Newsletter 2024/29 ~ 13 September 2024

As partners in Catholic Education and open to God’s presence, we pursue the fullness of life for all.

St. Patrick’s School is committed to the safety and wellbeing of all students.

St. Patrick's School is a child safe school.

We respectfully acknowledge the Traditional Owners of Country throughout Victoria and pay respect to the ongoing living cultures of First Peoples. 

This newsletter comes to you from the lands of the Wotjobaluk, Jaadwa, Jadawadjali, Wergaia and Jupagalk Nations.

From the Principal

In this Season of Creation, may we have faith with works: discerning how we are called to lose our lives of consumerism and gain Christ as we seek healing for our common home. 

In this Season of Creation, may we have faith with works: cognisant that if we truly love God, we will love God’s creation, which means we must act for its well being.

CURRENT & RECENT EVENTS

Little Desert Athletics

Congratulations to our students who competed at the Little Desert Athletics Championships in Stawell yesterday, where they achieved some terrific results:

• Daniel B - 2nd Triple Jump, 3rd 200m Dash.
• Ben - 3rd Shot Put.
• Olive - 4th Long Jump.
• AJ - 3rd 200m Dash, 2nd 100m Dash.
• Claire - 6th Long Jump.
• Sophie - 4th Discus, 3rd Triple Jump.
• Marnie - 5th Triple Jump, 4th 100m Dash.
• Nile - 2nd 4x 100m Relay.
• Adoni - 2nd 4x 100m Relay.

Students that finished first and second in individual events and first-placed relay teams progress to region in Ballarat on Friday 11^th October - congratulations and good luck to Daniel B and AJ. A permission note will be issued next week.

Prev

Showing images 1 - 8 of 9

Next

National Catholic Schools Parents Survey

Catholic School Parents Australia (CSPA) is running a parent survey in partnership with the University of New England on Student Wellbeing and Learning and are seeking your perspective as parents/carers of children who attend a Catholic School in Australia.

You are invited to share your views on existing and emerging affirmations and/or challenges in relation to your child/children’s wellbeing and learning.

The survey is anonymous, confidential, and completely voluntary.    

Thank you for your support.

Whooping cough

The incidence of Whooping cough cases is continuing to increase across Victoria, particularly among school-aged children.

Whooping cough is a very contagious infection, mostly spread through coughing or sneezing. 

Symptoms include:

• blocked or runny nose
• tiredness
• mild fever
• severe bouts of coughing, often followed by a ‘whooping’ sound on breathing.

Whooping cough can lead to life-threatening infections in babies.

If your child is unwell, they should not attend school. Please see a doctor if you or your child develops whooping cough symptoms. Early diagnosis and treatment will help reduce the spread of the infection.

Students diagnosed with whooping cough must not attend school

If your child is diagnosed with whooping cough, they must not attend school for 21 days after the onset of the cough, or until they have received 5 days of antibiotic treatment.

You must notify the school if your child is diagnosed with whooping cough.

To further reduce the spread of infection to your child and the school community, the Public Health and Wellbeing Regulations 2019 (link below) require that some students who were in the same classroom as a student diagnosed with whooping cough should not attend school.

Your child should not attend school for 14 days after they were last exposed to a person diagnosed with whooping cough, or until they have taken 5 days of a course of antibiotic treatment if they are:

• aged less than 7 years; and
• not fully vaccinated with 3 doses of whooping cough (pertussis) vaccine.

This exclusion is required by law – refer to the School exclusion table for primary schools and children’s services (link below).

If your child is diagnosed with whooping cough, please contact the school to let us know.

Your support in keeping our students safe and well is greatly appreciated.

For more information about whooping cough, refer to Whooping cough on the Better Health Channel (link below).

Vaccination is the best way to reduce the risk of whooping cough. The Department of Health recommends staying up to date with immunisations, including booster doses. A free booster dose of the pertussis vaccine is covered under the national immunisation program for students aged 12 to 13. If you are unsure about your child’s vaccination status for whooping cough, please discuss with an immunisation provider, such as your doctor.

