Dear Parents and Carers,

Very special Easter wishes to all our St Patrick school families. We hope that everyone had the opportunity to enjoy special family times over the four-day long weekend. The weather was certainly favourable for some outside activities and time together.

DEEPEST SMPATHY: Our deepest sympathy is extended to Fr Joe, on the sudden passing of his beloved mother Theresia Beli yesterday. Our thoughts and prayers are extended to Fr Joe and his family. Fr Joe will be returning to Indonesia to be with his family during this time.

CROSS COUNTRY: This Thursday we will hold our annual St Patrick’s Cross Country at the Gundagai Racecourse. Thank you to all parents who are able to assist with volunteering their assistance on the day. Cooler weather is also forecast for this week which will be welcomed.

WELL-BEING MENTORING PROGRAM: Next Monday 8 April, Mitch and Ash Waddell, will being their mentoring program for all our students K-6. Mitch and Ash will focus on the following topics.

-Building resilience and dealing with conflict

-Limiting beliefs and fear of failure

-Positive relationships and identifying positive role models

-Healthy mind and body

We look forward to working with Mitch and Ash throughout the year, as they deliver some important life-long messages and topics to our students.

SRC TEAM COLOUR DAY will be held on Thursday 11 April. Students are asked to come dressed in their favourite team colours. This can be a sport team they follow, a local sport team they play in or a sport team they would like to be in. Gold coin donation appreciated.

WEEK 11 AWARD ASSEMBLY: Our end of term Award assembly will be held on Friday 12 April at 2.30pm. Parents/carers will be notified if their child is receiving an award.

TERM 1: Term1 will conclude on Friday 12 April at 3.15pm. We wish everyone a very happy and restful holiday. Thank you for all your support throughout a very busy Term 1. If families are available to support the ANZAC Day March on Thursday 25 April, please come along and march as part of our St Patrick’s School community. You will find us gathering outside Lott’s Family Hotel at 10.15am. We would love to have as many students join us as possible.

Christine Baron

Principal

A very special thank you to all our beautiful students for their very reverent and special portrayal of the Holy Week events and Jesus’ final journey to Calvary, that was re-acted last Wednesday. Thank you also to all family members that were able to come along and support the students. Many family members expressed how emotional and powerful the presentation was as they experienced the events of Holy Week leading up to Jesus’ death and resurrection. Our belief in the death and resurrection of Jesus forms the foundation of our Christian beliefs.

Thank you to all of our families and children for supporting the Yr 5/6 Easter Egg Raffle.  We had 20 prizes (1 major) drawn on Thursday's assemble.  Congratulations to all of our winners.  We hope you enjoyed your prize.   The Yr 5/6 raised $539.80 to go towards their end of year trip.  THANK YOU TO ALL WHO SUPPORTED OUR RAFFLE.

As mentioned above, St Patrick’s School has received funding to support a well-being and mental health school initiative. With the funding we have engaged Mitch and Ash Waddell to run their Mentoring Program for boys and girls. Mitch and Ash will focus on the following topics and delver the program across the school year.

-Building resilience and dealing with conflict

-Limiting beliefs and fear of failure

-Positive relationships and identifying positive role models

-Healthy mind and body

The activities and discussions are based around positive psychology which allow the students to lead the topic discussions. They encourage open ended and safe discussions as well as identifying positive behaviours amongst the groups. The sessions will be divided into K-2 Boy and Girl separate sessions as well as Years 3-6 Boy and Girl separate sessions.

Mitch and Ash currently run similar programs at other local schools which have been very positively received. Our first session will be held on Monday 8 April.

The remainder of our funding will go towards supporting K-6 school excursions this year. Each child per family will receive a discount on the cost of their class excursion.

This year ANZAC Day will fall in the second week of the school holidays on Thursday 25 April. St Patrick’s School has been asked to participate in the annual ANZAC Day parade which will take place in Sheridan Street commencing at 10.30am.

All students are invited to participate in the parade and will need to meet outside Lott’s Family Hotel at 10.15am, ready to march at 10.30am. Students will need to be dressed int heir full summer school uniform and wear a jumper if the weather turns cool.

A free sausage sizzle for families will be held in Carberry Park at the conclusion of the parade.

Sport Day will remain as Tuesday for the rest of Term 1. Our final Lacrosse session will be held on Tuesday 9 April.

