Newsletter 64- August 5th 2022
Prayer of the Week:
An invitation for a Prayer of Forgiveness:
Righteous Lord, I pray that whenever I lift my voice to You, I do so without any grudges or bitterness in my heart. I pray that I forgive if I have anything against anyone, so that You who is in heaven may forgive me of my trespasses. Thank You for Your forgiveness. Your mercies towards me have allowed me to extend this to those around me, let my behavior reflect You at all times, Amen.
Principal's Report:
Welcome,
Reconciliation
On Wednesday evening 15 students from St Patrick’s received the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Due to current renovations at the Church, the ceremony took place in the school hall. It was a wonderful occasion for the school and parish communities. The sacrament of Reconciliation is also known as Penance and Confession, among other names. For those unfamiliar with the Sacrament, below is a brief explanation:
‘‘In the sacrament of reconciliation, the Christian faithful obtain from the mercy of God, pardon for their sins. At the same time, they are reconciled with the Church, which they have wounded by their sins and which works for their conversion by charity, example, and prayer’’- (Lumen Gentium, n. 11).
Father Andrew shared the story of the Prodigal Son to highlight forgiveness. Father also spoke about how reconciliation is an act of change. He reminisced about his early days in the priesthood when he first began overseeing confessions. Father said that he found that he regularly saw the same people each week speaking about the same issues. In his opinion this was not the purpose of confession, instead, confession should be used at a time when someone is ready to reflect on their actions and make changes.
A big congratulations to all the students who received the Sacrament of Reconciliation. A special mention also needs to be made to the efforts of Maryanne Comitti in ensuring that the evening ran smoothly. If you know any young people who may be interested in being involved in the Sacrament program please contact Maryanne.
New Shade Sail
The work on the installation of our new shade sail was completed earlier this week. The school received the funds for the shade sail through the Victorian Government’s School Shade Sails Fund. This fund was established in response to the coronavirus pandemic to enable more outdoor learning opportunities for students. We are very excited about being able to use this space when the weather warms up a little.
Sunday Masses
As previously mentioned, the Catholic Church in Stawell is currently undergoing some major renovations. The work includes the removal of the raised altar, re-wiring, new carpets, interior painting and moderising the audio-visual equipment. Due to this work the Church will be out of action for a little while. During this time mid-week masses will be held in the Church hall while Sunday services will be held in the school hall. I am very happy to be able to assist the parish during this time. The first Sunday mass will be held in the school hall this Sunday at 10:30am.
2023 Foundation Enrolments
Last week the school sent out letters of offer for the Foundation class of 2023. The school had an overwhelming response and has not been able to offer places to all applications. Enrolments for Foundation 2023 are now closed. In order to assist with future planning if any existing families have children set to start school in 2024 please complete an expression of interest form at the school office.
With Faith in our Future
Chris McAloon
A Word from the Office:
I-PADS 4 SALE
We have 5 iPad 2’s (model A1395) up for sale. These are older iPads and are not compatible with all apps.
All are in covers and have chargers.
We are asking $20, please pay in cash at the front office.
Wellbeing:
Pastoral Care - Jodi McGerary
This year we have been extremely lucky to employ a pastoral care worker through CatholicCare one day a week (Monday). Jodi has been working with us since Term 2 and runs individual sessions for students who have completed the referral process and have parent/guardian consent. All of the children who are visiting Jodi are loving her interactive and supportive sessions.
Jodi’s door (wellbeing room) is always open at recess and lunch for any children from the school who would like some time to take a break. If children are joining Jodi at recess and lunch this is not a ‘counselling session’.
We are very privileged to have Jodi as a part of our team at St Patrick’s as she brings great knowledge and insight into Mental Health and Wellbeing for our younger generations.
If anyone has any questions or concerns in regards to any of this please feel free to contact me on email or call the office phone and I will be happy to get back to you as soon as I can.
If you’re interested in having your child/ren see Jodi please scan the QR code and fill out the required forms. Please return them to the CatholicCare box in the office.
Phone: 5358 2493
Email: lcomitti@spstawell.catholic.edu.au
Thank you, Lillie Comitti - Mental Health and Wellbeing Coordinator.
Teaching and Learning:
Great Book Swap - happening at St Patrick’s Primary School
24th & 25th August, 2022.
