Sincere thanks to Louise Stewart, Lynne McMaster and Al McMaster for cooking such a delicious breakfast for the mothers of our school community last Friday. It was lovely to see so many mothers and grandmothers enjoying the company of their children and their friends. At this stage we do not have a result from the mums versus kids netball game, so we will call it a draw! Thanks for umpiring, Sophie.

It was then over to the church for our Mothers’ Day liturgy – a lovely opportunity to thank God for the gift of our mothers. Again, thanks to Cheryl Ogden and Leanne Hyland for the opportunity to sit for a while and reflect on the gift of our heavenly Mother, Mary, as well as well as our beautiful mothers to whom we owe such a great debt of gratitude.

Back over to the playground where we had the opportunity to share some books with our mums in the glorious autumn sunshine. Thanks to Karen Devlin who made our “Reading, Rugs and Hugs” possible.

Mother's Day Stall

Sincere thanks to Jodie Boyce, Mel Pasfield, Dana Cankova-Unwin, Belinda Newell and Jane Ayshford who organised and ran our Mothers’ Day stall last Wednesday. There were lots of excited children travelling home from school last Wednesday with their surprises well hidden inside their school bags. We hope you loved your gifts.

From the REC

As we begin Week 3, I hope that you were able to enjoy Mothers’ Day and that you were well celebrated and looked after.

• Project Compassion

Thank you for your fundraising efforts for Project Compassion during Lent. Please return the Project Compassion boxes as soon as possible so that we can pass on our donations to Caritas. Once again thank you for your generosity.

• Upcoming Masses and liturgies

• Confirmation

We currently have two students – Emma Wilks and Andrew Costanzi - who are enrolled in the Confirmation sacramental program. Emma and Andrew will be confirmed on Friday 24th May at St Pius X, Windale. Please keep Emma and Andrew in your prayers.

• Mother’s Day Liturgy

What a perfect opportunity we had last Friday to reflect on the impact that our mothers have had on our lives and on our families. Mothers are so generous and loving and are a true reflection of the love that Mother Mary has for Jesus and the love she has for us. We pray that Mother Mary will guide our parenting and support us along this challenging and rewarding journey. Last Friday’s beautiful liturgy was prepared by Year 4. We thank Mrs Ogden and the Year 4 students for their preparation of the skits and the prayerful liturgy. We hope you enjoyed the time in the church with your children.

Leanne Hyland

Religious Education Coordinator

Free Movie Night

Next week is National Volunteer Week. Below is an advertisement for a free movie screening for all parents, grandparents and friends of St Patrick’s who are registered volunteers. The movie screening is on Wednesday evening next week (22nd May), BUT THE RSVP DATE IS TOMORROW (Wednesday 15th May). Maybe a few of you would like to travel together and make a night of it. RSVP to: brittany.gonzales@mn.catholic.org.au

Attention Parents of Bike Riders

It is wonderful to see so many of our students riding their bikes to school. Research shows that both your body and your mind need physical exercise to function at their peak. Exercise helps with concentration, memory, cognitive function and mental health. Students who exercise in the mornings have a better chance of being ready to learn than those who sleep until as late as possible and drag themselves to school.

Unfortunately, a local resident has expressed concerns about some dangerous and discourteous riding practices to and from school. Recently, the gentleman was walking east on the Northcote Avenue one afternoon – towards Swansea Heads – when he was almost knocked to the ground by a St Patrick’s student who had ridden past him. The gentleman called out to ask whether the child had a bell on his bike, to which the child answered “Yes” but had continued riding.

In NSW, riding your bike on a footpath is legal if you are under the age of 16. I encourage the children to ride on the footpaths, but they should observe the following rules and courtesies:

1. Slow down on footpaths - bike paths are not for racing.
2. Watch for pedestrians – expect them to do the unexpected.
3. Let others know you are coming - shout a warning or ring your bell repeatedly as you approach from at least 20 metres away.
4. Give pedestrians a wide berth – don’t underestimate the damage a moving bike can do when it collides with a pedestrian.

