Friday 23 March 2018

Week 8, Term 1 2018



Year 5/6 Camp
The campers are back safe and sound, albeit rather weary from their jammed pack trip to Canberra.  A great time was had by all.



A reminder about next week.
Next week is the last week of term 1.  The Easter raffle will take place at assembly on Monday morning @ 9am and excitement is building!
Children will be dismissed at normal time on Tuesday March 27th for their holidays and we look forward to welcoming everyone back on Monday 16th April.
Please note that OHSC will not be operating on Wednesday 28th March or Thursday 29th March due to school closure days when the staff will be attending their annual conference.

Secondhand Uniform
With the coming of the cooler weather, the Secondhand Uniform shop is open on Tuesday afternoons from 3- 3.30pm in the hallway outside the hall.  Stock up or just refit!

Important Dates

Monday 26th March       Easter Raffle @ 9am during final assembly 
Tuesday  27th March     Child Safety Team Meeting @ 9am.
Tuesday  27th March     Easter Mass @ 11:30. Term 1 concludes for students. Dismissal @ 3.30pm
Wednesday 28th Mar     School closure day due to staff conference
Thursday 29th March     School closure day due to staff conference

Monday 16th April          Term 2 commences @ 8.50am

Community Notices



Friday 16 March 2018

Week 7, Term 1, 2018

Principal's News from Jenny Hawkins

HAPPY ST PATRICK'S DAY for the 17th March
We are enjoying a day of celebration today for the namesake of our school, St Patrick.
Our day began with a special mass celebrated with Fr Paul. The church was filled with a sea of green. Fr Paul reminded the children to be like St Patrick who spent time praying and trying to always be the best that he could be.
Special thanks to our Year 1 and Year 2 teachers for planning the activities and our Year 6 students for leading the activities. The day will finish with the long awaited Colour Run and a special splash of green colour for St Patrick's Day. Thanks to Michelle Barclay, Annie and Bree and all of the P & F parents for their hard work in planning and preparing for the fun run.


Parish Education Board News
The St Patrick's prayer above was shared at our AGM meeting on Wednesday. The prayer helps to remind us of our responsibility as board members to ensure we remain true to the spirit and heart of God in the work we do. Our children and their education and well being are at the heart of all decisions that we make.
Fr Paul officially welcomed three new board members to replace our board members who have completed their two year terms. Special thanks to Kylie Newman, Shaun Bacon and Travis Westcott for their valued contribution to the board.
We warmly welcomed the following parents: Jenny Jones, Steven Peters and John O'Sullivan. We also thank John O'Sullivan for taking on the Chairperson role and Gabby Paroli for continuing her excellent work as the secretary.
We look forward to sharing the annual board reports with you on our Learning Site when the formal school Annual Report 2017 is available once it is has been signed off by the Catholic Education Office.

Parents as Helpers
Thank you to the 22 parents who attended the 2018 Parents as Helpers course this week.  We look forward to working with you soon.

Important Dates
Sunday 18th March        Family Mass @9am
Monday 19th March       Years 5/6 depart to Canberra 
Monday 26th March       Easter Raffle @ 9am during final assembly 
Tuesday  27th March     Child Safety Team Meeting @9am.
Tuesday  27th March     Easter Mass @ 11:30. Term 1 concludes for students. Dismissal @ 3.30pm
Wednesday 28th Mar     School closure day due to staff conference
Thursday 29th March     School closure day due to staff conference

Community News






Friday 9 March 2018

Week 6, Term 1, 2018

Principal's News from Jenny Hawkins
Parent Sacramental Faith Night
Thank you to the large number of parents who participated in the parent evening on Tuesday. Fr Paul Newton and Anne Mullan our Religious Education Leader, led an informative and interactive hour session. There were opportunities to share thoughts and ideas around the meaning and purpose of the sacraments in our every day lives.
The closing liturgy allowed time to reflect on some of Jesus' words. Take time to reflect on these words with your family during the Lenten season:
Do to others as you would have them do to you.
Peace I give you.
Forgive each other every tine.
Come, follow me.
Love God and love your neighbours.
Do not be afraid, I am with you.

