Term 1 - Week 10
Message from the Principal
Dear Parents and Carers
Welcome to Term 1 Week 10 newsletter.
This weekend, we enter the Fifth Sunday of Lent which signifies that our Lenten journey will so be coming to an end. In Pope Francis' 2025 Lenten message, aligning with the theme of the Jubilee Year, he encourages Catholics to "journey together in hope," choosing to walk in peace and hope aside one's fellow humans. The central theme of this Lenten message is the importance of walking together in faith and hope, both as individuals and as a community. In Pope Francis’ words, “journeying together means...walking side-by-side, without shoving or stepping on others, without envy or hypocrisy, without letting anyone be left behind or excluded.” As we continue our Lenten journey, let us all walk in the same direction, tending towards the same goal, attentive to one another in love and patience.
May we walk together in faith, lifting one another up, and spreading Christ’s love in a world that so desperately needs it.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Lucy Harvey
Principal
Welcome
We warmly welcome back the Stuart family -Tamika, Ryan and Emelia (Year 5) to the St Pat’s community. We hope you very quickly feel at home.
Cross Country Trials
Our school will hold cross country trials on Monday. Thank you to the parents who have volunteered to help. SPORTS UNIFORM.
Holy Week Liturgy
On Wednesday 9th April, we will gather as a school in the hall at 10am, to remember the events of Holy Week. As a Catholic school this is the most important time in the Church’s year. Our Stage 3 students will be leading the reflection with some help from Kinder and Year 1. This is a wonderful opportunity for parents, grandparents and parishioners to join us and support the students in their faith journey. I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible.
Easter Hat Making
All classes will be making their Easter hats on MONDAY 7th April at 12:15pm. Parents / grandparents are most welcome to join us in creating our masterpieces.
Easter Hat Parade and Raffle
Our Annual Easter Hat Parade and raffle will be held on Thursday 10th April at 2pm in the courtyard.
Keeping Our Kids Safe
The NSW Police Legacy Child Safety Handbook is a comprehensive and free resource to assist parents, carers as well as teachers on a range of topics essential to child safety. Click here LINK the access this important resource.
PROGRESS REPORTS
Term 1 Progress Report will be made available on your child’s Compass profile on Monday. This report briefly describes your child's efforts in respect to his/her personal and social development and work habits throughout Term 1.
Your child's teacher will indicate to you whether they would like to meet with you. If the teacher does not indicate a need to discuss this report with you, but you would like to make an appointment with the teacher, please contact the teacher to make arrangements.
Students in Years 2-6 have also completed a self-assessment which will be sent home Monday as well. Please look for it in your child's bag.
ANZAC Day March
All students are encouraged to attend the Swansea ANZAC march on FRIDAY 25TH APRIL. See attached flyer for details. Summer uniform to be worn.
Mother’s Day
St Patrick’s will be celebrating Mother’s Day on Friday 9th May. Our day will commence at 8am for scones, muffins and croissants (please order on QKR). At 9:30am you are invited to join us for our Mother’s Day liturgy, followed by Reading Rugs and Hugs and a picnic lunch.
Winter Uniform
Parents will be notified early next term regarding the transition to winter uniform dependent on the weather. A date will be set where full winter uniform is to be worn.
Save the Dates
Week 11
Term 2 Week 1
Message from RE Coordinator
Holy Week & Easter
In the midst of our busy lives, the Easter break offers a valuable opportunity to pause and reflect on our faith. With the first Sunday of the school holidays marking Passion Sunday, we enter the final stage of our journey with Jesus towards His crucifixion and resurrection. Holy Week is the most sacred period in the Church’s liturgical calendar, as it commemorates the foundation of our faith and the Paschal Mystery. It invites us to deepen our faith and grow in our love for Christ.
Holy Week begins with Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem—not as a warrior like King David, but humbly riding on a donkey. The disciples and crowds welcomed Him with praise, yet their support wavered as the events of the Easter Triduum unfolded.