Australian Parents Council

Australian Parents Council is inviting parents to participate in an important survey regarding NAPLAN.  It should only take a few minutes to complete the survey by clicking the link below.

eSafety - Every Conversation Matters

Further to last week’s article about National Child Protection Week, the office of the eSafety Commissioner has provided resources to assist with your conversations with your children about their online lives (links below).

Condolences

We offer our prayerful condolences to the Gladdis family following the passing of their Great Nanna earlier this week at the age of 103. 

UPCOMING EVENTS

Book Fair at Nhill Market

Thank you to our volunteers for the SAC Book Fair stall at the Nhill Market on Sunday 15th September.

The Roster is below.

Everyone is welcome to come along and have a look at the books on offer.

Pizza lunches

Next Wednesday Nhill Bakery is again generously sponsoring pizza lunches. If your child does not or cannot eat pizza, please supply their lunch.

There will be no lunch orders next Wednesday.

Hockey Grand Finals

Wimmera Hockey Association Finals take place tomorrow in Dimboola.  We wish Ben and Daniel B (Nhill Leopards U/16) and Charlotte Dickinson (Yanac Womens) well in their Grand Finals. 

Congratulations to the following students who received awards at their club presentations recently:

• Elvi - Kaniva Rampager’s Encouragement Award
• Olive - Kaniva Raiders Alec Wallis Memorial Encouragement Award
• Nile - Nhill Bandits Most Consistent
• Jody - Nhill Bandits Coaches Award
• Riley - Nhill Bandits Most Improved
• Daniel B - Nhill Bandits Highest Goal Scorer
• Ben - Nhill Leopards Best First Year Player

End of Term 3 | School Holidays | Start of Term 4

Term 3 ends next Friday at 2:15pm. We hope everyone has an enjoyable term break and we look forward to the start of Term 4 on Monday 7 October.

75 Years Anniversary

St Patrick’s School is celebrating 75 years since its opening in 1949.  To mark this occasion we will be celebrating the milestone on Sunday 20 October.  This will tie in with the Nhill Heritage weekend celebrations.

In February 1949, the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart opened St Patrick’s School, in the J.P. Ryan Hall, on its current site.  Their dedicated service continued until 1979, when lack of numbers forced the Order to inform Bishop Ronald Mulkearns of Ballarat that they could no longer supply teaching staff.  The first Lay Principal and Teacher were appointed in 1979 and a few years later a decision was made to build a new school.  The new school building was completed in time for the 1983 school year.  There has since been significant capital works culminating in our current facilities.

Current families, past students and staff and families, and the general public are welcome to join us on 20 October to celebrate our 75 years.  We will commence with Mass in St Patrick’s Catholic Church at 11am.  Celebrations will then move to the school from 12.15pm with speeches and official welcome taking place in the St Patrick’s Community Hall. The school building will also be open for visitors to wander through.

If you have any memorabilia or photos that would be relevant to display on the day, could you please contact me at school.

Hindmarsh Shire Council School Holidays Program

Sunday’s Gospel

Mark 7:31-37

In Mark 7:31-37, Jesus meets a man who cannot hear or speak well. The people bring the man to Jesus, hoping He will help him. Jesus takes the man aside, touches his ears and tongue, and says, “Be opened!” Immediately, the man can hear and speak clearly. Everyone is amazed and says, “Jesus does all things well!”

This story shows us Jesus’ great love and care for people. He takes time to be gentle and kind to the man who needs help. Jesus didn’t just see a problem—He saw a person who needed love and healing.

For us, this means we should be kind and caring, just like Jesus. When someone is struggling, we can be like Jesus by helping them, being kind, and praying for them. Jesus shows us that love has the power to change lives. When we follow His example, we bring God’s love to everyone around us.

Our Josephite Heritage

The Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, often called the "Josephites" or "Brown Joeys", were founded in Penola, South Australia, in 1866 by Mary MacKillop and the Rev. Julian Tenison Woods. In 1949, three Josephite sisters arrived in Nhill to open St Patrick’s School. In 1978, the Sisters of St Joseph informed the Nhill Parish that they would no longer be able to maintain their role within the school.