St Patrick's Day and the Colour Run
We are looking forward to celebrating St Patrick's Day on Friday with a special whole school mass at 9:10 am. The children don't wear school uniform on St Patrick's Day. They can wear something green. Remember to send in a white T shirt for the children to pull on over their clothes if they are running through the colours at the end of the day. The children will join into special St Pat's day activities and finish the day with our inaugural Colour Run.
Special thanks to Annie and Bree for spending many hours organising the Colour Run celebration. All of the houses around the school circuit have received notification via a letter. An eleven page detailed Safety Action Plan has been prepared by the P&F and reviewed by Michelle Barclay our PE teacher and I. We thank all of you for your support of this special event.


Child Safety News
Based on the recommendation from our Child Safety Team, I have prepared a letter for all of our school families. This letter explains all of the changes we have made at St Patrick's school since the introduction of the mandatory Child Safe Standards on the 1st August 2016. A hard copy of this letter will be sent home after the long weekend on Tuesday 13th March. Please look our for the letter in your child's bag. Every school parent is asked to sign a return slip to say that they have read our St Patrick's school Safeguarding Children and Young People Code of Conduct. This is the same Code of Conduct that parents sight on the visitor's sign in I-pad in our school office. The Safeguarding Children and Young People Code of Conduct is available on the policy page of our Learning Community Site at this link. Thank you for your support in helping to keep our children safe at St Patrick's school.

New Sign in /out procedures.
As part of the new Attendance Guidelines introduced by the Victorian Government,  if a student is late to school or leaving early they are required to sign in/out at the office on the new white device -St Patrick's Kiosk.  This data will be generated to our electronic daily attendance rolls and recorded on the students' reports.  It is essential that parents notify the school of any absences or late to school reasons by 9.15am otherwise an SMS will be generated advising you that your child has an unexplained absence and you will be required to contact the office immediately.

This is also a reminder that as part of the new Child Safety regulations ALL parents/visitors need to enter through the main office door to sign in/out at the office on our black device. All adults will need to collect a lanyard regardless of the reason or length of stay. 

Have a safe long weekend and we look forward to seeing you all back at school on Tuesday. Please note there will be no assembly next week.

Jenny Hawkins
Principal

Enrolment for 2019
If you have an outstanding enrolment application for 2019, please return it to the office as soon as possible.

Lost Property
Lost property is overflowing and will be culled over the holidays if unclaimed.   There are also a large number of sports jackets. If you are missing something please check the lost property cupboard opposite the hall entrance. Please remember to label your child’s clothing/possessions so they can be returned to you.

Important Dates

Friday 16th March          St Patrick's Day celebrations and P & F COLOR RUN @ 2.30pm
Sunday 18th March        Family Mass @9am
Monday 19th March       Years 5/6 depart to Canberra 
Monday 26th March       Easter Raffle @ 9am during final assembly 
Tuesday  27th March     Child Safety Team Meeting @9am.
Tuesday  27th March     Easter Mass @ 11:30. Term 1 concludes for students. Dismissal @ 3.30pm
Wednesday 28th Mar    School closure day due to staff conference
Thursday 29th March    School closure day due to staff conference

Community News





Friday 2 March 2018

Week 5, Term 2, 2018

Principal's News from Jenny Hawkins
Pope Francis’ Prayer for Lent 
Do you want to Fast this Lent ?
Fast from hurting words and say KIND words.
Fast from sadness and be filled with GRATITUDE.
Fast from anger and be filled with PATIENCE.
Fast from pessimism and be filled with HOPE.
Fast from worries and have TRUST in God.
Fast from complaints and contemplate SIMPLICITY.
Fast from pressures and be PRAYERFUL.
Fast from bitterness and fill our hearts with JOY.
Fast from selfishness and be COMPASSIONATE to others.
Fast from grudges and be RECONCILED.
Fast from words and be silent so you can LISTEN.
Yr 1's Lent Tree
Enhancing Catholic Identity Surveys
All parent surveys went home last week. The surveys will open this Monday 5th March. We appreciate you taking the time to complete the survey. All respondents names will go into a draw for a $100 Coles gift voucher.

