Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to our fourth and final term of the 2025 school year. Another year that seems to have disappeared very quickly! Term 4 is always a busy one, with much to achieve before the end of the school year. Please note the end of year dates in the ‘Dates for your Diary’ section of the newsletter and put these on your calendar so you don't forget important dates.

Welcome:

Shade Cover: Our new shade cover has finally become a reality with initial foundation work beginning over the school holidays. Currently our blacktop area is partly inaccessible, and we ask anyone visiting the school to please take care and only walk in the designated safe areas. The Shade structure should be completed in approximately eight weeks.

Grandparents Day: Our apologies to all our beautiful grandparents for not being able to offer our traditional morning tea as we celebrate Grandparents Day. When we originally organised the date, we were not aware of the construction schedule or blacktop restrictions we would encounter. Unfortunately, our School Hall is also booked. We hope Grandparent’s are still able to join us for Mass in St Patrick’s Church at 12pm this Friday. Hopefully next year we can celebrate this special event under our beautiful new shade cover!

Year 6: Our best wishes to our wonderful Year 6 students who have commenced their final term of Primary School at St Patrick’s. We wish Emma, Eliza, Indi, Molly, Conor, Dale, Lachlan and Ollie a great term ahead and know they will make the most of their final opportunity as school leaders, great friends and learners. Transition to Year 7 sessions have already begun and these opportunities are ideal ways to help prepare them for high-school years.

Pilgrimage: I am immensely grateful and feel so blessed to have experienced such a wonderful pilgrimage to Portugal, Spain and Italy last term. There were so many highlights, it is difficult to pick one as my favourite! One of the most lasting highlights was the incredible display of faith and openness of young people from 18-35 year olds. The churches were packed with young people and families Last week I took the opportunity to share with staff and the students some photos and memorabilia from my pilgrimage.

Personal Highlights included:

-Visiting the Sanctuary of our Lady of Fatima

-Arrival at Santiago de Compostela after 12 days of walking The Camino

-Experiencing Mass and the Rosary in Spanish and Italian

-Papal Audience and unexpected close encounter with Pope Leo

-Visiting the tomb of Pope Francis (so simplistic and beautiful!)

-The Holy Doors Tour

-Visiting the Santa Maria Maggiore Church in Assisi, Italy where St Carlo Acutis tomb is located. St Carlos’s body is displayed in a glass case for public veneration.

The students all received a special Holy Card of St Carlos. These bookmarks were all blessed by a priest in Santa Maria Maggiore Church in Assisi. I hope the students will treasure this small gift and memento of our first millennial saint. Each classroom has also received a bottle of Holy Water from The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima for their prayer tables.

I will be attending the Catholic Leaders Day Principal Meetings in Canberra this Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Best wishes for the weekend ahead,

Christine Baron

Principal