Newsletter 2022/17 ~ 10 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

God of Winter

God of winter,

We praise you:

God of soaking rains,

Of hail and snow, wind and storm,

Of torrents surging down creek beds,

Streams filling reservoirs,

And tanks full and running over.

God of brisk winter mornings,

Of frosted paddocks under moonlight,

Of warm socks, coats, and gloves,

Heaters, radiators, and glowing fires.

God of little children splashing in puddles,

Sailing make-believe boats in flooded gutters,

Of raincoats, and umbrellas, and gumboots,

And the scent of hot soup from the kitchen.

God of winter, glorious winter,

The unpopular, slandered season,

Yet one filled with renewed hope

For farms, town, and city.

God of life-sustaining winter,

Author of re-creation and providence

Renewing the roots of life,

God of glorious winter,

Blessed is your name

In all the Earth!

With the end of Autumn, we have moved into Winter with its colder weather.  The sun, when visible, seems to stay lower in the sky and our days are shorter and the nights are longer.  Smoke drifts silently into the air as fireplaces try to keep our houses warm.  Many of our trees have now lost their leaves which are leaving rainbows of colour on the ground where they have fallen.

Seasons change in our Church cycle as well.  The Lent-Easter cycle is complete and the fifty days of Easter concluded on Pentecost Sunday.  We now move into the second period of Ordinary Time within the Church’s year.  This phase of the Church year will take us through until the start of Advent.

This Sunday, the Church will celebrate the feast of the Holy Trinity.

RECENT EVENTS

Josh Keller

Following his three week placement as part of his university teaching studies, Mr Keller returned this week in the capacity of being a Learning Support Officer.  Mr Keller will be working part-time with us on staff for the remainder of this year.  He will be predominantly in the senior class but will also spend time in each learning area and will be involved in the tutoring program as well.

School Nurse

The School Nurse visited us on Tuesday and met with the Foundation students.  She will be in touch with us again soon as she completes her reports for each of the students which will then be forwarded to parents.

Cystic Fibrosis Red Day

It was fantastic to see so much red around the school yesterday as almost everyone got involved with our Red Clothes Day in support of Cystic Fibrosis awareness and fundraising.  Well done to everyone for getting behind this special day and to Mrs Hamilton who was able to access merchandise to sell on behalf of Cystic Fibrosis Community Care Victoria.

Push Up Challenge

Five staff members have signed up as part of The Push Up Challenge.  The challenge is for each member to complete 3139 push-ups over 24 days in June. This is to raise awareness about mental health and the impact of suicide on our communities.  The number of push-ups, 3139, tragically represents the number of lives lost to suicide in Australia in 2020.  

In the first week we have collectively completed 3454 push-ups.  If you would like to support our efforts and provide financial support to Lifeline and their mental health and crisis support services, please do so here.

Poet

This morning we had a visit from a poet who presented a show called, “Before you Know It, You'll be a Poet."  The 50 minute show was interactive and the children were fully engaged in the performance.

Promotional Video

Following the visit from Kevin Cummins a couple of weeks ago, he has sent through a promotional video package of our school.  The video has been shared on our Facebook page and I encourage you to share it with others if you are able to do so.  Please view the video of St Patrick’s School by clicking the link below.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itvIC4coA58

UPCOMING EVENTS

Holiday Monday

As the world celebrates Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee, we will join celebrations by having a public holiday on Monday for her birthday (which was actually in April!).  The school will be closed on Monday. Enjoy the long weekend.

Karen LSL

We wish Mrs Rintoule a relaxing and enjoyable week ahead as she takes some well-earned long service leave.  I hear that the weather will be much warmer where she is heading than what we will all be enduring here in Nhill.  Have fun Mrs Rintoule and we look forward to seeing the new tan when you return!

Kinder Visit

Current 4 year old Kinder students and their families are invited to visit our school next Friday 17 June from 9.15am until 11am.

Children and their parents will be able to join our Foundation-Year 1 class during the morning session.  There will be an opportunity for a short walk-through of our school to see our classes in action.  Parents will then be invited to an information session in the hall whilst the children continue with the classroom activity.

Children are to bring a drink bottle with water, and a piece of fresh fruit to eat during our Fruit Break time at 10am.

I invite all families who are considering their Primary School options for 2023, to come and take a look at what we have to offer at St Patrick’s School.  

If you are unable to attend on 17 June and would like to arrange an alternate time, please contact me on 0419929271 or principal@spnhill.catholic.edu.au

We look forward to nurturing your child’s future.

Enrolments for 2023 are now being accepted. 

Please contact the front office for an enrolment package.

RAT Kits

RAT kits were sent home with your children this week. 

A reminder that RATs are required by students who are household contacts to attend school (5 negative tests over a 7-day period), or who have symptoms.

Brigidine Centenary Celebrations

The first group of Brigidine Sisters arrived to teach in Horsham in 1920.

In 2020, it was planned to commemorate the Centenary of the Brigidine Sisters and of Brigidine Education in Horsham, however plans were shelved as the global pandemic closed down any hope of holding celebrations at that time.

Two years on, we are now planning to proceed with a weekend of celebrations to mark the milestone.

On the weekend of 16 and 17 July, you are invited to participant in tours of the three schools - Ss Michael & John's Primary School, Horsham,  Our Lady Help of Christians, Murtoa, and St Brigid's College, Horsham; celebratory Masses at Murtoa and Horsham; and social gatherings in Horsham’s Catholic Parish Centre.  There will also be a presentation of a commemorative quilt which will hang in the Parish Office, and the launch of a book recognising the 100 years of Brigidine Sisters in Horsham.

