Newsletter 2024/34 ~ 15 November 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
Yesterday was World Kindness Day. This day offers us an opportunity to highlight all the good that is done in our community and the common thread of kindness.
Kindness has been the theme in our Religion classes in the second semester and our Junior class has started each Religion lesson with a discussion or video clip about what kindness looks like and feels like. Yesterday, as part of their assembly, they also shared a song that they enjoy singing at the start of lessons, The Kindness Song.
As the children have learnt, simple acts of kindness can help others to feel better or to help brighten their day. These acts can then have a ripple effect as they inspire others to pass on the good deeds.
CURRENT & RECENT EVENTS
Kinder Visits
Our 2025 Foundation students are visiting us again today. This is their third visit as they prepare for primary school. Today’s visit is a full-day visit and this will be followed by another full day next Friday.
Remembrance Day
Our Year 6 students led us in our Remembrance Day Liturgy on Monday. Riley spoke of the significance of the date and time of remembrance as well as informing us about the reason for the sounding of The Last Post and why we wear poppies.
Each of the other Year 6 students who were present shared prayers and scripture readings as part of the ceremony.
Mrs Dickinson
As part of her ongoing studies, Mrs Dickinson is currently on placement at Ss Michael and John’s Primary School in Horsham. She is working with an F-1 class and after visiting the school yesterday, I know that they are finding her to be a wonderful addition to the classroom. (We already knew that would be the case!) Mrs Dickinson is on a four week placement at the school.
Book Club Issue 8
The final Book Club catalogue for 2024 has been sent home with your children.
Please have your orders completed by Wednesday, 27 November.
Parenting Toolbox
Expert Tools for Successfully Managing Boys' Behaviour: A Guide for Parents by Michael Grose
Find disciplining boys a challenge? These 7 expert tips will have them eating out of the palm of your hand......well, almost!
Michael Grose is one of Australia's leading parenting and educational writers and speakers. He is the author of nine books for parents. Follow the links to read the article and subscribe to the free newsletters.
Australian Catholics Summer 2024/25 Edition
The Summer Edition of Australian Catholics magazine is out now. Click the link below or get your hardcopy from the school office.
UPCOMING EVENTS
SAC Nominations are due
A reminder that nominations for next year’s SAC are due on Monday, 18 November. Please get your information pack from the school office, or visit our website using this link:
Year 6 PSGs
Year 6 students who have PSG meetings will have their final meetings next Tuesday. Year 7 coordinators from Nhill College and St Brigid’s College will be in attendance as part of the students’ transition program to secondary school.
Auslan
Buffy Harrison will have her final visit to the school for the year next Thursday as we finalise assessment of the students in their Auslan studies. It has certainly been pleasing to see how engaged the students are in their Auslan.
Sacramental Program
St Paul VI Parish is dedicated to nurturing the faith of our young people, supported by their parents/home through running of the Sacraments of Reconciliation, First Holy Communion, and Confirmation.
The Sacramental Program for 2025 is designed to support families and students on their spiritual journey, offering meaningful preparation for these significant milestones.
Sacramental Program
St Paul VI Parish is dedicated to nurturing the faith of our young people, supported by their parents/home through running of the Sacraments of Reconciliation, First Holy Communion, and Confirmation.
The Sacramental Program for 2025 is designed to support families and students on their spiritual journey, offering meaningful preparation for these significant milestones.
St. Paul VI Parish - 2025 Sacramental Program
EARLY ENROLMENT
Reconciliation – Holy Communion – Confirmation
Reconciliation & Holy Communion preparation is available to children in Year 4 and above.
Confirmation is available for children in Year 6 and above who have completed Reconciliation & Holy Communion.
This includes those in secondary colleges who may have missed Sacramental opportunities in recent years, with Covid restrictions and beyond.
Early Enrolments help us decide where sessions are held and how many sessions are needed.
Early Enrolments close Friday 13th December at 4pm.
General Enrolment will follow and be open until February 15th, 2025
For more information or to enrol your child, please visit the Parish Office at
10 Roberts Ave, Horsham or email wimmeramallee@ballarat.catholic.org.au
Download enrolment forms using the links below, or call into the school office for a hardcopy.
Sunday’s Gospel
Mark 12: 38-44
Jesus observes people giving offerings at the temple and contrasts the wealthy, who give from surplus, with a poor widow who gives two small coins—everything she has. Jesus praises her, saying she gave more than the others because she gave out of her poverty, with complete trust in God. This passage reminds us that true generosity isn’t measured by the amount we give but by the heart and sacrifice behind it. The widow’s faith and selflessness challenge us to give wholeheartedly, trusting in God’s provision and valuing humility over recognition or wealth.
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
115 - Moscovium is an artificially produced element that was created in 2010 and officially named in 2016. It is the 115th element of the Periodic Table.
