Newsletter 21st November

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,

In the Gospel this week, John’s trial narrative raises these questions in compelling ways. Although Pilate and the Jewish leaders may appear to be powerful, John presents Jesus as the one who exercises authority.

The charge of kingship is the central question of Jesus’ trial before Pilate. Jesus never answers Pilate’s question, “Are you the king of the Jews?” (John 18:33), in a straightforward way. As in other parts of the Gospel, John communicates some of the most important messages about Jesus’ identity by enacting them in the story instead of stating them outright. Here, John uses the trial and crucifixion to display Jesus’ kingship and the faithlessness of those who reject him.

Jesus refuses to answer Pilate’s charge of kingship directly. He states that his kingdom is “not from here” (John 18:36), which Pilate interprets to be an affirmation that Jesus is a king. Jesus also puts the question aside as something Pilate claims, and instead offers the idea that he is a witness to the truth (18:37).

Today I am pleased to announce our school captains for 2025. Congratulations to Dot and Kuei who are Captains, and our 2 Vice Captains are Emily and Lawrence! A huge thanks to Rosa Mitchell and Shiny Antony for the preparation of the students for the presentation. Every student who made a speech is to be congratulated on their outstanding work and I am so humbled as a principal to have these students as my school leaders next year.

Tomorrow, we will be hearing the speeches for the House Captains. We wish them every success.

This week, our Year 1s and Foundation students have completed their swimming over at Splashes and they have been having a wonderful time. Thank you to our parent helpers who have assisted the teachers in walking the students across to the pool.

Next week, we farewell our Year 6s as they head off to Camp Coonawarra in Gippsland. A huge thanks to our Year 6 teachers, Belinda, Rebecca and Joanne. The students leave on Tuesday and will return on Friday. Please ensure that if you have a child heading off to camp, that you have read all the information required and to please be in communication with your child’s teacher if you have any questions.

It is important to keep an open discussion with your child/ren around their expected behaviour and work ethic as we enter the last few weeks of term 4. Even though the year is winding down, the staff of St Patrick’s will continue to insist that all 5 values of RESPECT, SAFETY, CO-OPERATION, COURAGE AND RESILIENCE will be adhered to both inside and outside the classroom.

God Bless

Meg

Year Level Camp/ Fun Day Dates:

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.

No doubt that parents are hearing all the conversations around the agreement by the government around increasing the age of children to 16 in order to access social media. I am extremely alarmed by the volume of students who are on social media platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok and using these platforms unsupervised! Unfortunately, I am dealing with this more and more and even though, I am unable to control what goes on outside of school hours, the fall out is happening here at school. As parents and guardians, you need to be on top of your child/ren’s use of social media all the time.

I have included a link below to the e-commissioner website which contains excellent information on how to keep your children safe online. I urge all parents to take the time to look at this.

https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents

I am asking please that all students, in particular our Senior school, to be wearing our proper School Uniform this final term. It is important that we still maintain a high standard of uniform and not use Term 4 as an excuse to become complacent about what we wear to school.

I will continue to ask all students to be wearing proper school shoes and uniform right up until the end of the year. I understand that students are growing constantly, however they will continue to grow for many more years and so I cannot always accept this as an excuse. We must remember that many students are adhering to the correct standards of school uniform and therefore, it is important that the students and their families please respect this. Secondary schools do not accept poor uniform standards.

If finance is a concern when it comes to uniform, please speak to your classroom teacher. St Patrick’s has a very good second-hand uniform shop that you can top up your child’s uniform with. It is a third of the price you would pay at the normal uniform shop, and the money goes straight back to the school.

Dec 2nd- Monday Advent wreath candle- Year 5

Dec 3rd-Tuesday- Jesse tree - 4AT

Gr 5 will begin with prayer and lighting Candle 2

Dec 6th -Friday - Nativity - 3TA 

Gr 5 will begin with prayer and lighting Candles 3 and 4

All assemblies begin at 9 am

Therapy Dogs Australia training has started!

Zahli is well underway with her training with Therapy Dogs Australia. Zahli and I will be completing a HUGE amount of learning, training and evaluations over the next 6 weeks to ensure that she is ready to be the very best fit as St Patricks Therapy Dog starting 2025.

