What has been happening in 2WJ?

2WJ have had a fantastic start to their final term in Grade 2! 

We have been very busy learning about Persuasive Writing. Students have been extremely excited to come up with topics for their writing such as:-

1. We should have cooking classes at school.
2. Students should only go to school for 3 days a week.
3. Students should be independent learners so teachers can have a break!

It has been wonderful to see the students developing their persuasive skills. They have worked very hard in understanding the structure of a persuasive text and then self evaluating their work using a rubric or checklist. 

Last Friday was a very exciting day as the Year 2s had an incursion linking to our Inquiry Unit of Space. The staff from Cosmo Dome set up an inflatable dome in the stadium. Students were introduced to Night & Day, Year, Moon & Stars, time zones, and an introduction to the seasons/weather. A great time was had by all.

2WJ has had a strong focus on Social and Emotional Learning. We have been actively participating in Positive Primers throughout the day. Positive Primers are designed to be short activities that create positive emotions to prepare students for learning. It has been wonderful to see students fully engaged in the activities and using all of the school values whilst playing.

Gospel of the Week

Matthew 5:1-12

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew

Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.

Seeing the crowds, Jesus went up the hill. There he sat down and was joined by his disciples. Then he began to speak. This is what he taught them:

‘How happy are the poor in spirit:

theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Happy the gentle:

they shall have the earth for their heritage.

Happy those who mourn:

they shall be comforted.

Happy those who hunger and thirst for what is right:

they shall be satisfied.

Happy the merciful:

they shall have mercy shown them.

Happy the pure in heart:

they shall see God.

Happy the peacemakers:

they shall be called sons of God.

Happy those who are persecuted in the cause of right:

theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

‘Happy are you when people abuse you and persecute you and speak all kinds of calumny against you on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.’

Dear Parents, Carers and Guardians,

This week the Gospel tells us that Jesus takes the position of a teacher (sitting down was the traditional posture of a rabbi). The “mountain” evokes Moses receiving the Law on Mount Sinai — symbolizing Jesus giving a new way of life, not abolishing the old law but fulfilling it.

The Beatitudes turn worldly values upside down. In God’s kingdom:

• The humble, not the proud, are exalted.
• The merciful, not the ruthless, are honored.
• The persecuted, not the powerful, inherit God’s kingdom.

Jesus reveals that true happiness (blessing) comes not from wealth, comfort, or status — but from living in harmony with God’s will and character.

Today we held our third Foundation Transition and once again welcomed back the newest members of our community. It was such a delight to see these children so eager to be at school and to be willing to learn and take on new challenges!

Today also our Year 3s are having their Fun Day. They are so excited to be participating in many activities today including a Magic show, a Fun and Fitness obstacle course, Minute to Win it game, experiencing Virtual Reality, Latin Dancing and Pizza for dinner! Wow! I do not remember anything like that in my days of schooling. Thanks, to Rebecca Schleemann, Emily MacGibbon, Dez Orchard and Cathy Edwards for your efforts in putting this special day together. Also, to Megan and Cindy in the office for the other behind the scenes stuff that goes in in getting these days organised. There will be photos and written accounts of this in next week’s newsletter.

Just a reminder that St Patrick’s will be closed tomorrow for a Pupil Free Day and on Monday 3^rd which is a Time in Lieu Day and Tuesday 4^th which is a Public Holiday to celebrate Melbourne Cup Day.

Term 4 will resume next Wednesday the 5^{th of} November.

Take care and God Bless,

Meg

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.

Monopoly Dreams Excursion Recount - By Kyra

On Tuesday all the year 4’s went to Monopoly Dreams in the city. 

First we got on the bus and the ride was sooo long. It took an hour and a half to get there but it was worth it. After we got off the bus we started to eat snack, but we had to stop quickly since we were about to start.

Second, we went to his study and saw pictures of his dog. Then we saw all the types of monopoly boards. After that we went to the 4D movie and it was so fun. The chair started to move and in the front of the chair was something that sprayed you with water. Next we did the laser room, you had 1 minute to pass the laser, press the gold button and come  back.

Next we did online games like fixing the water tap, tapping game, running games and a game like block blast. The tap game was the best. You had to fix the tap as many times as you could in a minute and half and after that you would get as much money as you could.

After that we got put in jail in small groups and had to crack the code. It was so hard to crack the code but eventually my group did it. We also went to the carnival and all the games were hard. If you won a game you got a sticker.

Monopoly Dreams Excursion Recount - by Dominic

On Tuesday the grade fours went to Monopoly Dreams in Melbourne and it was so, so fun! We went to Mr Monopoly’s manor and played a laser maze.

We watched a 4DX movie then we caught flying money and went to monopoly jail.

After that we played mini and carnival games and we made parts of monopoly and made it after famous landmarks. 

Then we went back to school.

Monopoly Dreams Excursion Recount - By Raine

On the 21st of october  all of the grade 4s  went to monopoly dreams in Melbourne and it was so fun. I'll tell you what we did there.

Firstly, when we arrived at Monopoly Dreams from our bus we lined up in twos so that we wouldn't get lost.

After that, we went to a room where it was fancy and we had a look at a nice piano and some of us got to play it and we also had a look at all the Monopoly games through the years and the guy who came did a quiz to play and answer.

Next, the guy led us to a dark, dark room where there were fake lasers that we have to parkour to get to the end and press a button which would mean you stole the diamond that was staying there and with a timer you had to beat it before the timer ran out.

Then, we went to watch a quick show about monopoly and we also had a 4d pair of glasses to wear and the chair that we sat on had a button that said ‘’ water on’’ and when we pressed it the water sprays goes off and sprays us and the chair will go crazy!

Monopoly Dreams Persuasive - By Angeth

I strongly believe that you should take your next year's class to Monopoly dreams, and here are some reasons why.

To begin, Monopoly Dreams is a very fun place because there are lots of games like catch the money, crack the code, steal the diamond or even Mario!

Although Monopoly Dreams is in the city ( 1 hour ) it’s very awesome to experience seeing different things  and being inside for the first time!

In fact let’s give you more information about some games and how we got there. So to get to the lasers you go through a BIG elevator and have to spot some things like the monopoly guy and his dog and the thief. When we got there we had to try not to touch lasers and you had a time limit of 1 minute. You had to press the green button to go,  the orange button to get the diamond and press the red button to finish.

Another game is to catch the money. You have 20 seconds to catch all the flying monopoly money, you can. But you can't put them in your pockets, can't pick them up from the floor and lastly you can’t use your clothes to hold the money. Although you had such limited time it was really fun.

Just think about all the information I have given you but I can't give you much because it will just be paragraph after paragraph. Well I hope you and your next year's class visit monopoly dreams!

Monopoly Dreams Persuasive - by Javika

I personally believe that Monopoly Dreams is the absolute best excursion and soon I think you will agree.

Firstly, Monopoly Dreams provides a lot of fun activities that will overjoy kids, maybe even teachers, because it has a lot of puzzles.

Another reason is that Monopoly Dreams is made for both adults and kids, it has appropriate activities for everyone no matter if they are a kid or adults.

In Digi Tech, our Year 6's are designing a sustainable lunchbox. They were to look at the pros and cons of materials used. The students have been very creative in the approach and design and have made some amazing pieces.

On Monday 27th October, we welcomed Grandparents to our classrooms. We hope all the Grandparents that attended had a lovely morning!

Poem Written by Winter

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 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

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.

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

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.