Diocesan Athletics Carnival

Last Friday, I was very fortunate to accompany 25 of our students to the Diocesan Athletics Carnival held at Tamworth! Up against over 600 competitors from all of the primary schools in the diocese, all our team members performed extremely well and should be very proud of their achievements. It was a great day had by all and I know the team manager for the day, lost his voice from cheering as well as having sore calves ensuring that all of our competitors were in their designated marshaling areas for their selected event! Congratulations to a number of our students who have qualified to represent the Armidale Diocese at the Polding Athletics Carnival that will take place on Friday 13th October at the Sydney Olympic Park Athletics Centre.

Grace Smith qualified in the Junior Girls Shot Put as she came second overall with one of her attempts going 5.75m. Lachie Provost also qualified by placing third in the Senior Boys 1500m. Jessica Patterson-Kane placed 2nd overall in the Junior Girls 800m and third in the Junior Girls 1500m.

Annie was definitely the star of the day as in her first race contesting the Senior Girls 800m Final, she came first with a time of 2.40.44, beating the Diocesan record by nearly two seconds. Annie wasn't finished there as she also won the Senior Girls 1500m and came second overall in the Senior Girls 200m. With these outstanding results, Annie was the Senior Girl Champion, which is outstanding! Well done Annie and also to all of the members of our team, all of you should be proud of your achievements.

A full report is included in the Sports Section of this newsletter.

John Coutis Visit

Unfortunately I was away at the Principal's Retreat when John Coutis visited the school to speak with the Years 3-6 students on Tuesday. From what I had heard from the students and the staff members was that everyone was enthralled when John spoke about his experience living with his disability and how this wasn't a barrier for him to achieve his short and long term goals. All of the students were inspired and encouraged to be resilient, determined and never give up on achieving their aspirations and dreams.

Years 3-6 Resuscitation Program

On Monday 28th August, all of our Years 3-6 students will be participating in a resuscitation program led by Cameron McFarlane. Over the last ten years, Cameron has trained over 40 000 students in our region how to save a life by using CPR. Cameron believes it is imperative that every child be given the opportunity to learn this vital lifesaving skill and have the knowledge to perform effective CPR, both around water and in the general community. The program also ensures all students have a sound understanding and knowledge on how to perform an emergency response plan in a time of need. This session will go for approximately an hour.

Official House Groups Name Survey

As mentioned previously, a survey was sent out to all of our families in regard to the selection of the official names for our Blue and Red House Groups Should it be something like Apsley or Tia or another local landmark or do we go with St Patrick, Catherine McAuley or St Sebastian (patron saint of sport)? We have had a great response so far with over 75% of our school community already completing the survey. For the staff members and families who haven't completed the survey yet, it would be greatly appreciated if you could complete this survey by Friday 1st September as hopefully at our first sporting carnival in 2024, the students will be able to represent and acknowledge their sporting house name and colour.

Friday 1st September is going to be huge!!!

Next Friday 1st September is definitely going to be an action-packed day with a number of activities that are happening. We will be beginning the day with our annual Father's Day Breakfast and more details are included in the canteen section of this newsletter. Also, in the morning session (9.15 am-10.30 am), we are inviting all of our grandparents to join us for Grandparents Day, where there will be a number of activities coinciding with this special occasion in all of the classrooms. Everyone is invited to call into the library to view our Book Fair Display and we will be finishing off with our annual Book Week fashion parade. Also, Bridget from The Herd Bar will be here all of the morning for parents, grandparents and students who wish to purchase a coffee or a hot chocolate when they are here at school. Our Mini Vinnies & P&F will also be operating a Father's Day Stall as well as a "How Many Lollies Are In The Jar" competition.

The theme for this year is Hats Off To Reading: and for the fashion parade, we are encouraging our students (including transition) to dress up as: 'A Hero' or 'Villian'. I have finally sorted out my costume for the fashion parade. Can you guess what I am going to dress up like? I just hope it is not going to be a cold day!

If you would like to purchase a book & donate it to the library we happily accept this. The book you donate to the Library will have a donation label inside the cover with your families name, a gift of reading to pass onto to other children.

2023 School Improvement Survey

In 2023, the Catholic Schools Office has once again engaged the services of Survey My School to provide a platform for parents to supply St Patrick's School with feedback on our current practices and procedures. These surveys were emailed to all families and staff members earlier this week. If you haven't received your survey as yet, can you please contact the school.

School Advisory Council Meeting this Tuesday

Just a reminder that the next School Advisory Council Meeting will be held this upcoming Tuesday 29th August commencing at 5.30pm in the library.

Premier's Reading Challenge 2023

The Premier's Reading Challenge for this year finished last Friday! Again, well done to all of the students who participated, and from what I have heard there were a large number and wide range of texts read. The validations close on Friday 1st September. If you have any questions and/or queries in regards to anything associated with the reading challenge, please contact Mrs Healey.

Kindergarten Transition Program Starting Tomorrow!

Tomorrow our Kindergarten Transition program will commence! We are looking forward to having our 14 Transition students come to big school on for their first day of transition. This program will be on every Friday for the rest of Term 3 as well as the first five Fridays in Term 4. Mrs Hoy will be leading transition and she has organised a lot of fun activities that will be conducted throughout the program.

Transition Days for children are significant in helping children familiarise themselves with the school environment and helping to make the transition to ‘big school’ so much easier.

The Winner of 'Wearing Uniform With Pride' Award For This Week Is.......

Well done to Nina who won this week's 'Wearing Uniform With Pride' award. Congratulations Nina as you should be proud of yourself for how you always wear both your sports and winter uniform with pride.

Bushfest

Our Year 3-6 students have been learning two songs in their fortnightly Mini Minstrels lesson that they will be singing in BushFest. This is a FREE choral festival for schools in the NECOM classroom/choral program on Wednesday 6th September at the New England Conservatorium of Music. It is a wonderful opportunity for our students to come together with other regional schools and work with one of Australia’s leading music educators, Paul Jarman. A note was sent out to all of our Years 3-6 families via the Compass portal. If anyone has any questions/queries in regard to this event, please feel free to contact the school.

Contacting Your Child's Teacher

Teachers welcome contact from parents, if you need to talk with staff please either contact the class teacher by phoning the school – 67772328 or email the school at spwadmin@arm.catholic.edu.au.

School Assembly

School Assembly for Term 3 Dates

Jelly Bean Cup