Term 1 - Week 2

Message from the Principal

Dear Parents / Carers

Welcome back staff, students and parents! I hope everyone is settling into the new school year and that you all had a wonderful Christmas and holiday.

Yesterday, our wonderful Kinder students joined us for the first time, marking a milestone in their schooling, coping marvellously well in two very hot days. Thank you to our Year 5 students for carrying out their Big Buddy role with warmth, enthusiasm and a great sense of pride. The Kindies are in great hands!

A warm St Pat’s welcome to all our new students and their families: Leon (Year 1), Gwen (Year 2) and from Kinder- Molly, Victoria, Isaac, Mason, Hugo, Jack, Amy, Colby, Evelyn, Charlotte , Aailah, Esther, Archie, Sonny,  Bree and Noah.

St Patrick’s also extends a warm welcome to Mrs Janine Schneider, Mrs Jo Simes and Mrs Sharon MacNevin who join the Staff team. Janine will be undertaking the roles of Assistant Principal and Pedagogical Mentor. Jo will be undertaking the roles of Learning Support Teacher and Gifted Education Mentor. Sharon will be job sharing with Janine on Year 2. We are also very fortunate to have Mrs Karen Devlin and Mrs Anne Turner undertake the role of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Teachers. The Staff Team are extremely excited and motivated about the year ahead working with the students in a positive student centred environment.

The first two weeks of the term have been set up to allow the students and the teachers to build a foundation of positive relationships as a class. This is an opportunity for getting to know each other, establishing expectations for the year, setting personal and class goals as well as establishing ways to support and care for one another. It’s a great time to get excited about the year ahead.

I look forward to working with you throughout 2023.  Please do not hesitate to contact me at any time.

Kind regards

Lucy Harvey
Principal

Holiday Maintenance

During the school holidays we completed the painting upgrades started last year. All our metal poles have been finished as well as a refresh of the classroom doors and play equipment. The yellow safety markings, basketball court and timber deckings also received a facelift. The school is looking lovely!

Diocesan Investing in Schools Funding

Towards the end of last year, St Patrick’s was very fortunate to be one of the many Diocesan schools who received additional funding from the Investing in Schools project. The Diocese’s commitment to providing a safe and supportive environment for all schools saw several security upgrades at St Patrick’s. These included the installation of the security gates, security cameras, crim safe screens on the exposed Church side windows and door as well as an upgrade of our alarm system including the bell and speaker system. We are very grateful to the Diocese for the financial investment in our school community.

Changes to Routines

We have made a few minor changes to our routines this year. Firstly, our session times have changed to allow two-hour teaching and learning blocks. Previously, staff would have their entitled release from face-to-face teaching with a combination of 50min blocks and whole days. To create greater consistency and stability for the students as well as greater productivity for the staff, the teachers will now have weekly two-hour release. This will greatly reduce the number of whole day casual release needed. Therefore, the bell times will be as follows:

8:30am – 8:55am        Morning duty (remains unchanged)

8:55am – 10:55am      Session 1

10:55am – 11:40am    Lunch

11:40am – 1:40pm      Session 2

1:40pm – 2:10pm        Recess

2:10pm – 2:55pm        Session 3

Due to the new speaker system set up, the students will be lining up for morning and afternoon assembly under the COLA. This new routine also provides greater protection from the elements.

Gate Times

This year the front gates will open at 8am to assist working families who need to do an earlier drop off to allow travel to work. Parents who utilise the earlier drop off time need to be aware that the students must sit on the seats outside Year 1 until the teacher is on duty at 8:30am. Therefore, between 8:00am and 8:30am students are unsupervised but in a safe environment.

Parent Handbook

During the holidays, Mrs McKenzie updated our Parent Handbook and new school website. The handbook is available through the school website. Thank you, Rachelle!

FUN FUN FUN

We have many fun events and educational opportunities planned for the year which require parent volunteers. We strongly encourage you to complete your online Volunteer Registration Form now so you are able to assist us when the opportunity arises.

