Year Level Camp/ Fun Day Dates:

TERM DATES 2025

2025 PUPIL FREE AND TIME IN LIEU DAYS:

The 3 Time in Lieu 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.

We will be celebrating Harmony Day on Tuesday 25th March.

We are excited to celebrate the many cultures at St Patrick's. Students are invited to wear cultural dress or Orange (to represent Harmony Day). Please note that this is NOT a FREE dress day.

If your child has an outfit that is difficult to wear the whole day, please pack their school sports uniform to change into.
Please make sure the outfit is
● sun smart - no singlets or tank tops
● closed toe shoes
● appropriate for school
● to wear runners if your child has sports

We are having a Harmony Day Assembly at 11:30am and parents and carers are welcome to attend.

Regards,
Mrs Yoke Yee Teow
New Arrivals/ Refugees/ EAL Teacher

IMPORTANT NEWS - St Patrick’s House Cross Country

Next THURSDAY MARCH 27th 2025

The Annual St Patrick’s Cross Country Event will be held on THURSDAY March 27th

The following information will help you to support our students on the day:

 Years 6, 5, 4 & 3 events will run from 9am-11am

• Foundation, Year 1 and Year 2 events will run AFTER RECESS from 11:45am-1pm approximately
• Students should wear their PE uniform, wear their school hat and apply sunscreen before coming to school
• Students may wear items of clothing in their house colours FLYNN HUNT AHERN BOURKE however items must be school appropriate - sunsmart (no singlets) and be able to run whilst wearing items or be able to remove the items prior to running. NO coloured hairspray please.
• Parents and community members are welcome to attend but should remain in the designated spectator area at all times. This will be located on the grass area near the Performing Arts room. Access will be via the pedestrian gate in the corner of the church car park. Spectators are not to enter the event space at any time.
• In line with our Child Safe Standards Policy and to ensure the dignity of all students, photographing and video recording of the events is prohibited. Staff will take appropriate photos throughout the event time for publication in our school newsletter.
• As the morning event requires students to leave the school grounds, only those students with permission on PAM will receive the appropriate wrist band to allow them to use the external course. Those students who do not have permission to leave the school grounds will still complete the cross country but will follow an internal course.

Thank you to parents and community members who have offered their assistance on the day. Without extra support this particular event cannot go ahead - our students thank you!

If you are available and would like to help, please contact the office to arrange a time to complete a short induction prior to the event.

Students in Years 4-6 will have the opportunity to qualify for the Pakenham District Event which occurs next term. All students have been working on a variety of motivators to complete the course by running non-stop. Students have used things such as running with a buddy for support, counting steps, singing a song, setting short goals (eg: run to the next tree) or using an interval style (jog/walk).

Keep active!!

Louise Breeden

On March 17, our school came together to celebrate St. Patrick’s Feast Day with a joyful and enriching day of activities. The celebrations began with a whole-school Mass, where students and staff gathered in prayer and reflection.

Dressed in their house colors, students participated in four engaging activities that deepened their understanding of St. Patrick’s legacy:

• Pilgrims of Hope – Students embarked on a meaningful journey around the school, exploring and learning about three important sculptures that hold special significance to our community.
• Digi Tech – In this session, students created digital clovers, symbolizing the Holy Trinity, an important element of St. Patrick’s teachings.
• Art – Creativity flourished as students worked together to craft a beautiful chain of clovers, representing unity and faith.
• Irish Escape Room – The school stadium was transformed into an exciting Irish-themed escape room, where students worked collaboratively to solve puzzles and challenges inspired by Irish culture and history.

To conclude the celebrations, everyone enjoyed a delicious sausage sizzle for lunch, bringing the school community together in a fun and festive atmosphere.

The day was a wonderful celebration of faith, community, and learning, honoring the spirit of St. Patrick.

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, Media Consent Details and any relevant Medical Details for your child if they change.  

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 Megan McMenamin in the school office mmcmenamin@stppakenham.catholic.edu.au

Congratulations to Alex Milosevic on receiving the sacrament of Baptism last weekend.

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

First Holy Communion

“This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” Lk. 22:19

 "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,”

Mark 14:22-25

Key Dates

Bookings for your preferred time and link will be shared in the coming weeks.

