Newsletter 44 - February 18 th 2022
Prayer of the Week:
This week’s prayer is an Examen - a prayer form from St Ignatius which calls for Christians to examine their conscience. St. Ignatius invites us to find God in all things. That means we have to pay careful attention to how the Spirit is moving in each moment of our daily lives. In it, we’re invited to encounter God, express gratitude for the gift and gifts of each day, and to commit to make up for any mistakes we may have made.
What interactions with others were significant to me today?
What care and compassion did I show?
What was going on in my head during these interactions? Was I truly present?
What control do I have over the circumstances of these individuals?
Did I do all that I could at this point in time?
What can I do for tomorrow?
Principal's Report:
Welcome
Opening School Mass
It was so wonderful to have our senior students return to the Church for the Opening School Mass. Due to current coronavirus protocols, our Junior and Middle learning communities gathered for their own separate liturgies at school. The Gospel reading for the mass and the liturgies was the Parable of the Mustard Seed. In this parable, Jesus teaches that although the Kingdom of God started small, with Jesus and the disciples, it would grow and spread across the world to unlimited numbers of followers. Father Andrew Hayes shared a wonderful sermon with the senior students, where he spoke about the power of small actions.
COVID Update
Thank you for supporting the school through these challenging times by adhering to all coronavirus protocols. The number of families collecting rapid antigen test kits has been very encouraging. A reminder that this is a voluntary system and the school recommends students undertake tests twice a week. As you are aware, students in Grades 3-6 are required to wear a face mask indoors unless they have a valid exemption. The school has a small number of masks available if a student misplaces theirs. However, we ask that students please bring a mask and a spare to school each day.
Our community has been fortunate that we have not had significant staff numbers impacted by COVID such that we have continued to provide quality learning and teaching and student care. I remind families that this could change quickly and the school may be required to ask some classes or year levels to stay home if we do not have adequate staff numbers onsite. We hope that this is not the case, but if it does become a necessity, we will work hard to minimise any disruption.
Swimming Sports
Next week on Thursday, February 24th we will hold our annual Swimming Carnival at the Stawell Sports and Aquatic Centre. Students in Grades 3-6 will be swimming with the action beginning at 10 am. Our junior students will attend to cheer on the swimmers and to share in a sausage sizzle.
Parents and families are encouraged to attend, please note the carnival will operate in line with the Aquatic Centre's COVID-Safe Plan. This includes a requirement for all adults to show evidence of vaccination on arrival and wear a mask indoors.
Please ensure you have given for your child to attend on PAM.
School Advisory Council
As we begin another school year, I am calling for nominations for representatives for the School Advisory Council. The council meets once a term, generally on a Tuesday evening. The SAC is the leading advisory group for me as the Principal. It is an active forum for parent and community participation, providing support and advice in strategic planning, school improvement, educational outcomes and stewardship of resources. In 2022, school facilities and buildings will be a major focus aS the school revises its Building Masterplan. If you would like to nominate yourself or someone else please contact me.
I would also like to take the opportunity to acknowledge the service of the departing members of the council: Jo Hemley, Martin O’Donnell, Yasmin Harris, and Sarah Plunkett. Each made valuable contributions and their dedication to the improvement of the school was always evident. Thank you to all!
With Faith in our Future
Chris McAloon
A Word from the Office:
MEDICAL PROFILE:
Is your Child’s Medical Profile up to date?
It is vital to have a valid, up to date medical profile for every student at school. Parents are required to create a medical profile for each enrolled student via the SIMON Everywhere Parent Access Module (PAM). The information entered appears directly in our school administration system, can be updated as frequently as required and is included in student manifests for sporting events and excursions etc. Your child MUST have a valid medical profile in order for you to be able to give electronic permission for school activities.
If you require assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me via the school office.
Anna Wadge
Business Manager
St Patrick's Primary School
55 Patrick Street
(P O BOX 856)
STAWELL . VIC . 3380
Phone 5358 2493
* Please remember to send your child to school with a reusable or disposable mask and a spare just in case they misplace one. The school does not supply them and has a limited supply.
Wellbeing:
Mental Health
Mental health is defined by the World Health Organisation as “the capacity of thought, emotion, and behaviour that enables every individual to realise their own potential in relation to their developmental stage, to cope with the normal stresses of life, to study or work productively and fruitfully, and to contribute to their community”. Mental health is not simply the absence of a mental disorder and generally refers to a continuum of mental states, ranging from positive mental health at one end to significant psychological distress or impairment at the other. An individual can move along this continuum at different times, depending on their circumstances.
