A busy time indeed!

Welcome to this week's edition of our school newsletter. We are certainly moving through a remarkably busy, productive, and exciting part of the term!

First and foremost, our Mini Vinnies committee has been working tirelessly behind the scenes to finalise the activities for our upcoming St Patrick's Day celebrations this Tuesday. I am so proud of their leadership and initiative, and we are all very excited to come together and celebrate our school's special feast day with a range of engaging and meaningful events.

On the academic front, I want to commend our Year 3 and 5 students who are making excellent progress with their NAPLAN assessments. They have already completed three-quarters of their testing, and I have been incredibly impressed by their focus, resilience, and the positive effort they have shown during this important period. Keep up the fantastic work!

Finally, the excitement in the wider community is truly building as the Walcha Show kicks off tomorrow! I am especially looking forward to visiting the pavilion on Saturday morning to see all of our students' incredible exhibits. Your diverse talents never fail to impress me! I must admit, though, I am feeling a little jealous—I can’t cook to save my life, yet I’ve been hearing all about the amazing cakes, scones, biscuits, and jams our students have entered. It sounds like I might need to step up my game in the kitchen just to keep up with you all!

Wishing everyone a wonderful, fun-filled weekend at the Show, and the very best of luck to all our student exhibitors.

St Patrick’s Day Celebrations – Tuesday, 17th March

This Tuesday, 17th March, we will be celebrating the Feast of St Patrick, the patron saint of our school. Staff and students will come together for a special celebration of Mass at 11:30 am in the St Patrick's Catholic Church, and we warmly invite families to join us for this special occasion.

To add to the celebrations, students are encouraged to dress in green for the day!

Our Mini Vinnies team has been busy organising a variety of fun activities to mark our school’s Feast Day. Students are asked to bring a gold coin donation, as all funds raised will go towards Project Compassion.

Here’s what’s planned for the day:

🍀 St Patrick’s Feast Day Mass – 11:30 am

🍀 Green-themed food at recess

🍀 Colouring competitions - all year levels

🍀 Find the Leprechaun competition and many more fun activities!

A huge thank you to our Mini Vinnies members for their hard work in planning these fantastic celebrations. We look forward to a fun-filled day in honour of St Patrick!

Fantastic Effort at the ACS Winter Trials!

A massive congratulations to the eleven dedicated students who traveled to Armidale last Friday to represent our school at the ACS Winter Trials. We are incredibly proud of the determination, teamwork, and sportsmanship you all displayed throughout the day. You were truly outstanding ambassadors for St. Patrick's!

For a full wrap-up of the day's exciting events—including some fantastic individual achievements and Diocesan team selections—be sure to check out the comprehensive report in the Sports Section of this week's newsletter. Well done to all involved!

School Fees 2026

2026 School Fee Accounts - Important information from Armidale Catholic Schools Office

We would like to share an update regarding school fee accounts. Schools within the Dioceses of Armidale have transferred their administration and finance operations to an enterprise system which includes Compass and TechnologyOne. This has provided Armidale Catholic Schools with the ability to perform centralised functions relating to school fee accounts on behalf of schools, the primary aim is to free up school staff from paperwork so they can focus more on the students and the school community.

What Centralisation of functions mean for Families

The invoicing of school fees and the distribution of school fee statements each month is a function carried out by the Armidale Catholic Schools Office (ACSO). Payment of fees are due on the dates provided on your school statement. Please note this finance system provides for reminders for late payments via SMS and email. These reminders are automatically generated by the software, based on the numberof days a payment is overdue. For those families that may have difficulty in paying their school fees, these reminders may cause some concern. This is not our intention. Our intention is to manage the collection of school fee accounts with our new finance system and in doing so, alleviate some of the administrative work of our schools.

Your School Fee Account Enquiries

Despite the centralisation of various functions, your school/s will always be your point of contact for matters pertaining to fees. If you receive an automated reminder but are experiencing financial challenges, please reach out to your Principal at your earliest convenience. We are committed to supporting our families and can discuss flexible payment arrangements.

Reminders and account balances

If you have made a payment within the last 48 hours, please disregard any reminder as your transaction may not yet be reflected in your balance.You can view your balance and transactions on the Compass Portal at any time.

