Our students have had lots of fun this term with visits from Father Tom, Jujitsu lessons, Paint the Town REaD, Eisteddfod practice, an Army Band Visit and much more. I commend our students for the great choices they have made this term and the outstanding behaviour they have displayed throughout our special events. We received wonderful feedback from our Eisteddfod visiting teacher, she commented that “we set the bar so high with behaviour and our kids were so wonderful”. What lovely feedback to receive about our amazing students. Well done St Pat’s!
We have all worked incredibly hard this year and I would like to thank our students, staff and families for a great term and for your ongoing hard work and dedication to our awesome little school.
I wish you all a happy and safe holiday and look forward to seeing you all next term.
Warm regards,
Kylie
Prep Interviews
Prep interviews are currently underway and will continue in week 1 and week of next term. If you are interested in enrolling your child for Prep at St Patrick's School in 2023, please use the QR code below to complete the online application form or contact the school on 46 231448.
PPF Meeting
The next meeting of the PPF Assn will be held on Tuesday, 1st November at 5.30 p.m. in the Year 3 to 6 classroom following the Playground Opening.
At St Patrick’s School the safety and wellbeing of our students is our highest priority. All children should grow up free of violence or exploitation and be able to learn in a safe and supported environment. Schools have a number of specific child protection reporting obligations that are detailed in our Student Protection Processes and Guidelines.
If a student wants to talk to someone about harm, abuse or inappropriate behaviour toward themselves or others, they can speak to a trusted staff member or one of our School Student Protection Contacts (SSPCs). The SSPCs receive additional training and are identified in the student protection posters displayed around the school.
Felicity Ray, Jenny Bye and Kylie Millar are the Student Protection Contacts for St Patrick's School.
Summary documents have been developed for parents and caregivers about our student protection obligations and our broader strategy for maintaining safe school environments.
This Term Father Tom has been visiting our student's each fortnight. Students have enjoyed chatting with and getting to know Father Tom. They have shared a recount of their visits with Father Tom below.
Sometimes in random parts of the day Father Tom might come visit. We do a Q+A which means you ask a question and Father Tom will answer your question. Father Tom was a builder before he became a priest. Father Tom can also play soccer. Next time Father Tom came we did tactile, labyrinth and meditative prayers. The last time Father Tom came we did prayer, why we pray, can we pray for ourselves and one thousand hearts. By Kyemma
Father Tom came to my school and we asked him questions. My next visit we learnt about prayer and Father Tom played soccer with us. On the third day he visited we did 1000 hearts. By Linnea
It has been three times that Father Tom has visited St Patrick’s School. We asked him questions and played games and soccer with Father Tom. At the end we did our Peace Garden Liturgy about Mary Mackillop. On our second visit, Father Tom came in when we were doing tactile prayer, labyrinth and meditative prayer. After that we played games and soccer again with Father Tom. On our third visit we asked Father Tom questions again and Judd asked if we can pray for ourselves. Father Tom said we can pray for ourselves and after that we made our 1000 hearts. By Vin
This term we have had three visits from Father Tom, our priest.
First Visit
On Father Toms first visit to us, we all sat in a circle, and he answered some questions about himself. One of the questions that he answered was, what are some of your hobbies? His answer was being a pilot and flying a plane.
Second Visit
On Father Toms second visit we did 3 types of prayers. These prayers were tactile which is a clay prayer, labyrinth which is a finger maze, and we also drew a mandala.
Third Visit
Finally on Father Toms last visit he answered some other questions and one of them was can we pray for ourselves? His answer was yes, you can pray for yourself. We also did this stitching activity called the 1000 hearts which at the end Father Tom joined in with. By Keelie
Our first visit was a Q&A and then Father Tom played soccer. At the end of the day we had a Peace Garden Liturgy and it was about Mary Mackillop. The second visit he played soccer again and when he came in we were doing three types of prayer – tactile, labyrinth, meditative. And for the last visit we did Q&A again and we asked about prayer, why we pray and can we pray for ourselves. After we did that we did 1000 hearts and I made a blue and orange heart, my mum’s and nan’s favourite colour. By Zoe W
Father Tom visited our school three times this term. He came when we were doing our labyrinth and helped us with them. He came and we asked him questions like a Q and A. Father Tom came on Friday to help us make heart pockets. We also asked questions about him, the church, being a Priest, Jesus and God and much more. Father Toms visits are always fun, and he has lots of answers for our questions. He came to our Peace Garden Mary MacKillop ceremony. At lunch time he usually plays soccer with us. Most of the time he wins because he is good at soccer. On our last visit the main question was can we pray for ourselves. Father Tom told us we can only pray for ourselves in a non-selfish way. By Hallie
On the first week that Father Tom visited we had asked questions about how he became a priest. He was going to be what his dad is (a builder), but Father Tom thought would he be happy in twenty years time. He thought that he wouldn’t be happy in twenty years time. Father Tom said that God had spoken to him and told him to become a Priest and then again, he thought would he be happy in twenty years time, he thought and said yes, he would be happy in the period of time and he chose to become a Priest. He also played soccer with us at first break.
