Newsletter 135- May 23rd 2024
Prayer of the Week:
The Trinity Prayer
God For Us, we call You Father,
God Alongside Us, we call You Jesus,
God Within Us, we call You Holy Spirit.
You are the Eternal Mystery
That enables, enfolds, and enlivens all things,
Even us and even me.
Every name falls short of your Goodness and Greatness.
We can only see who You are in what is.
We ask for such perfect seeing.
As it was in the beginning, it is now, and ever shall be.
Amen.
Principals Report:
Dear St Patrick’s community,
What a wonderful success last Friday's school athletics carnival was! Our students displayed incredible athletic abilities and sportsmanship, making the event both exciting and memorable.
A heartfelt thank you goes out to all the parents and friends who supported the event- your enthusiasm and assistance were invaluable as well as the PNF for organizing the delicious lunch. Special thanks to Leon as Sports Coordinator for his meticulous planning of the timetable and seamless arrangement of the stations, ensuring everything ran smoothly.
We are proud of our students and grateful for the fantastic community spirit that made this day possible. Thank you once again for your continued support
We extend our warmest wishes to Fiona in Grade 5/6 as she embarks on her well-deserved Long Service Leave for the next three weeks. We hope she enjoys this time to relax and recharge. Fiona has planned the curriculum for the three weeks and during her absence, classes will be seamlessly covered by Casey, Jen, and Kate who are all teachers that are known to the students and have been working in the classrooms this year.
To ensure that we prioritize the health and well-being of our school community, I kindly remind families of the importance of keeping children home if they are showing any signs of illness. This measure is crucial in preventing the spread of infections and ensuring the safety of other students and staff members. I understand that this can be an inconvenience, but cooperation is vital in maintaining a safe and healthy school community.
By keeping sick children at home, we help protect those who may be more vulnerable to illnesses and contribute to a healthier learning environment for everyone. We are continuing with our class visits to Eventide however classroom teachers are preparing alternative supervision options for students who may be showing signs of being unwell and are not able to go.
With Kind Blessings,
Bettina
From the Office:
Wellbeing:
A few weeks ago, I shared an episode of the ‘Imperfects’ podcast featuring Dr. Billy Garvey, a Pediatrician from the Royal Children’s Hospital. It was wonderful to hear that several parents enjoyed the episode. As it turns out, Dr. Billy Garvey hosts his own podcast called “Pop Culture Parenting.”
About the Podcast
Pop Culture Parenting bridges the gap between parenting theories and real-life experiences. Dr. Billy Garvey, a developmental pediatrician, and Nick, a parent navigating the ups and downs of parenting, engage in honest discussions about various parenting challenges. The podcast aims to find the sweet spot between textbook knowledge and everyday life.
Topics Covered
The podcast covers a wide range of parenting issues. With 85 episodes available, there's a wealth of information and insights for parents at all stages of their parenting journey. From screen times and technology, to the power of friendships, the topics are very broad.
How to Listen
You can explore the variety of episodes and find topics that resonate with you by visiting the Pop Culture Parenting podcast.
https://www.popcultureparenting.com/
Enjoy this podcast for practical advice, heartwarming stories, and valuable parenting insights. It's a great resource to support you in your parenting journey, offering both expert advice and relatable experiences.
Happy listening!
Fiona Harney
Teaching and Learning:
School Assemblies: Our assemblies happen each Friday afternoon starting at 2:50pm in the school hall. Students are dismissed from the hall on this day. We invite all our community to come along.
Week 6: Middle B
Week 7: Senior M and Athletics
Week 8: Junior R
Week 9: Middle C
Week 10: Junior FB
Week 11: Foundation
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.
Next week Fiona Harney will be taking three weeks long service leave and jet setting off to Europe. We pray Fiona and Tim have a safe and wonderful break.
During these challenging times of teacher shortages we are extremely fortunate to be able to have three high quality experienced teachers who will be helping us cover Fiona whilst she is away. Casey-Lee Baxter, Jenny Rathgaber and Kate Harney will all be teaching in Senior H over this time. We thank these teachers for sharing their gifts and talents with us at St Patrick’s.
Middle B:
Hello Everyone,
We have been very busy with our learning in Middle B.
Here is some of the fabulous learning we have been doing.
Literacy:
Suffixes ful, less, er, est, able and ment
Simple & compound sentences
Handwriting: diagonal joins and letter formation
Reading - fluency & expression
- Cars & Stars Comprehension Strategy - Understanding Sequence & Review Assessment
Writing - Information Reports
We have learnt to note take, identify key words and use dot points. We then use the dot points to create sentences and paragraphs.
We then chose a dinosaur to research and applied our writing skills to creating a dinosaur information report.
Maths:
Grade 3 - 4 digit numbers & fractions
Grade 4 - fractions and length
Inquiry:
We have been learning about the Age of Exploration and what life was like in 18th Century Britain. We know a lot about Sir Francis Drake and also chose an early explorer to create a fact file for. We presented our information as a Google Slide. Miss Bonney showed us how she could comment on our slides and give us feedback straight away. We could even reply to her and apply the feedback she suggested.
