Dear St Patrick’s families,

Yesterday (Tuesday) we celebrate the feast day of our first Australian Saint, St Mary of the Cross. Mary Mackillop is remembered for her work in establishing the Josephite sisters and opening the first Catholic School in Penola. Mary dedicated her life to educating the poor in rural communities. Her motto ‘never see a need without doing something about it’ continues to inspire our efforts to organise social justice outreach programs and activities.

INTERSCHOOL PUBLIC SPEAKING: Congratulations to Leila, Jimmy, Indi, Eliza, Taite, Riley, Garvita and Abigail, who will represent St Patrick’s in the Interschool Public Speaking Competition with McAuley Catholic School representatives in Tumut on Wednesday (9th August). We wish them all the best and look forward to hearing the results.

SCHOOL COUNSELLOR: Nadia Ho, our wonderful school counsellor for the past few years, has informed us of her resignation from Catholic Care. Nadia’s final day here at St Patrick’s will be on Wednesday 16 August. We wish Nadia every blessing and happiness for the future. Catholic Care have advertised the position and will inform us as soon as possible about our new counsellor.

OPENING & BLESSING: Preparations are well underway for our Opening and Blessing of our new school administration area and upgraded Active Enhanced Playground facilities on Friday 8 September. The ceremony will begin at 11.15am in our school playground and finish with Mass at St Patrick’s church (our St Patrick's School Community are invited to attend and more information will be sent out shortly).

2023 CECG FAITH IN EXCELLENCE AWARDS: Yesterday we were notified that our wonderful REC, Mrs Kate Howe has been selected (out of 100s of application from across the Canberra-Goulburn Archdiocese) as the recipient of the 2023 Mission Award. Mrs Howe will be presented with her award at the CECG Recognition Mass on Thursday 24 August at St Christopher’s Cathedral in Canberra. This award recognises Mrs Howe’s significant contribution to the Catholic ethos and mission of our school and acknowledges how she lives out her faith in her everyday encounters with staff, students and the local Gundagai community. We are extremely proud of Mrs Howe and congratulate her on a very well-deserved award!

Christine Baron

Principal

St Patrick, pray for us