Library News

A gentle reminder for our students to ensure that they have a library bag for library borrowing each week. Please also remember to return your books each week for weekly borrowing on Thursdays.

Please have a look for items that are missing or overdue. Thank you.

Bookfair and Parade

St Patrick’s Bookfair was held in the multipurpose centre during Week 6 and Week 7 this term. The theme was Hats off to Reading, which culminated in a Bookfair and Bookweek Dress Up Parade on Thursday,        24 August. Thank you to all who purchased from the Bookfair, we sold nearly $1,000.00 and raised over $150.00 for our school library. 

The Dress Up Parade was hotly contested with all students dressing up as their favourite book character, so judging the best dressed was a tough gig.

In Prep – Year 2 class the best dressed was awarded to Pirate Archee, with the people’s choice awarded to Toy Story Jessie (Pippa). In Year 3-6 class the best dressed was awarded to Gnome Torah, with the people’s choice awarded to Aviator Snoopy (Maggie).

The Children’s Book Council of Australia host annual book awards to promote children's books of high literary and artistic quality. These awards are now the most influential and highly respected in Australia. Each year it is held in Week 7, Term 3 and schools and public libraries across Australia spend a week celebrating books, and Australian authors and illustrators. We undertook activities relating to this year’s theme Read, Grow, Inspire to highlight the importance of reading.

Thank you for your support of our Bookfair and Bookweek activities.

Sarah Mehay-Dewar

(Librarian - St Patrick's Mitchell)

Gunggari News

In week 4 Des and Tennille visited us.  Prep-2 learnt about movement.  Year 3-6 learnt more about describing people. This term students from our 3-6 class have also been visiting the Kindy each fortnight to teach our local kindy students some Gunggari words and songs. We have been very impressed with how well our kindy kids are saying and remembering what our students are teaching them.

On 6^th September wit is Indigenous Literacy Day.  Saraeva Mitchell will come in and read some stories to our students. We invite our families to join us for this story sharing at 10am.

Principal's Award

Brayden Wise

For keeping our school clean and tidy. Thank you for caring for our school environment and picking up rubbish around our grounds.

PE/Health News

Now that the weather has begun to warm up, so has our excitement for more sport options on a Thursday!

The students competed in the Athletics Carnival last term, held at Mitchell State School. I was so impressed with their enthusiasm and readiness to give everything a go. The remaining regional sport to take place is the Aquathlon (11-12 years) and Triathlon (13-19 years). Please let the school know asap if your child is eager to attend the Southwest trials.

All classes are currently completing the Daniel Morcombe unit for their Health component. This involves understanding how to be safe and to recognise, react and report in situations where appropriate.

Below is what we are working towards in each grade through Physical Education.

WellbeingNews

Wellbeing Matters:

We are getting to the busy end of the school term, this month the focus is on sleep. Adults should be aiming to get between 7-8 hours of sleep per night.

These tips for a goods nights sleep were taken from the Raising Children website which can be found at https://raisingchildren.net.au/

Before bed these tips can help you get a better night’s sleep:

· Establish a regular bedtime routine.

· Find ways to switch off and wind down before bed – for example, read a book, listen to some gentle music, or use techniques like breathing exercises or muscle relaxation.

· Avoid tea, coffee, soft drinks, energy drinks, chocolate, cigarettes and other stimulants close to bedtime. They make resting and sleeping harder and affect how well you sleep.

· Avoid using screens in your bedroom, including television, mobile phones and tablets.

In bed It can be hard to wind down after a long day, or to switch your mind off so you can sleep. If you’re having trouble getting to sleep or staying asleep, try not to get worried and frustrated. Instead, try reminding yourself that it’s OK that you’re warm and restful in bed.

If this doesn’t work, it might be worth getting up and writing down what’s on your mind. Then you can try going through your bedtime routine again.

During the day making time for yourself can help you feel better. Even just five minutes reading a book, walking around the block or doing some meditation can give you the sense of being rested when you’re not getting enough sleep.

