10 May 2024

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

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

Happy Mother’s Day & Thank You P&F 

I just want to start by recognising all the fantastic mothers, grandmothers and those who are like mothers to us, that we have in our community. I know we take a day each year to recognise our wonderful mums, but it is so important to remember that a mum’s job never stops, so it shouldn’t be just one day that we recognise all the hard work, hugs and kisses they undertake for us. I want to say a big thankyou to all our mums but also a special thankyou to the two special women in my life: my mother, Andrea, and my beautiful wife, Laura. Thank you for all that you do. 😊 

And a big thank you needs to go to our P&F for the terrific Mother’s Day morning tea they arranged for our mums this morning. Thankyou P&F and to all our mums, I hope you enjoyed that rarest of things – a moment to stop and have someone make the food for you! 

BAIT @ St. Patrick’s – I Persist! 

Producing extended pieces of writing (like a newsletter entry!), has never been my forte. I can talk for hours about most things but putting those same ideas down on paper with a sense of purpose has always been something I’ve had to work at, something I’ve had to persist at. I use this word, ‘Persist’ because it’s one of the learner qualities we want to instil in our students at St Patrick’s. 

At school we are using a language around persistence that the students can understand and that opens up what it actually means. It isn’t enough just to say “you’ve got to keep going”, we want to teach our students that, to persist means to stay positive about the task they are completing, to look for other strategies that might help them complete the task, to be willing to take risks and change the way they think about our task and to remember that persistence is a global skill that can help us with any goal we are trying to achieve. 

Like anything we teach the students at school, teaching children to be persistent with their learning is something you can support us with at home. You, as parents, are the most positive force for change in your children’s lives, so if they are hearing about the importance of persistence at home from you to, they are going to know it’s an important and valuable skill. Look at the poster below and discuss just what this means with your children! Here’s a clue, the first dot points have been written in language for the younger grades and as the dot points go down, the language deepens for the older grades. Give it a go! 

St Patrick’s in the Community 

This term, our St Patrick’s students and staff have and will be taking part in a lot of events in the community. Many of you marched with us on ANZAC Day and would have also seen the fantastic display of our schoolwork at the St George Show over the weekend (thank you Teachers and Students for making such wonderful work and thank you School Officers for putting up such a fantastic display!). Last week we were also fortunate enough to have the string quintet from Clayfield College come in to the school and play some beautiful music for us. Coming up over the next few weeks, our upper grades are taking part in some exciting reading and writing workshops at school and at the town library and our year 5’s and 6’s have also been invited to take part in the CUC and Balonne Shire Council Careers Expo taking place in our MPC on Wednesday 15^th. It’s great to see our students taking part in so many wonderful opportunities taking place in our community! 

St Patrick’s Athletics Carnival 

The finalised dates for the Term 2 Athletics’ Carnival have been locked in and are as follows; 

• Monday 10^th June – St Pat’s High Jump – 8,9,10,11 boys & girls. 
• Thursday 13^th June – St Pat’s Athletics Carnival: 800m, 200m & ball games 
• Friday 14^th June – St Pat’s Athletics Carnival: track & field events 

Come on down and cheer for your team – let’s go Green and Gold! 

Prep 2025 Interviews 

2025 seems a long way away, but for the school we are already putting processes in place for next year’s Prep class, including identifying how many applicants we have and finalising our prep cut-off numbers. 

If you have a child you wish to enroll for next year, now is the time to ensure you have gone on to our website and done so via our electronic enrolment link. 

https://www.stgeorge.catholic.edu.au/enrolment-information  

Although we do preference siblings when identifying Prep enrolments, their online enrolment must still be lodged! Prep students with older siblings cannot be offered a place if there is no application for them! 

The school will begin enrolments early in Term 3. We look forward to seeing our new families soon and meeting our future Preps. 

Calendar Holders – Important Term 2 Dates 

Take care,
Jim Wren
Principal

PARENT PORTAL

Download & Use the App Now!