We endeavour to honour our Josephite heritage through the regular presentation of the Little Joey awards at our assemblies. In support of this we also include a reflection from Mary MacKillop on our newsletter each week.

By the Numbers

110 - The maximum permitted speed on roads in each Australian state.

Not great results last weekend with the Power losing to Geelong and the Nhill Tigers bowing out of Wimmera League finals.  The Power have earnt a second chance and need to defeat the hawks tonight.  C’arn Port.

God Bless you all.

Kingsley Dalgleish

Principal

Classroom and Student News

Senior Class News

Students compiled the following reports over the course of the week. 

By AJ: This week we have been doing a lot of things like Maths, Auslan, Science, Art and Religion, but were mostly focused on Maths, Science and Auslan. Yesterday we were doing our science experiment but before that we had to be in groups of 4 and we had to write down what we had to do for our experiments. All of the groups are doing 4 tests with different types of bread of which there were  4 different kinds. Some people either had the same idea or other ideas to show how fast mould would grow on different types of surfaces and areas. Some people wanted to make sure they had a lot of bacteria on their bread and they also wanted it to be moisturised a lot and for the temperature to be right. In Religion we have been doing stained glass windows and we were put into groups up to 4. You could either do it on one piece of paper or you can put it into individual paper and then join them all together. We had lots of fun doing it and they turned out to look so amazing. Tomorrow is a special day for me since it is athletics and my events for athletics are 100m and 200m. I am so excited to go to athletics.

Yesterday Daniel and I went to go to athletics in Stawell since I had to go with Daniel and his Mum because my parents were very busy at work. When we arrived at athletics we realised that we were a bit too early and that there were not that many people. When the events started I went to go to my first event which was 200m at 11:00 o’clock I was doing really good at the start but then they started to catch up and when  I was near the end  I slowed down a bit which made me in third place. My other event was 100m at 12:00 o’clock so I had an hour to rest but when it was time to do my event I was really doing good for the first three quarters but when I was near the end I almost got 1st but someone caught up to me, making me in 2nd place. After athletics we had hungry Jacks and KFC and on are way back we decided to go watch Nile and Adoni do their relays, Adoni did so good at the start and their team also did good, almost making them 1st place but the other team caught making them be in 2nd place. On our way back we played Uno in the car and when we were in Horsham we decided to have a rest. I had a very long sleep on the way back.

By Daniel: My events were Triple Jump and 200m both at 11:00. When I was doing 200m I had to do two heats because there were too many people and got 3rd in 17 seconds. I was late for the Triple Jump because I was doing 200m but I got 2nd I jumped 8m and 37cm. Then waited for AJ to finish then went to Hungry Jacks and KFC. We went to the park to eat our food and went back to see Nile and Adoni run, then we went in the car and played Uno it was so fun. We dropped AJ back home and I went to sleep because I was so tired and went to sleep.

By Declan: On Wednesday the 4,5,6 students went to the Art Gallery to visit. We looked at all the skateboard decks. The decks the 4,5,6s did were there on display. I liked the beach themed one. On the same day we went to Iona to visit and we  played for a little while outside.

By Riley: This week in Science with Ms Bell, we were learning about mould and doing some tests. On Tuesday we wrote our experiments and tests and equipment in our books. Then we stuck some sourdough bread in a clear plastic bag and put it in Ms Rintoules office. I am still currently waiting for results, as it has not grown any mould yet. Also the day after we went to Iona old people care, we had a very lovely walk there and liked meeting the old people, but instead we had to leave due to an old person that had a very bad cold. Since we couldn't stay there we walked to the art gallery for the rest of our time to look at our skateboard decks! After viewing our lovely decks we went and walked back to school to have lunch.

By Douglas: This week we have done a few things like Science, Maths, Auslan and Art. Yesterday we did science we were working on mould we were put into groups of four. My group did our google slide and after we finished that we worked on doing an experiment about mould. My group decided we would do a experiment on what bread would develop mould the quickest  we had four different types of bread which were white bread, wholemeal, multigrain and sour dough and we made sure there was a lot of bacteria and moisture because mould because develops quickly with moisture and  bacteria we put them in a bag and know we are waiting do see which one gets mould the quickest I personally think it's going to be the sourdough. In maths we've been working on long division and we all can do it now. In art we have been doing pixel art which is were you have a picture and you have to divide the picture into boxes. This has been a great week so far.

