St Pat's News

February 12, 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

“Come to me, all you who labour and are burdened” is the theme of the World Day of the Sick, to be marked on 11 February. This day is an observation started by Pope John Paul II as a way for believers to offer prayers for those suffering from illness. In caring for the sick, Pope Francis is also encouraging healthcare workers to show the human warmth and personalised approach of Christ, the Good Samaritan.


Sacramental Program Enrolments 2020

Children baptised into the Catholic Church are invited to take part in the Parish Sacramental Program. If you have a child in your family ready to receive a Sacrament, please complete the enrolment details form that has been sent home this week. Please return this form to the school ASAP. 

All sacramental candidates are asked to attend our Parish Commissioning Mass on Saturday 22nd Feb at 6:30pm. There they will be introduced to the parish and blessed in their preparations, so it is imperative they are enrolled before then. Parents are best placed to determine if their child is ready for the sacramental program but the usual enrolment is as follows:

Reconciliation- Year 2 (initial) and Year 6 (revisit)

Confirmation- Year 3

Eucharist - Year 4

Newly enrolled students from other regions may have begun their sacramental journey in a different sequence to that of our Ballarat Diocese. Please drop in and see myself or Peter Sanderson if you have any questions about this.

RE DATES TERM 1

Please put these dates on your calendar:

Beginning of Year Mass - Thursday 6th February @ 10 am at St Patrick’s Parish Church. 

Reconciliation Parent and Candidate Meeting - Wednesday 19th Feb @ 7:00pm St Patrick’s Parish Church.

Commissioning Rite of Enrolment Mass - Saturday 22nd Feb @ 6:30 pm at St Patrick’s Parish Church.

Sacrament of Reconciliation - Tuesday 18th March @ 7:00pm at St Patrick’s Parish Church.

From The Principal - Peter Sanderson

Dear Parents, Parishioners, Carers, Staff & Students,

Our sincere condolences go out to the van de Camp family (Stacey, John, Adam (Yr 7), Sienna (Yr 5) and Jake (Yr 3) on the passing of Stacey’s father and to the McIntosh / Kelly family (Renee, Trevor, Zeb (Yr 1) and Indi on the passing of Renee’s mother.

Eternal rest, grant unto them O Lord and let perpetual light shine upon them.

May they rest in peace. Amen.

Correction

Last week an incorrect date was listed under the Pupil Free Days for the year. The dates for the Staff Retreat / Personal development activity are August 6th / 7th.

Omission

In last week’s newsletter I forgot to welcome Rachael Osborne to the teaching staff at St Patrick’s. Rachael started with us as our first trainee way back in 2015 and has been a part of the St Pat’s family ever since, working as a Learning Support Officer whilst completing her teaching qualification. Rachael is working as a specialist and boost teacher and we wish her well as she starts her teaching career.

Sacrament of Penance

Parents of students in Years 2 and 6, baptised in the Catholic Church and wishing to prepare for the Sacrament of Penance, are invited to an information night to be held on Wednesday 19th February at 7.00pm in St Patrick’s Church. This meeting involves both students and parents and will incorporate the first session of the preparation program.

Folk Festival School program

The Folk Festival School Program will be presented by Vern Hardie from Connected Circus. Vern’s workshops with the classes will take place on Wednesday 4th March and focus on circus skills and life skills.

Volunteer Induction and Classroom Helpers training

There will be a volunteer induction session for anyone wanting to volunteer in our school who hasn’t previously undergone this training on Friday February 21st, beginning at 9.00am.  This includes anyone who would like to assist in classrooms, on excursions or in the canteen. All volunteers will be briefed on our Child Safe Standards and responsibilities and then classroom helpers will have further training about their role. 

Please let the office know if you are interested in attending.

Parents and family members wishing to assist in the classroom, in the canteen, on excursions etc. must obtain a Working with Children check. This can be located by going to this link:  http://www.workingwithchildren.vic.gov.au/

The check you need is for volunteers.

Folk Festival Camping

We are still looking for a family to supervise the overnight camping for this year’s Folk Festival. This family will be responsible for supervising the camping ground from 8pm - 8am. A classroom is provided for the family to sleep in and 2 free Folk Festival tickets are available. Please let the office know if you can assist. 

Year 6 parents, who supervise the campground during the day, will receive information regarding this in the next few days.