Parents of bike riders . . . Please reinforce these rules with your child. Apart from the safety issues to both the cyclist and the pedestrian, our students are on show when they wear the school uniform in public. Dangerous and discourteous bike riding reflects badly on the school.

Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.

Peter Green.

Compass Attendance Notes

The Comapss Parent Portal allows you to view your child's attendance and provide an absence explanation (for past, or even future absences). Unlike Skoolbag absence notifications (which are an email to the school), Compass attendance notes link directly to our recording system. From May 18, we will no longer be using SkoolBag - please do not send absence notes in via Skoolbag after this date. If you did not receive a letter with your login details to Compass, please contact the office. Here is a link to the ‘parent portal - how to use guide’, which outlines how to utilise many features including adding absence notes on page 8 &9.

From the Library

Every year a picture book, written and illustrated by an Australian author and illustrator, is read simultaneously in libraries, schools, preschools, childcare centres, family homes, bookshops and many other places around the country. This year the featured book is Cosgrove’s Alpacas with Maracas.

Now in its 19th successful year, NSS is a fun event that aims to promote the value of reading and literacy. Last year there were over 1,062,230 participants at over 8,255 locations. This year NSS takes place on Wednesday 22 May 2019 at 11am. Year 1 and 2 will participate at Swansea Library and all other St Pat's classes will participate here at school.

On Friday 24th May, students in Years 3 and 4 will walk to Swansea Library to view "Storm Boy" exhibition by local artist/illustrator Jenni Goodman.

Canteen Volunteers Desperately Needed

Below is the canteen roster for Term 2. If you have any spare time please let Shermaine know on 0407 807 974: As you will see we are still in need of volunteers. The canteen simply cannot operate without you. Please help where you can - even if it's once a term.

Regards,

The Pit Stop Crew

Canteen Roster

P & F News

What a great few weeks of fundraising it’s been for our school community. Thanks to the P&F volunteers who organised the Easter raffle and Easter egg guessing competition at the end of Term 1, and to all those amazing parents who organised, ordered, purchased, made (yes … those scrunchies were all hand-made by the lovely Belinda Newell!) and sold the Mothers’ Day stall presents, allowing all of the mums and grandmas to receive something special on Mothers’ Day. Thank you to the St Patrick's staff for treating the mums and grandmothers to a beautiful Mothers’ Day breakfast. As always, we appreciate your kindness and your huge efforts to make us all feel special and appreciated.

The Entertainment Books have been selling like hot cakes. In seven weeks a massive 24 books have sold, already raising $313 for the school. Keep those orders rolling in, as we only need to sell another 11 to reach our goal!

Trivia Night tables are getting underway for Friday May 31, with a few tables already booked with their country of choice. Don’t forget to reach out to family and friends to create loads of tables. There are no limits to how many countries we can pack into the hall. Let’s make this the biggest fundraiser for the year! We’re still sourcing prizes for the night and if anyone would like to contribute a prize or have any ideas for fun games, please email Kelly Wijnans at swn.pandf@mn.catholic.edu.au

If you’re interested in learning more about “Cybersafety” and the impact that screens and gaming are having on your child and their brains, please join us on Tuesday 18th June at the Catholic Schools Office, Hunter Street, Newcastle West, for an informative presentation by two nationally renowned speakers – Greg Gebhardt and Professor Wayne Warburton. The Federation of P&F Associations, which is a council made up of P&F members from all across the Maitland/Newcastle Diocese, has worked really hard for months to secure these speakers. If you have any questions or would like to carpool into town, you can email either Anna Marriott or Kelly Wijnans at swn.pandf@mn.catholic.edu.au. There will be light refreshments served, so RSVPs are essential by 4th June. See the poster elsewhere in the newsletter for more details.

It would be really great to see new and old faces at the next St Patrick’s P&F meeting. It will be held in the Library on Wednesday 29th May at 6:30pm. It’s such a great way to get to know other parents, to learn more about the school and how it operates and, of course, to feel more engaged with your child’s schooling. And no pressure to take on any jobs as they’ve all been filled for the year! Hope to see you at the next meeting.