By Sophie: This week we have done a few things. Tomorrow I'm going to the Athletics. I'm competing in Triple Jump and Discus, but the competition is tough. Everyone there either came 1st or 2nd so all I can say is I'm in for it. In Art, we are preparing for the Nhill Show. We are trying to create a pixel art work where we test our skills on a piece of paper and try to draw it again on another. It’s pretty hard for some people but others have gotten the hang of it and worked pretty quickly. In Science, we are learning about mould which is bacteria that can grow on food, wood and sometimes on glass. We are using bread and testing what conditions mould grows best in. My group's name is JEMS which stands for Jody, Elvi, Marnie and Sophie. My group has four pieces of bread (in plastic bags) and we have put two in the staff room fridge and two outside buried in the ground in the out-of-bounds area. It's been one day so we have to find out what happens.

By K'Lu Doh Soe: This week we focused on Maths, Auslan, Science, Literacy, Art and Religion. In Science we have been focusing on mould and what mould is. We had to research moulds, we learnt that different types of mould can live in different types of environments. We also learnt that mould is a fungi and there were many of them. Some of the mould was dangerous. Then we had to put bread in the bags with our group names. We had to place them in different environments and we had to choose if  we wanted to spray water on them. To see if they could grow with water and without water. We have to wait for a week to see if the mould will grow or not. In Art we tried to replicate a skull with things on it and it was very hard. We had to draw some equal lines on the drawing and the paper we were using to replicate the skull. Then we had to draw the skull. Some other students placed the skull under the paper to copy the skull drawing. I wasn't finished Skull drawing, I got the skull face done but when I was done with the skull face I didn't get much time to draw the things on the skull. In Religion we had to answer questions. When we were done answering the questions we had to do a stained glass window about a covenant. We had to draw it on paper then we had to replicate it in a big piece of black paper and we cut the parts to use silicone for it to shine bright in the sun.

By Jody: This week we focused on Auslan, Science and Mathematics. In Science we’re learning about mould and how to make mould by using experiments on how to make mould, we got into groups and put bread in plastic bags, my group was called JEMS, we put them in different places around the school. In maths we're learning about division and how to do  long division. In Auslan we’re learning how to tell someone about a party we’ve gone to and 2 things we like to do each week.

By Jonas: This week the Senior class have been working on some stained glass windows for Religion. There had to be a covenant to the story. It basically means that there has to be a meaning behind it. Mine was the three people who brought the gifts for Jesus when he was born. The meaning for mine was that people care about others and everyone has a good heart. I’m in a group with Sophie and Olive. We have made all of ours sort of connect. In sport we have been doing touch footy. It's very hard because you can only pass back and you can't get tagged by the other team or else you have to place the ball on the ground and then step over it then someone from your team has to pick it up and play on. In Science we have just started doing research on mould. We are trying to grow mould and to see how it grows so that when we are older we don't have to worry about it because we will know how to stop it from growing.

By Georgia: This week we had been doing Art, Math, Literacy, Auslan, Science and religion. In art we are doing pixel art and it is fun but sometimes hard to do it correctly and make it look good. In maths we have been doing division which can be long or short. It is hard but some is easy. In Literacy we have been reading and doing spelling which is going with a partner and you have to spell your words. In Auslan we have a test coming up so we need to be able to sing what and when we went to a party. In science we have got to get a plastic bag and put a slice of bread in some will go in a sunny spot some in a dark spot and some in the fridge. The topic is growing mould and types of mould.  And in religion we have been doing stained glass windows. On Wednesday we went to Iona but after being there for 5 to 10 minutes we had to leave and go to the art gallery and look at the skateboard display that was there.

