"That they may all be one, as you Father, are in me and I am in you"
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- Birthdays
- Principal's Newsletter
- Mrs Tanner's Funeral
- Easter Egg Raffle
- DATES TO REMEMBER
- Mother's Day celebration
- Camp Australia
- Congratulations - Shingo
- PAM
- Contact, Media Consent and Medical Details
- SIMON Everywhere
- School Fees and Concessions
- Sacrament Dates
- Positive Partnerships - Free Workshop
- CDF Pay by Flexischools
- D'Vine kids
- Pakenham Secondary College's Year 7 2026 Enhancement Program
- Greater Dandenong Table Tennis
HAPPY BIRTHDAY !!
Temperance 2JM, Dawn 3OM, Msizi 2WJ, Savannah 3RS, Harvey FGW, Dominic 4VR
Thursday 24th April 2025
Gospel of the Week
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John
After eight days Jesus came in and stood among them.
In the evening of that same day, the first day of the week, the doors were closed in the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them, ‘Peace be with you,’ and showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy when they saw the Lord, and he said to them again, ‘Peace be with you.
‘As the Father sent me,
so am I sending you.’
After saying this he breathed on them and said:
‘Receive the Holy Spirit.
For those whose sins you forgive,
they are forgiven;
for those whose sins you retain,
they are retained.’
Thomas, called the Twin, who was one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. When the disciples said, ‘We have seen the Lord’, he answered, ‘Unless I see the holes that the nails made in his hands and can put my finger into the holes they made, and unless I can put my hand into his side, I refuse to believe.’ Eight days later the disciples were in the house again and Thomas was with them. The doors were closed, but Jesus came in and stood among them. ‘Peace be with you’ he said. Then he spoke to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here; look, here are my hands. Give me your hand; put it into my side. Doubt no longer but believe.’ Thomas replied, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him:
‘You believe because you can see me.
Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe.’
There were many other signs that Jesus worked and the disciples saw, but they are not recorded in this book. These are recorded so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing this you may have life through his name.
Dear Parents, Carers and Guardians,
This week the Gospel says Jesus makes his way into the midst of their fear, showing them his very scarred self. By doing so, Jesus is doing them a grace of stooping down to them in their weakness and strife. And his words of peace are matched by proof of his conquering what they fear: he is scarred but he is not dead, he is alive! This is the first time Jesus appears to His disciples after being raised from death. They are hiding behind a locked door in fear when Jesus appears to speak with them. Jesus shows physical evidence of His crucifixion, then gives the men a partial measure of the Holy Spirit. The passage where the phrase is found three times is when He makes Himself known to His disciples, including the eleven remaining who were most close to Him. The Bible recounts He first said it as a greeting. He issued it both as a greeting, but probably to assure them as well.
Welcome back to Term 2. No doubt, you will have heard the sad news of the passing of our dearly beloved Mrs Annette Tanner. It has been so touching to have so many parents come up and express their condolences. We have also been overwhelmed by our family's support and we thank those who are able to keep their children at home on Monday the 28th, so staff are able to attend the funeral.
We also learned this week of the passing of His Holiness Pope Francis on Easter Monday. Pope Francis was well known for reaching out to the most marginalised in our communities and sought to make the Catholic Church an even better place by emphasising transparency, accountability and financial reform. He also recognised the power of females in the Church and appointed more women to senior posts in its hierarchy. We pray that those in authority will elect a new Pope who will hold the most vulnerable and weak at the forefront of their minds.
The required school uniform for this term will be Winter, however for the first 2 weeks, I am happy for students to move between the Summer and Winter as we continue to experience the warm weather. Please note, you must wear either the FULL Winter or FULL SUMMER and not a mixture of both. Hats need to be worn up until the end of Week 2 only (Wednesday 30th April).
This term, we have many things to look forward to. Mother’s Day celebration, Year 4 and 5 school camps, visits to SFX for Fitness and Sports Excursions as part of our collaboration with SFX, Catholic Education Week, District Cross Country and of course one of our favourites, the Book Fair! We look forward to celebrating all these wonderful events with you.
Just a reminder that tomorrow, St Patrick’s will be closed as it is a public holiday with Friday 25th April being ANZAC day.
