Term 4 - Week 10
Message from the Principal
Dear Parents and Carers
O God of all beginnings and endings,
We praise and thank you for the gift of this year.
It has been a time filled with grace and blessings,
With challenges and opportunities, joys and sorrows.
Give us the rest and refreshment we need during the summer break.
Let our efforts of this past year bear fruit.
Bring our plans to a joyful conclusion,
And bless us, according to your will,
With the fulfilment of our hopes and dreams.
Watch over us in the weeks ahead.
Guide each day as you have done this past year.
Help us return in the new year with a new spirit and a new energy.
May we continue to grow in age, wisdom, knowledge and grace
All the days of our lives.
Amen.
It is hard to believe that we are at the end of another school year. And what a busy year it has been. I would like to thank the community for your ongoing support as we continue to build a Catholic school with a positive culture for learning, loving and serving together. The partnership between school and home is an integral part of building community and ensuring quality education and we as a staff look forward to continuing to build those partnerships in 2025.
The students have had many opportunities to participate in a variety of events and activities this year– swimming and athletics carnivals, gymnastics, Public Speaking, Spelling and Maths Bees, Tournament of Minds, representative sports, gala days, excursions, incursions, camps, ANZAC Day march, liturgies, Grandparents Day, Book Week, Colour Run and a spectacular end of year concert, BBQ and carols. It is exhausting just looking back at some of the things we have achieved this year. On top of all these great experiences has been expert teaching and learning. I would like to commend the staff for their commitment to professional improvement, their dedication and hard work, their collaboration, creativity and the respect they show everyone each and every day. Your children are in excellent hands!
A special thank you to Janine and Daniel for their support in the leadership of St Patrick’s. They make a huge contribution to the learning and wellbeing of both staff and students. Finally, I would like to give an extra special thanks to Mrs McKenzie who truly is the face of the school. Rachelle goes above and beyond in her role, and we would be lost without her.
It is an absolute privilege being the principal of St Patrick’s.
I wish you all a wonderful peaceful Christmas. If you are travelling, take care on the roads, travel safely. I’ll see you in 2025!
Merry Christmas
Lucy
Lucy Harvey
Principal
End of Year Concert
What a spectacular way to end 2024! We had over 400 people join us in the hall for our production of ‘The Friendship Chronicles’. A record number! Congratulations to the students for helping to create the scripts and for presenting such valuable messages about friendship through their performance. Thank you to Anna Kerrigan from ASPIRE and her team of professionals for working with St Pat’s. HUGE thanks and immense gratitude to Mrs Liz Walker for providing the students with this opportunity to shine. Liz's passion for the arts and her love for the children brings a creativity to our community for all to enjoy and appreciate. Thank you to the staff for all the extras involved in putting the concert together: rehearsals, music, props, staging, setting up 400 chairs and packing up 400 chairs. Events such as these take a great deal of extra time and on your behalf, I thank Liz and the staff for their dedication and commitment.
Thank you to the many parent volunteers for the sausage sizzle and to the P&F committee (Elise, Elizabeth and Jenna) for another well organised event.
Advent Liturgy
On Tuesday, our students lead a beautiful Advent liturgy to mark this very important time in the Church’s year. Many thanks to Mr Lockwood for your organisation. Thank you to the parents who were able to join us. A very special thank you to Teddy Johns for starring as baby Jesus. Teddy was absolutely perfect, and the students were mesmerised! The enthusiasm of the students singing, ‘Oh, what a glorious night’ was the perfect way to conclude our liturgy.
Rite of Passage
Congratulations to our Year 6 students for the manner in which they celebrated their Rite of Passage on Thursday. They left us in no doubt that they are all truly amazing, talented, spirit-filled young people with very bright futures. They are going to be greatly missed! This special day was made that much more special having the Year 6 parents present to help celebrate.
Leaving Families
Today we say farewell to our Year 6 (Spencer, Alex, Lucy, Sophia, Tyla, Ava, Summah, Alyssa, Aayan, Sienna, Lara, Max, Angus, Drew, Indigo, Xavier and Chelsea) and several of our Year 6 families. We would like to thank them for contributing to the life of our school. Thank you and farewell to the Atkins, Collins, McCullough-Henriks, Moore, Neupane, Parker, Stuart, Summers, Teterin, Torzillo and Wilks families.
