Newsletter 14/3/2023 Term 1 Week 8

A Prayer for Labour Day

From the Principal

Dear parents, carers and community members,

I hope all families enjoyed the opportunity to share some time together over the long weekend. This is often a good opportunity to reset before the final four weeks of, what is a very long 11 week term. 

Parent/Teacher Interviews

Thank you to all the parents who came to school to meet with their child's teacher last week. We value this opportunity highly and invite families who were unable to attend to make an appointment to see their teacher as soon as possible. Parents with scheduled PSG meetings will not need to do this. 

School Attendance

As you can see from the following diagrams, having children at school for a high percentage of the available school days in a year is vital to their academic growth and personal wellbeing. At St Patrick's we have 45 students who have 100% attendance at school this year.

This is, of course, balanced by our request to keep unwell children at home to avoid sharing of the illness with others at school and we still require this to happen.

The situations we are concerned about are children staying home for reasons other than health concerns. Days off for birthdays, shopping trips, helping at home, social occasions or just for fun would not constitute a valid reason to be missing important learning at school. Many students often claim to be tired at school and this may well be caused by the busyness of family life. However, if it is because of poor routines at home, where children are not having sufficient sleep, we ask for parents support to work on providing these vital hours of rest and recuperation.

Much of our learning requires a sequence of activities across a week to fully develop a concept and just one day away can break this continuity and make it difficult for your child to learn. We have a number of students who are below 80% of attendance this year and some of these significantly less. We ask you to support us in our request to have the children at school as many days as possible.

The Week Ahead

Wellbeing - I Can

This year we will once again be running the I CAN Imagination Club in Terms 2 & 3  at St Patrick’s School with sessions offered for students in Grades 2 to 5. The I Can Imagination Club Program is a program for students to develop peer connectedness, optimism, belonging and self-confidence in a safe, inclusive environment. The beauty of this program is that it can be used by the school to engage a broad range of students that require some extra social skills assistance, while also giving them a chance to celebrate their own strengths. 

We plan to host an online information night later this term. When the date is confirmed we will advertise it for parents and guardians to join if you would like to learn more about the program. It would also be worth discussing this with your child's teacher, Jess Courtney, Annie Judd or Tim Bourke. We have had many children participate in the program over the years. More to come as an information night date is still to be confirmed, but please take the opportunity to discuss this with your child’s teacher at the Parent Teacher Interviews held this week if you believe they would benefit from the program. 

NAPLAN

NAPLAN assessments for Grades 3 and 5 will be conducted from Wednesday 15 March to Monday 27 March. All parents of students in these grades would have received information via email last week. Assessments include Writing, Reading, Language Conventions (Punctuation and Grammar) and Numeracy. One assessment per day is timetabled, and each of these assessments are completed online taking approximatey 45 minutes each. If you have any questions or concerns please contact your child's classroom teacher, Mel Fox or Annie Judd.

Catholic School Culture

St Patrick’s Day

On Friday 17th, we will celebrate the Feast Day of our patron saint - St Patrick, whom our school is named after. Children are encouraged to come dressed in green and they will spend the day learning about St. Patrick and engaging in St. Patrick’s Day activities including a whole school Mass and Green Faces. Children will also receive an icy pole and a small packet of chips to celebrate St Patrick’s Day. 

Saint Patrick is the Saint of our Catholic Church, and his holy day is the day of his death. He is the Patron Saint of Ireland although he was born in Scotland or Wales. At the age of 16, Patrick was kidnapped by Irish raiders who took him away and sold him as a slave. At the age of 22, he managed to escape and made his way to a monastery in England where he spent 12 years growing closer to God and became a priest. He returned to Ireland to teach people about God and Jesus. St. Patrick used the shamrock to preach about the trinity and how The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit could be separate entities, yet one in the same. St. Patrick is known for driving all the snakes from Ireland which some refer to as pagan religious beliefs and practices. 

Prayer of St Patrick

As I arise today, May the strength of God pilot me, The power of God uphold me.
The wisdom of God guide me. May the eye of God look before me, The ear of God hear me,
The word of God speak for me. May the hand of God protect me, The way of God lie before me,
The shield of God defend me, The host of God save me. May Christ shield me today.
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me,
Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit,
Christ when I stand, Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me, Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

Amen

Sacrament of Reconciliation

Wednesday the 22nd March at 6pm at St Patrick's church in Camperdown.