See the flyer at the end of the newsletter for further information and how to pre-order a copy of the book The Spirit of Brigid Alive in Horsham - 100 years of Brigidine Education.  To assist with planning, please indicate your intentions to attend by emailing brigidine100@gmail.com by 8 July 2022.

Parish Social Justice Contact Person

The Ballarat Diocesan Social Justice Commission (BDSJC) is seeking support in establishing a Parish contact in the area of Social Justice.

The role of the BDSJC is to advise Bishop Paul regarding social justice issues and spread the Gospel message to the local Church and wider community.  For the commission to achieve its aims, they need to disseminate information to parishes. To ensure this happens, they are seeking to establish a list of contact people from each of the Parishes. The contact person would be responsible for receiving information from the BDSJC and then ensuring that this information is passed on.

If you are interested in this volunteer position, please advise our St Paul VI Parish Office in Horsham by Mon 13th June 2022.  They can be contacted on 53821155

Australian Catholics Magazine

We have received copies of the latest edition of Australian Catholics.  If anyone would like a copy, please contact the school office.

Sunday's Reading

Acts of the Apostles 2:1-11

The season of Easter concluded with Sunday's celebration, the feast of Pentecost, a great day in our Christian year. Pentecost celebrates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles gathered in the upper room in Jerusalem. The story of Pentecost is found in the Acts of the Apostles, Sunday's first reading.

Pentecost occurs on the fiftieth day of Easter and is often referred to as the ‘birthday of the Church’ because on this day, many years ago, the gift of the Holy Spirit was given to the disciples. Jesus had promised that he would send the Holy Spirit to unify and strengthen his followers, and that they were to do as the Spirit guided them.  Jesus spoke to them of the Holy Spirit who would be God’s everlasting presence. 

After Jesus’ death the disciples were frightened; they went into hiding, too afraid to speak about the Good News that Jesus had shared with them. When the gift of the Spirit came to them on the day of Pentecost, they became transformed. They suddenly had the confidence to share the experiences they’d had with Jesus. It seemed as though they suddenly understood the significance of his life, his death and his resurrection. They spoke about Jesus’ message with such passion that many people were convinced by what they said. They were transformed by the gift of the Spirit and they began to transform the life of others.

The Holy Spirit brings God’s gifts of love, unity, wisdom and courage.  We pray that the Spirit may have the same transforming effect on us as we live our lives.

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

I hope everyone enjoyed our Assembly presentation yesterday. The students sang ‘God’s love is’ with lots of action. Mrs Bell read our school prayer, of which I love the phrase, ‘we are learning to love and love to learn’. The Year 1’s presented their patterned writing from the story The Very Hungry Caterpillar. A rendition of Monkeys on the Bed in Auslan was fun to present. Ending our Assembly in the Lord’s prayer and our National Anthem sung and signed. Thank you to Mrs Hamilton and her family helping us understand more about wellbeing for Cystic Fibrosis. Here we are in the library holding up our gifted wristbands.

Middle Class

Miss Williams

This week we have started to welcome back so many that have been away sick. We are so glad to have our class full again!

In Reading we have been reading a non-fiction book called Cats. We have learnt a lot of different information about cats and how we too can use the set out of the book to write our own information reports. We have also been looking at how the images can engage and interest us in the book and information further. There are lots of cute cat images in our book and we have had lots of discussions around them.

In Writing we have been working on creating our own information reports. We have been able to choose our own animals to write about and have been busy researching lots of information and facts about them. We have been learning to read information and choose the most important parts as well as working on writing it in our own words. We have also been very busy putting all this information together, correcting, editing and making improvements. Next we are working towards putting it all together into a poster display.

In Maths we have been working on subtraction. We have been working towards using the jump strategy and the split strategy to solve subtraction problems. It is great to see the students make the links between addition and subtraction using these strategies and are showing confidence in the steps to complete them. We have been working on subtraction using the MAB blocks to do some trading, as we have come to the realisation that not all subtractions can work out without borrowing from the tens or hundreds to be able to work.

In Religion we are coming to the end of our unit on Love, which the Foundation and Year 1’s have also been working on. It was great on Tuesday afternoon to come together with the Junior Class and collaborate with our ideas and to begin to show what we have learnt through creating posters together about our learning.

Senior Class

Ms Murphy

This week we are operating the revolving door classroom with lots of ins and outs here! Hopefully, we can shake our germs and come on board for a strong finish to Term 2 with just two jam packed learning weeks ahead. Some of you have already noticed that we are using Dojo again. Please login to your child’s Dojo account as I will be sharing their digital portfolios with you at the end of term. If you require assistance please email me to gain access.

Over the past two terms our super team at St. Patrick’s busily developed a behaviour matrix. We have established clear, achievable and consistent expectations for our students. During class we have been looking at parts of this matrix and coming to understand that if we are aware of our behaviour, then we are likely to not slip up. Respect, Responsibility and Safety are the underpinning values, if we know what respectful, responsible and safe behaviours look like then we know we are not likely to face any issues.

We have focused on Poetry this week and students have learned about the structure and purpose of various styles of poetry.

Reading Achievements

The following students were recognised this week for their reading achievements:

50 nights -  Tegan

75 nights -  Gu Thay Paw

100 nights - Claire 

125 nights - Stella, Kelsey, Lexi

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