On Father Toms second visit we were doing our three types of prayer, tactile, labyrinth and meditative. We then played soccer again. Father Tom has scored more goals than us combined.
On the third of Father Toms visits we asked him questions about prayer. We asked can we pray for ourselves and why do we pray and some very interesting questions about the Earth and God. We also did our one-thousand hearts assignment. By Judd
Every two weeks Father Tom has been coming out to visit. The first week he came out we asked him some questions. Everyone asked him a question. The second week he came to the school we played some soccer and shared with him our three types of prayer. The last week of the Term we did a Q+A and talked about if we can pray for ourselves and we did 1000 hearts. By Kylah
The last few times Father Tom has come out he has been very nice. He has always accepted a few questions like “why is the Earth round “ he’d always answer nicely . The first visit we had a Q&A and he played soccer. On the second visit we did a few different types of prayer and we did play a bit of soccer after the lesson. On the third visit we did another Q&A that time it was real fun. Then later we did 1000 hearts. By Maggie
Father Toms first visit was a Q+A and what he did before being a priest. He was a carpenter in his family business. After that it was lunch, so we played some soccer. It was very interesting to know he is a pilot in his spare time, and we finished it off with a Mary MacKillop Liturgy. The second visit was about different prayers like tactile, labyrinth and meditative. After that he visited the P to 2 class. At lunch we saw him and played soccer again. By Paitence
Father Thomas visited three times this Term and I was there on the last two. On the second visit he did three different types of prayer. The first one tactile, then mandala and then labyrinth. On the third visit we did a Q+A about if we pray for our self. After that we did a thousand hearts project where we sewed little hearts. My favourite visit was the third visit because when we did a thousand hearts I talked to Father Tom all afternoon. By Wyatt
Class News: Prep to Year 2
Goodness me, this Term has flown by! We have kept busy both in and out of the classroom the past few weeks with the Army Band visiting our school so we could have a boogie along to all the tunes they were playing, Opera QLD performing of The Frog Prince and Jujitsu lessons in week 9 and 10!
ENGLISH
The Prep – Year 2 students have shown an increased sense of passion, fulfillment, and enjoyment when reading this Term which has been reflected in their reading growth. The Preps are willing as ever to read with ever-increasing independence and many of the Year Two students have used the learning power of Courageous to move outside their comfort zone, borrowing chapter books from the library for the first time, to read in the classroom.
The Year 1 and 2 students have been working on their persuasive writing skills to try to convince the reader of their opinion. After reading ‘The Three Little Pigs’ and then ‘The True Story of the Three Little Pigs!’ (written in the Wolf’s perspective) the students were asked Who do you believe is telling the truth? The Pigs who had their houses blown down by the Big Bad Wolf? Or poor Alexander. T. Wolf who was just visiting his neighbours house to borrow a cup of sugar when he suddenly sneezed a great sneeze. After picking who they believed, the students then had to convince their reader that who they chose was telling the truth, using reasons from the story. They enjoyed choosing persuasive sentence starters and persuasive words in their writing to make sure they sounded convincing.
MATHEMATICS
In Maths the Preps were sorting and classifying objects as well as creating their own patterns while the Year 1 and 2 students were learning about fractions. The students thoroughly enjoyed their unit on Time. We explored days, months, years, calendars, telling the time on both digital and analogue clocks and discussing the duration of different events such as how long it took to get a drink of water from the bubbler downstairs compared to getting a drink of water from your water bottle in the classroom. Everyone was excited to use the iPads to create their own ebooks on book creator. The Preps created their own book about the days of the week, creating a new page for each day in the correct order and adding a photo of an event that happens on each day e.g. Music on Tuesdays. The Year 1 and 2 students on the other hand, created their book about calendars and the seasons, answering questions in their books such as How many Mondays are in 2022?, What day is your birthday on in 2022? And How many weekend days are in September? We ended the Term learning about addition and subtraction strategies.
SCIENCE
We finished up our Science Unit Bend It! Stretch It! looking at the changes to playdough when it is kept in a closed container, left out for a few days and left out for two weeks. It was fun experimenting with the different playdoughs to see how easy it was to roll, bend, stretch, and squash and discussing why some playdough was easier to change with those actions and some playdough wasn’t as easy to do the actions to. The class also used plasticine to create their own model using different actions we had learnt throughout our Science unit and explained how they changed the plasticine to make different parts of their models.
RELIGION
The P-2 class have thoroughly enjoyed learning about the Saints that support us to remember to look after God’s creation including St Francis Assisi, St Clare, St Therese and St Kevin. They were so enthusiastic that they used library time finding book about the Saints to borrow. These books, and iPads were used in our Religion lessons to find out information about these Saints. Our class has also split into three groups to work on posters to put up in the toilets at school to help our school community to look after God’s creation by 1) turning the taps off 2) making sure toilet paper goes in the toilet (not on the floor) and 3) flushing the toilets. We cannot wait to see our posters making a difference in the toilets for next Term.