Parents Sacramental Evening reminder
This is a reminder for parents of children making their sacraments this year in Yr 3 and Yr 6 to join Anne Mullan and Fr Paul Newton in our hall at 7pm on Tuesday 6th March. Please bring something that represents your family, for example, a football scarf, a family photo or something of your choice to share.

Year 6 Leadership Badges and SRC Badges
This Monday's assembly will be dedicated primarily to the presentation of badges to our student leaders for 2018.

Child Safety Team
Last week our new Child Safety Team had their first meeting. Thank you to the following parents: Kate Egan ( Layni Yr 2) Fiona Quayle (Xavier Yr 4) and Felicity Tesoriero (Lucas Yr 6, Eamon Yr 4, Nathan Prep). Angela Yates is our staff Child Safety Leader and myself as principal. Next week, there will be a letter going home explaining about some of the processes, policies and protocols implemented at St Patrick's in relation to the safety of all children at our school.  

St Patrick's Day Colour Run and Easter Raffle
We are looking forward to the Parent and Friend's Colour Run coming soon. This is a new initiative from our P&F and we are looking forward to supporting this fundraiser. Thanks to our P& F team who are busy planning and preparing for the event. Thanks for your support for our traditional Easter raffle. The raffle will be drawn at our final assembly for Term 1 on Monday 26th March.

School Fees
School Fees are now overdue.  If you have elected to pay in installments, at least one installment should have been paid.  Also the camp fee of $600 for all  grade 5/6 students must be paid by Friday 9th March prior to their departure.

SPORTS NEWS

Dendy Swimming Carnival
What a beautiful day it was last Monday for the Dendy Swimming Carnival at GESAC. There was a wonderful team spirit at the St Pat's tent as our competitors from Years 4, 5 and 6 cheered each other on tirelessly throughout the day. Congratulations to our students who 'had a go' for the first time and also our more experienced swimmers. Special mention to Lily C, Grace H (freestyle) and Alice M (butterfly) who qualified for the upcoming Beachside Division Swimming Carnival. We wish the girls luck!


MFC Year 4 Clinic
On Tuesday the Year 4’s had a fun time because the Melbourne Football Club came to St Pat’s. We were very excited and happy. The players who came were Christian Salem, Billy Stretch, Corey Maynard and Anna Teague from the Women’s team. We got to practice our handballing, kicking and marking. We also got to ask questions like:
What is it like to be a footy player?
How often do you have to train and what do you do at training?
What is life like outside of football?
We hope that the Melbourne Football Club can come back to St Pat’s again because we loved the clinic. Thanks Mrs Barclay for organizing the clinic for us.

(Marco P 4V on behalf of the Year 4’s)



Enrolment for 2019
Enrolment forms for children commencing in Prep 2019 are now available from the office. We appreciate their return as soon as possible.

Important Dates
Tuesday 6th March         Parent Sacramental Night @ 7pm Years 3 & 6 
Monday 12th March       Labour Day Holiday
Friday 16th March          P & F COLOR RUN @ 2.30pm
Monday 19th March       Years 5/6 depart to Canberra 
Monday 25th March       Easter Raffle @ 9am during final assembly 
Tuesday  26th March      Term 1 concludes for students. Dismissal @ 3.30pm
Wednesday 27th Mar      School closure day due to staff conference
Thursday 28th Mar         School closure day due to staff conference

Community News
The online application portal for Year 7 2020 @ Star of the Sea is now open.

Families can access the portal via: www.starmelb.catholic.edu.au   
There is an enrolment icon on the front page and a large notice on the lower right of the front page.  
The enrolment icon will always be on the front page for visitors to our website, the notices area on the lower right will change from time to time.

Please read the enrolment pages of the website carefully, in particular:
  • Enrolment Criteria
  • Enrolment Policy
  • Key Dates
The application to enrol web portal will close late on Friday 17 August 2018.  All applications will be reviewed after the close of the portal.

If there are any questions or concerns, please contact registrar@starmellb.catholic.edu.au or to call the College on 9595 9595 and ask for the Registrar.