Throughout this year in correlation with the Mental Health in Primary Schools Pilot the staff will look closely at the mental health continuum.
As with wellbeing, our mental health is influenced by a range of biological, social, emotional, cognitive and environmental factors. Some of these factors are within our control, whereas others are largely out of our control.
It is helpful for the students at St Patrick’s Primary School to be aware of their own mental health and where they are on the continuum at different points in time. They might notice they feel more tired than usual. They may feel worried, stressed or sad more days than not. They may be socially withdrawn or irritable with their family. An understanding of common signs and symptoms, and an awareness of their own mental state, can help students to identify concerns early and seek help to improve their overall wellbeing. (please see image above and below)
To build on this at St Patrick’s Primary School this year we have introduced a Social and Emotional Learning 2 year cycle to ensure that our students know/learn all they need to about Social and Emotional Learning.
Social and emotional learning (SEL) is now widely accepted as a key component of every student’s education. Social and emotional learning involves the acquisition of skills students need to develop positive wellbeing, resilience and mental health. Social and emotional learning helps students to notice, interpret and manage their own emotions, and have empathy for the emotions of others, so they can make responsible decisions, solve problems, cope with challenges and build positive relationships.
Social and emotional learning (SEL) also helps students to stay focused on their work and feel more engaged and connected with their learning. Social and emotional learning is just as important as other areas of the curriculum, as it gives students skills they can use in all aspects of their life.
I look forward to sharing with you more information as I dive deeper into the pilot program.
Mental health in Primary schools Pilot program is being undertaken at St Patrick’s Primary school by myself. I would like to share with you all some background knowledge on what I am learning in my first unit to help support and guide our students and their mental health.
https://emergingminds.com.au/
If you have any questions please feel free to email me, all grade 2 and grade 4 parents will be supplied with a survey to complete in the next coming weeks.
Thank you.
Mental Health and Wellbeing Coordinator - Lillie Comitti.
Dear Year 2 & Year 4 Parents,
Our school is participating in the Mental Health in Primary Schools (MHIPS) pilot. A letter about the pilot project will come home to you with your child this week and outlines the following:
All parents/guardians of grades 2 and 4 children are invited to join the research. To participate, we are asking that you kindly complete two 15-minute online surveys (the first in Term 1 and the second in Term 4) about your child’s emotional and behavioural development and your knowledge of mental health and wellbeing in children. You do not have to be involved if you do not want to.
The letter includes a link to the Participant Information and Consent Form and survey and is repeated below for your convenience:
Please complete the survey by Friday 11 March.
If you have any questions about the research, please contact the MCRI research team at mhips@mcri.edu.au or call 03 9936 6072.
Teaching and Learning:
It has been a great start to the year in Grade 1! All students have settled into the routines of the classroom and some wonderful learning has been happening.
In Literacy, we have been doing our InitiaLit program. We have been revising the names and sounds for all letters and some digraphs and we know that we have vowel letters and consonant letters. We have been learning to read and spell our tricky words: said, are, her, was, you, very, put, have and were, by using songs and chants. In Storybook, we read Fang Fang’s Chinese New Year and did some vocabulary work on the words: groan, sprinkle, ferocious. For Writing, we have been having picture chats and writing super sentences. We are trying to make sure that our sentences have a capital letter at the beginning, a full stop at the end, finger spaces, adjectives, conjunctions and that they sound right.
In Maths, we were revising some things we learned in Foundation but have recently moved on to writing numbers as tens and ones and writing addition number stories and sentences to match a picture. We have loved using blocks, our hands and tens frames to make numbers and writing facts on a whiteboard to help our learning.
Grade 1 and Grade 2 have been joining together for our Religion lessons. We have been learning about choices and how the choices we make can affect others. We watched the story ‘The Angry Bee’ and discussed and wrote about the bad choice the bee made and what would have been the better choice to make.
We are now having Science lessons once a week and are very excited about this! Our focus is Chemical Science and for our first two lessons we have been learning about what materials different objects are made of and experimenting and recording how we can change their physical appearance.
In Wellbeing we have been revisiting The Zones of Regulation. We have been talking about different emotions and the different strategies to use when we are in each Zone.
