Term 1 - Week 10

Message from the Principal

Dear Parents and Carers

Welcome to the Term 1 Week 10 newsletter.

I hope everyone had a lovely Easter break enjoying the sensational weather. It was hard to come back to work on Tuesday as it felt like we should be on school holidays.

Last Wednesday Year 5 and 6 led our Holy Week reflection for the whole school. To say I am immensely proud of our Year 5 and 6, would be an understatement. Our senior students presented the key events of Holy Week in such a mesmerizing way that every student watching was engaged and glued to the story as it unfolded. My heartfelt thanks to the students for bringing the story of Jesus’ last days on earth to life in a very memorable reflection. Many thanks to the parents, grandparents and parishioners who joined us, we hope it was a special occasion for you.

I would like to thank the community for a great first term of the school year. Time flies when you are having fun, and this term has flown very quickly so we must have had lots of fun! Both staff and students are ready for a rest and recharge.

Wishing you all a safe, sunny and restful holiday. 

Lucy Harvey
Principal

Farewell

This week we say farewell the Marinos family. We wish Charlotte all the very best at her new school.

End of Term

We have a busy last week of term with cross country trials on Monday, Year 5 and 6 attending the Combined Schools ANZAC service at the Civic Theatre on Tuesday and Years 3 to 6 attending the soccer gala day on Thursday at Speers Point. Last day of Term 1 is Friday 12^th April. School resumes Monday 29^th April.

ANZAC Day March

All students are encouraged to attend the Swansea ANZAC march on THURSDAY 25^TH APRIL. See attached flyer. Summer uniform.

Winter Uniform

Parents will be notified early next term regarding the transition to winter uniform dependent on the weather.  A date will be set where full winter uniform is to be worn.

Sport Uniform Week 11

Trials for our school cross country will be held on Monday. Students will need to wear their sport uniform Monday instead of Tuesday. Year 3 to 6 will also need to wear their sport uniform on Thursday.

Behaviour, Big Feelings, and Self-Regulation

Families are invited to attend an online event on Tuesday 9 April with internationally respected child development expert and author, Karen Young. Karen will be speaking on the topic ‘Behaviour, Big Feelings, and Self-Regulation’, providing parents and carers with valuable insights and practical strategies to support their children and teenagers.

This event is free for all parents and carers to attend and is brought to you by the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle’s peak parent body, the Federation of P&F Associations. If you cannot attend the webinar at the designated time, you are encouraged to still register, as a recording of the event will be available to you on demand, for one week after the event. To register, please visit www.mn.shor.tn/KarenYoung

Please see the attached flyer for more information.

Mother’s Day Morning Tea

All our mums, grandmothers and significant female figures are invited to our Mother’s Day morning tea on FRIDAY 10^th May. Please see attached flyer.

Week 11

Message from RE Coordinator

Holy Week and Easter Liturgies

Over the past two weeks, the students in Year 5 & 6 led our reflection on the events of Holy Week.  The students reenacted Jesus entering Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.  They witnessed the Last Supper and the praying in the Garden before they focused upon the denial by Simon and the suffering of Jesus on the road to Calvary. 

This week the students celebrated the story of the discovery of the empty tomb, the astounding event that completes the Paschal Mystery: the passion, death AND resurrection of Jesus. Whilst Christ’s willingness to go to his death on the cross was an extraordinary statement of God’s love for humankind, it is his rising again from death that offers all Christian people hope.

Project Compassion

Thank you to all the families that contributed to Project Compassion this year.  All the funds raised are donated to Caritas and this year they are focused on providing the less fortunate with training programs to help provide for their families and their communities.  All project compassion boxes should be returned to the school by the end of term.  If you prefer to make a simple electronic donation, please contribute to the St Patrick’s Project Compassion fund raising page.  

https://schools.projectcompassion.org.au/st-patricks-primary-school-swansea 

Mr Daniel Lockwood
RE Coordinator

Save the Date

Assistant Principal News

SchoolTV

SchoolTV is a wellbeing resource that can support you in the challenges relating to modern-day parenting.

This award-winning resource helps build relationships, foster connections, enable understanding and break down barriers to navigate a pathway towards better mental health and wellbeing for young people. It can assist in starting conversations on topics that are sometimes awkward or difficult to tackle.

For information on a variety of wellbeing topics including Cybersafety, Mental Health, and Diversity and Inclusion, visit our school website.

Mrs Janine Schneider
Assistant Principal

From the Diverse Learners Team

Learning Support –  PLD (Promoting Literacy Development)

 Learning support this term has focused on helping students become familiar with the routines of the new English Syllabus, in particular the word work element.  We are using a new resources called Promoting Literacy Development or PLD.  The benefits of this program include the use of a 'decodable' passage for repeated reading to help build fluency.  Each passage includes words with a target spelling rule or pattern which has been studied earlier in the week.  This same passage is also presented with errors in it for students to find and correct as an editing exercise.  It is also used at the end of the week as a dictation to practice the target spelling.