P&F

We have an amazing parent and carer community at St Pat’s and what better way to help further build positive, collaborative relationships with the school then being part of the P&F! We are hoping to re-establish the St Pat’s P&F with a meeting on MONDAY 6^th MARCH at 6:30pm in the Library. Please come along, we would love to see as many of you as possible. 

Opening School Mass

We look forward to investing our Year 6 students into their Leadership roles next Friday 10^th February at 10:00am in the Church. All are most welcome to attend.

Parent / Teacher Interviews Term 1

Today you would have received a Student Information Questionnaire to be completed for each child. This questionnaire will assist the teaching staff, in collaboration with you, to best support your child this year. The questionnaire will also help form part of the Parent / Teacher interviews to be held in Week 4 for Years 1-6 (Kinder to be held later in the term). By inviting you to attend interviews early in the year, we are hoping to set specific goals to support each child socially, emotionally and academically. Interviews will be available to book via Compass next week. A newsfeed will be sent home advising you that they are open.

Assemblies – ODD WEEKS

Assemblies will commence next Friday afternoon 10th February in the hall starting at 2:15pm. At this assembly Swimming certificates and medals will be presented.

Advance Notice – Inservice Day

A pupil free day is planned for MONDAY 27^th Feb to formalise our St Patrick’s Wellbeing Framework. As most of you know from correspondence last year, we had targeted Wellbeing as a focus area needing reimaging. Throughout 2022, staff, students and parents were surveyed about what wellbeing looks like at St Pat’s, highlighting what aspects need greater support. You have been invited to an information session on Thursday 9^th at 5:45pm where Mrs Fiona Walker will update you on very important aspects of wellbeing and the direction we are taking at St Pat’s.

Watches and Phones

It is extremely important that both parents and students are aware that mobile phones and watches, that allow messaging, are not permitted at school. If a student requires a phone to communicate with parents during travel to and from school, it must not be used during school hours. Any watch that has the ability to phone / message must be set to school mode and cannot be used to contact parents. If you need to relay a message to your child, please call or email Admin. 

Asthma and Anaphylaxis Plans

It is a requirement that all students marked as having asthma and/or anaphylaxis have their plans updated each calendar year. The Asthma and/or Allergy plan needs to be signed by a GP/Specialist.

If your child has Asthma or an Allergy requiring an Anaphylaxis plan; please send in the updated signed ASCIA plan into the school office along with your child’s medication.

An individual plan needs to be on file and labelled medication given to St Pat’s for each individual student requiring medication.

Bus Passes

If you require an Opal card for school bus travel, visit transportnsw.info/school-students. Mrs McKenzie will then be able to approve the pass.

School Disco

Our first event for the year kickstarts with our school disco.

When:              Thursday 9^th February

Where:            School hall

Time:               5:30pm – 7:30pm

Treat:               2 slices of pizza, drink and glow stick $5 (see flyer for ordering)

Supervision:    Staff

Message from RE Coordinator

Welcome to the 2023 school year.  I hope that you had a safe and holy Christmas break and that you were all able to spend it with loved ones.  As a staff, we look forward to the students being able to share their learning in Religious Education with you at home.

This year, as a staff and school, we will be focusing on the charism of the Josephite Sisters, their values systems and faith practices.  We will also be exploring the different types of prayer and how we can teach these methods of prayer in the classroom.

Next Friday, 10^th February at 10am, we will hold our Opening School Year Mass and Commissioning of the Year 6 Leaders.  All parents, relatives and guest are welcome to attend this celebration in the church. 

St Patrick's Term 1 liturgical celebrations for the diary:

Friday 10^th February – Opening School Mass

Wednesday 22^nd February – Ash Wednesday

Friday 17^th March – St Patrick’s Day Celebrations

Week 11, 3^rd-6^th April – Holy Week Reflection

Mr Daniel Lockwood
Religion Coordinator

Message from Assistant Principal & PM

Hi! I'm very excited to be joining the St Patrick's team this year as Acting Assistant Principal, Pedagogical Mentor and Year 2 Teacher and becoming part of this wonderful community. What a privilege to lead such a dedicated, enthusiastic and highly-skilled team of teachers! I have taught in our Catholic system for 24 years at various schools including Forster, Mayfield, Cessnock and New Lambton, and held leadership positions for 8 years. I have a Masters in Educational Leadership and am dedicated to building teacher capacity to provide excellent education for our students. I look forward to working collaboratively to lead teaching and learning at St Patrick's and getting to know all of your lovely children. What a beautiful environment to work in!

