Newsletter 108 - September 7th 2023
Prayer of the Week:
Lord, grant us the wisdom to care for the earth and till it. Help us to act now for the good of future generations and all your creatures. Help us to become instruments of a new creation, founded on the covenant of your love. Thank you God for most this amazing day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything which is natural which is infinite, which is yes. Amen
Interim Principals Report:
Dear St Patrick’s community
We had a wonderful celebration at school last Friday night to celebrate all our Father’s and special people in our students' lives. It was great to see everyone enjoying each other's company and joining in different games throughout the evening. It was such a lovely night, we didn't take any photos to share as we were all enjoying mingling and chatting to everyone on the night. However, a few family snaps are below from earlier in the day.
It has been a massive week at St Patrick’s with our Five yearly School Review taking place on Tuesday and Wednesday. The school reflection report and data profile are documents that as a staff we have worked throughout the year in preparation for our review. Our review panel consisted of: Pauline Fisher (Fisher Consulting) who was our lead reviewer, Janet Claassen (Catholic Education Ballarat, Education Consultant) and Trinity Johns (Principal St Patrick’s primary school, St Arnaud).
The review was a really positive experience providing us the opportunity to reflect on our accomplishments over the last five years and name areas of focus for the next five years.
I express my sincere thanks to the following:
To our parents/guardians, thank you for allowing us to partner and support you in educating your precious children.
To our students everyday you present us with challenges, opportunities, celebrations and we do what we do because of each and every one of you.
To our three previous principals who have all contributed in some way to our school and students development: Mrs Liz McIntrye, Mrs Michelle Hogan and Mr Chris McAloon
To our dedicated staff who all play their part in our school’s and students' success, what an amazing team to be a part of. I hope our staff can take a moment to reflect on the significant positive impact they have made and continue to make in our community.
Where to next?
The review panel will compile a report and send it to us. From here we will then go through and strategically plan our improvements for the next five years. Next, we will work on developing our school annual action plan for 2024. The annual action plan serves as a key strategic document that outlines specific goals and objectives.
As a staff we are excited to keep moving forward with our new pedagogical approach with evidence based practice, Structured Literacy and Visible Learning.
Once again thank you for your support.
With faith in our future Maryanne Comitti
Wellbeing:
As a parent, it’s never easy to hear your child express negative thoughts or to see them wallow in feelings like self-doubt, sadness, or anger. Unfortunately, science says it’s natural for people to dwell more on negative thoughts than on positive ones, and this can be even more true for children.
This negativity is usually driven by fear, doubt, or shame, which produces stress chemicals in the brain. Ultimately, a negative attitude can shape how a child sees themself and the world around them.
But as parents, there’s plenty we can do to help our children develop a more positive attitude about themselves and their world.
Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our FREE Your Words Matter Kit. With these 10 popular parenting guides, you will know exactly how to speak to your children to help them develop confidence, internal motivation, and a can-do attitude.
Are Negative Thoughts Bad?
There are no “bad” emotions. All thoughts and feelings are valid. Both positive and negative thoughts and emotions play a valuable role in how we process the world around us.
For instance, sadness can help us process difficult times, and we would have no moral compass if we never felt shame or guilt.
Danish psychologist Svend Brinkmann explains that the pressure to think positively and be constantly cheerful has turned happiness into “a duty and a burden.”
Additionally, trying to be happy all the time alienates us from our emotions, which simply isn’t healthy. In fact, recent psychological research indicates that emotional avoidance is one of the main causes of many psychological issues.
For these reasons, there's no need to pressure children to avoid or dismiss negative emotions.
What Can You Do Instead?
Instead, we can teach our kids to accept negative emotions and process them in a healthy way. We can encourage positive thinking and positive affirmations.
According to positive psychology researcher Barbara Fredrickson, positive thinking is important because it broadens your sense of possibility and opens your mind, allowing you to build new skills. Positive thinking, Fredrickson says, “broadens and builds.” It also makes children (and adults) more resilient.
Neurobiologist Richard Davidson of the University of Wisconsin explains that the brain is “plastic” and can be trained to be more emotionally resilient and to respond to certain emotions in a healthier manner.
This can be accomplished by engaging in mental exercises that help “rewire” the brain.
https://biglifejournal.com/blogs/blog/children-positive-attitude
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 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.
Wk 10:
Middle C:
Another term almost over! With the school holidays just around the corner, everyone in Middle C have been using their resilient learner superpower and giving 100% into getting everything finished before the end of term. We are also very excited for our camp at Roses Gap next week.
Literacy
This week in literacy, we have been reading the text Uno’s Garden by Graham Base. We have been exploring the vocabulary used by the author, as well as the different types of punctuation used.
In morphology, we have been learning about irregular past tense verbs and how to change these verbs from present to past (e.g. swim to swam).
In writing, we have been learning about different persuasive devices that are included in our writing, such as rhetorical questions, the rule of three, and similes. We have started to write our own persuasive texts using the statement “Why caring for animals is important”.
Maths
Grade 3s have been learning about the volume of different shapes using base-10 blocks.
Grade 4s have been learning about odd and even numbers when adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing.
Both grades have started to revise everything we have learnt throughout the term, before we complete our Quarterly post-tests.
Inquiry/Science
Throughout this term we have been learning about advertising and how ads persuade us to buy a product. We are currently working on posters advertising the school concert next term.
