2025 TERM 1
25th February - Senior Jacket (Last Orders)
3rd - 7th March - Dental for Schools
4th March - SHROVE TUESDAY
5th March - ASH WEDNESDAY
7th March - PUPIL FREE DAY
10th March - PUBLIC HOLIDAY (Adelaide Cup)
12th March - Meet the Teacher (5.30 BBQ)
21st March - HARMONY DAY
11th April - Last day of Term 1
20th April - Easter Sunday
28th April - School Resumes Term 2
Term 1 Week 4
Dear Parents/Caregivers
Last Sunday, as a staff we joined the St Patrick’s Eucharistic Community to be commissioned as lay ministers. The annual Commissioning ceremony is a special occasion for staff as we acknowledge and celebrate the important work of educating young people.?Our response during the Mass is, “With the help of God, we dedicate ourselves to the care and education of these children, striving to give the example of a joyful and humble Christian life in all that we do.”
Our Meet the Teacher Evening is scheduled for Wednesday 12th March. The evening will start at 6:00pm in the School Hall. A sausage sizzle will be provided beforehand from 5:30pm allowing families to have a quick bite before the meeting begins. Please put this date in your diary, as it is an important event in our school calendar every year. More information will follow.
St Patrick’s has a School Board consisting of the Parish Priest, School Staff and parents of the school. The Board allows parents to have a voice in the strategic direction of the school. The School Board meets twice each term. This year it will be in Week 3 and Week 8 of each term from 7-9pm. Board members hold their position for 2 years. We have some vacancies on the School Board. If you would like to join the School Board, please complete the Nomination Form in this Newsletter and return the form as a matter of urgency.
Once again, we are offering our students the opportunity to be involved in Children’s University. CUA aims to encourage high quality out of school hour’s activities for children aged between 7 and 14 years of age, engaging with the wider community as learning partners in this process. The most important principle of CUA is that participation is voluntary, and activities must take place outside of the normal school day. In 2025 CU will continue using an online registration process whereby CU Coordinators will receive a QR code and hyperlink that they can distribute to any potential members.? The QR code/hyperlink links to an online form with membership information being submitted directly to CU.?We will send out this link as soon as we receive it.
Our Term 1 Pupil Free Day is booked for Friday 7th March. Please put this date in your diary. We ask that you make childcare arrangements for this day. Our OSHC service will be available.
The National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) will once again take place in Term 1. All students in Years 3 and 5 will be sitting the assessments between 12 March to 24 March. A practice test will take place on 25th February. NAPLAN provides additional professional judgements about a student’s attainment of literacy and numeracy and does not replace the extensive, ongoing assessments made by the school staff.
Student Wellbeing When we get friendships right in schools, children flourish! Once again, we will be using the UR Strong Program. Parents are able to access the parent portal of UR Strong for free. This portal has many useful ideas that can support your children. Students who require more individualised support can access the services of our School Chaplain (Tuesday or Friday mornings) or School Counsellor (Wednesday).
TriSkills have been booked again for this term. Triskills are excellent as they bring much equipment that we don't have in the school. The students get expert teaching in the area of gymnastics and trampolining. This program will be for all Reception-Year 6 students. All classes will receive 4 lessons.
At St Patrick’s School we encourage heathy eating habits. At approximately 10am each morning, students stop for some brain food. During this time, students are encouraged to have a piece of fresh fruit or vegetable in the lunchbox. This healthy snack is in addition to the food parents provide for recess and lunch.
As we start the New Year, it is important that all our students feel they belong to our school community. One way we look to do this, is by having a school uniform. Can I please remind families to make sure your child is wearing the correct uniform each day and that is clean and tidy and without additional accessories. We have had a few students wearing a variety of items that are not part of the uniform and we will be sending home reminders to families explaining the concern and we would very much appreciate if you could follow this up straight away. Please note we do sell hats in the uniform shop as well as the Front Office if you require one. We ask parents to label everything as this greatly assists us in successfully returning uniform items to the students.
In all things love
Barbara and Anne Marie
The Leadership Team
The Golden Rule at St Patrick’s School
The Golden Rule is the principle of treating others the way you would like to be treated. It is a rule that is present in faith traditions around the world. On Monday we prayed that we will do our best to be a good friend by following the Golden Rule. Here are some of our students enjoying their learning with their friends at school.