During the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we say sorry for the wrong (sin) in our lives and experience God's healing through forgiveness. Please pray for the following children as they prepare to make the Sacrament of Reconciliation on Wednesday 22nd of March at 6pm: Evelyn Barake, Fletcher Hickey, Airley Lucas, Aaron Marshall, Quinn Pekin, Harper Tongs, Willow Wills, Stella Evans, Ruby Glennen, Elliot O’Connor, Emmy Sinnott and Anderson Vallejo.

Project Compassion – Caritas

Third Week of Lent

We are now in the third week of Lent with the Project Compassion story of Priscilla, who lives in the Hwange district in Zimbabwe with her husband, Charles, and two of their grandchildren. Climate change continues to bring unprecedented challenges for people living in the most vulnerable and remote communities in Zimbabwe.

During times of intense drought and food shortages, Priscilla had to commute to the town centre and wait in long queues to collect food.  

With the support of Caritas Hwange, Priscilla learnt conservation farming skills to grow drought-resistant crops and started poultry farming to support her family during the current food crisis. Priscilla was able to produce a bumper harvest in her first year of practising in conservation farming. Priscilla also used the funds from her harvest to start poultry farming, which enabled her to sell eggs to pay for her grandchildren’s school fees, books and stationery. The poultry farming provides a safety net for Priscilla and her family during times of hardship, like the current drought.

While the situation in Zimbabwe and across eastern Africa remains dire, the work of Caritas Hwange means that Priscilla can learn the techniques, tools and resources she needs to build resilience and support her family during this current food crisis.  

Watch a short film about Priscilla’s story here.

Please support Project Compassion: www.caritas.org.au/project-compassion

Easter Raffle

Our Easter Raffle will be held on Thursday 6^th April, the last day of term 1 for children. 

We ask parents to supply one egg/Easter item per child.

You would have recevied your raffle tickets last week, these are due back to school by Friday 31^st of March. Please write on both sides of the tickets & return them to school along with the money ($1 per ticket = $20 per book)

The Easter Raffle is one of our major fundraisers for the year and is a highlight for the children.

Your donation of eggs can be brought to the office any time. 

Parish Bulletin

Regional Swimming

Congratulations to Charlie Bourke, Essi Myers and Olive Wills who represented St Patrick's school at the Regional swimming in Warrnambool last Thursday. They all performed well to achieve the following results:

Essi Myers                2nd backstroke    3rd freestyle    6th backstroke
Charlie Bourke       6th backstroke    23rd freestyle
Olive Wills                9th breastroke     24th freestyle

We wish Charlie & Essi best of  luck in the next level of interschool swimming which takes place in Horsham today.

Help Needed - Fundraising Coordinators

URGENT! We are still looking for volunteers to coordinate and run the BBQ for the Athletics carnival later this term. If you are able to be a coordinator for this, please contact the office as soon as possible.

Athletics carnival - Grade 1 - March 29th

Easter raffle  Foundation - April 6th- we have a coordinator, just need some helpers please!

Zooper Doopers sold at 2nd Lunch

Throughout Term 1 the Student Representative Council will be selling Zooper Doopers to raise money towards the Grade 6 camp to Melbourne.

These will only be sold at second lunch when the canteen is closed.

The cost will be 50 cents each.

Birthdays

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

Spencer M & Lenny B

Students of the Week

Term 1 Known Dates

17/3         St Pat’s Day Mass & Green Faces                                                                                                          22/3         Reconciliation @ Church 6pm                                                                                                                   24/3         Friday Mass - 2DS, 2B & 3/4HP
26/3         Grade 5/6 Parish Mass
27/3          Young Leaders Day
29/3         School Athletic Sports
31/3          Friday Mass - 3/4D & 5/6MJ
4/4           District Aths - Camperdown
2/4           Palm Sunday
6/4           Holy Thursday Liturgy / Easter Raffle
6/4           Last day for students
7/4           Good Friday
9/4           Easter Sunday

Canteen

The Canteen is open every day for lunch orders.

Below is an updated menu and price list for 2023.

Please note that all Fridays during Lent the canteen is meat free.

Please ensure you do not order any meat products on these Fridays.

Mercy Regional College Open Day

COMMUNITY EVENTS

75th Anniversary Spectacular