Newsletter Thursday 1st December, 2022

We the staff of St Patrick’s acknowledge the traditional owners, the Kulin nations, of the land on which we learn and play.

We pay respects to the Aboriginal Elders, past and present, who are our teachers.

We thank them for taking care of children and country for countless generations.

Good afternoon Parents/carers and guardians,

What another big week for us at St Pat’s. Our Foundation and Grade one students have begun their 2 week intensive swimming program. And they have been blessed with good weather for their journey to the pool. I have heard only good things about their particiaption over at Splashes!

This week our B Block, which housed our Year 3s and 4s and one Year 5 class, have all been relocated to the portables for the remainder of the school year. I am anticipating that your children have informed you of their temporary rooms. You will notice when you come into the school grounds that the temporary fencing has been placed up around the B Block so this is an out of bounds area for all. The builders will now be operating out of The Avenue car park.

This week our grade 6 team hosted the parents for the Year 6 camp information night. It was great to see parents coming to this and to help us prepare our students for their final primary school camp ever!! The Year 6s leave for camp next Monday the 5^th December for the whole week, returning on Friday. They are headed off to Camp Cooonawarra in East Gippsland.

Tonight I am so excited to be welcoming back families for our Christmas Concert. This will begin right on 5.30pm and parents are welcome to begin arriving from 5pm. We will be gathering on the basketball courts, so please make sure you bring blankets and beach chairs to keep you comfortable and of course your yummy picnic baskets. We will also have access to the chairs in the stadium. I look forward to welcoming back our Choir after a long time due to COVID. We may even see the teachers get up and perform a song!!!

Take care and God Bless,

Meg

REMINDER Christmas Concert-Today at 5.30pm

Due to the nice weather, this event will now be held on the Basketball courts as there will be too many people for the stadium. As mentioned before, please bring your picnic rugs and food to share with your family.

Staffing 2023

This week, I would like to congratulate Mrs Angharad Doran on becoming our new Learning Adjustment Leader here at St Patrick’s. Angharad has been a teacher with St Patrick’s for many years and currently teaches Year 4.

The new classes for 2023 are in the process of being finalised. Move up/meet your teacher day is on Monday the 12^th December and is when your child will meet their teacher and classmates for 2023 and be in their new classroom. The school reports will also go live in the afternoon. Once again, there will be no paper reports. Instructions will be given, as per Semester 1, on how to access your child’s report/s.

Illness amongst students

Please be mindful that if your child is suffering from an illness such as, gastro/cold and flu, that they need to remain home until they have completely recovered. At this time of the year, people are planning for special events and parties and it is not fair for to be sending unwell children to school and risking them becoming unwell. Below is a link for the Department of Health which lists the recommended exclusions periods for primary school students.

https://www.health.vic.gov.au/infectious-diseases/school-exclusion-table

Thank you for your understanding in this matter.

New NOONE uniform shop now open!

We are delighted to announce that the new Noone Officer store is open. Please find attached the location map and information flyer.  Our school uniform will be available at this location from this date going forward.  I encourage you to go and visit the store and have a look any time you are free.

Attached for your convenience the new student fitting letter for the 2023 new students.  This letter has the direct link to their online booking calendar for parents to make an appointment for a uniform fitting at the new Officer store.

Noone offers a Lay-by system where no deposit needs to be paid. The process is that the uniform is stored away until you are ready to collect it and when you do, you do not have to pay for all of the items at once. For e.g. You set aside 5 pieces of uniform in December and when you collect in January, you may only want 3 items and these are the items you pay for and the other 2 are kept aside for you.

Pick up and Drop off of students-The Avenue

Please ensure that you are NOT dropping your children off until you reach the area where that is supervised by teaching staff. Some parents/carers/guardians are dropping their children off and allowing them to walk across a busy car park and this is not safe.

Please think carefully and sensibly for the sake of all our students. Staff will not hesitate to approach parents if we feel that there is dangerous behaviour going on. We will not risk our students’ safety.

