Term 1 - Week 8

Message from the Principal

Dear Parents and Carers 

Happy Week 8!

We have had a wonderful few days celebrating belonging to St Patrick’s. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to making this a special occasion. Thank you to Mr Lockwood for two beautiful liturgies this week. Thank you to the Staff for all their preparation with preparing the students, organising activities, artwork displays and general helping hands. Thank you to Tammy Reid for coordinating the massive number of canteen orders. Thank you to the mums and grandmums who helped Tammy in the canteen. Thank you to our parents and grandparents for joining in the celebrations, how wonderful it was to be with you today! And thank you to our wonderful students who embrace the values of St Patrick on a daily basis. We have a lot to be thankful for! As we heard in the gospel reading today, we all have a responsibility to let our light shine. When everyone’s light shines, it is much brighter than when just one or two lights shine. Today, as a community, the lights of St Pat’s were blinding!

Keep shining

Lucy Harvey 
Principal

CONGRATULATIONS

On Thursday, our Year 6 students were called to serve as leader for 2022. Infront of the whole school and their parents, the Year 6 promised to work together and play together, so that we may learn to serve God and one another. We are proud of our leaders and look forward to supporting them in the roles this year.

STUDENT WELLBEING AND PASTORAL CARE POLICY AND FRAMEWORK LAUNCH

Yesterday, Mr Lockwood, Mrs Walker and I, accompanied our school captains Lara and Hayden to St Pius X Highschool Adamstown for the launch of the new Student Wellbeing and Pastoral Care Policy and Framework. It is inspiring that a system wide approach to student wellbeing has been prioritised. The wellbeing policy emphasises the importance of our Catholic faith, pastoral care and student voice informing student wellbeing across the school; a safe, supportive, and inclusive school environment; and opportunities for students to be creative, connected and engaged so that they can learn, lead and thrive. As a staff, we have prioritised Student Wellbeing as part of our School Improvement Plan. We look forward to unpacking the policy and framework with you throughout next term.

PEG / P&F UPDATE

On Monday, an invitation was sent to our families in Kinder, Year 1 and Year 2, inviting participation in a Listening Lounge with Cath Garret-Jones regarding parent engagement. I strongly encourage parents to take this opportunity to have input in establishing a sustainable parent engagement group that supports the learning environment of our students.

As we are in between a parent forum, I would still like to continue with fundraising activities which are vital to the school. The Easter raffle is underway thanks to members of the PEG group. I would like to call for volunteers who would be interested in coordinating and supporting the purchase of gifts for the Mother’s Day stall. If you are interested, could you please email admin.

I will send a newsfeed shortly, inviting members of our community to join us for a parent chat in lieu of a PEG and P&F.

ENROLMENT 2023

It is that time of year again. If you have a child whom you wish to enrol for Kinder 2023, please contact Rachelle for an enrolment pack. If you know of anyone else seeking enrolment, please ask them to contact admin.

Enrolment packs for our Year 6 students for St Mary’s Gateshead have just been delivered and will be sent home Monday.

CHANGES

Over the next several weeks you will notice some ‘cosmetic’ changes to the front landscape of the school. We are intending to open up the street view of the school to gain greater presence in the community. Whilst these changes may look sparse to start with, it shouldn’t take too long to create the desired effect.

STAFF LIST AND CONTACT DETAILS

Message from RE Coordinator

St Patrick

St. Patrick was born in Britain and as a young man, was captured by Irish pirates and sold into slavery.  After six years in Ireland he escaped, returned to his family and trained for the priesthood in Gaul.  He returned to Ireland as a missionary bishop.  Through his work, Christianity flourished, and the church became organised.  St Patrick was known for his sincerity and pastoral care, especially caring for the human dignity of all people. There are many legends about Ireland’s most beloved saint, including his use of the shamrock for explaining the Trinity, and his banishing of all snakes from Ireland.

His story would be ordinary if it were not for his decision to return to Ireland as a well-educated and faith filled priest to give something back to the country where he had such profound experiences of faith.  Patrick used his own experiences of being enslaved and then his position of influence as a priest, to overcome evil and offer himself for service to others.  He stands as a living witness for the fight against slavery, intolerance and the diminishment of human dignity in our own time. He was someone who made the world a better place.

St Patrick’s Day and Year 6 Leaders Commissioning Liturgy

As a school community, we celebrated St Patrick’s life and his feast with a liturgy.  This was the first time that we have been able to gather as a Catholic community in the church and was a wonderful opportunity to make connections to their faith.  During this liturgy the Year 6 Leaders were presented with their badges and commissioned as the Leaders of our school.  I would like to congratulate the leaders on this achievement and look forward to working with them to lead the student community of our school throughout the year.

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Welcome back to St Patrick’s

Today we celebrated part two of our St Patrick’s celebrations.  We had our ‘Welcome Back Liturgy’ and it was wonderful to see the parents and grandparents that were able to attend and be on the school site.  Students enjoyed the opportunities to share their school life, learning and achievements with their parents.  Thank you to all who were able to take the time out of their busy schedules to spend the time with their children.  They certainly do appreciate it!

Thank you to the amazing band of parents who were able to assist in preparing all the meals for lunch.  Such a wonderful community effort, the staff and students of St Patrick’s are very grateful for your assistance.

A special thank you to Florence, Mia, Skye and Grace in Year 3 who took the initiative to hold their own raffle to raise money for Project Compassion. They raised $249.15.

Kinder Religious Education

This year has seen the introduction of a new Religious Education curriculum.  This curriculum focuses on the pedagogy of encounter, forming students with a greater formation experience and building a relationship with God.

Last week, Kinder students learnt about ways they can 'talk' to each other, even when we can't see each other.  They made mobile phones and found a quiet space to have a chat to God. They loved it! 

