Ever thought of being a Saint? No? Not for you? Probably, Mary MacKillop, who was declared a Saint in 2010, never thought of being a Saint. St Mary MacKillop was declared a Saint on 17th October She led a life of uncommon kindness and was an example to us not to forget those people who are the “forgettables” in our world.

The following two observations highlight the “ordinary person” of St Mary Mackillop: “We want our Saints to be inspiring but to understand the pathways we walk. Mary is a model of human possibility and she worked with what she had available to her and made things happen in a practical, humanly sensitive way.” Sister Carroll. “The real Mary Mackillop was, in her youth, a rather photogenic, nice nun who grew up to be a remarkable woman of toughness and imagination in the way she lived her faith. But she was also an old lady in a wheelchair nursing her little dog after her active days were over.” Fr Tony Kelly.

Class Assemblies

This term assemblies will start at 2pm in the afternoon. Each class will present on a different week. Awards will be given out during this time. Therefore there will be no Thursday morning assembly till next term.

Grandparents Day

24 September is once again a wonderful day on our calendar where our grandparents celebrate a Liturgy, visit classrooms and share some time with their grandchildren. We look forward to seeing many of you again. More information on the day as the time draws close.

Thank you

A special thank you to Mr and Mrs Mauriello whose company Iconcrete donated $150  for the purchase of a teardrop banner. It will  used at Carnivals and other school events. At the soccer Gala Day it was used for the first time.

Book Week

A big thankyou to all for making our Book Week Celebration on Wednesday such a special event! Thank you for the sensational effort undertaken in preparing and dressing your children as a book character. It was the most fabulous day and this was helped by all parents and families who attended the parade, the parents who baked and donated sweets, and our fabulous staff and students who got into the spirit of Book Week.  Thank you to Mrs Plataniotis and Mrs Carey who organised stalls, guessing competition and photo booth. A very special mention and a massive thank you to Mrs Bowater for her time and passion for books and taking time out of her busy life to share her time and passion with us over the last few weeks. 

This week’s Liturgy

This week we congratulated our Term 3 Prefects and celebrated a Liturgy for St Mary of the Cross.

Thank you to Mr Mattas for organising this event.

Kinder 2020 

Reminder to all Kinder 2020 parents about our Term 4 Playgroup and Orientation dates.

Monday 14 October, Tuesday 15 October - 9.00am
Monday 21 October, Tuesday 22 October - 9.00am
Monday 28 October, Tuesday 29 October - 9.00 am
Monday 4 November, Tuesday 5 November - 9.00 am

Tuesday 12 November - Orientation and Parent information morning - 9.00am. (children come and work in the Kindergarten classroom till parent meeting is over). Children need to bring Munch and Crunch

Tuesday 19 November Orientation and Welcome Liturgy - 9.00am - 12.00pm. 
Children come at 9 am and need Munch and Crunch as well as something for Recess. Parents leave their children at 9am and return by 11.40 to the church for a whole school Welcome Liturgy.

St Patrick’s School Website and Facebook page

We are currently undergoing changes. As some of you have already seen our Facebook page is up and running with Book Week photos and information. Facebook will be updated weekly with latest events happening in our school.

Director of Schools Retirement - Mr Peter Turner

It was announced last week that Mr Turner will be retiring at the end of 2019.

Peter has made a difference to the lives of thousands of students, their families and staff and through his leadership he has directly advanced the mission of evangelisation of the Church here in the Diocese of Wollongong and throughout the Church in Australia.

Peter will forever be admired as a wise communicator, a relational leader, a man of faith and of integrity, courage, honesty, stewardship and compassion. He has been unwavering in his profound commitment to the learning, wellbeing, growth and nurturing of faith of each individual child and young person in our care. (Bishop Brian Mascord)

On a personal note I would like to thank Mr Turner for his support to me, our staff and our school. I wish him and his family every best wish for the future.

Peace and best wishes

Anne Duggan
Principal

SPB4L

Our SPB4L focus for this week (Week 5) is Covered Areas

In the explicit teaching lessons the expected behaviours taught will be:

1. Walk when in the covered areas
2. Passive Play
3. Handball only
4. Clean up after myself
5. Stay in my place until the teacher gives me permission to play

Examples of behaviours that negatively impact Respectful, responsible and safe behaviours in our Covered Areas to be taught include:

1. Running and chasing
2. Playing outside the toilets/bubblers
3. Yelling and Screaming
4. Leaving my possessions behind
5. Leaving my place before the teacher gives me permission

Our SPB4L focus for next week (Week 5) is Waste Management

In the explicit teaching lessons the expected behaviours taught will be:

1. Putting my food waste in the compost bin
2. Putting paper and cardboard waste in the recycling bin
3. Putting foil, plastic bags and Gladwrap in the rubbish bin
4. Taking uneaten food home in my lunchbox

Examples of behaviours that negatively impact Respectful, responsible and safe behaviours with our Waste Management to be taught include:

1. Throwing food scraps in either the rubbish or recycling bin
2. Leaving my rubbish in the classroom or on the playground
3. Throwing away uneaten food

We would very much appreciate your discussing these weekly focuses with your children and reviewing the expected and non-acceptable behaviours in our endeavour to see that St Patrick’s is a more respectful, responsible and safe learning community for all.

