Term 1, Week 6 2025

FROM THE PRINCIPAL’S DESK

Dear Families,

The term has progressed with a flurry of activities. I trust that you had an opportunity to do something that enhanced your wellbeing last week, during ‘Wellbeing Week’. The staff were provided with an opportunity to go for a walk and play a game of volleyball in lieu of a formal meeting. It was great to see so many participants. Others took the time to catch up on aspects of their work or have some down time and I took the opportunity to catch up with a former colleague after school. The students at St Patrick’s wellbeing is always high priority for our staff but during wellbeing week we like to remind people of the importance of looking after yourself as well as others.   

As we move in to Lent, we celebrated two important events this week. The first was Shrove Tuesday – otherwise known as Pancake Tuesday. I was very impressed with the level of collaboration and generosity of the staff and parents to coordinate this event. A huge thank you to parents for providing the donated pancake mix and toppings and for the gold coin donation to kick start our Caritas fundraising. A huge thank you to the cooks on staff who made pancakes either at home or at school, including our groundsman Craig who cooked alongside other staff all morning.,. Lastly, thank you to the staff who counted, wrapped and packaged the classroom bundles and to the staff for serving the pancakes to the students. It was a huge undertaking to make 1200 + pancakes but it went like clockwork.

Ash Wednesday Liturgy was beautifully executed on Wednesday morning with a number of parents and grandparents able to join us. The students read their parts eloquently and the singing was uplifting. The liturgy gave us time to pause, reflect and think about the way we live our lives and how we might use the time of Lent to grow closer to God. The symbolism of the ashes which we distributed to our community, remind us of the commitment we have made to open our hearts to God and the message of the Gospel. During Lent we have an opportunity to show our love by being kind, helpful and thoughtful – by doing good for others without the need for reward. Gone are the days where the whole focus is on fasting and abstinence, although important for reminding us of the plight and hardship of those less fortunate than ourselves, we are asked to focus on what we can do to make their lives better. Project Compassion is one way to do that. We hope to be able to add to our Pancake donations to make a difference. Many thanks to Cassie Dennis who coordinated these events.

I was very proud of the school community's first assembly for the term, held this morning. The choir and band added life to our celebration and acknowledgement of achievement and effort. I loved that I was able to join in saying the prayer and singing the school song with muscle memory. After 20 years, I was impressed to see that the same format is being used. Congratulations to all children who received an accolade this morning. We presented both MJR and Principal awards as this was our first assembly for the year. The great Book Swap is underway and is looking very successful - lots of terrific books and happy shoppers. Thank you to families for the many donations. Assemblies have been hindered by other calendar events, but we will endeavour to have them when we can as the year progresses. Congratulations to all children who received Bronze Awards this week – I was pleased to be able to give these out to Year 4 and Mr Nolan to Infants' grades. I have also been enjoying visiting classes for Learning Walks and Talks and getting to know the students and how they learn. I have been impressed with the level of student engagement and knowledge of content.

In light of the change that will be made to the structure of the P&F to a FACE model in Term 4 2025, I look forward to engaging with you regarding how we might spend the funds that are raised this year and into the future. As the majority of the funds raised in previous years were earmarked for large scale projects there is significantly less in the bank balance for this year, although we have a few small fundraisers that will enhance this amount. It is anticipated that the spend for this year will be approximately $15 000. The expenditure was usually coordinated between the school and the P&F. What is to happen from now on with the FACE model is that a survey will be sent to parents to ascertain ideas and get a consensus on the expenditure. A Diocesan template is being created so in the absence of this I have created a form for you to complete and ask that you complete 1 per family if you are interested in having a voice on how we might spend $15 000 of P&F funds in 2025. This will be sent out through COMPASS.

Thank you to all parents who put in a huge effort with giving support, donations, time, coordination etc – that is why we have a great school, and we will certainly be providing opportunities for input going forward in the new model. I look forward to seeing you at the Family Night later in the term (4 April).

God Bless,
Niamh

CALENDAR EVENTS

HARMONY DAY

On Thursday 27^th March 2025 we will be celebrating Harmony Day. Students are invited to wear orange clothing or an orange accessory with their regular school uniform on this day. See attached flyer.

RE NEWS

PROJECT COMPASSION 

This week we kicked off our fundraising for Project Compassion with our Shrove Tuesday Pancake Celebrations!  

Thank you to our school community for all of your donations of pancake mix and syrup. Thank you also to our staff for their efforts in cooking and serving over 1300 pancakes!! The money raise will go towards our 2025 Project Compassion Appeal.  

Our Social Justice Leaders, Ned and Divya, also took time during the Recess break to sell our leftover pancakes to any students that had extra money to donate. 

During our Ash Wednesday Liturgy, our Student Leaders gave the school a rundown of Caritas and their Project Compassion Appeal to give them an understanding of how these donations are used to help others. 

Our fundraising efforts will continue throughout the term with each family receiving a Project Compassion box later this week to collect loose change or other donations at home. We are asking that these boxes be returned to school by the end of Term 1 (Friday 11^th April). 

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ASH WEDNESDAY

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MURRAY WEEK & ST PATRICK’S DAY 

To maintain our focus on our School Houses, their namesake and Josephite Values throughout 2025, we will be continuing to celebrate each house and the connected value for one week in each term. 

The first of these we will celebrate is Murray and the connected value of ‘Heart for Community’.  

Murray Week will be celebrated in Week 8 this term beginning on Monday 17^th March with out St Patrick’s Day celebrations.  

On St Patrick’s Day (17^th March) we will gather in our School Hall for a liturgy at 11:40am led by our Year 6 students. All are welcome! 

