Newsletter 2023/20 ~ 21 July 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

Haven’t we experienced some blistering cold mornings this week?

The children have eagerly told me about the ice on the car windows, some even had to walk to school because there was so much ice!

I was particularly pleased to see one of our students in long pants and a jacket on Wednesday morning (the temperature was -3 deg C that morning) and I commented on how great it was to see him dressed for the cold conditions.  He responded solemnly with, “My Dad made me wear them!”  Thanks for doing that Dad.

Once again I would like to remind parents to ensure that all items of clothing are labelled, as our lost property bin at the front of the school is overflowing with items of clothing that we are unable to return to their rightful owners.  Please feel free to come in and check if your child is missing any part of their uniform.

CURRENT & RECENT EVENTS

AED onsite

The school has installed an Automated External Defibrillator on-site. It is situated in a location which is accessible by the community if there is a need. It is registered with the Ambulance Victoria AED Registry.

Junior Master the Masters

Last term our senior students entered their masterpieces in the Gallery’s Junior Master the Masters art exhibition.  Whilst we received excellent feedback on all of the pieces exhibited, Ma Thay Thay and Sienna were recognised with awards for their paintings of Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer and Sunflowers by Vincent van Gogh respectively.

School Advisory Council

At Tuesday's meeting the School Advisory Council continued its discussion around uniform items and have agreed to the addition of a school beanie.  The committee looked at several options and the new item will be added once it becomes available for purchase.  This is a non-compulsory item  and may only be won to and from school and outside the classroom.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Grandparents & Elderly People’s Day

To coincide with Grandparents and Elderly People's Day on 23 July, Grandparents and Elderly Friends have been invited to join us on Tuesday morning for our visit from Meerkat Productions.  They will then be able to join in with some activities in the classrooms before sharing some morning tea.

Invitations were sent home earlier in the week. We ask that families RSVP asap.

Meerkat Productions

We will once again be blessed with a visit from Meerkat Productions on Tuesday morning.  This year’s entertaining performance is based on the book Frank’s Red Hat by Sean E Avery.

Frank is a rather endearing penguin – or at least he is endearing to the reader. The other penguins in the story find him challenging and even a little frightening.

Frank’s Red Hat is a story about never giving up on your talents, because even though what you do may not be appreciated right now, it may be in time. Possibly by someone you’d least expect.

Frank is a penguin with ideas. Mostly terrible ones. That’s why his fellow penguins are nervous when he shows them his strange new creation. Something they’d never seen or expected to see in their cold and colourless Antarctic world — a red hat.

All students are asked to bring a hat or beanie along for the performance. Our Grandparents and Elderly Persons visitors are also encouraged to bring a hat.

Hockey 7s

Our Years 4,5,6 students have been practicing their hockey skills during PE this term.  Next Thursday, some of these students will be able to put these skills to the test as they represent the school in a Hockey 7s tournament in Dimboola.

Thank you to Mrs Bell who is coordinating the selections and will accompany the team next week.

Permission notes have been sent via SIMON. Please RSVP asap.

Parent-Teacher Interviews

Two afternoons have been marked for Parent-Teacher interviews to allow you to meet with your child’s teacher to discuss the End of Semester 1 Reports and your child’s progress.

Please open the Parent-Teacher tab on the Parent Access Module (PAM) to book interview times for either Tuesday 8 August between 1.30 and 4.30pm or Wednesday 9 August between 3.30 and 4.30pm.  

Please note that students will be dismissed at the start of lunch on Tuesday 8 August to allow for the Parent-Teacher interviews on that afternoon.

Any children who cannot be collected at that time or who need to stay at school to await the afternoon bus run will be able to stay at school and will be supervised by the LSOs until 3.15pm

Interviews run for a maximum of eight minutes each.  Should you require more time, please make arrangements with the teacher to meet at another mutually convenient time.

School Sport Australia

I will be absent from school next week as I will be attending the School Sport Australia, Australian Rules Football Championships in Ballarat in my capacity as Victorian Umpires State Team Coach/Manager for School Sport Victoria.  I will be supervising the Victorian team, as well as coordinating and providing coaching and feedback to umpires from all participating states and territories during the Championships.  I hope the weather improves next week!

Child Safe Standards

All students enrolled at St Patrick’s School have the right to feel safe and be safe. The safety and wellbeing of children in the school’s care will always be our first priority and the school will not tolerate child abuse. The school will create a child-safe and child-friendly environment where children are free to enjoy life to the full without any concern for their safety. Particular attention is paid to the most vulnerable children and young people, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, those from culturally and/or linguistically diverse backgrounds, children with a disability, children who are unable to live at home, international students, and LGBTQIA+ students. The full policy can be accessed via our school’s website: https://spnhill.catholic.edu.au/policies-procedures

The school’s Child Safety Officer is the Principal, Mr Kingsley Dalgleish.