SPB4L Data 

Throughout Weeks 2 and 3, 53 Citizenship, Merit, Library or Uniform Awards or Playground Affirmation Awards were awarded whilst there were 3 playground incidences of inappropriate behaviour recorded.

WE’RE GOING GREENER - NUDE FOOD EVERYDAY

Week 3 Data

Of the 173 students at school last Friday 127 brought Nude Food to school. This equates to 73% of the student population.

Last weeks most sustainable class was Year 6 with 82% of the students bringing Nude Food. Hip-hip hooray Year 6.

Data will be collected one day each week with the class that has most students bringing ‘Nude Food’ to school during Term 3 enjoying scones baked in the wood fire oven in the garden in week 10 courtesy of Mr Mattas.

School Review and Improvement  (SRI)

One of the goals of the current SRI Plan is to improve student writing. Based on the collection and analysis of writing data (student writing samples, NAPLAN and PAT Data and the Literacy Learning Progressions) during the first Semester teachers are better informed to do this.

The vehicle for this improvement is a Collaborative Inquiry. This is a collective enterprise of the teachers which includes the Co-teaching Cycle, Peer Observations and Learning Walks and Talks, working towards the more specific goal: ‘By the end of 2019, St Patrick’s students will improve the quality of their independent writing by applying correct punctuation and effective grammatical structures at the sentence level’.

The Co-teaching Cycle is led by Mrs Papadopoulos our Instructional Coach and involves the teachers meeting individually to plan a writing lesson designed to meet a prescribed learning intention, the co-teaching of the lesson, and a lesson debrief and evaluation. Each teacher has benefitted from the Co-Teaching Cycle during Terms 2 and 3 this year.

This is complemented by Peer Observations during which colleagues visit other classrooms to observe teachers during a writing lesson and to provide feedback to the teachers to improve teaching and learning. These are scheduled to happen in Weeks 6 and 7 this Term. Learning Walks and Talks will happen more frequently during writing lessons by members of the Leadership Team.  During the visits the Leadership Team member will ask students the 5 Learning questions: What are you learning? How are you going? How do you know?  How can you improve? Where do you go for help? With the support of Education Officers from the Catholic Education Office the staff are confident that through the Co-teaching Cycle, Peer Observations and Learning Walks and Talks our Collaborative Inquiry goal will be achieved.

SCHOOL SURVEY - BULLYING

During this week the eldest child from each family will bring home a Parent /Caregiver Survey designed to give the school feedback about bullying. I urge you to make time to complete both sides of the survey please. In so doing please read the text explaining what bullying is in the text box on the bottom of the front page. Please return your completed survey to school with your child as soon as is practical but by the end of next week (Friday, 23 August). Thank you.

Mr Gavan Hoctor
Assistant Principal

 

MEDALLION WINNER

ABBIE LOKYS - YR 4

Congratulations to the following students receiving awards:

Principals Awards:

Hannah Dos Santos - Yr 1
Levi Kinnas - Yr 2
Zoe Bower - Yr 5
Sienna Curtis - Yr 6

Uniform Awards:

Zarra Mauriello - Kinder
Nathan Harrison - Yr 3
Christian Nagy - Yr 3
Alana Crapis - Yr 6

Library Awards:

Elyssa Sirijovski - Kinder
Tiarna Di Ciaccio - Yr 2
Benson Fonoti - Yr 3
Alexia Trajcevska - Yr 4
Sophia Cappetta Alves - Yr 5

Congratulations and a very Happy Birthday to the following students celebrating over the next two weeks:

Samuel Curcio - 14/08 - Yr 5
Alexia Trajcevska - 14/08 - Yr 4
Chelsea Jovanovski - 19/08 - Yr 5
Bede Woods - 24/08 - Yr 2
Bianca Meta - 26/08 - Yr 4

Year 6 Mass with the Bishop

On Tuesday, 6 August the Year 6 girls and boys were fortunate enough to participate in a very special mass with our Bishop, Brian Mascord, at St John Vianney’s Co-Cathedral Fairy Meadow. The students were joined by Year 6 students from several other schools in our diocese, and all who were present were respectful, reverent and participated joyfully and enthusiastically. Following the mass, the girls and boys were treated to an excellent concert held by the Catholic Youth Ministry of Wollongong. Our students danced, laughed and sang through the afternoon and it was a wonderful day.

Confirmation

Just a friendly reminder that many of our Year 6 students will be completing the sacrament of Confirmation on Tuesday, 27 August at 7:30pm in the Parish. All are welcome to join us at this significant event for the girls and boys.

Kind Regards

Mr Sam Mattas
Acting Religious Education Coordinator 

Year 6 Cake Stall

Last week during our Book Week celebrations we held a cake stall to raise funds to go towards Year 6 Graduation. We would like to thank the Year 6 families for providing some wonderful treats for our stall. It was great to see such great support for our Year 6 class. Special mention to our Year 6 students and of course some Year 5 students who assisted with the running of the stall.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: