Term 2 - Week 8

Message from the Assistant Principal

Dear Parents and Carers

Welcome to the Term 2 Week 8 newsletter.

We are closely coming to the end of an eventful term with students completing assessment tasks and teachers busily writing reports. Miss Harvey is currently away at a Principal’s Retreat in Kincumber having some well-deserved rest and will no doubt return to school re-energised to finish off the term. It has been wonderful for me to return to our beautiful school after 4 weeks of long service leave and see everyone’s smiling faces! 

Janine Schneider
Assistant Principal

Reports

Semester 1 reports will be made accessible to parents on your child’s Compass profile on Friday 28^th June. These reports reflect the academic achievement level your child has attained over the last 2 terms of school. Often when students move up to a new Stage grade (Year 1, Year 3 and Year 5) achievement results can vary significantly from their last report. It is important to remember that they are now working at a higher level (in both knowledge and skill) and have 2 years within this stage to work towards high achievement levels. If you are concerned about the achievement levels reflected in your child’s report, the student led conferences to be held in Week 10 are a wonderful opportunity for you to discuss these with your child’s teacher.

Student Led Conferences

During Week 10 this term we will hold 3-way conferences (parents, teachers and students). During these conferences the students will have the opportunity to share their learning strengths and goals for improvement in English (Writing), Mathematics and a subject of choice with you. They will also share with you two ways they are displaying positive behaviours from our Wellbeing framework, and one area they feel they need to work on. Having students attend these meetings gives them the opportunity to show ownership over their learning and celebrate their successes with you. Bookings will open on Compass this afternoon at 3:30pm.

Parking in the Church/Staff Carpark Areas

A reminder to please refrain from parking in the church/school carpark (in front of the hall, along the laneway, or in front of the Church) at any time during the day. Doing so greatly impacts the safety of our students, particularly during afternoon dismissal. We appreciate your support and cooperation with this.

Save the date: Pupil Free Day Monday 22^nd July

Monday 22nd July will be a pupil free day as the staff will be engaging in professional learning focused on faith formation. This is the first day of Term 3, so students can enjoy an extra-long holiday.

Stage 1 Excursion

All students in Stage 1 (Year 1 and Year 2) will be attending an excursion to the Australian Reptile Park next Tuesday 25^th June.  Students will need to arrive at school at no later than 8:20am for departure at 8.30am. 

Week 9

Week 10

Message from RE Coordinator

Sacramental Program

Earlier this month five of our St Patrick students received the Sacrament of Confirmation.  The evening was a very special night, with mass being celebrated by Bishop Michael and Father Gerard.  Congratulations to Indigo, Lilah, Ruby, Jude and Ethan who received the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  I would also like to thank Father Gerard for all the guidance and support that he has offered the children while guiding them through their preparation to receive this sacrament. 

Vinnies Winter Appeal

The Leaders of Mission are organising a Winter Appeal for the Swansea Vinnies Conference.  They are asking for any donations of beanies, socks, coats, and blankets that will be forwarded to people in need in our local community.  If you are able to assist with any of these items we ask that you place them in the tubs in the front office.  Thank you for your support in this matter.

Staff Formation Day 22^nd July

On Monday 22^nd July, the staff will be participating in a formation experience facilitated by Mr Steve Todd.  The purpose of this formation is to form the staff’s understanding of the Josephite charism and to embrace this charism and history of St Patrick’s. Steve has a rich experience in teaching Religious Education and has been the Principal at several Josephite schools throughout his career.  The day will focus on:

• Developing within the staff a deeper knowledge and understanding of the values and the purpose of the Josephite Charism at St Patrick’s. 
• Embedding the Josephite Charism into our school Wellbeing Framework. 
• Ensuring the core values of the Josephites are seen, heard and lived / actioned in the daily life of the school.

Mr Daniel Lockwood
RE Coordinator

Save the Date

From the Diverse Learners Team...

Gifted Education - Spelling and Maths Bee Regional finals

Last Friday the Regional Finals of the Spelling and Maths Bees were held at St Joseph’s, Kilaben Bay. Ten schools from the Lakes Region took part, so the finalists had quite an audience watching. Our brave competitors certainly did St Patrick’s proud! 

Spelling

Stage 1: Benjamin - winner! (spelling friend and because correctly to win)

Stage 2:  Brody lasted through at least 4 rounds against some tough competition

Stage 3: Indigo went out trying to spell ‘repossession’, having already spelt muscle and some three syllable words

Maths

Stage 1:  Benjamin was out on the multiplication round (thinking it was 3x6 when the question was 4x6)

Stage 2: Lachlan got through to the second round of addition and was one of the final four competitors

Stage 3:  Tyla had a very tricky question in the multiplication round, multiplying two-digit numbers by one-digit - in ten seconds!

