Dear Parents and Carers,

On Sunday we officially welcomed the winter season! The weather continues to remain much warmer than normal as we wait in anticipation of much needed rain. In saying this, the mornings have been quite cold, so it is important that students remember to bring a jumper/jacket to school. The weather can change unexpectedly at anytime!

ILLNESS: As always with the winter season, there are a number of coughs, colds and flu like symptoms presenting at school, among students and staff. Please keep unwell children at home and only send them back to school when symptoms have been reduced and the child is well enough to participate in school activities. We appreciate everyone’s support in regard to helping contain the spread of any viruses or illnesses.

PASSING OF MR ANTHONY JAKSIC: It is with much sadness that I inform our school community of the sudden and unexpected passing of Mr Anthony Jaksic. Anthony was our CECG Planning and Facilities Officer, with whom we have worked closely, over the past 6 years with regard to maintenance and improvement projects for St Patrick’s School.

Some of these projects have included the construction of our new front administration area, improved safety lighting around the school, new roofing over our old administration block, structural safety and other maintenance issues as well as more recently our new Student Amenities Build and Outdoor Covered Area projects. Mr Graham Beaver, CECG Planning and Facilities Manager, will take over our building upgrades in the interim and work with Mattoni on the day-to-day management and administration of the Student Amenities project. At this stage, the Student Amenities building will continue to proceed. Anthony was working across projects on a large number of our Catholic Schools and therefore projects will need to be reprioritised as CECG work towards ensuring as many projects continue as possible.

Please keep Anthony and his family in your prayers. We will miss Anthony’s visits to St Patrick’s and his ‘larger-than-life’ personality. He was a great advocate for continued improvements to St Patrick’s, and we are grateful to him for all he achieved in the six years we have worked together. We pray that Anthony’s family are comforted by the knowledge of the wonderful work and improvements to building facilities, he has made achieved across a large number of Canberra-Goulburn Catholic Schools. We pray that Anthony rests in eternal peace.

Christine Baron

Principal

St Patrick, Pray for us

Sacrament of Reconciliation

On Friday 30^th May, fourteen special children received the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Father Joe, guided the children through the ‘Sacrament of Forgiveness.’ The children were supported by their families and classmates.

The children have prepared beautifully and demonstrated a readiness to take part in this next stage in their faith journey. It was heart-warming, to watch the children go to Father to undertake the Sacrament a little nervously and return with a big smile.

Afterwards, the children and their families shared in a special morning tea celebration.

Well done children on your hard work. A warm thank you to Father Joe and Mrs Carberry who assisted in the preparation.

New Altar Servers

This is an invitation for your child to become an Altar Server in our Parish. The children who have recently made their Reconciliation are now eligible to become an Altar Server.

Altar serving is an important role to undertake and we appreciate this valuable contribution to St Patrick’s Parish. The children will receive training to assist them in their new role.

The new Altar Servers and will be guided and instructed by children who have served on the Altar for some time as well as the Acolyte serving at Mass.

If your child would like to be an Altar Server and added to the roster, please complete the permission slip below and return it to School by Friday 13^th June. The new roster will commence after the next school holidays ready for Term 3.

Once we receive this information, we will organise a training session.

Baby News

Congratulations to Bec and Alex Tobin on the birth of Xavier Alexander who arrived safely last week. Big brother Hamish and sister Emma are very excited and proud. Hopefully we will see the new baby soon.

Kate Howe

REC

Mr Tim Smith, CECG School Performance and Development Leader (SPDL) will officially retire on Friday 4 July 2025. Mr Smith has been a valued and highly respected leader in Canberra-Goulburn over the past 40 years. He has held many positions during his career and has undertaken each one with the highest integrity. Mr Smith’s last visit to St Patrick’s will be on Thursday 19 June as he closes out this chapter of his career and completes his last round of Network 1 visits. We wish Mr Smith all the best for a wonderful retirement and sincerely thank him for his support, honesty and integrity over many years. Mrs Phillipa Brearley has been announced as the new SPDL and we look forward to welcoming her to her new role and our school community from Term 3 onwards.

