Dear Parents

On Sunday as a family we will be celebrating my father’s 80^th birthday.  I phoned him the other day and was ribbing him about what it feels like to be 80 years young.  He responded with the following; “I said to your mother what happened to that 80 years!?”   

Dad’s response caused me to reflect upon my family, my eldest son turned 13 yesterday and the years have just flown by.  If the next 13 years pass bye as quickly he will be 26 in the blink of an eye!  Our children are only young once and we will never have this precious time with them again.  We can give our children whatever material gifts we like, but the very best gift we can give them is our time. 

Over the upcoming holiday period I would encourage you to take time with your children, enjoy their company and have fun.  These opportunities will be gone before we know it.

A huge thanks to the staff for the effort they have put in again this term.  It has been very challenging for them at times with ever changing restrictions. We are very blessed to have the dedicated and committed staff we have here at St Pat’s.

On behalf of all of the staff I would like to take this opportunity to thank all families for your assistance and support throughout the term.  Unfortunately, it has again been interrupted by COVID lockdowns.  I hope all families have a very safe and happy holiday.

A reminder that school concludes tomorrow at 2.10pm.   School resumes for the students on Tuesday the 13^th of July.

2022 Enrolments

If you know of anyone looking to enrol their child at St Pat’s for 2022 please encourage them to contact the school Office on 5943-9000 to book a tour.

COVID Restrictions

I remind parents that the following procedures are in place for the safety of all;

• Masks are required to be worn by parents at all times when in the school.
• Parents wishing to come into the grounds to drop off or collect their children must scan the QR code on the way in and wait out the front of the classroom. Please do not enter the rooms and social distance whilst waiting.  You must limit your visit to less than 15 minutes, gates open at 3pm at the end of the day.
• Parents waiting for children in the pick-up lines need to ensure that their children know which carpark to go to.
• If you do park your car you must walk over and collect your child. Please do not call for your children to walk across to your car unaccompanied. 
• Meetings with staff are by appointment only. Any parent that is going to be in the school for more than 15 minutes needs to sign on and complete the COVID form at the Office.
• Please communicate with staff via phone or email.
• The Office is open if required, however, please observe the density limits (maximum of 6 people). It is preferable to phone or email if possible rather than come to the Office.
• All extra cleaning and hand hygiene that was in place is still being adhered to.
• Please do not send food items to share with others when it is your child’s birthday as they cannot be handed out.
• If your child is sick, or displaying symptoms, please keep them at home. Children that present as sick or displaying symptoms at school will be sent home and ask to gain a medical clearance or negative COVID test before they return to school.
• Bubble taps are operational at school.
• An ample amount of sports equipment will be provided at school so we ask that students do not bring equipment from home.

Casual Clothes Day – Tomorrow, Friday 25^th, Last Day of Term

Students can wear casual clothes tomorrow, Friday the 25^th, if they bring a gold coin donation for the Parents and Friends Committee to put towards their fundraising efforts.  A reminder that school concludes at 2.10pm on this day.

Assembly

Please note that there will not be an assembly this week due to it being the last day of term.

Reports / Family Learning Conversations

Reports will be distributed to families tomorrow.  Family Learning Conversations (previously Parent / Teacher Interviews) will take place on Tuesday the 20^th and Wednesday the 21^st of July (Week 2 Term 3).   Due to restrictions they will be conducted as a Google Meet, however, parents will still be required to book a time by logging on to schoolinterviews.com.au ( Link ) and use code j9fyd.  Bookings are now open.  The Google Meet code will then be sent to you by the teachers on Monday the 19^th July.

These appointments are with classroom teachers only. If you would like to speak with the STEM, Japanese or PE teacher, please email them directly:

PE             Louise Breeden   lbreeden@stppakenham.catholic.edu.au

STEM         ICT Team                 ICT@stppakenham.catholic.edu.au

Japanese    Liz Ashcroft             lashcroft@stppakenham.catholic.edu.au

Our Music Teacher, Jane Baxter is currently on leave, but if you would like to speak to her please email jbaxter@stppakenham.catholic.edu.au and she will get back to you when she returns from leave.

If you have any further inquiries, please contact your classroom teacher by email.

