Dear Parents and Carer’s,

Welcome to Week 6 of Term 3. Unfortunately illness has been common among many students over the past week with a few nasty viruses spreading across the school. We are grateful to parents for remaining vigilant with illness and ask for your support in continuing to monitor symptoms and keeping unwell students at home if necessary. Thank you.

CANONICAL VISIT: We were very blessed to enjoyed a visit from His Grace, Archbishop Christopher Prowse to St Patrick’s School on Friday 16 August. Archbishop Christopher’s visit will be long remembered by the students for his wonderful sermon at Mass that highlighted our beautiful stained glass windows in the church and the colours representing Mary and the other saints. The Archbishop was extremely impressed by the students knowledge and eagerness to answer questions from Kindergarten through to Year 6. One of the parishioners present at Mass, was also so impressed by the students answers that he bought each student and staff member a ‘Mars Bar’ as a gratitude gift to accompany a beautiful note from the Archbishop to the school community thanking the students and staff for our hospitality and congratulating students on their impressive answers. The Archbishop also joined the staff for lunch and attended the whole school assembly in the afternoon. Archbishop Christopher, Fr Joe and Fr Rofin sat among the students in the ampitheatre enjoying the assembly items and chatting with students. It was a very special day! (see photos in REC News)

BOOKWEEK: What a busy time it has been at St Patrick’s! The Bookweek Parade last Thursday was magical and very much enjoyed by all students and staff. Thank you to everyone for dressing up and celebrating ‘The Magic of Books!’ It was wonderful to share this day with Gundagai Preschool as well. Thank you to Mrs Hughes for organising such a special day of activities!

TELL THEM FROM ME PARENT (TTFM) SURVEYS: Thank you to those parents who were able to fill in our school survey.  The survey window has now closed. Parents, staff and students from Years 4-6 responses are collated and the information received from the school community, helps form our Annual School Improvement Plan and school direction in 2025.

SCHOOL COMMUNITY COUNCIL STREET STALL: Thank you to all our wonderful cooks and those who donated so generously to our annual street stall. We are so fortunate to have such wonderful and supportive families as well as some ex-families and ex-grandparents support with cooking and rostering onto help sell. It is wonderful to still have those lovely connections! A special thank you to Ms Tash Smith and Mrs Lisa Peterson for co-ordinating the street stall.

FIRST NATIONS CULTURAL DAY: We are delighted to welcome Mr Lachie Eveston (CECG Teaching & Learning Support Officer-Aboriginal Education) to our school tomorrow as we celebrate deferred NAIDOC Week and Aboriginal Cultural Day activities. Aunty Sue Bulger and Winnie Bulger will accompany Mr Eveston, by providing some exciting indigineous activities to support students understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and their culture.

FATHER’S DAY: This Friday we are celebrating our dads, grandads and the special men in our lives. A delicous BBQ lunch is being prepared for our special guests to enjoy. We look forward to celebrating on Friday with our guests.

Wishing all our dads, grandads or male role models in our lives a fantastic day on Sunday. We hope you get to put your feet up and enjoy being spoiled.

Best wishes,

Christine Baron

Principal

Archbishop Christopher’s Visit

On Friday 23^rd August Archbishop Christopher joined with the St Patrick’s community to celebrate Mass to commemorate the Feast of the Assumption. The Mass was beautifully prepared by Mrs Carberry and Year 3. Archbishop Christopher was so impressed by the way our students read, sang and responded during the Mass. He commented particularly about the answers the children gave to his questions. The Archbishop, even bet the children a Mars Bar that they would not know the answer to a question he asked. However, when so many hands went up after he asked the question, he withdrew the bet.

Our parishioners were also impressed. In fact, one parishioner donated a Mars Bar for each child in the school, which the Archbishop, was happy to present to the children.

