Dear Parents and Carer’s,

A big week for St Patrick’s as final preparations take place in bringing to life The Wizard of Oz tomorrow! There is certainly lots of excitement in the air and the students are ready to show off their creative skills and talents as they take you on a magical journey to the Land of Oz!

‘THE WIZARD OF OZ’ TICKET SALES: There will not be any tickets on sale at the door. Tickets are now extremely limited and only Matinee tickets are now available. Please contact Jacki in the front office for any further enquiries.

‘THE WIZARD OF OZ’ TICKET PERFORMANCE DATES AND TIMES:

Matinee Performance: Wednesday 20 November at 11.30am (Please be seated by 11.25am)                                                                                  

Night Performance: Thursday 21 November at 6:00pm (Please be seated by 5.55pm)
Location: St Patrick’s School Hall (corner of Sheridan and Homer Streets)

‘THE WIZARD OF OZ’ RAFFLE TICKETS: We have a great raffle ready to be drawn during intercession at the Wizard of Oz performance. The lucky winner will take home a box full of fabulous toys suitable for a wide range of ages! Tickets are available for $1.00 per ticket from the front office and/or at both performances. Please bring cash.

PARENT ASSISTANCE FOR WIZARD OF OZ PRODUCTION: Thank you to our wonderful band of volunteer parent helpers that are working behind the scenes to ensure everything is ready to roll this week. We are extremely grateful to Bec Tobin, Marg & Aaron Nicholls, Tash Smith, Amy Ryder, Chloe Knight-Gregson, Louise Crowe, Megan Bayley, Madeline Ryan and Bec Nicholls who have been meeting to make stage props and other designs. Special thanks also to grandparent Mr Dave Howard for making the windmill and again to Bec Tobin for her promotional ads on the St Pat’s events page. Your support is very much appreciated.

GUNDAGAI HIGH SCHOOL (GHS) ENTERTAINMENT CLASS: A very special thank you is also extended to GHS, Mr Chris Fish and Year 12 Entertainment Team crew members Henry and Amity, for their support of our school play in providing stage lighting, sound and special design effects. We are extremely grateful for all their help and assistance in making the production more incredible with these added extras.

2025 KINDERGARTEN ORIENTATION DAY: Our final 2025 Kindergarten Orientation session will be held this Friday 22 November. The last session is a full day visit from 9.00-3.15pm. A 2025 Parent Information session will also be held this Friday 22 November commencing at 9.00am in the school library. We welcome all Kindergarten family members to this session.

Follow the yellow brick road to St Patrick’s school hall this week. We look forward to seeing our families and friends this week as we present our 2024 whole school production-The Wizard of Oz!.

Christine Baron

Principal                                                                                                                                                                

First Holy Communion

Congratulations to our wonderful 14 children who recently received the Sacrament of the Eucharist on Saturday 9^th November. The Mass was a beautiful celebration for the children, their families and the parish congregation. Father Roffin commented on the sense of joy being radiated throughout the Church.

We thank the children for their commitment and preparation and their families for their constant support and encouragement. We also thank the school community for supporting these children by being part of the Mass through the Offertory and singing in the choir.

A very special thank you to Father Joe and Father Roffin for their continued dedication to the faith development of our children. We are so lucky to have such wonderful Parish Priests who are so committed to our children and our parish.

A huge thank you to Mrs Carberry for being such a big part of this Sacramental journey and to the St Patrick’s Staff who were present at the Mass supporting our amazing children.

Keys Found

On Sunday morning after First Holy Communion there were a set of keys found in Homer Street outside the Church driveway. If you may have misplaced these keys please contact me at school.

New Altar Serving Roster

A new Altar Serving Roster is being compiled at the moment. The new roster will be sent out as soon as possible.

There are many of our Altar Servers about to leave St Patrick’s and enter high school. This does not mean that they should leave this important ministry. We would love to see you continue in this role. Please let me know asap if you would like to remain on the Altar Serving Roster.

Thank you, children, for your continued support of this special ministry and to your families that bring you to Mass to enable you to fulfil this role. You are an integral part of our Parish.  

A Payer for Families

Dear God, we thank you for the gift of family. We are grateful for the love and support we find in one another. May we never take our family for granted and always cherish the moments we have together.

Amen

Kate Howe

REC

We are delighted to announce that Kirra Pendergast, a leading expert in online safety and founder

of Safe on Social, hosting an online Year 3-6 session for our St Patrick’s students as well as other students in our WR Catholic schools! This is a fantastic opportunity for both students and parents to learn valuable skills for navigating the digital world safely and responsibly. We are engaging Kirra due to a concerning increase in online issues faced by our students outside of school, which impacts their relationships and functioning at school. It has highlighted an urgent need for expert guidance on digital safely. Do not miss this incredible, one-off opportunity.

For Students:

• Learn Online Safety: Understand the importance of privacy and how to protect personal information.

• Combat Cyberbullying: Gain tools to recognize and respond to cyberbullying.
• Build Healthy

For Parents:

• Guidance and Support: Receive practical strategies to monitor and guide your child’s online activities.

• Effective Communication: Learn how to discuss online safety and digital etiquette with your children.

• Access Resources: Get comprehensive tools and resources to support your family’s online safety journey.

A separate note has gone home to our Year 3-6 families to provide them with more information. Please do not miss out on this wonderful opportunity! Special thanks is extended to the WR principal’s Association for sponsoring our St Patrick’s students to attend this event. Parents are asked to please return their note and $10 if they wish to also attend the online parent session, which is highly recommended.

