Principal's Message
Dear Parents, Guardians and Carers,
On Wednesday, we celebrated Ash Wednesday with a whole school mass in the Church. Some parents, grandparents and parishioners also attended, which made for a full Church. Ash Wednesday is one of the most important Holy days in the Liturgical calendar. It is the first day of the Easter season of Lent, which is traditionally a time of fasting and prayer. On Ash Wednesday, ashes are applied to a person’s forehead, which symbolizes the dust from which God made us. The ashes are made from the palm branches from the previous year’s Palm Sunday Mass.
On Tuesday, we also celebrated Shrove Tuesday. Shrove Tuesday, also known as Pancake Day, dates back to 1000AD and became a day of confession, whilst also being a time for Catholics to feast on eggs, sugar and dairy, which are traditionally restricted during the Lenten fast. The feast of these foods would become pancakes. We celebrated Shrove Tuesday, with the Parents and Friends cooking pancakes for all the students. The students were asked to bring in a gold coin donation on the day to raise money for Caritas Australia, a recognised charity trying to eradicate poverty and injustice.
St Patrick’s Swimming Carnival
On Wednesday, we also held our Annual Swimming Carnival. After 38 degrees on Tuesday, we were blessed with a beautiful 22-degree day. The students competed in freestyle, backstroke and breaststroke races, whist a few elite swimmers also competed in butterfly. The students all did an amazing job and show great sportsmanship throughout the day. They were awarded points for their House Team based on their finishing position for each race. The final results for the day were:
1st – Brice (154 points)
2nd – MacKillop (114 points)
3rd – Ryan (59 points)
Age Champion Medals were awarded to those students that gained the most points throughout the day for their house in each age group. The Age Champions were:
12 & Under Boys – Josh Morton
12 & Under Girls – Tenesha Fieldsend
11 & Under Boys – Jack Cartwright
11 & Under Girls – Isla Dorning
10 & Under Boys – Riley Bartlett
10 & Under Girls – Jemma Pattison
9 & Under Boys – Mitchell Bates
9 & Under Girls – Leeanna Fieldsend
From the day, some of our swimmers will go on and represent the school at the Heyfield and District Swimming Carnival on Thursday 29th February.
Parent/Teacher Interviews
For most classrooms, our Term 1 Parent/Teacher Interviews were held on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Thank you to all the parents (and children) that attended these interviews. They are a great opportunity to find out how your child has started the year and provide vital information to your child’s teacher. If you were unable to attend an interview and would like to catch up with your child’s teacher, please contact them via Dojo or email to arrange a suitable time.
PSG Meetings
For those students that require additional support, PSG Meetings are held instead of a Parent/Teacher Interview. Parents of students requiring a PSG Meeting should have received an invitation via PAM. The PSG Meetings will be held on Wednesday 21st February and Wednesday 6th March. If you have not booked a PSG Meeting time, please do so as soon as possible or contact the school office if you require any support to do this.
School Captains
This week, Miss Napolitano and I have held School Captain interviews with those Grade 6 students that applied for the position. We interviewed 9 students and have shortlisted the group to 4 for the next stage of the election process. These 4 students will now prepare and present a speech to the Grade 5 and 6 students as well as some staff. Following the speeches, the students and staff will have the opportunity to vote for our 2024 School Captains. I congratulate all those students that applied for the School Captain positions; you made it very tough to create a shortlist. I look forward to announcing our School Captains early next week.
Kind regards,
Joel