Newsletter 72- October 14th 2022

At this time, we hold in our minds and hearts all those affected by the floods and pouring rain.

Our hearts go out to those whose homes, possessions, businesses and crops have been destroyed or damaged by floods.  

We remember in prayer:

Those whose lives have been disrupted

Those who are feeling vulnerable and weak

Those who are facing both long-term and short-term needs

Those who are homeless 

We pray also for all those who are meeting needs at this time:

Volunteers and community workers

Those working to people 

Those working to clear roadways and homes that have been damaged

Police officers, emergency personnel, medical and social welfare responders

We make all our prayers in the name of Jesus, who reached out always to those most in need.

 AMEN.

* Please ensure all Camp consent forms are filled in on PAM, so your children can go on camp.

World Mental Health Day 

World Mental Health Day is held on October 10. The day is dedicated to promoting the understanding of mental health education, awareness and advocacy. It is important to raise awareness to the public and ensure communities recognise the part each person has to play in creating a mentally healthy society.

At St Patrick’s Primary School we are very lucky to have Jodi who works on a Monday with some students of St Patrick’s Primary School to support them in various areas of Wellbeing and mental Health. Jodi is still taking referrals and is happy to support anyone the best that she can throughout her time here at St Patrick’s. 

Scan the QR code (below) to access the required forms for your child/ren to see Jodi. Please fill them in and return them to the white Catholic Care box in the front office, from there I will pass them onto Jodi. 

I have attached a photo of Jodi (below) for the new members of our St Patrick’s Community.  If you require any further information please don’t hesitate to contact me: 

Phone: 5358 2493 (during school hours)   Email: lcomitti@spstawell.catholic.edu.au

Junior H Mindfulness Sessions - conducted by Jodi Mc Geary: 

For the next 3 to 4 weeks, our school Pastoral Care Worker, Jodi Mc Geary, will be conducting sessions with the Junior H class, each Monday afternoon.

The focus of these sessions will be to develop an awareness of Mindfulness' and how to regulate emotions and develop an understanding of ‘self-care’. The program Jodi follows is 'PeacefulKids'.

Thank you. 

Lillie Comitti - Wellbeing and Mental Health Coordinator. 

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 are welcome. 

Assembly roster for term 4:

Week 2 - Junior H

Week 3 - Middle H

Week 4  - Senior M

Week 5- Middle B

Week 6 - Foundation

Week 7 - Junior R

Week 8 - Senior M

Week 9 - Middle B

Week 10 - Middle H

Week 11 - Buddy & Foundation

Professional Development:

At St Patrick’s Primary School we are committed to the 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.

Term 4 Week 3:

17-18/10/22 Mr McAloon Donald School Review 

18/10/22 Miss Kerrie Ryan Offsite 

19/10/22 Ms M Comitti, Miss L Comitti, Mrs F Harney 8-10am

The Writing Revolutionary 

20-21/10/22    Mr McAloon Principal Induction 

Writing - from America. 

Very exciting news regarding our Professional Development in Writing.  This term myself, Miss Comitt and Mrs Harney will take part in The Writing Revolutionary Professional development sessions which will run for the next four weeks.  Sessions are on Wednesday morning from 8am - 10am.  Our facilitators are based in America and are zooming in at these times.  From November these sessions will be increased to two sessions per week till mid November.  All our staff will have the opportunity to take part in TWR learning. 

St Patrick's staff should be commended for their ongoing commitment to continual Professional Development and dedication to ensuring they are keeping up to date with the latest researched based evidence on student learning. Initiatives like these generally are taken on board by teachers researching and studying at home in their own time. 

What is The Writing Revolution (TWR)? 

In a systematic and explicit manner, students are working through the nine sentence skills that can be applied to a variety of genres, improving students' overall writing skills.

1. Sentences and fragments
2. Unscrambling sentences
3. The 4 sentence types - statement, question, exclamations and commands
4. Developing questions from a picture
5. Conjunctions - because, but, so
6. Subordinate conjunctions - before, after, if, when and even though
7. Appositives - another name of a noun
8. Sentence combining
9. Sentence expansion

It breaks the writing process down into manageable chunks and then has students practice these skills.  

We are looking forward to continuing to develop our knowledge of writing. 

Wet weather play?

What does wet weather play look like at St Patrick’s?  

Although not ideal keeping our students in all day due to the weather this week students have been inside for a lot of their breaktime.  The children should be congratulated on their behaviour as being stuck indoors all day can be challenging. A hive of activities happen on wet weather days.  This week we have had a movie running in the hall, a designated quiet room for reading/colouring, chess and a range of other games. 