It’s possible to ‘catch up’ on missed sleep, so nap during the day when you can. You can also make up for missed sleep during the week by sleeping more on the weekend.

Physical activity and healthy food can give you more energy, so make time for exercise and eating well – every little bit helps!

Awesome Achiever Awards

Kyemma McKane

For taking great pride in your book work and all activities completed in class. You are organised and prepared for all tasks! You set a great example for our younger students about how to be ready for any lesson! This has allowed you to measure and draw neat and accurate angles in maths and read and edit your quick writes in English.

Paint the Town REaD

School Photos

Norah Fallon Bursary

Students in years 6 in Mitchell, Mungallala, Dunkeld or students of the Mitchell area, School of Distance Education, are invited to submit an application for the 2023 Norah Fallon Bursary. 

This Bursary was established in 2005 by the late Mr. Terry Fallon in memory of his mother Mrs. Norah Fallon and is administered by a group of trustees. The value of the Bursary is $6,000 which is to be used to assist with further education expenses such as the purchase of books, equipment, tuition, or residential expenses and is paid at $1,000 per year during the following six years.

Application forms are available from the office of the Principal at all schools.

Applications close on 31 October 2023.

For further information contact Donna Burke, 31 Ann Street, Mitchell or by phone on 0427 231 506.

Mercy Award

Myhia Mitchell

For showing courage this week. You have not stopped putting your 'best foot forward' and have been giving new things a go. You have shown resilience, and each day you have a smile on your face. Congratulations, Myhia - we are so proud of you!

Important Dates for 2023

Principal's News

Dear Families,

We are quickly approaching the end of another term. Throughout this term our staff and students have enjoyed engaging in wide range of activities and learning experiences.

Year 5/6 Camp

In week 6, our year 5/6 students joined students from St Mary's Charleville for a combined camp at Noosa. Our students had a sensational time, and it was lovely to see students making new friends and working together whilst on camp.

Opti-minds

This year, St Patrick's School has been creating history by participating in their first every Opti-minds event. Congratulations to our Opti-minds team, Girraween (Place of many flowers). Torah, Wyatt, Maggie, Paitence and Kyemma have been working on their challenge over the past few weeks and were excited to showcase their challenge for their final event on Sunday.  Creating this challenge has involved students working during their lunch breaks, afterschool and on weekends. Our team have learnt many new skills and they have overcome many challenges along the way.

Students presented their challenge on Sunday, and they did a fantastic job. Our team received a 'Spirit of Opti-minds' award, and they were awarded 1st place in their Science Engineering challenge. Students have now been invited to attend the State Finals in Brisbane later this year.

Congratulations and well-done team!

Roma & District Eisteddfod

This year St Patrick’s School will be participating in the Roma & District Eisteddfod. The focus this year is Speech and Drama. Our school will be performing a whole school item and students in our 3-6 class will be performing individual pieces. In the coming weeks we will be seeking parent volunteers to assist with transporting students to and from the event. Keep an eye out in the Parent Portal for further information.

Book Fair Parade

It was lovely to see families and community members attend our Book Fair Parade last week. The theme this year was 'Hats Off to Reading'. Students excitedly dressed up as their beloved book characters and enjoyed showing case their characters in front of their peers and guests. Thank you to staff and families for your contribution to this event.

Warm regards,

Kylie Millar

Reading

This year our students have been working very hard with their literacy skills, including reading and comprehension skills. Each week students engage in a wide range of literacy and reading activities at school.  Reading has a wide range of benefits for students which include, expanding vocabulary, increasing memory skills, developing their critical and analytical thinking, and improving concentration (just to name a few). At home there are a number of ways that you can support and encourage your child to read.

Enrol Now For 2024

If you are thinking about enrolling your child for Prep in 2024 please contact the school office as soon as possible to arrange an interview time. Interviews have been extended until the end of this term. If you were not able to attend our Prep Open afternoon please contact the school to arrange a school tour and a meet and greet session.

