NEXT WEEK IS GOING TO BE BIG!

Hi Everyone and welcome to this edition of the newsletter. Before I begin my segment I hope that all of our mothers and grandmothers in our learning community had a wonderful Mother's Day on Sunday. Speaking of Mother's Day, well done to Amy Clark and her band of helpers for the Mother's Day Breakfast that was held last Friday. It was a huge success! The food was absolutely magnificent and the photo stall and the nail painting tables were very popular. I have to admit, I think I better go to the chemist or the supermarket here in Wollongong as I am still struggling to get the polish off my nails. I have had a few sly comments from other principals at the conference that I am currently attending.

At the moment I am at the NSW Catholic Primary Principals Conference at Wollongong and from this experience, I can definitely tell I am a country boy at heart. The city is definitely not for me. Even though it is great to catch up with a number of people I have worked with over the years as well as listening to some great and very motivational speakers, I am looking forward to getting back home tomorrow evening.

Anyway, when I do get back next week, it is going to be very hectic as there are a large number of events throughout the upcoming week. Next week, the Catholic Schools Office is celebrating Catholic Schools Week and the theme for this year is: Renew With Hope. This theme is an ideal match for what we are achieving here at St Patrick's Primary as all of our students are great ambassadors for our school and the potential that they have is mind boggling! I am very privileged to be working with our students.

But back to the present, there are a number of events that the students will be taking part in during this upcoming week. Besides the High Jump and the school athletics carnival on Monday and Tuesday, on Thursday, both our K-6 and Years 3-6 choirs will be performing at the Armidale Eisteddfod from 10.00am at NECOM. At the moment I haven't received any information from the organisers in regard to ticketing/prices for any parent who would like to come and watch. When this is completed, our students will then be making a mad dash to the cathedral to celebrate with other schools in the diocese, the Catholic Schools Week Mass commencing at 11am.

On Friday, the school like last year will be hosting a House Challenge Day where the Blue and Red House will be resuming their rivalry in a number of challenges. If the weather holds out a picnic lunch on the green (either on the middle oval or top oval). The Mini Vinnies are planning to run a cupcake stall during recess on this day and our members were wondering if it would possible that our parents in all grades would be able to provide some cupcakes to be sold during this time. The members know that this is a big ask as they understand how busy everyone is. If you can, it would be absolutely fantastic and the money raised is going to a great cause. Everyone is definitely welcome to join us on this day. A timetable and teams list for the day is included below.

ATHLETICS CARNIVAL Tuesday 23rd May See you all there!

Thank you to the families who are assisting on Tuesday with the carnival.

The long range weather forecast for Tuesday is cloudy with a top temperature of 13 degrees.

See you at the Carnival!

As the school will be conducting high jump for the carnival on Monday 22nd May, the students who are turning 8 or above by the end of the year will need to wear their sports uniform on both Monday and Tuesday. The students who are 5, 6 or 7 years old at the end of the year, will need to wear their sports uniform on Tuesday only at our Athletics Carnival.

UNIFORM FOR NEXT WEEK

Please note the uniform changes next week:

Monday- Sports Uniform (students who are turning 8 years or above at the end of the year) for the high jump sessions for the school athletics carnival.

Tuesday -Sports Uniform (all students) for the school athletics carnival.

Thursday - Full Winter Uniform (tie, black school shoes) for the Eisteddfod and Catholic Schools Week Mass in Armidale (all students)

Friday - Sports Uniform or Red Clothing (Red House students) or Blue Clothing (Blue House students)

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

Congratulations go to Airlee who has won this week's 'Wearing Uniform With Pride' award. Great stuff Airlee, we always notice that you wear our school uniform with pride, you should be very proud of yourself.

GRIP Leadership Conference

On Monday all of our Years 5 and 6 students participated in the GRIP Leadership Conference at the Ex Services Club in Armidale. This day focused on providing our senior students with the opportunity to develop and implement various leadership skills, that they can use right now and also throughout the rest of their lives. Our students participated in a number of workshops and they were encouraged to meet and work with other students throughout the region. All of the students had a great day and again thank you to Mrs Davey for supervising the students on the day as well as all of the parents who organised their children to be at school to catch the bus early on Monday morning.

Northern NSW Da Vinci Decathlon at TAS

It's a shame I wasn't able to be at the Da Vinci Decathlon on Tuesday but from all of the reports that I heard, all members of our team had a great day! Competing against some of the best minds from various public and private school institutions as well as competing in a competition like this for the first time, where we had to solve various problems like code breaking, mathematical challenges, poster designs, creating poems and a lot of other unique and interesting challenges. Our team should be very proud of themselves, especially since we were the smallest school that was competing in this event. Now that we have experience competing in an event like this, we will be definitely entering one or two teams again next year! Thank you to Mrs Davey for transporting as well as supervising our team on the day as well as Mrs Curtis who also assisted with the transport. Without both of you, we wouldn't have had the opportunity to compete in the decathlon.

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 on spwadmin@arm.catholic.edu.au.

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