Newsletter 2022/16 ~ 3 June 2022

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.

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

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in Australia is observed in the week between Ascension and Pentecost.

The theme for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in 2022 was chosen by the Middle East Council of Churches “We saw the star in the East, and we came to worship" (cf Matthew 2:2)  More than ever, in these difficult times, we need a light that shines in the darkness and that light, Christians proclaim, has been manifested in Jesus Christ.

A Christian Prayer for Unity

One only Holy Spirit of Father and Son 

in whom all are baptized, 

one giver of many gifts, 

one tree of many fruits 

one speaker of every tongue, 

renew in our day the wonders of Pentecost, 

grant that people of every race and nation 

may understand one another, and as one, 

proclaim the praises of God. 

Grant that all may be one 

as you, Spirit, with the Father 

and the Son are one God, one Lord. 

Grant unity to the Body of Christ; 

grant unity to the human family. 

Sole breath of every living thing, 

may all be one who, in you, 

live and move and have their being. 

Carl K. Moeddel, From Jesuit Resources

RECENT EVENTS

Catholic Education Week Mass

Our students enjoyed their visit to Warracknabeal last Friday where they joined students from St Mary's Primary School, Warracknabeal, St Joseph's Primary School, Hopetoun, and Our Lady Help of Christians School, Murtoa, in celebrating Catholic Education Week with a combined Mass.

After Mass the students returned to St Mary's School for shared lunch and activities.

Our communities are beautiful places that can and do enrich the mystery of Christ’s identity and enable his way to be continually raised up in and by community. “Go into the world and proclaim the good news to the whole of creation,” is an urgent invitation to our community to comprehend the meaning of Jesus’ life to grasp what this looks like in following and enacting God’s dream for the world. We pray that our communities inspire from within to be people of peace, hope and love in these times of displacement, anxiety and concern for Earth as our common home: to realise each unique community’s intimate connection in proclaiming who Jesus is and what it means to follow in the light of the gospel for these times.

Catholic Education Week is an opportunity to celebrate and enhance the reality of this identity, to dialogue with the Catholic faith tradition and the world in which we live to interpret and proclaim the good news!

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National Reconciliation Week

This week is National Reconciliation Week.  The NRW 2022 theme, “Be Brave. Make Change.” is a challenge to all Australians— individuals, families, communities, organisations and government—to Be Brave and tackle the unfinished business of reconciliation so we can Make Change for the benefit of all Australians.

Last year Reconciliation Australia encouraged all Australians to take action; not just in National Reconciliation Week but every week of the year.

This year we are asked to make change beginning with brave actions in our daily lives – where we live, work, play and socialise.

National Reconciliation Week—27 May to 3 June—is a time for all Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures, and achievements, and to explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia.

Mr Keller

We have been very fortunate to have Mr Joshua Keller join us over the past three weeks as part of his studies towards being a teacher.  He has been warmly welcomed into our school and particularly into the senior class.  During his time with us, Mr Keller has been able to join the senior class on their excursion to the Gallery and Westprint, and he has been to the Catholic Education Week Mass.  This is on top of the work he has been doing with our students in the classroom.

We thank Mr Keller for his input and we wish him well in his studies.  We may even see him back at St Patrick’s School in the near future - watch this space!!

Questacon

Yesterday all students attended a Questacon Science Show.  We were fortunate to have the travelling road show visit Nhill and our students certainly enjoyed the presentation. 

Along with bringing the show to Nhill, Questacon are also holding pop-up science centres throughout their visit! These events include over thirty interactive science exhibits as well as a range of spectacular science shows and are FREE for our students given that they will be attending the school show.

Tee Ball

Today’s Winter Lightning Premiership has been cancelled due to the weather. Our senior students were meant to attend and participate in TeeBall.  We are hopeful that the day may be rescheduled for Term 3.

Push Up Challenge

Several of our staff members are once again participating in the Push Up Challenge.  The challenge is to complete 3139 push ups between 1-24 June.  This number represents the number of Australians who took their own lives during 2020.  By completing the push ups and fundraising efforts we are helping to promote awareness of Mental Health issues as well as supporting organisations such as Headspace and Lifeline.  Anyone wishing to join our team is welcome to do so.