Enrol - St Patrick's School, Mitchell

Term Dates for 2023

Term Three - Tuesday, 11th July to Friday, 15th September 

Term Four - Tuesday, 3rd October to Friday, 1st December

PPF News

The next meeting of the PPF Assn will be held on Wednesday, 13th September at 3.30 p.m. Everyone is welcome to join us and share your ideas to help raise funds for your children.

Car Boot Sale

Chocolate Fundraiser

The PPF is selling boxes of chocolates for $60.00 each.  If anyone is interested in selling a box please contact the school office.

Principal's Award

For displaying a positive and respectful attitude in all that you do. You always warmly greet staff and students and you are always willing to help others. Keep letting your Mercy Values shine through in everything that you do.

Year 5 and 6 News

Years 3-6 have had a busy start to our term. We have begun a variety of interesting units and being halfway through the year students are working toward being determined, passionate and organised 
for each curriculum area. Our Positive Behaviour Ladder has been an exciting new addition to the classroom this term with many students remembering our Behaviour Focus and moving up the ladder!
We have begun a unit on telling stories and have been incorporating elements of drama to practice our skills. We have been using tone, motion, pace, and volume to add zest to our stories! Miss Sonya has kindly provided our class with some interesting and descriptive Indigenous stories written by some of our community members. Students have engaged well in the stories and have spotted some Gunggari words they are confident with!

Maths

In Maths this term, we are recognising odd and even numbers and our upper years 5/6 are 
comparing and ordering decimals and recognising prime, composite and square numbers. 
We have also begun investigating physical science and the impact of forces on our 
everyday lives. We began our unit by listing all of the ways a ball could be moved – one 
student could think of 12 different ways to move a ball! 

Religion

In Religion, our 3-6 have begun to an inquiry into the first Australian Catholics and the history behind our religion. We have many insightful ‘I wonder’ questions that we will aim to answer by the end of our unit. Some of these include: ‘I wonder why mass wasn’t allowed in public?’ and ‘When was it determined that the Irish were Catholic, and the English were Anglican?’

Just a reminder that I encourage all students to attempt to complete their weekly homework to 
consolidate their learning. We have Homework Club each Monday from 3:00pm-3:45pm and it 
is a supportive and happy environment for students to work in if they have questions to 
ask myself or one of their peers.

Bookfair

St Patrick's School Annual Bookfair  will be held in Term 3, from Monday, 14th August to Thursday, 24th August. The Bookfair will close after the Parade.

The Book Fair Parade will be held on Thursday, 24th August at 10.30 a.m.                                                         The Bookfair theme for this year is - Hats Off To Reading. Costumes are to be singular.

For dress ups - think of characters who have hats i.e. Cat in the Hat, Paddington Bear, Mad Hatter, Sorting Hat, Sherlock Holmes, Madeline, The Magic Hat, Pirate, Farmer, Where's Wally, Mary Poppins, Witch......

Prep to 2 News

We hope our P/1/2 families all had a relaxing break over the holidays and spent some time together keeping warm in the cooler weather. The students completed their holiday recounts with excitement and there’s no doubt it will be another busy term ahead!

Our learning:

This term in English we will be focusing on descriptions, including nouns and adjectives to give more detailed responses in both oral language, as well as written responses. This term the year 1’s and 2;s have started spelling as a component of their fortnightly homework. The focus sounds are taught each week and are reflected in these words. Thank you for helping your child with this! The preps are focusing on the long vowel sounds and we have learnt that vowles have both a short and long sound e.g. /a/ as in apple and /a/ as in gave. Our phonological awareness will continue to focus on breaking apart words to hear each sound e.g. c-u-p for preps and blends for the year 1 and 2’s e.g. b-l-o-ck.

In maths we are covering all different concepts and will be focusing on our ‘teen numbers’. Year Two students will continue to focusing on three-digit numbers and using this knowledge to begin operations!

In science this term students are learning about biological science and how to care for living things. In our negotiated play space, we have a vet surgery set up which has been entertaining hearing our students care for their pets’ injuries! Our new pet fish, ‘Owlie’ has also been welcomed and we ensure that he’s fed each morning.

