16 February 2024

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Hello St Patrick’s families, I hope this finds you happy and well. 

Attendance – Late Drop Offs & Early Pickup 

Accurate roll marking is a legal requirement of the school that helps us to ensure the welfare and safety of all students. Part of our roll marking procedures is ensuring that we are marking students who are late to school or leaving early accurately in our system. Below is a link to our school attendance policy and I would just like to remind families of some key points from it. 

• Early drop offs – Students are not to arrive at school before 8.00am, unless otherwise arranged with the principal. Supervision of children begins at 8.10am. Students arriving before 8.10am are to sit in the undercover area and wait for the supervising teacher to arrive.
• Late drop offs – Any students arriving after 8.30am are classed as late arrivals. They need to go to the office before going to class, to let the office staff know they are late. The office staff will mark them on Sentral as a late arrival, with the time they arrived at the office. Office staff will then give the late student a note to give to the classroom teacher, to let the teacher know the student has been via the office.
• Early pickups – Students being picked up before 3.00pm need to be signed out at the office before being collected from class. Office staff will mark the student as an early leaver with the time of departure. The collecting parent will wait in the office. Office staff will call the student’s classroom and the student will walk to the office to meet the collecting adult.

Thank you for supporting these rules, they help us keep our students safe and accounted for. 

Loving Our Community – Mr. Wren’s New Hat Collection 

My new collection of St Pat’s community trucker caps is slowly continuing to grow. If you or an organisation you’re involved with have a unique cap of your own that you would be happy to share with me, I’d love to see it on my office wall! 

School Photos 

Our school photos are taking place on Friday 1^st March, two weeks from now. This is a day we want our students to look their best so please remember: 

• All students are to be wearing their full academic uniform. 
• Hair neatly presented – brushed, out of the face and off the neck or collar (trimmed above the collar or tied back). 
• No jewellery or makeup. 

All families should have received a photo ordering pack from the school. If yours hasn’t come yet, please contact your classroom teacher. 

Calendar Keepers Coming Up in Term 1

That’s all from me for now. Stay safe and have a great weekend,

God bless,
Jim Wren
Principal

PARENT PORTAL

Download & Use the App Now!

In recent weeks you will have seen communication from the school regarding our transition to a Parent Portal for more streamlined communication with parents. The transition took place on Monday 5^th February, so if you haven’t already, make sure you follow the instructions recently emailed out to all parents, or view the pdf link below, on how to register on the Portal. If you are having issues registering, please contact the school office so we can help with the process.

Warm Regards,
Jim Wren

OUR PRAYERS…

Let us support each other in Prayer, especially for the Sick and the Deceased and those who are suffering Hardships, in our Parish and School.

APRE News

Lent is a period of 40 days leading to Easter, and it is a time for us to reflect on our relationship with God, and to consider the ways we might draw closer to him. Easter is the time we commemorate the death and resurrection of Jesus. The 40 days leading into the Easter period mirrors the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the wilderness. We will unpack this more over the coming weeks.  This Wednesday was Ash Wednesday. This is an important day in our faith life, as it signifies the beginning of Lent.  The ashes used on Ash Wednesday, are often made from the burned palm branches from the previous year's Palm Sunday celebrations. As a school community, we gathered in the Church, and received a blessing from Father Antony, who made a mark on our foreheads with ash.

Pope Francis challenges us in this way - “Let us return, brothers and sisters. Let us return to God with all our heart,” he said. “During these weeks of Lent, let us make space for the prayer of silent adoration, in which we experience the presence of the Lord like Moses, like Elijah, like Mary, like Jesus. Let us not be afraid to strip ourselves of worldly trappings and return to the heart, to what is essential,”.

Our prayer for our St Pat’s community this Lent is that we use this period wisely, preparing for the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Fr. Antony Samy is a vital member of our St Pat’s community.  We are so blessed in St George to have a resident priest – this is quite rare!

Meet Fr Antony

“I come from a very devout peasant family in Tamil Nadu, India. I am the eldest of three. I completed all my schooling in Roman catholic schools. After completing my 12^th year, I joined the Missionaries of St Francis de Sales (Msfs) congregation in 2000. I was ordained on 28^th December 2010. I worked in different parishes in different states in India, first as Assistant then as Parish Priest. Prior to my coming to Australia, I was the minister and vice rector of our major seminary in Pune, India.   Now I am in St George, feeling very much at home. It's the people here who make me feel welcomed, accepted and appreciate my stay and ministry. I am very grateful and indebted to them. I thank God for them. I enjoy celebrating the Holy Mass every day and praying the Rosary, doing home communion and visiting Warrawee.

I cherish my walk along the river every morning and evening, meeting young and not so young people but always polite and kind. My fishing skills need improvement, as all my previous efforts have been unsuccessful. I enjoy my Indian style cooking and eating. I also love reading and writing and listening to music.”

