St Pat's News

Did you know that in England during the late 1600s, a tax was introduced, known as “the window tax.” This was a tax on each window - the more windows, the more money had to be paid in tax. Wealthy people could afford to pay, and so they didn’t have to block any windows. Poor people and the less well-off could not afford the tax. Their only option was to brick up a window or two and have less light in the house.  A week ago - 24th July - marked the anniversary of the repeal of (the doing away with) the Window Tax in 1851.

Let us pray:

God our Father, it was Pope John the Twenty-Third who was speaking about the need to bring new life to the Church. 

To illustrate his point, he walked to his window and opened it wide, saying that fresh air was needed to blow away the cobwebs and refreshen the Church. 

Father, do not let us shut ourselves off from others, but may the windows of our hearts and minds be open, so that we may be made new by your Holy Spirit and be influenced for good. 

Inspire us, too, to let our light shine out, knowing that Jesus said that we are the light of the world. 

Amen.

Please pray for the following children and their families as they prepare to receive the sacrament of Eucharist for the first time on Sunday 18th August: 

Hugh Allen, Zac Allen, Tilly Chisholm, Isaac Dempsey, Chloe Dumesny, Aidan Dwyer, Jordan Dwyer, Molly Edmonds, Grace Godde, Emily Leddin, Oliver McCosh, Maeve Murphy, Charlie Murray, Tessa Phillips, Harry Pollock, Eliza Ross, Caleb Tonkin, Sienna van de Camp, William Verhoef.

Thursday 15th August

Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary - 10.00am Mass

Sunday 18th August  

First Eucharist, St Patrick’s Church 10.30am

Canteen

Reminder that we are in the process of using CDF Pay for all canteen orders and this will be the only option by the end of Term 3. We will accept cash orders until then but encourage all parents to sign up for CDF Pay. Information was emailed to all parents at the end of Term 2. Please see details below.

Thursday Aug 1       Donna Parsons, Julia Gibbons, Sarah Lu

Friday Aug 2             Lucy Lehne, Rhea Thomas

Thursday Aug 8       Wendy Kelly, Georgina Dumesny, Caitlin Down

Friday Aug 9             NO CANTEEN - WELLBEING DAY

Thursday Aug 15     Mia Wolff, Kate Dempsey, Lashae Harman

Friday Aug 16           Jo MacKenzie, Leearna Moloney, Marcelle Hennig

Library Reshelving- For the week of:

Monday July 29        Caroline McGowan

Monday  Aug 5         Jess Lambert

Monday Aug 12        Jo Matthews

Sickbay Linen

Friday Aug 2             Katelyn Mulraney

Friday Aug 9             Tania Murray

Friday Aug 16           Paulaida Fitzsimmons

On Friday F-2 had an excursion in buses to different farms to help us learn how food gets from the land onto our plates for eating.

One of the buses went to a dairy farm. It was stinky. There was a cute dog. We saw a quad bike. It was used to help bring the cows up for milking. The cows were fed pellets when getting milked. The Bega lady gave us cheese sticks. The tractor rolled out the silage to feed the cows in the paddock. 

At Mr Leddin’s wattle seed farm we saw the wattle trees and Mrs leddin told us how they got the seeds. In their big shed was the ‘monster’ which shook the seeds out of the pods. We saw four different machines. There was a machine called the roaster. There was another called the growth chamber. They use sheep to mow the grass between the trees. They had ‘Chewpaca’ the alpaca to protect the sheep. When the wattle trees grow up they have yellow flowers. The seeds may be used in bread, in icecream, in chocolate and wattle essence.

Yr 2 went to the wharf and saw three different types of boats. First we saw a crayfish boat. On the crayfish boat there were buoys. Next we saw a shark boat. It had a large shark net on the deck. Then we saw a charter boat. 

After that we went to Martin’s Point to play in the playground. We felt really happy and the day was fun. Some of us had not been to a dairy and few of us had been to a native seed farm. Thanks to the Wrights and Leddins.

Last Friday, six Year Six students participated in beach monitoring with the Port Fairy Coastal Group. This is an activity that St Patrick’s students have been involved in since 2015. About once a term, a group of students meet with members of the Port Fairy Coastal Group at either South Beach or Pea Soup. There we use a laser level to take measurements of the height of the sand at various points along the beach. These measurements are then entered into a laptop computer. The graphs that are generated from this data enable us to see how the level of sand has changed since the last data collection and previous collections going back three years. This information is shared with Moyne Shire and Deakin University and other stakeholders with an interest in maintaining our coastal environment. The students at St Patrick’s enjoy being “citizen scientists” and contributing to this important work.

Thank you to the families who have already signed up for CDFpay, we are transitioning to a cashless canteen. We are aiming to have all lunch orders paid via CDFpay by the end of Term 3.  You will no longer need to write out your child's order as they will be printed on stickers which will then be placed on your child's lunch bag/container. Please ensure that the lunch bag/container is clearly labelled with your child's name.

Please see below for more information on how to make CDFpay account, an email was sent out at the end of last term and there is also a flyer on the school website in the Parent Information section or click on the link below.

The Deconstruction Group is requesting items for their lunchtime alternative play session. We are asking for used/non-working appliances, such as toasters, remotes, hair dryers, old toys & small battery operated appliances. NO televisions, microwaves, computers or mobile phones, as these can retain a dangerous charge for years, even when turned off and unplugged. 

Other items that could be donated:

- Safety goggles

- Tools (screw drivers, pliers)

Hannah Williams

Our pupil free days for this year are as follows:

August 19 - Writing Essential Learnings

November 18 - Report Writing Day

Sporting Schools will commence today, Wednesday July 31 for Term 3. The final Sporting Schools session will be on Thursday September 11.

Attendance is done through our Skoolbag App. Attendance forms must be filled in by 10am on the day of attendance.

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