Co-Principal’s Message

Dear Parents,

Welcome to Term 2. I hope you all had a very Happy Easter and were able to spend some time relaxing and enjoying the company of family and friends.

Firstly a big thank you to all those families and students who attended the ANZAC Day march. This is a wonderful opportunity to show our respect and gratitude to all the men and women who have served our country and lost their lives in times of conflict. Thank you also to our school captains Jacinta and Hugo who represented our school at the 10am service at the Monument, laying a wreath on behalf of our school community.

At the end of last term we were very proud to receive national recognition for our 2018 NAPLAN results. The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting authority (ACARA) informed us that we demonstrated substantially above average gain in student reading and numeracy achievement, as measured by NAPLAN 2018, as students progress from Year 3 to Tear 5. Here at St Patrick’s we strive for continual improvement so this is something that every student, teacher and parent should be very proud of achieving.

Parent meetings for our new Compass system will be taking place on Thursday 9th May in the Mercy Hall. Session 1: 5.30 & Session 2: 6.45pm. This session will inform parents how to use and what is available in the system. We will be going live with the System on Monday 13th May (Week 3).

Thank you to the families who are contributing to our building fund. During the holidays we were able to install new carpet throughout the Kinder Learning Space, complete bag hooks outside classrooms and upgrade our security alarm system.

Commencing next week, the students in Years 4 and 5 will participate in a one hour, weekly  Bluearth lesson. This initiative is being funded by Catholic Education Diocese of Wagga Wagga. Bluearth is a unique, evidence-based movement approach to learning that improves outcomes in academic performance, physical health, focus, concentration, social behaviour and confidence. Unlike traditional sports-based approaches, which focus on a specific range of movement, each Bluearth session is based on participation rather than competition, with a focus on personal awareness, self-esteem, self responsibility and social interaction. The activities use stillness, movement, physical interaction and reflection to provide experiential learning opportunities, promote optimal functioning and guide development. The Bluearth curriculum is based on the four recognised key elements of a healthy and challenging learning environment:  Self awareness, Self acceptance, Purposefulness and Self responsibility. The sessions are conducted by highly trained Bluearth coaches in a supportive environment in which everyone is encouraged to participate at their own level, students and teachers alike. The Bluearth Active Schools program encompasses: coordination and agility drills, skill activities focusing on movement skills, movement challenges and games, moving in the environment, dynamic movement control and core movement. If you wish to find out about the program, please go to:  https://www.bluearth.org/

This term we are trialing a few new ideas in our playground:

– Before school: only equipment to be used are balls no larger than a tennis ball. Purpose: to see if we are providing a calmer beginning to our students’ day. Is the current business of the morning activities setting up our students for an unsettled day?

– Children will not be permitted to bring in sport equipment from home to play with during the day. Purpose: We have adequate equipment available at school and conflict often occurs when those who own the equipment take ownership of the game.

– For half of lunch time, the Library/Atrium area will be supervised. Purpose: to provide a space for children who would prefer a quieter space to play. During this time students will be able to draw/play board games/ cards etc.

You can view lots of photos of our School on the Galleries page on our website.

Kind regards, Liz and Rob.