Religion:
We have been learning about Mary the Mother of Jesus. In partners we were challenged to design a modern representation of Mary. We could choose to design a statue, a painting, a mosaic or a stained glass window.
Auslan:
We love our Auslan lessons! We can even have conversations with each other and in the morning Miss Bonney does the attendance roll and bus roll with us in Auslan. Our favourite game to play is PacMan and we also like listening to picture story books in Auslan. We now know the sign for ‘Grumpy Bear’.
Aaliyah - This week in Maths we are learning about length. I like it a lot.
Alivia - I’m proud of maths and science.
Boston - I am proud of my dinosaur, my explorer , my emotion sheet and my length in Math and anything else.
Emila - This week I am proud of maths when we did fractions because I was able to write different fractions.
Henry - I am proud of math doing quarters, half, thirds and my spelling and my dinosaur sentences.
Jack - This week I am proud of succeeding with simple sentences.
Kayde - I am proud of my Dinosaur information report and my emotion drawing because my dinosaur is going really well and I have got a lot of facts about my dinosaur and with my emotion drawing I tried really hard and I am just very proud of my work and it was really fun doing it.
Lenny - I am proud of my Dinosaur work. I am up to my sentences.
I am proud of my Captain Cook research. I am up to my sentences.
I am proud of my s.a.d book writing.
I am putting in the right punctuation in my sentences.
I am proud of my math. We were learning about fractions. Now we're learning about length. We have only done one lesson.
Lexie - I’m proud of Inquiry for my William Dampier Google Slide presentation and doing fractions in Maths.
Lilly - I’m proud of my William Dampier writing
Mac - I am proud of my dinosaur writing. I am also proud of my Maths.
Mason - I am proud of my math because of my fractions and my emotion drawing.
Peter - I’m proud of my Dinosaur writing.
Prithvi - I am proud of my writing and maths.
Sophie - I loved learning about our narratives in writing. I also loved our test in math.
Tahlia - This week I am proud of my dinosaur information report because I like doing paragraphsphs
Willow - I am proud of my feedback sentences because I'm reading more fluently.
National Simultaneous Reading time:
On Wednesday 22nd of May the Grade 3/4 classes attended National Simultaneous Storytime at the Stawell Library. National Simultaneous Storytime (NSS) is an important annual campaign that aims to encourage young children to read and enjoy books as well as teach them the value of literacy.
We listened to the book ‘Bowerbird Blues’ by Aura Parker. The story is about a beautiful bowerbird on the search for blue! It's a moving story of longing and connection, that unfolds as the bowerbird's search sends him soaring across the sea, sky and city. He swoops and snatches vibrant treasures for his collection, and soon his bower, a mix of natural and unnatural objects, attracts something greater and more fulfilling than he could ever have imagined.
After listening to the book we completed an activity based on the book and also took a chance to explore the library and read some of the wonderful books there. We also learnt how to use the new self serve borrowing system and even changed the language on it to ‘Pirate’.
We had a great time at the library and hope to visit again soon.
Students of the Week:
Levi Roberts - For the wonderful work you have been doing in reading and writing. You have been working so hard during Initial Lit. Congratulations Levi!
Evelyn Hoare - For the wonderful way you are blending sounds to make words. I'm so impressed with your reading skills. Keep up the fabulous efforts Evelyn!
Chizaram Ezeobi - For the excellent counting you have been doing. You have mastered counting by 2’s from even and odd numbers. Keep up the hard work!
Harry Devery - For taking risks in your learning. It has been wonderful to see you sharing your ideas with the rest of your class. Keep working hard!
Charlie Matthews - For always striving to do his best work in all areas, you inspire everyone with your determination and self-motivation, well done Charlie!
Georgia Aird - For the way you always try to give your best effort towards your learning and show curiosity, well done Georgia you should be very proud!
Aaliyah Carlsen - For displaying great self - motivation and risk taking during literacy and maths. Keep it up!
Emila Jones - For the wonderful enthusiasm you have displayed while learning about the Age of Exploration and Sir Francis Drake.
Kora Allen - For being a resilient learner while learning about subtraction in Maths. Your hard work has paid off with a great Check-Up result. Amazing work Kora!
Lucas Papadopoulos - For the enthusiasm you have shown during our Auslan sessions this week. Great work Lucas, keep it up!
Eleanor Erwin - For your impressive sentence structure and creative narrative. Keep it up Eleanor!
Luke Fulton - For your persistence and constant hard work during Maths. Keep it up Luke!
Logan Piatkov - For the amazing descriptive language you included in your cold-write this week. Well done Logan!
Harper Bibby - For the self-motivation you show across all subject areas. You can always be counted on to do your absolute best in everything you do Harper, well done!
Thankyou:
Well done to all our amazing St Patrick’s community for coming out and supporting our students at our athletics sports day. A special shout out to our amazing Parents and Friends and community members that volunteered on the day to ensure we were all well fed.
