2025, Term 2, Week 3 Newsletter

The Child Safety Officer at St Patrick's is Shona Louden. slouden@spkoroit.catholic.edu.au

Acknowledgement of Country

Principal's Message

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to Week 3!

There’s a lot happening at St Pat’s this week!

This Friday, we warmly invite you to our Mother’s Day/Special Person Breakfast in the hall. It’s a lovely opportunity to gather and celebrate the special people in our lives. More details are available on Class Dojo. Our Mother’s Day Liturgy will be held at 2.45pm (please note that this has changed from our original notification)—all are welcome to attend. We thank Their Care for their generous donation of croissants and support of our Mother's Day Breakfast. Their support helped make the morning extra special for our community.

A special congratulations to Remi O’Connor for her winning portrait and Ada Leishman placing second for St Patrick’s in the Irish Festival’s Koroitrait competition. We’re very proud to have had such wonderful entries from our school. Keep up the great work! See the entries and judges comments later in the newsletter.

Fantastic job! Keep creating and inspiring us all! 

We’re also excited to welcome Drew Lane back to school this week to help us record our school song! We can’t wait to see this project come to life and showcase the voices and talents of our students.

On Tuesday night at 7pm, we will be holding our Term 2 School Advisory Council (SAC) meeting at school. If you’ve been thinking about getting involved, this is a great way to contribute to the life of our school. Please let me know as soon as possible if you're interested.

A huge congratulations to the ten students who proudly represented St Pat’s on Friday 2nd May at the Warrnambool, Portland and Hamilton Division Athletics held at Brauerander Park in Warrnambool. These students qualified through our Term 1 Moyne District sports and did an outstanding job:

• Fraser Gleeson – 1st in 800m and 1500m
  
• Hudson Smits – 4th in 100m, 3rd in 200m
  
• Ayla – 3rd in 200m, 4th in high jump, 3rd in 100m heat
  
• Olivia Foster – 8th in 1500m and triple jump
  
• Tayla Milward – 3rd in 200m heat (overall result TBC)
  
• Remi O’Connor – 3rd in 200m, 4th in 100m, triple jump result TBC
  
• Boys 10 Year Relay Team – 4th
  
• Girls 11 Year Relay Team – 5th
  

We are so proud of your effort, sportsmanship and representation of our school. Good luck to those students who have qualified for the Western Region Athletics to be held in Ballarat on Friday 10th October—names will be confirmed shortly!

Finally, thank you for your ongoing support of our Kindness Krew initiative! As you know, our students have been leading the way in spreading kindness across the school—and we’d love your help in keeping that momentum going at home.

Here are some simple ways you can support your child in being a kindness ambassador outside of school:

• Kindness Chats: Ask your child what acts of kindness they’ve seen or done recently. Talk about how small actions can make a big difference.
  
• Model and Praise: Let your child see you being kind to others, and recognise their efforts when they show empathy, patience, or generosity.
  
• Kindness Jar: Start a family kindness jar—each time someone does something kind, add a note. Read them together at the end of the week!
  
• Family Challenges: Try weekly kindness missions like baking for a neighbour, donating to a cause, or writing a thank-you note.
  
• Celebrate Compassion: Remind your child that kindness isn’t just about big gestures—it’s also about how we speak, listen, and treat each other every day.
  

Together, we can nurture a generation of compassionate, respectful, and community-minded young people.

Thanks for helping kindness grow—at school and at home!

Some excitement this afternoon!

Our shade sail couldn’t withstand today’s high winds and unfortunately gave way. A huge thank you to the incredible SES team for their quick arrival and calm, professional response. You did a wonderful job securing the yard and ensuring everyone’s safety. We are so grateful for your support — thank you!

Have a wonderful week ahead!

Kind regards,

Tegan McDonald 

Principal

My New Gallery

This week we are sharing what SWPBS looks like at St Pat's when we are on the Bus.

