Newsletter 38 - November 26th 2021

Prayer of the Week:

This weekend marks the first Sunday of Advent.  Advent  is the beginning of the Catholic Church’s Year.  It is a time of promise, expectation and participation as we prepare for the great celebration of the birth of Jesus.

Advent is the time we wait in joyful hope for God to be born in our hearts.  The season of Advent recognises the coming of Jesus, the Son of God in a special way. God’s Son became one of us and one with us, to share our human experience fully and completely.

Loving God

 It is almost time to celebrate the birthday of our Son. It is getting hotter each week, school will soon be over and the summer holidays are about to start. In all our excitement, help us to remember that it is Jesus who shows us how to love and be happy. Help us to be a more loving community, more generous to our friends and more helpful to our neighbours. Lord Jesus, we are waiting for you. Come and stay with us. 

We make this prayer, through Christ our Lord. 

Amen 

Principal's Report:

Welcome

COVID Update 

As many of you would be aware there is a growing number of COVID-19 cases in the Stawell community. At St Pat's we are continuing to monitor the situation and will communicate to the school community if there are any updates.

At school, we are continuing to follow all health protocols. We ask that if your child is identified as a social contact of a COVID-19 positive case please let the school know and follow all health advice.

Under the current guidelines those identified as a social contact need to be tested and isolate until they receive a negative result.

Take care and together we can get through this!

2022 Planning 

 As Term Four draws to a close much of my time in recent weeks has been focussed on planning for 2022. This includes putting in place the staffing structure that can best support the students and families of St Patrick’s. 

I am pleased to announce the following appointments of school leadership positions for 2022: 

Maryanne Comitti - Assistant Principal; Religious Education & Community Involvement Leader; Teaching and Learning Leader 

Kerrie Ryan - Learning Diversity Leader 

Leon Moloney - Sports Coordinator 

Lillie Comitti - Mental Health and Wellbeing Coordinator

I have every faith in these valuable members of our school community and know that they will work tirelessly to continue to improve our school for the benefit of students and families. 

I also acknowledge Michelle Howard for her many years of service to the school in leadership roles. Michelle has been a great support to me since I joined the St Patrick’s community. I will be forever grateful for her wisdom, guidance, and support. Michelle has decided to take some well-earned long service for Term One next year. She will return in Term Two in a part-time capacity.  

 With Faith in our Future 

Chris McAloon 

Wellbeing:

If you see someone struggling maybe you could try to use the HELP tool.

Teaching and Learning:

As teachers are busy assessing and preparing school reports the incredible support that our parents and carers have done to support remote learning that occurred at various times throughout the year has not gone unnoticed. Juggling work commitments and running a family whilst supervising and supporting your own children with their remote learning was far from easy.  Again we say “Thankyou.” 

The terms ‘Parent Engagement’ and ‘Parent Involvement’ are often used to mean the same thing - they are not. Both are good, however one has much more of an impact on student learning progress than the other. Parent involvement in schools includes attending events, volunteering in class or other activities, and serving on school boards and parent committees. Parent engagement includes parent support for children’s learning at home in addition to ensuring that the partnership between school and home is built on communication and support—both ways.

Why is parent engagement in learning important?

There is strong evidence that parent engagement is associated with improvements for students of all ages. This includes early literacy, school adjustment, student attendance, motivation, self-regulatory behaviour, social skills, retention and later, graduation rates. This evidence confirms the importance of valuing and supporting parent engagement in learning. Research has identified positive home-school relations as a characteristic of schools with high academic standards, regardless of student backgrounds. Highly effective schools regard parents as partners in education and promote home-school partnerships.

There are elements of engagement that have the greatest effect on academic achievement for children.

These include:

• Providing a safe, secure and stimulating home environment and;
• Showing our children that we value learning and the work of parents and teachers together, has a significant and positive effect on achievement and a child’s ability to adjust to change.

Parent involvement is still very important as it helps create good relationships between schools and families. Parent engagement, however, has been shown to have a greater effect on academic attainment than school-based parent involvement.

Enhancing parent engagement at St Patricks is one of our school’s goals. We look forward to enhancing these important partnerships towards improving the learning of all students.

We have been fortunate to be able to welcome back a  Student Teacher for placement this term.

Mr Josh Cunningham is a third year Teaching student from Australian Catholic University in Ballarat.

He has been honing his teaching skills over the last term. Initially once a week and this week 3/4 H have been lucky enough to have him every day.

His favourite aspect of teaching is being able to have a positive influence on students and enhancing students lives through learning and investigation. Seeing those 'ahh haa' moments.

When he’s not teaching he enjoys sleeping, eating, exercising and taking walks.

Living in Faith:

Once again St Patrick’s Primary School annual 5 cent challenge will start from Friday 26th November, 2021 and finish on the last day of Term 4. 