A shout out to all our staff who on wet weather days generally do not get a break (apart from a quick run to the bathroom). 

Maryanne Comitti

Teaching & Learning Leader

Will and Lilly Rose on their first day at Halls Head Primary School this week.

With our second week of Term 4 almost complete, we’re all feeling refreshed after the holidays and are determined to finish off Grade Two in a strong way. 

This is what we have been working on so far this term:

Literacy & Grammar

Over the last two weeks we have been learning about verbs. We know verbs and ‘doing words’. Some verbs are; moving verbs, saying verbs, thinking verbs and  feeling verbs. We were then able to transfer them into our wring. 

Spelling

In spelling this week we learnt when to use ‘ch’ or ‘tch’. Check this poster below explaining the rule. We also learnt three new tricky words: women, after and laugh.

Writing

In writing we learnt about sentence structure. We were able to identify when sentences do or do not make sense. We know that a fragment is a sentence that does not make sense. We then moved onto scrambled sentences where the children were given a sentence that was not in the correct order. They then had to rearrange the sentence so that the sentence made sense - this turned out to be a bit challenging at first, but with practise,  all children were able to experience success. 

Mathematics

One of my favourite topics in Maths is fractions, and this week we delved into learning about ½ , ¼ and ⅛. We started off by using strips of paper to physically make these fractions. We then transferred this knowledge into our work books.   I have been amazed at how the children have developed their understanding of fractions during the week and how they can relate fractions to real life situations - including pizza! 

Religion

‘Celebrations’ is the overarching topic for Religion. At the moment we are focussing our learning around Catholic Mission as October is Mission month. We will then learn about  celebrations in the church, followed by learning about  the liturgical season of Advent, leading into Christmas.  

Inquiry

This term in Inquiry our lessons are all based around Performing Arts, in particular; beats, rhythms and pitches (high and low). We will also be listening to different music and interpreting it through drawing and painting. We have started learning a clapping game called ‘Down by the Banks’. I’ve heard about some students teaching their siblings at home which is wonderful. There are lots of laughs and enjoyment during these lessons.

Soccer

It was so exciting to be involved in the soccer clinic on Monday. We all had a wonderful time learning new soccer skills with Jason. Here are some photos of the the clinic. We look forward to another session on Monday.

Well-being

We were so lucky to enjoy some time with Jodi who taught the children about how the brain works, especially when dealing with all the emotions we can feel. Jodi taught us about breathing techniques and mindfulness. Our classroom now has a glitter jar in our room which symbolises how it’s important to just stop and breath when things seem too much. Here are some photos of this session;

Maths Olympics:

Congratulations to all Senior 5 and 6 students for you exemplary efforts at the Maths Olympics, you all did a fantastic job and truly displayed our learning values. Further congratulations go to our winning team.

Regional Athletics:

Last Friday, a group of St. Patrick’s Primary School students attended School Sports Victoria Divisional Athletics in Ballarat. In less than ideal conditions (persistent rain and on a water-logged and slippery surface) each student performed admirably, representing our school brilliantly both on and off the track. Congratulations to Teepika, Isabelle, Matilda, Savannah, Eleana, Aiden, Eshaan, Maddison, Jackson, James who competed on the day and Ryder who qualified, but whose event was unfortunately cancelled due to the wet conditions. A big thankyou to Nicole O for traveling on the bus and all the other family or friends that supported the children on the day.

Next Wednesday 19th Oct

Andrew Chinn Concert: 

*Please note all children must be accompanied by a parent or guardian and wear school uniform. 

ANDREW CHINN CONCERT and PICNIC:

Catering - Thankyou to Valhalla BBQ - Matt Cameron (dad of Liam and Jack)  who will be catering for our dinner and has generously offered to cater for this at cost price.  This is greatly appreciated by our school and community.  

* Children must be accompanied by an adult

Valhalla BBQ 

 American style BBQ, low and slow cooked beef brisket, pulled pork, chicken maryland.  

Salads - Tossed salad, coleslaw,  potato salad

RSVP sheet sent home Wednesday, due next Wednesday 12th with CASH only payment. Pre-payment is required then tickets will be issued. 

When:  Wednesday 19th October, 2022

Where:  School Hall

Time: All required to be seated by 5:45pm

Concert to start at 6:00pm 

Dinner: 7:00pm

Cost:  St Patrick’s Primary School children free thanks to Parents & Friends 

Adults - $15:00 per person 

Children 2-15years - $10per person

Oodie/Hoodie/Footy Colours Day:

Thank you so much for your generous donations for our St Vincent's Winter Food Appeal.  Stawell’s St Vinnies President Mary-Rita Thomas will be at assembly this week to accept the donations.  

