Newsletter 22/03/2021 Term 1 Week 9

From the Principal

All Gr 3/4 & 5/6 students will be participating in  Athletic sports activities tomorrow (Tues) so they will need to wear sports uniform.

Prayer

Condolences to Bradshaw family

Please keep in your thoughts and prayers the Bradshaw family who lost Kevin last week after a workplace accident. Deepest sympathies to Julie, Grace, Molly, Ruby, Will, Charlie, Henry & Sid as well as their extended family.  

The Bradshaw family have been a part of the St Patrick's school family for many years and although their direct association is finished, they still have connections throughout our school through extended family & friends.  

St Patrick's Day: Mass & Activity day

What a great day this was last week. A sea of green, lots of smiling faces and many wonderful events for the day.

Our mass was a wonderful occasion with the singing being a real highlight. Many thanks to Mr. S & Tracy for all their organisation and to Fr Mick McKinnon for filling in for Fr Neville. 

Our hot chip & potato cake lunch was a hit and green faces lived up to its usual hype with lots of great acts on the day.

Congratulations to all the children on their efforts during green faces, especially those who were brave enough to do an act. 

Our placegetters on the day were

1st: Sasha Kerr, Tatum Courtney, Greta Darcy & Jessica MacDonald: The Grannies comedy skit

2nd: Meg Lafferty & Matea McKenzie: Dance routine

3rd: Vincent Titmus, Etti Glennen, Stella Hinds, Ava Lafferty, Madison Lucas & Stephanie Fleming

4th: Mali Maskell

With a special performance by Stacey on her bagpipes!

St Patrick's Day

School Review: Parent Forum

Our school review is on Thursday 29th & Friday 30th April and is the completion of the school review process we have been working on for the last 18 months.

I am looking for some parent volunteers to be a part of the school community forum to be held on Thursday 29th of April from 2.30-3.15. This would involve coming into school and being on a parent panel to talk through your perceptions and thoughts of the school with the school review panel team. 

If you are interested please let me know directly  by givng me a call here at school. I need around 10 parents for this panel. Please consider putting your name forward. 

Regional Swimming

Easter Raffle: Last Day of Term

Our Easter raffle is only 2 weeks away and is one of the highlights of first term

 Easter eggs can now be donated to the office.

Parents are expected to donate an Easter egg/rabbit/chocolate item per child they have at the school (Eg 2 children, 2 items) to put towards making the Easter raffle prizes.

On the last day of term Thursday April 1st,  we will draw the winners at the whole school assembly. 

20 Raffle tickets have gone home for you to sell. Please sell both sides of the tickets & return them to school along with the money ($1 per ticket = $20). There are lots more tickets at school when you run out if you need any more! 

PS: We are also looking for cane or Easter baskets to make up Easter prizes, so if you have any, your donation would be appreciated.

Last Day of Term

Eye Testing-Lions Club

We will once again be working with the Camperdown Lions Club to ensure that we can get some eye testing done for our grade 6, grade 1 & Foundation children. 

A note is going  home to Foundation students first outlining the process these notes need to be returned by this Friday 25th Feb so we have time to follow up & get organised. 

This testing has been very beneficial in the past and we are certain it will be once again. The testing provides an indication of a possible problem, which is then referred onto an optometrist if required. 

The testing is set for Monday 28th Feb.

District Athletics

Next Wednesday, 31st of of March is the District Athletic Sports for those children in grades 3-6 who will make the team. The team is picked from our athletic sports and the top students in each year level. 

New Newsletter & School App

Hopefully you have noticed that we have now changed to our e-newsletter online.

I'm also Hoping families are finding it easy to navigate. 

Follow the instructions below and down load the App -SZapp, which will help even more. 

There is also a link to our Parent Access Module (PAM) on the app.

Catholic School Culture

• Fr Neville is back to having a normal load at church (200 max) so families are most welcome to attend.

Reconciliation

Congratulations to Tommy Fox who made the Sacrament of Reconciliation at mass last Friday morning with his family and class present to support him. Best wishes to Brodie Burkett as he prepares to make the Sacrament of Reconciliation this Friday. 

