NEWSLETTER 40 - 13th December 2022

The school community of St Patrick’s is truly blessed. And, this is the theme that I would like to use in my reflection about this wonderful school, the amazing students, the magnificent staff, and the entire St Patrick's Community.

We are blessed to have such a dedicated staff. Staff that are invested in finding and nurturing the true potential of every single one of our students at St Patrick's. During my four years as a staff member, I have been involved in countless discussions with my colleagues that centre on what we, as a school, can do to improve the outcomes of our students. The willingness of all of our staff members to go above and beyond in the pursuit of the best possible outcomes for all of our students is deeply appreciated and it is a testament to the call and vocation that comes with working in a Catholic School.

We are blessed to have such supportive and involved parents, grandparents, guardians, siblings, aunts, uncles, friends, parishioners and anyone else that has added to the positive vibe that projects from our school community. The importance of community in a school cannot be underestimated, and the strength and capacity of the school community of St Patrick’s is highly valued. The proof, as they say, is in the (Christmas) pudding, and I am pleased to say that based on 2022 events, our community is strong, as evidenced by: Shrove Tuesday, Sporting Carnivals, Parent Teacher meetings, Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, P&F Activities, St Patrick’s Day, Masses, Fundraisers and many other wonderful community events. All of these events as well as the day-to-day encounters we have with each other shines a light on our sincere and genuine desire to ensure our community is a community of sharing, trust and support.

We are blessed each and every day to walk into such a beautiful school, with amazing resources and accessibility to a huge range of wonderful learning opportunities. We aim to provide our students with educational experiences and the resources they need to be able to learn efficiently and effectively in the 21st century, as we want our students to be 21st century learners. We are certainly blessed as we have amazing access to technology, yet we understand the importance that real-world experience brings to learning. A particular example of our students flourishing academically this year has been the significant reading level improvement in all grades due to our reading focus and reading data analysis. Student learning across its entirety weaves together the fabric of school life. Learning across all areas for the student: academic, spiritual, emotional, social, physical and cultural has been clearly evident this year.

We are blessed to have such strong connections to our faith community. Of course, we are a Catholic School, and it is a given that we pray every morning and go to Mass. Yet it is so much more than that at St Patrick's. Our first celebration is the witness to Jesus, the deepening of our faith and the reinforcing of our Catholic traditions practised through liturgies and Mass. It is the active participation of all that come together in the place of worship that we celebrate. We come to Mass as participants embracing the grace that Christ pours out for us. The students are indeed joyful participants in this with their singing elevating, for many, the spiritual dimension of the service. Our wonderful priests, Fr. Jaison, Fr. Steven, and Fr. Damien, take turns to visit our school, and Fr Damien has spent much time in helping students prepare to participate in Mass. The students relish these times, as they gain insight by engaging with people who live out daily their relationship with God, not to mention the fact that Fr. Steven loves to talk tech and gaming with the students. 

And, most importantly, We are blessed to have such wonderful and amazingly talented students at St Patrick's, and I would now like to address our students, in particular, our Year 6 students.  For you, I wish to focus on the profound learning that can be gleaned from the magnificent Star Wars films. Be like Yoda – wise, thoughtful, and dedicated to helping others realise their potential. Don’t be like a stormtrooper: faceless and dispensable, in some cases, a clone.  Be an advocate for justice like Luke Skywalker, or be Princess Leia, standing up to a regime that does not have people at its heart. Take advantage of the learning you have attained at St Patrick's Catholic School. Value and nurture the friendships you have invested in during your years here. Go out and be luminous. Be a beacon for others.  Shine your light, share your force, and love what you do. But above all… Live Jesus in Your Hearts… Forever.

I would like to wish our entire St Patrick’s Community a wonderfully relaxing holiday break, a joyous and faith-filled Christmas, and a happy and prosperous new year. I very much look forward to seeing you all again in 2023.

Kind regards

Kurt Atkins

Acting Principal

2022

Term 1 - Thursday 3rd February - Thursday 14th April

Term 2 - Monday 2nd May - *Friday 8th July

Term 3 - Monday 25th July - Friday 30th September

Term 4 - Monday 17th October - Thursday 15th December

*Student Free Day Friday 8th July 2022

2023

Term 1 - Friday 3rd February - Thursday 6th April

Term 2 - Wednesday 26th April - Friday 7th July

Term 3 - Monday 24th July - Friday 29th September

Term 4 - Monday 16th October - Thursday 14th December

*Student Free Days Monday 25th April, Monday 24th July, Monday 16th October.

School Office Reopens 

Monday 23rd January 2023 (Office hours 8.00am - 4.00pm)

Closed - Thursday 26th (Public Holiday) & Friday 27th January.

