Newsletter 78- November 25th 2022

This weekend marks the first Sunday of Advent.  Advent  is the beginning of the Catholic Church’s Year.  It is a time of promise, expectation and participation as we prepare for the great celebration of the birth of Jesus.

Advent is the time we wait in joyful hope for God to be born in our hearts.  The season of Advent recognises the coming of Jesus, the Son of God in a special way. God’s Son became one of us and one with us, to share our human experience fully and completely.

The use of the wreath and candles during Advent are a longstanding Catholic tradition that was originally adopted by Christians in the Middle Ages. The wreath itself, which is made of various evergreens, signifies continuous life. The circle of the wreath, which has no beginning or end, symbolises the eternity of God, the immortality of the soul, and the everlasting life we find in Christ.

The four candles represent the four weeks of Advent, and one candle is lit each Sunday. Three of the candles are purple because the colour violet is a liturgical color that signifies a time of prayer, penance, and sacrifice.

Loving God

 It is almost time to celebrate the birthday of our Son. It is getting hotter each week, school will soon be over and the summer holidays are about to start. In all our excitement, help us to remember that it is Jesus who shows us how to love and be happy. Help us to be a more loving community, more generous to our friends and more helpful to our neighbours. Lord Jesus, we are waiting for you. Come and stay with us. 

We make this prayer, through Christ our Lord. 

Amen 

2023 School Fees
Please see attached information regarding 2023 School Fees.
For families on direct debit or standing EFT arrangements and those with students starting or finishing at St Patrick's next year, please consider whether your current payment arrangements will need to be amended.  
Please do not hesitate to contact me in the office should you have any questions.
Kind regards,
Anna WadgeBusiness Manager

What a wonderful day we had on Wednesday as our whole school of students undertook a wellbeing day where the focus was on our emotions and how the power of exercise, music and art can help us change our emotional state. Thankyou to Jo Brown for our yoga sessions and our staff for implementing and assissting with our other activities. We hope all children came away with at least one more tool to use when they are not feeling themselves.

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 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.

End of year celebration - Save the date

Wednesday 14th December, 2022.  

Our next community celebration where we can come together will be to celebrate our end of year and Grade 6 Graduation.  It will be an evening to celebrate learning, strive for personal excellence and celebrate our achievements. It will also be a chance to say goodbye to our grade 6 students and families that will be leaving at the end of 2022.  

Students will begin working on a classroom Christmas presentation that they will perform on the night.  We hope you can join us in celebrating a terrific year of learning and teaching and growing together as a community of learners. More details to come. 

Well who can believe we are almost at the end of the 2022 school year. Our class has had an amazing year together both socially and academically. Each student has continued to work hard across all curriculum areas. 

In Reading time, students continue to explore a set reading strategy each week, using the knowledge that they gain to improve both their literal and inferential comprehension skills. Recently, we have been looking at synonyms and antonyms and comprehending information from tables such as a train timetable. A highlight of our week is our Wednesday reading block where we read our class novel titled “Trash” and respond to each chapter in different ways. The novel explores the life of three dumpsite children Raphael, Gardo and Jun Jun and the repercussions they face when Raphael finds a bag which contains money, a key and a letter while sifting through rubbish at the local dumpsite in the fictional town of Behala. We have just read the final chapter, a fitting climax to a wonderful book which has made us reflect on the wider world on many levels.

In week 6, each student completed a cold-write narrative about a mystery door. I was amazed with the results and the students were so proud to share what they wrote with me. Students were encouraged to take their published piece home and read it to their parents as there is no purpose to writing unless we can share it with an audience. In the last week, we have begun a unit on transactional writing. We started learning how to use the correct structure for writing an email and now we are learning to write formal and informal letters. Part of the process for the Grade 5’s, will be to write a letter of application to Mr. McAloon for the leadership position of their choice in 2023.

In Math, Grade 5 students have recently completed lessons on converting improper fractions to mixed numerals and revising chance and probability in the lead up to our final quarterly test for the year. On the other hand, Grade 6 students have completed a series of lessons focussing on the coordinate plane and using grid coordinates to locate unknown places. 

In Religion, students have been exploring the term “solidarity” and what it means for both them individually but also Christians. In the last few lessons, students have been working in groups to recontextualise the Bible story ‘The Prodigal Son’ by acting it out.

