St Patrick's Primary School Pakenham eNewsletter

Newsletter Thursday 28th March, 2024

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.

Gospel of the week; Holy Thursday

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

It was before the festival of the Passover, and Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to pass from this world to the Father. He had always loved those who were his in the world, but now he showed how perfect his love was.

They were at supper, and the devil had already put it into the mind of Judas Iscariot son of Simon, to betray him. Jesus knew that the Father had put everything into his hands, and that he had come from God and was returning to God, and he got up from table, removed his outer garment and, taking a towel, wrapped it round his waist; he then poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel he was wearing.

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, ‘Lord, are you going to wash my feet?’ Jesus answered, ‘At the moment you do not know what I am doing, but later you will understand.’ ‘Never!’ said Peter. ‘You shall never wash my feet.’ Jesus replied, ‘If I do not wash you, you can have nothing in common with me.’ ‘Then, Lord,’ said Simon Peter, ‘not only my feet, but my hands and my head as well!’ Jesus said, ‘No one who has taken a bath needs washing, he is clean all over. You too are clean, though not all of you are.’ He knew who was going to betray him, that was why he said, ‘though not all of you are.’

When he had washed their feet and put on his clothes again, he went back to the table. ‘Do you understand’ he said ‘what I have done to you? You call me Master and Lord, and rightly; so, I am. If I, then, the Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you should wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example so that you may copy what I have done to you.’

Dear Parents, Carers and Guardians,

This is the final newsletter for Term 1, 2024! What an incredible term it has been and I am sure as we always say, where has the time gone? As we reflect on the first term, let’s take the time to look back on all of the events we have celebrated. We have had our whole school cross country, celebrated Ash Wednesday, St Patrick's Day, Harmony Day, Easter Dress Up day and raffle. We had Year 2 swimming lessons, NRL workshops and orienteering for Year 4 and 5, along with the District Swimming competition and the annual visit of the Semper Dental van. Today our Year 6 students have attended the Life Saving excursion to Phillip Island and we finished off the term with our Holy Week assemblies which were beautifully presented and enacted by our students.

We congratulate our Foundation students for the wonderful term they have had. They have settled in so well and this morning we were able to celebrate with their mums and dads with a lovely morning tea and to share some stories.

Next Term, our Year 4's will be heading off to camp at Phillip Island. The teachers have spent many hours preparing for this wonderful event and I look forward to hearing about it upon their return.

I would like to take the time to thank all of my staff, my teaching staff, my Education Support Officers, my administration staff and my maintenance staff and cleaners. A school and the way we operate does not happen naturally. I have had amazing feedback from new parents this year about the ‘positive vibe’ they feel around our school. They have commented on the teacher’s willingness to stop and say hello, the older students and how they engage with the younger ones, and their good manners. They have noted how much care the teachers put into working with their children and as a Principal this is so wonderful to hear!

And to my parents, carers, and guardian community, thank you for all your continued support of St Patrick’s. We are so grateful that you have chosen us to educate and nurture your children. They are precious cargo, and we will continue to support them always.

Please enjoy a restful break and I hope you get the opportunity to reflect during the holiest of seasons as we reflect on the death and Resurrection of our Lord. May his sacrifice lead the way with how we lead our lives. Let us continue to light the way for others, see good in everyone and to ensure we live a life that is fulfilling, full of acceptance for all and to share the love of Jesus.

Take care and God Bless,

Meg

HAPPY BIRTHDAY !!

Zing FKG, Esther FKG, Charbel, 2NB, Grace 2NB and Joseph 2NB !

DATE	ACTIVITY
28/03/2024	Year 6 Excursion - Surf Life Saving Education
28/03/2024	Last Day of Term 1
16/04/2024	TUESDAY - First Day of Term 2
22/04/2024	School Photos
26/04/2024	Student Free Day
29/04/2024 - 01/05/2024	Year 4 Camp - Phillip Island
30/04/2024	Year 6 Incursion - Mad About Science
07/05/2024	Year 5 Incursion - Adam Wallace
10/05/2024	Walk Safely to School Day

Year Level Camp/ Fun Day Dates:

DATE	YEAR LEVEL	ACTIVITY & LOCATION
31/10/2024	3	Fun Day - St Patrick's Primary
29/04/2024 - 01/05/2024	4	Camp - Phillip Island
29/07/2024 - 31/07/2024	5	Camp - Kryal Castle
26/11/2024 - 29/11/2024	6	Camp - Coonawarra Farm Resort

TERM DATES 2024

	First Day	Last Day
Term 1	31st January	28th March
Term 2	16th April	28th June
Term 3	15th July	20th September
Term 4	7th October	18th December

2024 PUPIL FREE DAYS AND SCHOOL CLOSURE DAYS:

The 4 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.