By Adoni: This week some of 4,5,6 is going to athletics . The athletics are at Stawell and I am going to compete in a relay with Nile and 2 Lutheran kids. In science we learned about mould we had bread there was a group it was  Aj me GTP  and Moe. We had 4 pieces of bread and we put 1 of them in the sun . For the 2 bread we put the bread in the water. For the 3 bread we called it for the 4 bread we left it alone. In Religion we have to make a glass window. I made a cross and some water.There were blue white, yellow and green.    

By Nile: This week some people from the seniors are going to be athletes in stawell. I am going to compete in a relay with Adoni and 2 Lutheran kids. In science we have been learning about mould and we had bread to observe the mould. We visited Iona but we were there for a little while so we went to the art gallery for 15 mins after we went back to school.

By Jayden: This week we were in our science and learning about mould. They are fungi that are poisonous to eat  and it can go inside of  food and  make it dirty and dangerous. And the most deadliest one is the black Mould because it can kill people and sometimes it can make peoples to go to the hospital and after we did art which was Pixel Art and we use the grid to draw a Skeleton that have a flower on its head and it was hard because we can’t trace it or print it but I was good at it so I help Adoni and he's is done and I  went on mine and drawn some but I did not got time to do it but I did some so I was happy after we did Auslan and did our own made up time when we go to a party and i was kinda stuck at it so it was hard but i got help by KDS and made it easy.

By Moe Tha Zin: This week we have been doing Art, Science and Auslan.

By Claire: This week in Religion we have been doing stained glass windows. Most of us were in groups but some were alone which was okay. My group is Jody, Elvi and myself. In art Mrs Bell has been teaching us pixel art. Pixel art is when you use lines and dots to recreate an image. In Science we are seeing how fast mould can be impacted. For the experiment my group was Jayden, Jesinta, Caleb and myself. For our experiment we were using four different types of bread which were white bread, wholemeal, multigrain and sourdough. My group put butter on all of ours except for one. Next we put them into plastic zip lock bags and now we are waiting for them to all go mouldy. Yesterday Aj, Daniel, Marnie, Nile, Adoni, Olive, Sophie and I went to Stawell to compete in athletics. We all went pretty successful and some of us even got a ribbon. I`m not sure if any of us are going to the next level but we all had a great day. Thank you for listening to my recap. 

By Tyler: This week in art the Senior class have been practising  pixel art. It's really hard cause we are not allowed to trace.  In religion we have been making stained glass windows out of cellophane. We have been working with a partner. My partner is Georgia. The stain glass window design we are doing is bread and wine.  In science we have been learning about mould. We are doing an experiment with bread by having it in the sun touching it, wetting it to see what makes mould grow. Some kids are going to athletics but I'm not so I wish the people going good luck. So good luck. 

By Caleb: This week in Art we've been practising pixel Art it is hard cause we are not allowed to trace. In science we have been learning about mould

By Jesinta: On Wednesday 11th, for Religion we did stained glass windows and I was with GTP, Katherine and Moe and some people work alone. For Art we did pixel. It was really hard to sketch and draw but some people did good and some people did bad but they still proved the drawing. For Science I was in a group with Claire, Jayden and Caleb and our group name was JC 2x because me and Jayden have a J and Claire and Caleb have a C. We were learning moulds. There was Black mould, White mould, Yellow mould, Green mould and pink mould. For Iona we didn’t have time to see the Iona people because we were outside playing after when we done visited to Iona all the senior Class went to the Art gallery and the senior class saw there skateboard but Olive, Daniel and Jody didn’t see the skateboard and few of the senior Class was tired but we had fun but few of them didn’t because they were tired.

By Elvi: This week in religion we have been doing stained glass windows most of us were in groups but some were alone which was okay. My group is Jody claire and myself. In art Mrs Bell has been teaching us pixel art. Pixel art is where you use lines and dots. In science we have been learning mould and how mould grows my group is Marnie, Sophie, Jody and myself.

By Gu Thay Paw: This Wednesday, for Religion we did stained glass art , we had different drawings/sketching , and some looked good.

