Newsletter 2022/31 ~ 21 October 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.
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.
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From the Principal
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Yesterday our senior students ran our assembly and shared a prayer related to the current flood situation in Victoria. We pray for all who have been affected by the rains of last week and the rising water levels that have followed.
Compassionate God, source of all comfort,
We pray for the people whose lives have been devastated by rain and flood.
Bring them comfort, we pray.
Protect the vulnerable.
Strengthen the weak.
Keep at bay the spread of disease.
Have mercy on all those working to rescue the stranded and to feed the hungry.
And may our response to their suffering be generous.
For we ask it in Jesus name,
Amen
CURRENT & RECENT EVENTS
Circus Challenge
Sadly our Circus Challenge visit had to be postponed due to the floods affecting travel arrangements for the presentation. The visit has been rescheduled for Wednesday, 23 November.
Nhill Heritage Weekend
Well done to everyone who was involved with the Nhill Heritage Weekend - the town was certainly alive and kicking!! It was great to see so many people in town. The shops were busy, The Gallery was full of people watching the artists at work and checking out the displays, and the baristas were flat out at each of the coffee shops.
There was a lot of interest in the Aviation Museum, the Nhill Silo, the John Shaw Neilson Cottage, and more.
PAM/Simon Everywhere access issues
We are aware that some families are experiencing issues with accessing PAM/Simon Everywhere, even since the recent app update. SIMON have informed us that the system is undergoing an overhaul for the beginning of next year. We ask that you remain patient for the remainder of this year. You will still have access to calendar dates and other information. If the app won’t allow you to log student absence notes, please SMS 0419929271, phone 53911575 or 0419929271, or email principal@spnhill.catholic.edu.au - we still require this information on a daily basis.
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School Wide Positive Behaviour
During play times, staff have been monitoring for students demonstrating aspects of Respect, Responsibility and Safety within the school yard. Names are collated and shared during our weekly assemblies. Names are drawn randomly for each category and that student’s House receives a token for their House jar. The House with the most tokens later in the year will be rewarded.
Congratulations to all children who were recognised for their positive actions around the school over the last week of Term 3 and this week. Gu Thay Paw (MacKillop), Oscar (MacKillop) and Caleb (Joseph) were randomly drawn from the names listed for Respect, Responsibility and Safety, and have added tokens to their respective Houses' tallies.
Auslan
As part of our Auslan program we have been able to access the services of Mrs Buffy Harrison as a Language Assistant. Mrs Harrison is deaf and uses both a cochlear implant and a hearing aid and is proficient in signing the Auslan language. Mrs Harrison is joining each of our Auslan classes online for one afternoon each week and will also be physically present in our classrooms next Wednesday. She will also work with staff after school as part of our ongoing learning of Auslan.
At yesterday’s assembly, the senior students signed the song ‘Sing a Rainbow” which each class was introduced to this week. The students also signed the National Anthem. Please watch the videos below.
Loud Shirt Day
Today is National Loud Shirt Day in support of kids with hearing loss. Given our involvement with learning Auslan, this is a day that we can certainly relate to. There is a sea of colour in the school today with a variety of shirts, styles and colours on display.
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UPCOMING EVENTS
Student Free Day
A reminder to all parents and carers that we will be having a Student Free Day on Monday 31 October as staff continue their professional learning around the SWPBS program.
Senior Anglesea Camp
The Years 4, 5 and 6 students will be heading off on their camp to Anglesea on Wednesday 2 November. This camp will continue to build the students’ social and emotional capabilities, as well as their ability to work cooperatively and effectively within groups. We have been fortunate to qualify to have this camp fully funded by the Victorian government’s Positive Start program. Students will return on Friday 4 November.
A reminder that permission notes for camp are to be completed and returned to school by next Wednesday, 26 October.
Melbourne Cup Day
Please note that we do have school on Melbourne Cup day this year.
Kinder Visits
The transition program for kinder children will commence in the coming weeks.
The 2023 Foundation students are invited to join our Forward to Foundation transition program which will commence on Friday 4 November at 8.55am until recess (11.00am).
Session dates and times are as follows:
- Friday 4 November - 8.55am to 11.00am
- Friday 11 November - 8.55am to 1.00pm
- Friday 18 November - 8.55am to 3.15pm
- Friday 25 November - 8.55am to 1.00pm
- Friday 2 December - 8.55am to 1.00pm
A notice will be sent to all Kinder children with detailed information about the Forward to Foundation transition program.