Assembly

Assembly will take place this Friday at 2.50pm in the hall. All parents and family members are welcome to join us. 

Kind regards,

Peter Sanderson

Principal

New Staff at St Pat's

Wellbeing News - Antonia Balmer

What is SWPBS?

School Wide Positive Behaviour Support is:  A multi-tiered framework for establishing the social culture and behavioral supports needed for a school to achieve behavioral and academic outcomes for all students.

OUR SCHOOL MANTRA is Be: respectful, safe, a learner

We will be guided to be respectful, be safe, be a learner in all areas of our school both inside and outside.

Classroom News

What's new for 5/6F students in 2020?

It’s new being the school leaders and being role models for the younger kids. Being the school leaders, we get to wear badges that represent our role. For example, Poppy wears a School Captain badge, Ella wears a Sustainability Leader badge, Sam has a red badge for Winnen house and Bella wears a blue badge for Samaritan house. 

Bella, Sam, Ella & Poppy. 


This year 5/6F are in the portables. We have flexible seating. We have our own devices. We have class stationary that we share. 

Jorja, Taj, Pepper & Harrison.

Chromebooks are used for schoolwork and homework. Year 5s are new to Chromebooks this year and have learnt a lot over the past week. We find most of our work on Google Classroom and Google Drive then we write the tasks in our books. We have to charge our Chromebooks at home so we can use them the next day.

Isaac, Grace, Emily & Caleb. 

This year in 5/6F we have new classmates. The Year 6 students have gotten to know the Year 5 students. We have not been in the same class since F/1!! Archie, Oliver, Aidan & Tilly. 

In Year 6 we all have buddies and on Friday we sit with our buddies and eat lunch with them. On special occasions such as Mass, the Year 5s have a Year 1 buddy.

Tyahna, Bella R, Eamon, Cooper & Sarah 

School News

School Rosters

Canteen

Thursday February 13 - Mia Wolff, Michelle Gapes

Friday February 14 - Bree Porter, Tamara Wright, Rebecca Greene

Thursday February 20 - Nikki Payne, Sioban Murnane, Mel Rayner

Friday February 21 - Jenny McNeil, Sarah Dyson, Fiona Godde

Thursday February 27 - Julia Gibbons, HELPED NEEDED

Friday February 28 - NO CANTEEN - Sports Day at Brauerander

Thursday March 5 - Sarah McCorkell, Caitlin Down

Friday March 6 - Lucy Lehne, Rhea Thomas

If for any reason you are not available to do you shift, please try swap with someone else on the roster.

Library Reshelving - this can be done at anytime during the week of:

Monday February 17 - Ruth Everitt

Monday February 24 - Jessica Condon

Sickbay Linen - the linen will be sent home with your child the Friday you are rostered on.

Friday February 13 - Karen Bowes

Friday February 20 - Alysha Phillips

Friday February 27 - Michelle Verhoef

House Groups - Cooking Help Wanted

We are in need of helpers to prepare and help the children make Celery Caterpillars on Friday at afternoon. If you are available please see Antonia Balmer.

SCHOOL TIMES

The office is open from 8.30am - 4.00pm each day.

There is no supervision for students before 8.40am. Teachers use the time prior to the doors opening for setting up for the day, therefore they are not available to supervise students. Students who arrive at school prior to 8.40am need to wait at the side door near the hall until the doors are opened.

The bell for the start of the day rings at 8.55am, any student arriving after this time needs to be signed in using the iPad at the office.

The bell for the end of the day rings at 3.20pm. If for any reason you are going to be later than 3.30pm to collect your child/children, please contact the school office.

PAM - Parent Access Module

PAM is used for excursions/activities, absences, medical profile, emailing parents, learning conversations, literacy/numeracy bookings and school reports.

All absences, excursion permissions, medical information will be accessed through PAM (Parent Access Module). PAM is where you have been accessing your child's reports and making bookings for interviews.

You will use the same login and password that you were given at the end of last year. If you have forgotten your login please contact me. If you have forgotten your password you can reset it from the login page.

When you log in, there may be a warning at the top that asks you to verify your email address - please do this.

Student Absences

PAM can be used prior to 10am, after 10am you will need to ring the school.

Login to PAM

From your homepage there will be a button named Parent Notified Absence, click on this button and follow the prompts.


