Dear Parents,

The end of term is here, and we are grateful to have been able to conclude the year with restrictions easing across a multitude of facets, enabling families and communities to once again be together.

This was so evident at our Awards Day last Friday when we were able to open our school grounds to welcome parents, grandparents and family members back, to celebrate the achievements of students across a very different school year.

The school grounds looked immaculate, the weather was perfect, and everyone enjoyed a wonderful morning of celebrations. Congratulations to ALL our students on their own personal achievements across the year. We know that every child has grown and achieved in some way and they should be extremely proud of their wonderful effort and application to learning.

This was followed by the Year 6 Graduation Mass that was so beautifully prepared by Mrs Howe. A few tears were shed following the very poignant powerpoint presentation that recogised the special qualities of our Year 6 students. Last night we farewelled our Year 6 students with a Graduation dinner at the Family Hotel. This was another great opportunity to celebrate with Year 6 and their parents and was enjoyed by all.

The 2020 school year will conclude tomorrow at 3.15pm. The Year 6 students will complete the afternoon with the traditional ringing of the school bell. Each Year 6 student will ring the bell equaling the number of years they have been at St Patrick’s and in recognition of their official conclusion to their primary education years. Year 6 parents are welcome into the school grounds from 3pm onwards to witness this exclusive event!

Thank you to everyone who has made this year a special one in some little way.

Thank you to parents for all your wonderful support, patience and perseverance especially during Remote Learning times. You were awesome! Thank you to all our beautiful, amazing St Patrick’s students for the joy they bring to every-day life and thank you to the amazing St Patrick’s teaching and support team.

Special thanks to the St Patrick’s Community Council members, Renee Lindley, Craig Hargreaves, Kim Paton, John Morgan, Mick Leane, Michelle McDonnell, Emma Peterson and Jacki Carberry for their hard work and efforts to continue to support the school across a very challenging year.

A very special thank you to Renee and Emma who will be resigning their positions in 2021. I would personally like to thank Renee and Emma for their incredible support over the past two years and their dedication, commitment, support and advice. We are all very grateful to have had them share their passion and ideas for the benefit of the school community.

We are so blessed to have such a wonderful community here at St Patrick’s School.

We pray that each of you will have a blessed and joyous Christmas and that the New Year will be filled with hope, faith, and knowledge and most importantly we walk into 2021 with grateful hearts.

Christine Baron

Principal

Wishing you all a very happy and holy Christmas.  May you enjoy time with your family and be blessed with a joyous festive season. 

Christmas Mass Times: 

Christmas Eve Mass - 6pm Open Air Mass at the Gundagai Racecourse (bring your own chair) 

Christmas Day Mass - 8am St Patrick's Church. 

We are looking for volunteers to Altar Serve at both these Masses.  Please phone the school or email by tomorrow (Wednesday 16th December) if your child would like to help during our Christmas Masses. 

On behalf of the Community Council, I would like to extend a very Merry Christmas to the St Pat's School community and thank you all for another fantastic year. Despite lockdowns, home learning, and social distancing, the school community has managed to achieve so many things this year including:

- Two extremely successful fundraising events, with the St Patrick's Variety Night and the annual Street Stall;

- A grant for $129,000 to complete works to our playground;

- We covered the transport costs for all school excursions;

- Purchased 20 new chrome books;

- Purchased a new pie warmer for the Canteen;

- Introduced new uniform items, including a sports skort and regular uniform skort, along with unisex sports shorts.

As mentioned at Friday's awards assembly, I will be stepping down from the Council next year. I have been a member of the Council for eight years and Chair for the past three years. It has been a truly rewarding experience and I thank you all for your support. We will also farewell Emma Peterson, who has decided to step down from the Council next year. Emma's commitment to our school is second to none and she will be missed from the Council. Thank you Emma.

To our existing members - Craig Hargreaves, Kim Paton, Jacki Carberry, Michelle McDonnell, John Morgan, Michael Leane - thank you! This team is so dedicated to our school and to seeing a great future not only for our current school community, but the community to come.

If you have a desire to be part of this incredible team, are passionate about our school and about working hard for the betterment of our school and its people, then please consider applying to be a member of the Council. Expressions of interest can be sent directly to Principal Chris Baron prior to our AGM in February.

A massive thank you must also go to Leanne McDonnell and Bec Gaskin for managing canteen and uniform shop again this year. Leanne hands over the reigns of the canteen to Alicia Hargreaves next year - thank you Alicia for volunteering to take on this role.

On a final note, I did mention end of year drinks at Lott's Family Hotel this Thursday night. It seems this week is incredibly busy for many families, so we have decided to postpone and instead, host a welcome to 2021 gathering early in the new year. Please keep an eye out for further information.

Wishing you a safe, happy and Holy Christmas with family and friends.

Renee Lindley 

Dear Parents,

I am delighted to announce that after many years of negotiations with CE, the new Administration building will be commencing in the December/January school holidays. Renee Lindley and I met with CE reps and builders to discuss the roll out of the new building plans to commence in December school holidays.

