Newsletter 24 - August 6th 2021
Prayer of the Week
A Prayer for Saint Mary Mackillop’s Feast Day.
'Holy God, source of all goodness,
you show us in Mary Mackillop a woman of faith who lived by the power of the cross
On this feast day let us be mindful that Mary Mackillop stands at the cross with us encouraging us to keep alive the flame of hope,
bringing solace to those who have lost loved ones or employment,
and comforting those whose lives have been changed forever through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mary Mackillop feast day:
Who was Mary Mackillop?
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 Mary Mackillop started all those years ago. Mary Mackillop became Australia’s first Saint on 17th of October, 2010.
The Josephite nuns for approximately 90 years ran St Patrick’s primary school. This is why we celebrate Mary Mackillop and the Josephite tradition which has been very much part of our school life.
In today's challenging times one of Mary’s quotes which seems quite central at the moment is what she wrote in 1907 to her fellow Josephite Sisters:
“We must let no obstacles deter us from proceeding with courage in the path marked out for us. It may sometimes be dark and full of windings, but a beautiful bright light shines at the end of this path and a few more windings will bring us to it.”
For more information see the Sisters of St Joseph website
Principal's Report
Lockdown 6.0
On Thursday morning I wrote my Principal's Report and for the first time in a while it didn't include the words - COVID, lockdown or pandemic. Unfortunately over the course of the day it became clear that things were changing once again. Now as I sit down to rewrite my report on Friday afternoon we are back into lockdown and remote learning.
Yesterday's announcement of a snap seven-day lockdown seemed to come as a real shock and hit many of us particularly hard. All I can say is please go gently and look after each other. The school is here to help in anyway it can to support our families during this time.
Olympic Fever
Like many of us, I have been caught up in Olympic fever over the last week or so. It has been a positive distraction from the generally negative daily news. On Friday last week, the school took part in the 'Green & Gold Day' to celebrate the Olympics. It was great to see so many students and staff decked out in their green and gold clothes for the day. The students spent the day learning about the Olympic Games and taking part in some fun activities.
A real highlight of the day was a presentation from our very own Olympic athlete - Miss Hughes. She competed for Team Great Britain in basketball at the 2012 London Games. Miss Hughes shared with us highlights of the games as well as her journey to the Olympics. It was really inspirational stuff and showed just how much hard work and dedication is needed to compete at such as high level. A short video from the presentation has been posted on ClassDojo and I encourage all to watch it.
This week I had the pleasure of running a joint sport session with the Grade 1/2 classes and the Grade 5/6 classes. Our older students were given the task of designing and conducting sports activities for the younger students. It was amazing to see the way in which students leaders stood up to the task and delivered a great session. The interactions between the students was very heartwarming to watch. It again shows the family-like atmosphere of our school community.
With Faith in our Future
Chris McAloon
Living in Faith
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day.
National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day is celebrated on August 4th, 2021. This day highlights the importance of supporting strong family and community connections to help Indigenous children achieve strong spiritual and cultural wellbeing and to form proud cultural identities. For more information click on the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ica3dPs7S8U&t=44s
What is the Great Book Swap? August 24th & 25th , 2021.
The Indigenous book swap will take place on Tuesday 24th August and Wednesday 25th August 2021.
The Social Justice team will be conducting the book swap. Students are invited to bring a gold coin to purchase donated books.
All money raised will be donated to the Indigenous Literacy foundation.
Thanks so much for all the donated books we have already received.
The Social Justice team are working on our School and Parish community taking part in The Great Book Swap in support for Indigenous Literacy
The idea is that our school/parish community 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.
We would be grateful for any donations of quality used books. Please drop them off at the office or with your classroom teacher. Many thanks to those who have already donated.
Teaching and Learning
This year, we are celebrating Book Week from Monday 22nd August till on Friday 27th August.
Each year, schools and public libraries across Australia spend a week celebrating the joy and value of books, reading and Australian authors and illustrators.
On Friday 27th August, we invite students to come to school dressed as their favourite book character, author or something linked to the book week theme. Unfortunately, due to COVID19 restrictions, we are unable to invite our community into the school; however, we will be posting photos via dojos. Thankyou for your understanding
Wellbeing
Welcome back to another week of wellbeing,
I would like to start by saying thank you! Thank you for tuning in each week and helping us to support your child's wellbeing.
Return to School A whole school focus on wellbeing has been extremely valuable in helping and supporting children to settle back into school life post our lockdown remote learning round 5. We are extremely proud of the resilience and adaptability all children have demonstrated on their return to school. This week we are going to look at the reasons why it is important to express our emotions/feelings.
