Newsletter 46 - March 5 th 2022

How timely our sunflowers are blooming. Sunflowers are the national flower for Ukraine. 

PRAYER FOR UKRAINE

God of peace and justice,

we pray for the people of Ukraine today.

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.

QUEENSLAND AND NSW FLOODING

Australians once again are coping with devastation and disruption brought about by natural disaster. We pray for all those who have been affected by the flooding, and for all those offering shelter and support.

Annual Permission Form and Student Technology Agreements 

If you have not already done so, please return your completed 2022 Student Permission form and Student Technology Agreements to the office.  Students are unable to access extra-curricular programs such as Kahootz, and senior students will not be permitted to utilise their devices off site until these documents are received.     

Anna Wadge

Business Manager

St Patrick's Primary School 

55 Patrick Street

(P O BOX 856)

STAWELL . VIC . 3380

Phone 5358 2493

There are many theories about healthy development and how to care for young children. One of of these particular development models is Maslow's theory of human needs. Originally based upon five key hierarchical stages created by the psychologist Abraham Maslow, these stages help parents and teachers understand how to best take care of young children and their specific needs.

The five stages are typically shown as a pyramid. On the base level, biological and physiological needs must first be met before the children can advance to any other level. Some of these needs include basic rights such as food, drink, warmth, shelter, and sleep. For example, if children are hungry or tired, they have a far more difficult time concentrating on more complex situations. This is why it is wise to attend to these requirements first, before encouraging them to play, listen to a story, complete work, or engage in other activities.

Safety is the second stage and deals with the need for stability, security, protection, and freedom from fear. Once a child's initial needs are met, they may be more aware of their additional needs in this stage. This awareness manifests itself in areas such as separation anxiety or uncertainty about new activities.

The next, love and belongingness, deals with affection, love, and friendship. Here, children will be able to make friends or connect with their loved ones at home. Furthermore, the fourth stage, esteem, revolves around children's needs to gain independence, self-respect or achievements. This is where children benefit from being praised for their work or being able to accomplish something on their own, like tie their shoes or eat their snack.

Finally, self-actualization is more complicated and difficult for very young children to reach. This deals with realization of personal potential or self-fulfillment. This develops over time and deals with a sense of contentment with one's self and situation, which is challenging for young children to comprehend.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is vitally important for our children to be aware of when learning how to be the best they can be and also knowing their own strengths and weaknesses in relation to their Wellbeing and Mental Health. 

As we teach and guide your child/ren throughout their primary school years we wish to ensure that all students can identify all areas of Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs. Luckily for us we are very fortunate at the moment to not be affected by any of the current issues that are happening around the world but we are always keeping those who are affected in our thoughts and prayers. 

Have a lovely weekend, 

Thank you. 

Lillie Comitti - Mental Health and Wellbeing Coordinator.

Assembly:

How exciting - Assemblies are back for grade level only.  At this stage, we are only able to have parents & friends of students in the grade who are hosting the assembly.  Visitors to school buildings and assemblies will also need to provide evidence of vaccination. Classrooms that are not presenting assembly will be able to watch the assembly online. 

Assemblies will start at 2:50pm in the school hall. 

Assembly roster for term 1:  

Week 5 4th March Grade 1

Week 6 11th March No assembly - Student free day

Week 7 18th March Grade 2 

Week 8 25th March No assembly - Harmony day 

Week 9 1st April Grade 3/4

Week 10 8th April Foundation 

Junior R News:

What a jam packed couple of weeks it has been in Junior R! It is hard to believe we are halfway through the term already. 

Tuesday morning we were very excited to go to mass at the Church for the very first time.  We went to Ash Wednesday Mass and there were lots of comments from the students about how big and beautiful our Church was.  At the end of mass, Father Andrew let us go behind the altar to have a look and he even played a couple of tunes on the organ for us.  We got a little wet walking back but it was nice and refreshing.

 We observed Shrove Tuesday.  We ate delicious pancakes and over the next few days will be learning about why we have Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday.  

In Literacy, we have finished our review lessons and are moving on to learning about compound words.  We are becoming experts at writing Super Sentences and are editing our work to make sure our sentences have a capital letter at the beginning, a full stop at the end, they are about someone or something and they sound right.  Our new Tricky Words are could, would and should but we are still getting a little bit tricked on the words where and were.  

In Maths, we have been learning to add two collections together and then write a turnaround fact to match.  We have been ordering the days of the week, months of the year and the seasons and trying really hard to name which one comes before and after a particular day, month or season without having to go back to the start. We have also looked at calendars and worked out what day a particular date is on.

In Inquiry, we are continuing to learn about comparing different materials and how we can change materials between solids, liquids and gasses with different actions. This Friday, we are going to use the iPads to make a Stop Motion video.  We cannot wait!

Kerrie Ryan

Writing - from America. 

Bright and early Wednesday morning Ms Hughes, Ms Comitti & Mrs Harney took part in a professional development session on The Writing Revolution.  The session was online with facilitators Dr Toni-Ann Vroom and Dr Dina Zoko zooming in from America. Both facilitators are Executive Directors of the Writing Revolution which is aligned with the Science of Reading. This year we are researching writing and how we can improve our teaching at St Patrick’s. 

