From the Principal
God of freedom,
be our strength in difficulties
and our light for the way.
May we respond to your call willingly.
We ask this in the name of Jesus
and the Spirit of Joy.
Amen.
St Patrick's Show Day
Given that the Nhill Show had to be cancelled again this year, we held our own St Patrick's Show Day on Wednesday. We began with a Fashion Parade in the hall followed by viewings of the various displays and creations that the children had brought along. The Show Judges had a difficult task in their decision making and the subsequent awarding of certificates in the various categories. Well done to everyone who entered items in the show and thank you to all staff members for organising the afternoon's activities.
The staff also had their own Show Day competition whereby we each baked a tea cake. Judges Shirley Blackwood, Colleen Dickinson and Moo Khu James declared Mrs Rintoule the winner with myself as Runner-Up, and Mrs Munro (last year's winner in the Yo-yos competition) third. With eight cakes on offer, it did make for a very nice morning tea!
St Pat’s Show Award Recipients
Lego Creation
- Jack – for his attention to detail with his car
- Sophie/Claire – for their concert scene complete with crowd surfing
Something with wheels
- Caleb – for his wooden farm truck and trailer
- Ben – for his lego car
- Kelsey – for her lego truck and trailer, complete with driver
Flowers/Garden
Artwork
- Sienna – creative artistic display
Succulent Display
- Riley W – creative mini succulent garden
Posy
- Maddison – sweet posy of colour
Arrangement
- Jody – arrangement of roses in a vase
Fresh Produce
- Daniel – for his arrangement of fresh lemons on a plate
Alternate Garden
- Riley P – for his native rock garden display
Artwork
Drawing / Colouring in
- David – for his fold out drawing that adds another dimension
- Max – volume of work that has gone into his overall display
- Doh Wah – for his flying dragon
- Tessa – for drawing and colour in her picture of family
Paints
- Tia – for her creative use of paints and other resources
- Jet – for her works on canvas
Cooking
Decorated Biscuits
- Amity – for her use of decorative iced flowers
Cakes
- Tyler – decorative cup cakes
- AJ – muffins including the recipe
- Olive/Elvi – Larger decorative cakes
Something homemade
- Jonas – outstanding production of scooter
- Stella – recycling truck made from wood and complete with recycled coke bottle
Artwork from recycled materials
- Link – road works using various recycled materials
- Marnie – great detail in her creation using paper, bread-tags
Photography
- Olivia – intricate detail in floral photography
- Zara – diverse subjects and use of colour
Overall
- Georgia – for the quality and volume of her work across each of the categories
Kinder Visits
Following the recent changes to restrictions related to COVID-19, schools are now able to host visits from Kinder children as part of their Transition to Primary School program.
We will be welcoming our nine 2022 Foundation students next Friday and on the following two Fridays as well. We look forward to Nurturing their Futures over the coming years.
Changes to restrictions from 1 November
Visitors to school
All visitors to school grounds must comply with vaccination requirements, density limits, face mask requirements, QR code check-ins and practise respiratory etiquette and good hand hygiene.
QR code check-in
The following people must use the hardcopy Visitor Register and QR Code when entering the school (and therefore must enter through the office, not the side entrance):
- All visitors, including contractors and CEB staff
- All parents who enter school buildings
Parents who come onto school grounds for drop off or pick up, but do not enter buildings are not required to use the QR Code.
School Advisory Council
A reminder that we have a number of positions available to be filled prior to the Annual General Meeting of the SAC on Wednesday, 1 December.
Our SAC can have up to six (6) parent representatives. Three of our current members will be in the second year of their two-year terms next year. Therefore there are three positions (two-year terms) available. Nominations for these positions are due by 4.00pm on Tuesday 16 November.
We encourage you to consider if you would like to be a part of the SAC, or perhaps nominate someone else. Our SAC meets once or twice a term. Meetings generally last no longer than 90 minutes.
If you have any questions about the role of SAC members, please contact the school office or a current Council member (listed elsewhere in the newsletter).
Download/print these forms
(if viewing on a mobile phone, click the three-dot array top right of screen and select Print Layout)
or collect the information from the office.
SAC Reminders
Food Drive
Last Christmas, our school donated non-perishable food items, gift cards and monetary contributions to help families in need in the lead up to Christmas. WWHS and local services were astounded by our generosity and again welcome our assistance in this area. We are asking St Patrick’s families, if they are able to do so, to contribute items to make up hampers for local families.
Non-perishable food items, IGA gift cards or monetary contributions can be sent to school and/or monetary or gift cards contributions made at the office.
Winter Jackets for the Homeless
Also as a part of our 2021 Community Engagement projects, SAC have been collecting warm winter jackets as part of the ‘Heat the Homeless’ campaign, which has donated over 20,000 jackets to Melbourne’s homeless over the last five years. Our School Advisory Council has arranged for our school’s collection to be sent to Melbourne and then the jackets will be distributed to the various charities who help those living on the streets. Jackets should be in a good, clean condition and ideally waterproof or thick/warm, however others may also be donated. Should you like to know more about this initiative, please check out https://xtm.com.au/heat-the-homeless.