The Easter Triduum consists of three significant days that encapsulate the central mystery of our faith. It begins on Holy Thursday, where we reflect on Jesus’ final words and actions at the Last Supper. Good Friday follows, a solemn day of remembrance for His suffering and death. The Triduum concludes with the Easter Vigil, a celebration of Christ’s resurrection and the redemption of humankind. This three-part journey allows us to embrace this profound mystery in stages, connecting it to our own lives—the challenges, triumphs, joys, and sorrows. Among all Church celebrations, the Easter Triduum stands as the pinnacle of the liturgical year.
As a school community, we will observe Holy Week together with a special liturgy on Wednesday 9th April at 10am. During this service, students will reflect on the key events of Holy Week, considering Jesus’ actions and their relevance in today’s world. Parents are warmly invited to attend.
I encourage you and your family to participate in the Holy Week and Easter liturgies. Each ceremony—Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Saturday, and Easter Sunday—carries a unique tone and provides a deeply meaningful experience of faith.
Wishing you all a joyful, peaceful, and blessed Easter. May you cherish time with loved ones, celebrate the hope of the Risen Christ, and perhaps go easy on the chocolate!
Project Compassion
Thank you to all the families that contributed to Project Compassion this year. All the funds raised are donated to Caritas and this year they are focused on providing the less fortunate with training programs to help provide for their families and their communities. All project compassion boxes should be returned to the school by the end of term.
Mr Daniel Lockwood
RE Coordinator
Message from Assistant Principal
Last week we invited ‘World of Maths’, a travelling, interactive Maths Workshop, to visit our school.
‘World of Maths’ offered an ideal opportunity for students to see how maths is applied to everyday life situations, exploring Maths in a hands-on environment.
Students were encouraged to communicate their Maths ideas and answers with other students in small teams, working together.
Students gained insight into problem solving, working in teams, and exploring various mathematic focus areas which were part of their curriculum this term.
It was a highly engaging session which showed that Maths is everywhere and is important and of course that Maths can be fun!
Our Year 6 Leaders of Learning – Florence de Champlain, Khloe Hansen, Sara Corbett and Reece Sharpe assisted our younger students as they worked through the activities. They also ran an engaging lunch club, inviting students in to play some fun and challenging Maths games.
I am very proud of the motivation and enthusiasm shown by our Year 6 Leaders of Learning, along with their willingness to give up their own break time and to create an article for our Newsletter, encouraging and celebrating learning in Mathematics across the school!
Year 6 Leaders of Learning
Staff Professional Development Days
On Friday 11th April, and Monday 28th April, staff will participate in two professional learning days focusing on improving student outcomes in reading comprehension. ‘Teaching children to read is one of the most important duties of every school, one that necessitates a foundation of knowledge upon which classroom practice can be based. Teachers must know what reading entails, how children learn to do it and, consequently, how it can be taught most effectively.’ (Such, 2021). These days will focus on informing and strengthening our understanding of the science or reading, and exploring best teaching strategies for reading based on this evidence.
Mrs Janine Schneider
Assistant Principal
Library News
Pet Photos
We’ve had a wonderful response to our request for pet photos, thank you! The display is coming along nicely. It’s not too late to send one in if you haven’t already.
Please send a photo of your pet or child and pet together to karen.devlin@mn.catholic.edu.au
Passwords
The kindergarten students are working hard at writing their individual passwords in preparation for using the computers in Term Two.
Mrs Karen Devlin & Mrs Penelope Hale
Library Teacher and Library Assistant
Year 2 News
This term, Year 2 students dived into gymnastics during their sports classes. They were excited to develop their balance, strength, and flexibility through many fun activities.
Students had loads of fun dressing up in green and taking part in the fun games throughout our St Patrick's Day celebrations.
Much excitement has been had designing and creating cardboard arcade games and welcoming students from across the school in to play them and win prizes! These games showcased our learning in Science this term which has focused on the design process and forces.
Creating dioramas about places they felt connected to in History was a fun and interactive activity for the students. They enjoyed expressing their personal connections through creative and hands-on projects, which made the learning experience more meaningful.