In Inquiry, we have been looking at the pros and cons of social media and its effect on our daily lives, in Science our focus has been on electricity and in Wellbeing we have been exploring ways we can demonstrate empathy both in and out of the classroom.

A highlight for the Grade 5’s recently was their leadership incursion last Friday led by Gil from the Unleashing Personal Potential (UPP) company in Melbourne. One of the acronyms the students learned about was ASPIRE (Action, Serve, Persist, Respect, Encourage) and how these characteristics help us become effective leaders.

We look forward to seeing you all at assembly.

Fundraising: Every Friday our Social Justice group will be selling Zooper Doopers for $1.00 each at lunch time.

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 

5c Challenge is back

Once again St Patrick’s Primary School annual 5 cent challenge will start from Monday 28th November 20222 to our final day of the Term. 

Last year our school community raised enough money to fund four children through the St Vincent de Paul Assist a Student program. These three childrens school education was fully paid for by the generosity of our school community. 

Each classroom is participating in our annual 5cent challenge.  We are seeking donations of 5c coins to go into our money boxes in the classrooms. 

For more information please see:  https://www.vinnies.org.au/page/Our_Impact/International_Impact/Assist_a_student_today/

Why do we at St Patrick’s raise money for the poor?  

Catholic schools participate in the Church’s mission “to bring the Good News to the poor” (Luke 4:18). In partnership with parents, parishes and other agencies within the Church and the broader community, Catholic schools are called to give witness to a faith which does justice with love. All have a responsibility to read the signs of the times and to respond with love and compassion, ever seeking to protect human dignity and serve the common good. The Catholic Church teaches that the poor represent those who are marginalised in society. Jesus himself taught the importance of helping those who are poor and need help.

Beau Cullen- For being a brave and resilient learner and having a go at each task with a positive and focused mindset.

Hunter Weavell - For the amazing effort you’ve been putting into your reading. I am extremely proud of the way you’ve been reading.

Edwina Crouch - For being a fabulous learner by asking for help and listening to feedback to improve your work. You are a superstar!

Arli Werry - For the fabulous reading you have been doing.  I am so proud of you.  Keep up the hard work!            

Tamieka Austin - For working so hard and producing an excellent recount. Super work Tamieka!

Lily Sanderson - For producing wonderful results in Maths assessments. Keep the great work up Lily!

Ethan Prydderch - For the fantastic progress you have made and results you have achieved with your recent reading assessments. Well done!

Eleana O'Kwor - For the excellent, detailed and highly persuasive letter you wrote to the Prime Minister during your recent cold write assessment. You presented your arguments for a 3 day weekend very well.

Nate Jantzen - For your growth in Reading over the term. You have improved in fluency, decoding and understanding.  Keep up the amazing work!

Riley Carlsen - For working hard to master your times tables facts.  You continue to show a desire to improve and grow.  Keep up the awesome work!

Molly Ratcliffe - For the great work you have been doing with your reading comprehension, keep up the super work.

Savannah Farrell  - For the positive outlook you have had with all learning tasks. Keep believing in yourself.

Azariah Ciavatta - For your wonderful results in recent Reading assesments. Well done Azariah!

Edward Redford - For moving another two levels in your end of year Reading assessments. Keep up the great work Eddie!  

Dear school community: Once again Stawell Inter Church Council welfare Cottage will be providing an extra Christmas distribution to those in need in our community.  Last year we helped 94 households made up of 296 people – 142 were adults, 36 were kids aged 14 – 19 and 118 were children aged 13 years and younger.   Do you or someone that you know need help this Christmas?  To register for a Christmas grocery shopping voucher please come to “The Cottage” at 20 Sloane St. Stawell during November.  We are open Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays between 10:30am and 12:30pm.  Distribution will be on Tuesday 13^th December.

 My thanks,  Mary Rita Thomas,  Sec. and Public Officer, Stawell Inter Church Council.

Congratulations to this student had their birthday this week:

Charli Pickering

This time it will be held on a Sunday

27 November   North Park     Families welcome

Better weather!!! fingers crossed

A big thanks to Shev at Stawell and Ararat Cross Country for guiding the new group of GYE’ers with planning for this event.

We look forward to seeing many of you there.