34 Calliope Street, Guildford 2161

Telephone : 9632 5468

Fax : 96321495

Website: http://www.stpatsguildford.catholic.edu.au/

Dear Parents Thank you to all our families who were able to share in our Catholic Schools Week celebrations. As the Principal of such a wonderful school as St Patrick’s, it made me very proud to listen to the children share their po-ems, prayers, artwork and reflections about why our school is such a great school. Some of these have been included in this newsletter for you all to read. At our open day, we had a large number of families come along to see edu-cation in action. We also had a number of prospective new families who came along to see if St Patrick’s was the school they wanted to enrol their Kindergarten child for 2015. One prospective new parent seeking enrolment sent a letter the following day stating that her son currently attends a state school and is ‘missing out on the Lent celebration that is being marked in

every Catholic school in the state. My son is missing out on praying, discov-

ering the meaning of Easter and exploring the sacred parables that as Cath-

olics are so familiar to us. My heart broke for him when I visited your

school and saw the students stop for the Angelus. I am heartbroken that he

is not sharing this vital time … this was the stuff that my own childhood was

built on, and I want the same for my son.’

We can all be guilty of taking things for granted and not truly appreciating the gifts we have. Sometimes it takes a person (as above) who is seeking for her child what we already have at St Patrick’s. Nothing is ever perfect and, if we continually seek perfection, then we run the risk of overlooking all the wonderful things that we already have. Catholic Schools Week is a time to give thanks that your children truly do attend a great school that not only provides the best education but does so in an environment that proudly upholds the values of our Catholic faith.

Warm regards

Jenny Webb

Principal

WEEKLY VALUE Speaking with respect

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

20th March 2014

Newsletter 4 Term 1

DATES TO REMEMBER

MARCH

Fri 21 Harmony Day

Wed 26 Year 2 Mass

Fri 28 Mufti Day - Mothers Day

Wed 2 Year 1 Mass

APRIL

Mon 31 Staff Development Day

Friday 21st March

Starting at 11.15am

Parents Welcome

ST PATRICK’S SCHOOL

NEWSLETTER

CHOCOLATE DRIVE

Thank you to everyone for your support with the Chocolate Drive. A profit of $6,000 was made and all this money will go towards purchasing new maths equipment. Special thanks to the Parent Group who

organised the Chocolate Drive.

STAFF DEVELOPMENT DAY

A Staff Development Day will be held on Monday 31 March. Teachers will work with a Teacher Educator from the Catholic Education Office on the new Mathematics curriculum. There will be no classes on

this day.

KINDERGARTEN ENROLMENTS 2015

Applications for children wishing to enrol in Kindergarten in 2015 will be available from the school

office from Monday 24 March until 2 May.

NEW PHYSICAL EDUCATION TEACHER

A very warm welcome to Miss McCauley who joins our staff as the new Physical Education teacher,

replacing Mrs Barber who is currently on leave.

CHILD PROTECTION COURSE

A number of new parents have approached the office asking for a new date for the Child Protection course. This course will only be offered to any parent who is prepared to assist with the school canteen AS WELL AS assisting as a classroom helper (Spalding, reading, maths etc). The canteen is in dire need of helpers and, with this in mind, Mrs Webb will agree to offer the Child Protection course on Friday 28

March at 8.45am. Please contact the school office

if you would like to attend.

‘TALKING ANGELA’ APPLICATION

Some parents have raised a concern about the suitability of this application. We checked this out on the internet (Google) and while the report states that there are no problems, we urge all parents to check this application themselves before allowing their children to access it. As with all applications, parents should be vigilant and know what their children are using – even if you are not confident with computers. Sitting by your child when he/she is on the computer is a MUST. When we have ongoing behaviour problems with children – swearing, deviate comments etc – we generally find that the children are learning this behaviour through the use of inappropriate applications downloaded from the internet. This is very much a

case of PARENTS BEWARE!

INVITATION TO PRINCIPAL MORNING TEA

All parents are warmly invited to come along for an informal morning tea and chat with Mrs Webb on Tuesday 8 April at 10am in

the school hall. Mrs Croan and Ms Salkeld will outline the focus for Peer Support which will be starting in Term 2 and involve all children. The rest of the morning will

be informal chat.

CANTEEN

More helpers are needed to assist Margaret in the canteen. Without your help we will no longer be able to provide a canteen for your children. Please complete the slip included in this newsletter if you

can help.

Yr 1 ASSEMBLY

The Year One Assembly due to be held next Wednesday 26th March will now be cancelled . You will be notified later with another date.

QUALITY CATHOLIC SCHOOLS SURVEY Parents who have been randomly selected to complete these form are asked to complete them online or return them to St Patrick's by the 28th March.