Parish

Archbishop Christopher also held a meeting on Friday evening with the Parish Finance and Pastoral Councils of the Tumut Mission. He spoke about the important work of the Holy Spirit amongst us, the people of the Parish. The Holy Spirit whispers amongst the people – “Here I am Lord, speak to me.” The Holy Spirit is the leader of the Church. The Holy Spirit brings hope and joy.

Archbishop Christopher empowered the message that we need to ‘Walk Together’. We are ‘the body of Christ’ through our Baptism we belong to the Church. We do not exist in isolation; we part of an orchestra, and we all have a role to play.

Father’s Day Mass 

On Friday St Patrick’s will celebrate Father’s Day. We will we celebrate in a special way all those men in our lives who play a fatherly role...

• those who teach us,
• guide us and walk with us on our journey each day;
• those who care for us, nurture us, and lift us up in times when we need help.

At 12 noon, Kinder and Year One will present our Father’s Day Mass and we warmly welcome all our dads, grandfathers and special male figures to attend.

Following Mass, a BBQ lunch will be enjoyed at school. If haven’t RSVP, please do so asap.

This is always a great social interaction of generations of fatherly figures. So, come along and enjoy a great Father’s Day.

Heavenly Father, bless all the dads with Your wisdom, patience, and love. Guide them to be a source of strength and support for their families as they lean on You. Amen.

Happy Father’s Day to all.

Grandparents Morning Tea and Mass

A date for your calendar 

25^th October – Week 2 Term 4. Make it a date to celebrate our wonderful Grandparents.

Kate Howe

REC

We welcome Mr Lachie Eveston, Aunty Sue Bulger and Winnie Bulger tomorrow (Wednesday 28 August) to celebrate our First Nation’s peoples culture. Mrs Hughes, our Aboriginal Contact Teacher has organised some fantastic rotational activities where students can be involved in Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander culture, games, literature, art, Wiraduri langauge and singing.

Students are invited to come out of uniform and wear colours of red, black and yellow (Aboriginal flag colours) or blue, white and green (Torres Strait Islander flag colours). Please wear sport shoes for outdoor activities and games.

We look forward to learning more about our First Nation’s peoples and their traditional cultures, values and heritage.

Attention Kindergarten Parents please don't forget to RSVP for catering purposes. Email Jacki with your reply today !

This Friday is our Father's Day BBQ and Alicia Hargreaves our Canteen Coordinator has organised a Meal Deal for our students to order from via the School24 App. 

See attached flyer. 

Last Thursday, Friday and Saturday morning we held our annual Street Stall. Thank you to Tash Smith and Lisa Peterson for all of your hard work in organising the raffle prizes, rosters and sitting on the stall during the two and a half days. 

We can't thank our parents and grandparents enough for all the cooking and donations of items. We are truly grateful for the Gundagai communities support in our fundraising for our school. 

Thank you to everyone who sold tickets, purchased tickets or gave generous donations during our street stall.

Total raised over the two and half days was just over $6,000. Amazing effort for a small school with BIG HEARTS. 

Raffle Winners were: 

1st Prize - $100 Bunnings voucher + planter pack - Eddie Reardon 

2nd - $100 Coles Gift Card - Michael Heydon 

3rd - Quest-a-con Family Pass - Anne Saunderson 

4th - BCF Voucher - Fiona Tout 

5th - Rebel Sport Voucher - Mike Kingwill 

6th - $50 Tian Restaurant Voucher - Kristen Bartlett 

100 Club Winners - Darren Hlywa, Mitch Goodsall and Archie Peterson 

There has been much deliberation over the past few years over the number of School Captains selected each year, particularly when there are small cohorts of a particular year level. In 2025, Year 6 will only be a small cohort with 8 students in total.

With this in mind, as a staff we have made the decision to only elect two School Captains. This decision was also taken to the most recent School Community Council meeting where the parent representatives agreed that this decision was fair given the number of students enrolled in Year 6. It was also suggested and agreed that as a school, we would move permanently to a model of two School Captains elected each year, rather than four. This will help provide continuity each year of the number of School Captains elected rather than changing from two to four (or vice versa) again in the future.