Religion
In religion, we have been learning about Grace prayers. We have even had a go at creating our own Grace prayers.
Wellbeing
In wellbeing, we have been learning about ‘Growth Mindset’. We have been watching videos on Class Dojo about learning from our mistakes and the ‘Power of Yet’ to help us be self-motivated, risk-tasking and resilient learners.
ART:
Students have been busy creating artwork for the 2023 Water week Poster competition. This year's theme is 'United By Water'.These are just a few examples of the wonderful artwork. Congratulations to all of the students.
Avaya ( Foundation)
Max ( Grade 1)
Marianne ( Grade 2)
Lilly ( Grade 3)
Vibeesh ( grade 4)
Henry (Grade 5)
Molly ( Grade 6)
Great Book Swap - happening at St Patrick’s Primary School,2023. Literacy is a major issue facing remote Indigenous communities. Has been temporarily postponed till term 4.
Next term Social Justice will finalise 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:
Next Thursday the social justice group will be hosting a BBQ lunch and students are asked to come in casual clothes with either an Oodie, Hoodie or Footy team colours to raise funds for the Indigenous Literacy foundation. If possible please send a gold coin donation with each child.
Care for creation:
Pope Francis has established September 1st as the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, encouraging the Catholic community around the world to pray for our common home.
The day is inspired by Pope Francis' landmark encyclical Laudato Si’, which calls on "every person living on this planet" to care for our shared Earth.
The theme for 2023 is “Let Justice and Peace Flow”, inspired by the words of the prophet Amos: “Let justice flow on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream.” (Amos 5:24)
In his message for the World Day of Prayer 2023, Pope Francis invites us to "the renewal of our relationship with creation so that we no longer see it as an object to be exploited but cherish it instead as a sacred gift from our Creator."
Over the course of our students' time at St Patrick’s they learn and explore the Care for Creation and Laudato Si’ which is an encyclical of Pope Francis published in May 2015. It focuses on care for the natural environment and all people, as well as broader questions of the relationship between God, humans, and the Earth. The encyclical’s subtitle, “Care for Our Common Home,” reinforces these key themes.
An encyclical is a public letter from the Pope developing Catholic teaching on a topic often in light of current events. Laudato Si’ is addressed to “every living person on this planet” (LS 3). Hence, it is offered as part of an ongoing dialogue within the Catholic Church and between Catholics and the wider world.
What does Laudato Si’ mean?
The first words of Laudato Si’ are Italian and translate as “praise be to you.” They are part of a quotation from St. Francis of Assisi’s “Canticle of the Creatures” that opens the encyclical in which the saint praises God by meditating on the goodness of sun, wind, Earth, water, and other natural forces.
Students of the week:
Mackenzie Stevenson - For the brilliant work you have been putting into improving your letter formations. Keep up the wonderful work Mackenzie.
Chevy Haynes - For the phenomenal work you’ve been putting into improving your reading fluency. Keep up the brilliant work Chevy.
Bonnie Wickham - For the effort and detail you are putting into your sentence writing. You are taking risks to add more detail. Keep up the hard work!
Marley Carlsen - For the great growth you made in your Stepping Stones Quarterly Assessment. You showed resilience to complete every task. You should be very proud of yourself!
Arli Werry - For the self-motivation you have had towards your learning. You should be so proud of what you are achieving. Keep up the super work.
Isaac O'Callaghan - For the resilience you have been showing towards challenging tasks. I am so proud of you, keep up the amazing work Isaac.
Aaliyah Carlsen - For the great sentences you have been writing using emotive language and modality words. Keep it up!
Ethan Prydderch - For being a self-motivated learner and resilient learner during our Literacy learning. Well done!
Sophie O'Callaghan - For being a risk-taker and taking on challenges in your maths. Your hard work is paying off. Keep it up!
Mia Bailey - For the fantastic use of persuasive devices you have included in your writing. Keep up the outstanding work!
Ally Smith - For the confidence and depth of knowledge that you willingly share in our classroom - so impressive Ally! Keep it up!
Jett Virgin - For your outstanding Quarterly Post test results! Keep working hard Jett!
Aiden Guerrero - For your ability to support your peers when working collaboratively. Well done Aiden!
Maddox Austin - For being a self-motivated learner when completing tasks independently or in a group situation. Keep it up Maddox!
Birthdays:
Congratulations to these students who are celebrating their birthday this week: Catherine, Ally, Lilly H, Emily
Mary Mckillop 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. "Whatever troubles may be before you, accept them bravely, remembering Whom you are trying to follow. Do not be afraid. Love one another, bear with one another, and let charity guide you all your life. God will reward you as only He can".
This weeks award recipient is Logan.
For often being observed assisting other students who are having difficulty with a concept during Mathematics. The way he speaks and supports his peers, is incredibly caring and patient, not to mention the depth of understanding he has in Mathematics. The way he sees a need and does something about it, reflects the values of Mary MacKillop. Congratulations Logan!
Parents and Friends News:
Thank You to our amazing Parents & Friends who organised our great Fathers day/special persons stall. It is always great to watch the children carefully select their gift for their dads/special person in their lives.
SAC:
A massive thankyou from all the staff for our scrumptious 'Thank you' morning tea and lunch provided by our School Advisory Committee, most notably Sarah and Chantal for setting it all up despite the rain. We truly are grateful to work with your children and value our wider school community and their support.
Diocesan/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.