Newsletter Thursday 14th September, 2023

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.

Hello family and friends, 

As you probably already know this week is the last week of term 3! And because of that our school is having a footy day! Remember to dress up in your team's footy colours and we’ll be having sausage sizzle for lunch! 

Over the term our class (6BC) has done lots of work on numerous subjects. 

On Tuesday our class and the rest of the year sixes got to bring cup noodles from home and got to cook them and eat them in school. The past couple of weeks in Japanese we’ve been learning about the origin of cup noodles and learning how to use chopsticks. So on Tuesday we put our knowledge into practise and tried using our chopsticks provided by Mrs Ashcroft to eat the noodles. You can see the photos below!

For our writing this term we did hybrid texts. Hybrid texts are two different types of writing conjoined into one. While doing our hybrid texts we also were doing our natural disaster topic, so we made a narrative and did it about natural disasters. Some of them were based on real natural disasters that actually happened but also based on fictional characters. It was a very unique and different style of writing. 

Our class is practising for the Rotary Public Speaking competition by doing oral presentations. Oral presentations are basically where you get a topic to write about like your favourite food and favourite animal and you present information about them but you only get 2 minutes to present. We enjoyed doing this task and becoming more familiar with presenting and it helped us become more confident. 

One of our classmates, Addison, was able to make it to division athletics in discus.  We congratulated Addison on coming 4th overall in her event, which was an amazing achievement considering she may have broken her finger the day before! 

Footy tips

This term we finally finished our footy tips. It was a really close match, Mrs Couch was leading most of the season but then she had a few bad weeks towards the end and Lewis and Harlow were able to take her over, but in the end Lewis won. What team do you think will make the premierships? 

Natural disasters

Another thing we explored this term was to learn about different natural disasters, we learnt interesting facts and expanded our knowledge on all of them. It was a really fun topic to learn about and we all enjoyed doing this inquiry task. 

Times tables challenges

To practise our times table we got a times table grid each week. We had 5 minutes to complete it and it revised our efficiency and accuracy of times tables knowledge. Everyone made huge improvements and Ishaan even got 100/100 on the last week!  

We hope you all have a fantastic holiday with your family and friends. 

Thank you for reading 6BC’s newsletter and we hope you enjoy Term 4! 

By Ryan, Davina, Willow, Brax, Ishaan, Jackson

Dear Parents, Carers and Guardians,

We have come to the end of term 3. We have had an incredible term and we have accomplished so many things. We have had camps and excursions, celebrated Book Week, Father’s Day, Golf Clinics, Athletics, Football, celebrated Confirmation, 100 days of Preps and the staff participated in an incredible professional development deepening our understandings about Mary MacKillop.

It is fair to say that our students are so very lucky as these are just a minute part of their learning that goes on everyday here at St Patrick’s.

Tomorrow is our final day for the term and it is our annual footy day where we come together, dressed in our finest footy gear and get ready for the finals! Go Blues!!!!

I will be cooking a BBQ for the students tomorrow so they can enjoy sausages. If there are any parent helpers who would be able to come and give me a hand, I would be most grateful. Please come to the school office at 11am.

Finish time tomorrow is normal time 3.10pm. Term 4 begins Monday 2^nd October.

I wish all families a safe and happy holiday. Please take some time to look after yourselves!

Take care and God Bless,

Meg

Church Building Project

Once again, St Patrick’s will enter another building project, however this time it will be our Church undergoing these renovations. This will commence at the beginning of September and there will be some changes to the way the Church car park is to be used by parents dropping off and picking up students each day. I ask all parents to use patience and remain calm as we navigate some alternative arrangements during the renovations. All changes will be clearly marked and staff will be available to help parents in the first few days of the changes. The main focus will always be the safety of our students and irresponsible behaviour and dangerous driving will not be tolerated under any circumstances. Thank you for your understanding in this matter. More information will be given as we get closer to the time. Please continue to check updates on PAM and the newsletter.

2024 Planning

Planning has begun for the new school year. If you have a specific parent request for your child for the 2024 school year, this needs to be in writing to the Principal by Friday the 13^th October at the very latest. I ask parents to be respectful when making these requests and to understand that no requests will be guaranteed. The process of creating classes is extremely complex, and the final decision rests with the principal. The students and their needs are what will be considered first and foremost.

If your child/ren will NOT be returning to St Patrick’s in 2024, please contact the office on office@stppakenham.catholic.edu.au at your earliest convenience.

Girls school uniforms and make up

Please ensure that the girls Winter uniforms are of an appropriate length. Dresses need to be just above the knees. Students will be spoken to if the uniform is deemed to be inappropriate for school. And NO make-up is to be worn. If the girls wish to wear something on their lips, it MUST be a clear gloss and not coloured. It will be confiscated if found and returned at the end of the day.

Just a reminder that school shoes need to be worn and not runners please. We have a second-hand uniform shop that is available to all families if they need. This is open on Thursday afternoons or by appointment. Please contact the office.

Assembly Changes:

We will not be having assembly on Friday 15th September as we have replaced it with a whole school Footy Parade. All families are invited to come along and join in. It will begin at 2:15pm.

Reminders for Term 3

Dates for Term 4

TERM DATES

PUPIL FREE DAYS:

These 3 Pupil Free days ensure that we can manage our commitment for all staff to continue to provide activities such as school camps for our students.

Please note, these dates are separate from our 8 Staff Professional Development days. Those 8 days are for our staff professional learning which will focus on Religious Education, Learning and Teaching and Student Wellbeing.

Last week we had our book week parade in the morning followed by some fun classroom activites!

Yesterday we had 4 students competing at the divisional level, they all did an amazing job.

Thon placed 5th in long jump, Owen placed 3rd in 1500mm race, Addison placed 4th in discuss and Marcus placed 2nd in the 100m race!

Today is R U OKAY day!

Our staff brought in monring tea today. This was one of the cakes made by Rebecca Schleemann.

Please reach out to one another in times of need

Reconciliation - UPDATED

SPECIAL REPORT: R U OK?Day

Understanding the growing challenges related to mental health among young people is an important consideration. Anxiety, depression and self-harm –– are all causes for concern. Factors like academic pressure, social media, family dynamics, and societal expectations, are contributing to these issues. It's therefore crucial for parents and caregivers to take action early, remove the stigma around discussing mental health, and offer accessible support to address these issues and the wellbeing of their children.

R U OK? contributes to suicide prevention year round by urging people to invest time in personal relationships and empowering informal support networks to identify signs of distress. We urge all families to take part, emphasising the value of genuine human relationships and reminding everyone to ask the important question, “Are you OK?”

Engaging in R U OK?Day activities goes beyond the classroom; it's a commitment to our students' overall development. By talking openly about mental health, schools create safe spaces where students feel understood, valued, and supported. As parents and caregivers, you can contribute by fostering open conversations, normalising feelings and breaking down mental health stigmas. Participating in R U OK?Day promotes compassion and shows our dedication to the wellbeing of the entire school community, reaffirming that together, we can truly make a difference.

This Special Report provides guidance on how to talk to your child about mental health and engage in meaningful discussions. We hope you take a moment to reflect on the information offered, and as always, we welcome your feedback. If this raises any concerns for you, a loved one or the wellbeing of your child, please consider seeking medical or professional help.

Here is the link to your special report https://stppakenham.catholic.schooltv.me/wellbeing_news/special-report-r-u-ok-day

Have you logged into 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 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.