UPCOMING EVENTS

School Nurse

The School Nurse will visit the school next Tuesday for assessments of all Foundation students.

Cystic Fibrosis

Wear Red for Cystic Fibrosis

Next Thursday, 9 June, we will be supporting Cystic Fibrosis by helping to create awareness and through donating to assist with research into the condition.

All children and staff are asked to wear Red next Thursday.  To assist with fundraising for research projects, everyone is asked to bring a gold coin donation on the day.

Merchandise is also available to be purchased at the front office.

What is CF?

Cystic fibrosis (also called CF) is the most common, life-limiting genetic condition affecting Australians. 

CF causes an abnormal build-up of thick and sticky mucus in the lungs, airways and digestive system. Treatment requires intensive daily physiotherapy to clear the lungs and airways, countless medications and frequent hospitalisations.

All funds raised from our Red clothes day and the sales of merchandise will go to Cystic Fibrosis Community Care Victoria.

Sunday's Gospel Reflection 

Luke 24:46-53

THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD—

Last weekend was the celebration of the Ascension of our Lord in the church’s liturgical year.  

The Ascension occurred in the life of Jesus when he left his followers, 40 days after the Resurrection and returned to His Father in heaven. ‘Why now?’ the disciples could be thinking as He disappeared from their sight and left them with his command to go out to all the world and be like him and spread the gospel. How could they do it without Him? His ascending is a loss for them. He is absent, or so it seems.

Like the disciples after the Ascension, we have also known moments of wondering why God seems to have disappeared. We can struggle finding God in today’s church and world, where violence, war, pandemics, natural disasters, scandals, abuse of power and a felt lack of welcome in our local parishes keeps us isolated.

The ascension of Jesus into heaven is not only about absence. Pope Francis would say “it tells us that He is living among us in a new way”.

All of us need Pentecost to gift us with a new spirit and blessings to live the life we are living now, different from the one we have already lived. What do we need to let go of? Where are the signs of new life emerging for us?

Spirit, come transform us!

Sr Kerrie Cusack, Mary MacKillop News

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.

Classroom and Student News

Junior Class

Mrs Creek

This week's Big Book story is titled, Grumpy Bear. The Year 1 students had this story at the start of their Foundation year in 2021. We all enjoy the bear being grumpy and the birds and mice shivering with fright. It is not until the bees come buzzing, that the bear gets scared and suddenly decides to sleep. Students enjoy acting out the story as well. As a class, we have continued to experiment with patterned writing from the author Eric Carle, as in the story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Our focus sentence is, ‘In the light of the moon, a little egg lay on a leaf’. Our sentence is ‘In the bright sunshine, a tiny caterpillar ate lots of food’. Our Mathematics focus is subtraction. Terms such as ‘take-away’ and ‘counting back’ are getting known.

My class enjoyed joining other schools for Catholic Education Week. The students had fun creating games on the play equipment.

Pictured are Tessa and Isabella playing ‘rock, paper, scissors’.

Middle Class

Miss Williams

This week we have been tagging in and out of who is at school. We have so much sickness going through our classroom at the moment that I can’t keep up with who has been at school and who hasn’t!

We had a lovely day on Thursday with an hour at Nhill Lutheran School for the Questacon Science show. Some of our students are very excited to experiment more with some of the things they showed us. Some of our Year 3’s were to be participating in T-Ball at the Winter Lightning Premierships today, but unfortunately that has been postponed to another date.

In Reading, we are reading Puffling by Margaret Wild. We have been exploring the ways in which she uses words to convey meaning and create an image in our head as we read. 

In Writing we have also been focusing on a sentence from Puffling, and we have been working to change the meaning of the sentence by removing words or changing the order as well as imitating the sentence to create sentences of our own. We have also had an amazing writing session where the Middles got to show me what they can do with writing narratives, and I was blown away with how hard some of them worked to produce amazing pieces.

In Maths we have finished off our unit on money and have started to look at subtraction. So far the Year 2’s have explored 10 and 20 subtraction facts as well as using the bridge to 10 strategy to subtract numbers. The Year 3’s have explored subtraction through using the jump strategy and have gained lots of confidence in subtracting two three-digit numbers.

In Religion we have been exploring scripture and using the ideas from scripture about love to discuss and come up with ways that we can show love for nature. We are excited to spend some time with the Junior students in the next couple of weeks to discuss our unit of Love which they have also been working on.