St Patrick’s Parent Portal is now up and running 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 below on how to register. 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

On Sunday, we celebrate Mother’s Day.  For many families, Mother’s Day is a wonderful time to celebrate our mothers – breakfast in bed, flowers, slippers.  It is a day full of love.  As a child, I remember asking my Mum when Children’s Day is – to which my mum quickly replied – “Every day is Children’s Day!” I wonder how many of you also had this response?? I am quite sure it was my mum’s way of saying that I was her priority every day of my life…

As a parent now, Mother’s Day is an incredibly special time in my little family.  We had a long and often heartbreaking journey on our way to becoming a family of three. This is the part of motherhood that we often don’t speak about. Nor do we speak about the reality of living in a remote community and advocating for services for a child with disability or being isolated from family and friends without that ‘village’ around us.

Mary had a rough road to motherhood as well.  The circumstances around Jesus’ conception would have been scary, especially as a young girl.  She had to travel far to find a place of safety in order to give birth to her Son, in a stable with animals of all places.  Joseph and Mary were fleeing persecution. They were refugees, seeking the kindness of strangers in a vulnerable time in their lives. Throughout Jesus’ life, Mary knew that He was going to experience great pain. Any parent will tell you that when our child experiences pain, so do we. The three-year mission of Jesus was breaking new ground – he was speaking power to truth and was upsetting the leaders of his time. But even as a child, when Mary and Joseph were frantic and couldn’t find Jesus for three days, he was in a temple, teaching, and learning. Talk about freaking out your Mum!!

To watch and know that you would lose your child in such heart wrenching circumstances must have been devastating for Mary. And yet she stood behind her child, supporting and loving him – her heart living outside her body in Jesus.

This Mother’s Day, my thoughts go to the mothers who are watching their children die in Israel and Palestine.  My thoughts go to the mothers who do not know where their children are at this moment. My thoughts go to the mothers who do not know where they will be sleeping tonight, or how she will feed her children. My thoughts go to all the women who hope to be mothers. My thoughts go to all those who have lost their mothers. My thoughts go to all the mothers in our community here in St. George.  We are walking a sacred path together. I am grateful for being a Mum – and I thank God that I have my Mum and my Mother-in-law.  

God chose you to be the mother your child needs.  My prayer for you is that you continue to walk in the footsteps of Mary, supporting and loving your children.

May God be with all of us this Mother’s Day. 

Learning Support

Audiology Visit in Week 6

We have a visiting Audiologist at St Patrick’s in Week 6.  Children will be able to have a full Audiology test. This is an important part of ensuring our young people have complete access to their learning in the classroom.

If you are interested in your child being part of this process, please contact Mrs. Chandler via the office.

Take care,
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

MLCC News

Something our teachers have been working on this year is implementing a daily review of phonics and spelling. A daily review is a short, quick paced chance to consolidate phoneme/grapheme correspondences, blending, segmenting, vocabulary, and other concepts. Daily reviews help students to build the necessary automaticity that enables them to undertake more complex tasks. 

Part of the daily review incorporates the use of low variance routines. These are sustainable routines that are the same each day, with the only change being the content. We are working towards having a consistent approach across the school in the way we use these routines. We are developing these routines for choral response (where the whole class gives a response together), hand actions for segmenting and blending and a shared language when using mini whiteboards in a daily review. 

At the staff meeting this week, we were excited to share our journey so far. Our teachers reflected on what daily reviews look like in our classrooms and some of the challenges we have faced. Over the next two weeks, teachers will have the opportunity to visit other classrooms to see how daily reviews are happening.  

What can you do as a parent? Ask your children about their daily review, what it looks like when they are blending and segmenting words and how they use mini whiteboards in the classroom. 

Annette Colley 
Middle Leader/Curriculum Coordinator 

CLASS News

Health & Drama

Students of the Week

Week 3– Astrid Bradley, Mark Cross-Lower, Tori Lamb-Middle, Hannah Acton-Upper.
Week 4– Cooper Passman, Charlotte Hannah-Lower, Emily Webster-Upper.

Welcome to Week 4!  

I hope this finds you all well and you are enjoying the cooler weather. 

Please find following, what we will be covering in Drama for Term 2 across the school. 

In lower school, the students will participate in a variety of creative and structured play to develop sense of confidence, self-control, and role play. Students will take part in role play and improvisations using verbal and non-verbal communication to develop self-confidence when performing in front of others. They’ll explored basic elements by using their bodies and voices to convey a character, feelings and present a poem.  

In the middle school, the students will explore improvisation further, play building skills and how to develop a character through a range of different drama games and activities. Students will experiment with loudness/softness, pace, and pitch of their voices and how this effects a situation/scene. Students will explore combining facial and vocal expression to communicate meaning and to show a range of emotions when participating in improvisations and presenting a memorised poem.  