Living in Faith:
Reconciliation, Eucharist & Confirmation Sacraments:
If you would like your child/children to receive their Sacraments of Reconciliation (usually happens in Grade 2), Eucharist and Confirmation (usually happens in grade 3) please let me know. We will be having a meeting early in Term 3 to discuss these.
What are the Sacraments of Reconciliation, Eucharist and Confirmation?
The Sacrament of Reconciliation in the past has also previously been called Confession. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is one of two sacraments of healing in the Catholic tradition (the other being the Anointing of the Sick). Reconciliation celebrates God’s love and mercy towards us. It is about acknowledging and naming those times when we know we have done wrong, and then making peace and restoring the relationships with those who have been affected by our poor choices.
Students learn about the Sacrament of the Eucharist (Communion). Those children who are baptised Catholics and have received the Sacrament of Penance, are prepared to receive this sacrament for the first time in Year 3. During this sacrament, the children receive the blessed sacrament, the host. After their first Eucharist, a person may go to receive the blessed sacrament, any time they go to Mass.
The Sacrament of Confirmation. Those children who are baptised Catholics, and who have received the Sacraments of Penance and Eucharist, are prepared to receive this sacrament in Year 3. This is the final sacrament of initiation. During this sacrament, the students are asked to renew the baptismal promises that were made for them by their parents and god-parents at baptism, and they are anointed with the oil of chrism. They select a sponsor to stand with them on the day and to support them on their faith journey.
This Sunday the Catholic church will celebrate Trinity Sunday. Trinity Sunday is a special day in the Christian calendar when we celebrate the idea of the Holy Trinity. The Holy Trinity is the belief that God is one God but exists in three persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus), and God the Holy Spirit. Explaining the concept of the Trinity to kids can be done in a simple and relatable way:
Imagine you have a piece of ice. It can be cold and hard. Then you let it melt and become water. Water is different from ice, but it's still the same substance. Finally, you let the water evaporate and become steam. Steam is different from water and ice, but it's still made of the same thing. Just like the ice, water, and steam are all forms of H2O, the Holy Trinity is like three different forms of God.
God the Father is like the creator and the one who takes care of everything. He is like the one who made the ice, the water, and the steam.
God the Son, Jesus, is like the person who came to earth and lived as a human being. He taught people about God's love and showed us how to live in a loving way. Jesus is like the water that can quench our thirst and give us life.
God the Holy Spirit is like the invisible force that helps us and guides us. The Holy Spirit is like the steam that can warm us and give us energy. It's always with us, even if we can't see it.
So, when we talk about the Holy Trinity, we are talking about God being three-in-one—God the Father, God the Son (Jesus), and God the Holy Spirit. They are all connected, just like the ice, water, and steam are all connected.
Laudato Si’ Week May 19 - 26
Every year the Catholic Church marks the anniversary of Pope Francis’ landmark encyclical Laudato Si’. From the 19th – 26th of May we celebrate what it means to care for our common home. This year the theme of Laudato Si’ Week centres around ‘seeds of hope’. We are called to consider how we can plant and nurture seeds to be the hope that the world needs during this time of suffering for our planet (Laudate Deum, 2).
Over the course of our students' time at St Patrick’s they learn and explore the Care for Creation and Laudato Si’ which is an encyclical of Pope Francis published in May 2015. It focuses on care for the natural environment and all people, as well as broader questions of the relationship between God, humans, and the Earth. The encyclical’s subtitle, “Care for Our Common Home,” reinforces these key themes.
An encyclical is a public letter from the Pope developing Catholic teaching on a topic often in light of current events. Laudato Si’ is addressed to “every living person on this planet” (LS 3). Hence, it is offered as part of an ongoing dialogue within the Catholic Church and between Catholics and the wider world.
What does Laudato Si’ mean?
The first words of Laudato Si’ are Italian and translate as “praise be to you.” They are part of a quotation from St. Francis of Assisi’s “Canticle of the Creatures” that opens the encyclical in which the saint praises God by meditating on the goodness of sun, wind, Earth, water, and other natural forces.
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 344 323 and leave a message. They will contact you within 24 hours.
Mary Rita Thomas
Sec. and Public Officer, Stawell Inter Church Council (welfare Cottage)
President, Stawell conference of the St Vincent de Paul Society
Mary MacKillop 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. “May God bless and strengthen you. Confide all to God. See how God carries us through the storms” Saint Mary MacKillop
Congratulations to this weeks award recipient: Archie Macpherson
On several occasions Archie has been seen assisting students in need.
Thank you for your kindness.
Birthdays:
Congratulations to these students who celebrated their birthday this week:
Mac and Jack Dr
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
Please find below the link for the March 2024 edition of
“Our Diocesan Community”
This Magazine is a way to share the good news stories of our schools, parishes and agencies across the diocese.
https://www.ballarat.catholic.
Around Our Community:
Please follow us on instagram; stpatsstawell
Stawell Wildcats
Please see below link for competition information and link to join.
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.