In Religion, students will continue to explore the Creation Story. We know that God created the world in seven days and will compare and contrast this with the Rainbow Serpent as a part of our focus on First Nations perspectives.

100 days of school:

We did it! Thank you so much to all our parents and friends for helping us reach 100 days of learning. We dressed up as what we’d like to be when we’re older. We are now 100 days smarter!

Rotations:

Parent helpers are needed for rotations again this term. Please let me know if you are available on Tuesday morning from 8:45-9:45am – I’d love to hear from you!

Boxes:

If you have any small boxes at home, we’d love to have them as a part of our recycling centre. Cereal boxes etc are great!

A peek into the classroom…

Awesome Achiever Awards

Myhia Mitchell

For your efforts during the Athletics unit, where you showed an immense improvement in your skills. Your positive attitude to trying new activities has been fantastic modelling for your peers.

McKenzie Mitchell

For returning to St Patrick's after the break with a determined and hard working attitude toward all lessons. You proving to be a consistently focussed learner happy to give anything a go. This will make for a smooth transition when you move into High School next year. 

Mercy Award

Remi McCarrol

For showing respect everyday. Your manners towards your friends and teachers has not gone unnoticed Remi. Your listening heart, kind words and actions are evident every day. Thank you for being a wonderful friend to all at St Patrick's. Congratulations Remi - we're so proud of you!

Linnea Gant

For displaying respect to your peers and teachers at St Patrick's School. You have immaculate manners and are a joy to have in our classroom.

Important Dates for 2023

Principal's News

Dear Families,

Welcome to Term 3. It was lovely to see so many happy and smiling faces on our first day back. We have hit the ground running this term with lots of things happening around the school.

Behaviour Support Plan

We have now implemented our new Behaviour Support Plan to ensure that there is consistency across our school. It has been great to see students making positive choices and moving up on the behaviour ladder each day. Students are working hard to reach the ‘300 Club’ by the end of the term. This term has also seen the implementation of our Mercy Merit Awards. Students have been working hard and demonstrating their Mercy Values in the playground to receive one of these awards.

Sacrament of Confirmation

Throughout the year I have had the pleasure of working with Father Tom in the delivery of our Sacrament of Confirmation and now First Communion. This year two of our students, McKenzie and Mahtayo, have been attending weekly sessions for their Sacrament of Confirmation. During our recent Saturday Mass both students received their Sacrament of Confirmation and were installed by our new Bishop, Ken Howell. McKenzie and Mahtayo, congratulations, we are all very proud of your commitment to the Sacrament of Confirmation. I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate two other local students, Ellen and Hugh, who have also been attending our weekly Sacrament of Confirmation sessions and who also received their Sacrament of Confirmation at Mass.

Mercy Value Review

Over the past 12 months St Patrick’s School have been engaging in collaborative sessions to review our Mercy Values. This year students, families and community members were invited to join us on this journey and were able to provide feedback on our Mercy Value review throughout the year. Thank you to everyone for your feedback, thoughts and ideas. I am excited to share with you all our new St Patrick’s Mercy Values.

Catholic Education Week

This week we have celebrated Catholic Education Week. Staff attended St John’s School in Roma for Bishop’s Inservice Day. This was a wonderful opportunity to gather with staff from Roma and St George and celebrate Catholic Education Week 2023 ‘Communities of Faith, Hope and Love’.

Deadly Arthur Visit

On Monday we welcome Deadly Arthur to our school. He will be with us for three days and will be working with students to create a wall mural on our upstairs classroom veranda. We are super excited to be working with him and to bring our veranda to life with some amazing artwork.

Enrol Now For 2024

If you are thinking about enrolling your child for Prep in 2024 please contact the school office as soon as possible to arrange an interview time. Interviews have been extended until the end of this term. If you were not able to attend our recent Prep Open afternoon please contact the school to arrange a school tour and a meet and greet session.