 In the upper school, the students will be participating and understanding how dramatic action and meaning is communicated in drama they make, perform and view. The students will look at how different cultures, times and places can influence their own drama making and presentations. Students will work collaboratively as they use the elements of drama to shape character, voice, and movement in improvisation, play building and performances scripted drama/poetry for the audiences. They will memorise a poem and perform for peers with clear articulation, modulation devices and expression. 

 Hope you all have a fantastic weekend celebrating Mother’s Day with your family and friends. 

Keep Smiling! 
Mrs Jane Webster

Peeking into PrepM

Week 3– Claude Stewart, Harvey Stewart, Willow Hill.
Week 4– Ollie Hill, Ellie McArthur, Harry Muller.

Dear Parents, 

For those of you who made it to the show last weekend I hope you had a wonderful time. In exciting news Nora, the Prep white guinea pig, came third in the fluffiest section of the Pet Show so we have a lovely white ribbon to put on display in our classroom. Yay! 

We have finished explicitly teaching the letter names and sounds for term 2 (m d g o c k ck u r e). The remainder of the term will be spent practicing these sounds (and the sounds from term 1, s a t p i n) in our daily review as well as blending and segmenting activities in the classroom.  

Our numbers of the week are 15 and 16. We will also start exploring the topic of measurement this week. In Prep, measurement is about identifying objects as longer/shorter, putting them in order from longest to shortest and being able to explain our thinking. Students also need to understand that when we compare the length of an object we need to ‘line them up’. For example, if comparing a teaspoon and a fork, the bottoms of each item need to start at the same place.  

Kind regards,  
Nichole & Courtney

Year 1H

Students of the Week

Week 3– Sophie Bradfield, Charlotte May.
Week 4– Mark Cross, NgKylah Saunders.

Have a wonderful weekend. 
Mrs Fiona Harch

Year 1/2D

Week 3– Ellie May, Oscar Muller.
Week 4– Heidi Mace, Eliza Hearne, Bailee Hill.

Dear year 1/2D Parents and Carers,  

Welcome to Week 4! I hope you all had a great long weekend. 

Learning for this fortnight: 

Math – As we continue learning about numbers to 1000, we also have been learning about skip counting in 2s, 5s and 10s. The Year 2s have been challenged to figure out more complex patterns and communicate their thoughts. For example, a decreasing number pattern by 3s from a random starting point. 

English – Our sound focus for last week was the soft g sound that is found in gent and magic. This week we have focused on the soft c sound that is found in cent and cell. Whilst these are tricky sounds for beginning readers to grasp, we have focused on sounding out and checking that what we are saying makes sense. If it doesn’t make sense, we try again until it does. It has been so lovely watching students grow in confidence as they learn new sounds and implement them in their spelling and reading. 

Religion – This term in Religion we are looking into Jesus as a healer and a forgiver. We are exploring what this looks like for us and how we can follow in Jesus’ way.  

Science – Our first science unit for the term is all about light and sound. We will explore the sources of both light and sound, how these are created and sensed. Further, we will explore how some sources of light and sound are natural or man-made.  

HASS – Our history unit this term looks at how life has changed over time, in particular the technologies, transport and toys that were used.  

Upcoming dates: 

• Wednesday 5^th of June – Ball games 
• Thursday 6^th of June – Athletics

Happy Mother’s Day to all the lovely mothers and grandmothers of our class that I am so lucky to know. Have a great weekend! 

Kind Regards,
Miss Beth Daly

Year 2G

Students of the Week

Week 3– Madie Sheedy, Elouise McNamara.
Week 4– Sean Martin, Lyla Manning.

Hello, 2G Parents,

Welcome to Week 4 of Term 2!

Here are some of the fantastic learning we have been doing in the term:

Math: We have continued learning about patterns, representing, identifying, and recognising a variety of patterns; these patterns include repeating and growing patterns; we have explored this concept by making “fruit loop pattern necklaces”, our own colourful pattern bracelet and finding the missing number, shape, and object in a variety of tasks to continue the pattern. We will begin to look at addition and subtraction in the coming weeks, looking at number problems and being “Math Detectives.”

