10 October 2024

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Hello St Patrick’s families, I hope you are all well! 

Welcome Back! 

It’s Term 4 and we are already two weeks in. With the upcoming busyness of swimming blocks, Prep transitions, awards nights, senior graduations and days of celebration, this term is going to fly, so please keep yourself up-to-date with events at school and have a great Term 4! 

2025 Attendance Intentions 

The school is at a point in the year when we are finalising our enrolments and staffing for 2025, and a key part of this process is knowing exactly how many students we will have attending, the school next year. With that in mind, if you know that you will be moving on in 2025 and your children will no longer be attending St Patrick's, can you please contact the school to make us aware of this as soon possible. The best way to do this is by email to stgeorge@twb.catholic.edu.au  If your child/children are still going to be attending next year, there is no need to make contact. I appreciate your time in addressing this for us, it will greatly aid in our preparations for 2025. 

Fete 

Our Fete is soon approaching, and it is all happening at school and in the parish, to get it organised. 

Mega draw tickets – It’s time to SELL, SELL, SELL those tickets! I’ve seen some of the prizes coming in for this year’s mega draw and they are great! The mega draw is a key part to the fundraising efforts of the fete so make sure you’re canvasing the neighbourhood and selling those tickets. 

And if you are available to help sell mega draw tickets on a Friday night or Saturday morning before the fete, please contact Harry North on 0400 099 640 to let him know and he will add you to the roster. 

Donations for the Sweets Stall, Cake Stall, Container Stall & Plant Stall – donations will soon be sought for the Sweets Stall, Cake Stall, Container Stall & Plant Stall so keep your eyes peeled for more notices and please donate kindly! 

SUNDAY PACKUP – The Sunday after fete is always a busy one with the pack-up and clear-away of all the events and activities. There are lots to do on this day but, many hands make light work, so please find some time to come down and help. 

Sun Safety – The Seasons they are a Changin’! 

It’s official; the hot weather is here! With that in mind, it’s the right time to remind our families of the importance of being sun safe. At school we support a sun-safe attitude through access to shaded spaces during eating time and play, enforcing that students have a broad brimmed school hat when outdoors, having a sleeved and collared sun smart uniform and providing access to sunscreen in the classroom, should children choose to apply it. Many children bring their own sunscreen to school, which is ok, but please ensure this is a roll-on bottle and not an aerosol.

Please note it is not the responsibility of school staff to apply sunscreen at school. 

10 Week Term  

This term is a 10-week term (Term 4 usually goes for 9 weeks), with our last day of the year being Wednesday 4th December. A few ways to support our students during this time of the year include:  

• Maintaining routines both at home and school. Predictability supports everyone when we become tired.  
• Establish positive conversations around the school day- what went well? What did you learn? Did anyone help you with a challenge today? Focusing on the positives, supports our emotional wellbeing.  
• Staying in contact with your classroom teacher if you have any questions or concerns regarding school. 

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! 

Have a great weekend, 

Jim Wren
Principal
Looking Ahead

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 Friends,

As we embrace the vibrant month of October, we reflect on the values that unite us as a Catholic school community. This month holds significant importance as we celebrate the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi - a perfect time to honour our commitment to stewardship of the Earth and care for one another.

As we navigate our daily lives, let us remember to embody the virtues of kindness, patience, and understanding. Together, we can create an environment that nurtures our children’s spiritual and academic growth.

Sacraments

On Sunday 20 October, 22 young people from our Balonne parish community will finish their sacramental school journey through celebrating their First Eucharist.

Everyone is welcome to come as we continue to support these young people in their faith journey. We also have one young person from Bollon and one young person from Thallon who will be joining our St Patrick’s School students. We wish these students well and pray that God will bless them in their faith journey.

Thank you to the Sacramental Team (Mrs Eley, Mrs Morris and Mrs White) for their ongoing support in preparing the students.  Their loving guidance and ever-present gentleness have ensured that our students are well prepared for this special moment in their lives.

Learning Support

You may remember earlier this year, I reflected on the ways we express our feelings as adults, and how this has a direct impact on our children and students.  As we head into the throws of Term 4, and the weather is starting to heat up – temperatures can also increase emotionally.  As a school community, we aim to provide a safe environment for our little learners to be able to rest a while, in a way that is or harmful to themselves or others. Another one of the big feelings we often see at school is anxiety.  This can be so impactful. I have added below an excerpt from a wonderful online resource ‘Hey Warrior’.  As a parent (and teacher), this resource provides some wonderful insight and thought-provoking concepts.  We WANT our children to know that they can feel anxious AND do brave. I invite you to have a quick read below.

“Anxiety isn’t the problem, but the response to anxiety can be.

Anxiety is a normal human response designed to warn us of danger. If there is true danger, the drive to avoid means anxiety is doing its job. When this happens, our job is to help them move to safety.