We also say farewell to Ella (Year 5) and Noah (Year 1) and wish them both the very best in their new school setting.
Farewell to Leaving Staff
As a community we would like to say thank you and a sad farewell to Mrs Anne Turner who will be leaving us to undertake a full time Learning Support Teacher role at St Francis Xavier Belmont. Thank you, Anne, for your passion and commitment to supporting our students, for always going above and beyond for all those in our community. You have truly been a gift and a blessing to St Pat’s. Anne, on behalf of the school community, we wish you all the very best at Belmont. They are indeed lucky to have you!
Staffing 2025
Staffing for next year is now complete. We are very excited to welcome Mrs Mary Grace Tisdell to St Patrick’s in a temporary position on Year 3 for 2025. Mary Grace will be replacing Mrs Liz Walker who will be undertaking the Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Education Teacher role next year.
Reports
A reminder to families leaving the Catholic system of Maitland-Newcastle to download reports before your COMPASS access expires with the end of the school year.
Swimming Carnival
Thank you to Mrs Schneider and Mrs Browne for a very well organised swimming carnival last Friday. A very big job especially after such a big week at school! Thank you to the parent volunteers who assisted on the day. The certificates and ribbons will be presented at the first assembly next year. Congratulations to all the students for having a go. Excellent cheering and school spirit!
School Shoes Reminder
Please ensure that children wear the correct school shoes in the 2025 school year. Black leather shoes are part of the uniform and compulsory. No child should be wearing suede or branded name shoes. All companies now supply plenty of options that are comfortable and comply to our uniform policy. Please also note, girls are to wear white crew socks (ankle length, turned or pushed down). No knee length socks.
Sport shoes should be predominately white.
Dates for 2025
Message from RE Coordinator
Christmas Giving Tree
Thank you to all the families that have been able to contribute to the Christmas Giving Tree this year. We have had a great response and all the gifts were passed on to the Vinnies conference ready for distribution. Your generosity will make Christmas a more enjoyable experience for families that are in need in our community.
Rite of Passage
On Thursday we celebrated the Rite of Passage liturgy for our leaving Year 6 students. The theme of the liturgy was ‘Growing in Hope’, encouraging the students to share their story, gifts and the Good News with those that they meet. Congratulations and thank you to our Year 6 students for their leadership this year.
Sacramental Program
A few weeks ago, four of our students received the Sacrament of First Holy Communion. Congratulations to Ethan, Jude, Ruby and Khloe on this sacred moment.
Merry Christmas
Christmas is a celebration, a time for giving and not simply a day we exchange gifts. The spirit of Christmas is in the ‘togetherness’. It’s in the thought to which you put into thinking about others, it’s a selfless time, where we forgive, take stock of what’s important and become better versions of ourselves. I wish each and every family in the St Patrick’s community a safe and merry Christmas. May you enjoy the company of your loved ones, appreciating the joy and hope that the birth of Jesus Christ has to offer.
Dear God,
Our world is in darkness.
We need the light of peace and love to shine in our world.
Help us to prepare our lives and our homes to receive the One who said,
‘I am the light of the world’.
We pray in the name of Christ our Lord. Amen
Mr Daniel Lockwood
RE Coordinator
Kindergarten News
It is hard to believe Kindergarten’s first year of Primary School has come to an end. They have grown and matured in so many ways to become friendly, flexible, resilient, persistent and enthusiastic learners.
Over the past week they’ve enjoyed getting into the festive spirit, making Rudolph cookies, engaging in Christmas craft and celebrating their buddies with a Christmas party.
Kindergarten, we are all very proud of you and wish you a very happy Christmas!
Mrs Claire Browne
Kindergarten Teacher
Sport News
Year In Sport
St Patrick’s has enjoyed a wonderful and successful year of sport. I congratulate students on their participation, enthusiasm, skill and sportsmanship.
St Patrick’s students loved participating in gymnastics, athletics and touch football programs delivered by Gecko Sports. We cheered on 47 students who competed across 9 different pathways sports including swimming, athletics, cross country, netball, soccer, touch football, rugby league, basketball and tennis. Students also had the opportunity to participate in gala days for soccer, league tag, netball, the NSW Netball Schools Cup, as well as our school cross country, athletics carnival and swimming carnival.
