St Pat's News

April 15, 2020

At St Patrick’s Parish Primary School we hold the care, safety and wellbeing of children and young people as a central and fundamental responsibility of our school.

From The RE Leader - Annie Forrest

Heavenly Father,

We praise and thank you for your loving presence, especially in the Lent/Easter season. We offer heartfelt thanks, dear Lord, particularly for our recent rains. Just as we have been recovering from our dangerous bushfire summer, we have now been thrown into a fearful coronavirus (COVID 19) autumn. 

We are tired and frightened. We feel a sense of panic and future uncertainty on a global scale. We pray for the sick and those looking after them. Help us to offer practical help to those who struggle.

Let us use these times, O Lord, for your greater glory, especially during Lent and Easter. Let us pray more, and truly listen to you more in loving silence, stillness and simplicity.

AMEN. 

From The Principal - Peter Sanderson

Dear Parents, Parishioners, Carers, Staff & Students,

Welcome back to Term 2, a term like no other experienced before. I trust you were all able to enjoy the Easter celebration despite the restrictions we are observing at this time.

Condolences

We offer our condolences to the extended Finnigan families on the passing of Mavis during the holidays.

Home Learning

As I have said in every other communication on this subject, this is a brand new experience for all of us. There will be teething problems as teachers, parents and students find their way. Please bear in mind that we need to be kind to ourselves and to each other. I am confident that by the end of Week 2, our first full week, we will have ironed out many glitches and all be feeling much more confident. Staff are very grateful for the supportive comments we have received.

Teachers will have advised parents and students as to the best way to make contact, be it by email or through Seesaw or by phone. They are available to their students between 9.00am and 12.00pm. They are available to communicate with parents as per our Communication Guidelines for Parents between 8.00am and 5.00pm.

For those families that need their children to attend school onsite, please register your children by contacting the school office. We need to know how many children to expect by the end of the previous week, if possible, so we can arrange supervision. Please remember that we can only offer supervision to children whose parents cannot provide this at home due to work requirements outside of home.

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.

A button for the Home Learning Portal has been placed on the homepage of our school website. Apologies for any frustrations you have experienced when trying to access the Home Learning Portal. Remember, you need to be logged in to one of your children’s school Google accounts. If you experience difficulties, call the school and we will work with you to resolve the problem.

Good luck with it all and remember: We’re All In This Together!”

Kind regards,

Peter Sanderson

Principal

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2020 Pupil Free Days

Friday May 29 - Report Writing Day

Thursday August 6 & Friday August 7 - Staff Personal Development 

Term 2 Learning

Term 2 Learning

The link to our Home Learning Portal can be access from the school website, Skoolbag App and by clicking on this link: Home Portal Link .

If your child is unable to attend online learning virtually, at home or on-site, we are asking parents to use PAM and enter a Parent Notified Absence by 9am on the day the are not attending.


On-Site Learning

If your child is attending on-site learning they are to enter via the office. All other doors will be locked. We ask that parents please do not enter the school. There will always be someone in the office area if you need assistance, please phone or email the school.

Winter Uniform Orders

If you require any winter uniform for your child for when school resumes, please order through CDFpay and when your order is ready for collection we will notify you.

If you were waiting on a winter tunic they have arrived.

School Rosters

There will be no canteen, sick bay linen sent home or library reshelving until further notice.

Bookclub

You can still order from Scholastic Book Club through the LOOP and have your order sent to your house. If you have not used the LOOP before you will need to set up an account. Click on the links below.

LOOP 

CATALOGUE

Wellbeing

Wellbeing check-in

Just as you set aside time for physical exercise, it is important to make time each day to check in on your child’s mental health and wellbeing.

As your child adjusts to their new routine and not being able to see their friends in person, it is important to be understanding of their feelings of frustration, anxiousness and even anger – every child will react differently.

To support your child, use these mental health and wellbeing check ins to:

  • provide an opportunity to talk about how they feel and listen to what they say
  • identify one or two things they could do to address what they are concerned or angry about
  • ask how they are going, whether they are finding it easy or hard to learn remotely, and if there is anything they’d like your help with.

There is a risk that your child may be bullied online. If you think this happening to them, support is available on how to talk to your child and your school at: Bully Stoppers.

Parentline also offers support on parenting issues such as education and bullying.

If you have any other concerns about the health and wellbeing of your child, contact your school directly, which will have access to resources that can help.

Child Friendly News Sites

With so many changes taking place across Australia, it may be important to encourage parents/teachers to engage their children through 'kids friendly' news as a distraction from COVID 19. 

kidsnews.com.au/news

abc.net.au/btn/

This button takes you directly to PAM for Absences, School Activities, Reports, Learning Conversations, Numeracy & Literacy Interviews

School Community News

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