Newsletter 152- October 24th 2024
Prayer of the Week:
A prayer for peace:
God of peace and justice,
we pray for all the people living in the uncertainty of war
We pray for peace and the laying down of weapons.
We pray for all those who fear for tomorrow,
that your Spirit of comfort would draw near to them.
We pray for those with power over war or peace,
for wisdom, discernment and compassion
to guide their decisions.
Above all, we pray for all your precious children, at risk and in fear,
that you would hold and protect them.
We pray in the name of Jesus, the Prince of Peace.
Amen.
Principal's Report:
Dear St Patrick’s community,
As we approach World Teacher's Day this Friday, I want to take a moment to express my deepest appreciation for our incredible Teachers and Learning Support Staff. Every day, they bring dedication, passion, and care to their work, helping to shape the minds and hearts of our students.
Their commitment goes beyond the classroom—fostering a nurturing and supportive environment that encourages each child to grow and thrive. Our teachers and support staff are the backbone of our school, and their tireless efforts do not go unnoticed.
On behalf of our entire school community, I extend a heartfelt thank you to each and every staff member. Your impact is profound, and we are grateful for all you do. Happy World Teachers Day!
We are thrilled to share the wonderful news that Stawell Gold Mine has worked diligently to secure a significant grant for our school from the World Gold Council. Thanks to the tireless efforts of Anne and Cameron, Stawell Gold Mine successfully obtained a generous $15,000 grant in support of our Breakfast Club.
This funding will have a tremendous impact on our initiative, ensuring that we can continue to provide nutritious meals for our students in Breakfast Club throughout the rest of this year and well into the next. We are excited about the positive changes this will bring to our school community and look forward to seeing the lasting effects of this contribution along with the other contributions that have been made by community organisations and businesses throughout this year.
Thank you again to Stawell Gold Mine and the World Gold Council, Anne, and Cameron for their incredible commitment to supporting our students and school.
We are eagerly anticipating the opportunity to showcase our students and their fantastic work at the Stawell Show this Saturday. Our students have been working hard in preparation, and we are proud of the creativity and effort they have poured into their projects.
A big thank you to the students for their dedication and to the staff for their excellent organisation of the display. We wish all our students the best of luck as they compete in their respective categories and look forward to seeing their accomplishments celebrated at an upcoming assembly.
Have a great week,
Bettina
Wellbeing:
Daily Intake of Fruit and Vegetables Among Kids
Only five per cent of Australian kids are eating the recommended daily intake of fruit and vegetables
DESPITE their abundance in this sunburnt land, fruit and vegetables are not commonplace in our diet and the latest figures are alarming nutritionists.
JUST five per cent of kids are eating the recommended daily intake of fruit and vegetables, according to new data that has sparked alarm among nutritionists.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics national health survey shows the vast majority of children in the country are eating far too few vegetables, and the consequences are evident, with one in four children now classified overweight or obese.
The National Health and Medical Research Council recommends that growing children eat five serves of vegetables, and two serves of fruit each day, to receive optimal nutritional benefits.
But the ABS has revealed only four per cent of kids are eating five or more serves of veggies, with almost half consuming just one serve of vegetables or less a day.
And parents are failing to role model good eating habits, with an equally dismal six per cent of adults meeting the daily fruit and vegetable requirements.
Accredited dietitian and spokeswoman for the Dietitian's Association of Australia Julie Gilbert said parents should be as persistent with their children's eating habits as they are with their homework.
"We need to make sure there are vegetables on a child's plate every night, and that children see it as a normal part of eating," she said.
And rather than battling with fussy eaters, Ms Gilbert said parents should ensure vegetables are included in every meal, but not force them to be eaten.
"You don't want warfare every night at the dinner table, you want to make it as relaxed and enjoyable as possible, so keep putting vegetables on their plate and don't reward them if they haven't eaten them," she said.
Megan Smith, the project dietitian for PEACH — or parenting, eating and activity for child health — encourages mums and dads to engage their kids in preparing and cooking healthy dinners.