Mrs Janine Schneider
Assistant Principal & PM

Message from Learning Support & GEM

Hi there, I'm Jo Simes and I have the privilege of being appointed to St Patrick’s as the new Learning Support Teacher. This year I will also undertake the role of Gifted Education Mentor (GEM).  I previously worked at St James, Kotara South as the Learning Support Teacher (for about 14 years) and GEM (for 3 years) and have found that these roles complement each other well.  I also worked at St Pius X, Windale for 5 years as their Leading Teacher for K-2 Literacy and Numeracy, and at St John's, Lambton as the GEM.  I enjoy writing programs for students who need a bit of extra support or more challenge, and I look forward to getting to know their families.  I will be working with teachers to ensure that our learners with additional needs here at St Pat's are identified and supported in the classroom.  If you have any questions around Learning Support or Gifted Education, please don't hesitate to get in touch. 

Mrs Jo Simes
Learning Support Teacher & GEM

Save the Date

Year 6 News

Year 6 have commenced 2023 with stars in their eyes! Walking into their Hollywood Stars themed classroom, they were full of excitement for what lies ahead in their final year of Primary School. Unpacking this theme, students made the following connections with their roles as leaders:

• “Stars are bright.” We need to be a light for others by being positive role models and shining a path on how to live by our School Vision Statement- Learning, Loving and Serving through Jesus.
• “Share the Spotlight.” We need to give others an opportunity to shine and encourage them to share their unique skills, strengths and achievements.
• “Reach for the Stars.” We need to set goals for ourselves, build our self-confidence and use effective effort to be the best we can be.
• “We are a Crew.” We need to use teamwork and support each other in fulfilling our leadership roles.
• “Use our fame and VIP status wisely.” We need to create a positive ripple effect in our school by taking action with humility and compassion. In the spirit of Mary MacKillop, we will see a need and do something about it.

What stars Year 6 will be in 2023!

Sport News

2023 is shaping up to be an exciting sport filled year at St Patrick’s. Our students will be part of several sports program such as Gymnastics, Basketball, Martial Arts, Dance Fever and AFL to name just a few. There will be many opportunities for participation in team sport gala days and representative sports. Information about sports at St Pat’s will be communicated through Compass and the Newsletter, Stay tuned!

Regional Swimming Carnival

The Lakes Region Swimming Carnival is to be held on Monday the 13^th of February at Lambton Pool. Congratulations to the following talented swimmers who will be representing St Patrick’s:

William Bevan
Neve Bowmaker
Sebastian Reddie
Eloise Ayshford
Sara Corbett
Billie Joyce
Imogen Walker
Chloe Fitzgibbon
Sienna Parker
Chelsea Wilks
Jack Ayshford
Aiden Bowmaker
Hudson Brown
Blake Marriott
Isabella Moldrich
Elijah Munster
Sienna Reddie
Lukah Thornton

Our Superfish will be supported on the day by Mrs Ogden and Mr Mac.

We wish the St Pat’s Team every success and look forward to hearing of their achievements.

Winter Sport Trials

If you have a child in Years 5 or 6 who you would like to nominate for Soccer, Hockey or Netball Regional Trial, or AFL or Rugby League Diocesan Trial please email me (claire.browne@mn.catholic.edu.au) your child's name, school grade, current sporting club, level of sport played, position played and representative experience by Friday 10/2. 

As these sports are pathways sports for PSSA, students are strictly required to be highly talented players (preferably at representative level). There will be several other team sport opportunities for the broader student group throughout the year.

Please note, nomination does not mean automatic selection for Regional Trials, a school trial will be run in week 4 if necessary.

Representative Sports

Catholic Schools NSW offers many sporting pathway opportunities for talented athletes. If your child is an aspiring athlete, you might like to familiarise yourself with the CSNSW Sport web page here: https://csnsw.sport/

Sport information specific to our Diocese can be found on the Maitland Newcastle Diocese tile on the CSNSW Sport page https://csnsw.sport/maitland-newcastle/primary/home

Any registrations on these pages must first be approved.

