Dear Parents and Caregivers,

This week the P&F met with Mr Hoctor and myself to discuss all things St Patrick’s. Some of the items we discussed were future fundraising and community events and ways the P&F can support the student’s resources and facilities, working alongside the school. A big thank you to those parents in attendance for their continued support of the school ensuring we make this school the best place for our students to learn and grow. All parents and caregivers are most welcome at our termly gatherings.

Mary MacKillop Feast Day - Mass with the Bishop

Last week our school captains Joey and Leena joined Mr Mattas and myself in representing St Patrick’s at the diocesan Mass for Mary MacKillop’s feast day. This was held at St Francis Xavier Cathedral in Wollongong. We joined many other diocesan schools, nuns, members of the Catholic Women’s league and members from other Catholic organisations. Our school captains represented the school with pride and were treated to some morning tea after the event.

Choosing Kind: A Social and Emotional Learning Experience

In the coming weeks, students will participate in an incursion called 'Choosing Kind,’  facilitated by Cameron Brown from Explore Discover Act. 

This incursion provides an opportunity for all students across the school to engage in social and emotional learning focussed on noticing, building and celebrating connection through the vehicle of choosing kind. This will offer a shared language that can be built on across the school after the experiences. The sessions are experiential, with the students working collaboratively through activities and games that highlight the challenges and opportunities in front of them always, and how when we're mindful we can more consistently act in ways that make a positive difference in our own and others' lives. 

CatholicCare - Parent Workshops

CatholicCare has offered to run parents workshops later this term to support and bring awareness to Child Protection Week (First week of September).

I spoke at the recent P&F meeting in relation to these meetings and was met with a positive response.

The two workshops are titled ‘Managing Big Emotions’ and ‘Social Media and My Child.’ These workshops will be facilitated by our new school counsellor Emerald Hayashi. We will run these workshops in the evening for parents and caregivers to attend in person and we are attempting to either stream the workshop or record it and share at a later date.

The school will communicate the exact dates and times of these workshops once we receive confirmation from CatholicCare.

Warmest regards

Mitchell Elks

Principal