Thursday 23rd October 2025

Gospel of the Week

Luke 18:9-14

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke

The publican returned to his home justified; the pharisee did not.

Jesus spoke the following parable to some people who prided themselves on being virtuous and despised everyone else, ‘Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood there and said this prayer to himself, “I thank you, God, that I am not grasping, unjust, adulterous like the rest of mankind, and particularly that I am not like this tax collector here. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes on all I get.” The tax collector stood some distance away, not daring even to raise his eyes to heaven; but he beat his breast and said, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” This man, I tell you, went home again at rights with God; the other did not. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the man who humbles himself will be exalted.’

Dear Parents, Carers and Guardians,

The Gospel reading this week speaks of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector:

The Pharisee: Represents someone who is outwardly moral, follows the rules, and thinks very highly of himself. He sees himself as better than others because of his good behaviour.

The Tax Collector: Represents someone seen by society as corrupt or morally compromised (tax collectors were often despised in that time). But he’s aware of his flaws and sincerely seeks to become better.

Two people go to a place of prayer. One talks about how good he is and how he’s better than others. The other admits his faults and quietly asks for forgiveness.

In the story, it’s the second person — the one who acknowledges his own shortcomings

It is important to recognise that - 

Humility is more powerful than pride - Pretending to be morally superior often leads to lack of self-awareness.

Sincere self-reflection matters more than appearances - You don’t grow as a person by comparing yourself to others or boasting about your goodness.

We’re all flawed - The parable encourages compassion for others and for ourselves — not judgment.

This week Meg has been on a well-deserved break and has left me in charge of the school. We have had a busy week beginning with our Year 4’s Monopoly Dreams excursion. The students worked on teamwork, critical thinking skills and problem solving. A highlight of the excursion was a 4D movie where the chairs moved and water was sprayed at them. As always, the student behaviour highlighted our school values, and they represented our school positively.

On Friday our Years 2s and 5s will be experiencing the Cosmic Dome incursion at school. A dome set up as a planetarium will inspire scientific learning about space and the world around us. We are looking forward to hearing about this experience.

Our Regional Athletics team will be competing in their qualifying events on Friday.

Hannah 4VR – Long Jump

Maluil 4MR – Long Jump

Aluk 4VR – High Jump

Srina 5SM – Shot Put

Faith 5SA – Discus

We wish these students all the best in their events and they enjoy their day

We keep the Urquhart family in our prayers as they grieve the loss of Aaron Urquhart. Much loved father to Lydia, Grace and Kobi, husband to Danielle. May he rest in peace

Take care and God Bless,

Lisa

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.

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 

Wednesday 12 November

Year 7 2026 Enrolment Interviews

Wednesday 29 October

Year 7 2026 Transition Day – Monday

Monday 8^th December all day

Dates for your diary-

2025 PUPIL FREE DAYS-

Friday 31st October 2025

TIME IN LIEU (TIL)

St Patrick’s will also be closed for 3 Time in Lieu days (TIL) 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 Pupil Free Days. Those 8 days are for our staff

professional development which will focus on Religious Education, Learning and Teaching and Student Wellbeing.

TIME IN LIEU Dates - St Patrick’s will be closed.  

Monday 22nd August 2025

Monday 3rd November 2025

Friday 19th December 2025

 Congratulations to all our students who celebrated their First Holy Communion over the last two weekends! This was a very special moment in their faith journey as they received Jesus in the Eucharist for the first time.

We are so proud of the reverence and joy they showed in preparing for and taking part in this sacred celebration. A heartfelt thank you to the families, teachers, and parish team for their support and guidance throughout the preparation.

It was lovely that some of our past students were able to attend to run a reflection day session with our students

Wellbeing newsletter
Hi everyone, I hope term 4 is travelling well.

Please reach out via phone, email or in person if you or your school child is needing some extra support or advice with and Wellbeing or Mental Health concerns.
The village raises the child right! We are here to support you. In this week’s newsletter you will find the new and updated information from a fabulous Community support service – Orange Door. Please take the time to read or save the information. It is a very valuable resource for everyone.

I have also provided some information about grief in this newsletter. This is provided thanks to Headspace. Sadly many of our families have been impacted recently. If you need some extra support, please don’t hesitate to reach out. 

Have a safe and calm week.
Kelly Wilson.

Our Lost Property Basket is overflowing with a range of items. If your child has lost or misplaced any of their school uniform can we please ask that this basket is checked. You are welcome to check the basket before school or after school. 

Scholastic school brochures have been handed out in class. All orders are made online via Book Club LOOP. Please follow the link below to make your purchase.

Orders are closing THIS FRIDAY 24th October.

Baptism for school aged children

Parents who would like to have their children baptised are required to attend baptism preparation.

Please enrol through the parish website - St Patrick's Parish Pakenham

For further details and assistance please contact
Mary Tresa Andrews
Religious Education Coordinator
mandrews@stppakenham.catholic.edu.au

Substance Use & Addiction

Substance use and addiction are complex issues that can affect young people in many different ways. While some may experiment out of curiosity or peer influence, others may use substances as a way to manage stress, anxiety or emotional pain. What may begin as occasional use can sometimes become a pattern that impacts mood, motivation and wellbeing. The developing teenage brain is particularly vulnerable to the effects of alcohol, vaping and drugs, making early use more likely to lead to harm.

For many families, understanding substance use means looking beyond the behaviour to what might be driving it. Risk-taking is a normal part of adolescence, but for some young people, it can also be a signal that they are struggling to cope. Substances can offer temporary relief, but they can also mask underlying issues such as loneliness, low self-esteem or poor mental health. When left unrecognised or unsupported, substance use can interfere with school performance, relationships and emotional development, leading to more serious challenges later in life.

This edition of SchoolTV guides families to help young people develop resilience, self-awareness and the skills to make healthy, informed choices that protect their wellbeing into adulthood.

Here is the link to your Edition School TV Substance Use & Addiction

JOB VACANCY - PARISH SACRAMENT CO-ORDINATOR: 

St Patrick’s parish is seeking to fill the role of Parish Sacrament Co-ordinator. If you have good interpersonal skills, can work as a team member, are outgoing, and interested in organising parish events, this job is for you.

We are looking to employ someone for approximately 20 hours a week, which includes some evening and weekend hours. The successful applicant will be responsible for the preparation and management of the parish sacrament programs including Baptisms, First Reconciliation, First Eucharist, Confirmation and RCIA.

Applications can be emailed to: parishoffice@stpatrickspakenham.com.au by Mon Nov 10th. For a copy of the job description, please contact the parish office via email or on 03 5941 7315.

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/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. 

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.