What! It is only one month until Spring!

Hi everyone. When I began composing my section for the newsletter this week, I glanced at my calendar and realised we are now in the early days of August. My question is. Where has the year actually gone? It won't be long before we will be fast approaching the end of the year, which is very scary! Especially, as I was reminded by one of our Year 6 students that they only have 85 days left of school at St Patrick's before they start a new chapter in their lives at high school. I am amazed that some of them have already started counting down the days.

I have to admit that I really like the month of August, mainly as you can tell that I am a cold frog and still haven't got used to the morning frosts and daily weather that is normal for this time of year in Walcha. This month is officially the last month of Winter! I do know that I am getting off topic here but I love horse racing and on Tuesday 1st August was the official birthday of all thoroughbred horses. They are bred to be born on this day so when the time comes for the foal to be broken in, it is the right time of the year for them to race!

Well, that's enough about some facts about August. I have to admit that over the last fortnight, it has seemed to be very quiet as we haven't had any visitors and/or major events happening. That is definitely going to change in the very near future as some of our students will be completing various ICAS Assessments in the upcoming weeks, tennis for sport, meditation for our K-2 students as well as the Diocesan Athletics Carnival being held at Tamworth on Friday, 18th August, where we have 27 students attending. We wish them all the best of luck as they will be competing against the best athletes in the diocese.

LET'S HANG IT! Art Competition Award Night

Last Friday evening I was very fortunate to accompany some of our staff members to support Mackenzie G and Mackenzie L's entries at the 2023 UNESAP Let’s Hang It Competition Finalists Exhibition Opening and Award Ceremony. Both girl's entries were selected among the finalists in the Infants Section of this competition and their achievements were noted as each participant receiving an award for making the finals as well as their artworks being part of this exhibition open to the public until the 13th August. Congratulations go to Mackenzie L, as her exhibit was placed second overall in her division. Mackenzie L should be very proud of herself for what she has achieved. Who knows, we may have our next Picasso here at St Patrick's.

However, the competition is not officially over as yet as there is one more award to be presented and I am asking everyone in our school community for a favour. There is a People's Choice Award for this competition and voting will close on Sunday 13th August. It would be fantastic if all of our families vote for Mackenzie L' and Mackenzie G's artwork using the scan code in the poster below. Their artwork is numbered '7' and '8' when asked to enter in your details and number of the artwork when voting. Your vote will be greatly appreciated by both Mackenzie's and it will give them a greater chance of winning the People's Choice Award.

Exhibition Dates 28th July - 13th August New England Regional Art Museum

Students as Authors Writing Competition Winners Announced

Earlier this year a number of our students entered the Catholic Schools Office "Students as Authors Writing Competition", where students were encouraged to submit their own story about courage and/or faith. I have just been informed who the winners of this competition are and I can happily announce that the winner of the K-2 Section is Harriet Laurie. Congratulations Harriet!

Harriet will now have the opportunity to work with author/illustrator Trish Donald to develop her story as an eBook. Harriet's eBook will then be published to the SORA digital library , which means it will reach an audience of over 250,000 students in Catholic schools across Australia! Harriet, you should be very proud of yourself for this accomplishment and I cannot wait to read your eBook when it is released on the SORA digital platform.

Below is Harriet's winning entry.

Always be courageous.

By Harriet Laurie

"Once upon a time and half ago on dark Sunday the courageous hero Hacksta was bored. ‘Bored, bored bored, any more boards and I could build a boat’ he said grumpily. ‘I am waiting for something exciting to happen.’ When suddenly, he realised it was almost 12 o’clock and the sun still wasn’t out. Because Hacksta could fly he flew up and around to the other side of the world and saw that they were still playing about in the sun. he was angry humph. So, he went up to the sun and got his lasso out and lassoed it around the sun and flew back to his side of the country. And now everyone was out of their bed saying, woah look at the time. And Hacksta had saved his country again.

The next day. Everyone found out about Hackst’s secret though. He couldn’t stand up to bullies.