Many of our sporting events cannot go ahead without volunteers. I sincerely thank all school community members who have offered their help this year to make sports events a success.
Term 1 Sport
Sport will be on a Tuesday during Term 1. St Patricks will be participating in a Gymnastics Program delivered by Primarily Active.
Swimming Carnival
Last Friday St Patricks had a day of fun in the sun with a healthy dose of competition at our school swimming carnival.
Participation rates were at an all-time high with students participating in competitive and non-competitive events, novelties and water fun activities. This year also saw the introduction of a Teacher vs Parent vs Student Relay which I'm sure will be eagerly contested again next year.
Thank you to everyone who volunteered, helping make the day a happy experience for all students.
Swimming awards, including our Junior and Senior Champions will be presented at an assembly early next year.
Sport Award- Mr Lockwood
We congratulate Mr Lockwood on receiving an award for Service to Catholic Schools NSW Sport for his contributions to the sport of golf. CSNSW relies on staff going above and beyond to ensure sporting pathways from regional to state level are offered to primary school students.
Well done, Mr Lockwood.
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
The Friendship Chronicles Concert
We were thrilled to welcome a crowd of four hundred people to our end of year production last Thursday evening. Our students were excited to showcase their acting, singing and dancing skills after weeks of preparation. It was such a joy to watch our students learn, grow and shine throughout this creative process.
Our journey to the performance began in Week 8 of Term 3, when Anna Kerrigan, artistic director of ASPIRE in our diocese, visited St Patrick’s to work with every class. After deciding that the theme for our production would be ‘Friendship’, our students brainstormed ideas, characters and settings with Anna for their scripts. Anna then took these ideas and created seven very different plays…how wonderful for our students to have ownership of their scripts and to see how scriptwriters bring stories to life which are then performed on stage. Each class script shared insights into the joys and challenges we face when making friends and choices in our day-to-day lives.
We were also very fortunate to have Lauren Harvey, dance director of ASPIRE, help us with dance choreography.
Thank you to all of our parents who provided costumes and makeup, the students looked amazing!
Congratulations to our students for their wonderful performances.
Mrs Liz Walker
Teacher
P&F update
What another great year 2024 shaped out to be for our P&F committee.
Thank You to our members, volunteers, teachers & school staff for their assistance making the following P&F Hosted events such a success:
- St Patrick's Day lunch
- Mothers & Fathers Day breakfasts
- Mothers & Fathers Day Stalls
- Grandparents Day lunch
- Rainbow Run
- Pie Drive
- Hot Cross Bun Drive
- Easter Egg Raffle
- Family Bingo night
- Canteen at the athletics carnival
- Year 6 Farewell
I am proud to report that throughout 2024, the P&F raised over $11,000 through fundraisers alone, received a grant from Pelican RSL sub branch as well as had a large deposit made from moving our uniforms offsite to Lowes. We also fulfilled over 2400 lunch orders to students each Friday.
As a result, we were able to assist the school by funding:
- New Representative Unisex Sports Uniforms
- New appliances for the canteen
- Updated murals by Dan Joyce
- A 100 Inch screen for the hall
- Upgrades to classrooms
- New marketing materials for the school including banners & signage
- New mobile first aid kit for excursions & sporting events
At our AGM 2 weeks ago, we committed to spending $15,000 on new furniture for Kindergarten & Year 1 as well as a contribution of $20,000 to go towards a sensory area of the newly built outdoor area in 2025, with a healthy bank balance leftover to spend on other items as they come up.
By the end of 2025 our P&F will wrap up, constitutionally, the way it is today, but I know and I hope we continue the positive path we have been following for the last 2 years. This year we have been successful in growing our community bigger than ever & the perspective on what our P&F has done and wants to continue to do & be for all involved.
For 2025, our elected committee executive are:
President- Elise Moncrieff
Secretary - Taryn Johns
Treasurer - Jenna Maddox
Canteen Coordinator: Elizabeth Webb & Natalie Le Marchant.
We openly welcome everyone to come along and join us for our monthly meetings, to allow us to grow & evolve even more.
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas & a Safe, Healthy & Happy New Year.
Elise Moncrieff
P&F President
Community Notices
