Newsletter 110 - October 5th 2023
Prayer of the Week:
A prayer for our school & community.
Almighty Father, we give you our school. We give you all the teachers and staff who work here, we give you all the children and community of our school. We pray our school is a place of great discovery, adventure and creativity. May it be a place where we love to learn and where we learn to love, a place where everyone is respected and all are deeply valued. We ask all this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Interim Principals Report:
Dear St Patrick’s community
Welcome back to the start of our final term for the year. Our dedicated team is committed to every student’s journey as we strive to make this term a memorable and transformative experience for all.
It is certainly going to be a full ten weeks, kicking off this week with our concert preparations. A big thank you to the staff, especially the very talented Miss Bonney, for all the hard work in preparing for the concert and of course the children for all the energy they bring.
This term we welcome three new families to our school community:
Nathalia Abraham - JR, Nathaniel- MC, Henry and Ted Tyler - JR and Lexie Murphy - SM.
At St Patrick’s we believe in fostering a supportive and nurturing environment where every student can thrive academically, socially and emotionally.
We also welcome back Mrs Lauren Sharp from Maternity leave. Lauren will be with us on Tuesday and will be working in all areas of the school.
Just a reminder, our school is a Sunsmart School and all students and staff are required to wear a school hat in whilst outside in Term 4 to help protect them from the sun. *Please remember to send your child’s school hat to school.
Looking forward to another great term at St Patrick’s. With faith in our future Maryanne Comitti
A word from the office:
* Please note upcoming school closure days:
Monday 6th (Staff PD) and Tuesday 7th November (Vic Public Holiday)
Wellbeing:
A wonderful and insightful article on Anger Managment for Kids.
Angry Kids: Dealing With Explosive Behaviour
Teaching and Learning:
School Assemblies: Our assemblies are led by a different class each week and tomorrows assembly begins at 2:50pm as students will be dismissed from the hall at 3:15pm. We invite all our community to come along.
Week 1: Foundation
Week 2: Senior H
Week 3: Junior F
Week 4: Middle C
Week 5: Junior R
Week 6: Senior M
Week 7: Middle B
Week 8: Foundation
Week 9: Middle B & C
Week 10: Junior R & F
Week 11: Grade 6
Week 12: No assembly
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 or online which may result in classroom teachers being out of the classroom.
Term 4:
Wk 1: Fri 6th Mr Leon Moloney Ballarat sports
Wk 2: FRi 13th Miss L Comitti & Miss G Fleming REAP (Religion Accreditation course)
Uniform:
At St Patrick’s School wearing the correct school uniform and the overall appearance of our students is an important part of school life. We believe that the wearing of the St Patrick’s school uniform brings with it many benefits. These include the promotion of a child’s self respect, a sense of belonging to a school community and a sense of school pride.
A few reminders:
Jewellery - plain sleepers/a single small stud or a suitable religious cross on a necklace is acceptable.
Makeup - the wearing of makeup is unacceptable
Hair ties - these need to be a colour or colours of the school uniform - blue/green/gold
Nail polish - coloured nail polish/acrylics are unacceptable
We thank you for your support.
SCHOOL CONCERT TIMINGS:
Concert Overview:
Final preparations will be happening for our school concert this week and next please see the following details:
Costumes:
Could all costumes please be brought to school no later than Friday 6/10/23. Please ensure all clothing is clearly named.
Monday - 9/10/23
Whole school will walk to Town Hall for practice at approximately 11:00am and return to school in time for lunch.
Tuesday - 10/10/23
Whole school will walk to Town Hall for a full dress rehearsal. Students will return to school in time for lunch.
Whole school concert presentation - Wednesday - 11/10/23
Whole school will walk to Town Hall at approximately 11am….
Students will prepare for the concert.
Matinee: 12:30pm - Stawell Town Hall
*Students will present their concert at 12:30 pm sharp.
Parents are able to collect their child/children at the conclusion of the Matinee, however your child/children's classroom teacher must be informed prior to leaving.
All students that do not go home after the Matinee will catch a bus back to school for dismissal at 3:15pm.
Evening: 6:00pm - Stawell Town Hall
*Please ensure all students are back ready for their evening performance before 6pm sharp.
Seating
For our concert we offer Matinee and Evening sessions to try to ensure all those wanting to see our students have the opportunity to. We have 141 students and the Town Hall seats approximately 409.
Our students are seated on the floor during the presentation. Previously we have gone through trybooking and asked families to reserve seats, however due to feedback after trialing this we have decided not to do this again.
*As we are not allocating numbers and seating we would appreciate it if families could, where possible, share the number of your guests between the Matinee and Evening concerts.
Please ensure you are seated prior to the start of students' performance.
Parents & Friends:
*Our dedicated group of Parents & Friends will be at the entrance of the Town Hall and will be collecting a gold coin donation for the performance. They will also be running their major raffle $2:00 per ticket.
Great Book Swap - happening at St Patrick’s Primary School,2023. Literacy is a major issue facing remote Indigenous communities. Tuesday 17th and Wednesday 18th October.
This 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.
End of school celebrations:
End of school whole school mass:
When: Wednesday 13th December
Time: 9:15am
Where: St Patrick’s Catholic Church - Community cuppa to follow in the school hall. All Welcome
End of Year celebrations - Carols on the green.
When: Thursday 14th December, 2023.
Where: St Patrick's Primary School Oval
Time: 6:30pm Gates open
Catering: To be advised
BYO: chairs/picnic blanket
Carols: Each year level will present a Christmas Carol throughout the evening
Our end of your celebration is where we can come together 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 2023.
