Newsletter 28/10/2024: Term 4, Week 4

Week 4 Prayer- All Saints & All Souls Day!

This Friday, November 1st is when the Catholic Church celebrates All Saints Day, dedicated to the Saints of the Church.  Although millions, or even billions of people may already be Saints, All Saints Day observances tend to focus on known saints - that is those recognised as Saints by the Catholic Church. 

All Souls Day

All Souls Day on Saturday is the commemoration of all the faithful departed and is dedicated to those who have died. We remember deceased friends and relatives in various ways on this day. Some people may light candles or visit a church or cemetery to pray for their loved ones who have died. .

From the Principal

Greetings everyone and welcome to a new week.

2025 Foundation Interviews: Over the next 2 days, Pru Darcy, Tarryn  Delaney and myself will be conducting interviews for our 2025 Foundation children and their families. 

We are thrilled to have 26 enrolled Foundation children which is a great sign of faith that these parents have placed in our school community. We look forward to welcoming them.

Good Luck Hooptimers!: Today we have a Gr 5/6 Girls team competing in Hamilton- we hope they all have a highly enjoyable day.

Right to Disconnect Legislation: The Fair Work Act 2009, was recently updated to include provisions that give employees the right to disconnect from communication received outside of their designated working hours. This new rule takes effect from 26 August 2024. For schools, this includes communication from parents, students, colleagues, or others within the school community. 

Staff access their work emails normally between 8:00 am – 5.00 pm when possible and will endeavour to respond to emails within 24-48 hours. This applies to other forms of communication also. Staff are not expected to respond in this time frame during weekends, public holidays, and, for teaching staff,  during term breaks.

We ask all members of the school community to be aware of this new provision and to restrict communication with school staff to school working hours. If you communicate outside of these hours, please be aware staff may choose to but are not expected to respond outside their work hours.

Enjoy the week ahead, Ben.

School Closure Day & Public Holiday

Just a friendly reminder that next Monday the 4th of November is a school closure day and Tuesday the 5th of November is a Public Holiday!

Remembrance Day

Monday November 11 is Remembrance Day, our chance to remember and say thank you to all who have served for our country. The school captains will join the service at the town memorial, with all other children participating in a service here at school.

Remembrance Day merchandise is available to purchase at school. Items range from $2 - $10 and it is cash only please.

School Advisory Council

This Tuesday the 29th of October we will hold our first SAC meeting of the term- we look forward to this group gathering. The second meeting will be held on Tuesday the 19th of November.

Parents & Friends AGM

The Parents and Friends Annual General Meeting will be held on Tuesday the 12th of November at the Hampden Hotel commencing at 7pm.

Please RSVP to the office by the 7th of November.

Administration of Medication

Our governing body DOBCEL has advised that we are no longer able to administer non-prescribed medication at school.

If your child requires medication during school hours, we will need to ring you to either take your child home or come into school to administer the medication yourself.

School and CEB staff are not permitted to store or administer any non-prescribed medications including analgesics (paracetamol and aspirin). This is because analgesics and other non-prescribed medications can mask signs and symptoms of a serious illness or injury.

Food Bank

We are asking our school community to provide meals for our Food Bank.

If you are able, it would be much appreciated if you could send some meals into the school office for the freezer.

This will help our families that are in need at this point in time.

Christmas Disco

Some Year 10 students from Mercy Regional College are running a Christmas Disco as part of their studies.

The disco will take place on Friday the 8th of November.

Children are asked to wear Christmas themed clothes on this day and bring a gold coin donation.

There will be food available for purchase - details below.

Grade 6 Graduation

Please save the date for our Grade 6 Graduation which will be held on Tuesday the 17th December 2024.

More details to come.

5/6 Hooptime All Stars

After success in the first level of Hooptime Basketball at Terang in August, today we had our girls team travel to Hamilton to compete in the AllStar basketball.

The girls won 1 of their games.

Thank you to Narelle who coached the team today.

Well done to all the students who participated!

LEARNING AND TEACHING

The Week Ahead

Wellbeing

Parish Bulletin

CATHOLIC SCHOOL CULTURE

LEADERSHIP AND STEWARDSHIP

Uniform

Keep an eye out for an update regarding the new uniforms in next weeks newsletter, the update will include details around purchasing and availability. 

Known Dates

Below is a list of known dates at this stage for the rest of this year.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

TheirCare

Theircare has now commenced at St Patrick's School and it's not too late to enrol.

We are excited to announce that we have now partnered with an independent Outside of School Hours Care (OSHC) provider called TheirCare.

TheirCare provides a stimulating and safe environment for all children. During sessions, children develop life-skills, friendships, confidence, and creativity through play-based programs.

For further information, visit www.theircare.com.au or call our support office on 1300 072 410

Community Events

Birthdays

Happy Birthday to the following students who will celebrate their birthday this week.

Alexis B, Tilly B, Amber N, Emma G, Maddison L, Beau P,

Charlotte P & Jewel W

MRC Car Raffle

Cricket Blast - Pomborneit

Warrnambool Summer Football

Cobden Mini Golf

Dance Studio