We would like to receive donated jackets by Friday 12 November.
Lions Peace Posters - We Are All Connected
The local entries to the annual International Peace Poster Competition will be on display in Gallery Central from today. Congratulations to Stella who was announced as the winning artist from St Patrick's School.
Breadtags
Thank you to everyone who has collected and donated their plastic bread tags over recent years. These have been donated to a plastic recycling organisation based in Robe, who recycle the plastic to produce bowls and other goods which are then sold to raise funds to assist with providing wheelchairs for the needy through Aussie Breadtags for Wheelchairs. Unfortunately, we are unable to keep collecting these breadtags and will be delivering our final collection in the next few weeks. If you have breadtags to donate, please ensure that they are delivered to school by Friday 12 November.
Auslan 2022
In readiness for our introduction of Auslan to our curriculum in 2022, Mrs Bell and myself will be visiting St Brigid's Primary School, Ballan, on Monday to view their current Auslan Language program in action and to meet with other teachers who will be introducing the language in their schools next year as well.
Staff Professional Learning Day
Our teaching staff met in Horsham on Monday, together with the teaching staff from Our Lady Help of Christians Primary School (OLHC), Murtoa, for a day of Professional Learning. Our day was filled with sessions facilitated by Tom Hierck, world renowned Professional Educational Consultant who is based in Canada but travels the world facilitating professional learning for schools and educational groups (although our session was conducted via video conferencing); Samantha Meerbach and Felicity Lane, both Catholic Education Ballarat Teaching & Learning Consultants; and Christine Bulger, Catholic Education Ballarat RE Consultant.
Staff found the day very rewarding and are looking forward to continuing our Teaching and Learning partnership with the staff of OLHC.
Sunday's Gospel - Mark 12: 28-34
Some teachings of Jesus are hard to understand and they only become clear to us as we grow in faith and wisdom. Other teachings are very clear and simple. They are meant for all who hear the good news of Jesus. Last Sunday's Gospel Reading contained a teaching that many of us know by heart.
In last Sunday’s Gospel, a scribe asked Jesus, ‘What is the first of all the commandments’. Jesus responded with, “Listen, Israel, the Lord our God is the one Lord, and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength”. The second commandment is, ‘You must love your neighbour as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.'’
Within these two commandments is the foundation of our Christian faith and should be at heart of everything we do. If we honour God and live by his teachings, which includes loving our neighbour, then we will do a lot of good in our communities. We are encouraged to offer support, assistance and hospitality to others, a kind word to someone who is going through a tough time, or a donation to help those less fortunate than ourselves. Through these actions we are showing acts of love to our neighbour. This certainly ties in beautifully with the SAC's Food Drive as mentioned above. Please support as best you can.
St Brigid's Bus
Last week we had a visit from Mr Gerard Raven, Principal of St Brigid's College, Horsham, who came to show us the bus that will be travelling from Nhill each school day to take Secondary school students to St Brigid's. The College also ran a competition to name the new bus and Claire was awarded tickets to the Horsham Cinema for coming up with the winning name of Brigi Bus. The name will be added to the side of the bus. The bus run will commence at the beginning of the 2022 school year.
Remember to follow us on Facebook
Those who are on Facebook are encouraged to follow our page at St Patrick's School, Nhill. 'Like' our page, enjoy our posts, and share them with your friends. Stay connected through our Social Media page.
Our Josephite Heritage
The Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, often called the "Josephites" or "Brown Joeys", were founded in Penola, South Australia, in 1866 by Mary MacKillop and the Rev. Julian Tenison Woods. In 1949, three Josephite sisters arrived in Nhill to open St Patrick’s School. In 1978, the Sisters of St Joseph informed the Nhill Parish that they would no longer be able to maintain their role within the school.
We endeavour to honour our Josephite heritage through the regular presentation of the Little Joey awards at our assemblies. In support of this we also include a reflection from Mary MacKillop on our newsletter each week.
"Cling to God's loving grace."
Mary MacKillop, 1890
Community sport returns this weekend with local cricket taking place across the Wimmera pitches. Hopefully my teammates and I can find inspiration from the Aussies' performance against Bangladesh last night as we commence our own season with a T20 clash tomorrow afternoon. Best wishes to all who are involved in community sport across the weekend.
God Bless you all.
Kingsley Dalgleish
Principal
Our Vision
As partners in Catholic Education and open to God’s presence, we pursue the fullness of life for all.
St. Patrick’s School is a Child-Safe School.
Our Mission
Therefore, inspired by the Gospels, our community will:
- Build on the traditions of our Catholic faith.
- Offer engaging, contemporary education aligned with Catholic tradition.
- Provide a safe and inclusive environment to support and nurture the development of all.
- Provide and maintain a supportive environment that effectively utilises resources.
- Promote caring and responsible relationships between the school, family, and wider community to enhance student learning.