RESCHEDULED SCHOOL PHOTO DAY
Our new school Photo Day will be on Thursday 29th May. Please place this on your calendars.
Mother’s Day Stall and Mother’s Day Celebration
The stall will be held on Thursday the 8th May, and all gifts will be purchased via CDF pay app. More details will come regarding this.
On Friday the 9th May, we welcome all Mums to come into the school stadium from 8.30am onwards and enjoy a celebration of motherhood. There will be coffee and tea available. The official celebration will begin at 8.40am and will go for approximately 15 mins. We hope to see as many mums as possible.
Future Enrolments
This term, once again, we have had multiple inquiries for school tours, in particular for 2026.
With this in mind, can I please ask for any existing families who have younger siblings coming to St Patrick’s in the next few years, to please make sure they fill in their enrolment forms early as possible. St Patrick’s is looking to manage a high demand of places within the school community and places may become limited.
Thank you.
St Francis Xavier College, Officer school tours
If you are looking to enrol your child into St Francis Xavier, Officer, please note these important dates in your calendar.
Officer Campus Talk & Tour – 09.30am – 10.45am
Tuesday 13 May
Tuesday 24 June
Tuesday 12 August
Tuesday 09 September
Tuesday 14 October
Wednesday 12 November
Year 7 2026 Enrolment Interviews
Wednesday 4 June
Wednesday 29 October
Year 7 2027 Enrolment Interviews
Wednesday 2 July
Year 7 2027 Parent Information Evening
Wednesday 7 May 7.00pm
Year 7 2026 Transition Day – Monday
8 December all day
Mobile Device Policy and Smartwatch Guidelines-
Please see below 2 new Guidelines St Patrick’s has introduced that will be added on to our website shortly. I would like to ask all parents/carers and guardians to take the time to read as this as it is certainly an issue that will continue to grow in its impact the more we rely on Mobile/Digital devices.
Mrs Tanner's funeral will be held on Monday 28th April and we are seeking the support of our school community as we arrange to say farewell to Mrs Tanner. There are many staff who will be attending her funeral, and we would like to ask families to consider keeping their children at home, if possible, on this day. For those students coming to school, it will not be a regular program on this day.
If you are able to keep your child/ren at home we ask that you please select YES on the permission form in PAM and NO if you are sending your child/ren to school.
Please note; most teachers will be attending the funeral and therefore your child/ren will be grouped with other children in other classes and year levels on this day.
Thank you to everyone who donated and purchased tickets for our Easter Raffle. We had some amazing prizes and congratulations to our major prize winners!
1st - Scarlett Kelly
2nd - Roman Bertuna
3rd - Tania Parmley
4th- Isabelle Kidgell
A very big shout out to our P&F Committee who co-ordinated a wonderful raffle!
| DATE | ACTIVITY |
| 25/04/2025 | ANZAC DAY - No School |
| 28/04/2025 | Mrs Tanner's Funeral |
| 7/05/2025 | Pakenham & District Cross Country Carnival |
| 19/05/2025 | Year 4 SFX Fitness & Sport Excursion |
| 20/05/2025 | Year 4 SFX Fitness & Sport Excursion |
| 26/05/2025 | Year 5 SFX Taster Excursion |
| 29/05/2025 | School Photos |
| 6/06/2026 | Pupil Free Day |
| 09/06/2025 | King's Birthday Public Holiday - No School |
| 11/06 to 13/06 | Year 4 Phillip Island Camp |
| 16/06 to 18/06 | Year 5 City Camp |
| 04/07/2025 | Last Day of Term 2 |
Year Level Camp/ Fun Day Dates:
| DATE | YEAR LEVEL | ACTIVITY & LOCATION |
| TBC | 3 | Fun Day - St Patrick's Primary |
| 11/06/2025 - 13/06/2025 | 4 | Camp - Phillip Island |
| 04/06/2025 | 5 | Camp Information Night - 5.30pm Start |
| 16/06/2025 - 18/06/2025 | 5 | Camp - City |
| 25/11/2025 - 28/11/2025 | 6 | Camp - Coonawarra Farm Resort |
TERM DATES 2025
| First Day | Last Day | |
| Term 1 | 30st January | 4th April |
| Term 2 | 22nd April | 4th July |
| Term 3 | 21st July | 19th September |
| Term 4 | 6th October | 16th December |
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.