Fifth Week of Lent  

Halima is raising her two children in a refugee camp in Bangladesh, while caring for her mother who has a disability. Widowed at 21, Halima fled violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, arriving at the camp with nothing.

Caritas Australia, through Caritas Bangladesh, helped Halima with shelter, cooking equipment, hygiene and sanitation training. She took on the role of community trainer herself, organising the cleaning of washrooms, wells and toilets.  

Halima aspired to “Be More” and is proud that she is able to earn a small income, while maintaining the health of her family and the cleanliness of the camp community.

• In the Cox’s Bazar district, women and children make up 78% of the total refugee population where 52% of children are aged 0-17. (UNHCR)

Watch a short film about Halima’s story here. 

 “Aspire not to have more, but to be more.” Please support Project Compassion: lent.caritas.org.au

Confirmation

Next week children who are making the Sacrament of Confirmation will begin their preparation program at school and at home with their families. This sacrament will be celebrated on Thursday 6th of May at 6pm. 

Students of the Week

Birthdays

From St Patrick's 

To the following students that celebrate their birthdays this week

22th March

Jayde Melano, Bayden Ward

24th March

Willow Wills

25th March

Lucas Place

26th March

Stirling Mann, Oliver Stegic

COVID

In order to ensure the health and safety of all community members, we ask that all families adhere to the following guidelines;

Testing- Symptomatic (Feeling unwell) or Asymptomatic

If a member of a family is recommended by their doctor to have COVID 19 testing, this person is asked to self isolate until the results are known. Any children/siblings of this family are requested not to attend school unless the results of the testing are known. At best we will restrict the spread of possible contact with the virus if the test is positive. At worst we will have cost some children a few days at home if the test proves to be negative. This is a duty of care for all at school. If your child is ill or is feeling unwell, they must not attend school. They must remain home and seek medical advice. Any unwell children WILL be sent home. We will temperature check any child we feel is unwell.

Sick Children at School

Every student that presents to the sick bay with cold or flu like symptoms will have their temperature taken and as we are operating on a zero tolerance, they will be sent home.

Visitors to St. Patricks

At this stage parents, volunteers, or community groups can come on a limited basis onto the school premises or grounds. This includes Catholic education staff to work with our teaching groups, and other allied health staff (speech, OT etc) working with students. Parents and guardians are asked to maximise the use of phone (5593 1962) and email communication with the school or directly to their child’s teacher.

Anyone coming in for longer than 15 minutes will need to sign in at the office. 

Cleaning & Hygiene

To support the health and wellbeing of students and staff, the school will continue an enhanced cleaning routine and will encourage frequent handwashing by staff and students. Hand sanitizer will be located in high traffic/high touch areas and the classrooms.

Physical distancing

A range of measures will be in place to enable staff to do this. Our advice is that social distancing is still very difficult to manage between students and that while we will still be endeavouring to do this when we can, the reality is that there will be times when this will not be able to occur.

Drop Off & Pick Up Arrangements

Drop Off- Parents are welcome to drop off at the normal time from 8.30am onwards. All children will need to enter the school via Dimora Ave. Pick Up- Children being picked up by parents or walking home will continue to do so at 3.15. Children being collected from the church will leave school at 3.05 for F-2 children and 3.15 for grades 3-6. 

Bus Travel

Please also remind your children who travel on school buses of the importance of:

•       practicing good hygiene, including using hand sanitiser
•       maintaining physical distance from others where they can
•       wearing a face mask (secondary students)
•       obeying all instructions from bus drivers

Schools must follow the health advice set out in the Operations Guide.

 Reinforcing COVID Safe behaviours, such as staying at home and getting tested when unwell, physical distancing and wearing masks

• Creating COVID Safe spaces, including ensuring ventilation and regular cleaning
• Promoting COVID Safe activities, such as limiting visitors to schools, and reducing mixing between groups.
• Responding to coronavirus (COVID-19) risk.

St Patrick's School Vision Statement & Child Safe Statement

School Community

Community Events