Principal's Awards

Remi McCarrol

For always displaying a positive attitude in all that you do at school each day. You display a commitment to all of our Mercy Values and you should be very proud. Keep following in the footsteps of Catherine McAuley.

Year 3 to 6 News

Our Year 3-6 Class have been making great progress this year with many students having reached our reading level benchmarks and others working toward meeting this goal by the end of the term. We have valued our Guided Reading sessions and have been lucky enough to have worked with Miss Millar and Miss Renee in these sessions to practice our fluency and reading comprehension.

A special thank you goes to Sam McCormack who volunteered her time with us last term in preparation for Paint the Town REad. Sam spent some afternoons reading with both classrooms to share some wonderful stories and engage with the students. We are very lucky at St Patrick’s School to have so many parents who are involved in our learning.

A particular shoutout goes to all of those parents and carers who gave up their time earlier this term to take our students to and from the Roma & District Eisteddfod. A huge thank you to those that assisted with transport, our students and staff recognise this as a great contribution to allow for student opportunities.

Well done to our year 6 students who performed a solo piece and a great congratulations goes to our whole school cohort who performed ‘The Human Fly From Bendigo’ by Doug MacLoed. We look forward to participating in the Eisteddfod next year!

In the classroom our 3-6 students have read the quest novel Rowan of Rin. We were fascinated with the Heroes Journey theme of the novel and many students are enthusiastic to read more of the novels written by Emily Rodda.

Students have been working diligently on understanding morals and ethics in Religion and linking this to our Civics and Citizenship unit on local government and the importance of rules and laws in society.

Our last few weeks have flown by and we have invited our Year 2 students into the classroom on Fridays for Transition sessions. They have been welcomed by our current 3-6 students and have participated in a range of activities including making Oobleck, getting-to-know you Bingo and building straw houses in teams. We hope the Year 2’s have enjoyed their experiences in our room and this has helped in ensuring they have a smooth transition to the 3-6 Class in 2024.  

Miss Callinan

Prep to Year 2 News

The Year Two’s have enjoyed their transition mornings with the 3-6 class. This term, we welcomed the Mitchell Kindergarten children into our classroom and playground and look forward to having them again in 2024!

Our learning:

We have been writing many letters, one to a monster who lives under the bed, one to Miss Millar persuading her to bring the slip and slide in for the end of term and one to Santa to entertain him while he makes the toys! We also wrote a wish list to Santa – lucky we’ve all been good!

In Maths we are consolidating all our learning. This week in particular, we have been revising whole, half and quarters. You can help your child by seeing if they can draw the other half of a picture using symmetry.

In Science this term students are finishing our learning about physical science and objects move. We have been investigating how our bodies move with voluntary and involuntary movements and how objects move with labelling them as push and pull.

In Religion, students have been exploring the Christmas Story. We have been brainstorming what we know about Christmas and what gifts God gave each of us. We are evaluating what life was like in the time of Jesus and our own birth stories.

Thank you:

Thank you to our wonderful school community for the new resources we have in our classroom including the wooden blocks, marble run, wooden cars and magnetic tiles. They have provided us with stimulating conversations and creative ideas. Thank you again!

Without your support, our classroom wouldn’t have been the dynamic, exciting place it’s been for us this year. Thank you to everyone for helping us learn and grow. We wish you a relaxing Christmas break and look forward to seeing you all again in 2024!

  Mrs Bryant

Awesome Achiever Awards

Myhia Mitchell

Well done Myhia! You're disposition to learning and setting new challenges is amazing!  It's great to see you taking on feedback to further improve your school work. You are very ready for Year 3.                               Keep aiming high!

Daniel Batstone

Well done, Dan! Your disposition to learning and setting new challenges is amazing. It's great to see you taking on feedback to further improve your schoolwork. You come to school organised each day, with a smile on your face. Congratulations!

Luke Morris

For working productively on his English Narrative for Rowan of Rin. Luke, your drive has improved throughout 2023 and when you focus and show determination to complete any task, you excel with confidence! Congratulations on your improvements this year, I enjoy hearing your creative ideas in your writing and the passion that you have when you are proud of your own work.

Mercy Awards    

Beau Kinsley

For showing respect every day. Your manners towards your friends and teachers has not gone unnoticed Beau. Your listening heart, kind words and actions are evident every day. Thank you for being a wonderful friend to all at St Patrick's. Congratulations, Beau - we're so proud of you!