In Year 6, all students are provided with the opportunity to apply for a leadership role. These roles become the focus for these students as school leaders and provide each student (or several students) with an area of leadership that they can undertake during their last year of primary school. Year 6 have the opportunity to attend leadership training and become Peer Support leaders during the year as well. They are also provided with additional privileges during their final year of school, that they look forward too.

As a school, we value the contribution to leadership from all our Year 6 students and look forward to working with them as role models and school leaders in 2025 and beyond.

Mr Ferguson will be taking LSL during Weeks 9 and 10 of Term 3. Mrs Denise Drabble will replace Mr Ferguson’s roles as CST and classroom teacher. We wish Mr Ferguson and his family a relaxing break and look forward to seeing him again in Term 4.

Mrs Baron will be attending the Australian Primary Principal’s Association (APPA) conference during Week 9 and taking LSL during Week 10. Mrs Katrina McGrath will be Acting Principal during Weeks 9 and 10. Mrs Katrina McGrath has worked for CECG for many years and has held previous roles as a Principal and also worked for Catholic Education in Canberra-Goulburn. Mrs McGrath has great experience in working in small rural communities and is looking forward to meeting and working with the St Patrick’s school community. We are grateful to Mrs McGrath for making herself available for St Patrick’s School during Weeks 9 and 10.

Mrs Wilson will be taking LSL during Term 4, from Monday 14 October to Friday 29 November. Mrs Wilson will be replaced by Mrs Casey Hillier. Ms Hillier is well known to our students as one of our regular casual teachers and very respected by all students and staff. We look forward to having Ms Hillier join our staff team next term. The Acting Assistant Principal position will be announced shortly.

Marty is holding a special music concert for parents and family members on Friday 13 September from 9.30-11.00am. The concert is a special opportunity for students that attend music lessons with Marty, to showcase their musical talents. The concert will be held at Learning Hub. Family members most welcome to join us for this special presentation.

Last Friday we held our Student of the Month and Principal's Awards for Week 5 (half way through the term). Congratulations to our students for Week 5 Student of the Month and Principal Awards

Kindergarten - Michael Winter

Year 1 - Noah Zhu 

Year 2 - Harley Rose 

Year 3 - Fletcher Smith 

Year 4 - RV Calub 

Year 5 - Cindy Chen 

Year 6 - Dylan Ryder 

Principal's Awards - Zoe Paton, Charlston Rizalde, Molly Lott, Tannah Elliott .

Year 3/4 BORAMBOLA EXCURSION: Year 3/4 are getting very excited about their upcoming excursion to Borambola Sport and Recreation Centre near Wagga. The excursion will take place on Friday 6 September. Parents are asked to please provide consent and payment via the COMPASS portal. Mrs Carberry and Mr Makeham will accompany the students to Borambola.

YEAR 5/6 SYDNEY EXCURSION  will take place in Week 10, from Monday 23 September to Thursday 26 September. Parents are asked to please provide consent for the excursion via our school COMPASS portal. Payment for the excursion is due on 2nd September.

As informed last week, Mr Makeham is no longer able to attend the excursion due to a family event. Teachers attending the excursion will be Mrs McGrath (Acting Principal), Mrs Wilson, Miss Baron and Ms Bartlett. Mrs Howe will be in charge of the students and staff at St Patrick’s School during this time.

KINDER/YEAR 1/YEAR 2  will also have an excursion in Term 4.  More details will be sent out regarding this trip early Term 4. 

Tune into "Sounds of the Mountains" radio station (FM94.1) every Wednesday at 2.15pm to hear about what our classes and school have been up to over the week.

