2025 Term 2 Week 10
Vision & Mission Statement
Principal's Reflection
This is the values code of the MAT program all Infant classes have been participating in throughout this term. This evidence-based program is informed by the following therapeutic practices: Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Trauma Informed Practice, Mindfulness Therapy and Individual Psychology.
The program also provides our students with invaluable Life Skills and I am excited about the positive impact the development of these skills will have on their future
- Knowing that it is important to rely on others as well as being able to stand on our own.
- Practicing responding to change and making decisions under pressure.
- Students learn to move from one state –excited (moving fast) to calm and focused (standing still) and to discuss these feelings and where they are experienced in the body. Research shows that when children/ young people have their bodies and sensory systems engaged through high levels of physical activity that leads to lower level activity they are able to focus for longer periods and therefore able to take in new information. HOW POWERFUL THIS COULD BE!
Visiting each class as they participate in the MAT program has been a very powerful experience. Witnessing our students actively engaging in these activities promoting self disciple, self regulation and mental wellbeing demonstrates the capability of young people to take ownership of their actions and personal mindset.
Darius and Leisa, our MAT instructors have commented on the positive growth and change they have seen in our students throughout the program. Teachers are using the same language and referring to MAT in classrooms with the aim of our children transferring these skills and applying them within the learning environment.
Next term, our Primary classes will be participating in the MAT program. Stage 2 of a Monday and Stage 3 of a Friday.
Stage 3 parents will have received information earlier this week from the University of Newcastle. Our Stage 3 students are being invited to be a part of a study into the impact of the MAT program. Stage 3 parents please complete the consent form and return to school on the first day next term if you have not already done so. Our involvement this research study directly benefits our school as TESSA the parent company are subsidising part of the cost of MAT for Stage 3 which is substantial (thousands of dollars). Also, our students are completing a survey prior to commencement and at the conclusion which will be used and analysed by researchers then we benefit from receiving these results.
I would also like to thank our entire community for their support of our staff and students throughout this term. I wish everybody a safe, happy, healthy and restful winter break with their families.
I look forward to seeing you all on Monday 21st July!
May God’s blessing be upon you all,
Petrina
We have two Pupil Free Days in Term 3 where staff will be engaging in Professional Development and Formation. There will be no school on these days for students:
Monday 4th August 2025
Friday 29th August 2025
Stage 3 have been studying poetry this term. I have had many students come and read me some of their poems. These were very impressive.
Amity (Year 6) shared her NAIDOC Week poem Respect with our school community as a part of our celebrations and was “published” with this poem being given as a keep sake for our visitors to take home.
Cadence and Amelia (Year 5) have shared their SLAM poem. A SLAM poem has emotion and key information included. Have a read below!
On Thursday Lorraine and Ted Adamson visited Year 5. Lorraine is a poet who has self published two children’s books. Lorraine shared some of her unpublished poetry and Year 5 went to work to create artworks to go with the poems. Year 5 also spent time sharing their own poems they had written in class.
Congratulations, Stage 3!
Religious Education
Upcoming Liturgies
We invite you to celebrate Grandparents Day and Kindergarten completing 100 days of their first school year. It is also the Feast Day of both Saint Joachim and Anne, the paternal Grandparents of Jesus. All our families and special people are invited to attend this celebration and remain after the liturgy for open classrooms and a picnic lunch with the students. The liturgy will be on Friday 25th July beginning at 9.15am. All are very welcome!
RE In The Classroom
Sacramental Program
Please see below for details relating to upcoming Sacraments of Initiation offerings at our Vineyard Parish. These have also been sent home as a hard copy this week to Catholic students. Please contact the Cessnock Presbytery to enrol your child/ren for one or more of the Sacraments. Monique: Ph. 49901551
Sacraments
PB4L
At St. Patrick’s our PB4L is based around our five Catholic Values that underpin everything we do at our school – Respect, Kindness, Compassion, Forgiveness and Justice.
Our PB4L focus is highlighted each fortnight. Children work hard to display our focus positive behaviours both inside the classroom and on the playground.
Our PB4L focus for Weeks 9 and 10 was: Compassion & Kindness
- Be mindful of others playing near you
- Encourage and support others
Our PB4L token boxes are looking full and our winner will be announced on our first day back at school, Monday 21 July. On Wednesday 23 July 2025 the winners (either infants or primary) will have a fun middle session wearing their oodies / warm clothes and will enjoy movie and popcorn to celebrate their acheivements.
