Dear Parents

As per yesterday’s announcement by the Victorian Government we will continue to operate in remote learning next week.  Thanks to all families for your cooperation. 

I want to take this opportunity to sincerely thank all of the staff for the effort they are putting into remote learning.  We have received a significant amount of positive feedback about how much the children are enjoying the staff being available for the Google Meets.  Our intention is to continue to try and offer the students the best possible learning opportunities that we can whilst they cannot be onsite.

We are aware that there was a slight glitch with the Specialist login’s yesterday.  We apologise for this inconvenience for a few families, it was rectified as quickly as we could and we had over 300 students accessing the Specialists classes.  Parents need to be aware that the reason we had to change the logins for the Specialists was because some students had been inappropriately accessing the space on Tuesday (before they were meant to), and were in fact in the Google space without an adult.  As soon as we became aware of this on Tuesday we closed that link down for child safety and created new links that opened on the Wednesday morning.  Our policy at St Pat’s is that we have two adults in the Google Meets at all times.

Please see the letter attached to this newsletter outlining our remote learning procedures for students for tomorrow and next week.

The following procedures are in place for families;

• Remote Learning continues for tomorrow and next week. The school will be closed. Supervision can be provided for the very few children of essential workers or those that are vulnerable. The students will be completing the exact same work onsite that they would be doing at home. The attendance form that was sent out yesterday (and is also available on PAM) needs to be returned by 5.00pm this afternoon. This form also covers next week.  As we are running a skeleton staff any applications after 5.00pm cannot be considered.  The students onsite must wear full school uniform, bring snack and lunch and their own drink bottle.  They will be supervised by a staff member in the B Block who most likely will not be their classroom teacher.  Please use the Church car line for drop off and pick up.  All other gates will be closed.
• Please see accompanying letter for learning details.
• Camp Australia will operate only for the students of authorised workers or those identified as vulnerable.
• If your child is sick and not learning remotely on any day you will need to contact the School Office as we will be keeping a roll.
• The Office will be physically closed. All communication must be via email office@stppakenham.catholic.edu.au or phone 5943-9000.
• Please communicate with teachers via phone or email.
• If you require ICT support from the school please email ict@stppakenham.catholic.edu.au
• All camps and excursions have been postponed until further notice.

Further information will be communicated to you as we become aware.   Thank-you for your support and cooperation.

Sacraments

The Parish are waiting on restrictions to ease before they plan the new Eucharist dates.  Parents will be informed as soon as possible.

Term Three School Closure Day

Please note that the Term Three School Closure Day is Monday the 12^th of July which is the first day of Term Three.  Staff will be participating in a Learning Adjustment Day with Trinity and Don Bosco Primary Schools.

Important Dates for Your Diary

• Friday 28^th May – Grade 4 Excursion POSTPONED (new date Wednesday 23^rd of June).
• Monday 31^st May – Grade 2 Swimming Commences POSTPONED (new dates to be confirmed).
• Thursday 10^th / Friday 11^th June – Grade 3 Camp POSTPONED (new dates to be confirmed).
• Monday 14^th June – Queens Birthday. No school.
• Friday 25^th June – Term Two concludes / Reports distributed.  
• Monday 12^th July – School Closure Day (staff attending Learning Adjustment PD at Trinity PS).

Regards,

Simon

Are You Accessing the Parent Access Module (PAM)?

Over the last six months as a staff we have completed the background work to move onto the SIMON Management System for St Pat’s.  The benefit of this system is eventually we will be able to house all of our student information, assessment data, reporting data and staff information all within the one system. 

A major component in deciding to move to SIMON was also our intent to be able to streamline our mode of communication to parents.  Eventually all communication will come to families through an app called ‘SIMON Everywhere’ which will be a parent one stop shop for all school communication.  However, to get to this point we first need all families to be on PAM.  If you are not yet on PAM you need to search for an email from noreply@stppakenham.catholic.edu.au (please check your junk and spam folders), which contains a link to set up a password, or contact the School Office for assistance or click on the following link to access PAM.  Use your email as the user name and choose 'forget password' to recieve a link to create a password.  

Link to PAM 

Please make the effort to join PAM so we can get to our goal of using the efficient SIMON Everywhere App for communication.  I thank you for your cooperation here.  Please call the Office if you have any further questions.

