Dear Parents

We were truly blessed yesterday as the rain stopped during the day and we were able to proceed with our planned activities. A big thank you to Father Mark for celebrating Mass and to Mrs Neilson and our school choir who provided the music.

The day followed with green treats being sold by Year 6 – nothing was left. Great cooking Yr 6 and their parents , thank you!

Photos with Paddy were then taken for a dollar at lunch time and a guessing the number of lollies in a jar .

Money form both fundraisers will go towards the Yr 6 graduation.

Our day was complete with a round of 15 minute activities for all classes.

A great day to celebrate our Patron Saint.

Cross Country

Our planned Cross Country has been postponed to Friday 26^th March due to the weather. Same regulations will apply next week.

Parent /Student Conferences

Thank you to all the parents, students and teachers who have been involved so far in our conferences. Can I ask once again that only one parent and the student involved attends. Unfortunately there have been days were both parents have attended and therefore this is unfair to those who have respected our request at this time.

P &F AGM

I wish to acknowledge the ongoing dedication and support of the outgoing P&F executive for the 2020 school year. I also wish to thank all the parents who attended the meetings remotely as well as face to face last year.

A decision was made last night that we will only have one meeting a term (unless there is a need for a special one ). I urge you if possible to attend the next meeting which will be on 27^th April in the school library at 6.30pm.

Congratulations to our 2021 P & F executive:

President - Kelly Pucillo

Vice President - Victoria Harb

Secretary - Marianne Spinelli

Treasurer -Tanya Fonoti

Fundraising Co-ordinator  - Danielle Lukarovski

Canteen co-ordinator - Alisa Stojanovski

Do you have a child ready to start Kindergarten in 2022?

Enrolments are now open for parents who wish to enrol their child at St Patrick’s.

Positions available in other grades also. For more information please contact the School Office.

 Pick up an Enrolment Form from the School Office or download from our website.

PUPIL FREE DAY

The first day of Term 2, April 19th will be a Pupil Free Day. The staff will be involved in Professional Learning around Reading Comprehension. The first day for students therefore will be April 20^th . 

Social Media Webinars for Parents

The Council of Catholic School Parents (NSW/ACT) has joined with the eSafety Commissioner to present two free webinars for parents and carers in late March 2021.

The webinars are:

• Helping kids thrive online (for parents/carers of 5-12 year olds)
• Tech, teens and time online (for parents/carers of 12-18 year olds).

Both are free but registration is required.

Provided are two flyers to use to promote these webinars in your parent/carer community via the school newsletter and any school social media platforms.

For newsletters - link to the pdf version so that the relevant hyperlinks remain active. For social media - use the jpg version as the graphic/visual and include the relevant links in the text of the post so that people can link to the registration page.

The relevant link for both webinars

Helping Kids Thrive

Enjoy the next couple of weeks

Mrs Anne Duggan - Principal

Positive Behaviours for Learning (PB4L)

Our PB4L focus for next week (Week 9) is Respect for Adults

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

1. Greeting adults
2. Looking at adults when they speak to you.
3. Holding the door open for an adult
4. Offering to assist adults
5. Speaking courteously to adults eg: saying thank you when given something
6. Cooperating with adults

Examples of behaviours that negatively impact on Respectful, Responsible and Safe Respect for Adults to be taught include:

• Ignoring adults
• Pushing past adults
• Interrupting adults who are talking
• Playing ball games when adults are walking through the game

Our PB4L focus for Week 10 is Good Manners

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

•  Saying ‘Please’ and ‘Thank you’
•  Saying ‘Excuse me’
•  Saying ‘Good Morning”
•  Asking ‘May I’
•  Waiting my turn to talk
•  Looking at the person speaking
•  Using the other person’s name

Examples of behaviours that negatively impact Respectful, responsible and safe Use of Good Manners to be taught include:

Not saying please, thank you or excuse me

• Interrupting            
• Walking away when someone is talking to you.
• Ignoring others             

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.

PB4L Data

It is with pride that I inform you that over the last two weeks 64 students were given Citizenship, Merit, Library or Uniform Awards or Playground Affirmation Awards whilst there were only 3  incidents of Inappropriate behavior recorded.

Congratulations boys and girls. This is wonderful news to share.

Please continue to act respectfully, responsibly and safely.

BEFORE SCHOOL SUPERVISION OF STUDENTS

Supervision of students before school is from 8:00 am – 8:45 am. Although not obligated to do so supervision from 8:00 am - 8:15 am is a service the school generously offers to parents. Students are not permitted to play during this time. The supervised play period before school is from 8:15 am - 8:45 am

Please note that students will not be permitted on to the school site before 8:00 am. Please remain with your child/children should you arrive at school prior to 8:00am. Thank you

AFTERNOON DISMISSAL

Kembla St Parent Pick-up

If you pick-up your child/ren from Kembla St. in the afternoon you will know that the numbers of families doing so is at an all-time high. As such this already busy time is even busier. We sincerely appreciate the cooperation of the majority of parents and carers who respect the road rules governing the ‘pick-up/drop-off No Parking’ zone

To help make this time more manageable for the staff and students could I ask please that you do not park in the pick-up/drop off zone before 2:55pm

Secondly, please do not sit double parked along Kembla St for any length of time.

If there is not a car space available, please keep driving around the block until such time as a space becomes available.

Could I ask please also that you reiterate this message with any and all family members who may collect your child/ren.

Please note that the students are well supervised during the afternoon dismissal. Teachers are on duty at the Kembla St entry/exit until 3:15 and I advise parents to delay their pick-up for five or ten minutes so that the congestion is lessened.

Mr Gavan Hoctor - Assistant Principal

St Patrick’s Day Celebrations!

What a brilliant day we had at school for the Feast of our Patron Saint, St Patrick! The day started with a lovely Mass with Fr Mark, followed by the ever-popular photo with Paddy the Leprechaun, a bake sale led by Year 6 and finally an afternoon of fun activities. The students skipped, hand-balled, searched for Paddy in the garden, raced on scooter boards and played pin the hat on Paddy. It was a brilliant day and the children had a blast!

If all goes according to plan, we’ll have our Paddy fete and welcome all members of the community next year!

All the best,

Mr Sam Mattas

Religious Education Coordinator