By Mrs Liz Illingworth, Principal

“SHINE A LIGHT ON TEACHERS THIS WORLD TEACHERS' DAY”

Welcome to Term 4. As I write this newsletter, we are approaching the end of Week 2 already. I want to take this opportunity to mention our incredible College staff. I am grateful every day for the work that our staff do at the College to support our young people as they learn and grow. They go above and beyond at St Patrick’s College.

Today is World Teachers’ Day. I am inviting everyone to shine a light on Australia’s teachers who inspire, support, and empower our children and young people every single day. Maybe you might like to spend just one or two minutes dropping an email to a teacher who you know has made an impact on your student.

We will be celebrating our staff with morning tea on Tuesday.

WELLBEING WEEK

In Week 1 of Term our wonderful Student Wellbeing Committee, supported by Mrs Emma Perry, organised and led Wellbeing Week. The themes for the week were: “Happier, Healthier, Brighter, Together” and “Be Kind, Be Connected, Be You”. Wellbeing Week is an opportunity to bring wellbeing to the front of everyone’s thinking, an opportunity to celebrate community and to get everyone involved in simple activities that support wellbeing. Each day activities promoted healthy activity and awareness of wellbeing.

The culminating event was Bandanna Day on Friday, including the traditional Great Shave, raising money for Canteen. Friday was a fantastic community day with hundreds of students present in the Ballygriffin Cafe for the Shave and Cut. Well done and thank you to Isabella, Sean, Darcy, Nate, Max, Felicity, Jayda, Tahlia, Eliza and Isla for your courage and generosity in supporting others.

Well done especially to our Wellbeing and Diversity Captains of 2026, Marley Robison and Katie Campbell, who have done a magnificent job over this year.

MISSION MASS

Last Friday 7E attended the Mission Mass with students from other Northern Catholic Schools. For over 100 years the Catholic Church has been supporting communities through ‘Catholic Mission’. Pope Leo XIV's message for this year's centenary year of ‘Catholic Mission’ calls us to a mission "born of love, lived in love and leading to love”.

In 2026 the focus is on supporting Malawi, with Mass celebrated by Fr Matthew, who had travelled from Malawi. The mission’s focus in 2026 is in particular on building safe school classrooms where children can learn and dream, providing hearty, nutritious meals so students can grow strong and stay focused, planting Neem trees (Azadirachta indica) to protect the school and community against extreme weather, and providing students with educational basics they need to succeed, including pencils, books and uniforms.

Fr Matthew gave our students a very simple message about just being kind in our world: looking out for others, sharing our gifts and sharing our resources with those less fortunate than us.

FAREWELL YEAR 12S

This week has been the final week of classes for our Year 11 and 12 students. It is a really busy time for students and teachers who have been retesting, finishing submissions and finalising marks. Over the week there have been opportunities for our Year 12 students to celebrate their time at the College together and the completion of this part of their journey.

We look forward to celebrating with them again at our End of Year Mass and Year 12 Graduation on Thursday 10 December 2026 at the Silverdome, commencing at 6:30pm.

Read the latest parish bulletin here:

By Mr Patrick Moroney - Deputy Principal - Wellbeing & Leadership

At St Patrick’s College we collect lots of data from our community, including social and emotional wellbeing data from our students. We thought that we could share some of the highlights of this testing that was conducted schoolwide in the last two weeks of Term 3 using Wellio Education.

Celebrations

Help Seeking:

Our students average 66% of agreement (across 7-12) versus a national benchmark of 59%. A strong help-seeking culture is one of the clearest protective factors for adolescent wellbeing. Our students believe that they have places or people they can go to for help when they need it.

Social & Relationships:

5% above the national benchmark. Strong peer connection is the single biggest day-to-day predictor of student mood. Our students can identify the elements of a healthy and unhealthy relationship.

Continued Area of Growth

Self-Regulation:

3% below the national benchmark: Students are not confident to stay calm and manage feelings when someone is treating them unfairly and they also have relative difficulty recognising and managing negative thought patterns.

Attendance data:

We collect attendance for every lesson, late to school, early departure, incursions and excursions. The following data was received from data collected throughout the 2026 year. The two key points in the data below are daily attendance and late to school. We began collecting late to school data in 2026 to quantify tutor group engagement.

Celebrations

Consistently high attendance rates across all year levels. Our students understand the importance of attendance and try to attend most days.

Continued Areas of Growth

Maintaining Term 1 attendance throughout the school year. Consistent engagement of senior students in tutor group.

Parent & Carer Wellbeing Focus Group – Expression of Interest

At St Patrick's College we value strong partnerships with our families. We are establishing a Parent Wellbeing Focus Group to collaborate on strategies supporting student engagement, attendance, and social-emotional growth. Please complete this brief form to express your interest in joining.

Congratulations to Will Ryan, who recently participated in the U14 state soccer team at the Talent ID Cup in Melbourne.

Congratulations to Lillian Frappell who has been cast in Launceston Youth Theatre's upcoming production of Aladdin and the Magic Lamp and to Adam Clark and Jamison Griffiths, who have been cast in Encore Theatre Academy's production of Shrek: The Musical Jr.

Congratulations to Samuel Clark, Satya Sompalli, Raghavi Sompalli and Orlando Massey who represented Tasmania as members of the State Representative Taekwondo Team at the 2026 Australian Taekwondo Nationals. Their achievements at the 2026 Australian Taekwondo Nationals included:

Samuel Clark
Silver – Junior Male Red Belt Sparring
Bronze – Individual Red Belt Poomsae, 15–17 Years
Bronze – Championship Pairs Black Belt Poomsae, 15–17 Years, with Satya Sompalli

Satya Sompalli
Bronze – Individual 1st Dan Poomsae, 15–17 Years
Bronze – Championship Pairs Black Belt Poomsae, 15–17 Years, with Samuel Clark

Raghavi Sompalli
Gold – Championship Teams Red Belt Poomsae, 12–14 Years

Orlando Massey
Silver – Cadet Male Red Belt Sparring
Bronze – Family Red Belt Poomsae
Bronze – Championship Pairs Red Belt Poomsae

Congratulations to Levi Springer, whose team recently won the Junior World Series for indoor cricket in South Africa. We previously shared an Examiner article about his trip. If you missed it, you can read the article here: Towering teen's winter hobby yields spot in Australia's tour of South Africa

A reminder to Share Student Success with us by completing this form. 

Has your child successfully completed an external music exam in the past 12 months?

If so, please send a copy of the exam certificate to music@stpatricks.tas.edu.au. This information is collected annually by the College to assist with End of Year music awards

You are invited to attend the Launceston Catholic Schools Instrumental Music Program’s Annual Concert and Awards Presentation to be held in the Nano Nagle Gym St Patrick’s College on Monday 23 November at 6:00pm.