Newsletter Thursday 9th November, 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.

4PA Class Newsletter

Hello St Pat’s Community,

This term for Inquiry, the Year 4s have been learning about the continent of Africa and all its countries. We have researched information on Africa including its famous rivers, mountains, rainforests, and the climate in each of its different countries.

In Week 3 we had two African drummers show us how to play African drums. They taught us the three ways to strike the head in djembe drumming: slap, bass, and tone. At the end of the session, they played the drums while we danced.

In Week 4, Sister Julie visited to teach us about Nigeria, a country in Africa. Sister Julie was born in Nigeria, and became a teacher then a principal. She told us about the capital city of Abuja, the flag, population, music, celebrations, clothing and the climate. We asked her lots of questions at the end of her presentation. We enjoyed listening to Sister Julie.

In Week 5, some Year 4 and 5 girls volunteered to demonstrate a women's dance and then taught our classes how to do the dance to Jerusalema. It was interesting to watch and even more interesting to try.

This term in Writing we have been learning about different forms of poetry, such as, haiku, cinquain, acrostic, shape, and limericks. We had fun experimenting with writing in these styles and covering a variety of topics. Here are some examples of our poems:

From everyone in 4PA we wish you all a lovely weekend!

Dear Parents, Carers and Guardians,

Yesterday afternoon I attended the Athletics carnival for our year 3-6s at Toomuc Reserve. It was a hot day but the students were amazing. It was incredible to watch how well they encouraged one another and got in to lend a hand. All students participated, even students not actually in events, but running the marshalling of events and helping with other bits and pieces. Thanks to all the grade 3-6 staff and our ESOs for their wonderful work yesterday. And to Louise Breeden, our superstar Phys Ed teacher, who as always, prepares the most organised events and ensures that everything runs smoothly! A great day.

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.

Next week, Friday 17th the School Choir will be performing at assembly. All families are inviting to come along and watch !

Icy Pole Wednesday is BACK! Get on CDF Pay to order an icypole for $2 !!

https://stppakenham.cdfpay.org.au

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. 

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 $6,282 ! 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