NAPLAN testing will commence from May 10th, 2022, for all students in years 3 and 5.

NAPLAN is a national literacy and numeracy assessment that students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 sit in May each year. It is the only national assessment all Australian students do. As students progress through their school years, it’s important to check how well they are learning the essential skills of reading, writing and numeracy. NAPLAN assesses the literacy and numeracy skills that students are learning through the school curriculum and allows parents/carers to see how their child is progressing against national standards and over time.

Schools are transitioning from paper-based to computer-based assessments. All Year 3 students will continue to complete the writing assessment on paper. Online NAPLAN tests provide more precise results and are more engaging for students. One of the main benefits is tailored (or adaptive) testing, where the test presents questions which may be more or less difficult depending on a student’s responses.

NAPLAN assesses literacy and numeracy skills that students are learning through their regular school curriculum. Students sit assessments in writing, reading, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy. Questions assess content linked to the Australian Curriculum: English and Mathematics.

Students are not expected to study for NAPLAN. You can support your child by reassuring them that NAPLAN is a part of their school program and reminding them to simply do their best.

The NAPLAN online test window starts on Tuesday 10 May and finishes on Friday 20 May 2022.

Sport Update

Congratulations Hayden Wallwork on his selection to attend the Diocesan Soccer trial later this term and congratulations to Sunshine West, Lara Windever and Madi Trembath on their selection to attend the Diocesan trial for netball where the girls will compete as the Lakes Regional Netball team.

Ben McCarthy
Assistant Principal

Save the Date

Year 6

Goodbye to the Tenison Apartments Residents

Last week, the Year Six students said goodbye to the residents of Tenison Apartments.  Tenison Apartments have been a big part of school life while we have been students here at St Patrick’s.  We were lucky enough to walk next door to say goodbye to the remaining Josephite Sisters, Sr Ann, Sr Leslie and Sr Pat.  The three Leaders of Mission, Jessica, Emily and Layla presented the sisters with a beautiful cross and a beautiful bunch of flowers with a note from St Patrick's School community.  Our two School Captains, Lara and Hayden, spoke about their experiences of visiting the residents, how we have loved coming to see them and we will miss them. The three Sisters are moving to Southern Cross Caves Beach and we are already looking for ways that we can continue our connection to the Sisters by visiting them and writing letters in the future.  Even though we haven’t been able to visit the residents for the past two years, we have continued to keep them in our thoughts and prayers.  We would write them letters and make artworks that we would share with them.

On their final day, the whole school assembled on the grass area and sang the Irish Blessing to the leaving residents.  The students, the residents, along with all the staff at Tenison will miss the relationships that we have built over the years.  St Patrick's students have loved visiting the residents to show their art works, sing and dance and especially eat the yummy cookies, the staff were wonderful, and the residents were so lovely. 

Ben McCarthy and Daniel Lockwood
Year 6 class Teachers

St Patrick's has cherished its relationship with Tenison Apartments over the years and we will miss the smiles and laughter that we witnessed on the resident’s faces when we visited.  We are so fortunate to have been able to spend this special time getting to know them and will miss these experiences.

Lara and Hayden
Year 6

Library News

Throughout the year the library hosts various activities for the students to participate in. They include: 

Book Week, Book Fair, Premiers Reading Challenge (PRC) and National Simultaneous Storytime. Keep an eye out in the newsletter regarding dates for these activities. 

Once a term the students will bring home Book Club. This is a convenient way to buy books as well as supporting our school with the Scholastic rewards program. 

BORROWING

A reminder that library-borrowing days are as follows.

K-2 Tuesday

Years 3-6 Monday

Please ensure your child has their library bag on these days as well as bringing back any borrowed books.

200 NIGHTS

Last week your child (Years 1-6) was issued with the 200 nights reading log. This log is to encourage the students to maintain a regular reading routine at home.

Parents and carers are asked to complete the details of what their child reads each night, and to sign the log to verify that the details are correct. Older students may complete the details, but a parent or carer is required to sign it. Every night that your child reads they colour in a book from the front/back page. There will also be a visual display up in the library. Once they have reached 200 nights all books should be coloured in. Along the way children will receive encouragement in the form of certificates and prizes and when they make it to 200 nights, they will be invited to the 200 nights party at the end of the year.

The minimum amount of reading per night done by the student is

Year 1-4 10-15 minutes per night

Years 5 and 6 15-20 minutes per night

We look forward to a great year with the students.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us here at the library. 

Mrs Devlin, Mrs Windever and Mrs Philips

Canteen News

Finance

School Fee Statements were emailed to families yesterday. 2022 School Fees have been invoiced for the full school year. If paying fees by instalment, please ensure your payment commences before the 31 March 2022 and is paid in full by 30 November 2022. If paying fees in full in one payment please finalise prior to 30 June 2022. Our preferred method of payment is either BPay or direct debit. For Fee Payers wishing to establish a new Direct Debit, or adjust their existing direct debit, please complete the form on the Catholic Development Fund website www.CDFmn.com.au.

For those families experiencing financial hardship, or wishing to discuss other payment arrangements, please contact the school office to arrange an appointment with the Principal.

Schools will commence the school fee management process after the 31 March 2022, if there has been no contact with school office or no initial payment received.

Rachelle McKenzie 
Senior School Officer

Community Notices