Newsletter Thursday 1st May

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.

Welcome to 3OG’S -News Spot

At the end of Term 1 the students in 3 OG participated in the Garden of Gethsemane, which was one of the Easter Assemblies. The students took on their roles very seriously as they understood the importance and the relevance of this part of the Easter Story. When Jesus went to pray quietly just before he was arrested. They were all very excited at performing, especially the soldiers because they thought the costumes were cool.

3 OG is very excited to be back after the school holidays. We welcomed two new students Zaria and Beauty into our class. Looking forward to an exciting time of learning in Term 2. We have started teaching the students Italian and they are enjoying greeting and using some of the words. Great start to something new!

Year Level Camp/ Fun Day Dates:

TERM DATES 2024

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.

Dear Parents, Carers and Guardians,

Hard to believe we are week 3 of Term 2. This week we farewelled and welcomed back our Year 4's from their camp at Philip Island. From all reports they have had an incredible time and once again made us so proud with their behaviour. I understand there was some tears at night as they felt the sense of not being at home, but thanks to the dedication of my staff, the students were kept safe and nurtured the entire time.

It was also so good to hear of the support given to the students shown by their peers. Their words of encouragement and inspiration was amazing. Thanks to our Year 4 staff, Janelle Van Der Veer, Rob Direen and Annette Tanner for their efforts in organising the camp and being there for the students. Thanks also to Lisa McDonald, Tresa Andrews, Nola Killeen, Nimali Rathugama and Angharad Doran for their support and attending camp. Please see below for photos of the camp.

Take care and God Bless,

Meg

If you have a younger sibling ready to begin school 2025, please come and collect an enrolment form from the office. All new children to the school, need their own separate enrolment form. You do not need to take a formal school tour. Please come in or contact the office on 5943 9000 or office@stppakenham.catholic.edu.au

Our P&F are organising our Mother's day raffle and are looking for donations! If you are able to make a donation please contact the school office. 

Anything along the lines of things like cookies, vouchers for gyms, stores, anyone with home businesses such as jewellery, candles etc are all welcome. It’s a good way to give our community small businesses free advertising.

The raffle tickets and tokens are available off CDF Pay, with the tickets priced at $1 each or 10 for $8 and the tokens are $5 each.

The link to access CDF-Pay is below and available through SiMON Everywhere.

https://stppakenham.cdfpay.org.au

CDF_PAY_Guide_V3.pdf

CDF_PAY_Guide_V3 _pdf 813.41 KB

On Monday 13th May we will be hosting a Mother's Day Assembly in our stadium at 9:00am.
Mothers, Carers and Guardians are invited to grab a coffee from the van near our church car park from 8:30am and then some morning tea in the stadium before the assembly begins. It will run for approximately half an hour. All families are invited to attend.

Here are some pictures from our Year 4 camp to Phillip Island !

6JP ‘MAD ABOUT SCIENCE’ REFLECTIONS

From 9-10:00 am we had an incursion about electricity. I learnt many parts of electricity like photons, which is the energy the sun releases through solar panels. Also, nucleus and neutrons, atoms, protons and snap circuits. Atoms are little particles that make up almost everything, even electricity. Neutrons are in our brain and conduct electricity through our bodies. We also did an experiment where we would hold on an energy stick with wires connected to lights on both ends. Since we have electricity in our bodies the bulbs lit up which was so cool.

Written by Tatenda, 6JP

Today we learnt about electricity with a company called ‘Mad About Science’. We did many activities. My favourite one was the snap circuit. We had a board and bits and pieces. We would power something such as an alarm, fan and a light bulb. My group powered an alarm. It was very fun!

Written by Owen, 6JP

My experience doing ‘Mad About Science’ was phenomenal. I felt excited when my group and I worked together and discovered different techniques to use the technology. One of the gadgets that we used first were the lights which connected power from a battery to the light. Next was a fan/propeller which was the same thing as the light, but instead of a light it was a fan. Lastly, we used a snap circuit that had a bunch of snap-ons that could generate power and also there were lots of snap-ons like a battery, sound machine, light machine and propeller. I very much enjoyed the session.

Written by Tum, 6JP

SiMON Everywhere is the new app our school uses to acces PAM and CDF Pay. We will be sending reminders through this app, as such please download and sign in. There is a guide below for your reference. If you are having any issues please contact Alex Taylor in the school office ataylor@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 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. 

SPECIAL REPORT: Trauma Recovery

Trauma in children significantly disturbs their sense of safety and normalcy, leading to substantial emotional and behavioural changes. Such disturbances often result from exposure to traumatic events, which may be exacerbated by continuous media coverage. This exposure can trigger stress, anxiety, and trauma, with varying recovery timelines due to the unpredictable nature of trauma's impact. Observing young people grappling with these effects can be highly distressing for parents and caregivers.

It's important to establish a nurturing environment to help restore a child's sense of security to help promote resilience. Active involvement in their recovery is essential, as is recognising the unique, personalised needs of each child in responding to trauma. Depending on their age, children may present with different symptoms, such as regressive behaviours in younger ones or withdrawal and agitation in older children and teens. It is important to monitor and manage the type of information children may access to reduce their emotional distress.

The brain stores traumatic events as powerful emotional memories, influencing behaviour through mechanisms beyond a child's conscious awareness. By providing young people with support and equipping them with coping mechanisms to handle uncertainty, parents and carers can greatly enhance a child's capacity to recover and build long-term emotional resilience.

This Special Report will help you identify a child experiencing trauma and how you can support them to overcome it.

Here is the link to your Special Report https://stppakenham.catholic.schooltv.me/wellbeing_news/special-report-trauma-recovery

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. 

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.

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:

1. 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.