Dear Families and Friends

It was lovely to see so many families come along to our Family Mass last Saturday evening. The children were involved in many aspects of the mass which made this a really special celebration. Thank you to our parents and grandparents for bringing the children along and to Mrs Flanagan for preparing them so well. Looking forward to our next Family Mass.

A NAPLAN and A to E Reporting Information evening will be held at the school on the 21^st June, commencing at 5:30pm. I personally will be presenting information on NAPLAN and how it currently informs learning within our schools. As there is a lot of political speak at present that surrounds this National Assessment tool and I look forward to presenting information on how we use NAPLAN to inform teaching and learning. I will also discuss the A to E assessment marking criteria used in your child’s report and present student examples of moderated assessments. For example: what a B looks like compared to what a C looks like. This information session will be followed by an open Community Council meeting for all to attend. Hope to see you there. Please RSVP your attendance on our FaceBook Page

All parents, careers and grandparents are invited to a Celebration of Learning day to be held at our school on Wednesday the 30^th of May. Following consultation with the Community Council, it was decided to offer two separate opportunities for our parents to visit their children’s classrooms. The first session time slot will be from 8:30am - 9:30am   and the second from 12:00 pm- 1:00pm. This will be an opportunity for you to visit the classrooms and view displays of student work. Please RSVP your attendance on our FaceBook Page.

Have a great week

LEARN SERVE LEAD  SUCCEED                                       

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER REVIEW SURVEY 

Parents we would like to get your initial feedback to proposed changes to the frequency of our Newsletter service.
We are implementing change as it seems that the Newsletter structure is not being accessed regularly by our parent body. Indicators of this are the number of phone inquiries seeking information that has been already published in the Newsletter.
We are proposing that the Newsletter is published every 2nd week and a weekly Bulletin containing updates of the coming week emailed to parents every Friday.
Your responses will be collated and further discussed at our Community Council Open Meeting on the 21st June, commencing at 5:30. A decision will be made on the night.

Please click on the link below, answer the questions then hit submit.  Your assistance in this survey is appreciated. 

https://goo.gl/forms/ulMCHiuqiTbQkoCD2

REC NEWS 

School Mass

On Saturday night we celebrated the school and parish Mass. Thank you to the children, parents, grandparents and friends who joined us. It was encouraging to see so many attend.

RECONCILIATION and FIRST HOLY COMMUNION

Reconciliation and Holy Communion Sacraments will be made together this year.

Reconciliation will be during the preparation retreat day on Friday 24^th August.

First Holy Communion will be celebrated on Saturday the 25^th August.

Mass and Liturgy Times:

This term, Mass will be on Fridays at 12pm and Liturgies will be Friday at 12:30pm.

Liturgies may be held at the school, pending the weather on the day.

Dates to mark on your calendar:

01/06- Liturgy led by Years 5 and 6 (12:30pm).

08/06- Mass led by Staff (12pm).
15/06- Liturgy led by Years 3 and 4 (12:30pm).

22/06- Mass led by Staff and Leaders (12pm).
29/06- Liturgy led by Kinder (12:30pm).
06/07- End of term Mass led by SRC (12pm).

Thoughts/ Questions / Reflection for the week: Visio Divina 

Visio Divina invites the viewer into "divine seeing." Visio Divina shares origins with the ancient practice of Lectio Divina. (Lectio Divina calls for a slow, careful interaction with scripture through meditation and prayer, allowing a word or phrase to rise in one's consciousness, a holy word to be savoured and examined.) Similarly, Visio Divina invites one to encounter the divine through images. A prayerful consideration of and interaction with a photograph in the magazine, icon, piece of art, or other visual representation allows the viewer to experience the divine in a unique and powerful way.

Visio Divina can be practised individually or with a group in a small group or worship setting by using a piece of art as a focal point for prayer. Scripture can also be paired with the image in order for the viewer to reflect on the scripture through the art.

Use this image of the Holy Spirit, to encounter the divine.

1) Prepare: Close your eyes, breathe, clear your mind, and ask God to enter into this time of prayer with you. Ask God to speak to you through this image.

2) Lectio (read): Open your eyes and scan the image. Note what draws your interest, but continue to scan the whole image. Close and rest your eyes a minute.

3) Mediatio (meditate): Open your eyes and let your eyes be led. Focus on just the part of the image that caught your eyes and name it. Close your eyes, seeing that piece of the image in your mind.

4) Oratio (pray): Open your eyes and look again at the piece of the image that caught your eye. Allow it to bring forth a word, image, or emotion. Close and rest your eyes.

5) Contemplatio (contemplation): Open your eyes and gaze at the whole image. What is God speaking to you today through this image? How will you respond to Him? Spend time processing that with God. Pray or journal about it.