Library News
If you have passed our library recently, you may have noticed quite a transformation taking place. We are currently weeding out a lot of books for various reasons. Some of these include being old and worn, outdated, or damaged. We have a pile of books sitting outside the library that are free to take home for anyone who would like some.
Every Thursday, we have two visitors who come to our library and help us weed out these books. One is Guiseppe, an ex-student from St. Patrick's, and his aide, Tracey. Both visit from Mount View High School where Guiseppe is a Year 12 student. He is currently doing work experience in our library. From all accounts, he seems to be enjoying the experience and looks forward to his weekly visit that will continue until the end of Term three. Check out the photographs of Guiseppe and Tracey in action. We also house our artefact collection designed to complement our classroom history lessons. You may notice that we are putting our books in plastic trays on the shelves. We keep book series together this way and it looks great on the shelves. All these trays have been purchased from our recycling program, so thank you students and staff for putting your drink containers in our tubs.
As the mornings are getting colder, our children need their jackets more than ever to keep themselves warm. Outside Learning Support, there is a pile of unclaimed jackets and other articles of clothing. As much as the staff try to match them with owners, it is quite a challenge at times as most items are nameless or they have the names of children who have since left the school, often years earlier. These have obviously been handed on to our current children. Parents, if you could check your children's clothing for names, especially hats and jackets, that would make life easier for everyone as the lost items can be returned to the children promptly.Thank you!
From the Archives
In historical terms, a photograph is a primary source of information that captures a moment in history that was there and then. Included in this article is a collection of photographs of our current children that were taken before they started school. They were invited to join in the fun at the end of the Book Week and the Sports Carnival in 2019. It was a nice discovery to find these when I was looking for something else. Enjoy them. There's only one request. Can anyone identify the little girl in the pink and white striped top at the Book Fair?
Premier's Reading Challenge
Congratulations to Eadie Moyle (Year 2) and Tate and Zeke Harker (Year 3) and Henry Shannon from Kindergarten who have all completed their Premier's Reading Challenge for 2025. This should be Tate and Zeke's fourth year in a row, setting them up for their gold certificate later this year. There is still time to upload books to get your child over the line. In the past 2 weeks, I have read A Leaf Named Greath and Spiro to Year One and kindergarten. These books have been added to their uploads. We have until Friday 19 September to get our students over the line. Thank you to those parents who have helped get their children there.
Book Fair
This is just a gentle reminder that our Book Fair commences in Week One of Term Three, Monday 21 July to Friday 25 July. We will be open before, during and after school for any book sales you may wish to purchase. And EFTPOS will be available. The children will be invited to peruse the books during library lessons and will be encouraged to fill in a 'Wish List'. They can then take their Wish List home to show parents or carers. This does not imply that they may get what they wish for. If parents decide to make any purchases online, your child/children will need to bring in a receipt. Depending on the number of books on hand, we may or may not have the requested book in stock. We can substitute for another book with the same value or we can reorder from Scholastic. It is the parent's decision whether they want to pay online.
Our delivery arrived today, so we have the school holidays to set it up in our library. We are all looking forward to our Book Fair 2025. Please note this is not the Book Parade where the children dress up as their favourite book characters. This big event will take place in Week 5 on Thursday 21 August.
Garden Club
Our little gardeners have been busy planting nandinas this term. We are creating a green border along the main walkway from Wollombi Road, and we should finish the current section next term. We also did a bit of weeding at the front of the school around our viburnum hedge. It's amazing how quickly weeds come on after a bit of rain, but our little green warriors soon had then under control. Thank you to all our recyclers who put their drink containers in our tubs for recycling. We have just passed the 65 000 container mark.
Gifted & High Potential Education
This term, our Year 1 students have been busy developing their writing skills — and what a journey it has been! With great enthusiasm, they planned, drafted, and published imaginative narratives of their own choice.
Throughout the process, students discovered the importance of a clear structure in storytelling. They learned how a strong beginning hooks the reader, how a detailed middle builds excitement, and how a thoughtful ending brings everything together.
From mermaids and brave heroes to everyday adventures, the stories these young writers created were full of personality. It was wonderful to see their confidence grow as they moved through each stage of the writing process — from brainstorming ideas to proudly sharing their final stories.
Well done to all our budding authors in Year 1!
Shayne Coxon
Kindergarten
Over the past fortnight, our Kindergarten students have truly embraced their reading journey. It has been a joy to see them reading books in small groups and sharing their new skills at home with such enthusiasm.
We are incredibly proud of the progress our Kindergartens have made this semester. Their hard work, curiosity, and growing confidence in reading have been wonderful to witness.