"Get the children involved in picking the vegetables they want to eat that nigh, t and deciding how they should be cooked," she said.
If that fails to win over fussy eaters, Ms Smith encourages parents to hide shredded vegetables in casseroles, sauces, savoury muffins and even chocolate brownies.
Clare Knight the manager of Healthy Kids Association's school program said schools also had a role to play in getting kids to eat more fruit and veg.
"Schools are just as important as parents when it comes to educating and role modelling healthy eating," Ms Knight said.
"It's about committing to providing only healthy food and drink that will naturally contain decent amounts of fruit and vegetables — in the canteen, at fundraising days, fetes and any school sports carnivals."
By: News Corp Australia Network
Published: December 9, 2015
Mrs Lillie Marshman
Police Safety Talks:
This Monday and Tuesday, we held special presentations from the Proactive Policing Unit on stranger awareness. These sessions are designed to educate our students on how to stay safe in various situations. We thank the Proactive Policing Unit for coming and speaking with us.
Teaching and Learning:
School Assemblies: Our assemblies happen each Friday afternoon starting at 2:45pm in the school hall. Students are dismissed from the hall on this day. We invite all our community to come along
Week 3: Senior M
Week 4: Foundation
Week 5: Middle C
Week 6: Junior B
Week 7: Senior H
Week 8: Middle B
Week 9: Junior R & Junior B
Week 10: Grade 6
Week 11:
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.
Term 4 Week 4- 31/10 & 1/11 Mrs Bettina Bird Principals meeting
Senior M:
Well who can believe we are already in term 4. Our class has had an amazing year so far socially and academically and are intent on finishing 2024 on a strong note.
In Reading time, students continue to explore a set reading strategy through the Cars & Stars Reading program, using the knowledge that they gain to improve both their literal and inferential comprehension skills. Recently, we have been looking at finding the meaning of unknown words by focusing on the context in which they are being used. This might mean looking at information in sentences before and after the unfamiliar word. Once a week in the reading block we have also been reading our class novel ‘Trash’, a book about 3 dumpsite boys who discover a leather bag containing money, a map and a key. We quickly learnt that some powerful people will do anything to get their hands on what the boys have found. We only have a couple of chapters left and can’t wait to hear how the novel ends.
In the past couple of weeks in the Writing block we have been exploring the use of dialogue in narratives. We began by converting conversations between characters in comic strips into sentences before transferring that knowledge into a creative piece of writing which needed to include examples of dialogue between characters.
In Maths, Grade 5’s have just completed a series of lessons which teased out the relationship between decimal and common fractions while the Grade 6’s have recently completed lessons on adding and subtracting mixed numerals before moving onto percentages and money. Next week, both Maths classes will complete their PAT M test, an online assessment which shows student growth over a 12 month period.
In Religion we have been planning our activities for Socktober which will be held on Friday. This year, any money raised will go to raising awareness and funds for the people of Mongolia. We can’t wait to lead our activities on Friday. Don’t forget to wear your ‘crazy socks’.
In Wellbeing, we have just begun a series of lessons on ‘help seeking’ and identifying those we can turn to for support if we are faced with problems we don’t have the tools to solve ourselves.
Finally, in Sport, we have been learning the skills of cricket in preparation for the inter school Cricket 8’s competition which will be held at North Park next Thursday.
Mr Leon Moloney
Progressive Achievement Tests (PAT)
All grades have or will be taking part in their PAT reading and maths tests over the next three weeks. . Progressive Achievement Tests, commonly known as PATs, are one of the main sets of assessments schools use. PATs are multiple-choice tests designed to help teachers determine achievement levels of students in Mathematics and Reading Comprehension. Our Year 1-6 students complete PAT Reading and Maths tests online using Chromebooks or iPads. Foundation will complete a paper test. Data gathered will inform teachers of students’ current strengths and areas for improvement which can be used for planning teaching and learning, and monitoring progress over time.
