Newsletter Thursday 8^th 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 a super busy week we have had at St Pat’s this week! Our Grade 6s are having the most wonderful time at camp! For those of you who have signed up to our new Facebook page, you will see the photos of all the fun coming through! The weather has been perfect for them!

Swimming for our Foundation and Grade 1s also continues this week and once again, photos of all their fun are up on our Facebook page. Their last day of swimming is this Friday.

Last Thursday, I was so incredibly thrilled by the turn out for our Christmas Concert. The weather was perfect and it was so wonderful to see the community gather together and enjoy watching our students perform. Thanks again to the staff of St Patrick’s and to Dom Velten, our maintenance man for getting the event up and running. These events are not succesful without the support of everyone. And of course, the singing and dancing we saw was just incredible. I am sure there were a few tears in the eyes of our audience.

I would like to thank the P and F committee for their commitment to the role this year. With the last 2 years being wiped out with Covid, they have worked incredibly hard to bring back things such as popcorn and icy pole days, Mothers and Father’s day events, helping with the Parish market day and our highly successful Bunnings BBQ! I look forward to another fun filled year in 2023!

Our special end of year awards will be handed out next week. The F-2 grades will be held on Tuesday the 13^th December from 9-10.30am in the stadium and the year 3-6s will be held on Wednesday 14th from 9-10.30am. All parents welcome to attend. You do not need to come through the office. The gates will be kept open in the morning.

Grade 6 Graduation 

Next Thursday we will be celebrating our Grade 6s at their Graduation Ceremony on Thursday the 15^th December from 5-7pm in the school stadium. 

It is a pleasure to be able to offer a significant and meaningful ceremony to our wonderful students after having a full year of on site learning!

• Thursday 15th December, 5pm to 6.30

• Students to wear neat, casual clothes

• Families will gather in the stadium- please be aware no food or drinks to be consumed in the stadium

• Students will plan and run graduation ceremony from the stage area

• All year 6 graduating students will be asked to sit in their class groups in front of the stage area

• As this will be the final event for the year 6s for the year, they are not required to be in attendance on Friday 16th. The school will be open if alternate arrangements can not be made. If your child attends on Friday they are required to be in full school uniform as per normal school requirements. 

Last day for all students is Friday 16^th December at 3.10pm. (Gr 6 finish on Thursday so do not need to attend on this day!)

Take care and God Bless,

Meg

Class Lists

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.

Please note, that once these lists are released, no changes will be made. Thank you for your understanding in this matter.

The school reports will also go live in the afternoon at 4pm. Once again, there will be no paper reports. Instructions on how to access your child’s report/s is below:

Christmas Message from the Bishop of Sale, Greg Bennet

The Catholic Bishop of Sale, Greg Bennet has sent through his 2022 Christmas video message to primary and secondary schools in the Diocese to share with our communities. Please click on the link below to watch. It is a very heart-warming message.

The link to the video on the Clickview platform is:

https://clickv.ie/w/KVqu

Illness amongst students

Please be mindful that if your child is suffering from a condition 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. Thank you for your understanding in this matter.

Second hand uniform shop

Will be open every Tuesday morning from 8.30 to 9am and Thursday afternoons, 3.00-3.30pm. Mrs Nadine King and Mrs Terri Fraser are the staff in charge of this. If you wish to purchase any items, please make use of these times.

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 Fountation - Gr 5 students participated in a STEM incursion.  

Raffle and Sockball Game:

Last Friday the Grade 4 students held a soccer game to raise money for a water tank in Africa. 

Through the raffle and game sponsorship we raised $332.80!!  Thanks to everyone for their support.  Below is a list of the raffle winners.

Items                                                                                    winner

Teamwork and Problem solving

Today Year 4SM had to problem solve and work together to create the tallest free standing tower using only pasta and marshmallows.

                          

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.