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Dear Parents and Carers,
There are so many things for which to give thanks this year let me name some in this closing newsletter.
The fabulous staff team at St Pat's.
Our wonderful St Pat's kids who are present centred and ready to learn and showing progress and achievement and growing the attributes of lifelong learning.
You! The St Pat's parents and carers and family members who are open to participation and engagement in the life of the school.
Opportunities for parents and carers to come back and participate in the life of the school!
A fabulous beachathon.
An amazing St Patrick's Community Christmas Festival!
A better year of health for most (not quite for all!)
We thank the staff who are leaving St Patrick's at the end of this year, for their service to St Patrick's, and wish them well in their new endeavours.
Mrs Nancy Santos - Classroom Teacher
Mr Brytan Aldridge - Aboriginal Education Worker
Ms Leayra Thornton - Canteen Manager
Ms Isabella Lightly - Classroom Support Assistant
Mrs Harmony Morrow - Office Administration Assistant
Graduation On Wednesday we celebrated the graduation of our 2022 Year 6 students. We presented the annual awards at the graduation ceremony. Congratulations to the Year 6 award recipients.
2023 Student Leaders Congratulations to the 2023 Year 6 students for their roles as Captains and Ministers. Whilst we had decided to move to captains only for the three sport houses, the field was very strong and with very little difference between the top three nominees! Thus, we have decided to have 3 captains in each house appointing one student to the House Captain with responsibilities for junior sport leadership.
St Patrick's Staff The 2023 staff team at St Patrick's has been finalised. This is who we are:
May the love and joy of the birth of Christ at Christmas be with you through the festive season and holiday. At St Pat's we always remember that Jesus is the Reason for the Season.
Many blessings
Jo
Religious Education
On Monday we celebrated our Thanksgiving Mass. During Mass our Social Justice Ministers and Mini Vinnies presented St Vincent de Paul with ten hampers which will be distributed to the less fortunate over the Christmas period. Thank you to the families who were able to donate so that other families experience joy at Christmas.
What is Advent?
The Advent season is a time of preparation for our hearts and minds for the anniversary of the Lord’s birth on Christmas.
"God of hope, I look to you with an open heart and yearning spirit. During this Advent season, I will keep alert and awake, listening for your word and keeping to your precepts. My hope is in you." ~ Matthew Kelly
"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." Isaiah 7:14
Celebrating Advent is an excellent way to prepare your mind and heart for Christmas.
My Body, My Life - Puberty and Personal Development Program
The Archdiocesan Relationship Education Team are very excited to be visiting
St Patrick’s Primary School to run the My Body, My Life puberty and personal development program with Grade 5 and 6 early next year.
The team of relationship educators and trained youth ministers will be working in small groups with the year 5 and 6 students on Tuesday, 7th March 2023.
St Patrick’s has requested early access to the online units for all parents of current Year 3, 4, 5 & 6 students. Parents can access the content, at their discretion, with or without your child. The videos are available here: https://cgcatholic.org.au/my-body-my-life/st-patricks-primary-school-bega/.
The My Body My Life online parent / child program includes about 60 minutes of video content, plus a few activities. You can watch all 6 short videos in one sitting, or over a few nights, whichever works best for your family.
Research shows that despite any awkwardness you and your child might feel, children much prefer to hear this information first from their own parents and carers. We are simply trying to help you with that process and then reinforce the same information at school.
The topics covered in the videos include:
- Changes during puberty: physical, emotional, social
- Personal hygiene: skin, hair, cleanliness
- Reproductive systems: growth, development, changes and experiences
- Human conception
- Mood changes, mental health and wellbeing
- Respecting yourself and others
- Talking to trusted adults
St Patrick’s Community Christmas Festival Wrap Up
And that’s a wrap….
The inaugural St Patrick’s Community Christmas Festival was held on St Patrick’s grounds on 10th December 2022.
What a day it was! The weather was spectacular, the crowds were out and the festival sites were at capacity.
Delicious food was served from local food businesses and the school canteen stall was busy and run by an amazing group of volunteers on the day. The cake stall donations were aplenty and were quickly snapped up by festival goers.