29/01/2024	School Closure Day
30/01/2024	School Closure Day
01/03/2024	School Closure Day
15/04/2024	School Closure Day
26/04/2024	Pupil Free Day
16/08/2024	School Closure Day
19/08/2024	Pupil Free Day
01/11/2023	School Closure Day
04/11/2024	Pupil Free Day
18/12/2024	School Closure Day
19/12/2024	School Closure Day
20/12/2024	Pupil Free Day

TERM 1, Week 8 - 22nd March, 2023 - CLASS AWARDS
✔️	Student	Comment
F KG	James	For your resilience and leadership skills, and helping others to do the same.
1 AF	Kur	For sharing his mathematical knowledge with the whole class during learning Number and Place Value. Well done!
1 NC	Sang Sang	For great efforts with his reading and being able to answer questions asked.
2 NB	Dawn	For her dedication and commitment to her learning tasks.
2 SM	Sonia	For focusing on her work and helping her peers without being asked.
3 AG	Isabellan	For being a kind and respectful student.
3 OG	Hannah	For always working cooperatively with her peers. Well done Hannah.
4 AT	Reagan	For trying so hard to participate wholeheartedly in all class activities. Reagan, your enthusiasm and willingness to keep on trying is phenomenal! Keep up the super effort.
4 JD	Mitch	For praising and giving positive feedback to a class member’s story.
5 SA	Gurtaj Luke	For helping his classmates with their tasks. For his resilience to complete the assigned tasks and supporting his friends to solve problems.
6 BC	Riya	For a wonderful effort presenting information about Japan demonstrating excellent structure and public speaking skills!
6 RS	Archie	For a wonderful effort with his maths assessment.
6 JP	Alek	For showing determination and focus in class, especially during Maths. Keep up the great work Alek!
Digi Tech	3 AG	For displaying resilience when completing the online quiz about e-safety. It was tricky but you never gave up. Well done.
PE	FGW	For displaying cooperation when learning new activities to manipulate hoops - listening to instructions and waiting to take turns!

Thank you to the P&F for organising our Easter Raffle. They did any amazing job !!

We had over 30 prizes and our top four prize winners were:

4th: Kenneth 2SM

3rd: Shelly 3OG

2nd: Jemma FGW

1st: Noah 3AG

Mrs T. read 'Stay For Dinner' by Sandhya Parapukkaran and Michelle Pereira with our Year 5 students and explored different ways of dining in different cultures. The children attempted to hold chopsticks which are widely used in some Asian cultures.

We also invited Kuei Maluk from 5RM to present her book which she co-created with her family and cousins 3 years ago. It is called 'This is My Home'. She told us the story behind some of the pictures she and her family drew.

Starting next erm, our stduents will be learning Italian as another language other than Enligh (L.O.T.E) This exciting change will open student thinking around how we learn new languages. It will be run by our classroom teachers for approximately 15 minutes on most days. This structure optimises memory and will create opportunities for the class to use the signs they learn together throughout the day.

The Teachers as Co-Learners (TCL) model is where teachers learn with students. They are thoroughly supported to do this through a purpose-built website. We will be following the lesson plans, resources and assessments aligned to the Victorian Curriculum for Italian. Through learning Italian with students, teachers will also be able to model effective learning behaviours such as positive self-talk.

What is it?

Teachers as Co-Learners (TCL) is a highly innovative language teaching and learning approach grounded in both academic research and practical teaching applications offered to all Victorian Catholic primary schools. At its core, TCL provides high frequency language sessions delivered by classroom teachers, embedding effective literacy and language learning practices.

How does it work?

The TCL approach encourages and supports the use of communicative and functional language throughout the day and seeks opportunities to integrate language across various curriculum areas. TCL fosters the active participation of the whole school community in language learning, whilst increasing teacher understanding and mastery of language acquisition principles through a comprehensive and highly scaffolded program.

Evidence Based

A high-quality whole school language learning program modelled after evidence-based research and best practice in language acquisition pedagogy which empowers schools and their communities to actively engage with language learning and realise their full potential as inclusive global citizens.

Our library is looking for volunteers to help cover our new books. You will be shown how t do this and given the books and equipment to take home.

If you are able to help out please email Terri at tfraser@stppakenham.catholic.edu.au

Have you logged into your PAM account yet!

We use 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_Access_Module.pdf

Parent_Access_Module _pdf 547.25 KB

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.

CSEF Applications are now due!

If you have a current Health Care Card you may be eligable for the school fees concession program.

The applicant must be one of the following:

a parent/carer (of a student attending a registered Government or non-government Victorian primary or secondary school) who is:
- on the first day of Term 1 (29 January 2024), or the first day of Term 2 (15 April 2024) a holder of one or more of the eligible financially-means tested cards (Centrelink Health Care Card or a Pensioner Concession Card), or
- a temporary foster parent

The parent/carer must submit an application to the school by 23 June 2024.

If anyone has any questions or would like to discuss their school fee account, please contact the school office.

Please download and fill in both forms below if you qualify.

If there are any changes from last year, this includes a new child starting at the school or any child who has now left the school, there is an additional form that needs to be filled out. Please come by the school office to collect it.

CSEF Application

CSEF Application 140.69 KB

Eligible CCC Holders and Concession Application Form

Eligible CCC Holders and Concession Application Form 1.52 MB

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

School Fees

Please find the school fee schedule attached. Some school fees have gone out, the rest are following shortly. If you have any questions plese contact Cindy in the school office.

Fee_Schedule_2024.pdf

Fee_Schedule_2024 _pdf 203.47 KB