Newsletter 102 - July 27th 2023

Prayer of the Week:

Acting Principals Report:

Dear St Patrick’s community

Another week has passed and we are well and truly into the thick of the school term.  As the winter chills hit we have seen an increase in students with colds and flu and tummy bugs.  Thank you to our families for keeping your child at home if they are unwell, we appreciate you supporting us to ensure we are maintaining a healthy environment for all 

Mildura school visit

It was certainly a long drive to Mildura Sunday afternoon which was made longer by Fiona Harney and I missing our turn offs due to talking too much.  There was a lot of google map rerouting happening.  

On Monday morning we visited St Paul's Catholic Primary School in Mildura. I observed Foundation and Grade 3/4, whilst Fiona observed Grade 1 and Grade 5/6 during their literacy blocks. 

Throughout the school a Structured Literacy approach is taken.  Literacy lessons are taught in an explicit, systematic way to ensure important components of literacy are taught. 

Interestingly the school has around 280 students in an open plan area.  It was surprising for me to see that students remained engaged in their learning and the noise level was minimal. 

A big thankyou to the team at St Paul’s for hosting us along with sixty other teachers throughout this week.  It was a credit to their teachers and students how they welcomed us so we could learn from their journey. 

DOBCEL Visit

On Tuesday we welcomed a visit from Dr Berenice Kerr rsm DOBCEL board member and Mr Matthew Byrne Deputy Director of Catholic Education Ballarat.  Throughout our diocese there are 64 catholic primary and secondary schools.  The role of DOBCEL is to lead, provide service to, and partner with all 64 schools to enable every student to flourish and every student, staff member and family to experience the presence of Christ in our schools. 

It is wonderful to see our DOBCEL board members and Executive officers visiting our schools and making connections. 

Our school leaders (Lolah, Jack, Molly and Akuol - Laila away) confidently took  Berenice and Matt on a school tour.  Berenice and Matt were very impressed  with our leaders and both commented on the wonderful tour, knowledge, manners and leadership they displayed.  I was very proud of them.  Please see the photo below. 

Foundation interviews 

This week was the final week for our Foundation 2024 interviews.  It was a joy to meet our new little people and their families.  We look forward to welcoming them into our school community. 

Naplan

Last week Naplan results for our Grade 3 and 5 students were sent home. We are beyond proud of our students regardless of where their dot sat on the page, behind any assessment is first and foremost a story that goes with each of our students.  At St Patrick’s we strive for academic success for all our students, but we are also focused on nurturing well-rounded individuals who are ready to embrace the challenges of the future with resilience and a passion for lifelong learning.  Please reach out to your classroom teacher if you would like to discuss your child’s results. 

Thankyou

A big thank you to the amazing team at St Patrick’s and school community  for their support whilst we await our new Principal. 

With faith in our future

Maryanne Comitti

Wellbeing:

There’s nothing more concerning than when our child feels down on themselves and plagued by worry. But what if this is just attention seeking behaviour? Host Amelia Phillips and Clinical Psychotherapist and Director of Wellbeing for Kids, Georgina Manning discuss the delicate balance between addressing your child’s worry without amplifying attention-seeking behaviour. They look at ways to differentiate worry and an anxiety disorder and simple practical ways to reduce our child’s worry. 

About the host:

Amelia Phillips is an exercise, nutrition, parenting and business expert with a career spanning 26 years in health. She's a registered exercise scientist, nutritionist and researcher (with a masters of human nutrition). She is the co-founder of health tech company 12WBT which grew from start-up to 56 staff. After a successful exit, she now consults to health companies, presents and appears in the media. Amelia had four kids in five years and is dedicated to empowering women to build a life after kids on the foundation of health (mental and physical), love and purpose.

If you have a question for Amelia, reach out via Insta @_amelia_phillips, email 

ap@ameliaphillips.com.au or text an audio question to: 0417458772

Find out more at www.ameliaphillips.com.au

Brought to you by Drop Bio Health - Know your body and own your health. To access free, live and on-demand events with leading health specialists such as Amelia Phillips, visit  https://www.dropbiohealth.com/healthyher

Link to podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/healthy-her/id1477160157?i=1000533013368

For any medical needs you may have, a virtual Dr's appointment can be made 24/7 at: https://www.vved.org.au/

You will receive prompt dedicated service via a video call. A sample of the pages you will see when you type in vved or click on the link above are shown in the pictures below.

Select the first blue box then it will take you to the next screen where you click the green rectangle - Register now

Teaching and Learning:

School Assemblies:  Our assemblies are led by a different class each week and will happen on Friday afternoons starting at 2:50pm in the school hall.  Students are dismissed from the hall at 3:15pm.  We invite all our community to come along.  