Fr Antony, we love having you as part of our St Pat’s community. 

God bless,
Mrs Anna Chandler
(Assistant Principal Religious Education & Learning Support)

MASS TIMES

St George-Dirranbandi Parish

Priest Administrator: Fr Antony Samy 0409 278 968 Email: balonneparish@bigpond.com

TUCKSHOP

Please click the links below for our new and updated uniform price list and tuckshop menu. When ordering food on the Flexischools app please be mindful that the cutoff time is exactly 8:00am on Friday mornings (at 8:01am your order will not be accepted).

Regards
Sue Hopkins

CLASS News

Health & Drama

Students of the Week

Week 3– Ollie Hill (Lower), Roly Mace (Middle), Henry McCosker (Upper).
Week 4– Tommy Walker (Lower), Abby Duffin (Middle), Max Luck (Upper).

Welcome to Week 4.

The students have been continuing to further explore and identify their own inner and outer strengths and challenges by completing individual profiles, talent trees and kindness Hearts and listing their personal characteristics and explaining why they are unique and special. 

Each week we have a different fiction book that helps us with developing and strengthening relationships with kindness, respect, and empathy. We have been looking at the positive qualities and skills that make a good friend and explaining why this is important to be a good person and friend.

 We have been reinforcing these concepts in Drama by acting out random acts of kindness, developing skills to develop better relationships. Each drama session, the students do warm up activities to develop their drama skills using facial expressions- verbal and non-verbal cues and body language to act out scenarios.

Congratulations to the following ‘students of the week’ who have demonstrated respect, kindness, and empathy.

Hope you have an enjoyable weekend.

Regards
Mrs Jane Webster

Peeking into PrepM

Week 3– Samuel Brumpton, Ellie Frelek, Alex Lomman.
Week 4– Beau Kingston, Madeline Hearne, Carter Sting, Lachlan Tierney.

What a busy few weeks’ it has been with lots of ‘new’ things happening and learning taking place.

Here are a few pieces of information regarding the coming week/s:

• Buddies – with great excitement we met our Year 6 buddies on Friday, and it was so wonderful to see the friendships between our oldest and youngest students start to form. The Prep students were given a t-shirt card from their buddies with their photos and names attached to help them learn their names. Please check your child’s KIT book for these and take some time to talk to your child about their buddy. Unfortunately, two of the year 6 students were away but hopefully they will be back with us this Friday. We gather each Friday to participate in buddies.
• Library – Please ensure library bags are returned each Wednesday ready for borrowing on Thursday. There is a large, rectangular tub just inside the classroom door to place library bags in.
• English – we will continue to work on listening for rhyming words, identifying rhyming words and generating them. Another concept that we are working on understanding is letters, words, and sentences. Letters have names and make sounds that are joined together to make words. Words are letters and sounds joined together and can be short or long. Sentences are words joined together that make sense. Sentences start with a capital letter and end with a full stop. This week we also introduce the letters and sounds for p, i and n. Week 5 will be a week of consolidating these letter names and sounds and working towards blending these sounds together to make words whilst also starting to identify the beginning, middle and end sounds in CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant words for example cat, sit, mat) words.
• Mathematics – We will continue to work on our numbers to 10 and begin to investigate 2D (two-dimensional) shapes and their properties.
• Religion – Over the last couple of weeks we have visited the church and met our Parish Priest, Fr Antony. We have also been discussing the Cross and went on a walk around the school to see where we could find some. We have also practised making the Sign of the Cross and discussed when and where we might do this. This learning is to make students aware of what it means to be Catholic and to begin developing their understanding of prayer. Next week are two important days for the Catholic Church: Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday. On Shrove Tuesday we will join our Buddies to share pancakes as we learn that traditionally pancakes are eaten on this day to use up butter, eggs, and lard before the beginning of Lent.
• Lunches/Water – We are working very hard to ensure students are eating their sandwiches/wraps first at the first break and not just their sweet food. To support them with their eating we are currently going out 10 mins early to get settled before the bell goes at first break and then they are also being given extra time at the second break, after the bell has gone to eat. We are also providing lots of drink breaks and trying our best to ensure all students are regularly drinking water. One of the biggest changes from Kindy to school is the ‘freedom’ of choosing what to eat and being able to pack up their lunchbox without it being checked by an adult. Please keep talking with your child about what they should be eating and the importance of eating enough before going to play; we will continue to do this at school as well.

Kind regards,  
Nichole & Courtney

Year 1H

Students of the Week

Week 3– Mark Cross, Iggy Wood.
Week 4– Sarah Duffin, Loghan Avery.