Naplan

Next Tuesday Mr Moloney and Miss Bonney will take part in an online session about administering NAPLAN Online.  This session will cover how we administer NAPLAN this year. 

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.

Week 5. 

Tuesday 2nd March, 2022 Miss Lillie Comitti     Mental Health in primary schools - Building capacity (Online) 

Thursday 4th March, 2022 Ms Maryanne Comitti     DOBCEL Parent & Community Engagement meeting   (Ballarat) 

Week 6. 

Tuesday 8th March, 2022 Mr Moloney & Miss Bonney from 1pm   NAPLAN (online) session 

Wednesday 9th March, 2022 Mr McAloon Principal meeting, Ballarat 

We are thrilled to be able to welcome Footsteps dance company back to celebrate Harmony Day with us.  We invite our school community to celebrate Harmony Day on Friday 25th March, 2022.

Harmony Day is a day where we celebrate our cultural diversity, it is about inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging for everyone. 

Students will work with the footsteps dance instructor from Melbourne at an allocated time during the school day to learn a cultural dance. 

Students and our St Patrick’s Community are then invited to come together for an evening celebration which will commence at approximately 5:00pm.  A food van will be onsite for you to purchase dinner. 

Please note COVID regulations will apply. 

Parents & Friends: 

It never ceases to amaze me the support we get from our wonderful school community.  A massive thankyou to the wonderful group of parents and friends who provided the BBQ for our swimming sports. 

Our P&F is a vital part of our school and we are always excited to hear from anyone that would like to come along.  Thank you to those who have already shown interest in joining the Parents & Friends. This is a great opportunity to become involved in our school and offer your  thoughts and ideas.  An important role of the P&F is to promote strong links between the parents/families where families really feel that they belong to our school community.

The name Shrove Tuesday comes from the custom of ringing the ‘shriving bell’ to summon the people to church to be ‘shriven,’ that is to confess their sins at the beginning of Lent. At that time, certain foods like eggs, milk, meat and rich buttery dishes were given up for the duration of Lent. One way that they used up the eggs, milk and fats in the house was to add flour to make special pancakes. In England, the popularity of pancakes caused Shrove Tuesday to be called Pancake Day, a tradition we also follow here in Australia. 

Ash Wednesday Mass

On Tuesday, students from Junior R & HC attended mass for Ash Wednesday at St Patrick’s Church.  The children should be commended on their respectful behavior.  They were a credit to our school.  

Ash Wednesday Liturgy

Wednesday our Middle and Senior levels celebrated Ash Wednesday with a liturgy in the hall. Ash Wednesday begins the forty day season of Lent that leads to Easter. On Ash Wednesday, Catholics come together to remind themselves that we don’t always follow God’s ways and need to ask God for His mercy and forgiveness. 

For Catholics, Ash Wednesday is also a day of fasting and abstaining from meat. Fasting reminds us that food alone cannot make us happy. During Lent Catholics try to make a conscious effort to prepare ourselves for Easter. We can do this by increasing our prayer, helping others, fasting, giving up things we particularly like, and supporting charity. 

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the annual Caritas Australia Project Compassion Appeal. Donations to Project Compassion allow Caritas Australia, the Catholic Agency for International Aid and Development, to work with local communities around the world to alleviate poverty, hunger, oppression and injustice. We encourage you to put your compassion into action this Lent through your prayer, fasting and almsgiving by supporting Project Compassion. 

Each family will receive a Project Compassion box for their donations or you can donate online via our website at lent.caritas.org.au Let’s Go Further, Together!  

For more information:  https://lent.caritas.org.au/#blank

Congratulations to all  our Students of the week:

Ace Rowe  - for working hard to use your learning muscles and trying your best to complete your tasks. Well done!

Georgia Aird - for giving your best effort in your learning and staying positive when completing your work.

Emila Jones - for your excellent work in reading on the hour time on an analogue clock and for knowing the names and difference between the minute and hour hands. Keep up the great work!

Jack Driscoll - for your amazing spelling, especially of our Tricky Words.  Congratulations on getting 6/6 for the last 5 spelling tests.  You are a superstar!

Lenny Field: for the persistence and determination you have been displaying towards taking on challenging tasks in mathematics. 

Brooke Lin: for gaining in confidence when participating in the classroom. Keep up the sensational work Brooke. 

Eleanor Erwin - for your outstanding writing piece about Simon's Cat.  You have used detailed description, repetition and high level vocabulary in your work.  Keep up the fabulous work!

Charlie Sullivan - for your use of challenging vocabulary in your text about Simon's cat.  Your wonderful use of descriptive language made your story come alive.  Keep up the amazing work!

Jack Sullivan - for the great work you have been doing with your addition algorithms.

Harper Bibby - for your fantastic contributions to our class discussions.

Archer Crouch: for always having pride in your work and your enthusiastic attitude towards your learning.  

Savannah Farell: for the positive outlook towards your learning, especially your writing. Keep up the super work

Lolah Freeland - for always giving your best across all subject areas. Keep it up Lolah!

Matilda Egan - for working hard to include a variety of persuasive devices in your writing.

Congratulations to our students having their birthday this week :

                                                                              Boston McGaffin

Diana Daniel

Marley carlsen

Vibeesh Ranjay