Newsletter 61- July 15th 2022
Prayer of the Week:
Lord, as we commence a new semester, make us ready, attentive and available to hear you.
Thank You for the gift of being able to rise each day with the assurance that You walk through it with us.
Thank You for the gifts of creativity and uniqueness, and the energy to put them to good use.
May all that we are today, all that we try to do today, may all our encounters, reflections, even the frustrations and failings all be placed in your hands.
May the work we do and the way we do it, bring new hope, new life, and courage to all we come in contact with this semester.
We thank you, Lord. Amen
Principal's Report:
Welcome,
COVID Update
Unfortunately we begin yet another school term amidst the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic. As we would all be aware a number of people in our community are currently unwell with COVID-19 and we wish them a fast recovery. In particular, I would like to send the thoughts and prayers of the school community to the staff, residents and families of the Eventide Retirement Village as the centre deals with a cluster of cases.
The Victorian Government has announced that it will continue to provide schools with rapid antigen tests for the remainder of the year. It is now recommended that rapid antigen tests are used by students and school staff when symptomatic and/or a member of the household tests positive.
We ask the families notify the school if a student tests positive. This is so the school can support the student, record that they will be absent while in 7-day isolation, and advise the school community there has been a positive case onsite and that they should monitor for symptoms
We also ask the families notify the school if a student is a household contact of a positive case. Whilst household contacts are no longer required to isolate, they are required to use rapid antigen tests and return negative results throughout the positive case’s 7-day isolation period if attending school. Household contacts attending school who are over 8 years of age are also required to wear face masks indoors unless they have a valid exception.
Most importantly to stop the spread of a number of illnesses we ask families to keep students at home if they are unwell. As well as COVID-19, there has also been strains of colds, influenza and gastro circulating in the community recently. Thank you for your continued support and cooperation during these challenging times.
Child Safety Standards
On July 1st new Child Safety Standards came into effect in Victoria. The eleven new Standards will replace Victoria’s previous seven standards and principles. Key changes include new requirements:
- to involve families and communities in organisations’ efforts to keep children and young people safe
- for a greater focus on safety for Aboriginal children and young people
- to manage the risk of child abuse in online environments
- for greater clarity on the governance, systems and processes to keep children and young people safe.
At St Patrick’s we are committed to ensuring the safety of all children. With the support of the Diocese of Ballarat Catholic Education Limited (DOBCEL) as a school we are updating our policies and procedures to reflect the new Child Saftey Standards. The school’s new Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy has now been released and published on our website. I will continue to inform the school community when other policies are updated.
With Faith in our Future
Chris McAloon
A Word from the Office:
I-PADS 4 SALE
We have some iPad 2’s (model A1395) up for sale. These are older iPads and are not compatible with all apps.
All are in covers and most have chargers.
We are asking $20, please pay in cash at the front office.
Wellbeing:
Welcome back to Term 3, I hope you’ve all had a wonderful break and found some time to rewind and relax. As we take on Term 3 I just want to remind you of the available wellbeing services we have.
Monday - Jodi McGeary is available all day on a Monday to speak with students in either individual sessions or small groups. If you wish to use Jodi’s services please fill in the required paperwork. The paperwork is located at the front office next to the Catholic Care box. Once the forms are complete you just put them in the box which I check each morning/afternoon. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.
Monday to Friday - I (Lillie Comitti) work Monday to Friday and am out of the classroom on Mondays and Wednesdays for any Wellbeing or Mental Health concerns. I am available via Class Dojo and or emial. lcomitti@spstawell.catholic.edu.au
Ensuring that our Students at St Patrick’s Primary School are safe, heard and valued is our number one priority for their Wellbeing. Please feel free to contact me any time if you have any questions and or concerns.
Thank you,
Lillie Comitti - Mental Health and Wellbeing Coordinator.