Weekend Sports Stars

If your child is a Weekend Sports Star, please email details and a photo to claire.browne@mn.catholic.edu.au so we can celebrate their success in our next newsletter.

Mrs Claire Browne
Sports Coordinator

PEG / P&F

Come to our PEG/P&F meeting Monday 6th March at 6.30pm in the school library.

Congratulations to the school community for your efforts in supporting St Patrick's through the canteen, uniform shop and fundraising in 2022.  We have a very healthy bank balance of $47,206.76, raising $24,667.27 this year in a non-fundraising focused year! A great start to our outdoor education fund.

Canteen

Welcome back to the canteen for 2023!

After a successful trial of the new menu in Term 3 last year, we have decided to implement it permanently in 2023, starting off Week 1 with Nacho’s!

Orders need to be placed in Qkr no later than midday Thursday to ensure we have all the supplies delivered fresh ready for Friday morning. Each week the new menu option will go live over the weekend to allow you plenty of time to get your orders in. Reminders will be posted on the St Patrick’s Facebook page & compass alerts each Wednesday also. Please remember to update your child's profile to include their current class.

Just a reminder of our cancellation/credit policy – if you order the ‘special for the week’ and your child is absent on the Friday, we need at least 24 hours notice to credit your order. If you do not let us know before then, we cannot credit your order as stock would have been purchased and accounted for. If you order an item from our standard menu – pies, sausage rolls etc. you need to let us know prior to 9am on the Friday so we can credit you & not cook the food. These items are in constant stock and will not go to waste should you cancel before we process orders.

We look forward to the students of Year 6 helping in the canteen at recess each Friday. All recess snacks will be available to buy with cash from 11:20am to 11:40am each Friday with prices varying from 60c (Icy cup) to $2 (Frozen Yoghurt Tub) We have a variety of ice blocks, drinks & packed snacks to buy. Please send denominations lesser than $5 as we have limited change available.

We welcome new & existing families & friends to the school this year to join our roster also. If you have any spare time of a Friday, we’d love to have you. We need at least 2 volunteers each week to ensure we get all the orders cooked & packed on time for the students. Each shift in the canteen starts at 9am and you’re out of the gate by 11:45am at the latest. It’s a social & enjoyable morning so we’d love to have you. Please email stpatscanteen1@gmail.com if you would like to help. Please ensure you have a valid Working With Children Check and  and sign in at the office before volunteering.

We have some exciting novelty menus planned for 2023 and look forward to your children enjoying them!

Elise Moncrieff
Canteen Coorrdinator

Uniforms

The uniform shop is be open on each Monday school term from 2.00pm - 3.00pm.

Orders can be placed on the QKR app. The cut-off for orders is 12pm on Monday.

Leisha and Natalie can be contacted via email at stpatricksuniformshop1@gmail.com to answer any questions or to make alternate fitting arrangements.

Thank you 
Leisha & Natalie

Office News

Health care and pension card holders are eligible for a discount off the tuition fee.  If you have a valid 2023 card, you can apply for a discount by completing the attached form and returning it to the school office together with a copy of your card.  This will ensure the appropriate discount is applied to your 2023 fees.  The application is required to be lodged at each school where your children attend.

The fees will be processed by the end of next week.  You will start to see fees appearing in Compass however will not be finalised until all discounts are applied and processed. The first fee statement will be emailed at the beginning of March.

Rachelle McKenzie
Senior School Officer

Cybersafety and BYOD User Agreement Form

The Cybersafety User Agreement for Primary Students was sent home towards the end of last year.  If you haven’t already returned this could you please return this to the office asap

Volunteering at St Patrick's

If you would like to register to volunteer at St Patrick's, can you please complete the "Volunteer Registration Form" by clicking on the link here. 

St Patrick's will be notified by the Catholic Schools Office once you are cleared to volunteer.

If you are unsure if you have clearance, please email the office at admin@swansea.catholic.edu.au to enquire.

Enrolments

Community Notices