Term 4 Issue 1 - 8th December 2023

Principal's News

It is hard to believe that we have concluded another school year, where we have all had the pleasure of watching all of our students grow and develop throughout their 2023 learning journey.

This year has been another busy and enjoyable one for our St Pat’s family. 

• Staff and students from our 5/6 class attended a fun filled camp with staff and students from St Mary’s Catholic School in Charleville. This was a wonderful experience for our students to meet new people, make new friends and experience a range of fun team building activities whilst on camp.
• Our Prep – Year 2 students were gifted a number of new resources from our PEN group and our students have very much enjoyed using these new resources during their learning time with Mrs Bryant.
• Maggie, Torah, Paitence, Kyemma and Wyatt worked very hard during their lunch breaks and after school this year to create a challenge for our first ever Regional Optiminds team. After achieving great results at Regionals, they were then invited to attend the State Finals in Brisbane. This was an incredible experience for all students involved. They overcame challenges to create a device that met the Optiminds requirements and were able to be present this device to a very large audience. I am looking forward to working on our next Optiminds task in 2024. If any families are interested in assisting with this great opportunity please let the school office know.
• Both classes performed beautifully at the Roma and District Eisteddfod. It was wonderful to see the confidence that our students displayed when performing their pieces to everyone.
• We have continued our regular Peace Garden Liturgies which are run by our students and class teachers, and Father Tom has continued to visit our school on a regular basis. Our students very much enjoy engaging with the Religious life of our school and they have definitely enjoyed building a strong positive relationship with Father Tom.
• We have had an amazing swimming carnival which saw many students pushing themselves out of their comfort zone and having a red hot go at many of the events on the day. Congratulations to our house winners, Patrician’s.

Throughout the year we have had a number of people volunteer their time to support our school and our events. We have held a number of fundraising events that have provided our students with some exciting new classroom resources, covered partial  camp costs and Optiminds costs for our families, contributed funds to our Yarning Circle creation and our Peace Garden refresh. Without this additional support from families and wider community members, we would not be able to achieve the great things that we do for our students. On behalf of St Patricks School I would like to say a very big thank you to our Parent Engagement Network and everyone who has assisted and supported our fundraisers throughout the year. I would also like to thank our local bussiness owners and locals who have donated items to our school for various fundraisers.

This year I have had the privilege of being part of the Toowoomba Catholic Schools e-Learning team. This team has been developed to look at innovative ways to provide learning opportunities for our students in our Toowoomba Catholic Schools when we do not have access to specialist educators. Our team consists of principals, teachers and TCSO staff. Myself and our e-Learning team were each awarded an ‘Excellence in Teaching and Learning Award for Category 4 – eLearning’. This is a wonderful achievement for our school and I am very much looking forward to seeing what the next steps will be for our eLearning team and schools in our Toowoomba Diocese.

I would like to thank my wonderful team of staff for their great work this year. Each and every one of my staff members are committed to ensuring that your child is achieving the very best learning experiences possible during their time here with our St Pat’s family. I thank them all for their contribution to our school and to your child's education.

At St Patrick’s we pride ourselves in providing a supportive and nurturing learning environment where each and every one of our students are encouraged to lead a full and flourishing life. I am incredibly proud of every students achievements this year. Each and every St Patrick’s student has grown and improved in their own persoanl growth throughout this year, and they should all be very proud of what they have achieved, as they continue their journey to lead a full and flourishing life.

To all of our students, families, staff and friends, I wish you all a very happy Christmas and a fabulous holiday spent with family and friends. I look forward to seeing you all for another wonderful year in 2024.

#caringmakethedifference

Warm regards,

Miss Kylie Millar

Christmas Mass

Christmas Mass will be celebrated on Christmas Day at 7.00 a.m. at St Columba's Church in Mitchell.

Term Dates for 2024

Term One - Tuesday, 23rd January to Thursday, 28th March 2024

Term Two - Tuesday, 16th April to Friday, 21st June 2024

Term Three - Tuesday, 9th July to Friday, 13 September 2024

Term Four - Monday, 30th September to Wednesday, 4th  December 2024

PEN News

The next meeting of the Parent Engagement Network (PEN) will be held in early 2024. Everyone is welcome to join us

Year 3 to 6 News

Our Year 3-6 Class have been making great progress this year with many students having reached our reading level benchmarks and others working toward meeting this goal by the end of the term. We have valued our Guided Reading sessions and have been lucky enough to have worked with Miss Millar and Miss Renee in these sessions to practice our fluency and reading comprehension.