Uniform Sales 

Monday 30th January  - Thursday 2nd February 

December 

January

We are excited to announce that Jillian Bruni will be our Year 4 classroom teacher for 2023. Mrs. Bruni has taught in Queensland for a number of years and comes to our school highly recommended by her former Principals. She is going to visit the school and this year’s Year 3 class tomorrow (Wednesday 14 December). I know you will all join me in making Mrs. Bruni feel most welcome at St Patrick’s and we look forward to working with her next year.

Below is the staffing list for 2023

Phone calls to the school from Friday 16th December to Monday 23rd January will be directed to the school message bank. This will be monitored by the leadership team and calls will be returned as soon as possible.

End of year reports will be available on Compass today from 3:30 pm. These reports are in PDF form and should be stored digitally for safe keeping. Parents of Year 6 students or students that are leaving the school at the end of 2022 are encouraged to make sure that all required reports are downloaded from Compass before the end of the year as access will cease on 31/12/2022. 

A reminder that our end of year reports are a summary report that is complemented by the online feedback that your child has received on Seesaw this year.

Please contact the school office if you are unable to access Compass or do not know your login details. 

Our talent show will be held tomorrow (Wednesday 14 December) at 1:30 pm in the school hall. Parents of students that are performing in the talent show are most welcome to attend.

Yearbooks have been distributed to the eldest student in each family. We hope you enjoy sitting down with your child or children as you look back on what has been a wonderful year.

Additional copies are available from the front office for $15.00

Our final day for students is Thursday 15 December. We will have activity and movie rotations on this day. We will also have a sausage sizzle and an icecream for each student at lunch (free). Students are also welcome to bring their own lunch. There will be no canteen on this day. Students should wear their sports uniform.

Congratulations to the following students who have received Student of the Week.

Prep: Thea Methorst for consistently trying your best with all learning tasks. Thank you for being a kind and caring member of our class.

Year 1: Balin Holland for your great effort and hard work throughout the year. Good work Balin. Keep it up

Year 2: Amir Khan for working quietly and productively to complete written tasks.  

Year 3: Peyton Allford for demonstrating resilience and for always being a cheerful class member.

Year 4: Annabell Methorst for displaying initiative to help others on our excursion to Camp Clayton.

Year 5: Livai Sesara for his entertaining 'Twas the Night Before Christmas poem. 

Year 6: Ekam Gill for the positive attitude and welcoming nature she is consistently displaying. 

Congratulations to our House Raffle winners this week: 

Dooley - Ryan Davey  Martyn - Anas Abdelgayed

Byrne - Oliver Gatehouse

A Guide for Parents and Carers. Students from families from years 2-6 will be provided with a booklet titled Online Safety A Guide for parents and Carers today. This booklet outlines key online safety issues for young people and includes a range of practical tips and advice. You can also find very useful information is a very engaging format at www.esafety.gov.au/parents

This year two teams from our school, the Electric Clovers and the Four Leaf Engineers, competed in the First Lego League competition. First Lego League (F.L.L.) is an international lego robot and coding competition, in F.L.L. you have to code your robot to do a series of missions in under 2 minutes and 30 seconds. We also had to make an innovation project and research an energy journey, find a problem and come up with a solution.

Both teams went to the Launceston competition. We both had to present a presentation to judges and completed 3 rounds of 2 and  half minutes.

Electric Clovers came second in the innovation project and Four Leaf Engineers won the Robot Design. 

Our team, Four Leaf Engineers, got invited to the national competition in Melbourne, we flew over on the 2/12/22 and the competition was the day after. We came 20th out of 40 in the robot missions.

We had lots of fun together, it was a great opportunity. We all learnt a lot. 

Thank you to Mr. Angliss for coaching us and supporting us both leading up to and during the National Tournament on Saturday 3 December.

By Rose and Egan. 

To help us in our planning for 2023, any families that are not returning to St Patrick's next year for any reason can you please contact the office on 64261626 or email stpatslat@catholic.tas.edu.au at your earliest convenience. Thank you. 

‘Inquiring Minds’ Birth to 5 program - a ‘Set-Up for Success’ Catholic Education Tasmania initiative.

Our ‘Inquiring Minds’ birth to 5 program operates each Friday during school term time from 9.00am to 10.30am;This program involves a considerable focus on communicating to parents the learning intentions of important activities that are associated with early years learning. Mrs Klug will be working to engage parents in early years learning experiences that will ensure children who are enrolling in Kindergarten, will be informed in regards to developing key social, emotional, physical and cognitive skills and understandings.

A reminder to parents that St Patrick's is a Nut Allergy School and that we ask that parents not pack nuts or nut products in their children's lunchboxes.