After having missed the past four weeks of cricket, I finally get to play again tomorrow - at Brim. Great to see the Aussies have a win against Pakistan last night in the first of the T20s - even though it was more of a S7 than a T20!
Tomorrow night I look forward to watching the Power knock off the hawks in their AFLW Semi-Final. C’arn Port.
God Bless you all.
Kingsley Dalgleish
Principal
Classroom and Student News
Middle Class News
We’ve come to the end of another busy week, and it’s almost impossible to believe that it’s the end of week 6 - we’re more than halfway through the term already!
The Middles have been hard at work and our classroom has been buzzing with activity. In Literacy we’ve reached our end-of-year review for spelling and we’ve been working hard to put together all the new sounds and spelling rules we’ve learnt over the year to make sure we’re reading and spelling correctly. In Maths we’ve been learning all about fractions and shapes. The hardest part has been remembering some of the tricky names for some shapes and their features - we’ve learnt lots of new words such prism, vertex and vertices, octagonal and hexagonal.
In Science we are becoming coding experts. We’ve been using an app called Swift Playgrounds to program a character to follow certain commands. It’s trickier than it looks, especially working out how to use a new command for the first time.
In Art we’ve been exploring stop motion animation. We started making animations from things we found around the classroom, but this week we made our own plasticine characters to use and we’re very excited to create animations with them soon.
Wishing you all a fabulous weekend, and see you all for lots more learning next week!
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. Students who were randomly drawn from the nominations for Respect, Responsibility and Safety, and have added tokens to their respective Houses' tallies, were Harlow, Amity and Claire (last week) and April, Harlow and Stella (this week).
Little Joey Awards
We continue to acknowledge the significant role of the "Brown Joeys" in the establishment of St Patrick's School, and recognised Julian and AJ (last week) and Fabian (this week) with Little Joey awards.
Our Little Joeys receive a certificate, sticker and a voucher/goods donated by a local business. We are very grateful for the contributions from our local businesses.
Reading Achievements
The following students were recognised for their reading achievements:
125 nights - Rahitya, Samual
150 nights - Hannah E, Harlow
175 nights - Charlotte K, George
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
- Annual Meeting - Monday, 2 December 2024, 6:30pm
Nominations for SAC are due by 4:00pm on Monday, 18 November.
Dates and Reminders
Term Dates
2024
Term 4 7 Oct to 20 Dec (students finish on 18 Dec)
2025
Term 1 28 January (Staff), 30 January (Students) to 4 April
Term 2 22 April (Staff), 28 April (Students) to 4 July
Term 3 21 July to 19 September
Term 4 6 October to 19 December
See dates on PAM (SIMON Everywhere)
School Calendar
November
Fri 15 - 8:55am-3:15pm Kinder to Foundation Transition Visit
Mon 18 - 4:00pm Nominations for SAC due
Fri 22 - 8:55am-3:15pm Kinder to Foundation Transition Visit
December
Mon 2 - SAC Annual Meeting 6:30pm
Tue 3 - St Brigid's College Year 7 2025 Orientation Day
M-F 9-13 - Nhill College Year 7 2025 Headstart program
Wed 18 - Last day for students (dismissal time 3:15pm)
Wed 18 - Graduation Mass 2pm
Wed 18 - Graduation & End of Year Presentation Night 6pm
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.
From: Victoria’s Child Safe Standards: Plain Language Guide
All students enrolled at St Patrick’s School have the right to feel safe and be safe. The safety and wellbeing of children in the school’s care will always be our first priority and the school will not tolerate child abuse. The school will create a child-safe and child-friendly environment where children are free to enjoy life to the full without any concern for their safety. Particular attention is paid to the most vulnerable children and young people, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, those from culturally and/or linguistically diverse backgrounds, children with a disability, children who are unable to live at home, international students, and LGBTQIA+ students. The full policy can be accessed via our school’s website: https://spnhill.catholic.edu.au/policies-procedures
The school’s Child Safety Officer is the Principal, Mr Kingsley Dalgleish.
We are committed to continuous improvement in our approach to child safety and well-being and welcome feedback from families and members of our school community on ways we can further strengthen our child safety policies, procedures, and practices. If you have any suggestions, comments, or questions, please contact the Principal either by phone or email principal@spnhill.catholic.edu.au
SchoolTV
The Simplicity of Kindness - A Call Across the Pond
Tara and Vicky discuss how to create a space for children to communicate with kindness. How do we lay a foundation for them to have kind, meaningful and productive interactions which develop character and contribute to healthy relationships?
Listen to the podcast by following the link:
Or include kindness in your day, as one of the 9 small steps that will make you happier.
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
- Wear a face mask
- Take a test
- Stay at home
- Meet outdoors
- Talk to your GP about COVID medications
- Get vaccinated
*coronavirus.vic.gov.au