Medical Profile

Log in to PAM

From the home page click on your child's name.

On the left hand side click select Medical Profile.

A form will appear, fill in all your child's medical details.

Excursions & Sporting Activities

You will be notified of an excursion via email. The email will include what the activity is, who it is for and the date that it needs to be approved by.

You will be given a link that will take you directly to PAM.

From the home page you will click your child's name and then on Excursion Activities from the left hand list.

You will either give consent or click no. 

All information regarding the excursion or sporting activity will be in the form.

Sporting Schools

Sporting Schools will commence on Wednesday February 12. Sporting Schools will run each Wednesday & Thursday for 7 weeks of each term, 3.20pm-4.30pm.

Please use the Skoolbag App for each session your child is going to attend.

If you do not have the Skoolbag App, click on the link for instructions.

https://www.moqproducts.com.au/skoolbag/installation-instructions/

HAVE YOU?

Filled in our Volunteer Jobs google form?  

Volunteer Jobs

There are many ways you can help around the school, some of these jobs are eligible to volunteer levy rebates. If you are interested in helping in some way please click on the link above.

Filled in the 2020 Working Bee google form?

Working Bees

Working Bees are great way of helping the school and working off your volunteer levy points. We would appreciate it if each family could commit to one working bee for the year.

Each working bee is worth 15 volunteer points per person (5 points = 1 hour/$25).

Working Bees are held on the first Saturday of each term from 9am-12pm.

Please click on the link above to select a date.

Parents & Friends News

Jazz Festival

The P & F would like to thank everyone who contributed food or gave their time to help with our first P & F fundraiser for 2020. All of your efforts help us raise $1200.

Canteen

Canteen will commence tomorrow, Thursday February 13. Canteen Days are Thursday & Friday, except the last day of terms 1, 2 & 3 and the last week of term 4. At times we may need to close the canteen, those days will be advertised in the newsletter.

All Canteen orders are to be made by CDFpay, please click on the link to access the directions, CDFpay. Each student must have a reusable container with their name and class clearly marked on it. The Canteen Menu was emailed to you yesterday and can also be accessed from our Website and the Skoolbag App. All prices are in CDFpay.

Canteen Menu Link - Parent Information Page on the Website

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

School Community News

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Parish Masses

Port Fairy St Patrick's & Koroit Infant Jesus Mass Times

Saturday February 15 @ 6.30pm - Koroit

Sunday February 16 @ 10.30am - Port Fairy

Lice Check

The school has been notified that over the holiday period there have been a number of cases of lice. Please remember to check you child's hair regularly and if they do have lice, notify the school and treat as directed on the lice products and do a follow up check and treatment.

Please click on the link below for information on lice and how to treat it from the Department of Health Department of Heath Lice Information Sheet

Community News

Primary Performers

Primary Performers 2020 Information Session. Sunday 9th February, Lighthouse Theatre @ 10 am.

Are you interested in performing? Are you in grade one, two, three, four, five or even six? If you answered YES to both of the questions, why not pop along and learn about our Primary Performers 2020. No experience necessary as this is a fun an all-inclusive space.

At the information session:

v You will get to meet the team

v Find out what the 2020 show is

v All the information you need to know about being a primary performer.

 

We highly recommend that you and the potential performers attend the information session to make sure you are fully informed about the program, however if you are unable to attend, please call the Lighthouse Theatre on 5559 4999.

 

And if you have any room in your newsletter here are two other shows that might interest families

 

MASTERS OF CHOREOGRAPHY - RAISE THE BARRE

Saturday, February 15, 2020 - 7:00pm

RAISE THE BARRE is the latest exciting commercial dance theatre show by Masters of Choreography. The sister show to the highly acclaimed Beats on Pointe, this extravaganza of ballet, jazz, street dance, breaking and commercial dance will take you on an exhilarating journey of high energy entertainment fused with comedy, freestyle acts and dance theatre. This is another ‘feel-good’ show that will entertain the entire family!

With a magnificent blend of classic rock and commercial music plus a wonderful cast of multi-talented performers, this show blazes with cutting-edge entertainment! Wherever you are, don’t miss your chance to ‘rock out’ to this Masters of Choreography dance theatre production!

Raise the Barre is a commercial rock ballet show……with ATTITUDE!