As a huge advocate for the power of animals and their positive effects on human wellbeing throughout my career, I am well versed in personal experience and research into the many positive effects animals can have.

The HAB is the bond shared between a Human and an animal. I love the definition provided by the American Veterinary Medical Association which states -

‘HAB is a mutually beneficial and dynamic relationship and animals that is influenced by behaviours that are essential to health and well being of both. This includes but is not limited to, emotional, psychological and physical interactions of people, animals and the environment.’ (AVMA 2018)

This bond is particularly beneficial in schools. Having worked with 2 dogs during my career, I continue to be blown away with the positive effects on students' regulation of emotions, and overall responsibility for their behaviour and learning when my dogs are part of a session. 

Zahli will be part of individual and small group sessions at ST Patricks. She will be with me, her handler at all times.  She loves people, fun and cuddles and really loves to watch students learn. 

Before Zahli has any contact with students she will be entering all learning spaces, and getting to know the school environment, so give her a wave as she prances past in the coming weeks. Classes will all get a visit from me and an opportunity to discuss Zahli, the boundaries we set around her being at school, and any questions students may have.

We will be communicating further regarding any concerns you may have regarding your child’s future contact with Zahli. 

We are very excited for her arrival. 

On Friday morning we gathered in B4 for the Cricket Tournament. Mrs Breeden then announced the jerseys to the players.

We then headed up the highway to Toomuc Recreation Reserve where there were six ovals on one ground. There were five different schools competing. They were St Pat’s (us), Pakenham Springs, Pakenham Lakeside, Pakenham Consolidated and Beaconsfield PS.

There were two St Pat’s teams, green and yellow. I was in the yellow team with Mary, Liam, Luala, Charlotte, Nyankoor, Lucas K, Faith, Malika and Srina.

Firstly we played against Pakenham Springs. We lost but showed great sportsmanship. I got two wickets and we got 34 runs. 

In game two I saw a lot of improvement in our team. We versed Beaconsfield and we won 35 - 56.

In Game three we played Pakenham Lakeside. We won! Nyankoor caught an absolute bullet and Liam scored a four!

In the finals we won 89 - 85. Faith got two fours and a catch and I got a six.

It was an amazing experience for the Grade Fours.

Next time we’ll beat our high scores!

By Paddy, 4AT

On Friday morning we gathered in B4 for the Cricket Tournament. Mrs Breeden then announced the jerseys to the players.

We then headed up the highway to Toomuc Recreation Reserve where there were six ovals on one ground. There were five different schools competing. They were St Pat’s (us), Pakenham Springs, Pakenham Lakeside, Pakenham Consolidated and Beaconsfield PS.

There were two St Pat’s teams, green and yellow. I was in the green team with Jack, David, Deng, Achien, Ethan, Mpho, Lucas L and Aden. 

Firstly we played against Pakenham Springs. After batting and bowling the scores were in… Pakenham Springs made…127! And we made 127 as well! It was a tie, no one could believe it, but it wasn’t that bad because we all showed great sportsmanship.

Game Two - By morning tea it was time for game two. We were versing Beaconsfield PS. We bowled first and took I think 9 wickets with our stand out players David taking two catches and Achien taking three wickets. We then batted really well and the highlight for me was hitting 7 sixes. We ended up winning the game.

Game Three - At lunch we played Pakenham Lakeside and won with Deng and David making a partnership of 40ish runs, winning us the game and putting us into the grand final!

Grand Final - It was time to play the team that finished first on the ladder of Group C which was the Pakenham Springs team. We bowled first and took eight wickets, with Lucas taking two. We then batted with our top scorer being Achien, winning the game for us.

I really enjoyed it and would love to do it again. Lots of kids made big achievements and loved the game play of cricket.

By Mitch, 4JD

Parents who would like to have their children baptised are required to attend baptism preparation. Please enroll through the parish website https://stpatrickspakenham.com.au/

For further details and assistance please contact

Mary Tresa Andrews

Religious Education Coordinator

mandrews@stppakenham.catholic.edu.au

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. 

SiMON Everywhere is an app our school uses to acces PAM and CDF Pay. We will be sending reminders through this app, as such please download and sign in. There is a guide below for your reference. If you are having any issues please contact Alex Taylor in the school office ataylor@stppakenham.catholic.edu.au

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.