2 August 2024

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

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

Fantastic Feedback for St Patrick’s 

Over the past two weeks I have conducted Prep interviews in preparation for 2025. Not only was this a great experience meeting many potential new families and students for our school, but it was also truly wonderful listening to the positive feedback so many of the families relayed about St Patrick’s. 

The first question I asked in our interview was, “Why have you chosen St Patrick’s?”. The answers I received were varied but almost all of them revolved around the following points:

• They had friends or family who recommended the school to them. 
• They had friends or family who spoke highly about their children’s experience at St Patrick’s. 
• They were impressed with the community spirit they had seen within the school. 
• They were impressed by the presentation of our school grounds. (Thankyou Mr. North!!!!!!! 😊) 

As a Principal, hearing this kind of feedback is both gratifying and heartwarming. It reinforces the tremendous work our teachers and school officers do and the effort our students put in and the pride they have in our school. 

More importantly, it highlights the power of positive ‘word of mouth’ recommendation from families and staff already in the St Patrick’s community. Every time you tell someone about the great things that are happening at St Patrick’s, that information is kept and stored away, and plays a huge role in influencing where new families choose to educate their children. 

So, to summarise, I just want to say a very genuine ‘thank you’ to all of you, as parents, for the positive praise of our school that you have been sharing with our community. It is both valued and appreciated.  

Welcome Miss Hilton 

Over the school holidays, we waved goodbye to Ms. Sue Hopkins, one of our school officers and the tuckshop convenor. This week coming, we will welcome her replacement as school officer, Miss. Hayleigh Hilton, into our school community. Many of you will already be familiar with Hayleigh as she also works at our OSHC service. I’m looking forward to having Hayleigh on board and know you will all join me in making her welcome. 

Taking Pride in Our Uniform & Presentation 

One of the points families often highlight as a positive at St. Patrick’s is our uniform, and the general presentation of our students. Unfortunately, I have had to talk with a lot of students of late, about improving their general presentation and making sure they look neat and tidy. In particular, I have had to talk to students about:

• Tucking their academic shirts in.
• Fixing up their collars (no ‘popped’ collars!) 
• Making sure hair is tidy and, when longer than collar length, tied back. 
• Having the correctly coloured shoes and socks. 

Personal presentation is such an important part of our how we show pride in ourselves and our school. It is also an important part of preparing ourselves to learn. In the same way that warming up before competition prepares the body for success, taking the time to make sure you are well presented at the start of the day prepares the mind for success. It organises the brain and makes it attentive to the task at hand – learning! With that in mind, over the next few weeks I will be focusing on recognising well-presented students, but also looking for those students who need a reminder of what our school dress expectations are. 

Parent Engagement Evening – Diocesan Approach to Reading – More to Come! 

On Wednesday night just gone, Mrs. Chandler and Mrs. Colley hosted the first of our school-based parent engagement evenings. These evenings are aimed at making families aware of different initiatives taking place in the school and providing insight into ways families can engage with their child’s learning, both at school and at home. 

Wednesday’s session focused on the Toowoomba Catholic School’s ‘Diocesan Approach to Reading’, an initiative to boost the reading levels of students in Toowoomba Catholic schools, through research driven reading strategies. I know the night was very much appreciated by those parents who attended and gave some great insight into ways they could support their child’s reading development at home. 

We will be hosting more of these nights in the future with focus points again on reading and a broad range of other school-based initiatives such as cognitive development in school aged children, early identification and support for learning difficulties and self-regulation of emotions through the Zones of Regulation. Please keep a look out for these sessions in the future, it would be great to see as many parents as possible coming along and joining in. 

Loving Our Community – Mr. Wren’s Office Trucker Hat Collection 

My 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, please drop it in to the office and I’ll pop it on my office wall! 

Coming Up 

We have a lot of great opportunities coming up at school in the next few weeks. Please keep your eyes peeled for information regarding the feast day for Saint Mary MacKillop, Story Fest, Father’s Day, Book Week and a visit from the Queensland Symphony Orchestra. Lots to look forward to! 

Looking Ahead 

Have a great weekend, 

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

APRE News

Dear families,

Can you believe that we are almost halfway through Term 3.  This year is going by so quickly.  As an adult, time seems to go by a lot quicker than it did when I was a child! I wonder if children feel the same way today.

We have had some lovely Eucharistic celebrations already this term, and it is so uplifting to see our students be involved in the Mass.  We are branching out and using some new music – I am hoping the children have been enjoying this too! We always love having our families attend our Masses – so please, if you are able, come along!

There are times in life when we become weary – beyond the normal human existence in a fast-paced world – I mean really weary.