End of year Graduation liturgy Thursday 14th December, 2023 5:30pm
Our Grade Six liturgy will be held in the school hall for Grade 6 families only. Details to follow.
We hope you can join us in celebrating a terrific year of learning and teaching and growing together as a community of learners.
As we have previously mentioned St Patricks has embarked on an exciting Professional Development journey starting last year, continuing this year and next. We will be learning and implementing Visible learning which is a research based approach to developing life-long learners. It is based on the research of Professor John Hattie and his metastudies involving over 300 million students and what has the most impact on student progress at school. Visible learning research explores seven core strategies for learning success: working together as evaluators, setting high expectations, measuring learning with explicit success criteria, establishing developmentally appropriate levels of learning, viewing mistakes as opportunities, continually seeking feedback, and balancing surface, deep, and transfer learning.
Currently all staff this term are undertaking Professional Development on feedback that makes learning visible.
We will be learning to:
- utilise feedback effectively in order to enhance learning and instruction
- understand how learning intentions and success criteria are the foundation for giving effective feedback
- appreciate the role of errors, mistakes and misconceptions are opportunities for powerful feedback and thus should be welcomed in classrooms
Living in Faith:
Non Perishable food drive:
The Stawell Inter Church Council welfare Cottage is struggling to keep up with the demand for help and they are seeking grocery donations to help them help those in need. They are particularly looking for donations of canned items like stew, soup, tuna, vegetables, spaghetti meat sauce, soaps, toothbrushes, shampoo, clothes washing powder and dishwashing liquid. We realise there is significant extra pressure on our families with cost of living prices, however if you feel able to, could you please buy an extra item or two when you go grocery shopping. Donation tubs will be in each classroom and we will present our donations to Mary-Rita Thomas (St Vincent de Paul rep) at assembly and put it in the donations bin in the church. There are many in our town and region who are having a hard time making ends meet.
Fundraising: From next week (Friday 6th October) each Friday till the end of Term our MiniVinnies group will be selling Zooper Doopers for $1.00each at lunch time under the shade sails. The money raised will go towards Stawell Inter church Council Welfare Centre and St Vincent de Paul Sponsor a student program.
As always we thank our St Patrick’s community for your support.
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.
Please follow us on instagram; stpatsstawell
Students of the week:
Ayava Hollis - For being a brave and resilient learner. We're all very pleased to see your bubbly personality shine Avaya!
George Darker - For being a self-motivated learner and coming back to school with such a positve and focused mindset, keep it up George.
Ted Tyler - For being a fabulous new member of our class. We hope you love St. Patrick's!
Henry Tyler - For being a welcome addition to our school. We love having you in our class!
Nathalia Abraham - For being a wonderful new member of our school. Welcome to our school!
Henry Carter - For being a self-motivated learner and always being the best you can be.
Oscar Erwin - For your collaboration in classroom discussions and the fabulous results you have been achieving.
Lenny Field - For your great contributions during maths discussions. Keep it up!
Aaliyah Carlsen - For using your risk taker super power and stepping outside your comfort zone while engaging with the community. Well done!
Nathaniel Abraham - For the awesome start you have made at our school. We are very lucky to have you at St. Patricks's and in Middle C.
Charles Carter - For being an amazing friend to your new classmate and making him feel very welcomed in our school. Great work Charles!
Jack Cameron - For showing kindness and great leadership skills when helping a younger student during the week. Well done Jack!
Akuol Kur - For being a curious learner when working through our class novel 'Detention' - great insight and questioning Akuol!
Laila Gready - For the way you have settled straight back into your learning after your holiday, it's great to have you back.
Liam Cameron - For being a self-motivated learner in all subject areas. Keep striving to be your absolute best Liam!
Birthdays:
Congratulations to these students who have celebrated their birthday:
Riley, Logan, Eleanor, Akuol, Luke, Ethan J, Sophie and Arli.
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. “True charitable humility is open. It is generous in its motives. It troubles not about either the esteem or censure of people.”
This weeks award recipient is Ally .
For always looking after others when they are having a rough time.
Thank you for your kindness !
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
Around Our Community:
Stawell Interchurch Netball Association Registration Form Term 4 2023
Hi everyone,
Here is the link to register for the new STAWELL INTERCHURCH COMPETITION for TERM 4, 2023! The competition starts on October 18 and runs for 8 weeks. The competition is for Primary School aged-players. However, if your child is in Year 7 and they would like to play, please get in touch. If your child’s birthday is between 01/01/2006 and 31/12/2016
Please click on the link to register:
[https://registration.netballconnect.com/userRegistration?organisationId=6b6e933a-11fe-4e0d-bd6a-460cab14b851&competitionId=8052f6c6-c3e8-4cb0-b239-5ef1d58077aa Here is the link to register for the association -https://docs.google.com/.../1FAIpQLSfIGSez3Vb.../viewform...
If you have registered with Netball Connect already this season it will show up as $0. Both of these forms need to be filled out for the season. We will require a $10 cash payment when the competition starts. Please note, if any players require an ambulance throughout the season, one will be called, regardless of the level of cover held. Please make sure your child has sufficient ambulance cover.
Register your child's interest in a Wednesday afternoon netball competition.
8 week netball and gameplay from Wednesday October 18th - Wednesday December 6th 2023 - running from 4.30-5.30pm. Ages 6 - 12 years.
Cost will be $70 for Non Netball Victoria members and $10 for players already registered with Netball Victoria for 2023.
Please, one form per player.
Details are subject to change at committees discretion.
Please return registration forms to stawellinterchurch@gmail.com by Sunday October 8th, 2023.
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.