Dear St Patrick’s families,

It has been lovely to be back home in beautiful Gundagai after undertaking a very memorable and wonderful pilgrimage through the Holy Lands. I hope that families were able to read the summaries of my journey on our School Facebook page that I tried to update regularly to keep you informed about my travels. My thoughts and prayers were with the St Patrick’s community, every step of my journey.

Many students and people have asked what the best part of my trip was and that is certainly difficult to choose, as each day was so different and fill with so many special experiences. The highlights I have summarised below would be the experiences that touched me personally in an extra special way…….

• Visiting the Church of The Nativity, in Bethlehem and placing my hand on the silver star which signifies the place where Jesus was born.
• Entering the Church of the Nativity, via the Door of Humility which was so small that each person needed to bow down or enter on their knees, as a sign of respect, on entering such a Holy site.
• Spending reflection time around the shores of Lake Galilee where Jesus spent many year’s preaching and performing miracles. Mass on a traditional sailing boat in the middle of Lake Galilee, was certainly a special highlight.
• Visiting the town of Capernaum where Jesus spent most of His ministry years and viewing the spot where Jesus lived with Peter and where he taught and prayed in the synagogue.
• Visiting the beautiful reflective gardens and Olive Trees of the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus prayed before His arrest.
• The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, in Old Jerusalem which now contains the sacred sites of Golgotha (where Jesus was crucified) and the tomb that held Jesus’ body after his death and where he resurrected from. Visiting both of these sites and being able to place my hands on these significant holy areas, held immense spiritual importance to me.
• Celebrating daily Mass in the most incredible places eg a traditional sailing boat on Lake Galilee (as mentioned above), a cave where the angel appeared to the Shepherd’s on the night Jesus was born, open air Mass on the Mount of Beatitude’s surrounded by Lake Galilee, Mass in Latin outside the Edicle of the Tomb of Jesus, Mass (said in Hebrew) with the local Anjaran community in Jordan, Mass on the banks of the Jordan River (where Jesus was baptised by John) and where we renewed our Baptismal promises. These are just a few examples but each and every Mass held special significance.

I am in the middle of collating many thousands of photos and putting them together to share with the school community this special journey. Of course none of this would have possible without the support of the wonderful staff at St Patrick’s who have stepped up in many ways over the past four weeks. A very heartfelt thank you to Mrs Wilson and Mrs Howe, for taking on the additional leadership roles during my absence. It was greatly appreciated.

Last week my feet were firmly placed back on school ground as I caught up on the busyness of the first few weeks at St Patrick’s. There is still so many things happening over the last five weeks of term as well and everybody is working hard to ensure we are organised and ready.

This week we are celebrating National Reconciliation Week and an Aboriginal Cultural Day, The Sacrament of First Reconciliation, and the first of our 2024 Open days for children beginning Kindergarten next year. Please continue to spread the good news about our fantastic St Patrick’s school community to other families! More information below in the newsletter on these events.

Stay warm and enjoy the week ahead.

Christine Baron

Principal

Sacrament of Reconciliation

We congratulate the following children - Rouge Calub, Leila Gaskin, Lane Johnson, Jack Fifield, Jimmy Robinson and Reuben Smart who on Friday will receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation for the first time.

The children along with their Parents have been busy learning about the steps to forgiveness – Contrition, Confession, Absolution and Penance. We have read and explored many beautiful stories that Jesus told, about forgiveness including, The Lost Sheep, Zacchaeus and The Parable of the Lost Son. Through these stories the children have recognised God’s never-ending love for us and His forgiveness when we have made poor choices and are sorry for these. 

We thank the children and their Parents for their commitment to their Sacramental journey.

Family Mass 

We will celebrate our ‘Family Mass’ on Saturday 3^rd June at 5pm in St Patrick’s Church.

We would love you to join us to make this Mass a real family affair.

Thank you to all those families who have volunteered to take on a role in presenting the Mass. Not everyone wants to take on a role but remember your presence in the Church is more than enough.