We are Walking Safely to School This Friday

This Friday (17th May) we will hold our annual “Walk Safely To School” Day. The details of this event appeared in last week’s newsletter. We will leave from Reids Reserve, Lambton Parade, Swansea Heads at 8.00am, and we will walk down Lambton Parade and Northcote Avenue until we reach St Patrick’s School. This is a distance of 2.6 kilometres. We should arrive at the school a little after 8.30am. Any students who do not live in this vicinity might ask Mum or Dad to drop them at Reids Reserve so that they can join the walk.

If you are volunteering to walk with us, please ensure that you have:

1. Obtain a Volunteer Working With Children Check number (WWCC). You may do this by either visiting a Service NSW branch or by completing an online application at https://bit.ly/2kaDAvC. There is no fee for a Volunteer WWCC, and:
2. Provide the school with your WWCC number by completing a Diocesan Clearance Form. The form must be submitted to the school office together with photo identification. The clearance form can be found at https://bit.ly/2TEyP1O

Year 5/6 Visit to Tenison Apartments

Results from the NSWPSSA Championships

Last week, Aydin and Thomas represented Polding at the NSWPSSA Tennis Championships at Inverell. The Polding team progressed to the semi-final, lost their semi-final and came fourth overall in the 3rd vs 4th playoff. This is an outstanding result! Congratulations to the Polding team and, of course, to our two Polding representatives, Aydin and Thomas.

Results of Dio Cross Country

Congratulations to all of our students who competed in the Diocesan cross country at Oakhampton Heights last Tuesday. I was very proud that every single one of our runners strived to do their best . . . Nobody gave up! Alex was not feeling very well on the day, and he still gave his very best. Unfortunately Robbie was unable to run, due to an injury, but we valued the support of both Robbie and his mum, Joanne.

Our results were as follows:

2 km course

• Evan W – 9 min 48 sec – 40th place
• Hayden W – 10 min 12 sec – 32nd place
• Ben M – 10 min 40 sec – 68th place
• Flynn F – 10 min 44 sec – 66th place
• Robbie M – 10 min 46 sec – 71st place
• Madison T – 10 min 52 sec – 21st place
• Tamika F – 11 min 33 sec – 33rd place
• Aisha K – 13 min 4 sec – 75th place
• Isabella M – 13 min 7 sec – 79th place
• Teddy B – 13 min 10 sec – 114th place
• Lara W – 13 min 12 sec – 81st place

3 km course

• Kai C – 11 min 8 sec – 2nd place
• Oliver M – 12 min 24 sec – 18th place
• Summer-Rose W – 13 min 31 sec – 14th place
• Kai J – 13 min 37 sec – 50th place
• Huon B – 13 min 50 sec – 56th place
• Alex W – 14 min 32 sec – 72nd place
• Jemima K – 15 min 14 sec – 52nd place
• Ayla P – 15 min 34 sec – 60th place
• Kate E – 16 min 9 sec – 66th place
• Ava C – 20 min 7 sec – 89th place

As Kai was placed in the top eight runners in their age groups, they have been selected to compete at the Polding trials at Eastern Creek on Friday 14th June. Congratulations Kai, and good luck at the Polding trials.

Sincere thanks to those parents who provided transport on the day.

Gardening Club

Trivia Night

On Friday 31st May, the P&F will host the annual trivia night, a major fundraiser for our school.

The night will begin at 6.00pm for pre-trivia drinks. This is a great opportunity to mingle with other parents and family members in a relaxed and fun environment.

Please bring some food and drinks to share with your team members. The trivia competition will begin at 6.30pm in the school hall and will finish around 9.30pm.

This year’s dress-up and table decoration theme is ‘Countries Of The World’. Prizes will be awarded for the best dressed individual and best decorated table.

Team and individual registrations are available. To register please go to the QKR app. In the notes section before payment, please type your full name. If you have a team, type your team name, e.g. ‘Team Egypt’. Payments can also be made at the school office. Please remember that this is an adults-only event.

Holy Moly: Oxfam 50km Trailwalker