Newsletter 2023/02 ~ 10 February 2023
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
Two weeks into the school year and everyone seems to have settled into the routines very well. As one Year 1 student mentioned to me yesterday, “It’s good being back at school but we’ve had to get used to so many changes! We’ve got new kids in our class, we’ve got new teachers and we’ve got new classrooms. And we’ve got a whistle to tell us when to put the sports equipment away.”
From the energy and excitement around the place, I can tell that the students (and staff) have adjusted quickly to these changes and are working well in their classes and mixing well in the yard.
There had been a delay on diaries for some students but everyone now has one and I encourage parents to use these as a means of communication with the classroom teacher as well as signing off on the reading that we hope is taking place at home each night.
If you have any wonderings about what is happening in your child’s class or any aspect of school, please feel free to contact your child’s teacher or myself as we endeavour to continue working in partnership with you to nurture your child’s future.
CURRENT & RECENT EVENTS
Opening Mass
We were blessed to have Fr Matt join us today for our Opening Mass. It was a pleasure to have parents and members of the Parish community celebrate with us as well.
During Mass, Fr Matt welcomed Miss Squires and Miss Attard together with our new students, as well as commissioning all staff members for the year ahead.
Stomp Dance
Our students have had a wonderful week of dancing with Tabitha from Stomp Dance. Tabitha has taught the children new moves and dance routines each day and she has managed to keep them engaged through every session.
Apparently my ‘Dad moves’ aren’t quite up to the standard that the children were able to display on the dance floor!
Australian Parents Council Newsletter
The latest edition of the APC eNewsletter has been released.
This month’s articles talk about:-
- Healthy LunchBox week
- 10 Reasons to join your P&F
- Safer Internet Day
- Youth Advisory Groups
- Schools Upgrade Fund
- Clean Up Australia Day
Visit the link below to view the newsletter.
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.
- It is recommended that rapid antigen tests (RATs) are used by students and staff if they:
- have symptoms of COVID-19 infection, no matter how mild
- are a household or close contact of someone who has COVID-19
- are a social contact of someone who has COVID-19.
- The Department of Health recommends that all Victorians report their positive RAT result via the online form or by calling 1800 675 398.
- Principals are no longer required to inform their school community of a positive case associated with the school.
RATs are available for all Victorians from council sites. Individuals can obtain two free packs (10 tests) for themselves and two free packs (10 tests) for each household member. People with disability and their carers can get up to four free packs (20 tests) in line with existing RAT distribution for people with disability.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Swimming - Water Safety & Awareness Program
Our Year 3-6 students will join with Nhill College for their swimming carnival on Tuesday 14 February. All of our 3-6 students have been entered into events for the day and parents are also welcome to attend. Events start at 9.30am
Our own swimming program will commence two days later and continue for each Tuesday and Thursday afternoon from 16 Feb until 9 March. Lunch will be taken early on those days and students will travel by bus at 1pm and return to school at 3pm in readiness for afternoon dismissal. Parents will be welcome to attend our own House carnival on Thursday 9 March.
Nhill College Swimming Sports Program
Get to Know You Meetings
Our first round of Parent-Teacher interviews will be held on Monday 27 February between 3.30 and 6.00pm. Details on how to book an interview time with your child’s teacher will be sent out next week. Bookings are made through the Parent access Module (PAM).
Sunday’s Gospel
Matthew 5:13-16
Jesus told his disciples, “You are the salt of the earth. But if salt becomes tasteless, what can make it salty again? It is good for nothing, and can only be thrown out to be trampled underfoot by men.
You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill-top cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp to put it under a tub; they put it on the lamp-stand where it shines for everyone in the house. In the same way your light must shine in the sight of men, so that, seeing your good works, they may give the praise to your Father in heaven.”
Jesus is reminding us that we need to be good examples to others, like a bright light on a hill. When we are showing peace, forgiveness and joy, then we are living the way Jesus taught us to live. Our lives will “taste” of Jesus, just as salt gives taste to food.
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.
“Bear with one another, help one another and ever strive to serve God in a generous spirit.”
Mary MacKillop, 1881
By the Numbers
45
The number of weeks until Christmas (sorry!!)
Not a great way to start the Test series in India yesterday - both openers out with only two runs on the board and the whole team dismissed for less than 200 runs! At least my side has continued its winning trend with its fourth win on the trot last weekend. A few more and we may just climb into finals contention!
God Bless you all.
Kingsley Dalgleish
Principal
Classroom and Student News
Junior Class
Miss Williams
This week in the Junior Class we have had many fun afternoons where the Year 2 students have joined us to participate in Stomp Dance. We have some amazing dancers and it’s great to see all our F/1/2 students joining in and having fun.