                               

BE SEALED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. (Act 2:1-5)

 

For students in Grade 6 and have received the sacrament of First holy communion

Key Dates

Enrolment mass	Tuesday 13th May 2025 – 1.00pm – 2.00 pm Friday, 16th May 2025, 1.00 pm – 2.00 pm Tuesday 20th May 2025 – 6.30 pm – 7.30pm
Commitment mass	14th & 15th June all weekend Masses Saturday- 6 pm, Sunday -9:00 and 10:30
Parent Workshop	Thursday 21st August 2025, at 7.00 pm
PARENT WORKSHOP (ONLY PARENTS) IT IS AN EXPECTATION THAT ALL PARENTS OF CHILDREN RECEIVING THE SACRAMENT OF CONFIRMATION WILL ATTEND ON THIS NIGHT
Blessing mass	23rd and 24th of August, all weekend Masses Saturday at 6 pm and Sunday at 9:00 am and 10:30 am.
Reflection Day at school	Tuesday 26th August. Time TBC
Celebration of the Sacrament of Confirmation	Saturday 30th August,3 pm and 6 pm

 

Bookings for your preferred time and link will be shared in the coming weeks.

 

For more information please contact:

Mary Tresa Andrews

mandrews@stppakenham.catholic.edu.au

Religious Education Leader, St Patrick’s Primary School.

School Fee Statements have been emailed out to most families.   Please check your junk/spam folder if you haven't received it.   As in previous years, all Fees are charged at the start of the year with the expectation that they will be paid by the end of the school year.   This can be done as one payment or instalments, via Direct Debit, Bpay, EFTPOS or cash.   You can find Direct Debit forms in the Knowledge bank section of PAM, or ask at the school office.   If paying by BPay please use the code on your statement to ensure the payment comes off your fees.   

2025 SCHOOL SAVINGS BONUS (SSB)

The School Savings Bonus is a State Government initiative designed to assist
families with cost-of-living pressures. Under this funding, each eligible student is
entitled to a $400 bonus for application towards activity levies and uniform purchases
from approved supplier. Within our school, all CSEF applicants are eligible to receive
this funding. All families who have a Centrelink Health Care Card and have not
applied for CSEF in the past are encouraged to contact the school office and initiate
an application this year. Please refer to the below link for more information:

https://www.vic.gov.au/receiving-school-saving-bonus#non-government-school-
information

Health Care Card and School Savings Bonus

For those families who have an eligible Health Care Card your fees are still being processed with the concession rate to be applied.   If you haven't filled in a CSEF (Camps, Sports, Excursion Funding) form please download the attached form or pick one up from the school office.   This needs to be done as soon as possible so we can receive the funding and apply your concession.   This year it will also affect the allocation of the School Saving Bonus ($400) that the government announced last year.   So the sooner these forms are in the better. 

You may have noticed that there is an increased interest in jump rope skipping this term. Students in Years 1-6 have launched into the JUMP ROPE NINJA Challenge. As part of our warm up and linking to our units based on locomotor skills and fitness, students jump rope to achieve coloured belts. They skip for friends who count their jumps for each Grade within a belt and then present their Ninja Passport to staff in PE lessons to count their jumps at the Grade 5 level. If successful, their passport is stamped and they can sign their name on the Ninja Masters sheet displayed in the stadium. Due to the time it takes to check grades, students can only attempt one belt per lesson. It has been encouraging to see and hear students working together on technique to help each other succeed. Shining through over the past few weeks have been our school values of RESILIENCE and COURAGE as students take on something new and persist when they are unsuccessful, finding new ways to attempt the challenge. Foundation students will begin the challenge later in the year.

SPECIAL REPORT: Social Media & Comparison Culture

Young people today are growing up in a world where exposure to other people's lives is constant. Through social media and other platforms, they are regularly presented with curated highlights - from flawless holiday photos and academic milestones to the latest fashion trends and fitness achievements. This continuous stream of idealised content fuels what is known as comparison culture, where self-worth is often measured by how someone stacks up against others.

For children and adolescents, who are still figuring out who they are, this culture can be particularly damaging. Constantly comparing their appearance, achievements, or social standing to friends, influencers, and even strangers can lead to unrealistic expectations and a skewed sense of self-worth. This relentless need to measure up can contribute to feelings of inadequacy, self-doubt, and anxiety - undermining both confidence and emotional wellbeing.

It's vital that parents and caregivers understand how deeply comparison culture can influence a child's self-perception and sense of value. Left unchecked, it can foster perfectionism and a dependence on external validation, where a 'like' or comment becomes the measure of their worth.

The good news is, families have a powerful role to play in helping young people navigate these challenges. This Special Report will help you empower your child to build the resilience and confidence needed to navigate today's comparison-driven world and embrace their own unique path.

Here is the link to your Special Report https://stppakenham.catholic.schooltv.me/wellbeing_news/special-report-social-media-comparison-culture-au

The P&F committee are looking to have icy poles available to the students on a Thursday to purchase. These will need to be pre ordered and paid for through the new CDF Pay system. More details will be available in the coming days. Please keep an eye out on PAM and your emails for how to set up your new CDF pay account. 

In the meantime you can access this link to begin opening your new account. 

CDF Pay by flexischools