Dear Parents,

It has been terrific to have the children back at school.  It is wonderful to watch them enjoying the company of their friends and teachers.  They have quickly settled back into a solid working routine.

As a staff we are committed to providing as many varied learning experiences as we can for the students, however, please be aware that we are restricted by the COVID rules that we have to abide by.  These rules can change quickly and sometimes mean that what is permitted one week may not be the next, and vice versa.  I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank the staff for their flexibility and commitment.  Whenever any planned events change it has a big impact upon them and they have been more than willing to do whatever they can to allow different activities to proceed. 

It is wonderful that inter-school sport can commence this week for our senior children. At this stage we look forward to activities and events organised for the rest of year hopefully proceeding as planned.

2022 Enrolments

If you know of anyone looking to enrol their child at St Pat’s for 2022 please encourage them to contact the school Office on 5943-9000.

Grade 5 Camp

The Grade 5 Camp will be rescheduled; however, we are still finalising the details at this stage.  We are expecting that it will now be in fourth term.

First Communion

The last of the First Communion Masses will take place this Saturday, the 7^th at 2.00pm, and Sunday, the 8^th at 2.00pm. Please contact Noleen Chalmers for further details noleen@stpppakenham.catholic.edu.au

Assembly

Assembly will be at 2.30pm on Friday.  Unfortunately for parents due to the restrictions access will have to be online only.  The code for the assembly is  Click to View

The following COVID Restrictions remain in place when anyone visits the school site;

I remind parents that the following procedures are in place for the safety of all;

• Masks are required to be worn by parents at all times when in the school.
• Parents wishing to come into the grounds to drop off or collect their children must scan the QR code on the way in and wait out the front of the classroom. Please do not enter the rooms and social distance whilst waiting.  You must limit your visit to less than 15 minutes, gates open at 3pm at the end of the day.
• Parents waiting for children in the pick-up lines need to ensure that their children know which carpark to go to.
• If you do park your car you must walk over and collect your child. Please do not call for your children to walk across to your car unaccompanied. 
• Meetings with staff are by appointment only. Any parent that is going to be in the school for more than 15 minutes needs to sign in and complete the COVID form at the Office.
• Please communicate with staff via phone or email.
• The Office is open if required, however, please wear a mask and observe the density limits (maximum of 6 people). It is preferable to phone or email if possible rather than come to the Office.
• All extra cleaning and hand hygiene that was in place is still being adhered to.
• Please do not send food items to share with others when it is your child’s birthday as they cannot be handed out.
• If your child is sick, or displaying symptoms, please keep them at home. Children that present as sick or displaying symptoms at school will be sent home and asked to gain a medical clearance or negative COVID test before they return to school.
• Bubble taps are operational at school.
• An ample amount of sports equipment will be provided at school so we ask that students do not bring equipment from home.

Important Dates for Your Diary

First Communion - 6^th and 7^th of August.  2.00pm

Interschool Sports - 6th August  - No Spectators 

Confirmation – 21^st August

Grade 2 Swimming - starts 30th August.

Regards,

Simon

Applications are now due! 

The applicant must be one of the following:

1. a parent/carer (of the relevant student) who is:
   • on the first day of Term 1 (27 January 2021), the first day of Term 2 (19 April 2021) or the first day of Term 3 (12 July 2021) an eligible beneficiary of either a Centrelink Health Care Card or a Pensioner Concession Card, or
   • an eligible beneficiary of a Veterans Affairs Gold Card, or
2. a temporary foster carer, or
3. a student who is 16 years or older and holds a valid concession card (such as a Youth Allowance Health Care Card or Disability Support Pension Card).

The parent/carer must submit an application to the school by 13 August 2021.

If anyone has any questions or would like to discuss their school fee account, please contact Fil in the school office fil@stppakenham.catholic.edu.au   

Please download and fill in the form below if you qualify.

Interschool Sports

Interschool (Winter) Sports have been given the green light to go ahead.   An email went home yesterday with information for parents.   

This week our St Patrick's Grade 6 Team host St Catherine's at home.   Good Luck Grade 6!!

Due to COVID restrictions that are still in place we cannot have any spectators. 

Girls Football

Girls football has been rescheduled but we are still finalising details.  We will let you know as soon as its final.

District Athletics

TBC - Dates and team still to be confirmed. 

Have you set up your PAM account yet!

From the start of 2022 PAM will be 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.  

A new app (SimonEverywhere) will soon be available to download to allow easy acces to PAM but for now please save the PAM log on screen to the home page of your device or bookmark it in your browser.  

Access PAM via this link   Link to PAM 

SIMON -  a Learning Management Software solution for schools.

St Patrick’s Primary school is now using SIMON in the classroom to keep track of your child’s progress and learning as well as attendance.  SIMON will also be used for School Reports and Student Wellbeing.

PAM, SIMON’s Parent Access Module

PAM (Parent Access Module) is our new 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.cathlic.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. 

SACRAMENTAL PROGRAM 2021

Sacrament Dates for 2021

Confirmation - Grade 6 Students

21st August 2pm and 6pm - Confirmation Masses

Reconciliation - Grade 3 Students

14th October - Parent Workshop

20th and 21st October - Reconciliation 

Operoo is still our main platform for communication!  All correspondence will continue to go via the Operoo email platform.  In most cases it will be in Operoo that you will first be notified of any upcoming excursions or events.  Most of these events must first be approved before they appear on any calendar.  

Please remember to update any details in Operoo, for example change of address or phone number,  this will send us a message that your details have changed and we are then able to update our database.

Don't forget to upload your child's hayfever letters including symptoms specific to your child!

If you have any problems using Operoo, please call into the school office preferably on a Monday, Thursday or Friday and we will be able to help you.  

Please remember to update your contact details and any relevant medical details for your child.  

This can be either done via Operoo or contacting the school office.

The medical profile section of PAM has also now been turned on.   Please update this at your convenience.  We will still be using Operoo for any medical issues until the end of this year but as of the start of next year we will be moving to PAM for all communication and medical needs. 

Have you installed the new SZapp?   

Skoolbag is no longer being used, install SZapp now! 

 Follow the installation guide below to install the new app on your smart devices.  

Book club catalogue's went home this week!   Orders are due in by today.   All orders must be done on line via the scholastic web site.  

Please see the flyer below for instructions on how to order.   Cash payments will not be accepted!

St Francis Xavier are holding an information evening for Year 7 2023, for anyone currently in Grade 5.

The Information Evening is to be held on Tuesday 17th August but you must register your interest in attending on the St Francis website.  

Please see the flyer below.