On Thursday some of the Seniors are going to Athletics to compete with other people there like racing. We been practising Pixel Art , because someone had very good Art of Pixel , so Mrs Bell wanted us to try and do it , we needed to measure  the same squares and sizes , we could do any sizes and had to do it to the same of the white paper , then we had science to test and learn about mould , there’s some things I know about mould and maybe I will miss some of the information. Mould can be bad for your health and maybe or probably can give you Asthma , the moulds can trigger your Asthma making it pop up out of nowhere and  making it difficult to breathe. There’s some Asthma people at school , and probably need to get a puffer before going to run , people get injured because of the ‘’Breathing Disease’’ and going to the hospital too , it's really important to know about it because if we never knew it then it can severely hurt that person and maybe dying , either they survive from it or they just die. We are testing on breads to get mould and how they get them , Mrs Bell said we can't eat which is sad , you cannot eat a Fruit if its moulded , and even though you try to cut it off it will still be be infested with bacteria and its not yummy to eat that which is disgusting , it will be nasty. There’s different types of moulds , and there can be fluffy white stuff on foods. There were some of my grapes and we had to throw it out , even the strawberry , it was infested.

By Ben: On Monday we learnt Maths in Maths we  did long division we all  learnt how to do long division.  I got 3rd in shot put and I got KFC.

By Katherine: This week in maths we have learnt about long, short division, we have listened to songs about it and they all have divide, multiply, subtact, check and bring it down in the songs. In religion we have made stained glass windows. My group had a really big one. Everyone looked  good and did a good job. We cut the shapes out and stuck cellophane on it. In science we have learnt about mould, mould is a bacteria so that if you eat it, it will cause failure and death. We put bread in a plastic bag and we put stuff in it like water and rub it on like a chair or a door handle. My group was called The Brangsters and the students in my group were Daniel, Dougie, Ben and I. We also learnt that mould needed bacteria. We did something that no one did the boys rubbed it on the toilet seat and did not put any water on it so it wasn’t moisturised but just dry bread with bacteria on it.

By Marnie: On Thursday 12th of September some of the Senior Class students are going to the third level of athletics in Stawell. The people that are going to the third level of  athletics  are Claire in Long Jump, Sophie in Discus and Triple Jump, Daniel B in Triple Jump and 200m, Ben in Shot Put, AJ in 100m and 200m, Olive in Long Jump, Adoni in a Relay, Nile in a Relay and me in 100m and Triple Jump.

This week in Religion we have been working on stained glass windows. We had to do a design that represented Jesus, God or Christian Faith. Everybody did so well on it. My stained glass window was a cross with the bible on it. It turned out so good.

In Art we have been looking at pixel art. We looked at a couple artists that did pixel art. It was very cool.😄

Yesterday some of the Senior Class students went to the 3rd level of Athletics in Stawell. In my Triple Jump there were four cones; they  meant how far you could jump from. The closest to the pit was 5m then the next one was 6m, 8m, 9m. I jumped from the 5m line. I did pretty well. I ended up coming fourth in my hundred metres and triple jump..

School Wide Positive Behaviour Support SWPBS

Throughout the day, staff monitor for students demonstrating aspects of Respect, Responsibility
and Safety within our school. Students are issued a ticket to place in their classroom container. During assemblies, a draw takes place and those who have their ticket drawn out are invited to place a marble in their House container. The House with the most marbles at the end of each term will be rewarded.

Congratulations to all children who were recognised for their positive actions around the school. This week Moe Tha Zin, Georgia and Stella were randomly drawn from the nominations for Respect, Responsibility and Safety, and have added tokens to their respective Houses' tallies.

Reading Achievements

The following students were recognised for their reading achievements:

75 nights - Rahitya

100 nights - Rahitya, Zoe

125 nights - George

200 nights - Valentino

School Advisory Council

Parent Representatives

• Rebecca Curtis 
• Emily Gladdis
• Moo Khu James
• Michaela Koop
• Zanther McEldrew
• Ashleigh Meyer

Ex Officio

• Mons. Glynn Murphy - Parish Priest
• Kingsley Dalgleish - Principal

Dates

• Book Fair at Nhill Market - Sunday, 15 September 2024, 9:00am-1:00pm
• Meeting - Tuesday, 8 October 2024, 5:00pm

