19 July 2024

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Hello St Patrick’s families, I hope this finds you happy and well. 

After taking family leave for the week either side of the holidays, it felt great to be back this week! Holidays are great but it also feels good to be back in the swing of things at St Pat’s – talking to the students and staff and sliding into the routines of the school day. I also quickly want to thank all those families who passed on well wishes in my absence, your kind words were appreciated by both me and my family. It’s good to be back! 

Newsletter Format 

You will notice that this week’s newsletter is a little lighter than past editions and does not have entries from our classroom teachers. Teachers will still be communicating to families at least every fortnight to inform them of school events and what is happening in the classroom, however, these comms will now be sent out via the Parent Portal. This is a new change that is a part of our continuous move toward sending all our school and class wide communications out through our Parent Portal. Given time, the newsletter will move across to the Parent Portal in its entirety! Not only will this highlight the Parent Portal as our one stop shop for all things St Pat’s (as compared to the multitude of mediums we used previously), but it will also reduce the amount of school-based comms we have going to the dreaded ‘Junk Mail’ folder. 

Now, although the school will be using the Parent Portal increasingly for communicating with families, I want to reassure families that you can still use email to directly communicate with your classroom teacher. Teachers themselves will often still utilize email for direct communication with families so you can feel comfortable doing the same. 

Catholic Education Week & Bishop’s Inservice Student Free Day - Wednesday 24th July 

Week 3 of Term 3 is Catholic Education week, an opportunity for Catholic schools across Australia to celebrate the history of Catholic schools and our unique place in the community. As a part of the CEW celebrations, we will set up a display in the front window of Golders and the teaching staff will travel to Roma to take part in a day of spirituality on Wednesday 24th July. 

Please be aware that this means next Wednesday 24th July is a student free day. The schools OSHC service will be open on that day to provide care for those students who need it. 

Check Out Our New Classroom Interactive Whiteboards! 

Over the holidays, the school installed new interactive whiteboards in all the classrooms and the library. The new 86-inch BenQ interactive whiteboards are state of the art and provide a visual platform for connecting to staff computers and standalone operation. At an overall outlay of just over $80,000 for the removal of the previous boards and the installation of the new boards, this is a significant investment in technology for our staff and students which will provide an amazing learning tool to support our teacher’s classroom practice. 

LOOKING AHEAD

Take care,
Jim Wren
Principal

PARENT PORTAL

Download & Use the App Now!

St Patrick’s Parent Portal is now up and running for more streamlined communication with parents. The transition took place on Monday 5^th February, so if you haven’t already, make sure you follow the instructions below on how to register. If you are having issues registering, please contact the school office so we can help with the process.

Warm Regards,
Jim Wren

OUR PRAYERS…

Let us support each other in Prayer, especially for the Sick and the Deceased and those who are suffering Hardships, in our Parish and School.

MASS TIMES

St George-Dirranbandi Parish

Priest Administrator: Fr Antony Samy 0409 278 968 Email: balonneparish@bigpond.com

CLASS News

Health & Drama

Students of the Week (8)

Week 2– (lower) Ellie McArthur, (middle) Kayden Passman, (upper) Alastair North.

Welcome to Term 3!

I hope you all had an enjoyable holiday with family and friends.  In Music, for NAIDOC celebrations last week, we learnt about the instruments the aboriginal people used during ceremonies. The didgeridoo and clap sticks and the importance of why these instruments were played within the language groups.

This Term we will be commencing Music using ‘The Fun Music Company Program’ which is a complete music program for Primary school music classes.

It is specifically designed to meet the requirements of the Australian national curriculum, while at the same time making lessons engaging and fun for children.

We will be commencing the Aural and Sing & Play units for each grade. Aural skills are extremely important for every child, and it builds attentiveness and concentration which are key skills in all areas of life. Aural is about experiencing musical concepts such as beat and melody, and it is only by repetition that we can really achieve that Echo rhythm is listening to a rhythm and reproducing it Each unit contains a variety of songs for the students to learn and chosen especially for each age group. These songs are selected to meet the needs of the curriculum, while also being enjoyable and engaging for children.

Term 3 Health

In Health this Term across the school we will be learning all about Making Healthy Safe Choices.

 Lower Prep

Students will explore health-related topics related to the Australian Curriculum descriptors. Students will participate in discussions and learn to:

• Demonstrate protective behaviours and strategies that help keep them safe
• identify health symbols, messages and strategies in their community that support their health and safety.

This unit will explore how students can demonstrate protective behaviours and develop help-seeking strategies to keep themselves safe. They will also be able to identify

how health information that can be used to make educated choices about their health and to keep them safe.

Lower Years 1-2

Students will explore health-related topics related to the Australian Curriculum descriptors. Students will participate in discussions and learn to:

• identify and demonstrate protective behaviours and help-seeking strategies they can use to help them, and others stay safe
• Investigate a range of health messages and practices in their community and discuss their purposes

This unit helps students to identify protective behaviours they might feel during unsafe situations. The students will investigate a range of health messages, healthy and unhealthy. They will explore how these messages are delivered and practically apply changes they can make to their food choices. Through discussion, students will explore digital safety, including how to act and be safe in a digital environment.