We are also delighted to announce that Tom Gaskin was the successful tenderer and congratulate him on his success. We have been granted $660,000 for the upgrade by Catholic Education. Special thanks to Moira Nadjecki (previous Director) and Ross Fox along with the CE financial team for making this a financially viable grant. The building deal has now been signed, sealed and to be delivered, hopefully by the end of Term 2.

The entrance to the school for Term 1 and possibly 2 will be via the lower gate entrance on Homer Street (as per Awards Day entrance). The entrance way will be fixed to eliminate stepping hazards and other issues. Entrance to the school office will be via the steps at the rear of the current admin/staff building. A disability entrance will also be discussed and plans to be put in place as well as other minor operational issues. We will continue to keep parents updated prior to school beginning in Term 1 2021.

Canteen operational procedures may also need to be addressed. We will keep you informed in regard to possible alternative arrangements for Term 1.

CE and Tom will work closely with myself and CC members to ensure the rollout of the building is safe and secure for all stakeholders.

A special thank you to Renee Lindley, Kim Paton and Craig Hargreaves who have met regularly with the CE members in regard to ensuring this new entrance way became a reality as well as other Community Council members.

Such an exciting way to begin the 2021 school year.

Chris Baron 

Our Awards Presentation held on Friday the 11th of December was a beautiful morning held on our school oval.  We were extremely grateful that we were able to welcome families and grandparents to help celebrate our students achievements for 2020.  Congratulations to all of our students for a remarkable year.   Our 2020 Award recipients were:

JMA Legal Award: Harry Peterson 

Ray White Junior Award: Indi Cole 

WFI Junior Award: Archie McDonnell 

Remi & Claire Field (Junior) Award: Eliza Graham 

Bendigo Bank Award: Skye Somerville 

Bethany Tout Award presented by Dallas Tout: Maggie Peterson 

Ray White Senior Award: Abby McDonnell 

Gundagai Pharmacy Creative Arts Award: Sarah Scott 

Shirley Dean Award (for team work, fairness leading and encouraging others): Sam Turck 

Lions Club Award for Community Service: Anson Chew

Veronica Lawson Award: Lilly Cotterill 

Remie & Claire Field Award (Senior): Addison Fairall 

Jugiong Writer's Festival Award: Juliet Pearce

Libary Awards: Asher Jones & Essie Norden 

Academic Achievement Awards: Kindergarten: Maeve Ryan

Yr 1 : Eliza Graham 

Yr 2 : Alexander Ryan 

Yr 3 : Charlotte McDonnell 

Yr 4 : Tahlira Rose 

Yr 5 : Juliet Pearce and Jessica McDonnell 

Yr 6 : Sarah Scott 

Wednesday 27^th and Thursday 8^th January:  Staff return for Professional Learning days

Friday 29^th January: First Day of Term 1 for Kindergarten to Year 6

Thursday 4^th February-SPG Swimming Carnival

Term 1 concludes-Thursday 1^st April

Congratulations are extended to the following students who were elected as our 2021 School Captains Juliet Pearce, Jessica McDonnell, Jack Peterson and Locky Eccleston 

Thank you again to Alicia Hargreaves for taking on the role of canteen coordinator.  Alicia will be in touch with all our current tuckshop workers about organising a coffee and chat in the park, mid January to look at updating the menu in 2021. 

If anyone has any suggestions or would like to come along, they are more than welcome to bring their kids for a play in the park and contribute any ideas or suggestions.

Date and time will be confirmed early Jan.  Please call Alicia on 0407 643 935 or email: alicia_benn@hotmail.com

Thank you to all families that have paid their school fees for 2020.  Just a reminder that school fees are overdue and if you could please attend to payment before 31 December 2020. For any families experiencing difficulties you could please email the office to advise a suggested payment option plan.  Many Thanks.

The St Patrick's School community and staff would like to once again thank Leanne McDonnell for the last 5 years as our canteen coordinator.  We are all very grateful for the hard work you have put in to ensure our children enjoyed their Monday and Friday treats. 

Thank you Leanne 

Happy Birthday to the following students who recently celebrated their birthday.  

5th December - Montanna Manns & Nate Tozer 

11th December - Indi Cole 

We would also like to wish the following students many happy returns for their birthday in the school holidays.  We hope you all have a lovely day celebrating your day of birth. 

17th December - Locky Eccleston & Asher Jones 

18th December - Will Gaskin 

25th December - Emily Ryan 

27th December - Christyne Calub

28th December - Garvita Joshi 

29th December - Darby Jones 

31st December - Anson Chew

14th January - Jasper Rui

22nd January - Dale Paton 

26th January - Sophie Graham 

The staff at St Patrick's Primary School wish all of our students and families a very Merry Christmas and a safe New Year.  Thank you for all of your continued support throughout 2020.