Newsletter Thursday 30th 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.

   

Dear Parents, Carers and Guardians,

Today in the Gospel we read about the Passover, which occurs on the first day of unleavened bread. When we attend Mass, we hear these words, ‘this is my body, this is my blood’. What is it you think of when you hear these words and read this passage? Do we think about the many times we have prepared for feasts and parties ourselves? Do we think about the work and sacrifices we make in order for these things to happen? Do we sometimes think, why am I doing this? Is it worth it? Every time we hear these phrases spoken in mass, we remember the enormous sacrifice that Jesus gave to us; his life. When we are getting ready to celebrate life, be it a birthday, baptism or graduation; the work is hard, the time to do it is hard. But in the end, we reap the reward of the gratitude and thanks of family and friends and the joy we have brought into the lives of others, even if just for a short moment.

Each week, I am so pleased to hear of the many achievements out students are making. To celebrate National Reconciliation week, our Foundation and Year 5 classes have made the most incredible display! This display is up in the school office for all to see.

Yesterday, we had our Divisional Cross Country on with 3 of our students, Riley and Owen from Year 6 and Amity in Year 4. Each student was most successful and further on in our newsletter, Louise Breeden will be including more information about the day.

Last Friday when I was out on duty, it was just wonderful to hear the students coming out to the playground exclaiming, “It’s Friday. That means we can play with the other grades.” On Friday at St Patrick’s, the students can play with any other year level they wish to. This has been around for a long time and last week, I was able to capture some terrific photos of this happening. It is just delightful to see our senior students supporting the juniors to play basketball and learn new games. I was able to capture some of these moments last week. See below.

Take care and God Bless,

 

Meg

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.

This week our Foundation and Year 5 students created this art work for Reconciliation Week

Autumn weather just keeps on coming and today was perfect for the Cardinia Division Cross Country Event at Toomuc Reserve. Competitors marshalled to the start with very similar conditions to the District event a couple of weeks ago. 

Congratulations to Owen (6JP), Riley (6RS) and Amity (5SA) for their efforts at this next level of competition. There were smaller groups in each race but the pace was much faster, with all of our students digging deep to complete the course. 

Owen and Riley finished 2nd and 6th respectively in their event today and will now have the opportunity to represent St Pat’s at the Southern Metro Regional Event which will occur on Wednesday June 12th at Hastings Foreshore. We wish both of them well as they stride into yet another level of competition. 

Thank you to parents/guardians who took time out of their schedules to transport their children to the Division Event and to Mel Britt for acting as the support staff member on the day.

Stay Active!

Louise Breeden

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.

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

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 !