Sacraments

The dates for the Sacraments are as follows;

First Communion for those that missed out due to lockdown.

• Saturday 17^th July at 6pm
• Sunday 25^th July at 10.30am

Confirmation:  Parent Only workshop Thursday 22^nd July at 7pm

Further information is available in the RE section of this newsletter.

Term Three School Closure Day – Monday the 12^th July

Please note that the Term Three School Closure Day is Monday the 12^th of July which is the first day of Term Three.   School resumes for the students at St Pat’s on Tuesday the 13^th of July.

 Important Dates for Your Diary

• Friday 25^th June – Term Two concludes 2.10pm / Reports distributed.
• Monday 12^th July – School Closure Day.
• Tuesday 13^th July - Students Return.
• Wednesday 14^th Thursday 15^th Friday 16^th July - Grade 4 Camp CYC Phillip Island
• Tuesday 20^th / Wednesday 21^st July – Family Learning Conversations
• Wednesday 4^th Thursday 5^th Friday 6^th August – Grade 5 Camp Sovereign Hill Ballarat

Regards,

Simon

SACRAMENTAL PROGRAM 2021

Sacrament Dates for 2021

Confirmation

An email went out to all Grade 6 students in regards to Confirmation.  All children wishing to take part must be enrol via the Parish website.  The first part of the process is a Parent Only workshop on Thursday 22nd July at 7pm in the Parish Hall. 

Link to Parish

Copy of letter sent to all Grade 6 Students.

Confirmation - Grade 6 Students

22nd July - Parent Workshop - 7pm

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 

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. 

As part of our RE unit - All the World is Sacred, the children in 4T have been discussing the gift of creation and our response to our precious Earth. The children were asked to write a letter to Earth. This is what they wrote....

Dear Earth,

I love that you give me food

And give me oxygen.

I am sorry that we chop down trees

And put pollution in the air.

But I also love how beautiful you are.

I love that you give us the stuff we need.

I am also sorry that we are making you worse.

We need to fix you

From Brody

Dear Earth,

Sorry for hurting you, like polluting you and littering. That’s not all of them though, there are many more. You are as pretty as the ocean, as strong as...a tsunami! As old as a rock as gentle as a bird. As natural as...a forest, but soon earth won’t be as beautiful. Earth, you have beautiful places and you let us breathe. You do us good, but still we harm the earth.

From Senuri

Dear Earth

What I like about our Earth is the beautiful sea where animals swim and dive.

It makes me happy because when I go there, my stress relieves and I feel calm.

I also like rain drops because it makes me have a peaceful sleep and I like it so it can water the plants to grow.

I am sorry for picking those flowers, the air pollution and littering.

I would like to visit the river and the waterfall because it reminds me of God’s creation when he created them on day 3.

Abby

Dear Earth.

I'm sorry about the way humans have destroyed the trees and rain forests and how they behave. I'm also sorry for polluting throwing rubbish everywhere. I love hot places like Africa where there are a lot of wild animals.  

Kuai

Dear Earth

What I like about the earth is when the rain falls down on my house. It makes me feel happy and relaxed. And what else I like about the earth is when the night stars shine before I go to sleep. What we are doing to make our earth bad is deforestation. If we cut down all the trees we have we won't have that many animals and not have clean fresh air. So we need to stop cutting so many trees 

 From Hayden  

Dear Earth

 I love all the good fortune you bless us with. l love all the plants, animals and land. I really like the koala but I still like the other animals. I think earth is really beautiful. I love all my surroundings no matter what it is. I like everything that is related to nature. I love how  you are so soft when I lie on the grass. I like how the sky is so bright. I love everything on Earth. I am very thankful and I  try to show it to you Earth. I am sorry for the deforestation, the cutting down of trees, natural disasters and pollution. I am going to try to put a stop to pollution

 From Gurnaaz

Dear Earth

I like all your wonderful forests I love the peace and quiet and the sound of little water falls and I can’t forget the animals. I am super super sorry for the loss of all your forests and I wish I could stop all the pollution

From 

Angus

Dear Earth

I love the ponds, rivers, oceans and more that are on the Earth. It is a beautiful view and I can look at it for hours. I love the plants, animals, and sea animals that have settled in.  It is incredible that people started to settle in too. I'm sorry that many people have polluted and done way more things. When I close my eyes I think of being in a beautiful rainforest surrounded by butterflies, dragonflies, flowers and plants. I hope people keep the Earth safe and beautiful like it is  right now. Trees are being cut down and being used for things that we need when we are not thinking about what the trees need. We will try to do better.