Welcome back Shane:
This week we have welcomed back Shane for his termly professional development sessions. Over the course of the two days Shane has both observed and modeled lessons in different classrooms. Staff are working on developing their feedback ensuring that we are providing specific information to students in order to promote deeper learning. We have also been looking at strategies to maximise feedback.
Stawell Show
A big thank you to Mrs Cox-Hayward for all the time and effort she has put in particularly over the last couple of weeks to ensure that we are able to display a great variety of our students' great art work.
A mini working bee was held to help name and categorise over one hundred and fifty pieces of artwork.
Maryanne Comitti
Teaching & Learning Leader
Students of the Week:
Charlie Terwisscha Van Scheltinga - For the hard work and dedication you’ve been putting into improving your number sense throughout maths. Keep up the wonderful work Charlie!
Levi Roberts - For the incredible work you're doing throughout maths, taking on challenges and being brave! Keep up the phenomenal work Levi!
Oliver Prockter - For using your resilience and risk taking Superpowers to measure the length of different items. Your work was excellent. Keep working hard!
Finn Greenhalgh - For taking risks and contributing more to class discussions. It is always a pleasure to hear your valuable ideas and opinions. Keep it up!
Saviero Di Pietro - For outstanding results in your PAT reading, spelling and math tests. You should be extremely proud of yourself. Keep up the fabulous work ethic!
Ted Tyler - For the great results you achieved in your PAT reading and spelling tests. You should be very proud of yourself. Well done!
Mason Whitfield - For the excellent work you did learning to create a Google Sheet and graph during our recent Digi Tech lessons. Well done!
Tahlia Darker - For the fantastic efforts you have been putting into learning and understanding decimal fractions. We are very proud of you!
Akech Kur - For the awesome work you have been putting into you writing while learning about direct and indirect speech. Well done Akech!
Lily Sanderson - For the fantastic risk-taking and self-motivation you have been demonstrating in Maths while learning about decimal fractions. Keep it up Lily!
Eleanor Erwin - For your outstanding narrative. Well done on including so much description, dialogue and range of sentence type! Well done!
Zarli Nicholson - For your descriptive and entertaining narrative. Well done Zarli!
Jack Duxson - For your outstanding result in your PAT Reading assessment. Your result is a reward for all your hard work.
Beverly Parkin Alamo - For continuing to produce amazing results in your reading assessments including a near perfect score for your PAT Reading.
End of Year Celebrations:
When: Thursday 12th December, 2024.
Where: St Patrick's Primary School Oval
Time: 6:30pm
Catering: TBA
BYO: chairs/picnic blanket
Carols: Each classroom will present a Christmas Carol throughout the evening
Our end of your celebration is where we can come together to celebrate our end of year and Grade 6 Graduation. It will be an evening to celebrate learning, strive for personal excellence and celebrate our achievements. It will also be a chance to say goodbye to our Grade 6 students and families that will be leaving at the end of 2024.
We hope you can join us in celebrating a terrific year of learning and teaching and growing together as a community of learners.
End of year Grade 6 Graduation liturgy: Thursday 12th December, 2024 5:30pm
Our Grade Six liturgy will be held in the school hall. Details to be advised.
Living in Faith:
Fundraising:
From this Friday (11th October) each Friday till the end of the year our MiniVinnies group will be selling Zooper Doopers for $1.00each. The money raised will go towards Stawell Inter Church Council Welfare Centre and St Vincent de Paul Sponsor a student program.
As always we thank our St Patrick’s community for your support.
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. “We have much to be thankful for” Saint Mary MacKillop
Congratulations to this weeks award recipient: Delilah Terwisscha
For being kind and helpful to her fellow classmates.
Thank you for your kindness.
Parents & Friends:
Birthdays:
Congratulations to these students who celebrated their birthday this week:
Jarli, William A, Jayde, Texas, Chevy & Jack W
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 July 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.
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.