Newsletter 2022/36 ~ 25 November 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.

From the Principal

CURRENT & RECENT EVENTS

Circus Challenge

It was wonderful to finally have Circus Challenge visit us this week. Clint, the star of this one man show, brought plenty of energy and enthusiasm to his performance and this ensured that we enjoyed a very engaging show.

A number of students got involved with helping with some of the tricks and everyone was introduced to juggling and plate twirling.

A very fun morning was had by all.

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Food Drive

Last Christmas, our school donated non-perishable food items, gift cards and monetary contributions to help families in need in the lead up to Christmas. West Wimmera Health Service and local services were astounded by our generosity and again welcome our assistance in this area. We are asking St Patrick’s families, if they are able to do so, to contribute items to make up hampers for local families.

Non-perishable food items, IGA gift cards or monetary contributions can be sent to school and/or monetary or gift cards contributions made at the office.

These gifts will be presented during our Gifting Mass on Tuesday 29 November.

All parents are welcome to attend Tuesday’s Mass at 2pm.

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 this week.  Daniel (Patrick), Gu Thay Paw (MacKillop) and Amity (Joseph) were randomly drawn from the nominations for Respect, Responsibility and Safety, and have added tokens to their respective Houses' tallies.

RAT kits

Another batch of RAT kits were sent home this week.  

If your child was absent or if you require more kits, please call the office 53911575 to organise. 

UPCOMING EVENTS

Year 2-3 Camp

The Year 2-3 students will be heading off on their camp to Halls Gap on Thursday 1 December.  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 2 December.

A number of students were absent this week and have therefore been unable to return permission forms (which were emailed).  A reminder that these forms must be returned to school as soon as possible next week.

School Advisory Council - upcoming AGM

A reminder that we have a number of positions available to be filled prior to the Annual General Meeting of the SAC on Tuesday, 6 December.  

Our SAC can have up to six (6) parent representatives.  This year we had five parent representatives.  Two of our current members will be in the second year of their two-year terms next year.  Therefore there are four positions (two-year terms) available.  Nominations for these positions are due by 4.00pm on Monday 5 December.  

We encourage you to consider if you would like to be a part of the SAC, or perhaps nominate someone else.  Our SAC meets once or twice a term.  Meetings generally last no longer than 90 minutes.

If you have any questions about the role of SAC members, please contact the school office or a current Council member (listed elsewhere in the newsletter).

You can collect the information pack from the office, which contains the flyer (below) and a nomination form.

CathFamily

CathFamily is an online database of prayers, activities, recipes and articles celebrating Catholic culture. Used extensively by parents, teachers and catechists, it equips them with ideas and resources to assist in passing on the faith to the next generation.

A FREE weekly eNews curates seasonal topics making it easy for parents and catechists to locate and prepare faith-filled and fun activities.

Among the many offerings is CathKids – a interactive digital resource based on the Sunday readings. Normally a subscription product, in 2023 it will be available free.

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

This week in class we have introduced a shared Big Book titled Did you take the B from my _ook? by Beck and Matt Stanton. On the front cover it has a star sticker that states "This book drives kids CRAZY!". We have had fun all week saying lots of words without the B. Everyone at the end of the story calls out "COME BACK B", and it does. Money is a focus in Mathematics. We are revising their values and adding coins to make an amount. Our turn for Assembly yesterday included a descriptive writing piece. The Kinder transition continued again today. Below is a picture reflection by Hannah G of our Circus Challenge Visiting Performance on Wednesday. Can you see Mr. Dalgleish and Mrs Bell?

Middle Class

We’ve had an interesting week this week with quite a few children from the class away for various reasons. We had an extra fun day on Wednesday having the Circus Challenge in the morning and then Buffy visited us in the afternoon for Auslan. We also had Miss McQueen while Miss Williams was away.

In Reading we are continuing with the theme of persuasive narratives, as well as crayons with the book The Day the Crayons Came Home. It's exciting to hear what has happened to the crayons and where Duncan had left them at different times. One of our favourites is Neon Red Crayon. He visits lots of different places on holidays but has no idea where he is actually going.

In Writing we have been continuing to work on persuasive writing. Friday last week the chairs in our classroom took inspiration from our book and decided to quit on us. They even wrote us a letter to tell us why they quit. We wrote a response to them to convince them to come back and help us to learn. Luckily the chairs had no choice and we were able to pick them up and bring them back to the tables.

In Maths we have been working on money. We are getting very good at counting and making collections of coins and are now working towards counting and giving correct change.

Senior Class

In the Senior Class this week we have quite a few children away with illness, nonetheless we have continued on with some great activities. In Maths we have been continuing to focus on time and we had the chance to make some cupcakes on Tuesday to help us see this in a more practical sense. On Wednesday we had a great time enjoying the circus performance and got to practise the juggling skills that we have previously been working on in class. In Writing we have continued to learn about persuasive writing and have started to write letters on a topic that we believe strongly in. 

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Reading Achievements

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

50 nights - Georgia

125 nights - Hser Wah

150 nights - Kaw Mu, David, Nelson, Liberty

175 nights - Nile

Important Dates and Reminders

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

NOVEMBER

Tuesday 29

Gifting Mass 2.00pm

DECEMBER

Thursday 1 - Friday 2

Middle Class Camp

Friday 2

Forward to Foundation (Kinder) Transition Program 8.55 am - 1.00 pm

Monday 5

Dental Health Van Visit #2

Tuesday 6

SAC Annual Meeting 7.30pm

Friday 16

Students' last day (dismissal time 3.15pm)

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.

You can find the lunch orders menu in PAM (SIMON Everywhere): - >Home, scroll down to >Knowledge Bank, >Parent Documents, >Action, >Preview

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)

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

• AGM Tuesday, 6 December at 7.30pm

Our Mission

Community News

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.

Links