• Monday 18 and Tuesday 19 November, full dress rehearsals. Costumes to remain at school for Wednesday’s matinee.
• Wednesday 20 November -Matinee Performance at 11.30am. Costumes will be sent home after the Matinee for Thursday evenings performance.
• Thursday 21 November - Night Performance 6.00pm. ALL students to arrive at St Patrick’s Hall by 5:40pm please fully dressed in their costume.
• Please ensure your child/ren have had an early dinner/light meal before arriving at the hall. Please also bring a drink bottle of water with their name on it to the evening performance.
• The production is expected to go for around 2-2 and ½ hours. We would like to begin promptly at 6pm please and ask that everyone is seated by 5.55pm please.
• Mrs Lena Elphick will video the performance. These will be available for families purchase soon. Thank you to SCC and Mrs Kim Paton for organising this and to Kim for her follow up in having the videos available for families to purchase in the near future.
• Please bring cash to purchase a ticket in the Christmas Toy raffle. Tickets are $1.00 each and available at both performances for purchase. Please bring cash to buy tickets.

The money raised will help pay for sound, microphones and other equipment needed for our production.

Thank you for your support. 

Year 5 students are being asked to prepare their 2025 School captain speeches in readiness for Week 7 (Monday 25 November to Wednesday 27 November). Speeches will commence at 9.00am with up to 3 x speeches per day. Mr Makeham has provided parents with the following roster of speeches. Parents are welcome to come along and support their child on the day.

Monday - 25th November

Emma Brown, Indi Cole, Conor Cotterill 

Tuesday - 26th November 

Oliver Crowe, Eliza Graham, Lachlan Hargreaves

Wednesday - 27th November 

Molly Lott, Dale Paton

2025 Leadership roles are currently being revamped. More information will be provided to Year 5 once the Leadership positions and roles have been decided.

Last Friday 15th of November we held our special Student of the Month Awards. Thank you to all of the families who came along to support their children. 

Kindergarten - Sam Hufton and Tannah Elliott 

Year 1 - Alfie Eccleston and Charlston Rizalde 

Year 2 - Toby Nicholls and Claudia Worldon 

Year 3 - Remi Taylor and Harry Barton 

Year 4 - Reuben Smart and Lotus Li 

Year 5 - Dale Paton and Oliver Crowe

Year 6 - Nick Quine and Joey Gailey 

BIG Congratulations to all of our Week 5 Term 4 Student of the Month Awards

Congratulations to our Week 4 and Week 5 weekly awards.

Week 4 - Friday 8th November 

Kindergarten - Ivy  Lyu for her neat and accurate writing

Yr 1 - Sophia Knight-Gregson for always producing work to a high standard

Yr 2 - Josie Lott for her quick recall of addition facts

Yr 3 - Archie Peterson for his kindness, patience and care towards others

Yr 4 - Ethan Wu for showing maturity in difficult situations

Yr 5 - Indi Cole for showing personal responsibility for her learning 

Yr 6 - Taite Johnson for his consistent enthusiastic participation in all learning areas

Week 5 - Friday 15th November

Kindergarten - Charlotte Kennedy for her writing and sound accuracy

Yr 1 - Pippi Nicholls for being kind and a considerate classmate

Yr 2 - Ryan Robinson for always using his manners and being a caring student (Absent for photo) 

Yr 3 - Harrison Barton for positive class participation 

Yr 4 - RV Calub for being a friend to all 

Yr 5 - Emma Brown for her excellent effort towards her role in The Wizard of Oz

Yr 6 - NO AWARD

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

RESPONSIBLE - Juno Bock, Pippi Nicholls, Olivia Smart, Gus Hufton, George Ryan, Skye Somerville, Alfie Eccleston, Lilly Barton, Isla-Faith Masikesa

RESPECT - George Ryan, Anna Nicholls, Pippi Nicholls

Our End of Year Awards Day and Yr 6 Graduation is on Friday 13th of December starting at 9.30am.  Please mark this date on your calendars to join in our celebration and acknowledgement for the 2024 year. 

Thank you to all of our wonderful canteen mums for volunteering your time to cook cupcakes or cookies or work in the canteen we are extremely grateful

We only have a few more weeks left of canteen.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY:

• Wednesday 20 November: 11.30am Wizard of Oz Matinee
• Thursday 21 November: 6.00pm Wizard of Oz Night Performance
• Friday 22 November: 2025 Parent Information session 9.00-10.30am
• Friday 22 November: 2.30pm Week 5 Award assembly
• Monday 25-Wednesday 27 November: Year 5 present 2025 School Captain speeches
• Thursday 28 November: Voting takes place for 2025 School Captains
• Friday 29 November: McAuley Catholic College Year 7 Transition
• Wednesday 11 December: Year 6 Graduation dinner 6pm at Lott’s Family Hotel
• Monday 2 December: SCC Meeting at 6pm
• Thursday 5 December: Safe on Social Years 3-6 online sessions
• Thursday 5 December: Safe on Social Parent Session-time to be advised
• Friday 6th December : Kildare and Mater Dei Year 7 Transition
• Thursday 12 December: Semester 2 Reports go out on COMPASS
• Friday 13 December: 9.30am 2025 Award Day and 12.00pm Year 6 Graduation Mass
• Monday 16/Tuesday 17 December: Parent/Teacher Meetings
• Tuesday 17 December: Year 6 Big Day Out
• Wednesday 18 December: Term 4 concludes at 3.15pm

2025 School Starting Dates:

• Tuesday 4 February: School resumes for students Years 1-6
• Wednesday 5 February: Kindergarten students begin school

Sending out a BIG happy birthday wish to the following students who have recently celebrated a birthday 

12th November - Sarah Gailey 

17th November - Zoe Morgan 

19th November - Molly Lott