Term 3 Week 2 Newsletter

FROM THE PRINCIPAL’S DESK

Dear Families, 

Welcome back to Term 3. We warmly welcome back Maryanne Hacker to Year 6 with Celine Lees and all new families who have joined our school community this term and trust that you are settling in well. We have been inundated with applications for enrolments across the grades this year and unfortunately have had to turn away over 30 Kindergarten students for 2026 as we have reached capacity. All classes, except the current Kinder are close to capacity, and as the community expands, we expect demand to continue. Whilst we would love to accept all families wishing to enrol at St Patrick’s we are unable to meet demand in some grades. We have over 50 siblings enrolled for Kinder 2026 and look forward to beginning the transition to school program next term once all enrolments are finalised. Learning Support Staff will be visiting preschools and undertaking planning in readiness for the requirements of our new cohort. To that end we will be sending out details of the process in the next few weeks.  

The term has kicked off with all students participating in the gymnastics program. The teaching of gymnastics requires specialist training which most teachers do not have, therefore we are required to employ specialist teachers to cover this mandatory part of the curriculum. We try to have this cost subsidised by a Sporting Grant but unfortunately this time we were unsuccessful. There will be no cost to you as we will absorb the cost for this year but will need to factor in this cost to next year’s resource fee. Fees for 2025 need to be finalised by the end of November for those families who have elected to make regular contributions unless you have an agreement in place, families who have elected to pay fees as an annual lump sum should have already paid the fees for 2025 as this amount was due by the end of June 2025. Please contact the school admin and speak to Sally if you are in arrears or having difficulty keeping up with your fees so that we can assist. Students transferring to high school will need to have their accounts cleared or agreements in place as part of the enrolment process. Families should contact the office to make arrangements as soon as possible, as places are very limited.  

Congratulations to all students on having a positive start to the term and being awarded 280 shamrocks with MacKillop house in the lead this week. Next week we celebrate MacKillop Week which is a fitting way for the house to celebrate. The theme for MacKillop house is “Special love for the poor”, manifested in showing fairness, including others, showing forgiveness and being a role model through being a WEST (Welcoming, Encouraging, Sorry, Thanks) person. Each week’s MJR focus helps us remember ways to practise being the best person we can be and being the spirit of Jesus, making our school community a safe and happy place. 

This week we were very excited to support Monique Traub-Rhem in Aspire with Stage 3 having the pleasure of going to the performance today. Congratulations on a fine performance. I have tickets for tomorrow evening and look forward to the event.  

Last week we had the pleasure of an author visit from Deborah Abela. Deb is a distinguished author of 30 books, and we were very fortunate to have her dynamic presence at St Patrick’s inspiring the writer in all of us. Following that visit we had a cold write experience this week which will hopefully see student’s having progressed in their skills from the Term 1 sample but also including some of the aspects that Deb spoke about in her presentations last week, in terms of audience capture and risk taking with story ideas. Teachers will apply a K-6 marking criteria to these at a staff meeting later in the term.  

I will be on LSL from next Friday for 6 school days. Please see Dennis Nolan in my absence for any urgent matters. I will be back for Book Week – one of my favourite events on the school calendar. I look forward to seeing you all at the Book Week celebrations and Grandparent’s Day event and thank you in advance for your support of the Book Fair. This event will be captured on camera and for the first time communicated to you via our newly created Facebook page. St Patrick’s Facebook page details can be found in this newsletter. COMPASS will remain the main form of communication and source of truth. Facebook will give us a platform to share good news stories and events as they happen. Parents who have opted for photo permission restrictions will be contacted over the next few weeks to ensure we have captured your permission to post or otherwise. We look forward to keeping you up to date with great things that happen in our school on a more regular basis. 

In the meantime, dress warmly and perhaps I’ll see you at the Infant’s disco this Friday night. 

God Bless, 

Niamh   

CALENDAR EVENTS 

IMPORTANT DATES FOR 2025

ORGANISATION AND MANAGEMENT

FATHERS DAY CELEBRATIONS - SAVE THE DATE

BOOK WEEK AND GRANDPARENTS DAY

RE NEWS

UPCOMING LITURGIES AND MASSES

As we look forward to Term 3, we would like to share the dates for our upcoming liturgies and masses. Times for these celebrations are to be confirmed early next term.

• Feast of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop Liturgy
  Friday 8^th August (Week 3)
  Led by Year 2
• Father’s Day Liturgy
  Monday 8^th September (Week 8)
  Led by Year 1
• Parish/School Mass – at St Patrick’s Church
  Friday 19^th September (Week 9)
  9:30am
  Attended by Year 6 and Kindergarten

ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER NEWS

CURRICULIUM NEWS

ASPIRE - THE RISE OF BOZZ

ASPIRE’s thrilling 2025 production, The Rise of Bozz, where over 150 talented young performers from across the diocese will bring this powerful story to life through music, dance, and drama. This original production promises to captivate audiences with its bold themes, imaginative storytelling, and unforgettable performances. 

The Rise of Bozz is about a future reshaped by the aftermath of a long and devastating war, technology and emotions have been outlawed. Young people are sent to school not to dream, but to learn how to make a “positive impact” in a world stripped of creativity and feeling. But change is stirring… 

A mysterious artworks tagged Bozz begins to appear across the city, boldly questioning the government’s decisions. These rebellious creations ignite a spark in a small group of outlaws known as The UnEducated, who dare to challenge the status quo and fight for a world where expression and emotion are no longer forbidden. 

Excitingly, our Stage 3 students from Year 5 and Year 6 will be attending the matinee performance on Friday, 1st August. We look forward to taking them to the Civic Theatre to experience this amazing production and be inspired by the creativity and passion of their peers. 

We’re especially proud to share that our very own Monique Traub-Rehm will be part of this incredible cast. Her dedication and talent will shine on stage, and we can’t wait to cheer her on! 

GYMNASTICS

This term, students in all grades have begun gymnastics lessons delivered by Hunter Valley Gymnastics. 

Students have enjoyed these classes and their exposure to a variety of fundamental movement skills. Gymnastics has an enormous number of benefits for students including: 

• Development of fine and gross motor skills 

• Increased strength and coordination 

• Builds balance and flexibility 

• Increased confidence 

• Improved perseverance 

We look forward to continuing to watch all students develop and enhance their skills in these areas. 

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SHAMROCK UPDATE

WEEK 1 

We have started the term positively (or really ended Term 2!) with 172 Shamrocks collated. 

Congratulations to Dirkin for receiving the most shamrocks this week! 

Reminder to students 

Shamrock’s need a NAME and class on them!  

If they are torn, I still need to read name and class!  

These are count them usually on Tuesday morning, so they need to arrive in the box by Monday afternoon to count. 

The House competition starts again each term. 

In Semester 1 we have awarded: 

Let's see what positive interactions we can catch this term. 

CANTEEN NEWS

PARENTING PAGE

P & F Newsletter

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