Newsletter 154- November 7th 2024
Prayer of the Week:
Remembrance Day
Remembrance Day marks the anniversary of the Armistice which ended the First World War.
Each year on 11 November, Australians observe one minute’s silence at 11am in memory of those who died or suffered in all wars and armed conflicts and in appreciation of their sacrifice.
Anzac Day and Remembrance Day remind us to pray for peace, to think about what we are doing as individuals, as a community and as a country to bring God’s peace into the world.
God of peace you call us to peace, Peace within and peace without
Peace before us and peace behind us, Peace on our right and peace on our left.
Christ of Peace you call us to peace, Peace with our brother and with our sister,
Peace with our neighbour and with the stranger, Peace with friends and with foes
Spirit of peace you call us to peace, Peace in work and in play
Peace in thought and in deed, Peace in word and action
Grant us peace, O God of peace.
Amen
Principal's Report:
Dear St Patrick’s community,
Last Monday, our staff participated in a Professional Development day led by Jim Waight from DOBCEL accompanied by Sr. Geraldine Larkins, a Sister of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart. The Sisters of St Joseph were instrumental in the formation of both our school and parish and Sister Geraldine helped us understand the legacy that has remained. During the session, we explored our school’s history and Catholic identity amongst the community setting of Stawell, reflecting on the unique aspects of our faith-based approach and its impact on the mind, body and spirit of our students. This day served as a precursor to a key strategic initiative for next year, where we’ll revisit our vision and mission to ensure they continue to resonate with our school community.
We were entertained by Melbourne based singer/songwriter Genevieve Bryant. If you want some upbeat music to play at home with a faith message, you can visit https://www.youtube.com/user/GenevieveBryantMusic or download in Apple Music and other music platforms.
Building Update
Next week our architects, Daniel and Bronson from Energy Architecture, will be onsite for their first visit. They will review the sketches that have already been developed, consider logistics, and compile a photo portfolio of the site, including aerial shots taken with a drone. Surveyors will also be onsite gathering important data throughout the week. At this stage, we are aiming for soil turnover in Term Four of 2025.
On Monday, we will pause to observe Remembrance Day, a time to reflect with gratitude and reverence for the courage and sacrifice of those who have served and continue to serve our country. It is an opportunity for us as a school community to honor the lives lost in conflict and to recognise the impact of war on individuals, families, and communities.
I wish everyone a lovely weekend, taking a moment to remember, reflect, and be thankful for the freedoms we enjoy today, while also contemplating the responsibility we have to build a future of peace and understanding.
Have a great week,
Bettina
From the Office:
Dear Parents/Guardians,
A friendly reminder that if you do not already have an existing fortnightly direct debit payment plan in place, your 2024 school fees are now due and payable.
For families of Grade 3 and 4 Students, a reminder that Camp is just a couple of weeks away, and Camp fees must be fully paid prior to the departure date.
Payment can be made by electronic transfer to;
National Australia BankName: St Patrick's Primary School Stawell
BSB: 083 408
A/C: 873223326
Please include your family name as a reference for receipting purposes.
A big thank you to all our families for your ongoing support. As always, if you have any questions regarding your school fee account, please do not hesitate to contact me in the office.
Kind regards
Anna Wadge
Business Manager
Wellbeing:
What is anxiety?
Many parents are confused about the nature of anxiety and especially, when to really worry about it. Anxiety refers to feelings of worry, nervousness, or a sense of apprehension, typically about an upcoming event where the outcome is uncertain, or where a young person feels he or she might not be up to the task.
The Australian Psychological Society (APS) defines anxiety as 'commonly experienced in high pressure situations, for example, prior to making a speech or sitting an exam. Feelings of anxiety can also arise following a stressful event, like an accident where the person is left feeling shaken. Anxious feelings are usually accompanied by physical sensations such as a churning stomach, lightheadedness, and a racing heart.'
When does anxiety become a disorder?
The APS says, 'While anxiety is considered a natural reaction to a stressful situation, for some people anxious thoughts, feelings, or physical symptoms can become severe and upsetting, interfering with their ability to go about their daily lives. Where symptoms of anxiety occur frequently, occur over a period of time, and interfere with daily life, it is typically considered an anxiety disorder.'
Anxiety disorders are the most common type of mental disorders diagnosed in Australia. According to the APS there are a number of different types of anxiety disorder, including:
Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
GAD is characterised by persistent and excessive worry, often about daily situations like work, family or health. This worry is difficult to control and interferes with the person's day-to-day life and relationships.
Panic Disorder
Panic Disorder is characterised by the experience of repeat panic attacks - sudden surges of overwhelming fear and anxiety and physical symptoms such as chest pain, heart palpitations, dizziness, and breathlessness.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Individuals with OCD have recurring, persistent, and distressing thoughts, images or impulses, known as obsessions (e.g. a fear of catching germs), or feel compelled to carry out certain repetitive behaviours, rituals, or mental acts, known as compulsions (e.g. hand-washing). These thoughts and acts can take over a person's life and whilst people with OCD usually know that their obsessions and compulsions are an over-reaction, they are unable to stop them.