Special thanks to the parents who provided transport for our competitors, and to the Stage 3 champions Indigo and Tyla for stepping in at the last minute to replace Oscar (who had another representative commitment!).

Mrs Jo Simes 
Learning Support Teacher

Mrs Anne Turner & Mrs Karen Devlin
Aboriginal Education Teacher

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Year 6 News

Term 2 highlights in Year 6:

Year 6 are a diligent crew and we are always working hard. At the moment we are enjoying our class novel “Rabbit, Solider, Angel, Thief” by Katrina Nannestad. We are so spoilt at St Pat’s as we have the most wonderful learning environment, so we have been doing lots of reading on the deck outside our classroom to enjoy the Winter sunshine.

Each Thursday we break into Maths groups and we have been enjoying many of the new hands-on Maths resources that the P&F funded for us – thank you!

We are continually working hard as the leaders of the school, modelling our school values of Learning, Loving and Serving, whilst having fun along the way!

Mrs Fiona Walker & Miss Emma Wakely
Year 6 Teachers

Library News

200 Nights Reading
We’ve now been at school this year for nearly 100 days.  Students should be filling out their reading log each night and bringing their reading log to the library for validation every 25 nights.  There is a 75 nights incentive prize to encourage students to keep reading so make sure their logbook is up to date and validated. 

Sport fiction book display
We usually display some books that relate to an upcoming celebration or ‘day’ for example we currently have a collection of books for Refugee Week.  If there isn’t a prompt to guide us, the library team choose a theme and this past fortnight we highlighted sport fiction novels.  Some well-loved series were on display like Tiny Timmy but it was also an opportunity to show we have books with stories around basketball, cricket, AFL, rugby league and tennis.

Mrs Karen Devlin
Teacher Librarian

Mrs Penelope Hale
Library Assistant

Sport News

Netball NSW Schools Cup

Last week, our talented Netballers trialled for the St Patrick’s Senior Team for the Netball NSW Schools Cup. Congratulations to the selected team: Eloise Ashford, Florence De Champlain, Sophie Dunn, Lucy Layton, Sienna Parker, Lara Stuart, Imogen Walker, Indigo Ward, Lilah Ward, Chelsea Wilks.

The team will be training weekly until the competition on the 12^th of August.

I’d like to extend a huge thank you to our St Patrick’s Mum and Super Coach, Kirstie Fuller, for once again giving her time and skills to coach the team and for her generous donation of netballs.

Athletics

We wish the best of luck to the St Patrick’s Team attending the Lakes Region Athletics Carnival at Hunter Sports Centre on the 3^rd of July.

Daisy Barringer, Daisy Jones, Bonnie Anderson, Charlie Hill, Emily Hill, Scarlett Jones, Sophie Dunn, Jaymie Tisdell, Florence De Champlain, Ava McCullough-Hendriks, Sienna Parker, Evie Buchanan, Bethany Newell, Layla Watkins, Ruby Hansen, Chelsea Wilks, Daisy Jones, Khloe Hansen, Indigo Ward, Alyssa Moore, Lucas James, Egan Joyce, Kirkwood Nixon, William Bevan, Kingston Weet, James Stewart, Toby Thornton, Alex Batchelor, Xavier Weet, Vincent Walker, Cooper Ballard-Totten, Cooper Brown, William Ruhl, Drew Torzillo, Oscar Claydon, Lucas Nicoll, Brody Hicks, Jude Mulder, Spencer Atkins, Tyla Hope.

We also thank our Year 6 volunteers who are serving their community by helping on the day. We are very proud of you!

Touch Football

Last week Oscar Claydon (Yr 6) travelled all the way to Parkes and braved the cold to compete with the Maitland Newcastle Diocesan Touch Football Team at Polding Trials. Oscar has had an amazing year in sport, representing across numerous sports. Congratulations Oscar!

Awards

Diocesan awards for students who represented the Maitland Newcastle Diocese at Polding Swimming and Polding Cross Country will be presented at the Friday Assembly in Week 10.

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.  

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

A reminder, if you nominated to pay fees ‘in full’ as one payment, please finalise prior to 30 June 2024.

If you haven't already commenced weekly, fortnightly or monthly payments as agreed, reminder sms, 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.

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

Canteen

Uniforms

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 shirt Size 8 & 10

* Girls winter tunics Size 10

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