St Patrick's Primary School, Swansea endeavours to provide students with an enriched educational and caring environment with a focus on meeting the individual learning needs of each student.
St Patrick’s provides an environment in which children can grow socially, emotionally, spiritually and intellectually in a way that allows them to develop quality relationships, to make informed decisions and to demonstrate respect for other people. The school’s You Can Do It program aims to develop the students’ social and emotional capabilities, including the five foundations: confidence, persistence, organisation, getting along and emotional resilience. Furthermore, the school’s pastoral care worker and counsellor are available to support the students and their families in a variety of ways. The school’s Seasons for Growth program caters for students who have experienced significant change or loss. Students who enrol in the program examine the impact of changes such as death, separation and divorce upon their lives and explore how they can learn to live with and grow from these experiences.
The student leadership program provides opportunities for students to play a significant and effective role in the decision-making processes of the school and to ensure that student leaders are positive role models for other students. The school’s Mini Vinnies team coordinates a variety of social justice initiatives which include fundraising activities to support charitable organisations. The school’s preferred charities are Caritas, Catholic Mission, SIMS Cambodia and the Mary MacKillop Foundation.
The students of St Patrick’s have a very special relationship with the school’s elderly neighbours in the Tenison Apartments aged care facility. The students’ regular visits to Tenison Apartments allow them opportunities to talk, share their school work and entertain the residents.
The creative arts are recognised as a strength at St Patrick’s, with students from Kindergarten to Year 6 taught music by a specialist music teacher. A well-developed visual arts program ensures that students are exposed to a variety of artistic techniques including drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture, digital art, fibre, photography and ceramics. The Years 5 and 6 students have the opportunity to audition for ASPIRE, a diocesan creative arts initiatives which culminates each year in a musical production.
The school’s sport/physical activity program offers its students the opportunity to compete at representative level for school, regional, diocesan, state and national competitions in sports including swimming, athletics, gymnastics, cross country and in a variety of team sports including netball, football and rugby league.
St Patrick’s is a bin-free school which sees students place all of their lunch scraps and rubbish into their lunch boxes to take home. This program saves the school a great deal of time and money and it is an environmentally responsible way of managing waste. It also allows parents to see exactly what their children are eating and/or not eating. The school’s award-winning recycling program encourages the students to be environmentally responsible.
The students of St Patrick's Primary School, Swansea are encouraged to continue their Catholic education for Years 7 to 12 by attending St Mary's Catholic College, Gateshead.