Dates and Reminders

School Calendar

September

Sun 15 - 9am-1pm Book Fair at Nhill Market

Fri 20 - Last Day Term 3 - dismissal time 2:15pm

October

Mon 7 - First Day Term 1

Tue 8 - 5pm SAC Meeting

Thu 17 - Nhill Show Day (local public holiday)

Sun 20 - 75 Year Anniversary, starting with Mass at 11am

St Patrick's Nhill

Church Times

11:00am Mass each Sunday

Our Mission

Child Safe Standards

The Child Safe Standards began in Victoria in 2016.  The 11 Child Safe Standards are designed to help keep children safe from abuse and harm.  Organisations working with children must comply with these Standards.

The Commission for Children and Young People have produced a plain language guide for the Standards which will be shared through our newsletter.

SchoolTV

SPECIAL REPORT: R U OK? Day

The rise of mental health concerns among young people, including anxiety, depression, and self-harm, is a pressing issue amplified by factors such as academic stress, social media, family dynamics and societal expectations. It is therefore crucial to prioritise early intervention, de-stigmatise mental health discussions, and provide accessible and effective support to address these concerns and promote the wellbeing of young people.

This year R U OK?Day fell on Thursday 12 September, an annual National Day of Action and a reminder that every day is the day to check in with your friends, family and colleagues.

Follow the link below for more information.

Reminders

Parent Access Module PAM / SIMON Everywhere app

The Parent Access Module PAM (SIMON Everywhere app) is our "go-to" for all parent information. Download the SIMON Everywhere app from the app store on your mobile phone and login using your PAM credentials.

Simon Everywhere delivers instant notifications to parents' mobile phones, delivering the functionality of PAM in an easy to navigate app. We will use Simon Everywhere for all important notifications.  

You will be able to manage all your day-to-day school needs from Simon Everywhere, including:

• notify us of absences;
• view the school calendar;
• provide permission for student activities;
• update medical/contact information;
• view the lunch orders menu; 
• read the newsletter.

Please contact the office with any questions.

Student late arrival, early departure, temporary absence procedures

All student late arrivals, early departures or temporary absences must be recorded in the Passtab iPad located in the foyer.  Please ask office staff for assistance.

Lunch Orders

Lunch orders should be written onto an envelope with correct money sealed inside.  Please don’t use plastic bags or waxed bags.  The writing wipes off these and the staff at the bakery find it hard to read.

You can find the lunch orders menu in SIMON Everywhere: - >Home, scroll down to >School Links

Bus notes

Parents of bus travelling students please note that Nhill College has requested that any changes to travel arrangements (e.g. if you are picking up your child after school) be notified before 3.00pm on that day.  

You can do this by -

• use the Bus Change Notification Form on their website (link below) - this is a quick and easy process on your mobile phone (hint: add this as a quick link on your phone's home screen)
  • we have put this link onto PAM (Simon Everywhere) >Home, scroll down to >Parent Links
• calling our school office 53911575
• sending an email to principal@spnhill.catholic.edu.au or krintoule@spnhill.catholic.edu.au

Remember to follow us on Facebook

Those who are on Facebook are encouraged to follow our page at St Patrick's School, Nhill.  'Like' our page, enjoy our posts, and share them with your friends.  Stay connected through our Social Media page.

What you need to know about COVID-19 in Victoria

Please visit the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Victoria website (link below) for all up-to-date information about the response to COVID-19.

• All staff, students and visitors to schools should undertake regular hand hygiene, particularly on arrival to school, before and after eating, after blowing their nose, coughing, sneezing or using the toilet.
• Hand sanitiser will continue to be available for staff, students and visitors.
• The most important action school communities can take to reduce the risk of transmission of COVID-19 is to ensure that any unwell staff, parents/carers and students do not attend school sites, even with the mildest of symptoms, and get tested.

*Six simple steps to protect yourself and those most at risk

1. Wear a face mask
2. Take a test
3. Stay at home
4. Meet outdoors
5. Talk to your GP about COVID medications
6. Get vaccinated

*coronavirus.vic.gov.au