THE ANNUNICATION OF THE LORD

On the 25th of March, the church will celebrate the Annunciation of the Lord, when the Angel Gabriel visited Mary to bestow upon her God’s will. We are happy that God loved us enough to become one of us, and we are happy that Mary and then many others accepted Jesus.

“What does it mean for each of us that God became man?”

Catholics honour Mary as the Mother of God and as the model for all who are faithful to all that God asks of them. This is something we are reminded of daily when we recite the Angelus “let it be done me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). In the gospel of Mark 3:31-35 we are reminded that Jesus calls each person to be his follower. “Who is my mother and who are my brothers?’ Then he looked at the people sitting around him and said, ‘Here is my mother and my brothers. Anyone who obeys God is my brother or sister or mother.’ During Lent, the members of the church are trying to help one another become better followers of Jesus. Let us use Mary’s example of saying ‘Yes’ to God’s will in our lives and help others hear this calling.

“Are you prepared, as Mary was to respond to God’s call in your life?”

“Do you take comfort in the fact that through God all things are possible?”

CENTENARY OF MARY MACKILLOP CHAPEL

On Wednesday 19th March, the student leaders along with myself attended a special Commemorative Mass for the Centenary Celebration of Mary MacKillop Place Chapel. It was no coincidence that this day was also the feast of St Joseph. St Joseph was very special to Mary MacKillop. She named her order after this special saint. He was a humble hard workingman who looked after the Holy Family. He trusted in God’s will, just as Mary MacKillop and her Sisters tried to do. Our school was invited to attend this commemoration due to our connection with the Sisters of St Joseph who founded St Patrick’s School in 1910.

The student leaders had an enjoyable day starting with a Mass where Tara read a prayer of the faithful and Maya received a candle that will be kept at school as a reminder to keep the flame of faith alive in our hearts,

to walk in the light of Christ and to bring that light to our world. Following Mass a time capsule was buried in the gardens and a representative from each school present sprinkled soil from their school ontop of it so it could be buried. The time capsule contains memories of our time and the hopes and dreams for future generations. It will be unearthed in 2114. The Student Leaders had a brief opportunity to walk through the gallery and museum and are eager to return to Mary MacKillop Place to discover more about her amazing life and work .

CATHOLIC SCHOOLS WEEK AND ST

PATRICK’S DAY

This past fortnight has been very eventful with a multitude of activities that the students and Parents were able to take part in. Catholic Schools’ Week celebrated the uniqueness and what makes St Patrick’s a great school. This was portrayed in the work that each grade presented each morning at assembly. Then to end the week and begin our St Patrick’s Day celebrations the students danced away during a disco that was facilitated by Gabrielle from Dance Fever. All had a wonderful time, showing their wonderful dance moves, learning different dance sequences and even some dance offs! On Monday the whole St Patrick’s Community celebrated the solemnity of St Patrick with a beautiful Mass where Fr Peter encouraged us all to keep our faith firm in God and go out as St Patrick did and be Jesus to all we meet in our lives. Some photos of these events can be found in this newsletter.

FROM THE RE COORDINATOR

MASSES Parents and friends are welcome to celebrate mass with the parish and children. Wednesday 26th March 9am Year 2 Mass 3rd Week of Lent Wednesday 2nd April 9am Year 1 Mass 4th Week of Lent

Yours in Christ, Mrs W Khoury

HARMONY DAY

On Friday 21st March (tomorrow) we will be celebrating Harmony Day. We will be having activities on this special day starting at 11:15am. There will be singing, dancing and prayers. Harmony Day is a day for all Australians to reflect on the importance of our multicultural society and to recognise the traditional owners of this land. The children are asked to wear orange or a national costume if available.

Parents are welcome. Please enter the school via

the side gate near the church. This gate will be

open when the activities are ready to be begin.

Lessons will resume as normal following the

celebration.

FROM THE SPORT COORDINATOR

SPORTS NEWS Congratulations to our Swimming Squad at the Diocesan Swimming Carnival. The squad again did St Patrick’s proud in their sportsmanship and behavior on the day. We wish to acknowledge Kyle Schembri who will now compete at the Mackillop Trials at Homebush on the 28th of March. We wish Kyle all the best in the 50m breastroke event. Congratulations to Elana Nasr and Mason Potts who represented St Patrick’s and Parramatta in the Mackillop Tennis Trials last week. Elana will now go on to repre-sent the Mackillop Team. During the week we had four boys try out for Parramatta Diocesan teams in Under 11’s and Open’s Rugby league teams. Raymond Hekeik, Dion Lenden-Sleiman, Jerome Saba and Thomas Maka. We wish to congratulate them on a wonderful achievement as they move onto the next level trialing for the Mackillop Team on Friday the 9th May. We would also like to commend Ana Fainu on trialing for Netball as well during the week. We wish Thomas Maka all the best as he trials for the Parramatta Rugby Union team on the 4th April. The Cross Country team will be announced this week. Children should check the glass doors for the list of names and listen to announcements for meeting times and training sessions.