Teaching and Learning:
Book Week: The theme for this year is: Dreaming with eyes open…
Book week this year runs from August 22nd 2022, to August 26th, 2022. During this time all classes spend time each day celebrating books and Australian children's authors and illustrators. The highlight of book week is on Friday 26th August where students are invited to dress as their favourite book character with a whole school parade where our community is able to attend.
Great Book Swap - happening at St Patrick’s Primary School
24th & 25th August, 2022.
Literacy is a major issue facing remote Indigenous communities. Being unable to read and write is a significant barrier to education, employment, health and wellbeing. The Indiegnous Literacy Foundation works to address this through providing books and literacy resources (some in first languages) to families, schools and service organisations in remote communities; and publishing stories by Indigenous people that are reflective of community life and culture.
Low literacy levels is a major issue affecting Indigenous communities today. Being unable to read and write is a significant barrier to education, employment, health and wellbeing. Remote Indigenous communities are the most disadvantaged. 2017 NAPLAN results show only 35% of Indigenous Year 5 students in very remote NT communities met the minimum standard for reading, compared to 95% for non-Indigenous students in major cities.
It will be great to have our Great Book Swap back after COVID restrictions.
Next term Social Justice will begin working on The Great Book Swap in support for Indigenous Literacy.
The idea is that our school would donate any quality unwanted children’s books, Social justice will then conduct a Book swap where students are able to purchase any of these donated books for a gold coin donation. All money raised will be donated to the Indigenous Literacy foundation.
Maryanne Comitti Teaching & Learning Leader
Please send any donated books into school, thanks to those who have already donated.
Visible Learning with CORWIN:
As we have previously mentioned St Patricks has embarked on an exciting Professional Development journey over the next three years. We will be learning and implementing Visible learning which is a research based approach to developing life-long learners. It is based on the research of Professor John Hattie and his metastudies involving over 300 million students and what has the most impact on student progress at school. Visible learning research explores seven core strategies for learning success: working together as evaluators, setting high expectations, measuring learning with explicit success criteria, establishing developmentally appropriate levels of learning, viewing mistakes as opportunities, continually seeking feedback, and balancing surface, deep, and transfer learning.
All staff gathered Tuesday afternoon to meet with our Visible Learning Consultant Shane Crawford to discuss the importance of our staff/students/community knowing what are the desired characteristics of learners we aspire to develop at St Patrick's. Discussion centered around the uniqueness of each of our students and that each student brings with them their own learning dispositions from their life experiences. (for example some students may give up easily on tasks if they do not succeed straight away - the learning disposition they might need would be perseverance). Our goal is to establish learning qualities that we become embedded in our school. What Learning dispositions (qualities) do we want our students to leave with into Year 7. Staff are currently working through this. Following on we will be asking our students what learning characteristics they think are important to be an effective learner at St Patrick’s and then putting this out to our community for your thoughts.
Assembly:
It is fantastic to once again have our Friday school assemblies happening. Assembly starts at 2:50pm every Friday afternoon in the hall. All family and community members welcome.
Assembly roster for term 2:
Week 1 Senior F
Professional Development:
Week 2.
19/07/22 Miss Kerrie Ryan (onsite) Learning Diversity Leader NCCD Moderation
We join with Rohan and lauren Sharp in welcoming 'little' Elijah patrick to the world. While only just over 3 pounds at birth he is thriving and will spend at least four weeks in hospital before he can go home.
Senior 5/6F:
In Senior F we are very excited to be back at school. It has been great hearing all of the exciting things that students did during their school holidays. It has also been lovely to hear that the students are feeling refreshed and excited for another school term.
During the reading block this week we have focused on identifying the cause and effect within a text. The students participated in a ‘game show’ with each team answering questions to score points, this was lots of fun and great to see the students working together and sharing their knowledge.
Explanation writing has been the focus of the week. Students have been busy writing an explanation piece with a topic of their choice. It has been great to see all students inspired by their topic and researching to find facts to back up their writing.