All parents and volunteers that are onsite when students are onsite, or attend school events, are required to hold a Working with Children Check (WWCC) and sign the school’s Child Safety Code of Conduct. If we do not have a current copy of your WWCC, please present your card to the office for photocopying. We will endeavour to get all families to sign the code of conduct in the very near future.

We are committed to continuous improvement in our approach to child safety and well-being and welcome feedback from families and members of our school community on ways we can further strengthen our child safety policies, procedures, and practices. If you have any suggestions, comments, or questions, please contact the Principal either by phone or email principal@spnhill.catholic.edu.au

Sunday's Gospel

Matthew 13:1-9

Sunday’s Gospel reading was all about planting seeds. 

Jesus explained that the seed that falls on the path is like those people who hear what Jesus is saying but don’t really understand it or listen to it properly. 

The seed that falls on the rocks is like the person who hears what Jesus asks of us and starts off really excited about it, but who gives up following him as soon as it is difficult. 

The seed that falls in the thorns is like someone who hears what Jesus says but concentrates too much on having the best things, the most money, rather than on being the person Jesus wants us to be. 

The seed that falls on the rich soil is like someone who hears what Jesus is asking, understands it, and lives their life as he asks them to. 

Our challenge is to see if we can be like the seed that falls on the rich soil – to listen to what Jesus asks of us, to try to understand it and to live our lives as God calls us to.

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.

By the Numbers

63 - The number worn by former Australian cricketer, Andrew Symonds.

Classroom and Student News

Junior Class

What a wonderful start to the term we have had in the Junior Classroom. We started off last week with preparing and presenting our first assembly for Term 3. We also had a visit from the kinder kids and their families. We had such a fun morning reading, participating in craft, playing with lots of ocean-themed activities to go with our book and even playing on the playground.

In Reading and Writing this week we have been working with the book ‘Banjo and Ruby Red’ looking at the way that sentences show the ideas and working with the sentence ‘He snuffled around the shed door.’ to help us with the way that we can describe actions within our own stories.

In Writing we began a whole class focus on handwriting. Each day we have a small segment of writing working towards having some wonderfully neat and accurate letter formation in our writing. Year 1 students have also had a focus on writing and extending sentences with a range of conjunctions in them. Foundation students have been working creating their own sentences following the structure of our modelled sentence.

In Maths we have been working on multiplication, creating groups and showing equal groups. We have also been looking at the language that we use when talking about multiplication. We have been creating groups and using lots of different materials to make groups and show what they could look like.

In Religion we began a new unit called ‘Story.’ We looked at our own stories and what our names mean, why we were given our names and how it makes us feel by having our own names that belong to us. We even had a little bit of fun by thinking about what we would name ourselves if we could change our names. We had quite a few changing their names to things they like such as butterflies, stars and zombies!

School Wide Positive Behaviour Support SWPBS

Throughout the day, staff monitor for students demonstrating aspects of Respect, Responsibility
and Safety within our school. Students are issued a ticket to place in their classroom container. During assemblies, a draw takes place and those who have their ticket drawn out are invited to place a marble in their House container. The House with the most marbles at the end of each term will be rewarded.

Congratulations to all children who were recognised for their positive actions around the school. This week Agnes, Julian and Declan were randomly drawn from the nominations for Respect, Responsibility and Safety, and have added tokens to their respective Houses' tallies. 

Little Joey Awards

We continue to acknowledge the significant role of the "Brown Joeys" in the establishment of St Patrick's School, and recognised Adoni 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. 

Reading Achievements

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

75 nights - Charlotte K, Xavier, Meena

100 nights - Sophie

125 nights - Declan, Tegan

Important Dates and Reminders

All calendar dates are available on PAM (SIMON Everywhere)

School Calendar

July

Tue 25 - Incursion: Meerkat Performance and Grandparents/Elderly Persons Day

August

Fri 11 - Student free day for staff professional development

Wed 16 - Excursion: Yrs 5 & 6, Nhill College

Thu 17 - WWSSA Athletics

September

Fri 15 - Eye Health Screening

Fri 15 - Last Day Term 3

St Patrick's Nhill Church Times

Mass is held every Sunday at 11.00am

Reminders

Student late arrival, early departure, temporary absence procedures

A reminder to parents that any student late arrival, early departure or temporary absence must be recorded in the SIMON KIOSK located in the foyer.  If you have any difficulty following the instructions at the kiosk, please ask office staff.

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 >School Links

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 -

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

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.

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 and inform those with whom they have recently been in contact, including their workplace, school and household.
• 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.

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 10 October 2023, 7.30pm

Our Mission