Torah Lewis

Torah you consistently display our school's motto of 'Caring Makes the Difference'. You offer to help your friends in completing work and assist younger students in the playground. You have stepped out of your comfort zone this year by being the youngest participant in Opti-Minds with St Patrick's. I can't wait to hear about your achievements in the future, you are developing  the qualities of a leader!

Eloise Schafer

For showing kindness and compassion to your classmates. You have a wonderful ability to cheer people up, and help them when they're sad. Congratulations, Eloise - we're so proud of you.

Important Dates for 2024

Principal's News

It is hard to believe that we have concluded another school year, where we have all had the pleasure of watching all of our students grow and develop throughout their 2023 learning journey.

This year has been another busy and enjoyable one for our St Pat’s family. 

• Staff and students from our 5/6 class attended a fun filled camp with staff and students from St Mary’s Catholic School in Charleville. This was a wonderful experience for our students to meet new people, make new friends and experience a range of fun team building activities whilst on camp.
• Our Prep – Year 2 students were gifted a number of new resources from our PEN group and our students have very much enjoyed using these new resources during their learning time with Mrs Bryant.
• Maggie, Torah, Paitence, Kyemma and Wyatt worked very hard during their lunch breaks and after school this year to create a challenge for our first ever Regional Optiminds team. After achieving great results at Regionals, they were then invited to attend the State Finals in Brisbane. This was an incredible experience for all students involved. They overcame challenges to create a device that met the Optiminds requirements and were able to be present this device to a very large audience. I am looking forward to working on our next Optiminds task in 2024. If any families are interested in assisting with this great opportunity please let the school office know.
• Both classes performed beautifully at the Roma and District Eisteddfod. It was wonderful to see the confidence that our students displayed when performing their pieces to everyone.
• We have continued our regular Peace Garden Liturgies which are run by our students and class teachers, and Father Tom has continued to visit our school on a regular basis. Our students very much enjoy engaging with the Religious life of our school and they have definitely enjoyed building a strong positive relationship with Father Tom.
• We have had an amazing swimming carnival which saw many students pushing themselves out of their comfort zone and having a red hot go at many of the events on the day. Congratulations to our house winners, Patrician’s.

Throughout the year we have had a number of people volunteer their time to support our school and our events. We have held a number of fundraising events that have provided our students with some exciting new classroom resources, covered partial  camp costs and Optiminds costs for our families, contributed funds to our Yarning Circle creation and our Peace Garden refresh. Without this additional support from families and wider community members, we would not be able to achieve the great things that we do for our students. On behalf of St Patricks School I would like to say a very big thank you to our Parent Engagement Network and everyone who has assisted and supported our fundraisers throughout the year. I would also like to thank our local bussiness owners and locals who have donated items to our school for various fundraisers.

This year I have had the privilege of being part of the Toowoomba Catholic Schools e-Learning team. This team has been developed to look at innovative ways to provide learning opportunities for our students in our Toowoomba Catholic Schools when we do not have access to specialist educators. Our team consists of principals, teachers and TCSO staff. Myself and our e-Learning team were each awarded an ‘Excellence in Teaching and Learning Award for Category 4 – eLearning’. This is a wonderful achievement for our school and I am very much looking forward to seeing what the next steps will be for our eLearning team and schools in our Toowoomba Diocese.

I would like to thank my wonderful team of staff for their great work this year. Each and every one of my staff members are committed to ensuring that your child is achieving the very best learning experiences possible during their time here with our St Pat’s family. I thank them all for their contribution to our school and to your child's education.

At St Patrick’s we pride ourselves in providing a supportive and nurturing learning environment where each and every one of our students are encouraged to lead a full and flourishing life. I am incredibly proud of every students achievements this year. Each and every St Patrick’s student has grown and improved in their own persoanl growth throughout this year, and they should all be very proud of what they have achieved, as they continue their journey to lead a full and flourishing life.

To all of our students, families, staff and friends, I wish you all a very happy Christmas and a fabulous holiday spent with family and friends. I look forward to seeing you all for another wonderful year in 2024.

#caringmakethedifference

Warm regards,

Miss Kylie Millar

Christmas Mass

Christmas Mass will be celebrated on Christmas Day at 7.00 a.m. at St Columba's Church in Mitchell.