Middle Years 3-4

Students will explore health-related topics related to the Australian Curriculum descriptors Students will participate in discussions and learn to:

• describe and apply protective behaviours and help-seeking strategies in a range of online and offline situations
• interpret the nature and intention of health information and messages, and reflect on how they influence personal decisions and behaviours
• and investigate and apply behaviours that contribute to their own and others’ health, safety, relationships and wellbeing

Students focus on healthy eating and lifestyle, and protective behaviours focus on online and offline interactions.  In the healthy eating section, students will learn about the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating, nutritional information and the information given about health. In the protective behaviours section of the unit, students will look at the how we can protect ourselves and help-seeking strategies that they can utilise for themselves both online and offline and when helping others.

Upper Years 5-6

Students will explore health-related topics related to the Australian Curriculum descriptors. Students will participate in discussions and learn to:

• Analyse and rehearse protective behaviours and help-seeking strategies that can be used in a range of online and offline situations
• Investigate different sources and types of health information and how these apply to their own and others’ health choices
• Analyse how behaviours influence the health, safety, relationships and well-being of individuals and communities

Students will focus on healthy eating and lifestyle, and protective behaviours focus on online interactions. In the healthy eating section, students will learn about the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating, nutritional information and the effect of media on the information given about health. In the protective behaviours section of the unit, students will look at the privacy and protecting their identity, the impact of online culture and help-seeking strategies that they can utilise for themselves and when helping others.

Have a great day,  

Keep Smiling! 
Mrs Jane Webster

Peeking into PrepM

Students of the Week

Week 2– Ollie Hill, Henry Mace, Lachlan Tierney.

Kind regards,  
Nichole & Courtney

Year 1H

Students of the Week

Week 2– Loghan Avery.

Have a wonderful weekend. 
Mrs Fiona Harch

Year 1/2D

Students of the Week

Week 2– Caleb Burton, Eliza Hearne.

Year 2G

Students of the Week

Week 2– Avril Easton, Sean Martin

Year 3C/H

Students of the Week

Week 2– Charlie Harch, Evie Bradfield.

Students of the Week

Week 2– Tilly Willoughby.

Welcome back to another term at our wonderful school. It has been great to see the students settle back into the school routines and recommence their learning with such enthusiasm.

Learning updates:

Mathematics

During my Wednesday sessions in Year 3, we have begun exploring measurement concepts, particularly focussing on mass, capacity and length. The students are thoroughly enjoying the hands-on nature of these concepts, completing investigations and practical application of estimating, measuring and using a range of units to measure.

Science

Our science unit this term is all about exploring heat. Last week, we had some in-depth discussions around known heat sources and ways in which we can heat our bodies. The students enjoyed participating in a mini experiment involving an ice cube. We will continue identifying heat sources, exploring how heat can be transferred and developing our learning through scientific investigations.

Visual Arts

We started our Visual Arts lessons by adapting some traditional Aboriginal painting techniques to produce an artwork aligned with NAIDOC Week. These are on display in our classroom and look fantastic- feel free to pop in and check them out. We are now moving onto an Olympics themed unit in which the students will produce a range of Art pieces inspired by the games and Paris- stay tuned to see our creations throughout the term.

I’ve attached a few key dates for the term ahead:

• Week 3 - Mrs Colley returns from leave
• Week 3 - Wednesday 24^th July - Pupil Free day - Bishop's in-service Day for staff in Roma
• Week 6 - Monday 12th August - Ekka Public Holiday
• Week 8 - Friday 30^th August - Pupil Free Day - Staff moderation day
• Week 10 - Friday 13^th September- last day of Term 3

Year 4R

Students of the Week

Week 2– Hunter Mellifont, Kalicia Saunders.

Year 5W

Students of the Week

Week 2– Pippi Cott, Hannah Acton

Year 6M

Students of the Week

Week 2– Willow Marcos.

Sport & Library News

LIBRARY 

Borrowing

All classes will be borrowing on Thursdays.  Please ensure you child has a library bag for borrowing.  Book return day is Wednesday so the books can be processed before borrowing again on Thursday. 

Reading is Power and Knowledge.

Happy borrowing and reading,

Binnie Eley & Julie Pike
(St Patrick’s Library Staff)

COMMUNITY NEWS

Somerset Storyfest South West

26-28 August 2024

For more information visit our website www.storyfest.com.au

OSHC

St Patrick’s Outside School Hours Care

Exercise Classes

St Patrick’s MPC
$15/Class or $60 for a 5 Visit Pass.

Pilates
Tuesdays at 10am, 4:50pm & 5:30pm.
Little ones Welcome!

Tone
Thursdays at 4:30pm & 5:30pm.