MARCH

Mon Wed Fri

3

Rosie Narse

5

Sadie Ters

Rainia Antoun

7

Katrina Nasrallah

10

Rosie Narse

12

Melissa

Bourchdan

14

Natalie Durdidge

Samantha Khattar

17

Anna Loulach

Rosie Narse

19

Rita Jacobson

21

Brono Dias

Maria Chivers

24

Rosie Narse

26

Marleine Dias

28

Belinda Hourani

Natalie Durdidge

CANTEEN ROSTER

CANTEEN HELP

�---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Name _______________________________ Phone No. ____________________________ Child’s name and class ______________ Tick day of preference Monday � Wednesday � Friday � Weekly � Fortnightly � Monthly �

School Terms 2014 2015

Term 1 Tuesday, 28 January to Friday, 11 April

Tuesday, 27 January to Thursday, 2 April

Term 2 Monday, 28 April to Friday, 27 June

Monday, 20 April to Friday, 26 June

Term 3 Monday. 14 July to Friday, 19 September

Monday, 13 July to Friday, 18 September

Term 4 Tuesday, 7 October to Wed, 17 December

Tuesday, 6 October to Wed 16 December

On the 13th of March, Year Six held a cupcake stall. They managed to raise $779. That is more money than we have ever raised before in a cupcake stall fundraiser. We would like to thank all the Year Six’s and their parents who made and bought the cupcakes, it wouldn’t have been possible without you. We would also like to give a big thank you to Mrs Nasrallah, Natacha’s mum (6S) for helping to us sell cupcakes on the day. It was an exciting day for all the children of the St Patrick’s school community and everyone enjoyed the delicious cupcakes. We hope to have another

cupcake stall in the near future and would appreciate your continued support.

Written by: Sarsha Yacoub, Anthony Elbazi and Miss Buedo of 6B.

FROM THE PARENTS’ GROUP COMMITTEE

The Chocolate Drive is likely to be a fixture on the Parents’ Group calendar following the outstanding success of our first one this term. Approx. $6000 was raised – a great result! As with all of our 2014 fundraising activities, all of the money will be used to buy new mathematics resources for the school.

* * *

A reminder of the key dates for our Mother’s Day stall: Friday, March 28: Donations of gifts for the stall. This will be a Mufti Day for all children who bring a donation. Tuesday & Wednesday, April 8 & 9: Gift sorting and wrapping. Thursday, May 1: Mother’s Day stall.

Remember that you must have attended the school’s Child Protection Meeting in 2013 or this year to participate at the stall and the sorting/wrapping days? Sign in as a visitor at the office, and then come down to the school hall. Whether you can spare an hour or the whole day, all help is appreciated! MIKE JACOBSON Secretary

NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION AGAINST BULLYING AND VIOLENCE Dear Parents and Guardians, On Friday the 21st of March St Patrick’s will be supporting the National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence. It is an annual day for all schools to say BULLYING NO WAY! We want to strengthen the existing message that bullying and violence at school is not okay – zero tolerance at any time. As our Peer Support Program is beginning in Term 2 and focusing on Speaking Up- Anti Bullying- students will participate in an introductory lesson about what bullying is. Each class will have an activity to complete during the day, around our Harmony Day activities. Parents are invited to parent morning tea and workshop on this ‘Speaking Up’, where the program will be outlined and a leaflet distributed during our workshop. Through the Peer Support Program our goal will be developing partnerships between home and school to reduce bullying behaviours. The parent morning tea/workshop will be held in the hall on the Tuesday morning on the 8th of April at 10am. All parents are most welcome to attend. We are looking forward to starting our program next term as we have had a very successful module about ‘Living Positively’ last year. Thank you for your continued support, Peer Support Co-ordinator Terese Croan

DISCOVER WHAT A MERCY EDUCATION CAN

DO FOR YOUR DAUGHTER –

Year 7, 2016 Enrolment Information Evening

Our Lady of Mercy College Parramatta invites prospective families to the Year 7, 2016 Enrolment Information Evening at 4.45pm on April 1. Tour the College, collect an Enrolment pack, attend an information session, meet the Principal and College staff and enjoy a BBQ with the OLMC P&F. For enquiries, please contact the Registrar on

8838 1222 or email registrar@olmc.nsw.edu.au. Limited places available for Year 7 2015.