Newsletter Thursday 27th July, 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.

It has been great seeing everyone back in Digi Tech this term after a well deserved holiday.

Last Term all year levels undertook a different Design Challenge. The Discovery Centre looked very busy and pretty messy most of the term, which was a sign that there was a lot of designing, creating and exploring happening.

Foundation students all explored and created different types of instruments and toys.

Year 1 students designed and built a model of their dream playground.

Year 2 students designed and built a model of a house to keep the Three Little Pigs safe from the Big Bad Wolf.

Year 3 students researched an Australian Animal and designed and built a model of a nesting box for that animal

Year 4 students designed, built and raced chariots for the Dash Robot.

Year 5 students played soccer matches. With a goal, goalkeeper and goal shooter which they designed and built.

Year 6 students designed and created an arcade game out of cardboard.

Year 1 and 2 students were invited to play in the Year 6s cardboard arcade and test out the different games.

This Term a lot is happening once again.

Foundation to Year 2 are using Green Screen to change the backgrounds in different photos and videos.

Year 3 are using Google Slides to create a stop motion video.

Year 4 are creating a video using claymation.

Year 5 and 6 are experimenting with Virtual and Augmented reality.

Thank you for all the generous donations of cardboard last term. The students' creations would not have been possible without it all.

Regards

Miss Jacky Merrey (Digi Tech Teacher)

Reminders for Term 3

Donations

In order to support our P and F committee, I am asking if there are families and businesses out there who are able to donate items that can be used for future raffles. Not only is this a sign of goodwill and enhance a sense of community, but it will also be great opportunities for your own business to be highlighted at St Patrick’s. If you would like to donate items, please contact the office on 5943 9000 or email office@stppakenham.catholic.edu.au

As always, we appreciate any help that is given to our beautiful school.

Dear Families 

Meg will return from her long service leave at the beginning of next week. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the school community for all your support while I have stepped in as Acting Principal for the past three weeks. The above picture highlights the journey I have taken since Meg asked me to step into this position. I have enjoyed the opportunity and continued learning about our school. I am blessed to be part of such a wonderful community. Welcome back to Meg!

Lisa McDonald

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.

Confirmation

Reconciliation

SCHOOL FEES

Our Term 3 school fees have been emailed out to families now. Please check your junk folder if you have not received it yet.

Our preferred method of payment is direct debit, please see the attached form. This form can also be found on PAM in the 'Knowledge Bank' under commonly used forms.

We also utilise Centrepay which can be set up via your MyGov account.

If you have any questions please contact the school office.

Have you logged into 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.