Families leaving St Patrick’s at the end of the year

As we continue to plan for 2023, any families who will NOT be returning to St Patrick’s next year are to notify the school in writing via email office@stppakenham.catholic.edu.au

Thank you to the parents who have put in their requests for 2023. Please note, the time frame for this is now closed and I will not be accepting any more requests for 2023 classroom placements.

Notifying the School of an Absence-IMPORTANT

Due to the increase in students not being at school, the office is taking several hours each day to chase up each absent student. I ask all parents to either use PAM or to contact the office directly to let them know that your child/ren will not be at school that day. We have a legal responsibility to know where the students are every day.

Parents please also note, that you are not able to talk to the teacher’s directly when ringing through to the school office. The teachers are in with the students and therefore staff cannot attend to phone calls to parents. If you wish to pass on a message to a teacher, please email them or ring the school office and ask the office staff to pass on the message to the teacher. Thank you.

COVID Update

With the new requirements coming through from the State Government, if your child/ren has Covid, they need to remain at home for a period of at least 5 days. it is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that they remain at home after 5 days, if symptoms persist in order to minimise the spread of the infection amongst the other students and staff. I ask all parents to please be considerate of all families in our community and not willingly send an infected child to school. Please note that I will have no hesitation in sending a child home that is showing symptoms of any kind.

It is strongly recommended that students:

• Who test positive to COVID-19 should stay home and isolate for five (5) days;
• Should not attend school after (five) 5 days if still symptomatic;
• Who are symptomatic but have not tested positive should not attend school until their symptoms resolve;
• Parents, guardians or carers advise the school of the COVID-19 positive test result.

To assist with limiting the spread of COVID-19 and other illnesses, parents, guardians and carers

should be strongly encouraged to ensure that their child(ren) remain at home if they are unwell, including if they have tested positive to COVID-19.

TERM DATES

TERM DATES - 2023

Please note that the below dates are subject to change

This week our students began their swimming lessons at Splash's Swim School !

As you may be aware St Patrick’s Primary School has recently established a facebook page and we are thrilled to be able to share what is happening in our school life with you all via this platform.

A permission form will be sent out on PAM for you to request /confirm permission to use your child/rens photos on social media, please respond to this ASAP if you have not already done so.

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100087005542953

Have you set up your PAM account yet! 

We have been using PAM as our main form of communication.  All emails, Student Attendance, Sick Bay notes, School Reports, commonly used forms, excursion/camp permission notes and Family Learning conversations, will all be communicated via PAM.  

Access PAM via this link   Link to PAM 

PAM - Parent Access Module

PAM (Parent Access Module) is our new Parent to School communication platform.   PAM will provide real time access to keep parents updated with their children’s progress, important dates and messages. Relevant resources – calendar events, student reports, parent notified absences, absence data and sick bay notes will all be accessed via PAM.

Parents will be able to easily book Parent Teacher interviews through PAM, and access teacher email addresses. 

PAM accounts are linked via your email address that we have in our systems.  If you have recently changed your email,  please call or email us on office@stppakenham.catholic.edu.au

Click on the 'forget password' link to set your password and then verify your email address.  (Email addresses must be verified for PAM to work properly).  Once your email is verified, your email can be used as the username for your account.

Once you have successfully logged in, you can save PAM to your homescreen on your device.

If you have any issues or need help with PAM please contact the school via email, office@stppakenham.catholic.edu.au

PAM Instructions

Parent Notified Absences via PAM

Once you have PAM set up and saved to your home screen you can easily send in Parent Notified absences.   Please use this platform going forward as this automatically syncs with the class roll.   This will fix the issues of receiving SMS notifications even though you had already notified the school. 

Please remember to update your contact details and any relevant medical details for your child.  

Most medical profiles have now been updated. Please remember to keep them up to date and upload any asthma/allergy plans that may be relevant 

To update any contact details please contact the school office.