24 July 2025

Welcome from our Principal

Hello St Patrick’s families, I hope you are all well! 

Catholic Education Week 

Week 3 of Term 3 is Catholic Education week, an opportunity for Catholic schools across Australia to celebrate the history of Catholic schools and our unique place in the community. As a part of the CEW celebrations, we will set up a display in the front window of Golders and the teaching staff will travel to Roma to take part in a day of spirituality on Wednesday 24th July. Please be aware that this means next Wednesday 30th July is a student free day. The schools OSHC service will be open on that day to provide care for those students who need it. 

New Building Project Capital Grant Application Update 

As you would be aware, the school is currently in the process of applying for government building grant funding to conduct a multimillion dollar build project. This project would see; 

• the removal of our existing year 4,5,6 building, year 1/2, 2 building and our multipurpose music room. 

• The building of four new classrooms, a new toilet block and multipurpose space. 

Late last term, I travelled to Brisbane to present our application to the Qld Catholic Education Commission, who oversee the distribution of government funds for school build projects. We will not find out if we have been successful in our application until late in the year, but the feedback we received was very positive and we have been given the go ahead to continue with background preparations for the project. These preparations mean that if our application is successful, we can move ahead with the build process almost straight away. They also mean that if our application is not successful, we will still have a very complete and detailed project plan that we can use to support further building grant applications. I will continue to keep the school community updated on this project as it progresses but, in the meantime, keep praying! 

Parent Engagement Network (PEN) – How Can You Get Involved? 

Last term we formalised the creation of our new PEN and welcomed in our first executives; Chair – Lou Johnstone – Secretary – Beth Kings – and Parish Representative – Binnie Eley. This group met on Wednesday night and discussed the makeup of the new exec, with the feedback being that the exec would benefit from more parent members to both provide advice and guidance to the school and to ensure a broader range of voices on decision making processes. 

A letter has been sent out to all families updating you to the exciting changes taking place in the PEN and to also ask for parents to take on a role on the new PEN executive. If you think a role like this would suit you then put your hand up and make contact with me, I’d love to hear from you. 

Shaping Our Future Survey 

Every two years, families from our school communities share their views through the Shaping our future – perception survey. It’s a valuable way for us to reflect on how each of our schools are living out Toowoomba Catholic Schools shared purpose: enabling full and flourishing lives. 

This year’s survey was sent via email on Monday, 21 July. 

Please keep an eye out for it – your feedback helps shape the future of all 32 Toowoomba Catholic schools. We have also asked our year 5 & 6 to complete a student version of the survey at St Patrick's School. 

For more information, please email: james.wren@twb.catholic.edu.au  

 That’s all from me. Have a great weekend! 

Mr Jim Wren 

Religious life of our school

Inspiring Visit from Sam Clear at St Patrick’s This Week

We are thrilled to welcome Sam Clear to St Patrick’s this week for a very special presentation. Sam is currently in St George to be part of the St Patrick’s and Balonne Catholic Parish Renewal.

Sam is widely known for his remarkable journey walking over 15,500 km across 20 countries to promote unity and peace. His powerful story of perseverance, faith, and resilience has inspired audiences around the world, and now, our students will have the opportunity to hear it firsthand.

Sam’s message aligns beautifully with our school’s values of compassion, courage, and community. His visit aims to challenge and encourage our students to step out of their comfort zones, develop a stronger sense of purpose, and reflect on how they can make a positive difference in their own lives and the lives of others. We encourage families to talk with their children after the session to explore the ideas Sam presents—this is a wonderful opportunity for meaningful conversations at home!

Our students will be engaged in one of two sessions running during Friday.

We also welcome parents and friends to a Twilight Session on Friday evening July 25th from 5.30pm. Supper will be provided, and we warmly encourage you to consider attending this evening.

Kind Regards

Mrs Anna Chandler

Access all areas - Supporting our students

NCCD – What Parents Need to Know?

At St Patrick’s, we are committed to supporting the diverse learning needs of all students. One way we do this is through participation in the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD).

What is the NCCD?

The NCCD is an annual data collection that records the number of students receiving reasonable adjustments or support due to a disability, as defined under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992. These adjustments help ensure all students can access education on the same basis as their peers.

Why is it important?

The data collected helps governments and education providers plan for the needs of students with disability and helps schools like ours receive the appropriate funding and resources to support all learners.

What do parents need to know?

• You are not required to do anything for your child to be included.

• No personal identifying information is collected for the NCCD.

• Inclusion in the NCCD does not affect your child’s schooling or reporting.

• Your child may be included if they receive regular adjustments in the classroom, regardless of whether they have a formal diagnosis.

If you have any questions about how the NCCD applies to your child or how we support diverse learners at St Patrick’s, please don’t hesitate to contact our Learning Support Teacher Anna Chandler.