| 07/03/2025 | Pupil Free Day |
| 06/06/2025 | Pupil Free Day |
| 21/08/2025 | Pupil Free Day |
| 22/08/2025 | TIL |
| 31/10/2025 | Pupil Free Day |
| 03/11/2025 | TIL |
| 17/12/2025 | Pupil Free Day |
| 18/12/2025 | Pupil Free Day |
| 19/12/2025 | TIL |
Earlier this week, Judo Victoria contacted St Patrick’s Primary School to share some exciting news: Year 2 student Shingo has been promoted to yellow belt—advancing two full grades in a single assessment. It’s a rare achievement in the sport, typically reserved for students who demonstrate consistent focus, technical understanding, and maturity beyond their years.
This news follows another recent milestone: Shingo’s promotion to grey belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, which came earlier than expected. Believing he had a few more stripes to go, the belt upgrade came as a surprise and a meaningful recognition of his quiet effort.
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
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/
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.
We have also received more information in regards to the School Saving Bonus which will be sent out soon.
Bus Travel and Conveyance allowance
Bus travel may be available to some families if they live more than 5klms distance from the school. Please see the information on the link below.
The Conveyance allowance is also a government initiative to help support parents with the cost transporting student to school. To be eligible you must live more than 4.8klms from school and St Patrick's must been your closest Catholic school. Please fill in the application form below if you think you may be eligible. These applications have a cut off date of 13th March, so please fill them in as soon as possible.
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
|
Enrolment |
Tuesday 24th June 2025 – 1.00 pm – 2.00 pm Friday 27th June 2025 – 1.00 pm – 2.00 pm Tuesday 1st July 2025 – 6.30 pm – 7.30 pm Choice of enrolment dates and times: A fee of $20 will be paid on the day. |
|
Commitment Mass |
2nd and 3rd August all weekend Masses Saturday- 6pm, Sunday -9:00,10:30 and 5pm |
|
All students receiving the Sacrament of First Holy Communion will receive Reconciliation at 11.45 am on 10th September 2025.This will happen during school time.
|
|
|
Blessing mass |
September 13th and 14th all weekend Masses Saturday- 6pm, Sunday -9:00 and10:30 |
|
Parent Workshop- Fr Elio Capra |
Thursday 4th September 2025 at 7.00pm
PARENT WORKSHOP (ONLY PARENTS) IT IS AN EXPECTATION THAT ALL PARENTS OF CHILDREN RECEIVING THE SACRAMENT OF COMMUNION WILL ATTEND ON THIS NIGHT. |
|
Reflection Day |
Friday 10th October at school. (time TBC) |
|
Celebration of the Sacrament |
October, Saturday 11th at 6 pm and Sunday 12th at 10:30am October, Saturday 18th at 6pm and Sunday 19th at 10:30am
|
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.
St Patrick’s Primary School will now use a NEW form of CDFpay that is different to the one that we have used in the past. The NEW CDFpay is powered by Flexischools and is an App based system. This is a way of collecting money for any Fundraising, Events and paying for school lunchtime treats like Popcorn for your students.
Parents and Guardians will need to download the App and register. Instructions on how to register are as follows:
How to register for a CDFpay account
1. Search ‘CDFpay’ on the App Store (Apple) or Google Play store, download the app, then click ‘Sign up now’ or enter the following link in your web browser:
Look for this App Logo and Download
2. Enter and confirm your email address, then click ‘Sign up’.
3. Check your email inbox and follow the prompts to complete your account registration (check junk/spam if lost).
Have questions? Visit https://flexischools.zendesk.com/hc/en-au/ for detailed FAQs or chat to the Flexischools Digital Assistant. If you cannot find what you are looking for, please complete the online Contact Form and Flexischools will get back to you directly.
When you are set up on the App. you will be able to select the Event, Fundraiser or item to purchase for your student. The school will be notified when the payment is made.
School Fees will continued to be paid via the Direct Debit arrangement, BPay or via Card in the school office.
