St Patrick's School

Dear Parents/Caregivers 

The end of the term is fast approaching. Today, we had a wonderful celebration of Thanksgiving with a Whole School Mass. We were able to reflect on our year and thank God for the many blessings we were given even though it was still a difficult year for many with COVID restrictions changing constantly.  

Volunteers are an important part of our school community. Our volunteers give up their time to serve others without any financial compensation. At St Patrick’s School, we rely on volunteers to help in the canteen and library, to serve on the Parents and Friends Committee and School Board and especially to help with excursions. We were able to show them our appreciation by inviting them to a Liturgy and Morning Tea. We are blessed to have a wonderful unique and diverse St Patrick’s community. Our uniqueness makes us special and highlights the importance of accepting and celebrating individual difference. We are always short of volunteers and would welcome many more in the new year. If you are available to help on occasion, please see Mandy in the Front Office to start the process. It would be much appreciated. 

Tomorrow evening is our biannual Christmas Carols Evening. We look forward to seeing all families at this event. There will be a free sausage for all from 5-5:30pm. The canteen will be open to sell drinks and chips. Please note that the venue needed to be changed to indoors as we were unable to get staging to hold the event outside. Families can still bring a picnic basket and eat on the school, grounds before the event if they wish to do so. The children have been practising and look forward to performing for you. 

It is the time of the year when we farewell our Year 6 students and wish them God’s blessings for their life journey ahead. Every Year 6 student should be proud of their achievements and the contribution they have made to St Patrick’s School. Although they will be missed, we are excited for them and the possibilities they have ahead of them. It is now their time to share their goodness and light with their new school communities and we wish them every success and happiness for the journey ahead. The last day for the Year 6 students is Wednesday 14th December.  

The students will be receiving the Semester 2 reports in the last week of school. Class Changeover will take place on Tuesday 13th December. All students from Reception – Year 5 will finish their school year on Thursday 15th December. Please note – school finishes at 3:10pm on that day.  

Please note, the canteen/uniform shop will only be open be open 3 days each week as of next year. Open days will be Monday, Thursday and Friday. This decision has been made as Tuesday and Wednesdays are not busy days and financially it is not viable to keep it open all week. No children who come to school without lunch, will continue to be provided with a cheese sandwich which is the current practice. 

The 2023 school year begins on the 30th January. All parents are invited to join us under the veranda of the school hall for morning tea as you drop your children to school. We hope to see many parents there. It is a wonderful opportunity to reengage with other parents or to meet some new ones. 

As we go into the school holiday break, we wish you all a very blessed Christmas filled with love. Enjoy this special time together. Families are the most precious gift we have been given so I hope you get lots of opportunities to spend quality time together with your families. See most of you in 2023. 

Merry Christmas and Happy 2023 

In all things love 

Barbara Ahern & Anne Marie Platten 

The Leadership Team 

It is hard to believe the school year is nearly over for 2022. We have had so many different experiences throughout the year, and we all have so much to be thankful for. We began the year with a staggered beginning with COVID isolation and after a few weeks got into the swing of school life. We have gradually been able to welcome parents back into school and include families in our school events and we are really pleased that we can now all celebrate together.  

As we complete the year, we have many celebrations that we can enjoy together. Today we celebrated our End of Year Graduation Mass. It was a special celebration and gave us the opportunity to pray and thank God for the many blessings we have at St Patrick’s School. Tomorrow is the Christmas Carols and next Monday the Year 6 students and their families celebrate their graduation from St Patrick’s School.  

St Vincent De Paul Christmas Hampers 

I would like to thank everyone who has donated to the Christmas Hampers. We have been so impressed with the generosity of our families. The donations will be collected next Tuesday, 13th December so if you haven’t had a chance to donate and would like to, please send your goodies to your child’s class.  

Cyber safety 

Students at St Patrick’s School do not have access to social media on school devices. This year, students from Year 3-6, have had an incursion with a Police Officer who visited and spoke about keeping safe online. Senior Primary teachers also taught a unit of work around Cyber Safety. All students and their parents sign an ICT User Agreement Policy that clearly outlines ways students are allowed and not allowed to use school devices. Students who break the Agreement lose their privileges for a given time and parents are informed through a letter. 

Many students are allowed to use social media and gaming outside of school hours whilst in the care of their parents. This is often when students are inappropriate and make unacceptable and derogatory comments about other students. Students need supervision and guidance to ensure their own safety and to ensure that they are being respectful of others. Many parents often do not know the best way to support their child. Two useful sites for parents are: 

• The eSafety government site which had many tips and advice for parents 

https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIxpjr8uLe-wIVih0rCh2cywb2EAAYASAAEgJlAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds 

• The Carly Ryan Foundation which has free facts sheets for parents on all social media apps that students may be using including what the app does, the age limit, challenges and to block or report issues 

https://www.carlyryanfoundation.com/ 

Special thanks to Jacqui Terryschild for arranging, baking and packaging the Christmas Cookies, what an amazing effort!!!

To all families who pay their school fees by Bpay St Patrick’s School Biller Code has changed and it is now 299461. Your reference number has remained the same.  If you have set up your own regular Bpay payment please amend this immediately.

If you have any questions in regards to this change please ring me on 83034500.

Christine Lavender

Finance Officer