Kindergarten have also started to introduce learning through iPads to their morning rotations. So far we have learnt how to use the timer, use the drawing application to write words and take photos of our work. We are getting plenty of practise logging on and logging off which is great. It was also lovely to catch up with so many dedicated parents during interviews this week—thank you for your ongoing support.
As the break approaches, we wish all our families a warm, restful, and relaxing break . See you next term ready for plenty more fun and excitement!
Year 1
It has been a wonderful end to Semester One for our Year One students.
As part of NAIDOC Week, the children embraced the opportunity to connect with and learn about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture. The week began with a beautiful smoking ceremony. They enjoyed participating in a range of cultural activities throughout the day including sand art and story time. One of the highlights were the dance groups, the students loved learning from our high school visitors and engaging in some traditional Aboriginal dances.
Another exciting moment was the final session of our MAT program, where our Year 1 students had the chance to break boards using the strategies and strength they have developed. Each student was extremely proud of themselves and the growth they have made.
This semester has been filled with excitement, growth, and so many wonderful learning moments. As the semester ends, Year 1 Emerald has experienced a mix of emotions as we prepare to say goodbye to Mrs Coleman.
Mrs Coleman has been a much loved part of our classroom, bringing warmth, kindness, and encouragement to every student. She will continue to have a lasting impact on our students. We wish Mrs Coleman all the best in her next endeavour and know she will continue to positively impact everyone she meets.
We are incredibly proud of every child for the way they’ve embraced all learning opportunities.
Year 2
2 Gold
Year 2 Gold have had a wonderful end to the term. We enjoy learning, and have had fun developing our skills in each subject.Here we are having fun in Maths - we built a human number line!
We look forward to what Term 3 will bring.
Sports
Congratulations Rosalie!
Rosalie Chapman, from Year 6, participated in the State Special Olympics at Armidale last weekend, representing the Hunter Valley. Rosalie's Mum informs us that she came first in the 50-metre freestyle and earned herself a gold medal. According to her Bio-Poem she recently completed in the library, Rosalie mentions that she loves swimming. So, well done, Rosalie on your success. Hard work does pay off. We wish you all the best in your future endeavours in the pool.
Lower Hunter Regional Athletics
On Wednesday, 2 June, a group of our students represented our school at the Lower Hunter Regional Athletics Carnival held in Maitland. These students had previously qualified for their events at our school athletics carnival and arrived ready to compete against some of the region’s best.
We're super proud of everyone who took part. Despite facing cold, wet, and windy conditions, not only did they give it their all in their events, but they also showed great sportsmanship and represented our school with real pride.
Congratulations to all our athletes!
Diocesan Athletics Carnival Representatives
Congratulations to the following children who have qualified to represent the Lower Hunter Region at the Diocesan Athletics Carnival in Term 3. St Patrick's community wishes you all the best.
Arhya Tietie - senior shot put
Claire Johns - 11 yrs 100 and 200m
Macy Riddock - 12 yrs 200m
Morgan Fullham - 8 yrs 100m
Lola Lewis - 10 yrs 100m
Kobi Swift - junior shot put
Parkar Cremona - 11yrs shot put, 100 and 200m
Awards
Week 9
CLASS CAPTAINS
Kindergarten – Emerald | Pippa Roxby | Huxley Naden |
Kindergarten – Gold | Angus Jack | Maliee Byford |
Year 1 – Emerald | Arabella Ceccato | Anderson Kennedy |