Gifted Education – Extension and Enrichment tasks

This term, I am spending time in each class setting up a challenge board with extension activities for students to access once they have demonstrated ‘mastery’ of the concepts being learnt in class.  When we think about mastery, it is showing 80% success or a sound understanding of the learning intention by being able to demonstrate the success criteria. 

By providing a choice of activities, then helping students to create a goal, work towards it, seek feedback and act upon it, we are aiming to develop independent, self-directed learners. 

Mrs Jo Simes 
Learning Support Teacher

Mrs Anne Turner & Mrs Karen Devlin
Aboriginal Education Teacher

Year 2 News

We have enjoyed lots of hands-on learning in Year 2 over the past few weeks!

In Science, we have been learning about forces and energy in products. We investigated how forces and energy are used in products, and then designed an arcade game that uses a push or pull using a flowchart to show the process of designing the game.  We posed questions, made predictions, and generated ideas for planning and implementing the design process. Finally, we had fun building our arcade games. We then tried out each other’s games and gave feedback to our peers about how they could improve.

In HSIE – Geography, we have been learning about the ways in which Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples maintain special connections to Country/Place and the connections people in Australia have to other places in Australia. We created dioramas to represent the places that we feel we are most connected to. We then presented our dioramas, firstly to our classmates, and then to Year 6 using simple sentences. This project fostered collaboration, sparked creativity, and deepened our connections to our local areas or the places of our family's heritage.

Prev

Showing images 1 - 8 of 15

Next

During lunch club this week we invited everyone in to play our fun arcade games and view our beautiful dioramas. It felt amazing to watch other students get so much joy out of playing the games we had made!

Mrs Janine Schneider & Mrs Sharon MacNevin
Year 2 Teachers

Sport News

Pathways Sport

Polding Rugby League-Congratulations to Oscar Claydon who was selected at the Diocesan Rugby League Trial to represent at Polding Games in Armidale on the 3^rd of May. Well done Oscar!

Polding Soccer- Congratulations to Florence De Champlain who was selected at the Diocesan Soccer Trial to represent at Polding Games in Armidale on the 3^rd of May. We will be cheering you on from St Pats!

Polding Swimming- Congratulations to Sienna & Chelsea for competing at the Polding Swimming Championships in Homebush on Wednesday.  You did us all proud, well done girls!

If your child attends a Pathways Sport or Trial, we’d love to see your photos and include them in our next newsletter.

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.  

Cross Country

Our School Cross Country will be held on Monday 8th of April at Chapman Oval, Swansea. All students will be transported by bus from school for a morning of fun, fitness, camaraderie and athleticism.

The first 3 students in each age category from 8yrs and up, who run under the qualifying time, will be eligible to compete at the Diocesan Cross Country. Please refer to the Compass event for qualifying times.

In the case of inclement weather, the Cross Country will be postponed until later in the week.

We’d love some parent volunteers to be course marshals on the morning. If you are a registered volunteer and can assist, please email me.

Soccer Gala Day

It is with great excitement that I can announce St Patrick’s has been offered registration in one of the extremely popular Lake Macquarie Regional Football Facility Soccer Gala Days.

On the 11^th of April, all students from Years 3-6 will be transported by bus to Speers Point to participate in small sided games focussed on fun and participation. Students will compete in both Boys and Girls divisions within their age groups.

We are looking for parent volunteers to assist with teams (no soccer experience required). If you are a registered volunteer and can assist, please contact me.

Weekend Sports Stars

If your child is a Weekend Sports Star, please email details and a photo to so we can celebrate their success in our next newsletter.  

Mrs Claire Browne
Sport Coordinator

Email: claire.browne@mn.catholic.edu.au 

Office News

The Diocesan agreement for settlement of school fees requires payments to commence by 31 March and continue with regular instalments each month until fully settled by 30 November each year.  Alternatively, fees can be paid in one payment, due before 30 June.  

Please contact the office if you would like assistance with calculating your weekly, fortnightly, monthly deduction amount. 

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 Community Fund website www.myccf.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.

Please remember to complete the 2024 Fee Settlement Option Event in Compass.

Volunteering at St Patrick's

We have many events still planned for the remainder of the year.  Please get in early and register so you won't be dissappointed in missing out.

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.

Rachelle McKenzie
Senior School Officer

Canteen

QKR

Please update your child’s homegroup in the profiles tab so that their correct class is on any order you place for them.

Uniforms

The uniform shop is open on Monday from 2pm - 3pm during the school term.

For any uniform enquiries Natalie can be contacted via email at stpatrickuniformshop1@gmail.com.

Preloved Uniforms

We have some uniform supply delays and our P&F are desperately seeking preloved uniforms in good, clean condition. In particular we are seeking:

* Boys size 6, 8 & 16 summer shirts

* Girls size 8 summer blouses

All hand me downs welcome. If you have any uniforms no longer being used, please drop them off to the front office so they can be put to good use.

Community Notices