“For God sent His Son into the world not to condemn the world, but so that through Him the world might be saved. No one who

believes in Him will be condemned.”

Dear Parents/Guardians,

These words, from the Gospel of John remind us that this Lent we should see everything in our life as precious and important. Get stabbed by things, by flowers and by babies and by beautiful things-just the very act of living, of walking and breathing and eating and having friends and chatting. Look for more beauty rather than less, look for miracles.

The secret to prayer is not to try to make God present, but to make ourselves present to God. The secret to finding beauty and love in life is basically the same. Like God, they are already present.

Karl Rahner was once asked whether he believed in miracles.

His answer: “I don’t believe in them, I rely on them to get through each day!”

In Lent, we stop just a bit, we stop being so busy, we become more attentive about why Jesus ever existed, and why we are here now. We listen for Jesus. We listen for God. We listen to Jesus. We listen to God.

However—and it is a significant however—God does not force anything upon us. We are free to choose. We can accept God’s loving gestures or we can refuse them. We can choose to believe or not believe in Christ and prefer darkness to the light. There has always been a choice. Today the choice is ours to make. Will we make it? Confident of God’s bigheartedness, we are able to repent, return to God and start anew. Grace through faith saves us. We can indeed rebuild our broken lives and our broken church. We can create a world based on cooperation rather than competition, on respect rather than discrimination. God’s love has been offered; the choice is ours.

‘God so loved the world....’ Our bighearted God sent his son into the front line, the firing line of sin, evil, oppression, injustice, betrayal, infidelity and darkness. Christ is lifted up; never out of our sight, so that in every dangerous experience of life, we can see him, our risen Lord on Calvary.

PRAYER ‘My soul thirsts for God my saviour. I want to rise up and I want to see Christ, who has drunk the most bitter cup of this world. I want to kiss Christ’s bloodied feet, the feet that pursued me even to the extremes of my sinfulness. I want to see the pierced side of Christ who has locked me in his heart. I want to see the wood of the cross on which the salvation of the world, my salvation, hung.

Come let us adore him’ (Fr. Karl Rahner)

We are God’s handiwork, the apple of God’s eye!

If God had a refrigerator, our picture would be on it. If God had a wallet, our photo would be in it. God sends us flowers every spring, sends us a sunrise every morning. Whenever we want to talk, God listens. God can live anywhere in the universe, but chose our hearts. Face it friends, God is crazy about us! God didn’t promise days without pain, laughter without sorrow, sun without rain, but God did promise strength for the day, comfort for the tears, and light for the way, through Christ his Son in the unity of the Spirit. Amen!

Kind regards,

Steve Darcy (Principal)

CYBER SAFETY FOR STUDENTS AND THEIR FAMILIES

On Thursday 12 March we have again employed the services of the Y-SAFE organisation to promote the cyber safety message. This year their focus will be on Year 2, Year 3 and Year 4.

We will be promoting the PARENT INFORMATION SESSION for all grades. (Thursday 12 March at 6:30 pm.) However, we have learned that this is no longer a topic that is just the families of our senior students need to hear.

I strongly encourage the parents of our Kindergarten, Year One and Year Two students to attend so that they can be PROACTIVE in establishing routines and putting in place safeguards to protect their children BEFORE they actually need them.

To register for the meeting please click here.

Remember, as parents / carers, WE are responsible for keeping our children safe online...not the School and not the Government!

VOLUNTEER INDUCTION SESSIONS

If you wish to apply to volunteer you must engage in the appropriate induction provided by the school and complete the Sydney Catholic Schools (SCS) Safe Schools Expectations Undertaking: Volunteers form.

This includes helping out at sport carnivals, going on excursions etc.

SCS require this training to be done EVERY year.

I have done one session today and there will be another session tonight at 7:00pm.

7:00 pm Thursday 5 March LINK

If you would like to attend this session, and you have not already done so, you are asked to click on the link above and provide your name, your child’s name and your Working With Children Check (WWCC) number. If you do not currently have a WWCC, Mr Darcy will explain how to obtain one free of charge from Services NSW.

SCHOOL UNIFORM UPDATE

Our school winter uniforms will NOW be available from the Yeronga's Sutherland store as from Tuesday 7 APRIL. The store will be open each Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. Online orders, with delivery to the School for collection, will be available.

Please note:

The girls' check trousers will NO longer be available. Navy trousers will be the replacement. The tunic will still be an option.
There will be a cotton acrylic v-neck jumper available.
There will be a new jacket available later in the year.
There will be a new sports shirt available. The shorts will be available to boys and girls.There will also be a skort available for girls.
The summer shirt will be made so they are not tucked in. All shirts will have the School logo.
The dry + cozy jacket will continue to be available.

Any change in uniform items is due to the fact that those current items are no longer available. The current cotton-based uniforms are no longer available, hence the change in fabrics. These fabrics are currently being used in many Catholic Schools across Sydney, including the College. The Uniform Suppliers have received no complaints about the fabric.

Yeronga have given a commitment to work with the St Patrick's community and individual families, should individual students have skin / sensory issues with the fabric.

Full implementation of the School Uniform is expected by the beginning of 2028. This gives families over 18 months to utilise their current stock of uniforms. It would be rare to find any item worn by children lasting that period of time, particularly one that is worn at least three-days every week. However, the School is happy to discuss individual cases at that time.

MOVIE NIGHT

The St Patrick’s Catholic Primary School Parent Group are excited to present our first event of 2026; an outdoor Pyjama movie night on Friday 20th March.

Cost

$15 entry fee per family, will include free kids popper and free kids popcorn per child. Please click this link to purchase tickets (https://www.trybooking.com/DJRGH) Please select the number of kids attending so we can ensure we have enough for everyone.

Movie Choice

The children will vote on their favourite movie in class between:

A Minecraft Movie

The Bad Guys 2

Lilo and Stitch

Sonic The Hedgehog 3

The movie with the most votes will be shown.

Food Options

We are excited to share that Dominos Sutherland will donate $1 to St Patrick’s Primary School for EVERY pizza sold on the night of Friday 20th March so please feel free to grab a pizza (either in person in the shop or to make it more convenient you can order online and collect) and bring it along to the movie night. Noting that dinner options will not be available so please grab a pizza, grab a takeaway from the variety of options in Sutherland or BYO from home.

Snacks will be available to buy on the night such as ice cream, slushies, fresh popcorn, chips and lollies.

What do I need to bring ?

- Your trybooking ticket

- BYO food, picnic blankets, low back chairs, cushions, pillows

- Kids are welcome to wear their Pyjamas and oodies

- If you require a high back chair please be considerate of others and sit nearer the back of the movie. There will be a clear area sectioned off for high back chairs

Raffle Tickets

We will be selling raffle tickets on the night. $2 for 1 ticket or $5 for 3 tickets.

Prizes include $50 movie gift card and some fantastic NRL Cronulla Sharks merchandise and St George Illawarra Dragons merchandise (special thanks to the family of Angus Glen in Kindy for this kind donation)

The lucky winners will be announced by Mr Darcy at the end of the movie.

Important info :

Alcohol is not permitted.

All children must be accompanied by an adult.

Gates open at 6pm and Movie starts at 7pm.

EFTPOS and cash will be accepted

ST PATRICK'S DAY

Celebrated on Tuesday 17 March this is a special day for our community.

There will be whole-school Mass at 9:00am and then parents / carers are invited across to the school for some Irish Dancing performance.

You will then be invited to visit all our classrooms and see some of the terrific work that has already been done this Term, before staying to share recess with your child/ren on the playground (weather permitting).

We look forward to seeing you there.

Canteen News