Sunday’s Gospel Reflection
Luke 18:1-8
People sometimes get tired of each other. Parents get tired of children asking for things. Teachers and students get tired of the same old lessons. We sometimes get tired of friends who borrow our things. In Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus tells us that God never gets tired of us. God is the one who will never say, “Stop bothering me!”
Jesus must have been feeling mischievous when he told the story of the persistent widow. He offers a funny comparison: God is at least as likely to respond to our prayers as a corrupt judge will cave in under a widow’s badgering. Maybe Jesus had days like that, when someone got on his nerves so much he just gave them what they wanted. We’ve all bought a magazine or chocolate bar at the door just to make the salesperson go away.
The point of the story isn’t God’s experience, of course, but ours. Whether God is worn down by eons of listening to our prayers remains to be seen. Our task is to keep up the prayers – harder than it sounds to those who don’t pray much. Fidelity in prayer is as hard as working at any love relationship. In some seasons the effort will feel greater than the desire. Persistent prayer is more effective than the one-off method, just as daily efforts to build loving relationships are more meaningful than a lone card on Valentine’s Day.
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.
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By the Numbers
36
The number of years ago that Australia enacted Constitutional arrangements with respect to the ‘Termination of power of Parliament of United Kingdom to legislate for Australia’
Local cricket starts tomorrow. Hopefully the ovals have gotten a little smaller since last summer and the pitches are shorter, because this body has aged a few years in the past few months! I may well be struggling to walk on Monday!!
God Bless you all.
Kingsley Dalgleish
Principal
Classroom and Student News
Junior Class
This week our class enjoyed exploring the story Seagull by Danny Snell. This is the first of the stories helping us to place more detail into our writing. Firstly we looked at facts about seagulls. Then before the story started the students had to draw what they wondered about the story. After getting half way through, the students had to draw what they thought might be a story end. Our patterned sentence is ‘The next morning, Seagull woke to find the sky wide and blue.’ The students' drawings and reflections were very insightful. This week for Show and Tell, Hannah E. brought along leaves, as last week she had an information text titled Leaves. This is our final week in Mathematics for counting and place value. Foundation students are much quicker at recognising numbers on the tens frames, and Year 1 students at recording tens and ones with MAB blocks.
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Middle Class
This week our class has been exploring the text The Night Walk through the scaffolding literacy approach in Reading and Writing. We began the week looking at the title and front cover and made some predictions of what could happen on a night walk, what we might see and feel and how we might react. Throughout the week we used a sentence to explore the language used within it. The sentence we used was ‘We walked slowly, lulled by the rustling of the leaves above.’ This allowed us to see how each part of the sentence helps us to make meaning and what would happen if we took parts out or rearranged the sentence to something different. Towards the end of the week we began to use the structure of this sentence to imitate it and make our own.
This week in Maths we have been working with division and sharing equally with remainders. We have been looking at many different strategies we can use to solve these type of division problems and finding the best one for us. This is our last week on division and we begin a new topic next week.
In Art this week we are continuing to work on media art and using photos and video editing software such as iMovie to make short videos. The week we began stop-motion videos. We explored some wonderful Lego cooking videos online and discussed how they work. We then got busy taking lots of photos and beginning to put them together and edit them to make our video. We used playdough and have discovered we need to take a lot of photos to get our videos right.
Middle Class - herb garden
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Senior Class
This week in class we continued reading the novel Frankie Fish and the Viking Fiasco by Peter Helliar. This has been helping us to see the way the author uses adjectives and adverbs in his writing. This has transferred over into our narrative writing. In Maths we have started to look at graphing and interpreting data. We have been looking at what is necessary to create a graph and how we read different types of graphs. Students have been creating their own column or line graphs on classmates pets and classmates favourite lolly.
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 Georgia with a Little Joey award.
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.