It started on this playful Monday morning Hacksta was going to get his super groceries (that was really only milk and bread but super-sized) and on the way back, carrying his super BIG milk and bread a big bully was trying to hurt his feelings. He had eaten a banana and put the skin where Hacksta was going to walk to make him slip and fall. Hacksta didn’t noticed the banana skin so walked up and fell ‘Whoops, Smash, OUCH’ said Hacksta. Hacksta got up, and tried to say that wasn’t very nice to the bully but didn’t have the guts to say it. With his bottom very sore and milk all over the floor he walked away.

A little girl in a pink sparkly tutu, had seen the whole thing. She said to the bully that wasn’t the best thing I’ve ever seen, actually its probably the worst thing I’ve ever seen she said and she walked up to go help Hacksta with the cream that she had brought for sore bottoms.

Even hero’s get scared sometimes but everyone in whole entire world can be courageous if they try, even little girls in pink sparkly tutus.

THE END

Save the Date: Friday 1st September

Like last year, Friday 1st September is definitely going to be an action-packed day with a number of activities that are happening. We will be beginning the day with our annual Father's Day Breakfast. Also, we are inviting all of our grandparents to join us for Grandparents Day, where there will be a number of activities coinciding with this special occasion. Some of the activities include our annual Book Week celebrations with the fair operating as well as our Book Week fashion parade. The theme for this year is Hats Off To Reading: and for the fashion parade, we are encouraging our students (including transition) to dress up as: 'A Hero' or 'Villian'. I better start digging deeper into my costume box to see what I can come up with. More information will be provided in future editions of the newsletter.

2023 School Improvement Survey

In 2023, the Catholic Schools Office has once again engaged the services of Survey My School to provide a platform for parents to supply St Patrick's School with feedback on our current practices and procedures. These surveys will be emailed to parents the week of the 21st August.

Year One Phonics Screener Assessment

From this upcoming Monday, all Year 1 students throughout NSW will take part in the Year 1 Phonics Screener Assessment. This is a short assessment that tells teachers how students are progressing in phonics. More information about this assessment is included below:

Kindergarten's 100th Day Dress Up Day

Well done to all of the Kindergarten students as well as Ms Wilson who got into the theme of dressing up like they are 100 years old to celebrate their official 100th day at school. It will be interesting to see how they will celebrate their 200th day at big school as from my calculations it will be the third week of the 2024 academic year. Anyway, congratulations to Charlotte, Mackenzie, Campbell, Edwina, Levi O, Harper P, Jack and Reid for your big milestone. More information about this wonderful achievement is included in the Classroom Gallery section of this newsletter.

2024 Transition Program Commencing Soon!

Speaking of Kindergarten, it is nearly time to start planning for 2024 as it is just over three weeks before our Kindergarten Transition program commences! We are looking forward to having our 2024 Kindergarten children come to big school on Friday 25th August for their first day of transition. This program will be on every Friday from 25th August for the rest of Term 3 as well as the first five Fridays in Term 4. Mrs Hoy will be leading transition and she is beginning to organise a large number of fun activities that will be conducted throughout the program.

To ensure that our 2024 Transition Program is a success, a lot of organisation needs to be completed before the program commences and one of these aspects involves knowing how many children will be taking part in the program. The large majority of our families have already formally enrolled their children in our transition program but we are still waiting for some of our new and existing families to complete and hand in the necessary paperwork that was included in the packs that were handed out at our 2024 Kindergarten Open Morning in Term 2.

It would be greatly appreciated if we could receive all completed Transition Enrolment Forms by tomorrow, Friday 4th August as it will allow us to organise all of the resources needed for this program.

We still have some vacancies available for students who will be starting school next year to take part in this program and if you know any families who may be interested, can you please encourage them to contact the school?

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

Congratulations go to Florence who has won this week's 'Wearing Uniform With Pride' award. Well done Florence, as you always wear both your Winter and Sports uniform with pride, you should be very proud of yourself.

Heads Up! Our Years 3-6 Students Will Be Participating in Bushfest

Our Year 3-6 students have been invited to take part in BushFest. This is a FREE choral festival for schools in the NECOM classroom/choral program on Wednesday 6th September at the New England Conservatorium of Music. It is a wonderful opportunity for our students to come together with other regional schools and work with one of Australia’s leading music educators, Paul Jarman.

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.

Mini Vinnies

Mini Vinnies Committee