Students are also invited to bring GREEN ACCESSORIES ONLY to be worn after the morning session due to NAPLAN also being held on this day.  

After the liturgy our classes will be completing some special St Patrick’s Day activities to celebrate the feast day of our patron saint.  

As our Josephite value that links with Murray is ‘Heart for Community’ we want the focus of Murray Week to be on community building and supporting the idea and importance of community.  

Throughout the week we will decorate and place the Murray flag at the gate each morning to highlight this special week, and a number of students will be around to Greet and Welcome students as they arrive. 

Our students will also be participating in some community building activities throughout the week in their classrooms. 

On Friday 21st March, Stage 1 will be attending the first Parish Mass of the year. This will be led by Year 2 with Year 1 attending. To promote the Heart for Community focus of Murray week, we will be extending an invitation to the member of the Lochinvar Parish and the Sisters of St Jospeh to come along to this Mass.  

CURRICULUM NEWS

LIBRARY NEWS

IMPORTANT MESSAGES FOR PARENTS

SCHOOL PHOTOS

Our school photos are booked for our winter uniform this year and will be on Monday 16^th June 2025. You will receive a notice and link in compass prior to this date to purchase school photos for 2025.

FEES NOTICE

2025 Fees have been finalised and parents can access their accounts through COMPASS. Fee statements will be issued this week to families by email. This statement will have the annual balance of the fees.

It is expected that all fee payers determine the payment that needs to be made each week/ fortnight/ month and depending on your payment frequency. Fees paid by regular instalments must commence payments prior to the end of March 2025 and be paid in full by 30^th November 2025. Annual lump sum payments must be cleared by the 30^th June 2025.

A number of parents found themselves in a difficult position at the end of 2024 having to pay a lump sum payment as they had not been checking their account and making regular payments. While we know that the cost-of-living expenses have increased over the last couple of years, this has also affected the school and this cannot be used as a reason not to keep payments up to date.

Where family circumstances change such as separation, it is not the role of the school to negotiate who is going to pay fees – parents must come to an arrangement and honour the enrolment contract.

Please note that fee concessions are rare and only made after careful consideration of the person’s financial position which is evaluated and based on evidence provided and a meeting with the Principal. Where parents are not making regular payments after receiving fee letters and have a debt beyond the current year, referrals will be made to the Diocese’s Fee Management Officer.

Should you be experiencing financial hardship, please contact the school finance officer.

Health Care Card and Pension Card Holders / Family Discount on Tuition Fee

If you are a fee payer and hold a current Australian Government Health Care Card/Pension card you may be entitled to a discount on your school fees, please contact the school finance officer to request the electronic form to complete and a copy of your card must be downloaded with this submission.

KINDER ENROLMENTS ARE NOW OPEN FOR 2026

Enrolments for Kindergarten 2026 are now open. Parents/carers are encouraged to go online to St Patrick’s Lochinvar website: https://www.mn.catholic.edu.au/enrolment/enrolling-in-a-catholic-school-online/ and complete the enrolment application or log into your compass app and select the family and enrolments tab. Please contact the school office is you have any problems with this. Enrolments will close Friday 23^rd May 2025.

School Tour dates for families that would like to have a look at our school prior to enrolment will be Monday 7^th April – Wednesday 9^th April – 9:30am – 10:15am. To register for a school tour please contact the school office 49307270 or email admin@lochinvarsp.catholic.edu.au. 

YEAR 7 ENROLMENTS FOR ST JOSEPHS ARE OPEN FOR 2026

All year 6 parents will have received a compass notification with a link to complete your child’s application for year 7 2026. If you have any problems or question’s please contact the school office. Applications close Friday 23rd May 2025.

CHANGES TO HOME ARRANGEMENTS 

The school is still receiving a very large number of emails and phone calls for changes to children’s pick up without the child/ren’s class or bus number attached. Please ensure you are familiar with the below procedure to ensure that you are completing this procedure when making contact to change your child’s arrangements. 

An email should be sent to admin@lochinvarsp.catholic.edu.au advising of changes prior to 2:30pm; the email must include your child/ren’s full name, class, and the changes or contact the school office on 49307270 prior to 2:30pm. If your child is aware of the changes and you are just advising the office as a backup please notify of this.  

If the change is a bus, please ensure that you know the bus number. If your child is new to catching the bus or is likely not to remember where to get off, please advise the office where they are getting off so we can remind them. 

ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER NEWS

EAL/D NEWS

SPORT NEWS

POLDING SWIMMING

Congratulations to Madden Mason and Charlotte Echentille who have successfully progressed to the 2025 Polding Swimming Carnival at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre. Charlotte will compete against the 12 year old girls in the Butterfly event and Madden will compete in the Backstroke and Butterfly races against the 11 year old boys.

We wish them the best of luck!

CANTEEN NEWS

A LOOK AT THE MENU

New to the menu this year is the watermelon tub.  These are available for order Thursdays and Fridays at second break.  Order them this week for an ice-cold tub of freshly cut watermelon.

ST PATRICK’S DAY

St Patrick’s Day will see the canteen turn green for the week and our Monday meal deal with radiate hues of green.

Green treats will also be available for purchase during the week.

Grazing boxes will also be available for the family picnic night.  Keep an eye on Compass for ordering details.

QKR REMINDERS

When accessing QKR there are two weeks to choose when ordering.  Please double check you have chosen the correct week for your order. Orders must be completed by 8:30 am sharp.

Please ensure that you have updated your Qkr app to have your child’s current year and class in the app.

VOLUNTEER ROSTER

PARENTING PAGE

EASTER RAFFLE

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