Newsletter Thursday 23rd 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 4JD’s newsletter!

This term we have been hard at work learning how to write information reports.

We worked with a partner to create information posters about animals.

Not only did we learn about writing, we also learnt about working together in a team.

Here are some comments that we wrote about our partners at the end of the learning.

Here we are with our finished projects!

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,

This week, Catholic schools across Gippsland and Melbourne’s outer south-east will open their doors to the community to celebrate Catholic Education Week 2024 from 17 May to 24 May.

This is a chance for everyone to witness the vibrant faith and learning environments in their local Catholic Schools with Open Days, activities and events planned.

Mr Paul Velten, Director of Catholic Education for the Diocese of Sale, said schools were looking forward to celebrating through activities, events, and open days.

This year's theme, A New Dialogue of Love, Hope and Joy is inspired by the Scripture passage.

‘See, I am Making All Things New’, Revelation 21:5.

This theme symbolises an optimistic and hope-filled perspective on the world and a renewed approach to fostering positive change.

The theme emphasises the belief that transformation and renewal are possible in all aspects of life through individual choices. By following the life and teachings of Jesus, and embracing principles of compassion, peace, goodness, and justice, individuals can contribute to a more hopeful and joyful world, sowing seeds of positivity and hope.

I had the pleasure of attending one of the Masses to celebrate our leaders and young students who have achieved wonderful things. The mass was held at St Thomas the Apostle in Cranbourne and the students from St Peter’s Secondary College sang and their band played. It was the most incredible and most moving moments of my professional career; to watch these young people sing their praises to the Lord. Our Bishop and Director were there as well as many other distinguished guests and it was clear that Catholic Education continues to grow and develop strong and proud young people of today.

Take care and God Bless,

Meg

Last week our foundation students learned all about being a Responsible Pet Owener

As we had a show tying incursion this week, we also have a guidebook below for you to sue and practise with your child/ren at home

We had lots of fun in visual arts this week! Here are some pictures and videos of us being creative !

Year 2 Visual Arts Class Video 1

Year 2 Visual Arts Class Video 2

Year 2 are excited about our Minibeast Inquiry unit.

As part of the learning, we had a guest Apiarist (beekeeper) who has shown the children different processes of beekeeping, roles of bees in the hive, life cycles of bees and what they eat.

Goals created by 3AG

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. 

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 eligible 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.

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. All schoo fee statements have been emailed out. If you have any questions plese contact Cindy in the school office.

St Patrick's has our own Facebook page were we post a couple highlights and show off the fun things we do in and out of the classroom !