Term Dates for 2024

Term One - Tuesday, 23rd January to Thursday, 28th March 2024

Term Two - Tuesday, 16th April to Friday, 21st June 2024

Term Three - Tuesday, 9th July to Friday, 13 September 2024

Term Four - Monday, 30th September to Wednesday, 4th  December 2024

PEN News

The next meeting of the Parent Engagement Network (PEN) will be held in early 2024. Everyone is welcome to join us

Library News

A gentle reminder for our students to ensure that they have a library bag for library borrowing each week. Please also remember to return your books each week for weekly borrowing on Thursdays.

Please have a look for items that are missing or overdue. Thank you.

Bookfair and Parade

St Patrick’s Bookfair was held in the multipurpose centre during Week 6 and Week 7 this term. The theme was Hats off to Reading, which culminated in a Bookfair and Bookweek Dress Up Parade on Thursday,        24 August. Thank you to all who purchased from the Bookfair, we sold nearly $1,000.00 and raised over $150.00 for our school library. 

The Dress Up Parade was hotly contested with all students dressing up as their favourite book character, so judging the best dressed was a tough gig.

In Prep – Year 2 class the best dressed was awarded to Pirate Archee, with the people’s choice awarded to Toy Story Jessie (Pippa). In Year 3-6 class the best dressed was awarded to Gnome Torah, with the people’s choice awarded to Aviator Snoopy (Maggie).

The Children’s Book Council of Australia host annual book awards to promote children's books of high literary and artistic quality. These awards are now the most influential and highly respected in Australia. Each year it is held in Week 7, Term 3 and schools and public libraries across Australia spend a week celebrating books, and Australian authors and illustrators. We undertook activities relating to this year’s theme Read, Grow, Inspire to highlight the importance of reading.

Thank you for your support of our Bookfair and Bookweek activities.

Sarah Mehay-Dewar

(Librarian - St Patrick's Mitchell)

Gunggari News

In week 4 Des and Tennille visited us.  Prep-2 learnt about movement.  Year 3-6 learnt more about describing people. This term students from our 3-6 class have also been visiting the Kindy each fortnight to teach our local kindy students some Gunggari words and songs. We have been very impressed with how well our kindy kids are saying and remembering what our students are teaching them.

On 6^th September wit is Indigenous Literacy Day.  Saraeva Mitchell will come in and read some stories to our students. We invite our families to join us for this story sharing at 10am.

Principal's Award

Brayden Wise

For keeping our school clean and tidy. Thank you for caring for our school environment and picking up rubbish around our grounds.

PE/Health News

Now that the weather has begun to warm up, so has our excitement for more sport options on a Thursday!

The students competed in the Athletics Carnival last term, held at Mitchell State School. I was so impressed with their enthusiasm and readiness to give everything a go. The remaining regional sport to take place is the Aquathlon (11-12 years) and Triathlon (13-19 years). Please let the school know asap if your child is eager to attend the Southwest trials.

All classes are currently completing the Daniel Morcombe unit for their Health component. This involves understanding how to be safe and to recognise, react and report in situations where appropriate.

Below is what we are working towards in each grade through Physical Education.

WellbeingNews

Wellbeing Matters:

We are getting to the busy end of the school term, this month the focus is on sleep. Adults should be aiming to get between 7-8 hours of sleep per night.

These tips for a goods nights sleep were taken from the Raising Children website which can be found at https://raisingchildren.net.au/

Before bed these tips can help you get a better night’s sleep:

· Establish a regular bedtime routine.

· Find ways to switch off and wind down before bed – for example, read a book, listen to some gentle music, or use techniques like breathing exercises or muscle relaxation.

· Avoid tea, coffee, soft drinks, energy drinks, chocolate, cigarettes and other stimulants close to bedtime. They make resting and sleeping harder and affect how well you sleep.

· Avoid using screens in your bedroom, including television, mobile phones and tablets.

In bed It can be hard to wind down after a long day, or to switch your mind off so you can sleep. If you’re having trouble getting to sleep or staying asleep, try not to get worried and frustrated. Instead, try reminding yourself that it’s OK that you’re warm and restful in bed.

If this doesn’t work, it might be worth getting up and writing down what’s on your mind. Then you can try going through your bedtime routine again.

During the day making time for yourself can help you feel better. Even just five minutes reading a book, walking around the block or doing some meditation can give you the sense of being rested when you’re not getting enough sleep.

It’s possible to ‘catch up’ on missed sleep, so nap during the day when you can. You can also make up for missed sleep during the week by sleeping more on the weekend.

Physical activity and healthy food can give you more energy, so make time for exercise and eating well – every little bit helps!