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Reading Achievements
The following students were recognised this week for their reading achievements:
125 nights - Declan, Kaw Mu, Nelson, Freddie, Amity
200 nights - Sophie
200 nights - Lexi, Stella
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Important Dates and Reminders
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All calendar dates are available on PAM (SIMON Everywhere)
Term Dates
Term 4 3 October to 20 December (Students' last day is Friday, 16 December)
School Calendar
OCTOBER
Monday 31
Student Free Day - Staff Professional Development
NOVEMBER
Wednesday 2 - Friday 4
Senior Class Camp
Friday 4
Forward to Foundation (Kinder) Transition Program 8.55 - 11.00 am
Tuesday 8
Whole school excursion to Penola
Friday 11
Forward to Foundation (Kinder) Transition Program 8.55 am - 1.00 pm
Tuesday 15
Gifting Mass 2pm
Friday 18
Forward to Foundation (Kinder) Transition Program 8.55 am - 3.15 pm
Tuesday 22
SAC Meeting 7.30pm
Friday 25
Forward to Foundation (Kinder) Transition Program 8.55 am - 1.00 pm
DECEMBER
Thursday 1 - Friday 2
Middle Class Camp
Friday 2
Forward to Foundation (Kinder) Transition Program 8.55 am - 1.00 pm
Tuesday 6
SAC Annual Meeting 7.30pm
Friday 16
Students' last day (dismissal time 3.15pm)
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Reminders
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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 PAM (SIMON Everywhere): - >Home, scroll down to >Knowledge Bank, >Parent Documents, >Action, >Preview
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Parent Access Module PAM / SIMON Everywhere
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.
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)
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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.
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, 22 November at 7.30pm
- AGM Tuesday, 6 December at 7.30pm
Our Mission
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Community News
Primary Basketball Competition Update
Primary Basketball will return in 2022 with an expected start date in late October.
The Primary Competition will run on Tuesdays for Years 2 – 6.
An Aussie Hoops program is currently being developed for Foundation – Year 2 for a November start – stay tuned for more details!
Registrations are now open for Primary Basketball at https://www.playhq.com/ (search Nhill Basketball Association). The registration fee will include $26 annual Basketball Victoria Licence (renewal lands on 12 months from payment in 2021) and $30 to cover stadium entry. The Nhill Basketball Association has confirmed free membership for all players for the 2022/23 season.
It will be wonderful to see as many kids back playing basketball as possible.
We will be also looking for Coaches and Team Managers for the Primary Competition to support the coordinator and players.
Enquiries can be directed to Tracey Bell 0418 607 321 on or Kat Colbert on 0409 527 041 or nhillbasketball@gmail.com
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Follow your creative dreams at Horsham Regional Art Gallery!
It is a new term, so it's time to start getting ready for Art Club and Mini Makers Story Time.
Art Club
Starts Tuesday 18th October to 29th November
4:00 - 5:30pm for children aged 7-12.
A course of 6 sessions for $72.
Art Club is about supporting our emerging young artists in making and creating artworks. We’ll help children discover new skills and express their ideas through a stimulating program of visual art practices guided by renowned local artists.
Children’s will take part in a progression of lessons over the 6 weeks, but students are able to participate in single sessions if required.
Mini Makers Storytime
Fortnightly from Tuesday 11 Oct / 25 Oct / 8 Nov / 22 Nov / 6 Dec
10- 10.45am for children aged 0 - 5 yrs.
$5 per child
Let’s get together around art and storytelling!
Art for our Mini Makers is all about discovery and fun … unleash your child’s creativity through wonderful books and fun art activities.
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Links / Information
COVID-19 Update
Changes to Pandemic Orders (from 12 October)
The Victorian Government has announced the end of the pandemic declaration and associated pandemic orders. New settings will apply from 11.59 pm on Wednesday 12 October 2022.
Isolation & reporting requirements
Parents/carers should inform the school (by phone 53911575 or 0419929271, or in writing principal@spnhill.catholic.edu.au)
Students who test positive for COVID-19 -
- should stay home and isolate for a minimum of 5 days
- should not attend school after 5 days if still symptomatic, e.g. runny nose, sore throat, cough, shortness of breath, fever, chills, or sweats
- who are symptomatic but have not tested positive should not attend school.
Where students become symptomatic at school, they should be collected by their parents/carers and undergo testing for COVID-19.
COVID-19 reporting requirements
- Report a positive RAT to the Department of Health online (link is provided below)
- Inform those with whom they have recently been in contact, including their workplace, school and household.
Face masks
- School-aged children are encouraged to wear face masks indoors in a public space or outside in a crowded place where they can't physically distance.
- Face masks will continue to be available for staff, students and visitors.
The Department of Health recommends that
- masks should be worn by a person who is a close contact of someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 when leaving home.
- masks should be worn by a person who has COVID-19 for 10 days after a positive test when they need to leave home.
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 will continue to be available for staff, students and visitors.
Stay home if unwell
- 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.