God Bless, Mrs Flanagan REC

Email: natasha.flanagan@cg.catholic.edu.au 

The children of St Patrick's stole the show at last week's Biggest Morning Tea held at the Gundagai District Services Club. The teachers did a wonderful job in preparing the children for their performances. It was a great privilege once again for our infant classes to be invited to entertain all who attended. Well done to everyone involved in this fundraising event for our community. 

TRAINING REMINDERS 

Just a reminder to the Year 5/6 boys and girls that you will need to bring in a change of clothes, headgear and mouthguards for the following days: 

Tuesday 29th May - Lunch time training for Year 5/6 boys and girls for Mortimer Shield Rugby League and Leaguetag 

Wednesday 30th - Year 5/6 Rugby Union with Dave Scott (2pm-3pm) and Year 5/6 Girls Leaguetag training during lunch time 

VOLUNTEERS WANTED 

We have a tentative date set for our 2018 Athletics Carnival which we are hoping weather permitting will be held on Thursday 7 June.   The success of our school carnivals is due to our parent participation. Please call the office if you are able to assist.

EXPRESSION OF INTEREST FOR ATHLETICS COACHES

Calling any parents with any skills or experience in track and field events to assist or coach our talented St Patrick's children in preparation for our Western Region Athletics Carnival. Please contact Mrs Wilson if you are able to assist in any way. 

St Patrick's Through to Rugby Union Final 

The St Patrick's community would like to wish our Year 5/6 boys the best of luck on Sunday 3rd of June as they will travel to Canberra to play in the Primary School's Rugby Championship as a curtain raiser to the Brumbies versus Sunwolves game.  I'm sure the boys are extremely excited. We wish them all a safe game. Special thanks to Dave Scott and Michael Leane for coaching the boys. 

Week 5 – The Best Way to Play

During Peer Support this week the children will be looking at how to play in a friendly way in order to maintain friends and build positive relationships. Through various activities, children will discover the importance of taking turns and having consistent rules throughout a game.

This week please help your child practise these skills by encouraging them to play games with siblings, family or friends.

With the change of season the Uniform Shop has been very busy. While every effort is made to keep the shop well stocked there will be times where orders will need to be placed with suppliers and therefore there can sometimes be a wait for uniforms. To avoid disappointment please place orders as early as possible. For emergency items such as ties, hats, jumpers there will be 2^nd hand items available from the School Office at any time. All other uniform orders can be sent in with your child or emailed to the School Office and these orders will then be filled by Bec on Tuesday afternoons. Once items are paid for they will be available for collection from the office or sent home with your child. If you are unsure of clothing sizes the uniform shop is open on Tuesday afternoons and uniforms can be tried on. Please contact Bec if you cannot attend the school during Uniform Shop opening hours and she may be able to arrange for your child to try uniforms on during school hours.

The astro turf area has been identified as a high priority item for Community Council. This will be a major financial undertaking and will greatly improve the school environment for the students. We have had a great start to the fundraising for this year which will certainly help with this project. As details of the project become available they will be shared with the school community.

We have now had a full term of the new school office opening hours of 9:30am to 3:30pm. Unfortunately, the administration hours for St Patrick’s is allocated by Catholic Education in Canberra. This has required an adjustment for us all and the Community Council would like to thank everyone for their understanding during the transition. The school has endeavoured to put in place procedures to assist parents and students with the new office hours. Vince or a Community Council Representative are always available should you want to discuss any matters relating to office hours or any other school matters.

At our last meeting elections were held for the positions of Chairman and Vice Chairman. We would like to welcome Renee Lindley as Chairman and Craig Hargreaves to Vice Chairman respectively.  The Community Council would like to thank our outgoing chairman Chris McDonnell for his commitment & leadership over the last two and a half years and we look forward to his continued contribution as a Community Council member.

The next Community Council Meeting will take place on the 21^st June. As this is scheduled as an open meeting, everyone is invited to attend a presentation on the A-E reporting system and NAPLAN at 5:30pm and then attend the Community Council meeting at 6:30pm. This is a great opportunity to experience Community Council if you are considering joining or if you have items that you would like discussed by Community Council.

Happy birthday to the following people who celebrate their birthdays this week.

Tessa Crowe and Jack Paton celebrate birthdays on Sunday 27 May.

Our very best wishes to you on your special day!

KINDERGARTEN: Nicholas Quine - staying on task and completing activities.

YEAR 1/2: Akacia Winchester - Writing with thought and detail.

YEAR 3/4: Harry Crowe - a detailed tree map on China. 

YEAR 5/6: Sam Crane - Excellent awareness and knowledge of spelling rules and patterns. 

RESPONSIBLE: Akacia Winchester, Nate Tozer, Maya Flanagan, Montanna Manns, Jack Ryan, Garvita Joshi, Bonnie Wooderson, Zoe Naughton and  Sophie Graham 

RESPECTFUL: Hugh Ryan, Nate Tozer, Lily McDonnell

SAFE: