Newsletter Thursday 16th February, 2023

We the staff of St Patrick’s acknowledge the traditional owners, the Kulin nations, of the land on which we learn and play.

We pay respects to the Aboriginal Elders, past and present, who are our teachers.

We thank them for taking care of children and country for countless generations.

Good afternoon parents, carers and guardians,

Next week marks the beginning of Lent as we celebrate Ash Wednesday and remember the sacrifices that our Lord Jesus made for us. This year, the teachers are speaking to the students about how we can have a change of heart. We know that Christ made the ultimate sacrifice for us so that we could live on to spread his message of love. It is important that the students understand that these sacrifices can hopefully pave the way for a new and brighter direction and look to how they can be the positive change for all.

Can you believe we have reached the end of week 4?? And already so much has happened. We have had our beginning of the year mass and our captains with their badges. The students were so well behaved and remained reverent throughout the mass.

Last Friday, our Foundation students went to mass for the first time with the parishioners and they enjoyed the celebration with Fr Paul. Fr Paul commended the students on their behaviour as did many parishioners.

Next week, our year 2s begin their swimming lessons for the next 2 weeks. We will also be seeing the implementation of NAPLAN for our 3s and 5s in the next few weeks so school is off to an incredible start. As a staff we are promoting our Whole School Approach to Positive Behaviour Support (WSAPBS) and it has been so pleasing to see the students respond well to this. The students move safely through the school, they look out for one another and are able to articulate and demonstrate our values of Respect, Safety, Co-operation and Resilience!

A HUGE thank you to all parents for the support of the school as we implement new changes around our classroom opening times. I understand that with any changes made, this may cause concern for families especially at the beginning of a school year, however the positivity with which these changes have been received is heartening. This is always my hope and dream that school and home will work together to ensure the best outcomes for our students.

Shrove Tuesday

This will take plae on Tuesday next week. The students will be eating pancakes and learning about this lenten traditiion in thier classrooms. A note has been sent to all families informing you of the ingredients in the pancakes, jam and butter we are purchasing for the children. If your child has an allergy to any of these products, please feel free to prepare your own pancakes and send them with your child to school to enjoy with their classmates.

Heatwave

Tomorrow the forecast temperature for Pakenham is set to be around the 39-40-degree mark. The school will be monitoring the temperature at 11am and decide around if the students can go out to play. Generally, once the temperature is over 34 degrees, we will keep them inside.

Also there will be no assembly tomorrow due to the heat.

Take care and God Bless

Meg

PARENTS PLEASE TAKE NOTE

Parents are NOT to use the student’s toilets. If in the event, you are needing to use the toilet, please approach the school office. Due to Child Safety regulations, no adult is to be using the toilets allocated for students. Parents will be approached by staff and given a reminder if we see this. Thank you for your understanding.

NAPLAN 2023:

All year 3 and 5 students will be completing NAPLAN testing, below is a list of those dates:

Wednesday 15^th March - Writing

Thursday 16^th March - Reading

Monday 20^th March - Maths

Tuesday 21^st March - Conventions of Language

Changes to the school timetable

Due to changes in our school timetable, please note the change of time that our classrooms will be open in the mornings.

Students can still be dropped off at 8.30am. Please do not drop off any earlier than this.

The gates will open 8.30 - students will gather in the colonnade to be supervised. Please do not leave your children UNSUPERVISED! The children are not supervised outside of the school premises.

8.40- Specialist teachers and leadership on duty- Children are to leave their bags outside their classrooms and they can then move to the basketball court with a teacher.  

8.50- Classrooms will open and children will move off the yard and head into class.

Please note, this does not mean that parent cannot enter the classrooms. They are still able to drop off their child/ren to the classes and pop in and say hello. Please remember however, this is the time that the students will begin to be getting settled for the day, so any conversations that need to be had with your child’s teacher, must be arranged at another time suitable for both parties.

Accessing your PAM accounts 2023

Due to an upgrade to our Parent Access Module (PAM), all parents will need to reset their password before regaining access to your PAM. Your user name remains the same which is your email address. You should have received an email asking you to reset the password for PAM.

If you have any concerns, please contact Alex in the office on 5943 9000 or ataylor@stppakenham.catholic.edu.au

School Uniforms

At St Patrick’s, it is important to highlight to students the message around respecting our school uniform. The uniform represents our school and is expected to be worn with pride. Please be aware that I will approach and ask students about their uniform and will follow up with parents if necessary.

Please write a note to your child/ren’s classroom teacher if there is an issue with the inform for a particular period of time.