Reconciliation Week

National Reconciliation Week is celebrated from May 27th to June 3rd every year. It's a time to reflect on the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians and to work towards reconciliation. 

Mrs Hughes has planned a special day for our children on Thursday, with a visit from Aunty Sue Bulger and James Bulger.

Family Week

Next week at St Patrick’s, is ‘Family Week.’ The purpose of this week is that we have a break from all the ‘extras’ and have some spare time for just being a family. ENJOY!

Kate Howe

REC

It has been a busy start to the year for the CC.

We kicked off the year with the St. Patrick’s Fair on March 18^th, which was a great success and a fantastic community event! The event was well attended, and we have received a lot of positive feedback from community. Thank you to everyone who contributed time, energy, cooking and donations, it was a great team effort. A VERY BIG THANK YOU to Sam Johnson for her tireless work to make it happen, and for the support from Lisa Ryan and the Fundraising Committee.

The CC are very excited to report the St Patrick’s Fair raised just over $15,000.00 with a profit of $9,600.00. These funds will form part of the deposit for funding we are seeking for the Covered Outdoor Learning Area (COLA).

Alicia Hargreaves continues to run the tuckshop with the help of volunteers. There are new names on the roster which is great to see. Cupcakes have returned on Mondays, thank you to our cupcake cooks. The CC has decided that money raised from cupcake sales will go towards the Yr. 5/6 excursion to Ballarat.

The Meat Raffles have begun. Thank you to Craig Hargreaves for co-ordinating volunteers. Please check the roster that has been sent out and find a replacement if you can’t make it. The school square payment device will be available to use for the meat raffle for people who don’t have cash. The raffle is making a good profit each week, so it is definitely worth the trip to the pub.

The Street Stall will be in Term 3. Tash Smith and Lisa Peterson are organising the stall this year. Thank you for volunteering to run this popular fundraiser. The CC are also planning host a Dinner and Dancing night in Term 3 – details to come.

We continue to apply for grants. Unfortunately, we were not successful with our application to upgrade the school hall. We are currently looking for grants for the Covered Outdoor Learning Area and for representative sports uniforms.

The CC has received feedback about the school uniform – especially the hats. The current hats abide by sun safety requirements. Fading is an issue, and the CC has been looking into different styles and fabric. However, the Catholic Education are bringing out new uniform guidelines which will require us to review the entire school uniform, therefore the CC will be looking for volunteers to form a uniform sub-committee to review the current uniform and look further into other uniform issues.

The CC has purchased new Chromebooks for the school from fundraising money and we will also subsidise cost of buses for excursions again this year. We have also helped the school purchase an electronic school sign for Sheridan St which will be installed soon.

Kate Graham

Secretary – Community Council

Our thoughts and prayers are with Leila, Rueben, Lane, Jimmy, Rouge (RV) and Jack (GPS) as they prepare for the Sacrament of Reconciliation this Friday. We know this is another special step in their sacramental journey.

We are inviting students, teachers and parents to provide feedback on their experience of our school using an online survey. The surveys are an important part of our whole school evaluation and planning process.

We would like to invite you to complete the Tell Them From Me (TTFM) Partners in Learning survey. As we value the role of parents and carers within our school community we would greatly appreciate your feedback. The information you provide will be used to maintain our commitment to working together in partnership to further improve student learning and wellbeing at St Patrick’s School Gundagai.

The survey is anonymous and will take approximately 20 minutes to complete. You are able to access the parent survey on your computer or mobile device by using the URL below:

http://tellthemfromme.com/9kvqk

The survey has been extended until this Friday 16th of June 

We would like to send out a BIG Thank You to Gundagai Woolworths who have been donating a big box of fresh fruit every Monday which is distributed to our children. We are very grateful for their generous donation each week.

Next Friday 9th of June the front office will be closed until lunch time due to our Post Enumeration Audit. No phones calls will be taken during this time as the office will be unattended.  You will be able to email should you need to send a message through.