HEALTH
In Health we are learning the Daniel Morcombe Curriculum which is helping the students learn to Recognise – using clues to know if something is unsafe, React- to do something if they are unsafe, and Report- to tell someone if they are unsafe. They are learning what safety and body clues are when they are feeling safe compared to when they are unsafe and what their options are to be safe. Another important aspect of this curriculum is learning how they can be persistent when they need help, and who the trusted people are in their homes and communities that they can go to when they need a safety helper.
Looking forward to seeing everyone back in the classroom after the school holidays for our last Term of 2022!
Miss Ray
P-2 Class
Principal's Award
Nate Mathews
For always always following our Mercy Values during before school and lunch play activities. You have been kind to others and you have helped to keep our school clean. Well done!
Mercy Awards
Vin Henricks
For demonstrating the Mercy Value of Compassion and Kindness. You consistently displayed compassion and kindness at school and in the community.
Keep following in the footsteps of Catherine McAuley!
Emmie Crow
For demonstrating the Mercy Value of Stewardship. You have taken to heart and actioned the message to care for Creation that we have been learning in Religion this Term. Both students and staff have noticed how much you make sure to pick rubbish off the ground and use kind words to talk to your classmates.
Continue to let the Mercy Values shine through in everything you do!
Awesome Achiever Awards
Josef Mailman
For using the Learning Power of Persistence. This week you gave your best effort to complete your work and have remained focused during learning tasks and reading assignments.
Keep up the great work!
Important Dates for 2022
Monday, 12th September
Jujitsu Lessons
PPF Meeting 5.30 p.m.
Wednesday, 14th September
Jujitsu Lessons
Thursday, 15th September
Paint the Town Read 8.30 a.m. to 1.00 p.m.
Friday, 16th September
Last Day of Term 3
Saturday, 17th September
Mass at St Columba's 6.00 p.m.
Monday, 3rd October
Queen's Birthday Holiday
Tuesday, 4th October
Term 4 commences
Swimming lessons -
9.00 a.m. (Prep-2 class) and 10.00 (Yr 3-6 class)
Saturday, 15th October
Mass at St Columba's 6.00 p.m.
Tuesday, 11th October
Swimming lessons -
9.00 a.m. (Prep-2) and 10.00 a.m.(Yr 3 - 6)
Friday, 14th October
Roma Eisteddfod 11.00 a.m.
Saturday, 15th October
Public Rosary St Patrick's Peace Garden 4.30 p.m.
Mass at St Columba's 6.00 p.m.
Tuesday, 18th October
Swimming lessons -
9.00 a.m. (Prep-2) and 10.00 a.m. (Yr 3 - 6)
Tuesday, 25th October
Swimming lessons -
9.00 a.m.(Prep-2) and 10.00 a.m.(Yr 3-6)
Tuesday, 1st November
Swimming lessons -
9.00 a.m. (Prep-2) and 10.00 a.m. (Yr 3-6)
Playground opening 4.30 p.m.
PPF Meeting 5.30 p.m.
Tuesday, 8th November
Swimming lessons
9.00 a.m. (Prep-2) and 10.00 a.m. (Yr 3-6)
Tuesday, 15th November
Swimming lessons -
9.00 a.m. (Prep-2 ) and 10.00 a.m. (Yr 3-6)
Saturday, 19th November
Mass at St Columba's 6.00 p.m.
Tuesday, 22nd November
St Patrick's School Swimming Carnival
Saturday, 26th November
Academic Awards Night at Mitchell Art Gallery 4.00 to 6.00 p.m.
Art Show at the Mitchell Art Gallery 6.00 p.m.
Wednesday, 30th November
Last Day of Term 4
Thursday, 1st December
Pupil Free Day
Friday, 2nd December
Pupil Free Day
Saturday, 17th December
Mass at St Columba's 6.00 p.m.
The Public Rosary
The Public Rosary is an international campaign to pray the rosary together in commemoration of the last apparition of Our Lady (October 13, 1917) at Fatima. It is a great opportunity for prayer groups and communities to join together in public prayer.
In 2020, there were 180 groups registered to pray the Rosary throughout Australia.
There will be a Public Rosary on Saturday, 15th October at 4.30 p.m. at St Patrick's School in the Peace Garden. Everyone is welcome to come and pray together. A plate will be passed around if anyone wishes to make a small donation to the charity.
THE IMPORTANCE
It is a public witness of the faith
Public Reparation – many blasphemies are taking place in public and so we must also make reparation in public. At Fatima, Our Lady said to the children: "You saw hell, where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish devotion to my Immaculate Heart in the world."
We are praying for God’s merciful blessing to be poured out to our country, for conversion of families to turn back to God.
Public prayer is powerful: In his monumental work. The Secret of the Rosary, Saint Louis de Montfort states: "Public prayer is far more powerful than private prayer to appease the anger of God and call down His mercy, and His mercy, and Holy Mother Church, guided by the Holy Spirit, has always advocated public prayer in times of public tragedy and suffering."