Dear Parents and Carers,

On Monday we welcomed eleven visitors to St Patrick's, they were members of the Catholic Education Commission. During their 2.5 hour visit they took a site walk, they enjoyed classroom visits, and they had conversations with a group of junior students followed by a conversation with middle and senior primary students. The visit culminated with morning tea with the staff where we shared further about our school and answered their many questions.  The feedback on the day was very positive. The commissioners were impressed with the students both in class and in the 2 conversations in the library. They were impressed with the amazing rigour in learning, seeing Direct Instruction lessons across the whole school. They also complimented us on the neat and tidy presentation of the school as a whole, noting of course it is an old school with many old buildings and facilities. We were proud to share our wonderful school with the commissioners.

This week 2 representatives from each year level Year 3-6 represented St Patrick's at the Southern Region Public Speaking competition. This level of competition is held online. We are so proud of these 8 students. We thank Mrs Lightly and Mr Forbes for supporting them as they presented.

From Mr Forbes 'On Wednesday and Friday our public speaking finalists from 3/4 and 5/6 competed in the Southern Region Public Speaking Competition. Allira, Remmi, Thomas, Gwen, Jayden, Sofia, Zoe and Rowan gave excellent speeches in a strong field of speakers from Pambula, Bombala, Batemans Bay, Cooma, and Moruya. Although these students didn’t place in the next round of finals, the judges remarked that the level of skill and ability the speakers showed has markedly improved and that some of the results came to a 0.5 difference! We congratulate all our finalists on a job well done.