It has been a busy start to the year and we cannot wait to keep learning during Term 1!
Miss Ryan
How do we teach reading 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. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact the Junior Community teachers (Mrs Sharp Foundation, Miss Ryan Grade 1, Miss Comitti/Mrs Harney Grade 2 or myself).
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)
Parent Teacher Interviews - Wednesday 2nd March, 2022.
Interviews will take place on Wednesday 2nd March, 2022 with a scheduled ten minute block per student, where there is 1:1 time for parents/carers and teachers to meet and share your child’s learning. It also provides an opportunity for you to share valuable information with the school about your child which helps teachers understand your child more.
Bookings will be available from next week via PAM.
Maryanne Comitti
Teaching and Learning leader
Living in Faith:
Religion:
World day of Social Justice - February 20th, 2022.
In Religion Grade 5/6 are currently learning about hope and human dignity. This Sunday is Social Justice Sunday where Social justice reminds us that everyone deserves equal rights and opportunities and to be treated without prejudice.
“A passion for social justice grows when we recognise the value of each human being and find delight in reaching out to others.” Fr Andrew Hamilton
An interesting read for those interested in Social Justice:
Social Justice
Once again St Patrick’s Primary School will be running a Social Justice team. The social justice group is designed for students between Grades 4 - 6 to help those in need within our school, local or international community. The Social Justice group introduces children to social justice issues whilst being supported by myself and the St Patrick’s teaching community. Within this group students are able to meet once a week during lunch to talk, share ideas and any social justice concerns they have.
The aim of the Social Justice group is about living out the Gospel values together with our school vision and mission statement. St Patrick’s school vision statement highlights that we are a school community which reflects and celebrates Christ as its center, through this the social justice group is committed to valuing our whole community and coming together for a loving, just, compassionate and tolerant world.
Any students from Grades 4-6 who are interested in being part of our Social Justice team will be able to meet with myself during Thursday lunchtime from 1:20pm to 1:40pm (this date and time may change periodically depending on other commitments).
Friday is Zooper Dooper Day.
For Term one the Social Justice Team will be selling Zooper Doopers during lunchtime. Zooper Doopers will be for sale for $1.00 each with all money raised going towards the St Vincent de Paul Sponsor a Student Program.
In previous years our school community has participated in the Assist a student fundraiser where we have raised money to sponsor anywhere from three to six children through the St Vincent de Paul Assist a Student program.
Each classroom participated in our annual 5cent challenge. For more information please see: https://www.vinnies.org.au/page/Our_Impact/International_Impact/Assist_a_student_today/
Maryanne Comitti
Religious Education Leader
Parents & Friends Association
We are looking at re-starting our Parents & Friends Association. If you are interested in joining our PFA please speak to Libby O’Callaghan mum of Sophie (Gr 2) & Isaac (Gr1) or Nicole Jones mum of Teepika (Gr 6) or myself. We welcome anyone to join us in supporting our school community and fostering new friendships. We will then schedule a meeting to set our new committee up.
What does a Parents & Friends Association (PFA) do in a Catholic school?
In a catholic school the aims of a parents & friends association are
-to promote the cause of true Christian education by bringing parents, friends and students and teaching staff of the school into fruitful co-operation
-to promote social contact among parents
-plan and organise functions associated with the social life of the school community
-inform the school community of PFA activities
-to raise funds
-to provide material assistance in equipping and maintaining the school, when deemed necessary by the Principal
At St Patrick’s we have been extremely fortunate to have had the wonderful support of our Parents & Friends and wider community over many years. This has helped make St Patrick’s a wonderful community to be a part of.
Swimming sports
If you are interested in helping out with our school BBQ on swimming sports day please let me know.
Second-hand Uniforms
We currently have a large supply of quality second-hand uniforms if anyone is looking for a spare uniform. Please check-in at the office, uniforms can be purchased for a gold coin donation which will go to Parents and Friends. We are always seeking donations of uniforms so would appreciate it if any uniforms that are no longer needed by your children could be left at the office. All donations are greatly accepted, thankyou to those who have donated.
Students of the week
Congratulations to all our Students of the week:
Bonnie Wickham - for having a great transition to school life and being eager to answer questions and join in with class discussions.
James Hooper - for showing great enthusiasm in your learning tasks and always being ready to participate in your lessons.
Isaac O'Callaghan - for always being ready to start learning and for trying your best on all activities. Keep up the hard work!