From Beaulah

 Dear Earth

Thank you for the trees and thank you for giving us beautiful days. Thank you for the animals  and the ocean animals. Sorry for the pollution and the littering. The gas and the fuel that comes out of our cars and pollutes the air. 

Thomas

Dear Earth       

 I love  the beautiful trees that wave in the wind and some animals are alive and well but some are extinct and my kind , mankind did that and I’m sorry, Love from Addi 

  Dear Earth

Nature is beautiful good places that I like and God’s creation. The thing I hate about the earth is natural disasters and I like waterfalls.

Marcus

Dear Earth,

 Thank you for the beautiful sunsets and sunrises, I enjoy the water you 

 produce not only to drink and wash in but the sound it makes when it drips

  and flows. I am very sorry for cutting down your trees and killing your animals that live on you and depend on you.Also for polluting your water. We’ll try to fix this Earth!

  From Olivia.

Dear Earth,

There are many things I like about you and there are many things I am sorry for. Let me start by telling you what I like about you. I like the beautiful scenery you make sometimes. I like the way the waters are so calm sometimes. Now I'll tell you the things I'm sorry for. I'm sorry for all the pollution and all the deforestation. 

To Earth 

From Seb 

 Dear Earth

Thank you for my country Mauritius I love the waterfalls the beach the ocean.  In Mauritius it is very beautiful clear and clean and it’s safe to scuba dive with the dolphins and sharks because they are harmless in  Mauritius . Also thank you Earth for my family friends pets and teachers and animals thank you for the trees and nature .I am sorry for the people that litter and sorry for the people that wreck nature and cut trees down.

From Jordell                   

Dear earth

I am so sorry for polluting your planet cutting down trees and all the stuff that is ruining mother earth. I hope I can go all over the world and tell so so so so so so many people what will happen if we keep polluting the planet the atmosphere and mother earth I will try to stop using stuff that will get wasted. I love seeing and traveling around the world and doing new things. Thank you so much for giving us earth and now a lot of kids get big opportunities we might not even deserve the earth because all of us have done something to hurt mother earth.

From Ruby.

-Dear Earth-

I can’t believe how much damage us humans have done to you. Even though it might not be me who hurts you, I still feel sorry for the bad things that have happened. I promise to try to be better to nature. I know that someday, we will realize how special the earth is. We will stop doing bad things, like polluting, logging, and hurting nature.

I love the deer, frollicking around, and swimming in waterfalls. I love how the dewdrops glisten on a sunny day. And most of all, I love how beautiful each day is. From the morning, when the sun rises, to the evening, when the sky turns purple, orange, pinks, and red.

Thank you

 ~From Gabby~

  Dear Earth

You are a wonderful planet that we live on. You produce food for us and give us water to drink. My favourite thing about you is the cold.I wish I could go to Antarctica and everywhere else right now.[mostly Antarctica]I wish that people would stop cutting down your forests. Animals are dying because of deforestation. We are polluting the air and the ocean which is affecting marine life. I hope that one day people will stop hurting you.

Love Zita 

Dear Earth

Thank you for bringing us great soil for us to plant crops.

Thank you for our beautiful fish and creatures that live on land and live in the waters. And I'm very sorry for your loss of trees. It must feel bad. Thank you for the wonderful oceans and thank you for the rain because it gives us a wonderful supply of water. Nature is beautiful.

Sorry for the mines that people set up all over the world and I’m sorry for all the pollution we people make. That's all I wanted to say. Thanks for everything you have done.

From Harry

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.  

Events coming up early next term that you will need to give permission for!

Girls Footy

Gr5 and Gr6 Winter Sports

Gr 5 Camp

Gr 2 Excursion (TBC)

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. 

Click on the link below to access PAM.

 Link to PAM 

Please remember to update your contact details and any relevant medical details for your child.  

This can be either done via Operoo or contacting the school office. 

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.  

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