Newsletter 122 - February 8th 2024
Prayer of the Week:
God of New Beginnings, guide us with your spirit as we begin our new school year. May we be excited about experiencing and learning all that is new to us. May we realise how important each of us are and commit to and act on the small difference we can make. May we bring peace through small acts of gentleness and reconciliation. May we bring wealth through small contributions and collaborations. And, in these small ways O god, may our small differences make a big contribution to our world. Amen
Principals Report:
Dear St Patrick’s community
It has been a big week. It was wonderful to have all our students, staff, families, and members of the parish at the Church on Tuesday to celebrate our Opening School Mass. The Gospel reading for the mass was from Mark and recounted that the disciples took Jesus in the boat 'just as he was,' and we know that he was 'tired' as Jesus fell asleep. This connection resonates with how we sometimes feel 'asleep,' merely going through the motions of our lives. It prompts us to consider how we might awaken to some of the smaller moments we witness.
We keep Father Andrew and his family in our prayers as they mark the anniversary of his father’s passing this time last year.
On Wednesday the AGM for the Parents and Friends Group was held. While the P&F plays a role in fundraising for the school, its primary objective is to foster a sense of community within the school. We value your participation and encourage you to reach out to any members of the P&F group if you are interested in contributing in any capacity. Together, we can make a positive impact on our school community. The P&F handed over, just over $6000 to the school from the 2023 events.
The first event for this year, the swimming carnival, is coming up in a couple of weeks with a BBQ lunch to be set-up, cooked and then packed down.
A big thank you to our community members who have put up their hands for 2024.
2024 P&F Executive:
Kate Field (President), Emma Bourke (Secretary), Libby O’Callaghan (Treasurer)
General Comittee members- Marita Rowe, Vaughan Allen, Erin Freeland, Sharynne O’Brien, Melissa Sutherland, Hannah Molan
On Thursday, I had the privilege of attending Marian College's opening school mass with an invitation. It was truly heartening to witness our students seamlessly integrated among the familiar faces. A special congratulations goes out to past students Chloe Moloney and Bridie Giles for their well-deserved leadership positions.
As mentioned at assembly on Friday, a reminder that pets are not permitted on-site due to child safety concerns, allergies and for dogs in particular some students are very fearful of them. We kindly ask that dogs are not walked into the school grounds in the mornings or at the end of the day. Students who wish to share their pets can organize a 'show-n-tell' by coordinating a time with their teacher.
Another house-keeping matter the staff have asked to be mentioned- the school gate is unlocked at 8:20 am when the first bus arrives, and supervision of the yards commences at this time. Some students are arriving earlier, appearing at the front office as early as 8:05 am. We kindly request everyone to adhere to the 8.20 am drop off time to ensure the safety and well-being of all students. We thank you for your cooperation on this.
Assembly this week will start directly on 2.45pm to get through all our items with much to celebrate.
With Kind Blessings,
Bettina
A word from the office:
*Please note that if your child is going home earlier or by different transport i.e not on the bus, or people; you are to contact the school office 5358 2493 before 2:30pm, not the teacher via DOJO as they often only check these messages outside of school hours. Thankyou.
Wellbeing:
Lillie Comitti - Mental Health & Wellbeing Coordinator
Teaching and Learning:
School Assemblies: Our assemblies happen each Friday afternoon starting at 2:45pm in the school hall. Please note change of time due to school now finishing at 3:10pm. Students are dismissed from the hall on this day. We invite all our community to come along. Whole school community invited to attend.
Week 2: Junior R 1
Week 3: No assembly
Week 4: No Assembly Swimming Carnival
Week 5: Senior M
Week 6: Middle B
Week 7: Junior FB
Week 8: Middle C Week 9: Stations of the cross Thur 28th March 1:45pm
Professional Development:
At St Patrick’s Primary School we are committed to Professional Development of our team. At various times staff members will be working off site or online which may result in classroom teachers being out of the classroom.
Week 2 & 3
Friday 8/2/24 Mrs Bettina Bird Principals Network meeting.
Why have a school assembly?
The intention behind implementing a regular whole school assembly is to develop a feeling of unity and a positive school culture among the students, staff and our St Patrick’s community. Simply put, gathering together strengthens the way our school works. Whether singing a song together, watching a performance by fellow students, sharing class learning or sharing events that have been happening in our community, our goal is to create camaraderie, ignite school spirit and help instill students and families with a sense of belonging. School assembly provides students with the opportunity to develop their confidence by speaking and sharing their learning and thoughts.