English: We have continued analysing news reports and writing our own news report to present to the class, being a real “news reporter.”  Students have been delegated into groups based off their interests. Students chose what group they feel most passionate about, these options included sport reports, general reporters, weather reporters and editors. The students have been showing great excitement and progress with this term’s focus.

HASS: We have begun looking at Technology Over Time. We have looked at pictures from the past, and what they are now in the present. Talking about why these changes occurred, the benefits and what it means for us today.

Science: We have continued to look at the topics of physical sciences, “Push and Pull.” Students have experimented with body movements, hypothesising, and experimenting what a variety of body movements. In the coming weeks students will be experimenting with a variety of objects, and how these objects move using a different of forces.

Religion: We have been reflecting and identifying the theme of “Who is Jesus” the qualities and actions that we read about in the New Testament. We have begun reflecting and listening to stories about Jesus being a healer, representing what it means for us today.

Digital Technologies: We have begun exploring digital technologies by collecting, exploring, and sorting data; we have started looking at this concept by sorting 2G class data, firstly looking at “2G’s Favourite Pet.”

Question to ask your child: What is one story in the bible where it talks about Jesus being a healer?

Notes: Library books need to be returned on a Wednesday so that students can borrow books on Thursday.

Kind regards
Miss Merryn Gaggi

Year 3C

Students of the Week

Week 3– Roly Mace, Karleigh Bella.
Week 4– Chelsea Cross, Denver Radford.

Welcome to Week 4. The term sure is going by very quickly. Here is an outline of what learning in Year 3 looks like this week. 

English:  

We have made the amazing discovery that Wandi from our focus text is a real character and still lives at the sanctuary in Victoria. The author of Wandi, Favel Parrett worked as a volunteer at the centre and incorporated much of her knowledge and experience into the book. We have talked about how this gives her a lot of credibility as an author. 

Maths: 

This week we are practising how to use the vertical algorithm to add numbers. We are also beginning to learn about chance and how it occurs in our everyday lives.  Students are working with Mrs Harrison looking at angles that are bigger than, smaller than or equal to a right angle. 

Religion: 

We are nearing the end of learning about prayers of praise and thanksgiving and this week we will begin writing our own prayers. 

HASS: 

This week will be learning about maps and how we use maps. We will discuss the features that all maps need to have, and we will begin to learn about the states, territories, and capital cities. 

Kind regards
Mrs Annette Colley

Students of the Week

Week 3– Brayden Ryan.
Week 4– Ivy Vickers.

In Maths we have started exploring time. The students have been estimating how long they foresee tasks taking, and then timing themselves to complete them. We will continue comparing durations of events and then progress to exploring both analogue and digital clocks to tell time to the minute. 

In Science, the students have been really enjoying comparing specimens and classifying them according to their characteristics. We’ve had lots of great ‘I wonder’ questions starting to arise. We appreciated observing some living specimens brought in by one of our class members and will soon be exploring our school grounds searching for more living specimens. 

You may have seen our abstract self-portraits or our Anzac soldiers on display at the local show; the students did an incredible job at creating these pieces. In addition to this, we have been exploring different techniques and mediums including watercolour paint and oil pastels and will soon be trying our skills at some funky pop art- stay tuned! 

Kind regards,
Mrs Angie Harrison

Year 4R

Students of the Week

Week 3– Addison Avery, Hannah Nott, Amelia O’Toole.
Week 4– Kalicia Saunders, Alex Sheedy.

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

I trust that everyone had a joyful ANZAC Day and a relaxing Long Weekend. It was delightful to listen to the students' adventures and stories shared from these special days. 

Our class has been bustling with activities and the students have been working diligently as we approach mid-term. I'm immensely proud of their progress so far and eager to see them maintain their momentum. 

Our Year 4 students are excited about the numerous forthcoming events. They include the Mother’s Day Liturgy, a visit to the town library to take part in ‘Step into Stories’ with Author and Artist Renee Treml, the ‘Walk to School Day’ and the ‘National Simultaneous Storytime’. 

Moreover, Year 4, 5 & 6 have been actively participating in morning movement three days a week. The faculty has noticed the students’ great involvement and keen interest to enhance their skills and overall wellbeing. The three classes have started using the school's excellent running track on the oval during these beautiful mornings. All the students should take pride in their accomplishments. Well-done to Year 4, 5 & 6. 

We hope everyone enjoys their weekend, celebrating the special women in their lives. 