Most often though, anxiety means we are about to do something safe and brave, important, hard. When this happens, our job is to help them to learn that they can feel anxious and do brave.

This can happen one little step at a time, but it starts with changing how we think of anxiety.

The more we treat anxiety as a problem or as something to be avoided, the more we inadvertently turn them away from the safe, growthful, brave things that drive it.

On the other hand, when we make space for anxiety, let it in, welcome it, be with it, the more we make way for them to recognise that anxiety isn’t something they need to avoid. They can feel anxious and do brave.

We must stop pathologising anxiety.

Every time we pathologise a child with anxiety, we lose an opportunity to strengthen them against it.

Yes, they might have extreme anxiety, and yes anxiety makes things feel hard, and yes, they are capable of doing hard things. It doesn’t matter how quickly they move towards brave or how small the steps are. What’s important is not avoiding new, hard, brave things completely.

Being brave isn’t about ‘no anxiety’. In fact, whenever there is a need for brave behaviour, there will always be anxiety. It’s the existence of anxiety that makes it brave. The key to strengthening children isn’t about ‘never experiencing anxiety’, but about knowing they can handle anxiety. This will only come from experience.

If what they are doing is safe, we don’t have to ‘fix’ their anxiety. Their anxiety isn’t a sign of breakage. It’s a sign that they’re dealing with something hard, brave, new, or important.

When we pathologise a child with anxiety (‘You can’t do this because you are anxious,’), we inadvertently do two things:

– we confirm the deficiency story that tends to come with anxiety, ‘I’m not strong enough/ brave enough/ good enough to do hard things.’

– we send the message that anxiety is something that should be avoided. The problem with this is that we also send the message that the things that drive anxiety should be avoided. This will include all brave, hard, new, important things, which always come with anxiety.

When they avoid anxiety, they avoid the experiences they need to learn they can handle anxiety – and this wisdom will only come from experience. It doesn’t matter how long this takes or how small the steps are. It also doesn’t matter if they handle this terribly. What matters is the experience and that they don’t feel alone in the experience.

This can happen in tiny steps, each one braver than the last. Each of these steps, however awful they feel, show them they can feel anxious and do brave. If we want them to know they can feel anxious and do brave, we must make anxiety ‘be-withable’.

Living bravely with anxiety is about sharing the space with it, not being pushed out by it.

Rather than, ‘What’s wrong with you?’ or ‘We need to fix you,’ we have to normalise it: ‘Of course you have anxiety! You’re doing some big things now. How can I help?’

Even when anxiety is extreme and suffocating, we must normalise the anxiety part of it. Why? Because the more we pathologise anxiety, the more we fuel anxiety about the anxiety.

The experience of anxiety is normal. The intensity might be extreme and unbearable, but the anxiety is normal.

If they are truly safe, the intensity of anxiety will be fuelled by anxiety about the anxiety and the story (the reason) they put to their anxiety.

To change the response to anxiety, we must change the story we put to anxiety.”

Wishing you a blessed week.

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

Change of Mass Times — Following a suggestion from Bishop Ken after his visit in June, the Parish Pastoral Council have decided the following changes to our current mass times. The change only affects the 3rd Sunday & the Thallon & Dirranbandi communities support the changes. 

THIS WILL NOT START UNTIL FR. ANTHONY RETURNS:  1st Sunday—St George—Saturday Vigil Mass 6pm;  Dirranbandi—Sunday Mass 8am; Hebel—Sunday Mass 10am 2nd Sunday—St George—Sunday Mass 8.30am 3rd Sunday—St George—Sunday Mass 8.30am; Thallon— Sunday Mass 11am; Dirranbandi– Saturday Vigil Mass 4pm 4th Sunday—St George—Sunday Mass 8.30am; Bollon– Sunday Mass 11am 5th Sunday– St George– Sunday Mass 8.30am

***FOR NOW, MASS TIMES ARE AS PER THE TABLE BELOW***

MLCC News

Parents often comment, “My child doesn’t like sitting down reading a book, what else can I do to help my child with their literacy skills?” 

Research has shown that attaching reading to pleasure is an investment in your children’s future academic success. Being an avid lifelong reader is such an advantage in life.  
 
However, for children who find reading challenging from day one, keeping that positive link to reading is not easy. It turns out there is a lot you can do to start your child’s life with a positive and happy view of books and reading, and to maintain that positive link through the often-difficult learning-to-read years. 

It’s a high stakes part of parenting for sure.  But there is a lot you can do. 