Feelings/emotions
Why is it important to express feelings?
Talking helps us to process our feelings and make sense of them. Expressing our different feelings helps us to recognise and manage how we feel. It helps us recognise when we might need help with our feelings. Expressing feelings can help stop strong or intense feelings from taking over our minds and bodies.
Ways for your child to express their feelings
- Writing – diaries, poems, stories, blogs
- Talking to others
- Acting, dancing and singing
- Music
- Drawing/Painting
As the Wellbeing Coordinator of St Patrick’s Primary school I am available via email and Dojo for any concerns or issues. Please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Have a lovely weekend everyone,
Lillie Comitti - Wellbeing Coordinator.
Classroom News
It has definitely been an interesting start to the term, but the students of 3/4B have dived straight back into their learning.
In Reading, we have been learning about the features of a newspaper article and a biography and Miss Bonney has started to read the book ‘Five Children and It’ by E. Nesbit to us. Our favourite word to try and say from the book is ‘Psammead’. A Psammead is a sand fairy that grants wishes that don’t always go to plan.
We have also been focussing on improving our spelling and handwriting. We are currently working our way through the rules on how to add ‘ed’ and ‘ing’ correctly to a variety of verbs and have been practicing our horizontal and diagonal joins.
During Writing, we have been learning how to write newspaper articles and biographies. We have become experts at writing catchy headlines and have also been developing our note taking skills.
The Olympics have played a big part in our learning about newspaper articles and biographies. We have learnt about Olympic and Paralympic athletes, past and present and their achievements and challenges. Some of the athletes we have studied are Cathy Freeman, Ash Barty, Ariarne Titmus, Usain Bolt, Jesse Owens, Logan Martin and Ahmed Kelly.
The students have been extremely engaged in their tasks and have been eager to share what they have learnt:
Laila - Ahmed Kelly was born with underdeveloped legs and arms. He was born in a war zone and abandoned in an orphanage. He is a Paralympic swimmer and won gold in 2014.
Kale - Ash Barty quit tennis to play cricket for a bit but then she went back to playing it.
Greta - Cathy Freeman won her first race when she was 8 years old.
Callum - Logan Martin is a BMX rider who won the International Festival of Extreme Sports and he won gold in this year’s Olympics.
In Maths, the Grade 4s have been revising and consolidating their understanding of subtraction algorithms, estimation and rounding skills. The Grade 3s have been learning about how multiplication and division are related and working on their division facts.
In our Religion lessons we have been exploring the stories of the Old Testament and the author’s purpose in writing these. We have looked at the stories of Noah’s Ark, Daniel and the Lions and Moses’ parting of the Red Sea.
We have also introduced a new mindfulness activity in the form of a 1000 piece Where’s Wally puzzle. We hope to have it completed by the end of the term (fingers crossed).
Miss Bonney
Students of the week
Inderbir Singh - for working hard to learn all the days of the week and ordinal numbers. Well done for getting 10/10 on your Maths check-up.
Lexie Bailey - for challenging yourself to use your sounds and tricky words when writing your super sentences about the princess character. Keep being brave in all your learning!
Kayde Werry - for the excellent ‘Think Tank’ work you are doing during Mental Maths. Keep up the hard work!
Ethan Prydderch - for always working hard and trying your best in class. You are an amazing learner!
Kora Allen - for your awesome effort on your reading cumulative review.
Charli Pickering - for the great dedication you are showing when learning new maths skills.
Charlie Sullivan - for your focus and determination during all subject areas. For trying your best in your independent learning tasks. Excellent work!
Jayde Lowe - for your excellent work during Mathematics and your determination to improve and succeed in this area. Keep it up Jayde!
Edward Redford - for your excellent and well written newspaper articles. Well done!
Ally Smith - for your kind and caring attitude towards your classmates. What a lovely role model you are.
Amelia Moloney - for the way you always look to challenge yourself during Mathematics.
Grace Collins - for the effort you put into your speech for the Victorian Parliament competition.
Arlee Seehusen- for always taking on learning tasks with a positive attitude and trying your best and for always setting a great example within the classroom.
Tom Ross- for always looking out for your peers and helping out within the classroom where you can. Keep up the great work.
Upcoming Events
August 21 - 27 - Book Week - Friday August 27th will be a dress up day, more details to follow.
- Book swap - bring along money to purchase new and pre loved books
September 3rd - School Closure Day
Acknowledgement of County
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.