Please ensure to keep an eye out for my emails and school updates. Should you have any questions or concerns, do not hesitate to reach out to me at alice.rathie2@twb.catholic.edu.au  

Kind Regards,  
Miss Alice Rathie

Year 5W

Students of the Week

Week 3– Parker Gale, Max Luck, Alastair North.
Week 4– Olivia Harch.

Welcome to Week 4, Parents and Caregivers of Year 5W,

Congratulations to all students who have completed their reading tests for the semester. There are only a few students to complete their testing, and this will occur in the next few days.

In reading we have worked hard at sounds, syllables and locating information in the text. An area for us to work on now is with Vocabulary. For example-in the text it says ‘big’- What is another word for ‘big’? This is thinking of synonyms which mean the same or similar, to words already being used in the text. By being able to come up with another word demonstrates further understanding of the topic and what the text is about. It is in fact harder than it sounds! So, in reading we will be working on Vocabulary and if you get an opportunity when you are listening to your child read, to ask them to match some synonyms to words in the text, that will be fantastic.

In Mathematics, we are getting faster with our number facts. There are so many ways to help simplify the facts and we are working through these strategies. However, learning number facts ‘off by heart’ is the best way for quick recall. Please encourage your child to learn their number facts. Please help them to do this by hearing the facts, writing the facts on flash cards and/or by putting up posters to recite.

Please make contact if any issues or for a chat.

Kind regards
Mrs Christina Wardle 

Year 6M

Students of the Week

Week 3– Amber Sting, Gus McCosker.
Week 4– Reagan Cross, Alexa Farmer.

 
Welcome to week 4 newsletter. Below are some of the learning the students have been involved in.  

Math  

In Math, students have been learning about different data that can be collected and to interpret data regarding mode, shape and range of a data set. They have been practising multiplying, adding, subtracting, and dividing with decimal numbers to solve word problems. 

English  

In English, students have started a new unit based around the novel ‘Us Mob’. We have finished creating our persuasive texts and are going to be exploring factual recounts and character analysis. Students have been learning to expand sentences using adverbial phrases, providing when, where, who, why and how something happens in their sentences. 

Science  

In Science, students have investigated solutions, suspensions, freezing, cooling and how some changes can be reversible and irreversible. We have been participating in hands-on activities in science to learn about these observable changes. 

HASS  

In HASS, students have finished their unit on comparing rights of different groups of children throughout the 20^th century. They will now start to learn about the world of business.  

Religion  

In Religion, students have been exploring ‘The Lord’s Prayer’. Breaking the prayer apart and reflecting on the 7 petitions and their meaning. They have compared African and Māori versions of ‘The Lord’s prayer.  

Have a good weekend!  
Mrs Claire McDonnell 

Sport & Library News

Eley Elite

Week 3– Max Luck.
Week 4– Amelia O’Toole.

SW Cross Country

Congratulations to the following students who will travel to Tara next Wednesday to compete in the SW Cross Country trials:  Reagan Cross, Max Luck, Geoffrey Easterbrook, Joe Mace and Alistair North.  Good Luck Boys!

Balonne Soccer

On Wednesday the Balonne Soccer trials were held at the Highschool.  Lexi Farmer, Isabella Ballin and Rory Southern were successful in selection for the girls with Pippi Cott and Olivia Harch selected as shadows.  Blake Brunner, Noah Ballin, and Parker Gale were selected in the boys’ team with Tom Easton and Kayden Passman selected as shadows.  These children will travel to Chinchilla on Tuesday 28^th May to attend the SW Soccer trials.  Good luck to all involved.

LIBRARY

Excursion to The Hub

Next Tuesday and Wednesday the year 4, 5 and 6 classes will have the opportunity to attend an online author session at The Hub.  Each year Toowoomba Catholic Schools organises a Step into Stories festival, inviting authors to visit schools in Toowoomba and offer online sessions to children in the western schools.  This year the students will meet Jess Rackyleft and Renee Tremi.  Both well-known Authors.

National Simultaneous Storytime

May 22^nd at 12pm is when the whole of the nation is encouraged to sit down and share a story.  This year the chosen book is Bowerbird Blues.  Our school is participating in this event with some guest readers attending the school and sharing the story and activities with the children.  We are looking forward to the event and will share photos of the day via Facebook.

All classes will be borrowing on Thursdays.  Please ensure your 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

St George Soccer Club