At St Patrick's, we are committed to 'Educating with a Mission Lens' – a three-year school community program with lasting impact in responding to how we can reach our full potential – that is, how we can be more like Jesus. Through this program, we are able to articulate the everyday mission of what we do.

It is important in the busy life of school that we take time to dialogue with each other in how we can see Jesus in other people and how we can encourage thinking, language, behaviours and leadership to respond as He would in different situations. 

Our Mission Wall is an important part of this program. Each month, students, teachers and parents are nominated, voted for and recognised for displaying acts of kindness, encouragement, friendship, or care for our school environment.

Our new classroom facilities include seven flexible, contemporary and creative learning spaces that revolutionise the way we teach and learn at St Patrick’s. 

While the new building is beautiful, more importantly, it allows us to teach in new and innovative ways that weren’t possible in our old classrooms. We have established a highly creative flexible environment, which allows different modes of learning while still providing for the specific needs of the diverse student. 

The success of our new learning spaces is that they have added a deeper dimension to the St Patrick’s learning framework, that is based upon quality relationships, collaborative partnerships and flexibility. The transparency of the spaces also encourage teachers and students to collaborate across stages. 

We also offer quality on-site Out of School Hours Care (OSHC) care for our students.

At St Patrick’s, our learning and teaching practices are constantly informed by and responsive to the data we collect and receive from students’ assessments. And it’s working – trends in the data at St Patrick’s show a marked improvement over the past few years in both Literacy and Mathematics. 

Our recent focus has been on writing, where collaboratively, teachers and children work on 'success criteria' to fulfil their learning intentions for quality writing outcomes. The introduction of an Instructional Coach one day a week at the school allows our teachers to regularly co-plan and co-teach with the Coach, then reflect together on the success and any recommendations to improve further practice. 

We also increase student engagement and outcomes with Challenging Maths Tasks.

The Living Classroom is a fully functioning permaculture garden located in the north-western corner of our school grounds. Students from Year 4 are our ‘garden ambassadors’ and spend three full days every term working in the garden, learning about permaculture principles, building soil, planting trees, growing amazing produce and having fun.

It is much more than simply a garden where we grow food. In many ways it is an integral part of our school identity. The garden also connects us to our local community, with produce available to purchase on market days and morning teas offered to to parishioners and families in the garden throughout the year. The pizza and scones made in the wood fired oven in our garden kitchen are always a big hit!

At St Patrick's, we care about the environment and want to help keep it beautiful. In order to make our school more sustainable and minimise our environmental imprint, we are a nude food school.

Engagement in sport and physical activity can help keep children healthy, happy and socially engaged – all of which can impact on their intellectual capacity and academic achievements. At St Patrick's, we aim to provide children with positive sporting experiences to help develop a lifelong interest in sport and physical activity.

One way we do this is through the Sporting School Program – a $200 million government program designed to help schools increase children’s participation in physical activity and connect children with community sport.

St Patrick’s has recently been successful in securing funding from the program, enabling us to deliver programs in AFL and touch football for all students. We have also submitted a further application in the hope of receiving funding to help reduce the costs of our very beneficial swimming program.

At St Patrick’s our Behavioural Support and Management Policy is based on the Positive Behaviours for Learning (PB₄L) framework. This framework provides support systems for all members of our school community, enabling quality social and academic competencies to be established and maintained.

PB₄L provides clear, consistent guidelines of expectations and procedures that establish and maintain a positive, safe and supportive school environment in order for students to realise our three school rules: be respectful, responsible and safe.

The framework offers support for all our students, in all school settings, all the time, including students with additional academic, pastoral or behavioural needs. There is a strong emphasis on prevention of problem behaviours, as well as provisions to teach and affirm pro-social behaviours.

At St Patrick's, we incorporate digital technologies into our teaching and learning experiences – including through embedding Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) activities in our Science units and across other KLAs where applicable.

Each classroom is equipped with STEM kits which contain materials to design and make models to explore and solve real-world concepts and problems. All infant classes also have robotics packs in their classrooms. The children use bluetooth enabled Blue-Bot robots to code, debug and simulate algorithms, and control them using their iPads to plan their algorithm and send it remotely to the Blue-Bot.

Our ICLT Coordinator works collaboratively with classroom teachers to ensure the widest possible utilisation of technology across the curriculum.

In 2019, St Patrick’s introduced a Japanese language program to students from Kindergarten to Year 2.

Students engage in learning the language through singing, games, conversational activities and role-playing, and responding to oral language such as greetings and classroom directions. They also learn about Japanese celebrations and festivals, traditional Japanese children’s games and toys, and the harmonious and mindful experience of a Japanese tea ceremony.

Students learn to communicate and interact in inter-culturally appropriate and meaningful ways as they develop a deeper understanding of the Japanese culture and how this shapes Japanese language. Japanese culture, history, art and food, and their influence on modern Australian society are also explored, as we hope to develop children’s appreciation and respect for cultural and linguistic diversity in our increasingly globalised world.