Term 2 - Week 2

Message from the Principal

Dear Parents and Carers

Welcome to Term 2 Week 2 newsletter. The school holidays seem like a distant memory. We have certainly hit the ground running in Term 2. The students have settled back quite well into their learning and are engaging in our new tokens for Learning, Loving and Serving as part of our wellbeing focus.

Today we celebrated all mothers and significant women in our lives with a beautiful liturgy. Huge thanks to Mrs Browne, Mrs Ogden, Kinder and Year 5 for our heart-warming celebration. It was wonderful to see so many mums and grandmothers at our breakfast this morning. Thank you to Elise Moncrieff for organising the food and a very big thank you to my wonderful staff for setting up the hall and serving breakfast. This is a massive undertaking. I am sure I speak for our entire community when I say thank you for going above and beyond!

Have a lovely weekend. A very happy Mother’s Day for Sunday!

Lucy Harvey
Principal

Enrolments 2025 – Important Dates

As many of you are aware, a new enrolment policy and procedures has been introduced for the enrolment of students in all Catholic Schools of the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle. Keeping in line with all other Catholic schools, applications for enrolment in 2025 (including Year 7 enrolments) must be submitted by 24^th May. Applications submitted after this date are only considered if there are available places (after initial enrolment offers) and on a case-by-case basis at the discretion of the school and Principal. On the 14^thJune, an initial enrolment outcome notification will be sent. This letter will be either in the form of a Letter of Enrolment Offer or Waitlist notification.

Farewell

This term we said farewell to Joey Jarvis in Year 5. We sincerely wish Joey all the very best at his new school.

Welcome

We warmly welcome the Pritchard family – Claudia, David and Frankie (Kinder) to the St Pat’s community. Thank you for choosing St Pat’s and we hope you very quickly feel at home. 

Attendance Awards

School attendance plays a critical role in enhancing the lives of students in schools. Every day of attendance adds to a student’s academic and social achievements at school, and conversely every absence, can impact their learning and progress. Schools, in partnership with parents/carers, are responsible for promoting and maintaining, the regular attendance of students. All Catholic Schools in CDMN have a core responsibility in encouraging regular attendance. To help promote regular attendance at St Patrick’s and to acknowledge those students who have achieved 100% attendance over a term, we have introduced an Attendance Award. This award will be presented at the end of each term.

Weekend Sports Star

Each newsletter, Mrs Browne acknowledges and celebrates the students in our school who have success in their weekend sport activity. This week, I would like to acknowledge and celebrate Mrs Browne’s success at the recent Australian Dragon Boat Championships in Perth. Claire and her crew from Newcastle Dragon Hunter, won Bronze in the Open 500m. Congratulations Claire, a very impressive achievement!

Police visit

On Thursday this week, Police Liason Office Snr Con Elke Watt visited Year 5 and 6 as part of her community engagement role. Elke chatted to the students about cyber safety, respectful behaviours online and being mindful of their digital footprint. Elke was very impressed with our senior students! Kinder were suprised with a special vistit by Elke as well. They thoroughly enjoyed dressing up as a police officer, 'driving' the police car and taking their fingerprints. A wonderful community engagement experience.

Tell Them From Me (TTFM) Survey

In the coming weeks we will be inviting students, teachers and parents to provide feedback on their experience of our school using an online survey. The surveys are an important part of our whole school evaluation and planning process.

We would like to invite you to complete the Tell Them From Me (TTFM) Partners in Learning survey. As we value the role of parents and carers within our school community, we would greatly appreciate your feedback. The information you provide will be used to maintain our commitment to working together in partnership to further improve student learning and wellbeing at St Patrick’s.

The survey is anonymous and will take approximately 20 minutes to complete. In Week 4, you will receive a link to the survey. You will be able to access the parent survey on your computer or mobile device. This link will be sent out via the Compass platform.

Event Consenting on Compass

All events that are posted on Compass have a due date for consent. Staffing for events is based on the number of students attending. Invoicing for buses and venues is also determined on these numbers. It is parent responsibility to provide consent, or decline, by the due date to allow the appropriate organisation and risk management procedures to be carried out by the school. Please be aware that it is not Mrs McKenzie’s responsibility to chase consent.

Advance Notice

PUPIL FREE DAY - Monday 22nd July.  School resumes for Term 3 Tuesday 23rd July.

Biggest Morning Tea for Cancer Fundraising

St Patrick’s will be hosting a Biggest Morning Tea event on Friday 24^th May. This special event is being organised in loving memory of Mark our crossing guard. Mark’s wife Karen is most grateful to the P&F Exec for helping her organise this important fundraiser. All students will be invited to attend the morning tea for a $2 donation. 