The recent Maths incursion from ‘World of Maths’ was a hit, offering hands-on, interactive activities that made learning fun for the kids. They enjoyed engaging with practical math problems and games.
Exploring circular narratives at the beginning of the term and engaging in word play with figurative language in English was both fun and creative for the students. They enjoyed the challenge of crafting stories that loop back to the start and experimenting with alliteration, similes and other figurative expressions.
In Religion, we learned how our Catholic Community is a body made up of many different people, united by a common bond of love. Because of the enduring strength of this bond, and the life-long commitment it implies, one of the best ways of describing the Catholic Church is that it is like a family.
A wonderful start to our academic year in Year 2. I think we are all looking forward to our two-week break!!!
Happy Easter to all our students and their families 😊
Mrs Janine Schneider & Mrs Sharon MacNevin
Year 2 Teachers
Sport News
Cross Country
Save the date, Monday 7th April, for our School Cross Country at Chapman Oval, Swansea.
Term 2 Sport
Students will be participating in a 5 week Athletics program to prepare them for our School Athletics Carnival in Week 6. Sport will continue to be held on a Tuesday.
Pathways Sport
On the 25th of March, 7 students attended Diocesan trials across Netball, Soccer and Rugby League. We are very proud of all their efforts and congratulate Florence de Champlain for her selection into Polding Soccer Trials.
This week Cooper Brown and Scarlett Jones attended Regional Touch Football trials and were selected for Diocesan Trials. Congratulations!
Weekend Sports Stars
If your child is a Weekend Sports Star, please email details and a photo to so we can celebrate their success in our next newsletter.
Mrs Claire Browne
Sport Coordinator
Office News
Volunteering at St Patrick's
If you would like to register to volunteer at St Patrick's, can you please complete the "Volunteer Registration Form" by clicking on the link here.
St Patrick's will be notified by the Catholic Schools Office once you are cleared to volunteer.
If you are unsure if you have clearance, please email the office at admin@swansea.catholic.edu.au to enquire.
2025 Fee Information
Please commence payments as per the preferred frequency (weekly, fortnightly or monthly) prior to 31st March and then continue on that frequency to erode the fees over the course of each month and be finalised to a $0 balance by 30th November 2025. In April, any family that has not yet commenced fee payments will be deemed in arrears of the March component of the account.
If you have any queries please contact the office to discuss.
Applications for school travel passes through Transport NSW
The School Student Transport Scheme (SSTS) gives eligible school students free or subsidised travel between home and school on NSW public transport, including trains, buses, ferries and light rail.
Depending on where students are travelling, they may receive a free school travel pass, a School Opal card, or both.
Please visit Transport NSW in the link below, to learn about eligibility criteria and apply for a travel pass which will help support transport options for our school community.
https://transportnsw.info/school-travel-apply
Other useful links and resources can be found here.
Rachelle McKenzie
Senior School Officer
P&F update
Easter Egg donations & Easter Raffle Tickets
We are seeking Easter egg donations for our very popular Easter Egg Raffle on Thursday April 10th, coinciding with our Easter Hat Parade. Don't forget to send in your easter eggs and raffle tickets.
CANTEEN UPDATE
The last few weeks we have seen volunteer numbers decrease leading to us closing our lunch service for St Patricks Day and scrambling to get helpers for our Friday service. Closing these services with short notice creates a lot of admin work behind the scenes coordinating manual credits, refunds & cancelling orders.
Please - if you or anyone you know who has a valid WWCC & Food Handlers certificate (Free of charge to receive online) are available to help, please reach out!
We understand that we all have different commitments, however without the help of volunteers, we simply can not open.
We warmly welcome all new & existing community members to join our P&F at any time but if you have any enquiries, our P&F committee can be reached via email on stpatrickspf1@gmail.com
If you can help out with one or all, please reach out to the school or directly to our committee via email - stpatrickspf1@gmail.com
Thanks again.
Elise Moncrieff
St Patricks P&F President
Community Notices
