What's Coming Up
TONIGHT: Over the Rainbow School Disco - Come Dressed in Your Brightest Colours. 6.00pm - 8.15pm in the School Hall.
Wednesday 23 October: P&F Meeting @ 6.30 in the library - Please consider coming along to support the work of our Parents and Friends Association.
Thursday 24 October: Year 2 to Visit Tenison Apartments.
Thursday 24 October: Yr 4/5 & Yr 5/6 2020 Composite Class Meeting for Parents @ 3.15pm in the library
Monday 28 October: Year 5/6 Excursion
Tuesday 29 October: Excitement is building around our school as we prepare for our next orientation session for our Kindergarten 2020 children on Tuesday.
From the Principal
This weekend’s Gospel reading is Luke 18:9-14: the story of a man who thought he was better than everyone else. In the story that Jesus told, two men went to the temple to pray. One of the men was a Pharisee, a religious group that was very strict in obeying the law of Moses. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: "I thank you, God, that I am not a sinner like everyone else. I don’t cheat, I don’t sin, and I’m certainly not like that tax collector over there! I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of all my income."
Perhaps Dr Seuss was inspired by this story from Luke’s Gospel. Have you ever read Dr Seuss’ story “Yertle the Turtle”? It is the story of Yertle, the ruler of a little pond on the island of Sala-ma-Sond. All of the turtles at the pond had everything they needed and were quite happy. They were happy, that is, until Yertle decided that his kingdom was too small. "I am ruler of all that I see, but I don't see enough. My throne is too low down" complained Yertle.
So Yertle lifted his hand and gave a command. He ordered nine turtles in the pond to stand on each other's backs so that they could become his new and higher throne. He climbed up onto the backs of the turtles and he had a wonderful view. But Yertle still wasn't satisfied. "Turtles! More turtles!" he called from his lofty throne. Yertle swelled with pride and feelings of importance as turtles from all over the pond came to climb on the stack of turtles which made up his throne.
At the very bottom of the stack was a plain and ordinary turtle named Mack. He struggled under the weight of all the turtles until, finally, he decided that he had had enough. That plain little turtle named Mack did a very plain little thing. He burped! His burp shook the throne and Yertle fell right into the mud! And now the great Yertle is King of the MUD.
When you think too highly of yourself, you often wind up taking a big fall, don't you?
Let us pray that God will help us to remain humble so that we will not think more highly of ourselves than we ought.
Have a good week.
Peter Green.
You Can Do It
At St Patrick’s, our “You Can Do It” program aims to build our students’ confidence, ability to get along with others, organisation, persistence and resilience. We call these the five Foundations for social and emotional wellbeing. A child who develops confidence, getting along skills, organization and persistence has a good chance of becoming emotionally resilient. These Foundations are underpinned by Habits of the Mind – or ways of thinking. The diagram below summarises these Habits of the Mind.
You Can Do It Parent Training
- When: Tuesday 19th November, 2.00pm to 3.00pm in the school library.
- Presenter: Rachel Wright.
- Topic: Positive Mindset for Achievement (Confidence, Persistence, Organisation).
Agenda:
- Participants will learn about three social and emotional learning skills children need to have developed to achieve to the best of their ability in their schoolwork and in other areas of their lives.
- Participants will be able to identify their children's strengths and weaknesses in the development of these social and emotional learning skills.
- Participants will learn three basic ways to help support their children's development of these three social and emotional learning skills:
- Using behaviour-specific feedback
- Teaching different positive types of thinking
- Other things parents can do.
Please RSVP to Rachel Wright at Rachel.wright@mn.catholic.edu.au
Soccer Gala Day
Congratulations to our Athletes
Last Friday, Madison (Year 3), Kai (Year 6) and Connor (Year 6) competed at the Polding trials for places in the Polding team at the NSW PSSA Athletics Championships.
All three athletes performed exceptionally well. Kai came 5th in a field of 18 runners in 1500 metres. Connor came 9th out of 16 athletes competing in the shot put event. Madison came 2nd in 100 metres.
This result means that Madison will now represent the Polding team at the NSW PSSA Athletics Championships, which will take place on November 6 and 7 at Sydney Athletics Centre, Homebush. The Polding team is comprised of the best athletes from all Catholic primary schools in the northern half of NSW. What a brilliant achievement for one of our students to be competing at such an elite level!
Congratulations, Madison . . . we are all very proud of you. Congratulations to all three athletes on your remarkable achievements.
Canteen Roster
As you can see, we are still in desperate need of volunteers to work in the canteen this term. Are you a registered volunteer? Can you spare a few hours on a Friday? - Please contact the school office or Shermaine Fitzgerald ASAP with your availability. Without volunteers the canteen cannot open. - Thank you
This Week's PBL
Composite Class Meeting
A number of parents have been asking questions about the Year 4/5 and Year 5/6 composite classes that we will run in 2020. I am proposing to run a meeting this Thursday (24th October) beginning at 3.15pm in the school library. At that meeting we will:
- Present research related to composite classes.
- Ask the parents to share their experiences of composite classes, as well as their concerns for next year's proposal.
- Tell you about my experiences of teaching composite classes, both positive and negative.
- Outline how we will structure the classes in 2020.
- Outline how we will cover the syllabus content for two different grades within one class.
Looking forward to seeing you there.
Peter Green.
Aboriginal Artefacts
Rest In Peace
Please remember in your prayers the grandfather of Harrison, Annabelle and Zahlia (father of Kylie and Rachel, and father-in-law of Steven), who passed away last Thursday. Kylie & Rachel’s dad had been ill for quite some time. They lost their mum on Christmas Eve last year, so it has been a very difficult few years for the family.
Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen.
Rainbow Disco
- When: TONIGHT - Tuesday 22 October 2019
- Time: 6:00pm - 8:15pm
- Where: In the School Hall. Children must be accompanied by an adult.
- Tickets: Can be purchased on the door. $5.00 per child, or $10 per family
Allocation of Class Teachers in 2020
Louise Stewart (Kindergarten S) and Casey Sharman (Year 3) are currently on temporary contracts at St Patrick’s and, as such, their tenure expires at the end of 2019. Furthermore, Trish Aumuller has decided not to return as our music teacher in 2020 as she wishes to explore other career and training options and to spend more time with her parents and her brand new granddaughter.
The teaching staff has been allocated to classes in 2020 as follows:
- Kindergarten: Mrs Liz Walker.
- Year 1 ‘H’: Mrs Leanne Hyland.
- Year 1 ‘O’: Mrs Cheryl Ogden.
- Year 2: To be appointed.
- Year 3: Mr Ben McCarthy.
- Year 4/5: Mr Daniel Lockwood.
- Year 5/6: Mrs Cathy Dent.
- Executive release: Mrs Cathy Curk.
- Learning support: Mrs Rachel Wright.
- Library: Mrs Karen Devlin.
- Music/Dance/Drama: Mrs Emma Tanchevski.
- English as an Additional Language or Dialect (EAL/D): Mrs Sue Coull.
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