Opal Cards

We have been liaising with members of the Diocese to address transport concerns for families living in the Murray’s Beach and Catherine Hill Bay areas. Please find attached a letter with information on how you can assist.

Week 3

Week 4

Message from RE Coordinator

May: Month of Mary

May is the special month of Mary.  As the mother of Jesus, Mary is our mother and our advocate in Heaven.  She showed the ultimate faith in God when she agreed to be the mother of Jesus knowing how difficult it would be for her given the beliefs of her time.  A mother’s love is very special, giving all they can for their children and Mary is always there when we need her.  When we pray to Mary we can be sure that she listens to us.  Throughout this month, all students will be praying the Hail Mary daily in the classroom.  As a family, consider taking some time during this month to devote prayer towards Mary.

Happy Mother’s Day

This Sunday we celebrate Mother’s Day.  We wish all mothers and special women in the lives of our students a very special day and thank you for your loving commitment to your children. Today as a school, we celebrated our mums with breakfast, a wonderful liturgy, and spending time together reading.  Thank you to all the parents, teachers and students that assisted to make our morning a great acknowledgement of the mothers in our community.

We would like to take a moment to think of our mothers, grandmothers, aunties, or a significant woman who have made an impact on our life.  This prayer is dedicated to all mothers and grandmothers, living and those dearly departed.

Sacramental Program

The Sacrament of CONFIRMATION will be celebrated in our Parish on Tuesday 4th June at 5pm at St Francis Xavier Church.  For those children who have participated in our First Penance programme this year or before, the preparation meetings are at Belmont on Thursdays 9th May, 16th May and 23rd May at 6.30pm.  Please be on time and bring your copies of Youcat for Kids with you. 

Catholic Schools Week 20-26^th May

During Week4, 20-26 May, we celebrate the contribution that Catholic schools make to the lives of students and families around Australia.  Catholic schools educate over 805,000 students (one in five Australian students) and employ over 109,000 staff.  For over 200 years, Catholic schools in Australia have provided a choice to Australian families for the education of their children, that reflects their own beliefs and values.

Our Diocesan theme for Catholic Schools Week this year is “Follow me” (Matthew 4:19).  In this story from the Gospel of Mathew, Jesus invites Simon, Peter and Andrew to place their trust and confidence in Him and to follow Him on a journey as His disciples (followers or students).  For disciples, to ‘follow-me’ meant that they became like an apprentice to Jesus, to learn His ways, to love like He does, and to serve the poor and outsider like He does.  To ‘be’ Good news to all the earth!

This invitation continues to this day as Catholic schools help fulfill the mission given by Jesus, to “Follow me!”  Working alongside our parishes and other agencies to love and serve those in our communities.  This attitude of service and caring for the whole person, flavours our Catholic schools’ approach to everything!  From striving for excellence in learning, to dedicated pastoral care and wellbeing, to faith formation opportunities for every child, we work hard to help each child to flourish in life.

Thank you for trusting our Catholic school with the care and education of your child.

Mr Daniel Lockwood
RE Coordinator

Save the Date

From the Diverse Learners Team

Learning Support – Developing Oral Language Skills

At our staff training day towards the end of last term, we had a focus on Vocabulary instruction.  The new English syllabus places a greater emphasis on the importance of explicitly teaching vocabulary, which extends across all Key Learning Areas.  Donna Crow (speech pathologist from the Catholic Schools Office) presented a number of strategies to support student learning of new or unfamiliar words.

Following on from the training day, we have invited Megan Piper (another speech pathologist from the Catholic Schools Office) to work with our Learning Support team to develop some targeted interventions to build the oral language skills of Stage 1 students.  Just as children learn to speak their first words at different ages, the rate at which children acquire other language structures also differs considerably.  Putting thoughts into words is an essential life skill - not just for writing stories, reports, emails and texts, but also for asking and answering questions, understanding instructions and following directions.

Gifted Education - Support Imogen’s “Coins for a Cure”! 

Imogen has been researching the topic of Giving.  This has included finding out about giving in Australia, which countries are the biggest givers, volunteering and fundraising.  To finish her project, she has decided to do some fundraising of her own.  See her poster below and support Immy and a great cause... 

Please send in a gold coin on Friday 24^th May with your kids.  Activities will be organised at lunch time by Immy and her friends for all interested students.  There will be $1 cupcakes for sale at recess. 

Mrs Jo Simes 
Learning Support Teacher

Mrs Anne Turner & Mrs Karen Devlin
Aboriginal Education Teacher

Library News

We will be participating in National Simultaneous Storytime and be completing some activities, one of which will be making our own bowerbird bowers.  To make our bowers as attractive as possible, students are asked to bring in some blue items from around the home.  Please don’t send anything expensive or irreplaceable because they will be glued to their craft.  See example below:

National Simultaneous Storytime is an initiative by the Australian Library and Information Association that encourages as many people as possible to read the same book at the same time.  This year the book is  Bowerbird Blues by Aura Parker.

