St Pat's News

Mother’s Day is a special day when we can celebrate the special people in our lives. They can be your mother, sister, cousin, grandma, aunt, a family friend or even a teacher.

How does your family celebrate Mother’s Day? Do you recieve breakfast in bed or a card or gift? Although these are common things to do in Australia today, mothers have been celebrated in many different ways for a very long time.

In Year 5/6 we learnt about Mother’s Day in our Literacy task this week. The students found out that in the 1600s in England, the fourth Sunday of Lent became known as Mothering Sunday. 

On this day, maids and servants were allowed to travel home to visit their mothers. Often they would bake a simnel cake, filled with spices and fruit, as a gift. Families would eat lots of food and give small presents to their mothers.

Next week is Week 5 of the term, halfway. It does feel like we’ve been going longer. I think some decisions will be announced shortly as to how the term will continue.

Mothers Day

I hope all the mothers in our school community get some special treatment this Sunday. You always do a fantastic job, more so in this current crisis, and deserve our gratitude.

Coping Strategies

What are families doing to cope with being locked up together and unable to get out and do the things we usually do? Baking, jigsaws, dance routines, marble runs? Would you like to share a photo of a project your family has taken on? Email them to the school (principal@spportfairy.catholic.edu.au) and, with your permission, we can share them on the newsletter and on our Facebook page.

Team Planning Days 

Our teaching teams will each have a planning day next week. The teachers will not be as accessible to students and parents on these days so there may be a delay in responses to emails and messages. The schedule for planning days is:

F-2 Team - Wednesday 13th May

3/4 Team - Thursday 14th May

5/6 Team - Friday 15th May  

Attendance Records

I remind parents that we are still required to keep attendance records of students whether they are working at home or at school. We will mark every student present unless notified by parents through PAM that their children will not be doing school work because of illness or other reason on that day.

Learning at Home

I provide the following link to Literacy Planet’s Top 5 Tips for Schooling at Home in the hope that it may help relieve some of the stress you are possibly experiencing.

Child Safety

With the increased use of online platforms during the current crisis, it is important that we monitor our children’s engagement with technology. As part of meeting the Child Safe Standards, I direct parents to the eSafety Commissioner’s website where there is advice for parents on how to navigate this ever-changing environment.

School Garden

Thank you to the Hetherington family for donating sheep manure for our school veggie garden. We attracted some funding last year from the Woolworths Junior Landcare Grants Program and have directed this towards seedlings, tools and maintenance for our veggie garden.

Pandemic Management Plan

As a result of the current crisis, the school has developed a Pandemic Management Plan. This is available for parents on the school website on the Policies page.

Enrolments 2021

The period for accepting enrolments for our 2021 Foundation classes is Monday 1st June to Friday 19th June. At this stage we have planned to have a Parent Information Evening on Tuesday 26th May at 7.30pm. This is dependent on restrictions on gatherings being lifted. We will confirm this once we know the situation. Information will be forwarded to families of children attending Port Fairy Community Services Centre through Storypark.

May Race Day Holiday

It has been confirmed that the May Race Day Holiday set down for Thursday 7th May has been changed to Melbourne Cup Day, Tuesday 3rd November. 

Kind regards,

Peter Sanderson

Principal

Our School Fee Statements were sent via email last week. Some families have let us know that they are not receiving their statements. If you haven't received yours, check your junk mail, it will be from ramor@spportfairy.catholic.edu.au. If it is not in your junk mail contact Janine at the office on 55681371 or email Janine - jmoloney001@spportfairy.catholic.edu.au or Bec - amor@spportfairy.catholic.edu.au.