Senior Class

We all went to Nhill Lutheran for a Questacon Circus and we all had a lot of fun. It was really interesting to watch. We learnt a lot about sound and the noise was really loud. We learnt how to make a little trumpet out of a little cup, string, sticky tape and cloth. These are science experiments we can try at home!

By Olive

Little Joey Awards

This week we continue to acknowledge the significant role of the "Brown Joeys" in the establishment of St Patrick's School, and recognised Jody, Moe Tha Zin and Ma Thay Thay 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 this week for their reading achievements:

25 nights - Maddison

50 nights - Freddie, Oscar, Sienna, Isabella, Hser Wah

75 nights - Olive, Tessa, Xavier, Daniel

100 nights - Olive, Sophie

Important Dates and Reminders

Term Dates

Term 2

26 April to 24 June

Term 3

11 July to 16 September

Term 4

3 October to 20 December

School Calendar

Reminders

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.

Parent Access Module (PAM)

We strongly encourage parents to use the Parent Access Module PAM (SIMON Everywhere) to inform us of student absences. These notes can be set in advance (if, for example, you know that your child will be absent a week in the future). Notes written in the diary are for communicating with teachers. Absent notes need to be directed to the office.

Please speak with office staff if you have any questions about PAM.

Simon Everywhere

The Simon Everywhere app delivers instant notifications to parents' mobile phones, delivering the functionality of PAM (SIMON Parent Access Module) in an easy to navigate app.  

We request that all parents please download the Simon Everywhere app, add St Patrick's School, Nhill and login using your existing PAM credentials.  

We will use Simon Everywhere for all important notifications.  

You will be able to manage all your day-to-day school needs from the Simon Everywhere app - notify us of absences, view the lunch orders menu, read the newsletter ...

Please contact the office with any questions.

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 -

• calling our school office 53911575
• sending an email to principal@spnhill.catholic.edu.au or krintoule@spnhill.catholic.edu.au
• use the Bus Change Notification Form on their website - this is a quick and easy process on your mobile phone (hint: add this as a quick link on your phone's home screen)

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.

Coronavirus information

Face masks

• Face masks, while recommended, are not required in any school setting. This means students in Years 3 to 6, staff and visitors in primary schools are no longer required to wear face masks. 
• Any student or staff member who wishes to wear a mask may, however, do so.
• Everyone over 8-years-old must wear a face mask when travelling to and from school on school bus services,  public transport, taxis or rideshare vehicles.

Screening requirements

• Students and staff who have tested positive for COVID-19, and have completed their 7-day isolation period, now do not need to undertake rapid antigen test (RAT) screening for 12 weeks after their release from isolation. This was previously 8 weeks.

Household contacts

• Students and staff who are household contacts of a COVID-19 case are no longer required to quarantine. They can return to school as long as they undertake rapid antigen tests (RAT) 5 times within their 7-day period and wear face masks indoors if they are aged 8 and above unless they have a valid exemption.
• Household contacts are required to inform the school that they are attending during the 7 day period.   
• If any household contact returns a positive RAT result during this period, they must isolate for 7 days and not attend school.
• Students who report a positive result must isolate for seven days and not attend school during that period. 
• If a student tests positive or is a household contact of someone who tests positive, the school must be notified as soon as possible. They must also  follow the Checklist for COVID cases.

Vaccination requirements for visitors to schools

• Parents, carers and other adult visitors (not performing work) are no longer required to show evidence of two doses of COVID-19 vaccine.  

RAT screening program extension

• RATS are required by students who are household contacts to attend school (5 negative tests over a 7-day period), or who have symptoms.
• Please contact the school office if you require another RAT kit.
  

Practise good hygiene

• 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 is available at entry points to classrooms.
• Sharing of food is not permitted.

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.

School Advisory Council

Parent Representatives

Helen Cannell

Moo Khu James

Zanther McEldrew

Emily Gladdis

Nathan Wheeler

Appointed Representatives

Ann Munro - Parish

Ex Officio

Mons. Glynn Murphy - Parish Priest

Kingsley Dalgleish - Principal

Next Meeting

Tuesday, 19 July 2022, 7.30pm

Our Mission

Community News