Some reminders:

• Socks- are to be ankle socks; white for girls and grey for boys
• Students are to wear black shoes and NOT (black) runners. Runners may be brought to school for your child/ren to change into for the playtimes;
• Girls are permitted to wear the school (Summer) dress or the school shirt and grey shorts
• Boys wear the grey shorts in Summer and the long grey pants in Winter (they may choose to continue wearing the shorts.)
• Sports uniform consists of the polo shirt with the school logo and the green track pants or green unisex shorts.
• School sports jacket is optional in the cooler months.

Homework

After careful consideration and referring to long held research, the students of St Patrick’s will no longer be completing homework.

John Hattie who is a well renowned professor of Education and Director at Melbourne University Research Education unit, has completed many detailed studies on the effect that homework has on student outcomes. His finding is this:

‘Homework in primary school has zero effect.’ 

Instead we will continue to encourage all families to read with and to their children at every available opportunity.

Your children will continue to bring home books each week from school and they will continue to visit the school library on a weekly basis.

There are many opportunities for incidental learning to occur. This may happen whilst shopping, cooking, completing jobs around the house, during sports activities and just spending quality time together as a family. The other powerful tool is for families to reinforce any learning they have undertaken through these incidental learning opportunities that present themselves every day.

TERM DATES

PUPIL FREE DAYS:

These 3 Pupil Free days ensure that we can manage our commitment for all staff to continue to provide activities such as school camps for our students.

Please note, these dates are separate from our 8 Staff Professional Development days. Those 8 days are for our staff professional learning which will focus on Religious Education, Learning and Teaching and Student Wellbeing.

School Fees – Government Assistance Programs

The School Fee statements for 2023 will be sent out in the next couple of weeks and an updated Fee Schedule can be found in the knowledge bank section of PAM under commonly used forms.     

However, there are some Government assistance programs for families who may be in need of this. 

CSEF

The Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (CSEF) provides payments for eligible students to attend activities like:

• school camps or trips
• swimming and school-organised sports programs
• outdoor education programs
• excursions and incursions.

Families holding a valid means-tested concession card or temporary foster parents are eligible to apply. A Special Consideration category also exists. Schools can receive applications from families over terms one and two.

Families can list more than one student in the one application form if they are attending the same school.

Eligible means-tested cards

Means-tested concession cards must now be valid on either:

• the first day of Term 1 (Monday 30 January 2023)
• the first day of Term 2 (Tuesday 24 April 2023)

CSEF application form   (also available in the knowledge bank section in PAM)

Conveyance allowance

The conveyance allowance is a State Government allowance that may be available to students attending government or non-government schools.

If you live more than 4.8km from your closest school you can apply for the conveyance allowance and:

• travelling by public transport or by private car, motorbike, bicycle or bus, and
• whose nearest school is not serviced by a free school bus provided under the School Bus Program

The conveyance allowance is a State Government contribution towards transport costs and is not intended to cover the full cost of transporting children to and from school.

 Application for private car travel  (also available in the knowledge bank section in PAM)

 Application for public transport travel    (also available in the knowledge bank section in PAM)

School Bus Program

The School Bus Program is an extensive school bus network that provides free travel to eligible students. Students must be attending government and non-government schools and living in rural and regional Victoria. 

* Students are expected to use public transport where a service is available within 1.6 km (measured by shortest practicable route) of their home or closer to their home than the nearest school bus service. This applies to both students applying to access the SBP at no cost and to fare paying passengers. * * 

If your child is eligible, they can travel for free.

There are different categories that decide if your child is eligible for free travel. For more information read the eligibility guide below.

School bus program eligibility guide

Click on the link below to check if a school bus is available in your area.

School Bus Management System

Just a reminder for our Foundation Families that the Parent Workshop is on Wednesday the 1st of March. We are running two sessions that day, the first at 9:00am - 10:00am and a later sessions starting at 6:30pm - 7:30pm.

This week a email was sent out to all year 6 parents about the ordering for our year 6 jackets. This is done through CFD pay, below is a flyer that will show you how to set up an account and order your jacket. There is also a sizing guide for your use, Hip Pocket has informed us that they are getting samples in for students to try on in store to ensure you order the right size. Please make your purchase before next Friday the 24th of Feburary.

Once Hip Pocket has the full order they estimate production will take 2 weeks.

Our Year 6 students have been experimenting with lines and patterns to create an art piece from an outline of their profiles.  Many expressed themselves through repeated patterns, others took us on a journey.

6DD

6RM

6BC

Two weeks ago our scholastic brouches where sent home. Below is an attached guide that details what book club is and how to order the books you want.

Orders must be submitted by today.

Below is also a link to the website with further information.

https://www.scholastic.com.au/book-club/book-club-parents/

Below we have detailed Open Days for St Francis Xavier College and a flyer for St Paul's Grammar School in Warragul.

St Francis Xavier College

SFX College Open Day – Saturday 01 April 10.00am – 2.00pm (Both Officer and Berwick Campus)

Officer Campus Talk & Tour – 09.30am – 11.00am 

We are also looking at running the following Talk & Tours with a specific focus for different language groups to attend. 