Welcome to week 4. We have a very busy week with the beginning of Lent.  This week we made our Lenten Promise, and we will display these in our room to remind us of our promise during Lent.

This week in English our focus has been on the letters e, r, b, u, h and f.  We have also been working on sounding out and writing CVC words that contain these letters as well as our sounds from last week. We have continued to work on writing sentences that make sense. 

This week in Maths we have begun to investigate numbers to 50.  We have been recognising and representing these numbers with MABs. 

In Science, we investigated the features of insects and sorted them according to their number of legs, soft or hard body and if they could fly. 

Photo forms went home on Monday.  Could you please return these to me as soon as possible.   

Have a wonderful weekend. 
Mrs Fiona Harch

Year 1/2D

Week 3– Mackenzie Hyland, Caleb Burton, Eddie Casalegno.
Week 4– Heidi Mace, Oscar Muller. 

Dear 1/2D families, 
We have had another great week in the 1/2D classroom. 

Learning for this fortnight:  

Maths – We are learning to recognise two- and three-digit numbers and beginning to represent these numbers. We are also learning about measuring and comparing length using informal units.

English – Our sound focus for week 4 is “sh” as in ship. Last week we focused on the sound “th” as in thin. It has been amazing to see all students having a go at reading and spelling words with this sound.

Science – We are learning about growth and change in humans and plants. We have enjoyed looking at students’ baby photos and comparing them to what they look like now.  

HASS – We are learning about local landmarks in our community and why these are significant.  

Important: 

I will be absent for the second half of Friday 16th of February with Balonne district sport.  
I will be absent on Monday 19th of February as I am away on personal leave.  

Upcoming dates: 

Friday 1st of March – school photos – please wear formal uniform. 
Friday 15th of March – St Patrick’s Day celebrations. 

Kind Regards,
Miss Beth Daly

Year 2G

Students of the Week

Week 3– Jimmy Easton, Lyla Manning.
Week 4– Mia Kennedy, Rocco Casalegno.

Hello, 2G parents,
Welcome to Week 4!
We have been busy in 2G learning, creating and being proud, confident learners daily.

Here are some highlights and important information:

Math: We have continued learning about place value and are now beginning to represent four-digit numbers. We have looked at naming the number by writing it down as it is said, writing it in expanded form, and then highlighting the tens and ones from the number building to recognise the thousands column.

English: We are exploring and analysing fairytales. This includes the features of a fairytale, how a fairytale is set out and how certain characters are portrayed in fairytales.

HASS: We have started looking at our local community, St George. Topics of discussion include what makes St George special to us and the places in St George that are special to us. This discussion then encouraged us to list these places of significance. We have also started and will continue to work on creating a brochure to hand out to tourists when visiting St George. 

Science: We have started discussing and gaining an understanding of our science focus for the term. This focus is based on the topic "Change and Growth." We have started looking at ourselves, how we have changed, and the journey of growth we demonstrate, showing this on a timeline.

Religion: We have started looking at the local parish and making connections between Jesus' mission and ministry. Discussions have continued surrounding who serves in the local parish here at St Pat's Parish and what the parish looks like.

Art: We have begun looking at our identity through art and incorporating photography to represent our identity.

Please note that your child's photo form was sent home on Monday (12/2). These forms need to be returned on or before photo day. Photo day is on Friday 1st of March.

Question to ask your child: What is special about Shrove Tuesday?

Kind regards
Miss Merryn Gaggi

Year 3C

Students of the Week

Week 3– Riley Curtis, Madison Hannah, Brayden Ryan.
Week 4– Evie Bradfield, Xander King, Ellie McCosker.

Welcome to Week 4.

In English, this week we have continued our reading of “Matilda” and revisiting the structure of a narrative.

 In Spelling, we are practicing “ea” with a short “e” sound and introducing the long “a” sound. With a focus on “ai”, “ay” and “eigh”.

In Maths, we made crocodiles on sticks which we will use to help compare two numbers and work out which is the bigger or smaller number before being introduced to the Mathematical signs for greater than and less than.

In our Religion unit, we are comparing the ‘Creation’ story to other creation stories. We have talked about how different people believe different things and how we need to be accepting of other people’s opinions. We will be looking at the creation story of the Kamilaroi people and also the Mayan people and looking for differences and similarities to the Christian story.

This week’s Science is focussing on the rotation of earth and how that causes day and night to occur.

Our HASS unit sees us creating our own St Patrick’s School flag ideas and writing about our choices of colours and symbols.

Remember to return library books on Wednesday ready for borrowing on Thursday.

This week we shared pancakes on Tuesday and remembered the start of Lent with Mass on Ash Wednesday.

Kind regards
Mrs Annette Colley
(Classroom Teacher)

Year 4R

Students of the Week

Week 3– Amelia O’Toole, Darcy Stower.
Week 4– Abigail Tierney, Alexander Sheedy.