The Bega Band helped everyone get in the spirit, playing Christmas tunes. Then Brothers on Fire entertained everyone with tricks and an awesome interactive workshop for all.
The Year 4/5 and 5/6 classes had worked so hard on their stalls, doing an amazing job and providing fun for all on the day. ‘Pick your nose’ and the ‘dunk tank’ proving to be crowd favourites. The Devonshire Tea was very popular as well.
We had a special visit from Bluey and Bingo and then Mr and Mrs Claus themselves, lighting up the little faces of the festival.
We were privileged to have members from our local branches of the RFS, SES and PCYC attend and provide lots of fun and information for all ages.
Norm Pearce, the Salway’s and Jenna Alcock made sure our farmyard corner was a fun place to visit with some local calves, ‘Crush Snow’ the dairy cow and some very adorable puppies on show.
Market stall holders commented on what a lovely event we were hosting, and all had a great day.
The crowd built to watch the infamous Plunge the Principal Raffle. The crowd was cheering and Mrs Scott-Pegum took to the platform with great sportsmanship. After an accidental first plunge, which shocked and stirred the crowd, the principal was plunged in spectacular fashion, raising $488 in the process.
The day was an absolute success, boasting a profit of just over $11000. An outstanding effort! 2023 will see these funds put towards improving our wonderful school. There have been suggestions of a shade structure over the senior playground, trees on the flats and new bench seats for senior students, all ideas would be a great addition.
And such an amazing day doesn’t happen without an amazing group of people working behind the scenes.
Carmen Shoveller and Jenna Alcock worked very hard behind the scenes, with event coordination, advertising, and finances. Many late nights were spent to make the event the success it was. Thank you to these two amazing ladies.
The Festival committee members: Jenna Alcock, Gemma Shinnick, Jayde Green, Nicole Van den Berg, Heidi Jessop, Donna Salway and Ashley Campbell all contributed from festival planning to obtaining sponsorship and so much more. Thank you to our fabulous festival committee.
Mrs Scott Pegum, Mrs Sheahan, Mrs Grant, Mrs Ferris, Miss Rees and Mr Broughton supported the event and helped in every way possible to make the event a success and we thank you.
So many more people came together on the day to volunteer and make the festival an amazing, engaging and spectacular event and we also thank each and every one of you.
We also thank our amazing sponsors for the event and our hugely successful raffle: Coast Hire, Tuff-As Workwear, South Coast Photobooths, Horizon, Bega Cheese, Kanoona Kaptures, LJ Hooker Bega, Betta Home Living, Elders Tathra, Riverside Nursery, Elders Bega, Broadbill Charters, Hair by Heidi, Mitchies Jetty, R&M Detailing, Fine Lines Beauty, Peanut Eatery and Mals Pizza Bite.
From the St Patrick’s Community Council and the Festival Committee have a safe and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
And til the St Patrick’s Community Christmas Festival 2023, that’s a wrap.
Tam Prime
Photos
A gallery of photos from the Christmas Festival will be uploaded to compass.
The uniform shop is now closed for the Christmas holidays.
Holiday Trading
The uniform shop is open during the holiday period on the following days:
Monday 30 January 2023 - 8.30am - 1.30pm
Tuesday 31 January 2023 - 8.30am - 1.30pm
If you would like to come in on these days, please contact us at stpats.uniform@gmail.com to make an appointment.
Term 1 2023
The uniform shop will reopen as per normal on Wednesday 1 February 2023 at 8.30am. We are open every Wednesday and Friday during term from 8.30am - 10.00am.
QKR Store
Should you need to place an order over the holiday period Qkr! orders can be made 24/7 and any order received will be filled when we return from Monday 30 January 2023. Qkr! orders placed over the holidays can be collected from the front office from 11am on Monday 30 January 2023.
Second Hand Uniform
Please take the opportunity to have a rummage around your cupboards these holidays and see if you have any items that can be donated. We have many new and existing families who need access to second hand uniforms and the proceeds go back into school projects. We ask that you make sure they are uniform shop brands ie LW Reid and Midford and in a condition that is clean and presentable.
On behalf of the Uniform shop Committee we wish to thank you for your support during the past year and we extend our very best wishes to you and your loved ones. We look forward to seeing you again in 2023.