Week 10 - Year 4 Students - Zoe Paton & Charlie Ryder

This is our Last Term of Meat Raffles at The Family Hotel.  Can you please make sure you mark your rostered dates on your calendar and if you are unable to do your rostered day arrange to have it swapped.   Your assistance and support for our Meat Raffle Fundraising in appreciated. 

Congratulations once again to our students for their weekly awards.  The weeks are flying by quickly. 

Week 4 - 16th August 

Kindergarten: Lilly Barton enthusiastic and positive approach to learning

Year 1: Harry Ryder for showing focus and positive learning behaviours

Year 2: Ryan Robinson for always using his manners and being respectful

Year 3: No Award

Year 4: Lotus Li for showing maturity in difficult situations

Year 5: Oliver Crowe for consistent effort towards his learning

Year 6: Emma Ferugson for insightful research and meaningful reflections on Mary Mackillop 

Week 5 - 23rd August 

Kindergarten: Tannah Elliott for effort in all areas 

Year 1: Sophia Knight-Gregson for effort and accuracy in Mathematics 

Year 2: Adriel Masikea for her participation and application to her learning

Year 3: No Award

Year 4: Mackenzie Little for always looking to improve 

Year 5: Eliza Graham for consistent high effort

Year 6: Chase Robinson for increased effort and determination to solve challenging Maths concepts

Congratulations to our WildCat Awards for Week 4 and Week 5.  Keep up the positive behaviours

WEEK 4 

RESPONSIBLE : Claudia Worldon, Archie Peterson, Sam Hufton, Gus Hufton, Pippi Nicholls

RESPECT : Archie Peterson, Charlotte Kennedy

SAFE : Dylan Ryder, Parker Melksham, Archie Peterson 

WEEK 5

RESPONSIBLE : Emily Ryan Ethan Wu, Lachlan Hargreaves, Jimmy Robinson, Andrew Cole, Lola Eccleston, Sophia Knight-Gregson, Lottie Worldon, Olivia Smart, Phoenix Rose

RESPECT : Zoe Morgan, Kingsley McDonnell, Ethan Wu, 

SAFE : Billy Eccleston, Lachlan Hargreaves, Jimmy Robinson, Andrew Cole, Harley Rose

WEEK 6:

Wednesday 28 August: NAIDOC activities and Aboriginal Culture Day celebrations

Friday 30 August:

* 12pm Year K/1 Mass

* Father’s Day celebrations - BBQ Lunch 

WEEK 7: Family Week

Friday 6 September: Year 3/4 Excursion

Saturday 7 September: 6pm Family Mass (St Patrick’s Church)

Sunday 8 September: Tournament of the Minds Competition in Wagga (Yr 6)

WEEK 8:

Tuesday 10 September: 6pm SCC Meeting

Friday 13 September:

* 9.00-11.00am Marty’s Music Concert

* 12pm Year 2 Mass

WEEK 9:

Thursday 19 September: Christine Wishart Dance Performance K-6 GHS

WEEK 10:

Monday 23-Thursday 26 September: Year 5/6 excursion to Sydney

Thursday 26 September:

* 2.30pm Week 10 Award Assembly

* Term 3 concludes for students

Friday 27 September: Staff Development Day (NO STUDENTS)

Families are invited to attend an online book reading of ‘Bidhi Galing’ by author Anita Heiss.  The event aligns with celebrating Indigenous Literacy Day on Wednesday 4 September 2024  7.00 - 7.30pm.

A Bluey Perspective is an evening with Bluey creator Joe Brumm on Wednesday 11th September.  

The event aims to bring families together to listen to Joe talk about why he thinks Bluey has been such a success and the important role parents play in their child’s learning and development.

https://events.humanitix.com/a-bluey-perspective

https://www.ccsp.catholic.edu.au/our-catholic-faith-handbook

Hard to imagine that we are thinking about Cricket when the Winter Sports have just finished. 

This Cricket program is a little while away but sending out early for our parents to mark their calendars and register if you are interested.  This flyer has previously been sent home.