Awesome Achiever Awards

Kyemma McKane

For taking great pride in your book work and all activities completed in class. You are organised and prepared for all tasks! You set a great example for our younger students about how to be ready for any lesson! This has allowed you to measure and draw neat and accurate angles in maths and read and edit your quick writes in English.

Paint the Town REaD

School Photos

Norah Fallon Bursary

Students in years 6 in Mitchell, Mungallala, Dunkeld or students of the Mitchell area, School of Distance Education, are invited to submit an application for the 2023 Norah Fallon Bursary. 

This Bursary was established in 2005 by the late Mr. Terry Fallon in memory of his mother Mrs. Norah Fallon and is administered by a group of trustees. The value of the Bursary is $6,000 which is to be used to assist with further education expenses such as the purchase of books, equipment, tuition, or residential expenses and is paid at $1,000 per year during the following six years.

Application forms are available from the office of the Principal at all schools.

Applications close on 31 October 2023.

For further information contact Donna Burke, 31 Ann Street, Mitchell or by phone on 0427 231 506.

Mercy Award

Myhia Mitchell

For showing courage this week. You have not stopped putting your 'best foot forward' and have been giving new things a go. You have shown resilience, and each day you have a smile on your face. Congratulations, Myhia - we are so proud of you!

Important Dates for 2023

Principal's News

Dear Families,

We are quickly approaching the end of another term. Throughout this term our staff and students have enjoyed engaging in wide range of activities and learning experiences.

Year 5/6 Camp

In week 6, our year 5/6 students joined students from St Mary's Charleville for a combined camp at Noosa. Our students had a sensational time, and it was lovely to see students making new friends and working together whilst on camp.

Opti-minds

This year, St Patrick's School has been creating history by participating in their first every Opti-minds event. Congratulations to our Opti-minds team, Girraween (Place of many flowers). Torah, Wyatt, Maggie, Paitence and Kyemma have been working on their challenge over the past few weeks and were excited to showcase their challenge for their final event on Sunday.  Creating this challenge has involved students working during their lunch breaks, afterschool and on weekends. Our team have learnt many new skills and they have overcome many challenges along the way.

Students presented their challenge on Sunday, and they did a fantastic job. Our team received a 'Spirit of Opti-minds' award, and they were awarded 1st place in their Science Engineering challenge. Students have now been invited to attend the State Finals in Brisbane later this year.

Congratulations and well-done team!

Roma & District Eisteddfod

This year St Patrick’s School will be participating in the Roma & District Eisteddfod. The focus this year is Speech and Drama. Our school will be performing a whole school item and students in our 3-6 class will be performing individual pieces. In the coming weeks we will be seeking parent volunteers to assist with transporting students to and from the event. Keep an eye out in the Parent Portal for further information.

Book Fair Parade

It was lovely to see families and community members attend our Book Fair Parade last week. The theme this year was 'Hats Off to Reading'. Students excitedly dressed up as their beloved book characters and enjoyed showing case their characters in front of their peers and guests. Thank you to staff and families for your contribution to this event.

Warm regards,

Kylie Millar

Reading

This year our students have been working very hard with their literacy skills, including reading and comprehension skills. Each week students engage in a wide range of literacy and reading activities at school.  Reading has a wide range of benefits for students which include, expanding vocabulary, increasing memory skills, developing their critical and analytical thinking, and improving concentration (just to name a few). At home there are a number of ways that you can support and encourage your child to read.

Enrol Now For 2024

If you are thinking about enrolling your child for Prep in 2024 please contact the school office as soon as possible to arrange an interview time. Interviews have been extended until the end of this term. If you were not able to attend our Prep Open afternoon please contact the school to arrange a school tour and a meet and greet session.

Enrol - St Patrick's School, Mitchell

Term Dates for 2023

Term Three - Tuesday, 11th July to Friday, 15th September 

Term Four - Tuesday, 3rd October to Friday, 1st December

PPF News

The next meeting of the PPF Assn will be held on Wednesday, 13th September at 3.30 p.m. Everyone is welcome to join us and share your ideas to help raise funds for your children.

Car Boot Sale

Chocolate Fundraiser

The PPF is selling boxes of chocolates for $60.00 each.  If anyone is interested in selling a box please contact the school office.

Principal's Award

For displaying a positive and respectful attitude in all that you do. You always warmly greet staff and students and you are always willing to help others. Keep letting your Mercy Values shine through in everything that you do.