In Reading, Writing and Spelling this week, we have focussed on the letters S, A and T. We have learnt about their sounds, what they look like, how to write them, reading and finding them in books, and the Year 1 students have been learning to write and read all the first 200 sight words that start with those letters. Our Foundation students have also been doing a craft and learning a song for each of the letters.
In Reading this week we have also been learning about how to read a book. Silly Miss Williams has been trying to read the book upside down, back to front and starting in strange places. The students told her how to hold a book, where to start the book and where we need to start and go on each of the pages.
In Writing, Year 1 students have also been working on writing sentences using sentence starters and finishing them off. We have had some wonderful sentences being written.
In Maths we are learning about numbers. Foundation students are counting from 0 to 20, making numbers in quantities, words, pictures and numerals and associating them altogether to the same amount. Year 1 students have been counting forwards up to 100, and 1 more, 1 less, ten more and ten less.
Finally our diaries have all arrived. Please look for this in your child’s school bag as you will find some information on how we use the diaries in the Junior Class as well as some important login information for SeeSaw to enable you to see the work your child completes.
Middle Class
Miss Squires
We have had another busy week in the Middles classroom focusing on classroom routines, tidy bookwork and following instructions.
In our reading, the Middles have been working on looking for different types of nouns and verbs in our shared text ‘Belinda’. Students are now challenging themselves to increase the use of verbs and nouns into their writing in order to make them more descriptive. We have also been building upon our reading rotations and have been working wonderfully in settling into the routines during this block. We continue to encourage home reading and ask that students/parents fill in their diaries to show they have read each night. Thank you for your assistance with this.
In Maths have looked at number forms and explored the many ways a number can be represented. To help us with this task the students used concrete materials such as MAB blocks and playing cards to expand numbers ranging from tens to tens of thousands!
Buffy joined the students for Auslan this week. It is great to see the students communicate and learn new sign language to build upon their already growing knowledge in this area. We are lucky to have Buffy, who is part of the deaf community to assist the students in their Auslan journey.
The Middles had their dancing shoes on all week participating in Stomp Dance where they learnt and performed choreography, worked together in groups and added in a few solo moves.
We look forward to starting swimming next week!
Senior Class
Miss Attard
This week has been very busy in the Senior class. In Reading we have started a new shared text ‘Matilda’, and have been working on building our vocabulary. We are collecting words for our ‘Word Bank’ - a place where we write down new words and their definitions. In Writing we have been practising our punctuation and building sentences.
We’ve been reviewing place value and practising our multiplication in Maths.
In Auslan we’ve been learning how to ask and answer the question ‘How are you?’ along with different greetings. We also had our first lesson with Buffy - our Auslan language assistant - who will work with us once a week to assist students with their signing.
Everyone has been eager to participate in the Stomp Dance workshop each afternoon and have enjoyed learning a new dance each day.
We were finally able to take our diaries home this week, and information about home reading and homework will be coming home soon. We’re also looking forward to the 3-6 swimming carnival and starting our swimming program next week.
Out & about around the school ...
Important Dates and Reminders
All calendar dates are available on PAM (SIMON Everywhere)
Term Dates
2023
Term 1 27 Jan (Staff), 30 Jan (Students) to 6 Apr
Term 2 24 Apr to 23 Jun
Term 3 10 Jul to 15 Sep
Term 4 2 Oct to 20 Dec
School Calendar
February
Tuesday 14
Nhill College Swimming Carnival (Years 3-6 students)
Wednesday 15
Foundation students rest day
Thursday 16
Water Safety/Awareness Program (after lunch)
Monday 20
Hockey clinics
Tuesday 21
Water Safety/Awareness Program (after lunch)
School Advisory Council Meeting 7.30pm
Wednesday 22
Foundation students rest day
Ash Wednesday Mass 2pm
Thursday 23
Water Safety/Awareness Program (after lunch)
Reminders
From the Office ...
Forms due 10 February
- Yellow photo privacy permission (annual requirement)
- Digital Technology Agreements (annual requirement)
PAM
- Water Safety/Awareness Program consent
- Medical Profile update
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.
The Simon Everywhere app 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 PAM (Simon Everywhere) - notify us of absences, provide permission for student activities, update medical/contact information, 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
- Rebecca Curtis
- Emily Gladdis
- Moo Khu James
- Michaela Koop
- Zanther McEldrew
- Nathan Wheeler
Ex Officio
- Mons. Glynn Murphy - Parish Priest
- Kingsley Dalgleish - Principal
Next Meeting
- Tuesday 21 February 2023, 7.30pm
Our Mission
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