Last year our school community raised enough money to fund three children through the St Vincent de Paul Assist a Student program. These three children's school education was fully paid for by the generosity of our school community. 

Each classroom is participating in our annual 5cent challenge.  We are seeking donations of 5c coins to go into our money boxes in the classrooms. 

For more information please see:  https://www.vinnies.org.au/page/Our_Impact/International_Impact/Assist_a_student_today/

Why do we at St Patrick’s raise money for the poor?  

Catholic schools participate in the Church’s mission “to bring the Good News to the poor” (Luke 4:18). In partnership with parents, parishes and other agencies within the Church and the broader community, Catholic schools are called to give witness to a faith which does justice with love. All have a responsibility to read the signs of the times and to respond with love and compassion, ever seeking to protect human dignity and serve the common good. The Catholic Church teaches that the poor represent those who are marginalised in society. Jesus himself taught the importance of helping those who are poor and need help.

"Never see a need without doing something about it". (St Mary of the Cross MacKillop)

The third edition of the commemorative Faith in the Future magazine is out now and highlights stories and coverage of the Bicentenary of Catholic education in Australia, including celebrating Family Week, the Goulburn schools strike, the first religious orders to establish Catholic schools in Australia and reflections from our bicentenary partners and more.

Click here to read this edition.

Parish Bulletin:

Around Our School:

A huge thankyou to our hardworking and generous Parents and Friends commitee. With funds raised by turning sausages, selling coffee and slices and many other behind the scenes events we have been able to purchase two of these fantastic new and portable basketball rings. Hamish is seen here showing off his new found skills. He is one of our many students who are enjoying this new outdoor activity.

Please come along and make new friends and/or enjoy catching up with old ones at our AGM.

The Parents and Friends Association of St Patrick's Primary School has a long and proud partnership of raising funds for all our students to enjoy.  If you feel this sounds like something you or someone you know would like to be a part of then please join us:

Tuesday the 7th December at the Gift Hotel Stawell from 7pm. New members and Office Bearers are required for 2022

Please RSVP Nicole Osborne 0438 684 477 by Friday 3rd December

Rest assured these meetings are a casual affair, however, as we are a registered organisation we do have to follow an official protocol and vote in new position holders.

We would love to see you all there!

 

We will welcome the Northern Grampians Shire Mayor Tony Driscoll to the opening of

'Paddys Paddock' on Thursday December 2nd at 1pm.

The children will be treated to a free hot dog lunch and sports afternoon.

Students of the Week: congratulations

Maya Parry - For always being ready to learn and giving every task your best effort. Well done.

Marianne Duxson - For bringing a lovely energy and enthusiasm to the classroom and always being happy to share your ideas. Great job.

Aaliyah Carlsen - for the amazing work you have been doing in reading.  Keep up the hard work!

Ethan Prydderch - for the wonderful reading you have been doing.  Your comprehension of text has been amazing.  Keep it up!

Boston McGaffin - for always trying so hard and for your excellent reading growth this year

Lily Sanderson - for your positive attitude towards your maths learning and always trying your best.

Jobe Allen - for the fantastic mental maths skills you demonstrated in your maths assessment.

Laila Gready - for the energy, enthusiasm and positive attitude that you bring to class every day.

Kobe Power - for showing kindness and compassion towards other students within our learning community. Well done!
Ava Parry - for your hard work and dedication during mathematics lessons. Excellent work Ava!

Arlee Seehusen -  For always completing learning tasks with a positive attitude and being an enthusiastic member of the classroom. 

Heidi Kane -  For always setting a great example for your peers and taking on all learning tasks with a positive outlook.

Torah Pickering - for your amazing descriptive writing piece you completed this week.

Isabelle Thomas - for the fantastic detail you included in your descriptive writing this week.

Upcoming Events:

November 26th - Grade 6 Tree tops adventure

December 2nd - Paddys Paddock Opening 1pm - all children to wear sports uniform, free hot dog lunch provided

December 3rd - Morning tea for Classroom Helpers

December 7th- Statewide 2022 Transition Day 

December 7th - P and F A.G.M 7pm at Gift Hotel

December 8-10th - 5/6 Camp to Cape Bridgewater

December 10th - Reports go home

December - 14th Grades 3-6 Pool Day/junior school event TBC

December 15th - Grade 6 Liturgy TBC

December 16th- Students final day 3:15pm dismissal

December 17th-Teachers Final Day

January 31st 2022 - All teachers and Students start Term 1 

April 8th 2022 - End Term 1

Acknowledgement of Country:

We acknowledge Traditional Owners and Custodians of this land on which our school stands.
We pay respect to Elders past, present and emerging.
We thank them for sharing their cultures, spiritualities and ways of
living with the land in this place we all now call home.