Week 3: No Assembly school closure Day 28.7.2023

Week 4:  Junior F

Week 5:  Foundation

Week 6: Senior M

Week 7: Book Week

Week 8: Junior R

Week 9: Middle C

Week 10: Whole School Assembly 1:50pm

Professional Development:

At St Patrick’s Primary School we are committed to Professional Development of our team.  At various times staff members will be working off site which may result in classroom teachers being out of the classroom

Week 4

Wednesday 2/8/23 - Ms Maryanne Comitti, Miss Bonney, Mrs Harney -                                                                                   DIBELS assessment training  

In keeping with our Science of Reading pedagogy next Wednesday Melissa Bonney, Fiona Harney and myself will go to Horsham to learn a new literacy assessment tool which is called DIBELS.  DIBELS stands for Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills.  DIBELS assessment tool measures students on the five big ideas of reading: 

 - Phonemic awareness (hearing and manipulating sounds)

- Phonics (sounds in our language)

- Reading fluency (ability to read text accurately and automatically)

- Vocabulary (knowledge of meaning of  words)

- Reading Comprehension (understanding what they are reading)

From 2024 all students will be assessed three times per year: start of the year, prior to the end of Semester 1 (June/July) and prior to the end of Semester 2 (November/December).  Throughout the year students will also be regularly checked on their reading progress this is called progress monitoring.  

Later in the year all teachers will be trained in DIBELS.  

Structured literacy

On Friday all staff will travel to Ballarat to St Francis Xavier school to undertake further professional development on Structured Literacy.  We know that high quality literacy teaching demands high quality literacy teachers. It is vital that as a staff we continue to develop our knowledge to ensure we are teaching at a high quality. 

Structured Literacy  - School closure day - Friday 28th July, 2023

Tomorrow Friday 28th July our whole school staff will travel to St Francis Xavier Primary School in Ballarat to take part in Professional Development on Structured Literacy. 

Moving forward our whole school approach to Structured Literacy joins with our Science of Learning, Visible Learner model to ensure optimal teaching and learning. 

Maryanne Comitti Teaching and Learning Leader 

Book week this year runs from August 19th 2023, to August 25th, 2023. During this time all classes spend time each day celebrating books and Australian children's authors and illustrators. The theme is read.grow, inspire.

The highlight of book week is on Friday 25th August where students are invited to dress as their favourite book character with a whole school parade where our community/grandparents day are able to attend. 

Great Book Swap - happening at St Patrick’s Primary School  21st & 22nd August, 2023. 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 Indigenous 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. 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. 

This 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, and 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.  *Please send any donated books (in great condition) into school, thanks to those who have already donated.

Living in faith:

Eucharist & Confirmation Sacraments:

We have a number of children celebrating their Sacraments of Eucharist and Confirmation over the coming months.  Please keep them in your prayers. 

What are the Sacraments of Eucharist and Confirmation?

Students learn about the Sacrament of the Eucharist (Communion): Those children who are baptised Catholics and have received the Sacrament of Penance, are prepared to receive this sacrament for the first time in Year 3.  During this sacrament, the children receive the blessed sacrament, the host. After their first Eucharist, a person may go to receive the blessed sacrament, any time they go to Mass.

The Sacrament of Confirmation: Those children who are baptised Catholics, and who have received the Sacraments of Penance and Eucharist, are prepared to receive this sacrament in Year 3.  This is the final sacrament of initiation.  During this sacrament, the students are asked to renew the baptismal promises that were made for them by their parents and god-parents at baptism, and they are anointed with the oil of chrism.  They select a sponsor to stand with them on the day and to support them on their faith journey.

Annual Fathers day/special persons Celebrations:   Our annual Fathers day/special persons celebrations will take place on Friday 1st September, 2023. 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 an 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.  

Parents and Friends News:

Fathers day/special persons stall:

Thankyou once again to P&F who will be running a Fathers Day/special persons stall on  - Thursday 31st August, 2023. If you are able to help P&F either preparing gifts or setting up and manning stalls please contact Vaughan, Kate R, Libby, Marietta, Erin, Melissa or Kate F.

Gifts will be available to purchase ranging from $1:00 to $ 10:00.   The children take such pride and excitement in carefully selecting their gifts for their Father and special person in their life.  

Birthdays:

Congratulations to these  students who are  celebrating  their birthday  this week:  Hamish and Edward.    

Parish news:

Mass Times: 
Ararat Sunday 8.30am 
Stawell Sunday 10.30am
Lake Bolac 1st, 3rd, 5th Sundays 6.30pm Vigil Sat 
Landsborough 2nd, 4th Sundays 12.30pm
Glenthompson (Hamilton Parish) 2nd, 4th Sundays 8.30am

Please follow us on instagram; stpatsstawell

Around Our Community:

Upcoming Events:

Our Vision and Mission:

Vision Statement: St Patrick's School is a community which reflects and celebrates Christ as its centre point:  By honoring our story we value our whole community.  By coming together our vision is for a loving, just, compassionate and tolerant world.     Mission Statement:  In the tradition of St Patrick, we are committed to: Promoting and celebrating a love of God, self and community.  Recognizing and enhancing the talents and uniqueness of each person through our vision of Prayer, Care and Learning.  PRAYER We nurture and grow our relationship with God as members of a faith community.  CARE We foster recognition of difference, compassion for others and the strength to act on our beliefs. LEARNING We develop the knowledge, attitudes and skills essential to reaching our full potential as life- long learners.