Walcha Central School Open Day on Monday

As we move through another busy and productive term, it is wonderful to see our students continually embracing new opportunities for growth.

A significant part of our role is preparing our senior students for their next big educational chapter. With that in mind, next Monday, a group of our Year 5 and 6 students will be heading over to Walcha Central School to participate in their Open Day.

Thinking about the transition to high school is an exciting—and sometimes nerve-wracking—milestone for our senior primary students. Open days like this one provide a fantastic opportunity for them to get a firsthand taste of high school life, explore different learning environments, and meet some of the teachers and older students. It is a crucial chance for them to ask questions and start visualising the next steps in their learning journey.

I want to wish all the students who are attending the absolute best for a fun, engaging, and highly informative day. I have no doubt that you will be wonderful ambassadors for St Patrick's, demonstrating your usual excellent manners, respect, and enthusiasm.

Have a great time exploring all the new opportunities, Year 5 and 6! I look forward to hearing all about your high school experience when you return.

Parent-Teacher Interviews – Term 1

Parent-Teacher Interviews for all students from Year 1 to Year 6 will commence on Monday, 23rd March. These meetings are a valuable opportunity for parents to gain insight into how well their child has settled into the school year, discuss their current progress, and collaborate with teachers to set individual learning goals for the remainder of the semester.

Parents can make a booking through the Compass portal.

I encourage all families to take advantage of this opportunity to connect with teachers and support their child’s learning journey.

Walcha Show

Over the past few weeks, our students have been working diligently to put the final touches on their impressive classroom displays. With the Show opening tomorrow and running through Saturday, I want to wish the absolute best of luck to all the children and families participating! Last year, I was incredibly proud to see so many St. Patrick's students taking home prestigious awards across a variety of categories. I am so excited to see our students' exceptional talents on display once again this year. I always find myself particularly amazed by the incredible skills shown in the cooking section—your abilities are truly remarkable! Best wishes to everyone for a fantastic Show weekend.

Premier's Reading Challenge

Exciting news this year as St Patrick's students will again be participating in the Premier's Reading Challenge. We urge all students to take part.

Your child's login details will be sent home shortly. You and your child will then be required to log in, provide the child's information, so they can record their books online.

Many of the PRC books can be found in our school library, where we will encourage students to borrow them during library time. Additionally, we are introducing all students to "SORA" - an app tailored to the contemporary student reading experience. This app enables students to explore and enjoy ebooks and audiobooks from their school, for both recreational and assigned reading purposes. It also includes the PRC books. We aim to have this process completed for students very soon!

NAPLAN

The majority of our Year 3 and Year 5 students have now completed the NAPLAN Reading and Language Conventions assessments. The Numeracy assessment will be administered on Monday morning at 9:30 am. To accommodate students who may have missed assessments due to illness, family holidays and for the students who will be attending the Walcha Central School Open Day this upcoming Monday catch-up sessions are scheduled for next Wednesday, Thursday, and Monday, March 23rd. We kindly request that appointments be avoided during school hours on these testing dates.

Further information for parents and carers can be found here:

https://www.nap.edu.au/naplan/parent-carer-support

I encourage all parents of students in Years 3 and 5 to explore the Public Demonstration Site with your child (click on button below). Here you will find sample questions for each of the areas assessed.

https://www.nap.edu.au/online-assessment/public-demonstration-site

Click below to see a short video showing how to navigate the Public Demonstration Site.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ElaxjY7xKzPkl4QijbH_YPs9IRtkr8FU/view

School Hours & Supervision

Teachers commence duty at 8:30am and finish duty when the last bus leaves St Patrick’s approximately 3:10pm.

Supervision begins at 8:30am in the COLA

School starts: 9am (Bell - 8:50am)

Recess: 11:00am – 11:30am

Lunch: 1:30pm – 2:10pm

School finishes: 3.00pm.

SCHOOL OFFICE HOURS

The school office hours are 8:30am to 3:30pm

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

We will be having our lastschool assembly for the term on Friday 27th March at 9.00am under the School COLA. We hope to see you then!

School Assembly for the 1st Term Dates

Jelly Bean Cup