South Sudanese:  

• Tuesday 07 March (with only attendees from this community – translator onsite and available 
• Tuesday 25 July (in conjunction with wider Talk and Tour planned as above – translator onsite and available) 

Hakha Chin: 

Year 7 2025 Parent Live Q & A Information Evening – Thursday 16 March 7.00pm – 8.00pm (registrations on our website www.sfx.vic.edu.au ). 

Year 7 2024 Orientation Day – Monday 04 December 

More information on Orientation Day will be provided late Term 3 or early Term 4. 

St Paul's Anglican Grammar School

SPECIAL REPORT: The Wellbeing Barometer 2023

Because parenting doesn’t come with instructions, SchoolTV is a wellbeing resource implemented at our school to help support you in the challenges of modern-day parenting. Parenting is a learning journey and it’s easy to feel stressed and overwhelmed when faced with raising happy, well and resilient young people today.

Every family has experienced some sort of difficulty or adversity in recent times, some more than others. As mental health concerns continue to rise, there have been some alarming statistics reported in relation to the mental health and wellbeing of young people. Unfortunately, the blueprint for parenting is often based on our own experiences, but this is no longer fit for purpose in raising children as citizens of tomorrow. Parents and caregivers play a vital role in providing the guidance needed to support children and adolescents as they reframe their worries and focus more on the things they can control in their life.

In this Special Report, we are seeking parent participation through a short survey. The survey is designed to provide a barometer to help gauge the state of student wellbeing within our community. We encourage you to take a few moments to complete the survey as this will help our school know the nature and extent of your concerns and determine how best we can support families in the months ahead. Responses remain anonymous and will only be reported on an aggregated basis. You are asked to base your responses on observations made in the last 12 months.

By working together we can continue to build relationships, foster connections, enable understanding and break down barriers as we navigate a pathway towards better mental health and wellbeing for all students. Please reflect on the information offered in this Special Report, and as always, we welcome your feedback. If this raises any concerns for you or your child, please reach out to the school or seek professional medical advice.

https://stppakenham.catholic.schooltv.me/wellbeing_news/special-report-wellbeing-barometer-2023-au

Have you re-set up your PAM account yet! 

We have been using PAM as our main form of communication.  All emails, Student Attendance, Sick Bay notes, School Reports, commonly used forms, excursion/camp permission notes and Family Learning conversations, will all be communicated via PAM.  

Access PAM via this link   Link to PAM 

PAM - Parent Access Module

PAM (Parent Access Module) is our Parent to School communication platform.   PAM will provide real time access to keep parents updated with their children’s progress, important dates and messages. Relevant resources – calendar events, student reports, parent notified absences, absence data and sick bay notes will all be accessed via PAM.

Parents will be able to easily book Parent Teacher interviews through PAM, and access teacher email addresses. 

PAM accounts are linked via your email address that we have in our systems.  If you have recently changed your email,  please call or email us on office@stppakenham.catholic.edu.au

Click on the 'forget password' link to set your password and then verify your email address.  (Email addresses must be verified for PAM to work properly).  Once your email is verified, your email can be used as the username for your account.

Once you have successfully logged in, you can save PAM to your homescreen on your device.

If you have any issues or need help with PAM please contact the school via email, office@stppakenham.catholic.edu.au

PAM Instructions

Parent Notified Absences via PAM

Once you have PAM set up and saved to your home screen you can easily send in Parent Notified absences.   Please use this platform going forward as this automatically syncs with the class roll.   This will fix the issues of receiving SMS notifications even though you had already notified the school. 

Please remember to update your contact details and any relevant medical details for your child.  

Most medical profiles have now been updated. Please remember to keep them up to date and upload any asthma/allergy plans that may be relevant 

To update any contact details please contact the school office. 

Covid Update

 It is strongly recommended that students:

• Who test positive to COVID-19 should stay home and isolate for five (5) days;
• Should not attend school after five (5) days if still symptomatic;
• Who are symptomatic but have not tested positive should not attend school until their symptoms resolve;
• Parents, guardians or carers advise the school of the COVID-19 positive test result.

Student who are close contacts or social contacts are permitted to attend school but are strongly recommended to:

• if a close contact – regularly test for at least seven (7) days following their last contact with the person who has COVID-19
• if a social contact - test if they have symptoms of COVID-19
• wear a face mask when leaving the house, including on public transport, at work, school, and other indoor spaces
• let fresh air into their home or other indoor spaces by opening windows, where possible
• monitor for symptoms such as a runny nose, sore throat, cough, or fever/chills, and stay home and test if they present with symptoms
• Parents, guardians and carers should continue to notify the school if their child(ren) is a close contact.