Welcome to week 4! 

Year 4 has been filled with numerous celebrations over the past two weeks. The class thoroughly enjoyed celebrating various birthdays with our classmates. I hope all the children enjoyed their special day.

Last week, Year 4 was fortunate enough to spend time with Mayor Samantha O’Toole. The students had the opportunity to learn about the Balonne Shire and the crucial role councillors play in our community. Year 4 engaged actively in a pop quiz, attempting to answer many thought-provoking questions about our shire. It was an excellent starting point for our HASS unit.

This weekend marked the start of the season of Lent, starting with Shrove Tuesday. The class was lucky enough to make and savour delicious pancakes as well as participate in the Ash Wednesday Mass. The students learned about the season of Lent, its symbols, and the significance behind making pancakes. Students also considered ideas for things they could give up and take on for the next 40 days, and even got the chance to create a prayer for some special people in their lives.

Finally, congratulations to all the students who took part in the Balonne swimming carnival and the recent basketball trials. I am proud of all the students who attended and gave it their all. 

Enjoy the rest of your week.

Kind Regards,  
Miss Alice Rathie

Year 5W

Students of the Week

Week 3– Taylin Wilson, Brooke Hams.
Week 4– Hannah Acton, Max Luck.

Good afternoon, Parents and Caregivers of Year 5W,

Welcome to Week 4.

Highlights

Thank you to Madison’s Mum who helped us make Pancakes on Tuesday for Shrove Tuesday. They were enjoyed by all.

In Religion, we have been learning about the 4 Gospels - Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. We are comparing and contrasting the Gosels and making a connection with Jesus’ new commandment of ‘Love One Another’, to our lives today. We have also begun to link Christian Life by discussing our Lenten Promise for this year and how we are going to try to fulfil this.

 Thank you for continuing to support the homework process as much as possible. I am still modifying the homework to accommodate student’s needs. Again, we want the homework experience to be as seamless as possible and therefore not too difficult for each child. But please continue to support where required until more confidence is built.

Kind regards
Mrs Christina Wardle 
(Year 5 Classroom Teacher 2024)

Year 6M

Students of the Week

Week 3– Amber Sting.
Week 4– Blake Brunner.

Welcome to the end of week 4, Term 1! How the term is quickly moving!

We have been very busy in year 6 with the start of the school year. Students have been excited as they received their leadership badges and met their Prep buddies for the first time.

 Students travelled down to the Hub last Wednesday and respectfully participated in a Traditional Blessing Ceremony for year 6, year 12 and CUC students. The students were very respectful and should be commended on their efforts.

There are lots of Balonne sports to keep an eye out on for this term and next term! Well done to Tom on being selected into the Balonne Basketball team and Swimming team and Reagan for making the qualifying time for SW Swimming trials.

The year 6 students are working well and adjusting to being leaders of the school.

Mrs Claire McDonnell 

Sport & Library News

Eley Elite

Week 3– Belle Vickers.
Week 4– Duke Wuersching.         

SPORT 

Swimming

Congratulations to Reagan Cross, Tom Easton, Brooke Hams and Hannah Acton, on their selection in the Balonne team for the SW Swimming trials.  These children will travel to Miles on Friday to compete in the Carnival.  Good Luck.

We also had some age champion and runner-up award winners:

10 years age Champion – (G)      Amelia O’Toole                 Runner up -Hannah Nott
                                          (B)       Alexander Sheedy            Runner Up – Noah Ballin

11 years age Champion – (G)       Hannah Acton                   Runner Up – Rory Southern
                                          (B)                                                 Runner Up – Max Luck / Tom Easton

12 years age Champion – (B)                                                  Runner Up – Blake Brunner

Basketball

On Monday the Balonne Basketball trials were held here at St Patrick’s.  Congratulations to the following children – Tom Easton, Hannah Acton and Olivia Harch, who were selected in the Balonne team to attend the South West trials in Roma.  Good Luck to these students.

LIBRARY 

All classes will be borrowing on Thursdays.  Please ensure you child has a library bag for borrowing.  Book return day is Wednesday so the books can be processed before borrowing again on Thursday. 

Reading is Power and Knowledge.

Happy borrowing and reading,
Binnie Eley & Julie Pike
(St Patrick’s Library Staff)

COMMUNITY NEWS

NETBALL SEASON

 The 2024 Netball season kicks off with a sign-on day on 14^th March at 4:30pm.

A Grade team nominations’ start on 15th April 2024.

Please contact the club if you require any further information.
stgeorgenetball@gmail.com

Kind regards, 
Courtney Bradfield 
(Secretary) 
St George Netball Association Inc. 

BABYSITTER for HIRE!

Call Brea on 0448 402 295.