Daniel Lockwood 
Religious Education Coordinator

Message from the Assistant Principal

St Patrick’s Day Art 

Leading into our St Patrick’s Day celebrations we recognise a student from each class who has shown perseverance and skill in the creation of a St Patrick’s Day art piece. All classes have their artworks on display in the hall. Congratulations to this year’s award recipients, each award winner will receive a book prize. 

Kindergarten: Bonnie Anderson (Shamrock Rainbows) 

Year 1: Emelia Le Marchant (Leprechauns) 

Year 2: Ariella Munster (Sham-Wow) 

Year 3 White: Jaymie Tisdell (Cubism Four Leaf Clover) 

Year 3 Blue: Ella Hardi (Cubism Four Leaf Clover) 

Year 4: Sienna Parker (St Patrick Portrait) 

Year 5: Aiden Bowmaker (St Patrick’s Cathedral) 

Year 6: Teddy Beckett (St Patrick’s Well) 

Making Learning Visible 

At St Patrick’s we are constantly striving to improve pedagogy and teaching practice. Part of that effort is to make student learning visible. ‘Visible Learning’ is the result of the research undertaken by John Hattie to understand what provides the most success in learning.  It is based on over 68,000 studies and 25 million students.  John Hattie defines Visible Learners as students who can: 

• Articulate what they are learning 
• Explain the next steps in their learning 
• Set learning goals 
• See errors as opportunities for further learning 
• Know what to do when they are stuck 
• Seek feedback 

Over time we would like to ‘show and tell’ some of these practices to you. Our pedagogy or the art and science of teaching at St Patrick’s includes: 

• Evaluating the effect of teaching on student achievement and success. This is the impact. 
• A focus on our learners and their learning. This is our collected learning data. 
• Establishing clear learning intentions and co-constructed success criteria. This forms our student understanding of what they are learning about. 
• Activate multiple ways of knowing, interacting and multiple opportunities for practice. These are the ways we differentiate, extend and support students in their learning. 
• Respond with feedback. This is how our students know how they are going with their learning. 

Sport Update 

Congratulations to Madi Trembath who was successful in her selection in the Diocesan Girls Touch Football team. Madi will now compete at the Polding Trials in Tamworth later this term. 

Cross Country 2022 EOI

School Cross Country trials are almost here. In 2022 we are seeking expressions of interest from students aged 8-12 who are interested in trialing in our School Cross Country to be selected to represent our School at the Diocesan Cross Country carnival. In order to attend the Diocesan level students must meet specific cut off times. These times are listed below: 

Girls 8/9 years  13 mins (2km) 
Boys 8/9 yrs 11 mins (2km) 
Girls 10 yrs 13 mins (2km) 
Boys 10 yrs 11 mins (2km) 
Girls 11 yrs 16 mins (3km) 
Boys 11 yrs 14 mins (3km) 
Girls 12/13 yrs 16 mins (3km) 
Boys 12/13 yrs 14 mins (3km) 

Further details will be provided once student nomination have been collated. Please complete the expression of interest here by Friday 18th March. 

Ben McCarthy
Assistant Principal

Save the Date

Kindergarten

Our newest members of St Pat’s, Kindergarten, have quickly and happily settled into class and school routines and have made some wonderful friendships. As part of their transition to school, and as part of the Successful Foundations Project, Kindergarten engages in an hour of play each morning.  Purposeful play provocations allow students to show their existing knowledge and interests, share ideas and build relationships. Our play areas include maps in my world, dramatic play, blocks and boxes, outside play and stories. The café, hospital and tinker table are some of Kindergarten’s favourite provocations. 

During literacy time, Kindergarten have been learning sounds and letters and were very excited to begin practicing handwriting. They have explored many rich texts, and particularly enjoyed reading and creating artwork in response to The Very Hungry Bear. 

Kindergarten have been learning about number, shapes and patterns through a hopscotch exploration during maths. They have learnt to work individually, in pairs and small groups as they have hopped, jumped, designed and drawn their way to number fluency! 

A focus during religion this term has been talking to God the Father. Kindergarten creatively came up with different ways we can talk to God. Mobile phones proved a popular choice of communication, so students created their own phones on which to have a quiet chat to God. 

Other highlights for Kindergarten this term have been the Teddy Bears Picnic with Year 5 Buddies, canteen days, library borrowing, gymnastics lessons and programming Beebots in Science. Kinder are eagerly awaiting St Patrick’s Day celebrations! 

We look forward to seeing our littlest community members grow in hope here at St Pat’s as they learn, love and serve together through Jesus. 

Claire Browne
Kindergarten class Teacher

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Extra-Curricula

Guitar and Ukulele Group Tuition

We are very excited to offer an opportunity for K-6 students to be involved in learning the guitar or ukulele at St Patrick’s from Term 2. Isabella O’Brien, an experienced local music tutor, is available to run weekly 30 minute group lessons for $15 per lesson. We are grateful to the Hill family, who are kindly donating a set of guitars to the school, which may be used for these lessons. The school also has a small supply of ukuleles. If your child is interested in this opportunity, please complete the online form here by Monday 4^th April. Places will be limited!     

Library News

Book Club

A reminder that Book Club is due on the 23rd of March. There is a great selection of books in this issue. Payment can either be made online by clicking here or by filling out the back page of the issue and returning it to school.

Mrs Devlin, Mrs Windever and Mrs Philips

Office News

A friendly reminder, if paying fees by instalment, please ensure your payment commences before the 31 March 2022 and is paid in full by 30 November 2022.

Please note that due to the new accounting system your BPAY details have changed. If you pay your fees by BPAY, please update the new BPAY details from your statement.

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

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 contact the office to enquire.

Community Notices