Newsletter 2024/08 ~ 22 March 2024
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
Entering Holy Week
Next week is Holy Week. The following reflection adapted from Michael McGirr invites Christians to reflect what this sacred time in the Church’s year may mean for individuals and communities.
We see images of the cross everywhere, from school uniforms to hospital buildings. Perhaps it is so commonplace that it doesn’t stop us in our tracks the way it should. The cross of Jesus is the best key Christians have for understanding the mystery of God’s love. God’s compassion for the human family took Jesus to a lonely and brutal execution. Jesus was the victim of appalling injustice and degradation. His experience asks us to try to make the world more just and to revere the dignity of every person. ‘Whatsoever you do to the least of my sisters and brothers, you do to me.’
Invitation to Prayer
Jesus of Compassion, Help us to see in your Cross all the crosses of the world:
The cross of people hungry for bread and for love;
The cross of people alone and abandoned even by their children and kin;
The cross of people thirsty for justice and for peace;
The cross of the elderly who struggle under the weight of years and of loneliness;
The cross of migrants who find doors closed in fear and hearts armoured by political calculations;
The cross of little ones, wounded in their innocence and their purity;
The cross of humanity that wanders in the darkness of uncertainty and in the obscurity of temporary culture;
The cross of our common home that is gravely withering before our selfish eyes, blinded by greed and by power.
Revive in us the hope of resurrection and of your definitive victory over all evil and all death.
Amen
DOBCEL Newsletter 20 March 2024
CURRENT & RECENT EVENTS
Year 6 Science & Engineering Discovery Day
Congratulations to our Year 6 students who joined forces with Nhill College Year 6s to enter the Science & Engineering Discovery Day at Longerenong College on Monday. Competing against seven other schools from across the Wimmera, our students came home victorious. Thanks to Mrs Bell for coordinating our entry and liaising with Nhill College to ensure that we had sufficient students between the two schools to constitute a team.
Overall results:
1st - St Patrick’s School / Nhill College Combined - 1244.79 points
2nd - Horsham West & Haven Primary School - 1176.66 points
3rd - Dimboola Primary School - 1136.45 points
St Patrick’s Day Family Fun Evening
It was wonderful to see so many families at our St Patrick’s Day Family Fun Evening last Friday night. Thank you to our SAC committee for their organisation of the night.
Swimming
Best wishes to Claire McEldrew who is swimming in the Greater Western Region Championships today following her performance at the Little Desert / Black Ranges Championships recently.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Seniors’ Camp
The Years 4, 5, 6 students will head off to Melbourne for their three-day camp on Monday. The children will be visiting Scienceworks, The War Memorial, Melbourne Zoo, Eureka Tower and Skydeck, ArtVo, and will also go ice-skating.
Ms Farnham, Mrs Pilgrim and myself will be accompanying the students.
Pizza lunch on Wednesday
A pizza lunch will be supplied for all F-3 students next Wednesday. There will be no lunch orders available next week. If a child does not eat pizza or does not want pizza, they will need to bring their lunch with them on that day.
Easter Hat Parade
Next Wednesday all students in Years Foundation, 1, 2 and 3 will be participating in St. Patrick’s Easter Hat Parade. The parade will take place in the hall at 2:45 pm and parents/carers are most welcome to come and watch the event.
During the parade, the children will have the opportunity to showcase the Easter hats that they have made. We will be making Easter hats in class and all cardboard will be supplied along with some decorations. If you would like to provide your child with some decorations, or a special hat, please send items in a plastic bag with your child’s name and class clearly marked by Monday 25 March.
We would love for you to join us as we share our creative talents.
End of Term
Term One will conclude next Thursday. After recess we will be holding a liturgy followed by our assembly. The students will then be dismissed at 2.15pm
Palm Sunday Service
Project Compassion
As we continue our Lenten journey, we are reminded of the wonderful work of Caritas Australia in supporting those in need around the world. You can support Caritas Australia through Project Compassion.
Partnership in action
The work of Caritas Australia is only possible with the dedication, passion and tenacity of our local partners who implement the programs. They are the heroes on the ground, working tirelessly behind-the-scenes every day to create a better future for their communities.