Mason Whitfield - for your wonderful work in Science. Well done on changing the shape of different materials. You are a superstar!
Sophie O’Callaghan: For being a really positive and cheerful class member. Keep up the amazing work.
Jack Wadge: For his positive attitude and for working hard in every subject area! Keep up the great work Jack!
Eleana O’Kwor - for your outstanding work with your alliteration and sentence activities. You have an amazing vocabulary. Well done!
Ethan Prydderch - for the great efforts you have been putting into writing and identifying different types of sentences. Keep up the good work!
Mia Bailey - For showing an enthusiasm to learn and grow in all subject areas. As well as a willingness to contribute to class discussions and listen actively and intently to your classmates. You embody the school values each and every day.
Thomas Truong - For your positive approach to learning and your willingness to improve and achieve every single day. For encompassing the school values: We are learners and we are respectful. Keep up the excellent work!
Laila Gready - For your willingness to share your knowledge of Mathematical concepts in front of the class.
Jobe Allen - For showing initiative to complete tasks independently during Reading time.
Akuol Kur - For such a positive start to grade 5 and for always being an active member of our classroom discussions.
Teepika Jones - For always setting such a great example and for the effort you have been putting towards your learning, especially in Math.
Birthdays:
Congratulations to all these students who have a birthday this week:
Curtis Calantog
Teepika Jones
Milla Wooley
Around Our Community:
President – Tracey McCartney | Vice President – James Gooden | Secretary – Kerry Ryan
The Great Western Football & Netball Club prides itself on being a family friendly club that welcomes all players and their families to our club. We cater for players of all ages, gender, ability, and provide opportunities to play and enjoy the game of football & netball in a positive, family friendly and inclusive environment. We provide a range of innovative programs to encourage participation and develop our junior members.
We are currently after the following junior players to join our club to become a member of our club:
Under 13 Netball – training Thursday @ 4.00pm
Under 15 Netball – training Thursday nights @ 5.00pm
Under 17 Netball – training Thursday nights @ 5.00pm
Under 12 Football – training to commence Thursday 3rd @ 4.00pm
Under 16.5 Football – training Thursday nights @ 5.00pm
If your child would like to join our wonderful club, please contact myself or attend any of the listed training nights as outlined above.
Tracey McCartney
GWFNC President
0429600228
Parish Bulletin:
Upcoming Events:
Monday, Tuesday 21st and 22nd February - Grades 5-6, 3-4 Swimming Lessons 10:30-11:30am
Thursday 24th February - School swimming Carnival at Stawell Sports and Aquatic Centre. Middle and Senior children will be taken by bus from school first race at 10am. All parents and Grandparents are welcome to attend as per SSAC guidelines attached below. Foundation and Junior R and H/C will join us for a BBQ lunch (gratefully put on by the Middle and Senior school Parents) and cheering of relays and Captains vs Teachers race. Please ensure you have completed the permission form on PAM.
Friday 25th February - Grade Six Leadership Badges Presentation 2:50 pm in the school hall and live-streamed.
Wednesday 2nd March - Ash Wednesday Liturgy
Wednesday 2nd March - Parent Teacher Interviews - bookings will open next week via PAM.
Friday 4th March - Black Ranges Swimming Carnival Horsham
Monday 7th March -Foundation at school Full time
Friday 11th March - Visable School Learning PD - Student Free Day
Monday 14th March - Labour Day Public Holiday - No School
Thursday 17th March - St Patricks Day - Children & Staff encouraged to wear Green casual clothes
Wednesday 23rd March - Maths Olympics at SSC
Friday 25th March - Harmony Day Celebrations - Footsteps Dance Company onsite, please wear orange, red or yellow clothes. Activities TBC
Monday 4th - 6th April - Senior F and M School Camp to Melbourne
April 8th 2022 - End Term 1
Tuesday 26th April - Start Term 2
*Pool Carnival Requirements – Stawell Sports and Aquatic Centre
- All person 18 years and over attending our facility need to be fully vaccinated and provide vaccination to staff upon entry
- All spectators and helpers who are attending the facility need to check-in via the QR code upon entry, manual entry is available for those who are unable to check in electronically
- All persons attending the facility 8 years and over must always wear a mask they are in the indoor facility
- This means that everyone needs to wear a mask to enter the facility and can be removed once they are outside
- Social distancing of 1.5m must be always maintained where possible
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.