Our school community can donate any quality unwanted/preloved children’s books, Social justice will then conduct the Book swap in the hall, 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.
100 days of Foundation:
On Tuesday 1st August, 2022 the Foundation students reached a once in a life time milestone – 100 days of school for the very first time! On this very special day, they participated in many different and fun learning activities. We are all so proud of the students for their hard work and dedication to learning this year. We have watched them grow, learnt many new skills and made lovely friendships in Foundation. The students should be so proud of their progress and we thank them for bringing joy and wonder to our school this year.
*Are you able to help the Parents & Friends Association?
Book week parade and morning tea fundraiser,
Friday August 26th, 2022.
After our community book week parade you are invited to go into the students' classrooms for book week activities. After this we will have morning tea in the hall which is a fundraiser for our Parents & Friends Association. If you are able to help P&F with donating a slice or giving some time to help serve morning tea please contact Nicole Osborne (Teepika’s mum Grade 6) or Libby (Sophie Grade 2, Isaac Grade 1 mum). We are always grateful for the wonderful support we receive from our P&F.
Fathers day/special persons stall:
Can you help P&F either preparing gifts or setting up and manning stalls for our Fathers Day stall. The children take such pride and excitement in carefully selecting their gifts for their Father and special person in their life. Please contact Nicole or Libby
Save the date : Annual Fathers day/special persons Celebrations:
Our annual Fathers day special persons celebrations will take place on Friday celebrations will be Friday 2nd September, 2022. While Fathers Day is a celebration of fatherhood, it's a time for us to honour, celebrate and to be thankful for all of the men, father figures and male role models in our lives. We recognise the very important role you have in the lives of children.
We will have a evening bbq and games where we invite all fathers and special male figures in our children's lives to come and celebrate as a community. More details to follow. Maryanne Comitti
Save the date:
STEAM expo - Wednesday 7th & Thursday 8th September, 2022.
St Patrick’s Primary School Hall
Parents and community members are invited to attend the Expo to view a variety of creative projects completed by our students this year.
Time to be advised.
What is STEAM?
Steam is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics. STEAM education focuses on the foundation skills of developing science, technology, engineering, and art learning, promoting problem solving, critical analysis and creative thinking skills.
The expo will incorporate students STEAM learning over the course of the year.
So how do you incorporate STEAM into your child’s world? Surprisingly, you are probably already doing this every day. Have you ever cooked with your child at home? Think about all of the STEAM moments that were happening:
- Adding a cup of flour / oil / water = Maths (capacity and volume)
- Adding an ingredient one by one, such as three eggs = Maths (numbers, counting and one-to-one correspondence)
- How are we going to get the eggs out of their shell? = Engineering
- Mixing different ingredients and observing the outcome = Science
- Using senses to see, touch, smell, taste and hear = Science
- Was the recipe from a book or was it from an online source? = Technology
- Placing the mixture in the oven and watching it rise = Science
- How many cupcakes did we make? = Maths
- How can the cupcakes be decorated? = Art
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.
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 4 Junior R
Week 5 Foundation
Week 6 Senior M
Week 7 Middle B
Week 8 Senior F
Week 9 Junior H
Week 10 Foundation - Earlier time 1:50pm
Professional Development:
Week 5
Monday 8/8/2022 Foundation Transition Meeting 2pm. Ms Lillie Comitti
Junior R:
They say time flies when you’re having fun, but this is ridiculous! I have no idea where the year is going but I can say there has been some amazing learning happening in Grade 1.
Our triorama narrative stories have been an absolute hit. We put together our trioramas using three different pictures and then wrote a short narrative to match. The students have been so excited producing these that they are even making their own trioramas and wanting to finish their writing during mindfulness and before school. After going through the stages of planning, drafting, editing, conferencing and publishing, they are almost finished and they look fantastic.
We spent the first two weeks finishing off some InitiaLit activities from Term Two. We have completed our Cumulative Review and I am so proud of the growth all children have made in their reading. We have been learning about words with the bossy ‘e’, words that have the sound ow (cow) and ou (cloud) and also about the suffix ‘ed’ and how we add it to a verb to show something has already happened. Our new Tricky Words are fast, last and I’m.