3/6/2021

Dear Parents,

Thank you for your support in remote learning this week and as we go into another week of remote learning the procedures will remain the same.  All classwork and videos will be on Google Classroom and Google Meets will be open for two 2-hour blocks each day. 

We thank you for your patience and understanding in learning the online profile.  Feedback on a whole has been positive and we feel that we have been able to support our students in their learning from home. Please be aware the meeting link will be visible to students at the time of the Google Meets and will disappear once the meet is over. This ensures we meet Child Safe requirements that two adults are present with children during Google Meets.

Classroom - Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday   

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday are Classroom days and general classroom learning. The Classroom Google Meets are in the morning and the afternoon and the link is on the Classroom Google page. Google Meets are open at the following times:

9:30 - 11:30am 

1:00 - 3:00pm 

LLI Students - Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday

Students who are attending LLI are expected to attend their LLI lessons for explicit teaching next week. LLI students will be sent an email to join the 'LLI Meet the Teacher' Google Classroom. Please see the timetable below:

Y1, 2 & 3 12.00 - 12.30pm

Y4, 5 & 6 12.30 - 1pm

Specialists - Wednesday

Wednesday is a Specialist learning day. Specialist Google Meets on a Wednesday are a check-in and touch base if you have any questions regarding the work. 

Foundation to Year 2

PE/STEM 9:30 -11:30am

Japanese/Music 1:00 - 3:00pm

Years 3 to Year 6

Japanese/Music 9:30 - 11:30am

PE/STEM 1:00 - 3:00pm

Support

Computer and technology support will be available from our ICT team. ict@stppakenham.catholic.edu.au 

Thank you for your ongoing support and together we can achieve optimal learning for your child, both at school and remotely. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact the curriculum leaders Lisa McDonald and Jacki Taylor curriculum@stppakenham.catholic.edu.au 

Lisa McDonald and Jacki Taylor

Curriculum Leaders

SIMON -  a Learning Management Software solution for schools.

St Patrick’s Primary school is now using SIMON in the classroom to keep track of your child’s progress and learning as well as attendance.  SIMON will also be used for School Reports and Student Wellbeing.

Access PAM via this link   Link to PAM 

PAM, SIMON’s Parent Access Module

PAM (Parent Access Module) is our new 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. 

Parents would have received an email from noreply@stppakenham.catholic.edu.au on Friday 5th March that contains instructions and a link for them to click on.  Please check your JUNK or SPAM mailbox if you do not receive this email.  PAM accounts are linked via your email address that we have in our systems.  If you have recently changed your email or you can not find the email sent on Friday please call or email us on office@stppakenham.cathlic.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

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. 

SACRAMENTAL PROGRAM 2021

Sacrament Dates for 2021

First Holy Communion - Grade 4 and Grade 5 Students

Communion Masses - Every Saturday and Sunday in May - Booking details have been sent out via Operoo. 

Confirmation - Grade 6 Students

22nd July - Parent Workshop

31st July - 1st August - Enrolment Masses

7th and 8th August - Formation Masses

14th and 15th August - Formation Masses

20th and 21st August - Confirmation Masses

Reconciliation - Grade 3 Students

14th October - Parent Workshop

20th and 21st October - Reconciliation 

Operoo is still our main platform for communication!  All correspondence will continue to go via the Operoo email platform.  In most cases it will be in Operoo that you will first be notified of any upcoming excursions or events.  Most of these events must first be approved before they appear on any calendar.  

Please remember to update any details in Operoo, for example change of address or phone number,  this will send us a message that your details have changed and we are then able to update our database.

Don't forget to upload your child's hayfever letters including symptoms specific to your child!

If you have any problems using Operoo, please call into the school office preferably on a Monday, Thursday or Friday and we will be able to help you.  

Have you installed the new SZapp?   

Skoolbag is no longer being used, install SZapp now! 

 Follow the installation guide below to install the new app on your smart devices.  

Cancelled for this week!

Paddy's Kitchen's purpose is to make a difference in people's lives, by providing a fresh, nutritious meal in a friendly environment.  Paddy's Kitchen serves every 1st and 3rd Sunday of the month from St Patrick's Pakenham, Parish hall.  Dinner at 6pm 

www.stpatrickspakenham.com.au/paddys-kitchen

Fete Postponed 2022!