Parents and Friends

A Sense of Belonging

2023 once again proved to be a fabulous year for our P&F and our St Patrick’s College Community. We started the year with a magnificent morning tea to welcome our Year 5 parents and boys, as well as the welcome dinner where we had over 600 parents and boys join us for mass and dinner in the College Gymnasium. The excitement, nerves and laughter of each student was second to none. We pray and hope that their journey at SPC this year has been filled with great memories, the formation of long-time friendships and camaraderie. 

This was then followed by our Supporters’ Day Barbeques which have been a great success, all thanks to the volunteers that come and help throughout the year. I will reiterate as I do many times, our focus on our committee is to build our school community, any funds that are raised along the way are a bonus for us. In saying this, this year we have raised just over $24 000 from the barbeques. 

In May we held our Annual Blue, Black and Gold dinner. Tickets for the BBG were sold out within 24 hours and for that, we are forever grateful to our community for all their support. A great night was had by all, with special thanks to our Master of Ceremonies, Mr Adrian Byrne who did a fabulous job with his witty speech and sense of humour. To each single parent and carer who attended, thank you! We look forward to hosting the BBG in 2024 at Le Montage and hope to see you all there again for another fun night.

Further to our BBG, we hosted another successful Trivia Night at Strathfield Golf Club. A very big thank you to all our organisers, and the community for the amazing prizes that were donated with the highlight of the year being our School Fees raffle where one lucky parent won $10,000 towards their 2024 school fees. If you missed out, don’t fret, we will be holding a few more of these raffles throughout 2024. 

Along with the social functions organised by the P&F Executive, our school Class Representatives have been busy organising year group social gatherings. We wanted to extend a very warm thank you to all the Class Representatives of 2023 for the wonderful job in building our school community. Whether it was a parent dinner, a family fun day/night or a Mothers Weekend Away, thank you! We look forward to working with the many Class Representatives who are staying on next year, and we welcome new Class Representatives for 2024 who will be announced very soon. So, stay tuned! 

This year, we have also had the pleasure of donating funds back to the school in many ways. We began via the Parents and Friends Grant scheme. This year, the lucky recipient of was the Junior School receiving more reading books (Mulitlit program) and Robotics - what a fantastic way for our young men to begin their learning at SPC. The dedication and commitment of all our teaching staff at the College is a testament to their commitment to each one of the students. 

Further to the Grants, we organised the roses for mothers at Mother’s Day Celebrations. We also organised the Father’s Day Breakfast for our wonderful Fathers and of course Supper for the HSC Students Major Works Display. Not to forget the many sporting officials and referees that we feed at our Saturday Winter sport season barbeques! 

The committee would like to take the opportunity to thank Mrs Rose Charles for organising two events for the Mark Hughes Foundation Fundraiser in honour of our son and brother Archie Gray. At the beginning of the year, a Pink Stumps Day was held on Breen Oval, raising $3,000 as well as the sale of beanies during the Rugby season raising just over $7,000 for the foundation. A grand display of the Blue, Black and Gold spirit. 

We will finish this year with our final event, the Staff Appreciation Lunch. A well-deserved lunch served to our teachers by the committee to thank each teacher for their continuous hard work and dedication to our boys. 

Each year, we strive to give more, and our events are only possible with the support from the wider community, particularly our parents and carers. I must thank each and every one of you who has assisted us in any way this year. We are blessed to be part of such a collaborative and supportive community, from students who are always willing to lend a helping hand, to parents/carers who are always willing to step up and offer their time. This is what sets us apart from other schools - the Blue, Black and Gold spirit is engraved into our hearts, just as much as its engraved into our boys’ hearts and souls.

On behalf of my fellow P&F Executive Committee members we thank you for your continued support, and we are grateful for having a community where everyone belongs. 

Live Jesus in our hearts forever. 

Elena Ierardo 

P&F President