Caritas Australia partners with the Faithful Companions of Jesus (FCJ) to support communities living in urban slums in the Philippines. FCJ runs a number of programs that include house renovating, food processing, basic literacy skills, urban gardening, upcycling and income generating activities. They also have a clinic visited weekly by a doctor and community nurse.
Caritas Australia partners with Caritas Samoa to assist communities to have increased access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene to ensure human health and well-being by providing water tanks and sanitation facilities.
Caritas Australia partners with the Catholic Development Commission in Malawi through the A+ program. Since 2016, the A+ program has helped 7,397 families across Malawi improve their food security, access to basic water and sanitation, boost women’s income generation and strengthen child protection.
Please donate to Project Compassion
Together, we can help vulnerable communities face their challenges today and build a better tomorrow for all future generations.
You can donate through Project Compassion donation boxes, online by visiting caritas.org.au/project-compassion or by calling 1800 024 413
Sunday’s Gospel
John 12:20-33
In Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus talks about seeds and life. He says that unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Jesus is talking about how sometimes, good things can come from hard or sad times. Just like a seed needs to be buried in the ground to grow into a plant, sometimes we need to face challenges or tough times to grow and become stronger.
Jesus also talks about being a light in the world. He says that those who walk in darkness do not know where they are going, but if we walk in the light of Jesus, we will have the light of life. This means that if we follow Jesus and his teachings, we will find our way through life and be happy.
For us, this can mean that even when things seem hard or we're facing tough times, there's always hope. We can learn and grow from those experiences and become better people. And by being kind, loving, and following Jesus' teachings, we can bring light and happiness to others around us.
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.
“May our good God grant you all a holy and truly happy Christmas. We can all meet together in spirit at the Crib of our loving infant and pray for one another. I wish you every grace and blessing of this holy time with fondest love.” Mary MacKillop, 1881
By the Numbers
89 - The length, in minutes, of the 1986 movie ‘Stand By Me’
A great start to the season by the Power last weekend. Looking forward to another win against the tigers this Sunday. The Saints had a lot of supporters last night as they continued the pies losing start to the year - almost as many supporters as the newly launched Tasmania FC. Go Port!!
God Bless you all.
Kingsley Dalgleish
Principal
Classroom and Student News
Senior Class Report
Week 8 is all over and done and it has been an interesting ride! Only one week until the Easter Holidays and the students have been very busy.
The Senior Class has been hard at work this week celebrating Harmony Week. We have been celebrating cultural diversity and inclusion. Students have investigated what it means to be a multicultural country and how different cultures bring us different perspectives and opportunities. It has been a great week of discussion about being different, being inclusive and being accepting.
Many students took the opportunity to come dressed in traditional clothing or in orange to celebrate Harmony Day.
Here are some thoughts on what the class thought about Harmony Week:
Harmony Week is about celebrating differences and different cultures,clothing,languages and food. It’s being inclusive, accepting people and letting them join in. - Marnie
Harmony Week is when people celebrate each other's differences, religion and nationality. Some people like to celebrate by eating food from all over the world or learning about other people’s family or nation history. People celebrate each other's culture and traditions. Another thing you can do is by listening to different types of music. - Treesa
Harmony looks like one place where people communicate with each other in different cultures and talk to each other about what they eat, play and talk. It’s also about asking others to join in to talk about other cultures. - Jayden
We celebrate it because it's about peace and harmony and kids and adults come from different countries. We should always try and work and get along with people who are different from us and that is what we have been celebrating this week. - Katherine
The Year 6 students competed in a Science and Engineering Day in Horsham on Tuesday. Below is a recap from Jody Bee.
On Tuesday 19th of March the Year 6 St Pat's and the Nhill College 6’s were a team for the Science and Engineering Challenge.They gave us wristbands that are different colours which are silver, red, green, orange, pink, purple and yellow. My group was the silver one which had Jody, Tempress, AJ and Sha Ku.
The activities were Launch it, Get Over It, It’s a Trap, Carnival Creator, Electropalas, Earthquake, and Gust Buster. The ones we did were Launch It and Get Over It, first we did Get Over It, which was constructing a bridge and a structure to hold the bridge, after we finished building it we tested it and some weights came down going through our bridge and we passed the 3rd weight but then the bridge collapsed after the 4th one.