A Building Meeting will be held this Thursday 5 June with Mr Graham Beaver (CECG Manager Building Facilities), Mr Thomas James (CECG Planning and Facilities Officer), Mr Joseph Cusack (Mattoni Executive Director), Mrs Fairall, Mrs Wilson and Mrs Baron in regard to the passing of Anthony Jaksic and next steps for our current building projects. More information to come.

NATIONAL RECONCILIATION WEEK: National Reconciliation Week (NRW) will be celebrated from 27 May to 3 June. The 2025 theme is ‘Bridging now to next’. This theme encourages Australians to reflect on the past, look ahead to the future and continue the journey towards reconciliation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

FIRST NATION’S CULTURAL DAY: Mrs Hughes our Aboriginal Contact Teacher, has organised a special First Nation’s Cultural Day for this Thursday 5 June (Week 6). Lachie Everston and Libby Goodsell (CECG Teaching and Learning Support Officers-Aboriginal Education) along with our local Wiradjuri elders, Aunty Sue Bulger, Uncle Vince Bulger and Winnie Bulger. The students will participate in a variety of engaging Indigenous rotational activities that help promote respect and inclusion of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Students will rotate through activities that include:

1. Yulunga Games
2. Burra Language
3. Yarning Circle-Flags and their significance
4. Tools and Artefacts

The students are to wear their sports uniform for a day of activities and learning.

Congratulations to all our students from Years 3-6 for the effort and application they have given to their Public Speaking topics that they presented in class last week. This year’s standard was very high, making it very difficult for teachers to select just two class representatives. Well done to the following students who will now participate in Round One Speak off against McAuley Catholic College class representatives. Mr Peter Gain will be engaged to coach our class representatives through to the next levels of competition.

Year 3: Claudia Worldon and Ryan Robinson

Year 4: Lane Johnson and Fletcher Smith

Year 5: Maeve Ryan and Reuben Smart

Year 6: Indi Cole and Eliza Graham

Round One will be held at McAuley Catholic College Hall on Tuesday  17th June commencing at 9.30am.  A note providing further information will be available to those students today.

In our last edition of our newsletter we reported about how is diability defined for NCCD?  This week we provide information on "Who is Included"

A very special thank you to Lachlan Hargreaves and Dale Paton who represented St Patrick’s school at a special ceremony at St John’s Anglican Church Gundagai, last Saturday 31 May. The Boer War Memorial Archway at the front entrance to the church grounds has been restored by Mr Carl Valerius over the past few months. A rededication ceremony was held at 11am, to remind people of the significance of the archway and its dedication to the Gundagai men and all those that served in the Boer War from 1899-1902. Speeches were provided by Rev Wendy Anderson, Bishop Mark Short, Mayor Abb McAlister, Member for Riverina, Mr Michael McCormack, Mr Paul Vercoe, Mr Carl Valerius and Mr Wes Leseberg. Lachlan and Dale laid a wreath in honour of all those who served. A special thank you to Emma McDonnell for creating the beautiful wreath. It was a lovely morning and community celebration!

St Patrick’s School is delighted to welcome Miss Lucy Gildea from the Australian Catholic University of Canberra as a prac student during Weeks 7, 8 and 9. Miss Gildea is in her third year of university, undertaking study for a Bachelor of Education degree. Miss Gildea will be working with our delightful Kindergarten class under Mrs Howe and Mrs Eccleston’s direction and care. We look forward to welcoming Ms Gildea and wish her a wonderful time as she prepares for her career as a future educator.

Our annual School Photo Day has been booked for Wednesday 6th August.  Please put this date on your calendar.  More information will be sent home at a later date. 

On Friday 30th May we held our mid term Student of the Month and Principal's Awards. 

Congratulations to the students awarded this special award. 

Kindergarten - Leo Lewis 

Year 1 - Sam Hufton 

Year 2 - Olivia Smart

Year 3 - Lance Crowe

Year 4 - Kaydee Smith 

Year 5 - Jasper Rui 

Year 6 - Indi Cole 

Principal's Awards: Anastasia Chittick, Charlotte Kennedy, Sarah Gailey and Dale Paton - Congratulations to each and everyone of our students who received this special award. 