There is a beautiful scripture from Matthew 11 (28-30) that I love -

 “Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

I’m sure I don’t need to explain to a farming community what a yoke is, and how it is used.  The purpose of a yoke in agriculture is to secure beasts to each other, often oxen or horses, so that they are stronger together, and able to pull large pieces of equipment.  Yoke, in this passage, is a reference to being connected to Jesus.  Jesus is literally asking us to give up our worries to Him, connect ourselves to Him, and He will give us rest.

How can this possibly be – how can Jesus, who died over 2000 years ago, take our worries and concerns, and give us peace? That is the power of the Eucharist, and of His word. Through Mass, through prayer, we can be in the presence of God.  We don’t ask for material things – instead, we ask for patience, for grace, for understanding.  We ask for forgiveness. We ask for wisdom.

My prayer for you all this week is that your burdens are light.

Learning Support

This week is the National Consistent Collection of Data (Census).  You have hopefully seen the information about NCCD in previous emails. The NCCD occurs each year in August and is an opportunity for schools to provide the Australian government with de-identified information regarding the students with disability and the supports provided to them.

In Week 8, we will be hosting the retesting round of Audiology.  The Audiology testing will be offered to those students who have failed the first round of testing. There is also an opportunity for other students to engage in Audiology testing. The cost of the testing is $99 per student (for new students or those who are being retested).  This cost is a significant reduction from the cost when accessing other clinics (up to $300).

On Wednesday evening, we held our first Parent Engagement Evening. The topic was the Toowoomba Catholic Schools Diocesan Reading Approach. Thank you to those parents who attended – we hope that you found the event to be informative and helpful.

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

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.

MASS TIMES

St George-Dirranbandi Parish

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

MLCC News

With the introduction of the Diocesan Approach to Reading this year, we are very excited to begin our series of parent engagement sessions. On Wednesday evening we held the first of these sessions which was based around the current approach to reading. We discussed the progression of how children learn to read, beginning with learning sound/letter correspondence within words. It is vital for children to store the letter/sound relationships permanently in their memory so that they can apply them to new words. They can then practice these skills using “decodable texts” using the phonics rules they have learned. 

In the classroom there are three levels of teaching that occur. 

1. Tier 1 - Whole class instruction – research has shown that this is the most effective teaching method.
2. Tier 2 – Small group instruction – extra explicit instruction for students who require the opportunity for more practice.
3. Tier 3 – Individualised support – further instruction for students who require targeted intervention.

The instruction in each level is evidence based and driven by the data that is collected by teachers through diagnostic checks and assessments. 

If you missed this session, don’t despair as we will run the same presentation in a few weeks’ time. Throughout the remainder of the year, we will be offering various other topics such as Spirituality and Formation, how children’s brains develop and supporting young children to be “school ready”. We look forward to sharing these evenings with our school community. 

Annette Colley 
Middle Leader/Curriculum Coordinator 

ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

Students of the Week

CLASS News

Health & Drama

Welcome to Week 4

The last couple of weeks the students have been participating in the following Health and Music topics.

Upper School

The students were introduced to the Guideline of Australian Guide to Healthy Eating. Students participate in a food quiz to gain an understanding of their prior knowledge. We examined the five different food groups and sort a food diary that matched against the Healthy Eating guide. As a class, the students discussed food continuum of snack food and analyse the nutritional information of snack food and comparing information.

Middle School

The students were introduced and used the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating to identify components of a healthy diet. They Identify health messages seen in everyday life and explore their purposes. The students were given their first assessment topic to design a healthy eating poster to promote the five food groups.

Lower School

The students commenced learning about how foods are promoted to them through advertisements, supermarket placing, labelling, packaging. Students were introduced to the five food groups using The Australian Guide to Healthy Eating. They identified what is a healthy and an unhealthy meal. They designed a healthy lunch box incorporating the five food groups.

We commence the music lessons with Aural training - echo rhythm with clapping or singing activity, and then we play the instruments to repeat the pattern throughout the grades. In the upper school the students were introduced to the drums and enjoyed following, “In da house” drumming where they learnt how to play different beats. The middle school learnt the songs ‘Day O’…Year 4 and ‘Ram Sam Sam’…Year 3.   Lower school learnt ‘Bow Wow Wow’…Year 2   ‘Obwisana’…Year 1 and ‘Cows in the Kitchen’…Prep. We also discussed the cultural background and importance of these songs.

Enjoy your day! Keep Smiling! 
Mrs Jane Webster

Sport & Library News

LIBRARY 

Borrowing

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

Basketball After Dark

Social Basketball for the youth of St George

Every Wednesday 4 – 6pm starting 7^th August 2024.

Basketball Courts, Rowden Park.