 

SUPERDUDES

Tuesday, February 18, 2020 - 10:30am

Full of imagination, exploration and creativity that the kids will love!

Superdudes is a brand new children's entertainment group, now live show and featured book which celebrates imagination and creativity. It's the brainchild of former Hi-5 star Stevie Nicholson and his partner Tanika Anderson.

The show focuses on capturing the imagination of children in a playful and engaging way. Based on the philosophy that absolutely anyone and anything can be super.

Superdudes fulfils each child with energy to discover their own powers by becoming a superhero on the inside and out.

Come along on an adventure. You'll meet Wheels, who is super-fast and loves to race. Dive in the water and say hi to Merman Man or take a ride on Trainbow to visit Pencil Pirate ... but watch out for Bubble Trouble!

The team at Superdudes encourage children to draw and send in their own Superdude! Including the silliest, most creative characters that could potentially be featured through the Superdudes social media and in their books.

MARRIAGE ENCOUNTER WEEKEND

Invest in your most precious asset......Your Marriage!

Married couples, come and learn how to keep/rekindle the passion in your relationship and how to keep your love growing!

The weekend is based around Catholic values but couples of all faiths are welcome.

Next weekend is on   17–19 April 2020 in Melbourne

Other weekends on 17-19 July and 13-15 November 2020

Starts 7pm on Friday. Ends 5pm Sunday. Accommodation and all meals provided.

Information/Bookings: Phone Mercy & James 0409 183 676 or

Email: vicbookings@wwme.org.au  Website: wwme.org.au

Warrnambool & Moyne Youth Awards

Nominations are now open for the annual Warrnambool and Moyne Youth Awards. 

Coordinated by the Youth Councils, the Awards recognise young people aged between 12 and 25 years who live either in Warrnambool or Moyne Shire.

Award Changes

This year’s Awards will focus heavily on the values of individuals.

 The Warrnambool and Moyne Youth Councillors have worked to create a more inclusive awards structure to recognise the wider contributions of our region’s young people. The Youth Councillors have identified five key values as the basis for the awards:

  • Cooperation
  • Resilience
  • Responsibility
  • Kindness
  • Passion

In addition, the awards will be divided into the following age categories; 12-15yrs; 16-18yrs; 19-25yrs. There will be a runner-up in each age category for each shire. There will no longer be separate award categories for male and female. In total there will be 6 winners and 6 runners-up, 3 each for Warrnambool and 3 each for Moyne.

Community members will be asked to nominate a young person and explain which 3 of the 5 values the nominee has demonstrated through their particular endeavours and/or efforts.

NOMINATIONS CLOSE 16 MARCH - NOMINATE A YOUNG PERSON NOW: https://www.warrnambool.vic.gov.au/youth-awards-nomination

Prizes

In previous years the overall male and overall female winners from each shire received $200 each, $800 in total. For the 2020 Youth Awards winners in each age category will receive $200 each, $1200 in total.

Youth Showcase

This year we are looking to showcase the diverse talents of young people aged between 12 and 25. The 2020 Youth Awards will see the launch of a Youth Showcase which will include exhibits of work from young creatives, young performers, young entrepreneurs, young trades people and young apprentices.

The Youth Showcase will be launched during Youth Week at the Lighthouse Theatre and will be on display 3-19 April.

Young performers will perform at the Youth Awards presentation event on 17 April.

We are currently seeking expressions of interest from an individual or group to participate in the Youth Showcase. 

EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST CLOSE 23 MARCH - EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST APPLICATION: https://www.warrnambool.vic.gov.au/expression-interest-youth-week-showcase

 Youth Award Celebration Night

All our young people will be recognised at an event on Friday 17th April at Lighthouse Theatre Warrnambool.

 Information

Award nominations and Expression of Interest forms for the Youth Showcase are available online at www.warrnambool.vic.gov.au/youth-awards.

Contact

Rebecca Elmes at Moyne Shire Council on 5568 0555 or email becelmes@moyne.vic.gov.au

We want young people to be seen, heard and celebrated for their place in our community. We thank you in advance for promoting the Warrnambool and Moyne Youth Awards to your staff and school community.

Tae Kwon Do is held at the Port Fairy Yacht Club on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Any enquiries please call Damian McConachy on 0429337051.