Welcome Back to Term 2 of Radio News with our Yr 5/6 Students.

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.

We apologise for last week's missed radio news. We had Indi Cole and Charlie Ryder waiting patiently but unfortunately we were unable to get through to the radio station due to a busy phone line.  

Week 6 (4th June) - Molly Lott and Zoe Paton 

Week 7 (11th June) - Emma Brown and Lotus Li

Week 8 (18th June) - Lachlan Hargreaves and RV Calub

Congratulations to our Week 4 and Week 5 Class Awards

Week 4 - 23rd May 2025

Kindergarten : Tess Wilde for a positive attitude towards her learning

Year 1/2 : Alfie Eccleston for her application to all learning areas and providing correct answers

Year 3 : Claudia Worldon for a fabulous speech preparation 

Year 4 : Remi Taylor for working hard in Mathematics

Year 5 : Zoe Paton for consistent effort and application across all her learning

Year 6 : Lachlan Hargreaves for insightful reflections and opinions shared during novel study

Week 5 - 30th May 2025

Kindergarten : Nova Nettey for showing a growing confidence when reading

Year 1/2 : Levi Bayley for improvement in Initalit

Year 3 : Lance Crowe for thorough speech presentation

Year 4 : Fletcher Smith for an entertaining speech with own content and delivery

Year 5 : Lotus Li for maximum effort and kindness displayed at Athletics Carnival 

Year 6 : Conor Cotterill for perseverance and determination in all tasks

Congratulations to our WildCat Awards. We are so proud of our students positive learning behaviours each and every week

RESPONSIBLE : Lennox Smart, Clancy Smart, Pheonix Rose x 2, Gus Hufton, Anastasia Chittick, Liam Estacio, Charlotte Grange, Hallie Butt x 2, Lilly Barton, Molly Lott, Michael Winters, Anna Smart, Sophia Knight-Gregson, Tess Wilde, Bodhi Bulger, Eddy Smith

RESPECT : Zoe Paton, Lane Johnson, Sarah Gailey, Harry Barton, Kaydee Smith, Lance Crowe

SAFE : RV Calub, Jaxon Wolley, Gus Hufton

Sending out a BIG Birthday Cheer to the Leila Gaskin and Nova Nettey who today celebrate their birthdays. We hope you have a lovely day with family and friends.

WEEK 6:

• Thursday 5 June 10.00-2.30pm: Cultural Day Activities (Reconciliation Week)
• Friday 6 June 9.00-11.00am: Little Learners Program begins

WEEK 7:

• Family Week-take time to do something special as a family!
• Monday 9 June: King’s Birthday Holiday
• Tuesday 10 June: Miss Lucy Gildea begins her prac teaching in Kindergarten
• Friday 13 June: 12pm SRC Mass at St Patrick’s Church

WEEK 8:

• Tuesday 17 June:30am WR Public Speaking Round One Speak Off against McAuley Catholic College
• Tuesday 17 June:30pm School Community Council Meeting
• Wednesday 18 June: SRC Fundraiser ‘Beanies and Hot Chocolate’ Day
• Friday 20 June: WR Athletics Carnival-Young

WEEK 9:

• Wednesday 25 June: 10am Year 5 visit Gundagai Preschool
• Friday 27 June: Miss Gildea completes her teaching prac
• Friday 27 June: Semester One reports go out via COMPASS

WEEK 10:

• Monday 30 June 3:30-5.00pm: Parent/Teacher Meetings
• Tuesday 31 June 3.30-5.00pm: Parent/Teacher Meetings
• Wednesday 1 July 3.30-5.00pm: Parent/Teacher Meetings
• Wednesday 2 July 10.40am: Principal’s Morning Tea for Term 1 and Term 2 recipients
• Thursday 3 July:30pm Week 10 Awards Assembly

                               3:15pm Term 2 concludes

• Friday 4 July: Staff Development Day

TERM 3:

• Monday 21 July: Staff Development Day
• Tuesday 22 July: Students return for Term 3