Year 1 – Gold | Lily Botham | Ethan Grieve |
Year 2 – Emerald | Owen Norton | Phoebe Short |
Year 2 – Gold | Chase Calverley | Pippa Cunningham |
Year 3 – Emerald | Violet Burness | Nixon Attewell |
Year 3 – Gold | Skyla Cory | Elijah Furto |
Year 4 – Emerald | Rocco Grant | Logan Mackenzie |
Year 4 – Gold | Riley Pearce | Serena Steele |
Year 5 – Emerald | Amelia Hodge | Linc O’Leary |
Year 5 – Gold | Parkar Cremona | Adi Santhoshkumar |
MERIT AWARDS
Kindergarten – Emerald | Jhett-Reed McCluskey | Billie Hill |
Kindergarten – Gold | Indy Riddock | Jagger Thomas |
Year 1 – Emerald | Arlo Reeves | Harlow Leayr |
Year 1 – Gold | Declan McNab | Colby Leary |
Year 2 – Emerald | Eadie Moyle | Hunter Stanford |
Year 2 – Gold | Oscar Aitchison Isla-Jane Roberts | Nyla Goodsir Parker Lee |
Year 3 – Emerald | Loxlee O’Leary | Chase Ingle |
Year 3 – Gold | Shreena Pant | Noah Louw-Cruces |
Year 4 – Emerald | Yvan Rodriguez | Zara Brandobur |
Year 4 – Gold | Jack Dickson | Zoe Rowlands |
Year 5 – Emerald | Frankie Douglas | Wyatt Schrader |
Year 5 – Gold | Lincoln Ingle | Indi-Rose Olsen |
Emily Epis | Emilee Johnstone Jye Rust | Parawynn Phuangbuppha Charlotte Magee |
Mr McKenzie | Nyla Goodsir Spencer Walker | Sonny Webster Alfie O’Brien |
Mrs Blake | Alby Cunnignham Lochie Pearce | Flynn Foster Boyle Riley Pearce |
PRINCIPAL’S AWARDS
Kindergarten – Emerald | Henry Shannon |
Kindergarten – Gold | Jackson Biddle |
Year 1 – Emerald | Toby Darr |
Year 1 – Gold | Ava Riley |
Year 2 – Emerald | Sage Law |
Year 2 – Gold | Annie Livermore + Harrison Johnstone |
Year 3 – Emerald | Nylah Robertson |
Year 3 – Gold | Lily Cimino |
Year 4 – Emerald | Henry Tonnet |
Year 4 – Gold | James Anton |
Year 5 – Emerald | Gabriella Manktelow |
Year 5 – Gold | Preston Edwards |
Week 10
CLASS CAPTAINS
Kindergarten – Emerald | Oliver Scanlon | Annie Dever |
Kindergarten – Gold | Remi Bacchiella | Harry Collins |
Year 1 – Emerald | Ethan Suvaal | Ivy Jack |
Year 1 – Gold | Sophia Vickers | Lennox Connelly |
Year 2 – Emerald | Jye Rust | Chloe Hanson |
Year 2 – Gold | Jessie Enright | Morgan Fulham |
Year 3 – Emerald | Matilda Slade | Archie Gore |
Year 3 – Gold | Edith Hanson | Tate Harker |
Year 4 – Emerald | Kobi Daley | Harley Shepherd |
Year 4 – Gold | Flynn Foster-Boyle | Elsbeth McNab |
Year 5 – Emerald | Darcy Evans | Gabriella Manktelow |
Year 5 – Gold | Lincoln Ingle | Henry O’Connor |
Year 6 – Gold | Ella Rust | Lachlan Slack |
MERIT AWARDS
Kindergarten – Emerald | William Hooker-Connell | James Isted |
Kindergarten – Gold | Jaxson Upton | Angus Jack |
Year 1 – Emerald | Kiani Wetini | Archie Johns |
Year 1 – Gold | Georgie Schrader | Ava Riley |
Year 2 – Emerald | Emmett Cassidy | April Suppasin |
Year 2 – Gold | Harrison Johnstone | Annie Livermore |
Year 3 – Emerald | Piper Clements | Ryan Rajeev Rojer |
Year 3 – Gold | Reign Kelly | Lily Jurd |
Year 4 – Emerald | Maxwell Kennedy | Stella Lesnik |
Year 4 – Gold | Lola Lewis | Parrawyn |
Year 5 – Emerald | Beau Gregory | Max Taranto |
Year 5 – Gold | Nate Ekert | Willow McLeod |
Year 6 – Emerald | Indi Brown | Madison Harwood |
Year 6 – Gold | Macy Riddock | Jai Capararo |
Mrs Kennedy | Levi Hodge | Matilda Heffernan |
Emily Epis | Henry Shannon Macey Hugo | Morgan Fulham Tallon Southworth |
Mr McKenzie | Hunter Stanford Phoebe Short | Indi Brown Charlie Taggart |
PRINCIPAL’S AWARDS
Kindergarten – Emerald | Halen Dore |
Kindergarten – Gold | Sophie Eves |
Year 1 – Emerald | Teddy Grant |
Year 1 – Gold | Huxley Crump |
Year 2 – Emerald | Isabella Fletcher |
Year 2 – Gold | Eli Van-Steen |
Year 3 – Emerald | Zeke Harker |
Year 3 – Gold | Skyla Cory/ Michael Spiers |
Year 4 – Emerald | Azaria Law |
Year 4 – Gold | Malia Binns |
Year 5 – Emerald | Isaiah Van-Steen |
Year 5 – Gold | Lincoln Ingle |
Year 6 – Gold | Isabella Teasdale |
Good for Kids, Good for Life
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