Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Happy St Patrick’s Week!

It has been a delightful week celebrating the feast of St Patrick. The students have enjoyed a games and activities afternoon, an ice-cream creation afternoon in which we raised money for Project Compassion. We celebrated Mass, participated in a delicious morning tea and welcomed families into our classrooms for open classrooms, but the fun didn’t stop there!

We also celebrated with a dress up day, photos with Paddy, a St Patrick’s themed canteen day (thank you to our wonderful parent volunteers and for all those who donated delicious treats) and some Irish dancing led by the very talented Mrs Cudina. We finished the week with an assembly celebrating the amazing diversity of cultures that make up the St Patrick’s school community with a Harmony Day Liturgy.

What a week! I would like to thank all the teachers and parents who have contributed to making this week a fantastic celebration for our students.

Open Morning @ St Patrick’s

Next Thursday morning between 9:30 and 10:30 St Patrick’s will host an ‘Open Morning’ in which prospective students and their families will have the opportunity to see all that St Patrick’s have to offer. There will be brief school tours, activities for students to engage in and a simple morning tea for parents. It will be a wonderful way to show off our beautiful school with members of the community.

Evacuation Practise

On Monday next week we will practise our school evacuation procedures in the unlikely event that we should need to use them. 

As a result, the school telephone and front counter will be unattended from approximately 12:00pm to 12:15am. We will ensure we reinforce with students that this is only a practise to avoid any students becoming upset or overwhelmed. You may choose to talk to your child about this over the weekend if you feel that would be beneficial.

Teacher Professional Learning

Last Wednesday evening, St Patrick’s teaching staff along with staff from St Brigid’s, Holy Cross and St Michael’s engaged in professional learning in regards to ‘Modern Assessment Theory’ in which Professor Jim Tognolini from Sydney University presented to staff in Thirroul. Teachers were also given to collaborate cross schools, as we work towards a joint staff development at the end of the term. The focus of the staff development day will focus on assessment and moderation and we look forward to sharing in the learning with colleagues from other single stream schools.

Kind regards
Mr Mitchell Elks
Principal