Middle Leader News

When children are learning to read, a lot of emphasis is placed on recognising and understanding words. We also know that for children to make meaning of a text they have to develop fluency. This is why our teachers have focussed on vocabulary and fluency this year. Reading requires more than word recognition and word knowledge though. Words are put together into sentences, paragraphs and longer texts and a part that is often missing from the conversations about quality reading instruction is the work students must do at sentence level to understand what they are reading. 

As a simple example, consider the following sentences: 

                                     Only Batman fights crime. 

                                   Batman only fights crime. 

                                   Batman fights only crime. 

The same four words are used in each sentence, but the different placement changes the meaning of the entire sentence. 

Students need to be taught to analyse sentences, especially complex sentences that contain a lot of information. At the most basic level, sentences need a subject (who/what) and a predicate (what the subject is doing) but often sentences contain many more details. Each word in a sentence has a job to help build the meaning in a sentence. 

This term, our teachers will be placing a big focus on sentence structure during literacy block time.  

What can you do at home to help your child? 

Ask your child to read a sentence from a book and then ask them the following questions: 

• Which words tell who/what the sentence is about? 

• Which words tell what is happening? 

• Which words tell us about the “who”? 

• Which words tell us when, where or how? 

Annette Colley 

A message from Mrs Blanch

Dear Students and Families,

Welcome back to Term 3! I hope the break provided time to rest and recharge. It has been wonderful to reconnect with students and staff over the past fortnight. Throughout terms 3 and 4, I will be working within the school on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. As we begin this new term, there’s a wonderful sense of energy and opportunity across our school. With events many events plan that remind us of the importance of community, culture, and personal growth. As your School Guidance Counsellor, I’m here to support both the wellbeing and learning journey of students. Whether it’s navigating friendships, managing school pressures, or setting goals, please know my door is always open. I encourage families to stay connected and reach out if there’s anything I can assist with. Let’s work together to make this term one of growth, kindness, and achievement. Wishing everyone a positive and fulfilling start to Semester 2.

Have a great week!

Mrs Eleanor Blanch 

Mrs Eley's update

Library News

This term is shaping up to be a very busy one in the library. In week 6 we celebrate Children’s Book Week and on Thursday 21st August the students have to opportunity to dress up as their favourite book character. So pop this date in your diary and put your thinking caps on as to who is your favourite character!!

In week 8 StoryFest is once again coming to the Balonne Shire. The students will be attending various sessions with Authors during the 3-day festival. More information will be shared closer to the time.

Borrowing continues as usual with returns on Wednesday and borrowing on Thursday. It has been wonderful to see so many books borrowed, read and returned. Thank you for your support with this.

“Reading is Power and Knowledge”

St Patrick’s Library Staff

Sport News

The Balonne boys and girls cricket trials were held last week at Rowden Park.

Congratulations to Sophie Luck, Roly Mace, Hunter Mellifont and Oscar Drynan who were selected to represent Balonne at the Southwest trials in Chinchilla.

The cricket trials were held last Tuesday and Sophie Luck was selected to be a representative in the Southwest girls cricket team. Well done Sophie.

The 2025 athletics carnival was held on the 13th of June and from all accounts it was a great success! I witnessed fantastic participation and great sportsmanship. Well done everyone!

Below is a list of Age Champions and Runners up for each age group:

9 yrs Girls Age Champion: Sienna Wilson           Runner Up: Anastasia Stewart

9 yrs Boys Age Champion: Cooper Passman       Runner Up: Barkley Hardie

10 yrs Girls Age Champion: Miller Hardie           Runner Up: Abigail Tierney

10 yrs Boys Age Champion: Hunter Mellifont     Runner Up: Roly Mace

11 yrs Girls Age Champion: Hannah Nott           Runner Up: Brooke Hams

11 yrs Boys Age Champion: Kayden Passman     Runner Up: Parker Gale

12 yrs Girls Age Champion: Hannah Acton          Runner Up: Karlie Alderman

12 yrs Boys Age Champion: Max Luck                 Runner Up: Alastair North

Girls encouragement award: Pipi Cott                 Boys encouragement award: Taylin Wilson

Overall winning house: GOLD!!!

Procedures with Trial Forms:

Balonne district trial forms are to be handed back to the front office for the school to organise nomination and distribution of the from to the convener of the trial.

Southwest trial forms need to be sighted and signed by the school and then this form is returned to the student for them to take to the manager of the team they have been selected in.

Kind Regards 

Mrs Binnie Eley

Mrs Webster's News

Welcome to Term 3! 