Each learning community will take a turn throughout the term to host assembly and showcase their class learning. Coming together to celebrate success, showcase learning or strengthen commitment to shared goals is time invested in making St Patrick’s a special place to be.
Maryanne Comitti Teaching & Learning Leader
"Let us thank all those who teach in Catholic Schools. Educating is an act of love; it is like giving life." Pope Francis.
Junior R:
What a fabulous start to the year Grade One have had!
This year we have welcomed two new students to our class, Zoey and Finn. We hope you and your families enjoy being a part of our community.
To begin our year, a big focus for us has been revisiting our learner super powers. We talked about what it means to be risk takers, resilient, self-motivated, collaborative and curious and how we can use these in our learning. We were also able to give examples for when we have had to use these super powers in our personal lives.
In Maths, we have been revisiting our learning from Foundation. We have been revising our number names and formatting them correctly when writing them. We are also subitising small quantities (this means being able to say how many there are just by looking at them and not counting them). This has turned into a bit of a competition and has been a lot of fun! Next week we will be revising reading, writing, ordering and comparing our teen numbers.
In InitiaLit, we have been revising letter names and sounds and focussing on writing our letters correctly. Next week, we move ahead and will be learning to use our consonant and vowel sounds to read words. We will also be learning to spell the tricky words; said, are and her. In Storybook we read ‘Fang Fang’s Chinese New Year’ and made a spiral Chinese Dragon. We will be sharing some of these at assembly on Friday.
In Writing, we have been learning to turn kernels into Super Sentences. We have been making sure our sentences have a full stop, capital letter, finger spaces, correct spelling and that it makes sense. For this activity we had to make sure we included a who, where and when. For example; the kernel ‘She ran.’ became ’Jane ran to the park on Monday’. As the term/year goes on we add more detail such as adjectives and adverbs to make these even better sentences.
This week we went to the church for our beginning of year Mass. Some of our class were lucky enough to be Father Andrew’s ‘disciples’ during the offertory and stand around the altar while he blessed the bread and wine. There is a photo of this attached.
While we are just beginning to make a start on it, for the remainder of Term One our Religion topic will be ‘Community’ and our Inquiry topic will be ‘Who are we?’.
We are looking forward to hosting our assembly on Friday. We look forward to seeing you there.
Miss Kerrie Ryan
Learning Dispositions
St Patrick’s Primary School Learning Super powers St Patrick's Learner Superpowers please click for further details.
At St Patrick’s we have five learning dispositions. The dispositions describe a person's inclination to use particular skills when faced with problems to solve, ideas to evaluate or decisions to make. At St Patrick’s we are calling these St Patrick’s Learner Superpowers.
These are qualities that successful learners use in their everyday life, self - motivated, curious, resilient, collaborative, risk-taker. We have been focussing on these qualities throughout the term and will continue to reinforce and apply these skills in the classroom and in everyday life.
We are committed to ensuring that our whole school community has an understanding of what each super power means. This week we will unpack our Self-motivated learning superpower.
Self-motivation is the force that drives you to do things and is a result of several factors.
The ability to motivate yourself—self-motivation—is an important skill. Self-motivation drives people to keep going even in the face of set-backs, to take up opportunities, and to show commitment to what they want to achieve.
There are two types of mindset, fixed and growth.
- Those with a fixed mindset believe that talent is ingrained, and that we cannot change our level of ability.
- Those with a growth mindset believe that they can improve their skills through hard work and effort.
Research shows that those who believe that they can improve—that is, who have a growth mindset—are far more likely to achieve in whatever area they choose. A growth mindset is therefore an important element in a personal drive to succeed.
How do we teach reading in Foundation to Grade 2 at St Patrick's?
In Junior F-2 years at St Patrick’s?
At St Patrick’s Primary school we are committed to ensuring high quality teaching and learning. Last year we introduced a new literacy program into the Junior school called IniaLit. Please find the following information regarding the program.
IniaLit Foundation
What is InitiaLit–Foundation?
InitiaLit-Foundation, or InitiaLit–F, is a literacy program for all children in their first year of school to ensure that all children get off to the best possible start. It has been developed by MultiLit, a research-based initiative of Macquarie University.
What does InitiaLit–F do?
InitiaLit–F teaches children how to read and spell through daily lessons, using research-based teaching methods. It also uses a range of good quality storybooks to develop children’s vocabulary and oral language.
How does InitiaLit–F teach reading and writing? InitiaLit–F teaches children that words are made up of sounds and sounds are represented by letters. Unlike learning to talk which children pick up naturally, children do need to be directly taught the relationship between sounds and letters.
