Newsletter Thursday 26th October, 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.

Mrs Chalmer's Class Newsletter

Metaphors about Class 3NC.

This Term, we are learning how to write different poems. The poems we are learning to write about are Limericks, Annotated Nursery Rhymes, and Acrostic poems. We learnt how to present words that are called Onomatopoeia words, which means they sound like they are written. We created Onomatopoeia art works, and learnt how to use Metaphors to describe ourselves. 

We wrote these Metaphor phrases about each 0f our classmate to share with you all.

Dear Parents, Carers and Guardians,

Today our Year 6's headed down to Philip Island for a Government funded excursion around life saving skills. Whilst the weather was not ideal, I know that their trip was a worthwhile one, learning valuable skills.

Just a heads up for parents that COVID and flu has begun to reappear amongst our staff and students. If your child develops any symptoms, please ensure you test them before sending them to school. The school has ample supplies of RAT tests so please ask your child’s teacher to get some for you.

This week, our Year 3 students made their Sacrament of Reconciliation. It began on Saturday night with the Commitment Mass and then Tuesday and Wednesday night of this week, the children and their families celebrated with Fr Janeesh and the community of St Patrick’s and St Clare’s. Thank you to Noleen Chalmers and Tresa Andrews for their thorough preparation of the students. All in all, a beautiful and successful occasion.

God Bless,

Meg

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.

2KK has been exploring shapes over the last few weeks. Check out some of their shape faces that they created! 

Tomorrow is our year 3 Fun Day! This will be a jammed pack day with many incursions booked until 7:00pm that night.

As this is a special day for our Year 3 students, we invited them to come in free dress on this day. Please keep in mind that they must wear close toed shoes and t-shirts that have sleeves ie no singlets.

If you need to pick your child up before the finishing time of 7:00pm please inform your classroom teacher beforehand as the gates will be locked from 3:30pm and the office will be closed from 4:00pm.

Below is a timetable for how the day will run, if you have any questions or concerns please contact your classroom teacher.

Today our Year 6 students headed off to Phillip Island where they participated in a Surf Life Saving Program !

SPECIAL REPORT: Discussing War & Conflict

Children are frequently exposed to distressing news through the 24-hour news cycle and social media. These experiences can provoke anxiety, especially in young minds still forming their worldviews. Parents and caregivers should be mindful of overexposure to such content as it can lead to symptoms similar to post-traumatic stress disorder. Children’s responses to trauma can vary, from being strong emotional reactions to being indifferent. It can leave an emotional imprint that can affect a child's behaviour and perception of danger.

Children need reassurance about their safety as they navigate uncertain times. Tailor conversations to your child's age and emotional maturity. Younger children benefit from simplified explanations focusing on peace, empathy, and cooperation, while older children can delve into historical events, root causes of conflict, and the complexities of international relations.

Before discussing these topics with your child, it is also important to assess your own emotions and comfort level. By staying calm and providing physical comfort will help your child regulate their own emotions. In challenging times, compassionate adults play a crucial role in helping children cope with anxiety and providing hope and understanding in our complex world.

This Special Report provides guidance on how to tackle this difficult topic and helping children understand there is still hope in our complex world. Please take a moment to reflect on the information offered, and as always, we welcome your feedback. If this raises any concerns for you, a loved one or the wellbeing of your child, please consider seeking medical or professional help.

Here is the link to your special report https://stppakenham.catholic.schooltv.me/wellbeing_news/special-report-discussing-war-conflict

I am riding 500k this month to help kick the butt of cancer. My goals is to raise funds to help these brave kids as they face the scariest time of their little lives.

Our school Colour Run is on Friday 8th December, families are invited down to watch in the afternoon. The times will be confirmed cloaser to the date.

As this event is late in the year, all prizes will be delivered to the school next year in Term 1. For our current Year 6 students if you have a younger sibling we will pass it onto them, and for all other families we will be in contact with once the prizes have arrived.

Since begining our fundraising we have raised $5,500! This is an amazing feat and we are so grateful to our community for getting involved. If you would like to contribute but you don't wish to set up an account you can donate directly to the school with the link below. Any prizes won through this page will be donated to families within our school community.

https://app.schoolfundraising.com.au/fundraising/st-patrick-s-5c21cd3c-2fe0-42bf-9e00-7f26fd8eb11e

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.