Andrew Chinn Concert: 

Not long now before our concert.  Thanks so much to those who have filled out RSVP forms and sent them back.  We will issue tickets next week and send them out.  You will need to bring these tickets on the night for serving. 

A few small details:

*Students are required to wear their school uniform on the night. 

*If you are staying for dinner please bring a picnic chair or blanket. 

*Please note all children must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

We look forward to seeing as many of you there as possible, it’s going to be a fantastic evening. We have some very excited students and staff. 

Sacraments:

If there are any families that would like their child to celebrate the Sacrament of Eucharist this year and I have made contact with could you please contact me as soon as possible.

Fundraising: 

From next Friday 21st October our Social Justice group will be selling Zooper Doopers for $1.00 each every Friday. 

October is World Mission Month, a month dedicated to the life-giving work of missionaries around the world.  This year Catholic Mission is raising money for local communities in Ethiopia to help provide life-changing opportunities to those most in need.  

If you would like more information or wish to make a donation please visit:

https://www.catholicmission.org.au/worldmissionmonth

Below is an extract from Catholic Mission and their current work in Ethiopia. 

We are currently supporting a range of mission development programs in Ethiopia addressing malnutrition, the lack of access to education for young children, and the vulnerable position of women in society.

In the rural region of Emdibir, where 70 percent of families struggle to put food on their tables, we are working towards providing them with a sustainable source of nutrition by building a goat rearing centre. The resources produced through the Centre will help fight malnutrition, a phenomenon that contributes to 50 percent of child deaths. 

In the capital, Addis Ababa, the life-giving work carried out by our local partners is helping children access education.

We are also supporting women in the town of Meki to learn skills and gain financial independence by providing access to vocational training, which can help them secure employment or start their own businesses. 

As always we thank our St Patrick’s community for your support. 

Maryanne Comitti  Religious Education Leader

Dixie Davenport- For being a kind and compassionate member of our classroom. We are very lucky to have you in our school community Dixie.

Charlie Matthews - For the hard work and dedication you're putting into all areas of learning. I am very proud of the positive mindset you have brought into Term 4. Keep it up Charlie.

Grace Abraham - For being a fabulous new member of our class.  Welcome to St. Pat's!

Monica Abraham - Welcome to St. Pat's.  Thank you for being a wonderful new member of our class!

Bailey Matthews - For sensational, strong writing!! Great usage of adjectives and expression! Well done Bailey!

Kayde Werry- For excellent work in all areas! Thanks for being such a great learner Kayde - keep it up!

Bill Lasslett - for the wonderful efforts you have been putting into improving the detail in your sentence writing. Keep up the great work!

Jack Sullivan - for your explanation writing piece about 'How does the heart pump blood?' The effort you put into your writing and diagram was fantastic. Well done Jack!

Awuomlual Kur - For your incredible efforts and achievements in Writing and Maths. Keep up the awesome work!

Mahli Willis - For your excellent persuasive paragraph using OREO.  You have shown your understanding of the new structure we have been learning.  Keep up the wonderful work.

Akuol Kur - For the super work you have been doing in writing and always making our classroom a happier place.

Aiden Guerrero - For your growing confidence to class discussions and the positive mindset to all learning tasks.

Matilda Egan - For the amazing way you represented your school at Regional Athletics in Ballarat last Friday.

Jack Monument - For the amazing Mathematical knowledge you displayed at the Maths Olympics on Wednesday. Congratulations on being a part of the winning team.

Congratulations to these students who had their birthday in the holidays and this week:

James Hooper

The Stawell Interchurch Netball competition for Term 4:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfIGSez3VbU4sLZ-qMdII4teO7IX4-r8cSZSxZcpQmWc3ml-Q/viewform?usp=sf_link 

Register your child's interest by clicking the above link to particpate in a Wednesday afternoon netball competition.
8 week netball and gameplay from Wednesday October 12th - Wednesday November 30th 2022 - running from 4.30-5.30pm.
Ages 6 - 13 years.
Cost will be $70 for Non Netball Victoria members and $10 for players already registered with Netball Victoria for 2022.
*Please, one form per player.
Details are subject to change at committees discretion.
Please return registration forms to stawellinterchurch@gmail.com by Sunday September 25th 2022.

This fabulous performance features our very own Eleana and Archie C. Please come along if you can. Thank you.