A special thank you goes to Sam McCormack who volunteered her time with us last term in preparation for Paint the Town REad. Sam spent some afternoons reading with both classrooms to share some wonderful stories and engage with the students. We are very lucky at St Patrick’s School to have so many parents who are involved in our learning.

A particular shoutout goes to all of those parents and carers who gave up their time earlier this term to take our students to and from the Roma & District Eisteddfod. A huge thank you to those that assisted with transport, our students and staff recognise this as a great contribution to allow for student opportunities.

Well done to our year 6 students who performed a solo piece and a great congratulations goes to our whole school cohort who performed ‘The Human Fly From Bendigo’ by Doug MacLoed. We look forward to participating in the Eisteddfod next year!

In the classroom our 3-6 students have read the quest novel Rowan of Rin. We were fascinated with the Heroes Journey theme of the novel and many students are enthusiastic to read more of the novels written by Emily Rodda.

Students have been working diligently on understanding morals and ethics in Religion and linking this to our Civics and Citizenship unit on local government and the importance of rules and laws in society.

Our last few weeks have flown by and we have invited our Year 2 students into the classroom on Fridays for Transition sessions. They have been welcomed by our current 3-6 students and have participated in a range of activities including making Oobleck, getting-to-know you Bingo and building straw houses in teams. We hope the Year 2’s have enjoyed their experiences in our room and this has helped in ensuring they have a smooth transition to the 3-6 Class in 2024.  

Miss Callinan

Prep to Year 2 News

The Year Two’s have enjoyed their transition mornings with the 3-6 class. This term, we welcomed the Mitchell Kindergarten children into our classroom and playground and look forward to having them again in 2024!

Our learning:

We have been writing many letters, one to a monster who lives under the bed, one to Miss Millar persuading her to bring the slip and slide in for the end of term and one to Santa to entertain him while he makes the toys! We also wrote a wish list to Santa – lucky we’ve all been good!

In Maths we are consolidating all our learning. This week in particular, we have been revising whole, half and quarters. You can help your child by seeing if they can draw the other half of a picture using symmetry.

In Science this term students are finishing our learning about physical science and objects move. We have been investigating how our bodies move with voluntary and involuntary movements and how objects move with labelling them as push and pull.

In Religion, students have been exploring the Christmas Story. We have been brainstorming what we know about Christmas and what gifts God gave each of us. We are evaluating what life was like in the time of Jesus and our own birth stories.

Thank you:

Thank you to our wonderful school community for the new resources we have in our classroom including the wooden blocks, marble run, wooden cars and magnetic tiles. They have provided us with stimulating conversations and creative ideas. Thank you again!

Without your support, our classroom wouldn’t have been the dynamic, exciting place it’s been for us this year. Thank you to everyone for helping us learn and grow. We wish you a relaxing Christmas break and look forward to seeing you all again in 2024!

  Mrs Bryant

Principal's Awards

Remi McCarrol

For always displaying a positive attitude in all that you do at school each day. You display a commitment to all of our Mercy Values and you should be very proud. Keep following in the footsteps of Catherine McAuley.

Awesome Achiever Awards

Myhia Mitchell

Well done Myhia! You're disposition to learning and setting new challenges is amazing!  It's great to see you taking on feedback to further improve your school work. You are very ready for Year 3.                               Keep aiming high!

Daniel Batstone

Well done, Dan! Your disposition to learning and setting new challenges is amazing. It's great to see you taking on feedback to further improve your schoolwork. You come to school organised each day, with a smile on your face. Congratulations!

Luke Morris

For working productively on his English Narrative for Rowan of Rin. Luke, your drive has improved throughout 2023 and when you focus and show determination to complete any task, you excel with confidence! Congratulations on your improvements this year, I enjoy hearing your creative ideas in your writing and the passion that you have when you are proud of your own work.

Mercy Awards    

Beau Kinsley

For showing respect every day. Your manners towards your friends and teachers has not gone unnoticed Beau. 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, Beau - we're so proud of you!

Torah Lewis

Torah you consistently display our school's motto of 'Caring Makes the Difference'. You offer to help your friends in completing work and assist younger students in the playground. You have stepped out of your comfort zone this year by being the youngest participant in Opti-Minds with St Patrick's. I can't wait to hear about your achievements in the future, you are developing  the qualities of a leader!

Eloise Schafer

For showing kindness and compassion to your classmates. You have a wonderful ability to cheer people up, and help them when they're sad. Congratulations, Eloise - we're so proud of you.

Important Dates for 2024