ANZAC Day

Last term we read many books about ANZAC Day and discussed the importance of Remembrance.  This is Kindergarten’s reflection.  They made these using 3D Paint.  Aren’t they amazing!

Mrs Karen Devlin
Teacher Librarian

Mrs Penelope Hale
Library Assistant

Creative Arts News

This week, Lauren Harvey, dance director from ASPIRE, visited St Pat's and worked with our Stage 2 and 3 students on dance choreography. 

It was such a wonderful opportunity to have Lauren share her expertise with Years 3-6. 

Each class created an original dance sequence to music, combining small group and whole class choreography.

We will continue to explore the elements of dance and choreography in dance lessons this term. 

Lauren will be visiting again in term 3 to work on some performance items. 

Sport News

School Sport

During Term 2, students will participate in an Athletics program delivered by Gecko Sports. This program will focus on building skills to be showcased at our. Athletics Carnival in Week 6.

Athletics will be run on a Monday, so students will start the week wearing their sports uniform.

Pathways Sport 

Congratulation to Oscar Claydon and Florence De Champlain who represented the Maitland Newcastle Diocese in Rugby League and Soccer (respectively) in Armidale last week. Well done!

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.  

Walk Safely to School Day

On Wednesday, 56 St Patrick’s Students along with family members and Staff walked safely from Swansea RSL to St Patrick’s. Walk Safely to School Day is designed to promote healthy active lifestyles, road safety and sustainability. Students learnt valuable road safety lessons and had a lot of fun along the way arriving at school in a sustainable fashion. Congratulations to all who took part.

Cross Country

We are very proud of all our St Patrick’s students who participated in out School Cross Country in Week 11 last Term. Staff and parents noted great displays of athleticism, sportsmanship, persistence and resilience. Thank you to all family members who volunteered their time to ensure students were safe and happy throughout the morning.

Congratulations to athletes who have progressed to represent St Patrick’s at the Diocesan Cross Country on Wednesday 15^th May: Bonnie Anderson, Cooper Ballard-Totten, Alex Batchelor, Neve Bowmaker, Evie Buchanan, Oscar Claydon, Florence DeChamplain Sophie Dunn, Ruby Hansen, Charli Hill, Egan Joyce, Jude Mulder, Beth Newell, Sienna Parker, Jamie Tisdell, Drew Torzillo, Vinnie Walker and Chelsea Wilks.

Weekend Sports Stars  

Will Bevan (Yr 4) and Vinnie Walker (Yr 2) are part of the Newcastle Elite Football Academy (NEFA). NEFA is an invitation-only talent development program run by former A League legends.

During the second week of the holidays, NEFA sent three squads to Sydney to compete in the prestigious Rizzo Academy Cup. This tournament involves 12 of the best academies in Australia.  Will played in the NEFA u10s team, who finished 6^th and Vinnie played in the NEFA u8s team, who were undefeated through to the Grand Final where they were beaten 2-1. Congratulations to both boys on their fantastic achievements!

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

If you haven't already commenced weekly, fortnightly or monthly payments as agreed, reminder phone calls and letters will be sent home to these families. Please check your monthly fee statement and process payments as required.

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

P&F

P&F Financials for April 2024

St Patrick's Family Bingo Night

Canteen

Uniforms

St Patrick's School Uniforms are NOW available for purchasing through Lowes Belmont. As communicated in Term 1 there will be a transition phase where LOWES will sell out our current stock before purchasing the improved quality fabric of some items.  Lowes have advised new stock of winter tunics will not be available until September/October this year. Please contact us if you have difficulty in the availability of stock during this transition phase.

SHOP IN STORE - the retail store is located at Lowes Belmont 548 Pacific Highway, Belmont NSW, 2280. Parents and students can access uniforms 6 days per week including most public holidays.

SHOP ONLINE 24/7 - St Patrick's Primary School Swansea uniform products will continue to be available for parents convenience to purchase online with delivery options.  Access to the online portal is available through the link here. 

School Hats and ties can be purchased from School and are ordered online through our QKR app. Your order will be processed within 48 hours and sent home with your child.

Second-hand uniform items are sometimes available and can be purchased from the School Office during the school term using either EFTPOS or cash.

To contact the second hand school uniform shop, please email: admin@swansea.catholic.edu.au

Preloved Uniforms

We have some uniform supply delays with our transition to Lowes and we are desperately seeking preloved uniforms in good, clean condition. In particular we are seeking:

* Sports shorts

* Girls winter tunics, long sleeve shirts and long pants

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