Newsletter 2023/21 ~ 28 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

It has been another busy week this week.  On Tuesday we celebrated Grandparents & Elderly Persons Day in conjunction with our visit from Meerkat Productions.

From what I have heard, the morning went well with an enjoyable performance of Frank’s Red Hat followed by classroom visits and morning tea.

Then yesterday, our Hockey 7s team travelled to Dimboola to play against other schools from the region.  Thank you to Mrs Bell for coordinating our involvement in this event.  You can read about the day in the Senior Class Report.

I have been attending the School Sport Australia Australian Football Championships in Ballarat this week as the Victorian State Coach and National Supervisor of umpires.  It has been a very long, busy and very cold week but also a good week of school football.

Miss Williams is also away as she attends the Catholic Diocesan Leadership Program.  We thank Mr Keller, Ms Quarrell and Mrs Bianca Dickinson for assisting with supervising classes this week.

CURRENT & RECENT EVENTS

Unwell students

A reminder to please keep your children home if they are unwell. Nothing is more important than the health of our school community, and the avoidance of spreading germs is key to that. Children do not learn well at school when they are feeling miserable.

Meerkat Productions

Below are some photos from Meerkat Productions performance of Frank’s Red Hat during our Grandparents & Elderly Persons Day on Tuesday.

UPCOMING EVENTS

100 Days of School

Student Free Day

Staff will be undertaking some Professional Learning on Friday 11 August.  This will be a Student Free Day.  No students are to be at school on that day.

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.

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

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

64 - The number of squares on a chessboard.

Classroom and Student News

Senior Class

It has been a busy week in the Senior Class. We’ve been busy writing reviews in English and working on our multiplication in Maths. However the two highlights of our week were watching Meerkat Productions' performance of Frank’s Red Hat on Tuesday and the Hockey 7s tournament on Thursday. Now over to the Senior class to tell you all about it:

Franks Red Hat and Grandparent’s Day - By Sophie, Declan, Riley and AJ

On Tuesday Meerkat Productions came to St Pat’s to perform Frank's Red Hat. The story was about a penguin named Frank who loves to create new things, but his ideas frighten the other penguins. Frank's newest invention is a red hat but the other penguins think it is an evil hat.

Tuesday was also Grandparents’ Day, so our grandparents also came to school to watch the play. After the play we went to our classrooms and did some activities about the play with our grandparents. We designed hats. 

We had to make our own masks for the play. The masks were penguins and some of us added hats to our masks. Some of the masks had funny looking eyes.

Hockey 7s Tournament - By Jody, Olive and Jonas

On Thursday ten students went to Dimboola to play in the Hockey 7s tournament. It was a fun experience for all of us that went. St Pat’s was repesented by Jonas, Olive, Jody, Declan, Riley, AJ, Sophie, Daniel, Caleb and Ben. We played 6 games in total - we won one game, tied two and lost three. Everyone contributed very well and had a really good time. Everyone played their hardest and even though some of us don't play hockey.

We’d like to give a shout out to Clint and Holly Beattie for coaching and umpiring us all day. Thank you to Mrs Bell for driving us to Dimboola, organising the team and getting us prepared to play the other schools.

We came 4th place and the final ladder looked liked this:                                          

Ladder

St Arnaud 1st

Nhill Lutheran 2nd

St Peters Dimboola 3rd

St Patrick’s Nhill 4th

Birchip 5th

Balmoral 6th 

St Malachy’s Edenhope 7th 

Thursday at School - By Treesa, Ma Thay Thay, K’Lu Doh Soe and Kaw Mu

On Thursday most of the Seniors went to hockey, which left only four of us at school. We had an amazing time at school.

Juniors - We helped the Juniors on Thursday morning with their handwriting. Each of us Seniors had a table of Juniors that we helped. They were learning how to write the letter ‘N’, so we helped them practise writing both uppercase ‘N’ and lowercase ‘n’. 

Maths - After recess, the Middles came into our classroom to do some maths. We did a warm up called Zone. It's when you have 10 cards and then you put another card down and multiply it by 10 and two cards that have the product. For example if you flip the card 5, then you multiply 5 by 10 which equals 50. So you need to find two cards that have the product from 50-59 when you multiply them. After that we got into our groups and did our work.  

Sewing - After lunch we had some time to choose an activity. There were activities to choose from but we all chose to do sewing. So Miss Attard and Mr Keller helped us to do some sewing. Our creations were a cat, a fish and two clouds.

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 Sophie, Moe Tha Zin and Gu Thay Paw 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 Elvi 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:

25 nights - Treesa, William

75 nights - David, Moe Tha Zin, Amity

Important Dates and Reminders

All calendar dates are available on PAM (SIMON Everywhere)

School Calendar

August

Thu 3 - Junior Class 100 Days of School Dress Up Day

Tue 8 - Parent-Teacher Interviews 1:30-4:30pm

Wed 9 - Parent-Teacher Interviews 3:30-4:30pm

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.

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.

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

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