Music Resources

The Grade 3-6 students have expressed interest in completing bucket drumming for music this term. If anyone has any 10/20litre buckets similar to the picture below at home that they are willing to donate to our music room it would be much appreciated.

Thank you, Bridget Van Den Broek 

Koroitaits - Irish Festival Art Prize

The Koroitaits Art Competition is held as part of the Koroit Irish Festival. 

Congratulations to Remi and Ada for the success with their entries - here is what the judges thought - 

 Winner! 
Congratulations to the wonderful young artist Remi O’Connor! 
I love that your artwork combined a portrait and building. Your joyful painting featuring the smiling face at the entrance of St Patrick's is an absolute joy. ️
Every time I look at your artwork, I can't stop smiling—it truly lights up the room! Keep painting from the heart! 

 Runner Up! 

Congratulations to the talented young artist Ada Leishman! 
I love your double portrait with the beautifully positioned Irish flags in the background. Your artwork showed creativity and balance. Such thoughtful composition and care with every detail! 
Fantastic job! Keep creating and inspiring us all! 

Wellbeing - Youth Mental Health Roadshow with Dr Michael Carr-Gregg

Dr. Carr-Gregg will cover a range of critical issues facing young people today, empowering parents, carers and other loved ones with the knowledge and tools to help navigate the challenges of parenting. Dr. Carr-Gregg will offer a range of practical and actionable advice that can be implemented immediately to support children and adolescent mental health.
Scan the QR code on the parent carer flyer attached or visit the below link to save your seat! 

Tickets for Parents & Carer Session - Warrnambool: https://www.lighthousetheatre.com.au/index.php/2025-youth-mental-heath-road-show-parents-carers

Picnic in the Paddock Meeting

This Wednesday night 7pm at St Pat's. 

Everyone is invited - if you're only able to help out in a small way, or you'd like to learn more about what Picnic in the Paddock is, please feel free to come along and meet the team to hear about planning for our school's major community event! If you have any questions beforehand, please feel free to email picnicinthepaddock@spkoroit.catholic.edu.au

Parents & Friends

We’d love to see more families join in and help make our school events successful and fun! If you would like any further information or have ideas of opportunities we can take advantage of, please contact either myself or Todd Noble on todd.james.noble@gmail.com.

Tegan

Canteen & Cake Raffle

The Canteen & Cake Raffle are coordinated by our P&F.

Canteen operates at lunchtime on Wednesday and Friday.  Wednesday is sales of  icy-poles and snacks and Friday includes distribution of lunch orders. 

Click here to sign up for the Term 2 Canteen Roster

Cake Raffle is just something for fun! Students can purchase tickets in the classroom on Friday mornings for 20cents and the raffle is drawn by a student from the family who has supplied the cake.  "Cake" is a general term - the prize does not have to be home made and you can choose to bring whatever you like biscuits, slice or chocolates.

Click here to sign up for the Cake Raffle Roster

Assembly Roster

Our Diocesan Community

The latest edition of Our Diocesan Community magazine can be accessed here. 

Playgroup & St Patrick's - Biggest Morning Tea

Lost Property & Second Hand Uniform

We've cleared out some long term items from the Lost Property but we don't want to refill it - please remember to label your uniform items so your uniforms don't end up here!

Second Hand Uniform

Please speak to Becc Sanderson 0423 956 556 if you wish to purchase or donate some preloved items of uniform.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to the many students and staff who have celebrated their birthday recently - Lorenzo Serra, Eleanor Huckstepp, Lenny Stonehouse, Layla Bidmade, Annie McMahon, Kate and Wendy.  We hope you had a fantastic time celebrating with family and friends!

Star of the Sea - Parish Bulletin

Student Awards

Congratulations to the recipients of the Student Awards, announced at assembly last week:

Room 1

Ru Meade: Congratulations, Ru! You’ve done an incredible job learning the sounds s, a, t, p, i, n. Your confidence and knowledge are growing every day, and I’m so proud of how hard you’ve worked. You are a superstar, keep up the great work!! 