Thank you 

Please encourage anyone who has a child ready for Kindergarten next year (or any year level), to come along to our 2024 Information session this Friday 2nd June from 10.00-11.30am. We are also hosting another Information session on Thursday 22nd June at 5:00pm. We can’t wait to tell the community about our fabulous little school!

SAVE THE DATE : Wednesday 16th of August 2023 (Wk 5 Term 3). We understand that this seems so far away but we thought giving our families plenty of notice of our 2023 School Photo day would be appropriate for planning.   More information will be sent home towards the end of this term with ordering. 

I am sure families are aware of the significant shortage of teachers and casual teachers facing all our education systems. We are endeavouring to find staff when teachers are unwell or attending Professional Development sessions, but this is not always possible. At times classes may have to be collapsed, meaning students are provided with class work and sent in small groups to other classrooms for the day. While this is not an ideal learning environment, it may be the only option available and will be a last resort action. Please be assured your child will still be well cared for during the day and lessons are well prepared to ensure continuity of learning.

Congratulations to our Week 5 Student of the Month Awards presented at assembly on Friday 26th of May 

Kindergarten - Harry Ryder 

Yr 1 - Ryan Robinson 

Yr 2 - Parker Melksham 

Yr 3 - Zoe Morgan 

Yr 4 - Eliza Graham 

Yr 5 - Skye Somerville 

Yr 6 - Emmy Gaskin 

Congratulations to our class awards for Week 4 Term 2. Keep up the great work

Week 4 - 19th May 2023

Kindergarten - Angus Hufton for his enthusium and determination with writing 

Yr 1 - Claudia Worldon for consistant application with her homework and for great listening

Yr 2 - Harrison Campbell for breaking numbers apart more confidently in Maths daily reviews

Yr 2 - Lilly Ferguson for giving 100% in core activities

Yr 3/4 - Jimmy Robinson for his engagement during his learning 

Yr 3/4 - Cindy Chen for her engagement and efficiency in Maths 

Yr 5 - Emma Ferguson for her improved engagement in learning activities 

Yr 6 - Emmy Gaskin for demonstrating and applying her knowledge of spelling during Spelling Mastery lessons 

Week 5 - 26th May 2023

Kindergarten - Alfie Eccleston for meticulous writing and detail with illustrations 

Yr 1 - Phoenix Rose for his consistant application to all areas of learning 

Yr 2 - Archie Peterson for always being ready for learing and doing his very best

Yr 3 - Lane Johnson for working hard in class and his engagement in class discussions

Yr 4 - Oliver Crowe for his passion and engagement during Genius hour

Yr 5 - Charlie Brown for making a dramatic improvement to her attitude towards learning

Yr 6 - Lachlan Morgan for his mature leadership and commitment to his learning 

Thank you to our families who have volunteered their Friday evenings to sell raffle tickets during Term 2 and Term 3 for our school fundraising.  Volunteers who are rostered on each week are to meet at Lotts Family Hotel from 6.30pm.  If you are unable to do your rostered date we would ask that you please organise to swap. 

Friday 30th June - Alicia Hargreaves & Jacki Carberry 

Friday 7th July - Brett Eccleston & Andy Lott 

Friday 14th July - Kev Paton & Peter Gailey 

Friday 21st July - Mick Crowe & Jock Graham 

Friday 28th July - Damien Somerville & Chris Rose 

Thank you to our wonderful parents for volunteering to cook cupcakes, cookies and to volunteer your time on a Friday to work in the canteen during Term 2.  We are extremely grateful for your time. 

Friday 30th June: 

Cookies: Lindsey Rose & Simone Jones 

Canteen Volunteers: Kate Graham & El Williams

Sending out birthday wishes to the following students who recently celebrated their birthdays

24th May - Harry Peterson 

27th May - Tessa Crowe

27th May - Jack Paton 

31st May - Juno Bock

We hope you all had a wonderful birthday