Shrove Tuesday
Next Tuesday is Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. The name Shrove comes from the old middle English word 'Shriven' meaning to go to confession to say sorry for the wrong things people had done. Lent always starts on a Wednesday, so people went to confessions on the day before. This became known as Shriven Tuesday and then Shrove Tuesday.
The other name for this day, Pancake Day, comes from the old English custom of using up all the fattening ingredients in the house before Lent, so that people were ready to fast during Lent. The fattening ingredients that most people had in their houses in those days were eggs and milk.
Next Tuesday our students will be learning about Shrove Tuesday and We will provide each student with a pancake and their topping of choice. Please let your child’s teacher know if they are unable to eat a pancake.
Ash Wednesday begins the Liturgical Season of Lent
Ash Wednesday, March 5, is the beginning of the season of Lent. Lent is a special time in the Church’s Liturgical Calendar when we remember Jesus’ journey in the desert where he prayed, fasted and avoided temptation. We also learn more about Jesus’ ministry and are called to dedicate time to prayer, fasting and alms giving (charity). During Lent, we take time to recognise the Holy Spirit guiding us be more like Jesus. We take time to think about how we can care more for others.
Project compassion is our major Social Justice focus for Term 1. Through Project Compassion, we learn about the ways that Caritas Australia is working with local partners around the world. We will learn more about the communities supported by Project Compassion and work towards raising money to donate to communities of Australia and the world through the charity. The theme for this year is “Unite Against Poverty”.
This week families will receive a Project Compassion box. The hope is that you collect spare change in the box over the next 6 weeks and send it back to school in the last week of school for Term 1. The money collected will be donated to Project Compassion and be used to help educate people living in poverty to help them live healthier and safer lives. Your donations will make a big difference to those who need the support of others.
Dental for Schools
School dentist visit will be next week from Monday 3rd until Friday 7th. All students who have booked in will be seen by the dental team. If you haven’t booked your child in and would like them to visit the dental team, forms are still available in the front office. Please fill one in as soon as possible and Luisa will email to the Dental for Schools company.
Have a lovely week.
Anne-Marie Platten
OPEN - MONDAY, THURSDAY & FRIDAY
PLEASE ORDER ON QKR APP before 9AM
OPEN - MONDAY, THURSDAY & FRIDAY
8.30am - 10am
PLEASE ORDER ON QKR APP before 9AM
SENIOR JACKETS
FINAL ORDERS - TUESDAY 25th FEB
Available on the QKR APP to 25th Feb 25 - 3pm
A friendly reminder to those families, who do not have a direct debit set up, that Term 1 school fees are due by the last day of Term 1 the 11/4/25
We offer direct debit, BPay, EFTPOS and also direct deductions from Centrelink payments to cater to the changing financial needs of our families at St Patrick’s School. When the direct debit payment option is selected your school fee payment is calculated over the full school year right up until the 31st of December 2025. This means smaller payments are required, making this method the most affordable way to budget for your commitment. Please come into the office or ring me on 83034500 if one of these options would better suit your financial requirements.
School Card 2025 must be applied for online each year and the instructions are in this newsletter. If you have any problems please come and see me if you are having any issues.
If at any time you are having trouble meeting your school fee commitment, or have any queries, please contact me on 8303 4500 to discuss this matter.
Christine Lavender
Finance Officer
Hi Everyone
Welcome, If you require our services please register on www.campaustralia.com.au and follow the link.
Hours of Operation
Before School - 7AM - 8.30AM
After School - 3.10PM (2.30PM Tues) - 6PM
We offer breakfast for the children in the morning and fresh fruit and second snack after school. Kids will enjoy sports, art and crafts,
There is a PUPIL FREE DAY on the 7th MARCH - We will be open for bookings from 7am to 6pm on the day.
Thank you Michele
For all enquiries and Bookings Please call - Ph 0447 141 518
PLAYGROUP 2025
Wednesday & Fridays
From 9.30AM - 11.30AM throughout the terms.
Playgroup, family fun for families with children under 5 years
Playgroup SA has partnered with the Office for the Early Years (Department of Education) to provide free development checks for children aged 12 months to 4 years. The checks provide an opportunity to monitor your child’s development, identify any concerns and celebrate milestones. A development check helps to monitor whether a child is meeting the milestones for their age (such as dressing or talking). Please note this is not a health check.
Please contact Chau Tran 8303 4500 if you would like further information or would like to book in child development check.