I hope you all had an enjoyable holiday with family and friends.  We commenced Drama this term and had a very enjoyable Week 1. In Health last term we looked at our emotions, positive qualities and skills that make a good friend/building positive relationship having empathy and respect.. We will be reinforcing these concepts in Drama by acting out random acts of kindness and variety of scenarios. Each drama session the students do warm up activities to further develop these skills using facial expressions- verbal and non-verbal cues and body language to act out scenarios. As part of the middle and upper students’ assessment they will prepare a short script and act it out. The lower students will act out scenarios presented to them. 

Term 3 Health 

In Health this Term across the school we will be learning all about Making Healthy Safe Choices. 

Prep 

Students will explore health-related topics related to the Australian Curriculum descriptors. Students will participate in discussions and learn to: 

• Demonstrate protective behaviours and strategies that help keep them safe 
• identify health symbols, messages and strategies in their community that support their health and safety.

This unit will explore how students can demonstrate protective behaviours and develop help-seeking strategies to keep themselves safe. They will also be able to identify 

how health information that can be used to make educated choices about their health and to keep them safe. 

 Years 1-2  

Students will explore health-related topics related to the Australian Curriculum descriptors. Students will participate in discussions and learn to: 

• identify and demonstrate protective behaviours and help-seeking strategies they can use to help them, and others stay safe
• Investigate a range of health messages and practices in their community and discuss their purposes 

This unit helps students to identify protective behaviours they might feel during unsafe situations. The students will investigate a range of health messages, healthy and unhealthy. They will explore how these messages are delivered and practically apply changes they can make to their food choices. Through discussion, students will explore digital safety, including how to act and be safe in a digital environment.  

Years 3-4  

Students will explore health-related topics related to the Australian Curriculum descriptors Students will participate in discussions and learn to: 

• describe and apply protective behaviours and help-seeking strategies in a range of online and offline situations 

• interpret the nature and intention of health information and messages, and reflect on how they influence personal decisions and behaviours 

 and investigate and apply behaviours that contribute to their own and others’ health, safety, relationships and wellbeing  

Students focus on healthy eating and lifestyle, and protective behaviours focus on online and offline interactions.  In the healthy eating section, students will learn about the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating, nutritional information and the information given about health. In the protective behaviours section of the unit, students will look at the how we can protect ourselves and help-seeking strategies that they can utilise for themselves both online and offline and when helping others. 

 Years 5-6  

Students will explore health-related topics related to the Australian Curriculum descriptors. Students will participate in discussions and learn to: 

• Analyse and rehearse protective behaviours and help-seeking strategies that can be used in a range of online and offline situations 
• Investigate different sources and types of health information and how these apply to their own and others’ health choices 
• Analyse how behaviours influence the health, safety, relationships and well-being of individuals and communities 

Students will focus on healthy eating and lifestyle, and protective behaviours focus on online interactions. In the healthy eating section, students will learn about the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating, nutritional information and the effect of media on the information given about health. In the protective behaviours section of the unit, students will look at the privacy and protecting their identity, the impact of online culture and help-seeking strategies that they can utilise for themselves and when helping others. 

Hope you have a fantastic day! 

Kind Regards, 

Mrs Jane Webster 

Student Achievements

Tuckshop

Our new tuckshop day is now every Thursday!  

Lunches can be ordered via the Flexischools app anytime before 2pm on Wednesday.

Simply download the Flexischools app from the Apple or Google store and follow the prompts to create an account. Once set up, click “Order Food” to place your order and pay. 

Term 3 Snapshot

Parish News

Sunday’s Gospel

Luke 11:1-13

“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”

Priest Fr John Fowles Email: balonneparish@bigpond.com

                                                      MASS TIMES

Reminders

Is your Sentral for Parents app working?

St Patrick’s Parent Portal provides a more streamlined communication with parents. Please be sure you follow the instructions below on how to register. If you are having issues with your app, please contact the school office so we can help you get things resolved.

We warmly invite all parents and carers to take part in the Shaping our future – Perception Survey. This short 5-to-10-minute survey is your chance to share your thoughts and help guide the future of our school and the 31 others in the Toowoomba Catholic Schools community.

Your voice matters – and we’d love to hear it! Check your email for the survey link and be sure to complete it by Wednesday, 6 August 2025.

St Patrick's OHSC

St. Patrick's Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) is dedicated to supporting families within our vibrant school community. We provide a safe, welcoming, and engaging environment for children during both the school term and holiday periods.

Our operating hours are:

• Term Time: 3:00 PM – 6:00 PM
• School Holidays: 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM

We offer both permanent and casual bookings to suit the varying needs of families. Enrolments are now open, and we warmly invite you to register your child/children with our service.

If you have any questions or would like more information, please don’t hesitate to contact us at 0497 578 550 or via email at STGcare@tckc.qld.edu.au.

Lauren Booth
Service Coordinator