Here are some practical ideas that may help to engage your child in the reading process: 

• Play games such as “I spy…something beginning with D”.
• Cook with your child and have them follow the recipe with you.
• Try a word puzzle or crossword together.
• Read other materials like leaflets or brochures from the mailbox.
• Identify the street signs as you drive.
• Make a shopping list and ask children to find the items at the shop.
• Play board games and read the rules or instructions on the board.
• Read with friends or family on the phone or via video chat.
• Music – look up the lyrics to your favourite songs and read them.
• TV show/movie descriptions – ask your child to help read the blurb to select something to watch.

Annette Colley 
Middle Leader/Curriculum Coordinator 

CLASS News

Health & Drama

Welcome to Term 4 

I hope you all had a fantastic holiday with family and friends. All the very best for Term 4. 

Music 

This Term we will be continuing with Music using ‘The Fun Music Company Program’ which is a complete music program for Primary school music classes. 

It is specifically designed to meet the requirements of the Australian national curriculum, while at the same time making lessons engaging and fun for children. 

We will continue the Aural, Sing & Play untuned percussion instruments with each song. Aural is about experiencing musical concepts such as beat and melody, and it is only by repetition that we can really achieve that Echo rhythm is listening to a rhythm and reproducing it Each unit contains a variety of songs for the students to learn and chosen especially for each age group. These songs are selected from around the world to meet the needs of the curriculum, while also being enjoyable and engaging for children. The students will be learning the following songs for the first 5 weeks of the Term. 

Prep - Wee Hee Nah 
Year 1 - Haru ga Kita / Year 2- La Cucaracha 
Year 3 - Tideo / Year 4 - Aququa dela Omar 
Year 5 - Marimba Bands & Crome Music Lab composing 

Term 3 Health 

In Health this Term across the school we will be continuing with learning more about Making Safe Choices.

 Lower Prep 

Students will explore health-related topics related to the Australian Curriculum descriptors. Students will participate in discussions and learn to: 

• How demonstrate protective behaviours and develop help-seeking strategies to keep themselves safe.  
• Demonstrate protective behaviours and strategies that help keep them safe  
• Identify Safety people- (Police Ambulance and Fire) in the community that protect and support their safety. 
• They will also be able to identify how health information that can be used to make educated choices to keep them safe. 

Lower Years 1-2  

Students will explore health-related topics related to the Australian Curriculum descriptors. Students will participate in discussions and learn to: 

• Identify and demonstrate protective behaviours and help-seeking strategies they can use to help them, and others stay safe at school and in the community. 
• The students will identify protective behaviours they might feel during unsafe situations.  
•  Through discussion, students will explore digital safety, including how to act and be safe in a digital environment.  

Middle Years 3-4  

Students will explore health-related topics related to the Australian Curriculum descriptors Students will participate in discussions and learn to: 

• Describe and apply protective behaviours and help-seeking strategies in a range of online and offline situations.  
• Investigate and apply behaviours that contribute to their own and others’ health, safety. 
• Students will focus on protective behaviours on online and offline interactions.  
•  Students will look at the how we can protect ourselves and help-seeking strategies that they can utilise for themselves both online and offline and when helping others. 

Upper Years 5-6  

Students will explore health-related topics related to the Australian Curriculum descriptors. Students will participate in discussions and learn to: 

• Analyse protective behaviours and help-seeking strategies that can be used in a range of online and offline situations  
• Analyse how behaviours influence their safety and well-being of individuals and communities.  
• Students will focus on protective behaviours focusing on online interactions.  
• Students will look at the privacy and protecting their identity, the impact of online culture and help-seeking strategies that they can utilise for themselves and when helping others. 

Enjoy your day! Keep Smiling! 
Mrs Jane Webster

Sport & Library News

Welcome back to term 4.  It’s great to be back and I am looking forward to working with the children again.  This term the year 3-6 classes are focusing on cricket skills with various fun activities that promote hand – eye coordination along with teamwork.  The lower school is participating in a unit called ‘Catch Me If You Can’.  This unit focuses on game play and following rules and being a good team player.

Rep Sport

Most of our representative sport has come to an end and I would like to congratulate all students on their willingness to participate and represent the school and their district.  Well, done!  These children will be recognised at Awards Evening with the presentation of a certificate.

Swim Block

Swim block is in week 8 and 9.  There will be more information closer to the time however I do know that it will run from a Wednesday week 8 to a Tuesday week 9.  The IM will be held on Thursday 28^th and the Swimming carnival on Friday 29^th November.  As stated earlier there will be more information to follow.

LIBRARY 

BOOK FAIR is coming to the school next week.  (Week 3) 

Opening hours are:

Monday 2.30 pm – 4pm
Tuesday 3.15pm – 4pm
Wednesday 3.15pm – 4pm
Thursday 3.15pm - 4pm

Borrowing

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

Blokes Brekky

Join us for a FREE breakfast at the St George Men’s Shed, Lindores Street.

Decorated Bike Competition

Saturday 12 October, 4pm onwards.