IniaLit Grade 1
What is InitiaLit–1?
InitiaLit–1 is a literacy program for all children in Year 1. It has been developed by MultiLit, a research-based initiative of Macquarie University.
What does InitiaLit–1 do? InitiaLit–1 teaches children how to read and spell through daily lessons, using research-based teaching methods. It also uses a range of engaging storybooks to develop children’s vocabulary and oral language.
How does InitiaLit–1 teach reading and writing? InitiaLit–1 teaches children that words are made up of sounds and that those sounds are represented by letters. Unlike learning to talk, which children do without formal instruction, children need to be directly taught the relationship between sounds and letters. In InitiaLit–1 children will build upon the knowledge of the alphabetic code that they gained in Foundation. They will learn that a letter or letters can make different sounds, and that two or three letters together can make a sound. They will also learn key terminology such as ‘vowel’, ‘syllable’, ‘phoneme’, ‘grapheme’, and ‘digraph’.
IniaLit Grade 2 -
What is InitiaLit–2?
InitiaLit–2 is a literacy program for all children in Year 2. It has been developed by MultiLit, a research-based initiative of Macquarie University.
What does InitiaLit–2 do? InitiaLit–2 teaches children how to read and spell through daily lessons, using research-based teaching methods. It also uses a range of engaging storybooks to develop children’s vocabulary, oral language and writing.
How does InitiaLit–2 work? By the time children are in Year 2, they have learnt that words are made up of sounds represented by letters. The focus now moves to reading comprehension and spelling. There are four main teaching components in InitiaLit–2 spread across the week. • Comprehension and fluency • Spelling • Grammar • Vocabulary (using children’s literature)
Students of the week:
Bobby Pickering -For the determination and resilience you've been shown towards starting school. Keep up the great work Bobby!
Mackenzie Bourke - For being a kind and compassionate member of our classroom, keep being you Mackenzie.
Finn Greenhalgh - For being a wonderful new member of our class and school community, we love having you here. Welcome to St. Patrick's!
Zoey Tyler - For the way you have settled into your new class and school. Welcome to St. Patrick's, we love having you here!
Mason Scott - For being such a self- motivated learner and stepping up into Grade Two so beautifully, you should be very proud Mason!
Evie Field - For pushing herself with her writing this week, well done Evie!
Mason Whitfield - For your amazing start to the year and using your learner super powers. Keep it up!
Tahlia Darker - For the excellent efforts you have been putting into your sentences. I am very proud of you!
Texas Davenport - For the excellent leadership qualities you have displayed as a Grade 4 so far this year. Keep it up!
Marianne Duxson - For the fantastic start to the year in Grade 3 and for using your Learner Superpowers. Great work Marianne!
Nate Jantzen - For an excellent start to the school year by showing self-motivation by being prepared and ready to learn! Well done Nate
Jett Virgin - For his excellent initiative and confidence as our Technology Leader - well done Jett!
Thomas Truong - For your willingness to offer your ideas and opinions in classroom discussions. Keep it up Thomas!
Adi Ratcliffe - For always asking questions and showing curiosity during Maths lessons. Well done Adi!
Living in Faith:
Opening school mass - Thankyou to Fr Andrew who celebrated our opening school mass with us on Tuesday. It was a time to gather together to pray for our coming year and for prayers of blessings upon us.
Our Gospel reading Fr Andrew spoke of at various times throughout our year our “boat may become rocky” and we will be in need to find calm. Fr reminded us that finding God, getting away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, finding a space in which to reflect, pray or just sit and be.
Shrove Tuesday
Next Tuesday is Shrove Tuesday, the beginning of Lent in the Catholic Church. On this day students will enjoy eating pancakes and learning about Shrove Tuesday.
The name Shrove Tuesday comes from the custom of ringing the ‘shriving bell’ to summon the people to church to be ‘shriven,’ that is to confess their sins at the beginning of Lent. At that time, certain foods like eggs, milk, meat and rich buttery dishes were given up for the duration of Lent. One way that they used up the eggs, milk and fats in the house was to add flour to make special pancakes. In England, the popularity of pancakes caused Shrove Tuesday to be called Pancake Day, a tradition we also follow here in Australia.
Ash Wednesday Liturgy:
Next Wednesday at 9am our whole school will gather in the hall to celebrate Ash Wednesday with a liturgy. Everyone is welcome to attend.
Ash Wednesday begins the forty day season of Lent that leads to Easter. On Ash Wednesday, Catholics come together to remind themselves that we don’t always follow God’s ways and need to ask God for His mercy and forgiveness.