This week, students will be required to wear their sport uniform on Tuesday and Thursday for the St Patrick’s Cross Country THIS Thursday 4 April.

Sports day will return to Thursdays in Term 2.

Please ensure you contact the office should you wish to organise winter uniform try ons so it can be arranged with Tash Smith. 

For the girls wearing the winter dress they can wear green, navy or black stockings.

Just a reminder that Term 1 school fees are now due.  

Sending out a "Massive Thank You" to all of our parent helpers both in the lead up and during the Netball Gala Day held last Tuesday.  Without your help we would not be able to take children to carnival days like this.  We had so many trainers, team manager, transportation, supervision and lots of supporters so thank you to all.  We are so greatly appreciated. 

Our SRC Members are planning a "Team Colours Day" on Thursday 11th of April (Last Thursday of Term 1)  Children and staff come come to school wearing favourite team colours for any sporting team they support.  If you don't have "team colours" then just wear a bright coloured shirt or clothes.  The SRC have arranged a tabloid sports activities afternoon so make sure comfortable shoes are worn on the day and a hat. 

Gold Coin Donation on the day. 

Congratulations to Week 8 and Week 9 weekly class awards:

Week 8 - 22nd March 2024

Kindergarten - Michael Winters for trying hard with letter and number formation

Year 1 - Juno Bock for always contributing thoughtfully to a class discussion 

Year 2 - Phoenix Rose for improved neatness with his handwriting 

Year 3 - Parker Melksham for a positive and enthusiastic attitude

Year 4 - Jimmy Robinson for his application in Maths

Year 5 - Lachlan Hargreaves for his reverence during Stations of the Cross

Year 6 - Joey Gailey for speed and accuracy in all 4 Mathematical operations

Week 9 - 28th March 2024

Kindergarten - Ivy Lyu for working well in Initialit activities

Year 1 - Hamish Tobin for always being ready to learn 

Year 2 - Imogen Graham for application and independence in her "Angel" role for the Stations of the Cross 

Year 3 - Sarah Gailey for enthusiasm and positive class participation 

Year 4 - Zoe Morgan for showing kindness and compassion to all

Year 5 - Molly Lott for consistent effort all term 

Year 6 - Skye Somerville for demonstrating increased independence and confidence in her learning

Well done to our Week 9 WildCat Awards - Keep up the great work 

RESPONSIBLE -  Anna Nicholls, Charlotte Kennedy, Gus Hufton, Pippi Nicholls, Lance Crowe, Max Zhu, Nick Quine, Ollie Crowe, RV Calub

RESPECT - Hamish Tobin, Olivia Smart, Indi Cole, Denver Blundell, Archie McDonnell, Christyne Calub, Taite Johnson, Fletcher Smith, Sarah Gailey, Lachlan Barton, Parker Melksham, Lilly Ferguson, Josie Lott, Lucy Nicholls, Max Zhu, Lane Johnson, Conor Cotterill Billy Eccleston

SAFE - William Potter, Dale Paton, Kingsley McDonnell 

St Patrick’s Cross CountryThursday 4 April (Week 10)

SRC Team Colours Day - Thursday 11 April (Week 11)

Week 10 Awards Assembly-2.30pm Friday 12 April (Week 11)

Term 1 concludes-Friday 12 April

ANZAC DAY-Thursday 25 April (second week of school holidays

Term 2 commences: Tuesday 30 April

Parent/Teacher-Meet and Greet Evening: Wednesday 1 May from 5.00pm onwards

WR Cross Country at Batlow: Thursday 2 May

Reconciliation Classes begin: Tuesday 7 May at 3.30pm

CYSMA Journeying with Jesus-Year 6 Retreat at McAuley College Tumut-Wednesday 8 May

Mother’s Day celebrations-Friday 10 May

Director of Education: Mr Ross Fox Visit-Friday 10 May from 1pm

Reconciliation Commitment Mass-Saturday 11 May at 6pm

Tune into "Sounds of the Mountains" radio station (FM94.1) every Wednesday at 2.15pm to hear about what our classes and school has been up to over the week. Catch up with our Yr 6 leaders as they share our weekly news report:

Week 10 (3rd April) - Chase Robinson and Andrew Cole 

Week 11 (10th April) - Emma Ferguson and Emily Ryan

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the following students who have recently celebrated a birthday

21st March - Dylan Ryder

24th March - Reuben Smart

1st April - Sophia Knight-Gregson