In Maths, we have been working hard on identifying and representing how many tens and ones in two digit numbers. We also identified which was greater or less by using the amount of tens to help us. We then looked at our Ten Facts and challenged ourselves to find three numbers which give a total of ten. We are now moving on and will be using the Build to Ten strategy to solve addition problems.
The students have been absolutely loving Science. Our topic is Earth and Space Sciences - Look Up and Around. So far we have looked at Patterns in the Sun, Changing Landscapes, The Night Sky and When Seasons Change. The next couple of weeks will be spent preparing for the STEAM Expo that will be happening later in the term.
In Religion, our topic is Wisdom. We used the story ‘The True Story of the Three Little Pigs’ to discuss wise and poor decisions and made our own wise choices to design and build our own Little Pigs house. We then discussed what it means to live a kind, just and humble life. We are now investigating the word ‘wise’ and what it means. We are demonstrating our understanding by naming the wisest person we know and why we think they are wise.
In Wellbeing, we have been learning about core values. We have looked at honesty, being fair, not cheating, being responsible, caring about and supporting others and showing kindness. We have used picture story books to show what these mean and then made connections with our own lives.
We are looking forward to learning so much more as the year goes on. Miss Ryan
Living in Faith:
RECONCILIATION:
Scripture reference: Luke 15:11-32 The story begins with a man who has two sons. The younger son asks his father for his portion of the family estate as an early inheritance. Once received, the son promptly sets off on a long journey to a distant land and begins to waste his fortune on wild living.
When the money runs out, a severe famine hits the country and the son finds himself in dire circumstances. He takes a job feeding pigs. Eventually, he grows so destitute that he even longs to eat the food assigned to the pigs.
The young man finally comes to his senses, remembering his father. In humility, he recognizes his foolishness and decides to return to his father and ask for forgiveness and mercy. The father who has been watching and waiting, receives his son back with open arms of compassion. He is overjoyed by the return of his lost son.
Immediately the father turns to his servants and asks them to prepare an enormous feast in celebration of his son's return.
During the Reconciliation service Fr discussed asking for forgiveness of what we have done wrong, making right our own relationships and being willing to change. God is always happy when we come back to Him! Jesus loves us, and He will welcome us just like the son who was welcomed back home by his father.
The children were an absolute credit to their families. They conducted themselves exceptionally, we are very proud of them.
Mary MacKillop Feast Day:
Monday August 8th is Mary MacKillop's Feast day. We will celebrate this on Tuesday 9th August, with a whole school mass in the hall at 10:00am
Who was Mary Mackillop & why is she important to St Patrick’s school:
Mary was an ordinary Victorian farm girl who devoted her life to the service of God and did great things for Australian and New Zealand families.
Mary MacKillop’s Feast Day is celebrated on the 8th of August. This is also the date of her death in 1909.
- In 1866 Mary MacKillop and Father Tenison Woods started the religious order of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart (the Josephites) and in 1867 Mary MacKillop became a nun – Sister Mary of the Cross.
- Mary and the Josephite nuns set up schools in Australia and New Zealand.
- They also set up houses for elderly women, young girls and women without jobs. They gave their life to people in need, often giving comfort to the sick and dying and even visiting people in jail to give them whatever help they could.
- At times in her life Mary MacKillop met people who made it hard for her to perform her good works but she never gave up and today the Sisters of St Joseph are still doing the work that she started
- Mary is Australia’s first Saint.
St Patrick’s primary school was run by the Josephite nuns for approximately 80 years. This is why we celebrate Mary Mackillop and the Josephite tradition which has been very much part of our school life.
Maryanne Comitti
Religious Education Leader
Birthdays:
Congratulations to these students having a birthday this week:
Nate Thomas
Beau Cullen
Liam Nicholson
Oliver Sutherland
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.
This week's Mary MacKillop Award winner is Ryder Sullivan. He was recognised for his efforts while running games for younger students. Ryder demonstrated excellent leadership and care. Well done Ryder!
Students of the week:
Max Lasslett - For the incredible progress you’re making with your reading. Your willingness to have a go at sounding out words inside your head has been sensational! Keep up the great work Max.
Alfie Freeland - For the way you’re displaying the attributes of a good ‘learner’. You are taking on huge challenges throughout maths and allowing your brain to be stretched. Keep up the wonderful work Alfie!