Students have been exploring promise during our Religion sessions. They have been discussing what it means to make a promise and the commitment associated with a promise. We also explored some NAIDOC week activities. The students have been creating a poster following the theme of get up, stand up, show up.
All students have been working hard across maths. We have been focusing on students challenging themselves and accepting when concepts are difficult and the positive effects this can have on their learning.
In inquiry and science, we have started to explore the solar system and natural disasters with the overall theme of sustainability. Through our lessons, we will build our knowledge and skills so that all students will be able to have something to display at our STEAM expo later in the term. We look forward to seeing you all at assembly.
Senior F
Living in Faith:
Please keep our children who are preparing for their Sacrament of Reconciliation which will take place in early Term 3 in your prayers.
The Sacrament of Reconciliation in the past has also previously been called Confession. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is one of two sacraments of healing in the Catholic tradition (the other being the Anointing of the Sick). Reconciliation celebrates God’s love and mercy towards us. It is about acknowledging and naming those times when we know we have done wrong, and then making peace and restoring the relationships with those who have been affected by our poor choices.
BIRTHDAYS:
Congratulations to these students having a birthday this week:
Peter Aird
Jai Hine
Grace Monaghan
Students of the week:
Harry Sutherland - For the wonderful enthusiasm you have for your learning and using your sound and tricky word knowledge in Initialit writing. Keep up the brilliant effort! You are a superstar Harry!
James Hooper - For the enthusiastic attitude you always have for your learning and using your sound and tricky word knowledge in Initialit writing. Keep up the wonderful effort! You are a superstar James!
Emila Jones - For the way you are tackling maths challenges with a positive attitude. Keep up the hard work!
Keesha O'Kwor - For the extra detail you are adding to your writing. I cannot wait to read your recount when it is finished. Keep up the great work!
Boston Mc Gaffin - For impressive counting skills when counting by 5s and 10s with three digit numbers! Also for his awesome home reading! Keep the excellent work up Boston!
Kora Allen - For working so hard during all lessons and for displaying so much enjoyment while reading
Adalind Ratcliffe - For the amazing sentences and comparisons you used in your 'Matilda' report card activity. Well done!
Jack Sullivan - For the great efforts you have been making to ensure you are including compound sentences in your writing tasks. Keep it up!
Milla Woolley - For the high level work you have been completing on our class novel during Reading lessons. Also for using multiplication strategies to solve challenging problems. Keep up the great work!
Charlie Sullivan- For settling back into learning and doing your best in all subject areas. It has been great to see you working well in partner activities. Keep up the fabulous work!
Bonnie Kuchel - For your positive start to the term and constantly displaying the qualities of being a leaner. Keep up the super work.
Ethan Jones - For displaying the qualities of being a learner and taking your time to present your work with your best efforts.
Jack Cameron -For the curiosity you are showing in Mathematics to explore concepts which challenge your thinking.
Jack Monument - For your willingness to offer your thoughts and opinions to class discussions.
Diocesan News:
Around Our Community:
St.PATRICKS OP SHOP is looking for volunteers to help sort on a Monday morning.
If you think you can help with this please contact:
June Raeburn 0427 670 658
Upcoming Events:
Monday 18th July - Parent Teacher Interviews
Wednesday 3rd August - Reconciliation 5:30pm at the Church
Tueday 9th August - Marian College Orientation Day
- Whole school mass at Church
Monday 22nd August - Book Week
Wednesday & Thursday 24 & 25 th - Indigenous Book Swap
Friday 26th August - Favourite book Dress Up Day - open classrooms
Thursday 1st Sept - Fathers Day Stall
Friday 2nd Sept - Black ranges Athletics Day
7th and 8th September - STEAM Expo
Friday 16th Sept - Last day of Term 3 early dismissal 2:15pm
Acknowledgement of Country:
We acknowledge the Djab Wurrung and Jardwadjali people as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of this land. 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.