Dear Parents, Guardians and Carers,

Welcome back to the start of Term 2. I hope that you had a great Easter holiday break together as a family and were able to get away and enjoy the beautiful Autumn weather that we had.

Term 2 will no doubt be another busy term and we look forward to supporting and challenging all students to achieve their best. Meeting the needs of the students is always most effective when the school and families work in partnership.

At St Patrick’s we always have the needs of each student at heart and only want the best for each and everyone of them. Despite our best efforts, things can at times go awry both in the classroom and out in the yard and your child may come home disappointed or upset.

Please know that incidents and issues are always followed up by teaching staff and the students are reminded of our school wide expectations of safe, respectful and responsible and the impact that not following these expectations can have on others.

When needed, students are supported to learn from their behaviours and make better choices in the future. Parent support in these situations is greatly appreciated.

Many students from St Patrick’s attended the ANZAC Day March and ceremony on Tuesday. ANZAC Day is an important date in the Australian calendar and it is pleasing to see how well supported this event is by the school community. I would like to thank all the students who attended the march and also the families for supporting your child to attend. Being involved in community events such as this, in such a positive way, reflects really positively on the school.

Next Sunday, 7th May is the Shakespeare Festival Faire Day. As in the last couple of years, the Faire will take place on the Village Green, opposite the Train Station. This year St Patrick’s will be holding a Lucky Jars Stall. Thank you to you all for sending in your lucky jars today, we had a great response. If you were unable to send in a lucky jar today, these can be sent in early next week.
On the Faire Day we will need support from the parents/senior students to help set up the stall and manage it from 10am until 3pm (or when all lucky jars have been won). If you are able to help out for an hour or two, please contact the school office.

Our Grade 6 students will be ramping up their preparations for the Shakespeare Festival Student Performance over the coming weeks. They (along with their teachers) have worked really hard throughout Term 1 and the performance is coming along nicely. All students in Foundation to Grade 5 will attend a viewing of the student performance on Wednesday, 10 th May at 1:30pm.

In the week beginning Monday, 8th May some families will receive an invitation to complete the Insight SRC Survey. This survey provides valuable feedback to the school on what we are doing well and the areas that we can continue to improve in. If you are one of the families that receives a survey invitation, it would be greatly appreciated if you could take the time to complete it. Whilst the survey does take about an hour to complete, the value added to your child’s education through your participation will far outweigh the time that it takes you complete it.

Kind regards,

Joel