We used triangles which were our strongest shape to use. Then we went on to our next activity which was It’s a Trap and we had to catch 50% of the 24 medium marbles and we had to use accuracy, we also had 5 big marbles and 38 small marbles and had to put it through a small tunnel then there’s pins on the board and there were 3D printed rocks if you lost a marble you would lose points. At the end we had to sit on the floor and test the Get Over It bridge from the groups that did it. Douglas’s group did it for St Pat's.
We passed a big Chungus (metal block) but not Bridge Buster. It wasn't strong enough,when they finished they called out the places the schools came: 8th Kaniva College, 7th Horsham Campus 298, 6th Horsham Rasmussen Campus, 5th St Michael and John’s Primary School, 4th Holy Trinity Lutheran College, 3rd Dimboola Primary School, 2nd Horsham West and Haven Primary School and our school came 1st. We had a great trip home on the bus.
Just a reminder that next week, the F-3 students will be having an Easter Bonnet Parade. Please make sure that you send in the decorations for your child in a labelled bag by no later than Monday. We will also be providing some arts and craft items for students to use.
Also, a reminder that Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday the Senior class will be on their camp in Melbourne. Mr Dalgleish, Ms Farnham and Mrs Pilgrim will be accompanying them in Melbourne.
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 Hannah E, Katherine and Srishti 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 for their reading achievements:
25 nights - Jesinta, Stella, Nile, Tessa, Hannah G, Hannah E
School Advisory Council
Parent Representatives
- Rebecca Curtis
- Emily Gladdis
- Moo Khu James
- Michaela Koop
- Zanther McEldrew
- Ashleigh Meyer
Ex Officio
- Mons. Glynn Murphy - Parish Priest
- Kingsley Dalgleish - Principal
Meeting Dates
- Tuesday, 30 April 2024, 7:30pm
- Tuesday, 23 July 2024, 7:30pm
- Tuesday, 15 October 2024, 7:30pm
Dates and Reminders
Term Dates 2024
Term 1 29 Jan (Staff) 31 Jan (Students) to 28 Mar
Term 2 15 Apr to 28 Jun
Term 3 15 Jul to 20 Sep
Term 4 7 Oct to 20 Dec
All calendar dates are available on PAM (SIMON Everywhere)
School Calendar
March
M-W 25-27 - Senior Camp
Thu 28 - Last Day Term 1 - dismissal time 2:15pm
April
Mon 15 - First Day Term 2
St Patrick's Nhill
Church Times
Mass is held every Sunday at 11.00am
Our Mission
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
Community News
- Book online for discounted prices.
- Have you entered the colouring competition in the Weekly Advertiser?
- More details on the Nhill Airshow website.
SchoolTV
Celebrating Harmony Week
Harmony Week is celebrated annually during March to highlight our diverse cultures and help us better understand each other’s experiences and backgrounds. During this week, the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is also acknowledged on the 21 March. Harmony Week is an opportunity to recognise Australia's multiculturalism, which embraces people from all over the world, especially indigenous Australians. As a nation, we are encouraged to promote respect, understanding and appreciation for all cultures.
Cultural Diversity
"Inclusion is about more than just words; it's about fostering a sense of belonging and acceptance, regardless of cultural background. It's crucial that we embrace diversity and celebrate the rich tapestry of backgrounds that make up our communities."
Dr Michael Carr-Gregg
Reminders
Parent Access Module PAM / SIMON Everywhere
The Parent Access Module PAM (SIMON Everywhere) is our "go-to" for all parent information. Download the SIMON Everywhere app from the app store on your mobile phone and login using your PAM credentials.
Simon Everywhere 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 Simon Everywhere, including:
- notify us of absences;
- view the school calendar;
- provide permission for student activities;
- update medical/contact information;
- view the lunch orders menu;
- read the newsletter.
Please contact the office with any questions.
Student late arrival, early departure, temporary absence procedures
All student late arrivals, early departures or temporary absences must be recorded in the Passtab iPad located in the foyer. Please ask office staff for assistance.
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 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)
- we have put this link onto PAM (Simon Everywhere) >Home, scroll down to >Parent Links
- 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.
*Six simple steps to protect yourself and those most at risk
- Wear a face mask
- Take a test
- Stay at home
- Meet outdoors
- Talk to your GP about COVID medications
- Get vaccinated
*coronavirus.vic.gov.au
Healthy Lunch Ideas
Some recipes -