Social Anxiety Disorder
A social anxiety disorder causes a person to have severe anxiety about being criticised or negatively evaluated by others. This leads to the person avoiding social events and other public situations for fear of doing something that leads to embarrassment or humiliation.
Specific phobia
People with a specific phobias experience extreme anxiety and fear of particular objects or situations. Common phobias include fear of flying, fear of spiders or other animals, and a fear of injections.
Agoraphobia
Agoraphobia involves intense anxiety following exposure to, or anticipation of, a variety of situations such as public transportation, open spaces, crowds, or being outside of the home alone.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
PTSD refers to a set of symptoms that can occur after exposure to a frightening and traumatic event. Symptoms include: a sense of reliving a traumatic event (through 'flashbacks' or nightmares); avoidance of places, people, or activities which remind the person of the event; feeling numb or detached from others; having negative thoughts about oneself and the world; feeling irritable, angry, or wound up; having trouble sleeping.
What causes anxiety?
Whilst there is no single known cause of anxiety disorders, there are a number of risk factors or triggers that may contribute. These differ between the different anxiety disorders too. According to the Australian Psychological Society (APS) the following factors may play a role:
- Genes: certain anxiety disorders appear to have a genetic component, with some anxiety disorders running in families.
- Physical health: poor physical health can increase a person's vulnerability to developing symptoms of anxiety.
- Thinking style: patterns of thinking characterised by anticipating the worst, persistent negative self-talk, low self-esteem and unhelpful coping strategies (e.g., avoidance) are linked to problem anxiety.
- Stress: stressful events such as a family breakdown, work or school deadlines and financial hardship can act as a trigger for anxiety.
The APS list treatments that work
Cognitive-behaviour therapy:
Cognitive-behaviour therapy (CBT) has been found to be the most effective treatment for anxiety disorders. CBT is a type of psychotherapy that helps an individual to change unhelpful thoughts and behaviours which can contribute to anxiety. CBT combines some of the following strategies for identifying and challenging unhelpful thoughts:
Problem solving
Problem-solving skills can help a person cope with situations or thoughts that are making them stressed or anxious. Structured problem solving involves identifying the problem, developing and selecting a solution to the problem, implementing the solution, and evaluating its helpfulness.
Exposure therapy
In exposure therapy the psychologist guides the person through a series of real or imaginary scenarios to confront specific fears. Through a gradual process of exposure, the person learns to cope more effectively with these fears, and with practice, the anxious response naturally decreases.
Mindfulness
In mindfulness-based therapy, distress about the experience of anxiety, rather than anxiety itself, is the focus. As such, the psychologist assists the person to focus on the bodily sensations and thoughts that arise when he or she is anxious, and instead of avoiding, withdrawing or fighting against these symptoms, he or she remains present and aware of them. As a result, the person becomes more open and accepting of the thoughts and sensations associated with anxiety and less overwhelmed by them, enabling them to engage more fully with life.
Cognitive restructuring
Feelings of anxiety sometimes stem from an individual's negative or unhelpful thoughts. Cognitive restructuring is a technique used by psychologists to help a person to challenge negative thoughts and develop more helpful and constructive ways of thinking.
Relaxation
Many individuals who experience high levels of anxiety often report that they have trouble relaxing. Learning a form of relaxation, such as meditation or progressive muscle relaxation, and practising it regularly, has been found to be an effective treatment for anxiety.
Lifestyle Changes
In addition to the above psychological techniques, making simple changes to a person's lifestyle can help lower stress and anxiety. Including regular exercise, lowering or eliminating alcohol and caffeine, engaging in enjoyable activities, improving time-management skills, and having adequate sleep can help to lower anxiety.
https://podcasts.apple.com/au/
Ms Lillie Marshman
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 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 6-
14/11/24 Miss Kerrie Ryan Learning Diversity
Middle C:
Who can believe it’s November already?! Only feels like yesterday, a group of 18 Grade 3/4 students entered the classroom for the first day of 2024 and now we are quickly approaching the end of the year!
This term has been jam packed full of some great learning and outstanding success by all children in Middle C. We have also been working hard at many of the end of year assessments and I am proud of what these awesome kids have been able to achieve! All the hard work throughout the year is definitely paying off.
We are also eagerly counting down the days until the Middles camp to Grampians Retreat in Dunkeld. We are all very excited for all the awesome activities and experiences we have in store!
A special shout out to Tanner Freeland who competed in Triple Jump at the State Championships on Wednesday. We are all so proud of his efforts.
Now over to the kids to share what they are proud of in 2025.