Enrol - St Patrick's School, Mitchell

Term Dates for 2023

Term Three - Tuesday, 11th July to Friday, 15th September 

Term Four - Tuesday, 3rd October to Friday, 1st December

Jeans for Genes Day

Everyone is welcome to wear their jeans next Friday, 4th August to support this worthy cause.

Please bring a gold coin donation to wear jeans and cupcakes will be on sale for $2 each.

School Photos

School photos will be taken on Wednesday, 9th August.  The photo order envelopes were sent home earlier in the week. If you wish to order school photos this year, please ensure that envelopes and monies are returned by 8.30 am. on 9th August.

PPF News

The next meeting of the PPF Assn will be held on Monday, 14th August at 5.30 p.m. Everyone is welcome to join us and share your ideas to help raise funds for your children.

Chocolate Fundraiser

The PPF is selling boxes of chocolates for $60.00 each.  If anyone is interested in selling a box please contact the school office.

Year 5 and 6 News

In the Years 3-6 Class in Term 2, we have been busy finishing off each of our subject units.

English

We have recently completed a unit on Informative Texts where we explored The Encyclopedia of Ugly Animals book and created our own informative writing pieces and posters about different animals.

Maths

We have had a focus on fractions and probability for most of this term and have had a successful Probability Carnival on Wednesday 21^st of June. Every student in our class worked hard to create a unique game that had several outcomes. These games were celebrated and played with members of our school community!

Religion

Students have been examining the Parable of The Good Samaritan this term. We have engaged in Godly play activities and small group discussions surrounding the importance of this Parable and its meaning in our world today. Students shared insightful ideas about acts of kindness we can each do to be the Good Samaritan in our world.

We farewelled two incredible students from St Patrick’s year 3-6 class this term. It has been an absolute pleasure being a part of their school journey this year and we all wish them the best on their new adventure at a new school in Semester 2.

Congratulations to the Year 3-6 students for working extremely hard this term and making it halfway through the year. I hope you all have a safe and relaxing holiday and look forward to hearing all about what you got up to next term.

Bookfair

St Patrick's School Annual Bookfair  will be held in Term 3, from Monday, 14th August to Thursday, 24th August. The Bookfair will  close after the Parade.

The Book Fair Parade will be held on Thursday, 24th August at 10.30 a.m.                                                         The Bookfair theme for this year is - Hats Off To Reading. Costumes are to be singular.

For dress ups - think of characters who have hats i.e. Cat in the Hat, Paddington Bear, Mad Hatter, Sorting Hat, Sherlock Holmes, Madeline, The Magic Hat, Pirate, Farmer, Where's Wally, Mary Poppins, Witch......

Watch this space next term for more information.

Prep to 2 News

Our learning:

In English, we have been focusing on our classroom books, “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” and “Pig in the Pond”. Our students have been investigating the building blocks of writing. In particular, we’ve been focusing on using correct punctation for Prep and Year One and experimenting with different forms of punctuation in Year Two. We have now learnt all the letters of the alphabet. You could help your child consolidate their learning by asking what the letter name is, the sound/s it makes and produce a word beginning with that sound.

In Maths we have been investigating statistics and probability ready for the probability carnival – knowing how likey or unlikely an event is to happen. Every day we add a new dot to our ten frame – only 12 school days until our 100 day party! We will keep you posted in Parent Portal about what’s happening for our 100 day party. We have also been using our café to demonstrate our knowledge of coins and some year two’s have even been calculating change!

In Religion we have looked at the parable of The Good Samaritan and making connections to our lives today. This week we investigate the story of the Ten Lepers and understand that Jesus’s love is unconditional.

In Science we are finishing our learning about materials. We know that materials are made up of properties. We have used this knowledge to create a coat for our Teddy Bear’s picnic. Our coat had to be weatherproof, because we don’t know what the weather will be like. We have made some beautiful coats – our students did a great job!

Just a reminder for next term that if you order tuckshop for your child, please don’t forget to bring a piece of fruit or vegetables for brainfood.

A peek into the classroom…