Mason Whitfield - For the extra effort and focus you are putting into all tasks, I am so proud of you. Keep it up!
Edie MacPherson - For the effort and dedication you put into your story triorama. The final product looks amazing and I enjoyed reading your stories. Great work!
Willow Boylan - For your amazing story about the cheeky monkey. Your imagination and independent work was so impressive! Keep the great work up Willow!
Lenny Field - For always asking inquisitive questions to enhance your learning. I love your curiosity and want to learn more and more! Well done Lenny!
Archie Coxon - For the offering assistance to your classmates during our research and learning time.
Greta Thomas - For the fantastic efforts you have been putting into your joined writing skills. Well done!
Kobe Power - For your excellent contributions during class discussions during Science and Inquiry lessons. Your thoughts and ideas help stimulate your own and other's curiosity. Keep it up!
Nate Jantzen - For your continuous growth in Reading and Writing. You consistently show the values of an excellent learner. It is wonderful to see you push yourself and persist with all challenges given to you. Keep up the amazing work!
James Hemley - For the hard work you have been doing with your writing and your willingness to share your learning with the class.
Catherine Fulton - For always demonstrating the values of a learner and completing learning tasks with such a positive mindset.
Kaleb Carlsen - For always giving your best in all subject areas. Keep up the great work!
Grace Oram - For the amazing leadership you show in and out of the classroom. You are a great role-model for the younger students in our school.
Parents and Friends:
Book week morning tea
We have been asked to cater for the Book week’s morning tea on Friday 26th August. If you can help on the day or provide a cake/slice or biscuits. That would be greatly appreciated.
Father’s/Special Person's Day
With less than 4 weeks to Father’s Day, we are putting the call out for helpers now.
There are 3 areas you can help us with. They are listed below:
- On Thursday 1 Sept (for a couple of hours) in the morning to help with the stall. Selling, wrapping etc. It is fantastic to see the children selecting gifts for their loved ones.
- Prepare the gifts for sale – this will be done a week or two before the event. We will also assess if we have enough gifts. A huge thanks to Nicole, for an amazing job gathering and preparing the gifts to date.
- Suggestions for gifts – we all know the male figures may require an annual update of underwear and socks but our budget doesn’t extend that far. Gift suggestions of about $5 would be greatly appreciated, please send to Libby
* On another note – Nicole is unavailable for these events as a result Libby is coordinating both events. If you think you can assist in anyway it would be greatly appreciated, please contact Libby.
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
Maternal Child and Health
Dad’s Group
Positive Parenting for Men
Are you a new Dad?
Would you like to share some parenting knowledge and tips?
Are you looking for ideas on how to be a great parent?
Would you like to find out some great ideas on how to support your partner?
Get together with other great Dads like you!
Join us at our new Dad’s Support Group Introductory Session
Share a meal and enjoy our panel of Dad’s and others for an informative discussion
and Q&A session.
When: Monday 29th August, 2022
6.30-8.00pm
Where: Stawell Sports and Leisure Centre
Houston St, Stawell
All Dads and Grandads welcome
Light Tea Provided
RSVP by 22nd August, 2022
Email: mch@ngshire.vic.gov.au
Phone: 5358 9060
Upcoming Events:
Tueday 9th August - Marian College Orientation Day
- Whole school mass in School Hall at 10 am.
Monday 22nd - 26th August - Book Week
Wednesday & Thursday 24 & 25 th - Indigenous Book Swap in the hall -
Gold Coin per Book
Friday 26th August - Favourite book Dress Up Day - open classrooms for special people
Thursday 1st September - Fathers Day Stall
Friday 2nd September - Father/Specil Person Day BBQ at school 5:30pm
- Black ranges Athletics Day
7th and 8th September - STEAM Expo
Friday 16th September - Last day of Term 3 early dismissal 2:15pm, Assembly 1:50pm.
Monday 3rd October - School Closure - Staff Visable Learning PD
Tuesday 4th October - First day of Term 4 - Students
Wednesday 12th October - Maths Olympics Grade 5/6 at the SSC
Wednesday 19th October Andrew Chinn all day - Concert at school details to follow
Friday 21st October - Black Ranges Cricket Day- Grade 5/6
Friday 28th October - Grandparents Day - TBC
Monday - Wednesday 14,15 16th November - Grade 3/4 Camp
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.