For Catholics, Ash Wednesday is also a day of fasting and abstaining from meat. Fasting reminds us that food alone cannot make us happy. During Lent Catholics try to make a conscious effort to prepare ourselves for Easter. We can do this by increasing our prayer, helping others, fasting, giving up things we particularly like, and supporting charity.
Do you or someone that you know need some help?
If you need help with groceries and shopping vouchers go to -
The Cottage 20 Sloane St Stawell. Open Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays between 10:30am and 12:30pm. In out of hours emergencies ring 0408 038 949.
If you need help with fresh fruit and vegetables go to -
Stawell Neighborhood House 42 Sloane St. Open Mondays – Fridays 9am -5pm. If you need help other than groceries and food, contact – Stawell St Vincent de Paul Society – 0437 344 324 and leave a message. They will contact you within 24 hours.
This year we will be celebrating our Harmony Day on Friday 22nd March, 2024.
Harmony Day is a day where we celebrate our cultural diversity, it is about inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging for everyone.
We are thrilled to announce that footsteps, a Melbourne based school dance program will once again be visiting St Patrick’s.
“ Footsteps specialises in curriculum, age-based movement programs for Foundation to Year 12 students. We deliver engaging and relevant dance and drama programs which have been developed around the Australian National Curriculum. Our programs develop students’ social skills, confidence, fitness levels, creativity, expressive skills and coordination, ensuring we provide a safe, positive and stimulating environment for all students.” https://footstepsdancecompany.com.au/
In the footsteps dance sessions children will explore this idea of belonging through dance. Students will work with the footsteps dance instructor at an allocated time during the school day to learn their dance. Students and our St Patrick’s Community are then invited to come together for an evening celebration which will commence at approximately 5:00 pm. Details regarding catering to follow.
A detailed timetable will be sent out closer to the date. If anyone has any queries or would like to become involved in our Harmony Day activities please contact me.
Each Friday till the end of Term 1 our MiniVinnies group will be selling Zooper Doopers for $1.00 each St Vincent de Paul Sponsor a student program. As always we thank our St Patrick’s community for your support.
Congratulations:
To Miss Lillie Comitti and her husband Wil on their marriage on the weekend. Miss Comitti is now officially Mrs Marshman.
A blessing prayer for Lillie and Wil:
May Lillie and Wil grow old together by sharing life’s joys, struggles and challenges in order to become better people. May the blessings of the Lord guide them through their lives as husband and wife. Amen
Mary MaKillop Award:
Mary MacKillop lived a life dedicated to her faith and serving the needs of others. Wherever and however she could, Mary MacKillop did everything possible to improve the lives of others. This award acknowledges the thoughtful actions of the students at St Patrick’s to help others.
“We have much to be thankful for”. Saint Mary MaKilllop
Congratulations to this weeks award recipient: Milla
For being a positive role model for all and being kind
and thoughtful towards another student getting on the bus.
Birthdays:
Congratulations to these students who celebrate their birthday this week:
Lexie B and Isaac
Parents and Friends news:
We are now accepting donations from our school community for our annual Easter raffle.
Any contributions are greatly appreciated. Suggestions include but are not limited to:
-Easter chocolate
-Books
-Travel games
-Gift vouchers
Families are encouraged to drop donated goods into our school office for collection by Friday 15th of March.
Any enquiries regarding the annual Easter raffle, please contact Hannah on 0400615275.
Diocesan/Parish news:
Mass Times:
Ararat Sunday 8.30am
Stawell Sunday 10.30am
Lake Bolac 1st, 3rd, 5th Sundays 6.30pm Vigil Sat
Landsborough 2nd, 4th Sundays 12.30pm
Glenthompson (Hamilton Parish) 2nd, 4th Sundays 8.30am
Around Our Community:
Please follow us on instagram; stpatsstawell
Upcoming Events:
Our Vision and Mission:
Vision Statement: St Patrick's School is a community which reflects and celebrates Christ as its centre point: By honoring our story we value our whole community. By coming together our vision is for a loving, just, compassionate and tolerant world. Mission Statement: In the tradition of St Patrick, we are committed to: Promoting and celebrating a love of God, self and community. Recognizing and enhancing the talents and uniqueness of each person through our vision of Prayer, Care and Learning. PRAYER We nurture and grow our relationship with God as members of a faith community. CARE We foster recognition of difference, compassion for others and the strength to act on our beliefs. LEARNING We develop the knowledge, attitudes and skills essential to reaching our full potential as life- long learners.