Abigail - In 2024, I am proud of how many friends I’ve made so far since I came back here from Germany :)
Akech - In 2024, I am proud of learning about decimals fractions.
Arli - In 2024, I am proud of my friendship flower I made in wellbeing and my fairy tale writing.
Curtis - In 2024, I am proud of everything. I am proud of my fairy tale and my sports.
Edie - In 2024, I am proud of every single bit of work and sport like athletics,cross country, maths, fairytale and information report.
Fletcher - In 2024, this year I am proud of making it to Regionals in hurdles.
Isaac - In 2024, I am proud of everything this year, especially working on my emotions, grades, and my good work.
Jack - In 2024, I am proud of going to next level sports in 200 metres and long jump and my fairytale narrative.
Kora - In 2024, I am proud of my coraline bookmark. I started with a beige yellow background then made black felt buttons and a fake needle out of thread then I made the green triangle crystal with a hole in it.
Lily - In 2024, I am proud of my maths,writing and absolutely my Health poster that I started today with Akech.
Marianne - In 2024, I am proud of going to REGIONALS in Cross country and Athletics and information reports, maths procedure and my fairytale and everything that we do at school.
Oliver - In 2024, I am proud of my writing. I have really improved since last year. My information reports have been amazing. As well as my very, very, very long fairytale. I also love my procedure writing piece. Also, I cannot wait for camp coming up.
Oscar - In 2024, I am proud of my maths because I worked hard and did my absolute best and I am SUPER excited about camp, but I am going to miss my mum, dad, sister, dog, cat and chickens. But I am pretty sure I will enjoy camp.
Tamieka - In 2024, I am proud of my Auslan and my writing and my art work and i'm very happy that i came first in my colouring and my fairytale and my sentence a day and i'm excited for camp and my healthy eating poster and getting to see my mate jane and getting to do school every day and getting to see my teacher every day.
Tanner - In 2024, I am proud of my fairy tale and I am SUPER happy for making it to STATES!!! In triple jump. and my maths for my percentage.
Texas - In 2024, I am proud of my writing because I have had much detail and all the achievements that I have made to my work since the start of the year. The figurative language that I have used in my writing work . I am also proud of my sentence a day because I use hungry jack and maccas. Also, I can't wait for the amazing CAMP in Dunkeld!!!!!!!!!
Mr Josh Cunningham
Students of the Week:
Mackenzie Bourke - For the incredible work you’ve been doing throughout all areas of learning. You’re a superstar Macca, keep up the great work.
Scott Duxson - For the wonderful work and dedication you’ve been putting into uplevelling your writing. I am very proud of you Scott, keep it up!
George Darker - For the self-motivation you showed when completing your InitiaLit Cumulative Review. You read all your words correctly and you read with fluency. Keep working hard!
Kaison Portelli - For your excellent work when learning about equality in Maths. I loved how you asked questions to consolidate your learning. Keep up the great work!
Jarli Goodes - For showing so much self-motivation with your maths work by working so hard on your ongoing practice book. Well done, I'm proud of you!
Dixie Davenport - For the fantastic work you did on word building, making lots of words from base words, prefixes and suffixes. It is great to see you so motivated and eager to learn.
Ruby Allan - For taking on feedback from your peers and teachers and applying it to your fairytale writing. Keep up the great work!
Prithvi Renjith - For the amazing efforts you have put into developing your joined handwriting skills. Your handwriting is beautiful and fluent. Keep it up!
Fletcher Thomas - For the hard work and resilience you have been putting into your Maths while learning about division. Keep up the great work Fletcher!
Jack Wadge - For taking on feedback from your teacher to create great descriptions in your fairytale writing. Great work Jack, keep it up!
Mackenzie Farrell - For impressive PAT Maths assessment results, all that hard work and determination has paid off - well done Mackenzie!
Charlie Bird - For the confidence and ability you are showing when working with percentages, decimals and fractions! Well done Charlie!
Thomas Truong - For achieving some outstanding results in all your PAT assessments. Keep working hard Thomas!
Logan Piatkov - For your fantastic result in your recent PAT Maths assessment. Well done Logan!
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:
Do you or someone who is doing it tough?
Please ask them to come to The Cottage 20 Sloane St Stawell. We are open Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays between 10:30am and 12:30pm. For out of hours emergencies ring 0408038949. If anyone needs help at Christmas, please come to the Cottage in November to put their name down. Christmas distribution will be on Tuesday 17th December.”
Thanks,
Mary Rita Thomas
Secretary Stawell Inter Church Council
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.
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 must teach more by example than by word.” Saint Mary MacKillop
Congratulations to this weeks award recipient: Georgia Campbell
For her kindness to a fellow student who had fallen over.
Thank you for your kindness.
Parents & Friends:
Birthdays:
Congratulations to these students who celebrated their birthday this week:
Mason W & Willow
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 November 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
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.