Year 5 and 6 News

Years 3-6 have had a busy start to our term. We have begun a variety of interesting units and being halfway through the year students are working toward being determined, passionate and organised 
for each curriculum area. Our Positive Behaviour Ladder has been an exciting new addition to the classroom this term with many students remembering our Behaviour Focus and moving up the ladder!
We have begun a unit on telling stories and have been incorporating elements of drama to practice our skills. We have been using tone, motion, pace, and volume to add zest to our stories! Miss Sonya has kindly provided our class with some interesting and descriptive Indigenous stories written by some of our community members. Students have engaged well in the stories and have spotted some Gunggari words they are confident with!

Maths

In Maths this term, we are recognising odd and even numbers and our upper years 5/6 are 
comparing and ordering decimals and recognising prime, composite and square numbers. 
We have also begun investigating physical science and the impact of forces on our 
everyday lives. We began our unit by listing all of the ways a ball could be moved – one 
student could think of 12 different ways to move a ball! 

Religion

In Religion, our 3-6 have begun to an inquiry into the first Australian Catholics and the history behind our religion. We have many insightful ‘I wonder’ questions that we will aim to answer by the end of our unit. Some of these include: ‘I wonder why mass wasn’t allowed in public?’ and ‘When was it determined that the Irish were Catholic, and the English were Anglican?’

Just a reminder that I encourage all students to attempt to complete their weekly homework to 
consolidate their learning. We have Homework Club each Monday from 3:00pm-3:45pm and it 
is a supportive and happy environment for students to work in if they have questions to 
ask myself or one of their peers.

Bookfair

St Patrick's School Annual Bookfair  will be held in Term 3, from Monday, 14th August to Thursday, 24th August. The Bookfair will close after the Parade.

The Book Fair Parade will be held on Thursday, 24th August at 10.30 a.m.                                                         The Bookfair theme for this year is - Hats Off To Reading. Costumes are to be singular.

For dress ups - think of characters who have hats i.e. Cat in the Hat, Paddington Bear, Mad Hatter, Sorting Hat, Sherlock Holmes, Madeline, The Magic Hat, Pirate, Farmer, Where's Wally, Mary Poppins, Witch......

Prep to 2 News

We hope our P/1/2 families all had a relaxing break over the holidays and spent some time together keeping warm in the cooler weather. The students completed their holiday recounts with excitement and there’s no doubt it will be another busy term ahead!

Our learning:

This term in English we will be focusing on descriptions, including nouns and adjectives to give more detailed responses in both oral language, as well as written responses. This term the year 1’s and 2;s have started spelling as a component of their fortnightly homework. The focus sounds are taught each week and are reflected in these words. Thank you for helping your child with this! The preps are focusing on the long vowel sounds and we have learnt that vowles have both a short and long sound e.g. /a/ as in apple and /a/ as in gave. Our phonological awareness will continue to focus on breaking apart words to hear each sound e.g. c-u-p for preps and blends for the year 1 and 2’s e.g. b-l-o-ck.

In maths we are covering all different concepts and will be focusing on our ‘teen numbers’. Year Two students will continue to focusing on three-digit numbers and using this knowledge to begin operations!

In science this term students are learning about biological science and how to care for living things. In our negotiated play space, we have a vet surgery set up which has been entertaining hearing our students care for their pets’ injuries! Our new pet fish, ‘Owlie’ has also been welcomed and we ensure that he’s fed each morning.

In Religion, students will continue to explore the Creation Story. We know that God created the world in seven days and will compare and contrast this with the Rainbow Serpent as a part of our focus on First Nations perspectives.

100 days of school:

We did it! Thank you so much to all our parents and friends for helping us reach 100 days of learning. We dressed up as what we’d like to be when we’re older. We are now 100 days smarter!

Rotations:

Parent helpers are needed for rotations again this term. Please let me know if you are available on Tuesday morning from 8:45-9:45am – I’d love to hear from you!

Boxes:

If you have any small boxes at home, we’d love to have them as a part of our recycling centre. Cereal boxes etc are great!

A peek into the classroom…

Awesome Achiever Awards

Myhia Mitchell

For your efforts during the Athletics unit, where you showed an immense improvement in your skills. Your positive attitude to trying new activities has been fantastic modelling for your peers.

McKenzie Mitchell

For returning to St Patrick's after the break with a determined and hard working attitude toward all lessons. You proving to be a consistently focussed learner happy to give anything a go. This will make for a smooth transition when you move into High School next year.