Malachi Milward: Malachi, your love for learning is amazing to see! You always give your best and share your ideas with confidence. Keep shining—you're a superstar!

Room 2

Claire Tutt - Claire you've already shown incredible growth at the very start of this term, and it's so exciting to think about how much more you're going to achieve! Your writing has been truly impressive, and your positive attitude and determination to complete your work have been outstanding. Keep up the amazing effort, you're on a path to great success. Fantastic job!

Amelia Johnson - Amelia, your bright smile and positive energy bring so much joy to our classroom every day! I've noticed how excited you are to learn, and it’s wonderful to see how you jump into every task with a big 'can-do' attitude. You always try your very best, and that makes me so proud of you! Keep being your amazing self, you're doing such a fantastic job and I can’t wait to see all the great things you’ll do this term!

Jett Balcombe - Jett, you’ve already kicked some big goals this term, and I’m so proud of you! Your fantastic attitude towards your writing has really shone through, and I can see how hard you’re trying. I’m excited to see your writing get even stronger as the term goes on—let’s keep working on writing your sentences. Keep up the amazing effort, stay curious, and keep believing in yourself. You’re doing such a great job!

Room 4

Leo Wright - for a fantastic start to the term, showing increased confidence and resilience in coming to school each day. Your positive attitude and courage has been so great to see, well done!

Bodhi - for an amazing start to the term. Your enthusiasm for learning and your consistent effort to do your best in both the classroom and with Mrs. Houlihan has been amazing. Keep up the great work!

Room 5

Hunter Erwin: Congratulations on a great start to Term 2, Hunter! You have settled back into the classroom wonderfully, consistently following routines and always showing an active interest in what we are learning - especially our knowledge content in literacy. I’m so proud of how you have started this term. Keep up the amazing work!

Ella Van Rysingen: Well done, Ella for always trying your best and showing such wonderful enthusiasm for your learning! You are a caring, hardworking and positive role model in our classroom. Your willingness to share your ideas and support others is a great asset to our classroom. You’re a superstar!

Room 6

Tilly van Rysingen – for being a very responsible and thoughtful class member. Your kindness, patience, and quiet leadership are appreciated in our class, Tilly and you set a great example for others to follow. Thank you.

Charlotte Wright for her responsible approach to completing set learning tasks. Her approach to completing Essential Assessment tasks carefully, taking her time to work equations out and answer correctly is to be commended. Well done Charlotte!

Room 7

Bailey Askew - Congratulations Bailey! Your enthusiasm for learning and positive energy light up our classroom each day. You are a caring friend, a supportive peer and an excellent role model in our school. Well done on a great effort so far this year, keep up the awesome work! 

Ada Leishman - Well done on a great start to Term 2 Ada! We absolutely love having your vibrant spirit in Room 7. You show amazing enthusiasm, not only in your learning but in everything you do. Keep up the great work, Ada! 

Sports Shirts and School Bags - pricing Update

The School Sports Polo shirts and School Bags are purchased through the school via CDF Pay.

There has been an increase in the price of sports shirts to $55 and School Bags to $57 - these are cost price from our suppliers.

Directwear Uniform

School Uniform is available from Directwear www.directwear.com.au  

Uniforms can be collected from the Directwear home address in Warrnambool or posted to you.

Contact details for Direct wear are:

email info@directwear.com.au or phone Dion Jansz: 0412 654 406

GREY TROUSERS WITH LOGO - We are over stocked and need to reduce what we have.

RRP $59.50

From now until 30th June 2025 unless sold out prior -  $29.75, that's half price!

First in best dressed.

Dates to Remember

Please refer to the public calendar on the school website for the most up to date calendar items.

https://www.spkoroit.catholic.edu.au/news-events

SZ App Update

A new update for SZapp is now available in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. Please update to the latest version to ensure all features, including document uploads, work as expected.

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