Newsletter Thursday 1st February, 2024

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.

Dear Parents, Carers and Guardians,

Welcome back to the 2024 school year! The students of St Patrick’s began yesterday, and it was incredibly heartwarming to see the excitement on our students’ faces as they enter another year of schooling.

For our year 6's, this is the FIRST of many LASTS! And the last of many firsts. Yesterday was the last, first day of their time in primary school; a fact that many pondered when I visited them yesterday.

For our Foundation students, it was new and nervous beginnings. However, the morning began well and by the time we reached 9.30, there were no tears!

I would like to thank my staff for the incredible preparation they have put in over the school holidays and this week. We are ready to conquer this year!

I will be reminding students about the importance in wearing our school uniform with pride and to wear the appropriate coloured socks and the correct shoes. Students MUST wear proper school shoes to school, and they can bring their runners to school to change into. Jewellery must be minimal and no make up or nail polish. Hair must be kept neat and tidy and tied up if below the shoulders. I will be asking the staff to be vigilant with this as we instil in our students’, a sense of pride in representing St Patrick’s out in the public arena.

Please also make sure that if your child suffers from Asthma, we need UPDATED ASTHMA PLANS and if we do not receive this as soon as possible, your child may be at risk of not being able to attend school if we do not receive the necessary and most recent paperwork. This is about the safety of our students and is our duty of care.

I am also calling out to both new and existing parents to help bring back to life our Parents and Friends committee, better known as P and F. The many experiences that your children have at school is due to the work of the P and F and these include the Mother’s and Father’s day stalls, Icy Pole Day, Popcorn Wednesday’s and hot food days. Currently we have 1 parent on this committee! This unfortunately means that all these things we would like to do for the students, sadly will not happen as there are not enough people to help. The P and F does not ask a lot of parents. It is a few hours here and there and is a great way of meeting other families and being involved in the community of St Patrick’s. Research tells us, the more involved you are with your child’s school, the more engaged they will want to be with school life. I urge any parents-mums and dads who can spare a few hours, even behind the scenes, to come on board and support a great cause.

If you would like to be involved please contact the school office.

Thank you for your understanding in this matter.

Take care and God Bless,

Meg

TERM DATES 2024

2024 PUPIL FREE DAYS AND SCHOOL CLOSURE DAYS:

The 4 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.

A few first day family photos from our Foundation class FGW !

4JD enjoying thier first day of school !

We have uniforms that are labelled, however we cannot read the labels. These items are in the office and will be held here until next Friday. Any uniforms still here next week will be donated to the second-hand uniform shop.

Our second hand uniform shop is located D3 (across from the Discovery Centre). It is open every Tuesday and Thursday in February from 3:00pm - 3:30pm. Any other days of the week are booked by appointment.

CSEF Applications are now due! 

If you have a current Health Care Card you may be eligable for the school fees concession program. 

The applicant must be one of the following:

1. a parent/carer (of a student attending a registered Government or non-government Victorian primary or secondary school) who is:
   • on the first day of Term 1 (31 January 2022), or the first day of Term 2 (26 April 2022)  a holder of one or more of the eligible financially-means tested cards (Centrelink Health Care Card or a Pensioner Concession Card), or
   • a temporary foster parent

The parent/carer must submit an application to the school by 23 June 2024.

If anyone has any questions or would like to discuss their school fee account, please contact the school office. 

Please download and fill in the form below if you qualify.

If there are any changes from last year, this includes a new child starting at the school or any child who has now left the school, there is an additional form that needs to be filled out. Please come by the school office to collect it.

Please find the school fee schedule attached. The school fees will be emailed out to families in the next few weeks.

Have you logged into your PAM account yet! 

We use 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.