Thanks to all of the parents and staff who joined us for our workshop on Tuesday. Our meeting was an opportunity to respect and value the voice of our parents and celebrate the diversity of our school community.Here is the prayer we shared at the meeting.
This is the agenda from the meeting.
AGENDA
6:30 Welcome & context with the value focus,Welcome to country,Prayer 6:40 Introductions/ Apologies, Flowchart procedure for personal concerns
6:45 What are we already doing well ? Discuss with neighbour.
6:55 Dialogue Activity : Leadership Paper Enabling Diverse & Inclusive Communities - Read yourself.Triad activity dialogue/ sticky notes - What is important for your child at St Pat’s ? Suggestions/Ideas for ways we can celebrate diversity.
7:10 Discuss potential ideas going forward
7:20 Cultural working group
7:30 Conclude
 |
| Some of the outcomes of our dialogue. |
 |
| Parents and staff participated in the cultural workshop. |
Earlier this year, I received a letter from the Hartnett girls asking if we could recognise Down Syndrome Day. On Monday at assembly, the girls will share their story with the school. On Thursday, all children at St Pat's are invited to wear coloured socks and bring a gold coin donation for Down Syndrome Australia.
ST PAT'S SCHOOL CHOIR - A MILLION DREAMS
I was fortunate to listen to our choir rehearse for their singing presentation at assembly on Monday. They are fantastic !! Everyone is welcome to join us for assembly this Monday and hear the children sing their very own version of A Million Dreams from the Greatest Showman. Thanks to our music specialist and Year 3 teacher, Marg O'Dwyer for her work with the choir.
 |
| Our choir rehearse for assembly on Monday |
Thank you to Nicole and John Howard for running the barbecue on Election Day and cooking so many delicious sausages. Special thanks to their band of helpers and Year 4 parents who coordinated the cake stall and all of parents who supplied cakes on the day. The total profit will be around $2,000, a wonderful effort.
Thank you to the P & F for organising the disco for our children this evening.
ST PAT'S SUSTAINABLE GARDEN
On Saturday morning one of our school dad's, Brett Jeffkins (Brett's Gardening) and Robert (our school handyman) will be meeting at school to work on revitalising our school garden next to the bicycle shed in readiness for some winter planting. We look forward to sharing some photos of the new look garden with you next week.
We are fortunate to be the recipient of a Woolworths Landcare Grant which will help us moving forward with this project. Here is a link to the homepage for our grant which shows some before photos of our garden.
SMART SPELLING AT ST PATRICK'S
SMART Spelling is an approach that supports primary school teachers to teach spelling well. It follows a comprehensive ‘Prep – 6 Scope and Sequence’ that supports our current programs and strategies. Teachers start by teaching the meaning of words to expand vocabulary and then break words into syllables, sounds and letter patterns (graphs, digraphs and trigraphs) following a simple routine.
On Saturday morning one of our school dad's, Brett Jeffkins (Brett's Gardening) and Robert (our school handyman) will be meeting at school to work on revitalising our school garden next to the bicycle shed in readiness for some winter planting. We look forward to sharing some photos of the new look garden with you next week.
SMART SPELLING AT ST PATRICK'S
SMART Spelling is an approach that supports primary school teachers to teach spelling well. It follows a comprehensive ‘Prep – 6 Scope and Sequence’ that supports our current programs and strategies. Teachers start by teaching the meaning of words to expand vocabulary and then break words into syllables, sounds and letter patterns (graphs, digraphs and trigraphs) following a simple routine.
In the spelling classroom, students are explicitly taught spelling patterns, one at a time. Teachers choose a range of words (from simple to complex) from a suggested list. Students are then guided to choose 6-8 words from that list, to meet different needs. Personal words are also a focus in the teaching of spelling. Teachers use their strong professional knowledge to give meaningful feedback to students about their spelling in writing, teaching at the point of need.
St Patrick’s trialled The SMART Spelling program in 2018, and this year have rolled it out across all grades, following a whole school Professional Development Day at the start of the year. Within weeks we were seeing students using the metalanguage of spelling (6 year olds classifying their words as digraphs and trigraphs!). We look forward to second semester when we can begin to measure the success of this spelling initiative on a whole school level. In the meantime, your child should be able to articulate each week’s spelling focus, and once SeeSaw is up and running, we will share with you our current focus.
Please talk to your classroom teacher or to me if you have any questions or comments. Your feedback is always very welcome.
St Patrick’s trialled The SMART Spelling program in 2018, and this year have rolled it out across all grades, following a whole school Professional Development Day at the start of the year. Within weeks we were seeing students using the metalanguage of spelling (6 year olds classifying their words as digraphs and trigraphs!). We look forward to second semester when we can begin to measure the success of this spelling initiative on a whole school level. In the meantime, your child should be able to articulate each week’s spelling focus, and once SeeSaw is up and running, we will share with you our current focus.
Please talk to your classroom teacher or to me if you have any questions or comments. Your feedback is always very welcome.
Liz Hills
DENDY DISTRICT CROSS COUNTRY
Last Friday, 50 children from Years 4-6 competed at the Dendy District Cross Country. We are incredibly proud of their efforts and the manner in which they represented themselves and our school. We were particularly delighted to see the respect and support they showed each other throughout the morning. It was very exciting when the final results were announced - St Patrick's came 3rd!!
Congratulations to the following students who finished in the top 20 and received a certificate on the day.
* 9/10 Girls - Millie P, Tara M
* 11 Girls - Lila S, Olivia C, Ella C, Emma M
* 11 Boys - Matt F, Eamon T, Will W, Nico B, Mitch N, Finn P
* 12/13 Girls - Alice M, Luciana D
* 12/13 Boys - Fred H, Angus E, Terrence L, Jack O
Special mention to Alice who came in 3rd place, Tara who came in 2nd and Millie who came 1st in their respective races!! These girls all received medals during the presentation ceremony. The Beachside Division is next week; we wish all our competitors good luck.
We would also like to thank the parent helpers who accompanied our team and assisted the course marshals. Your support is much appreciated.
PARISH EDUCATION BOARD (PEB)
Here is a link from our Learning Community Site to information about our PEB. You can access a list of PEB members, reports and guidelines in this section of our Learning Site.
Introduction: The safety and security of all students and teachers at our school is paramount. Our school Parish Education Board wishes to set up an Occupational Health & Safety working group. This OH&S working group will have representation from teachers and parents. We are looking for expressions of interest if you are a parent who would like to join this newly forming OHS working group.
Key responsibilities and duties: Jenny as principal of the school is responsible for ensuring Occupational, Health and Safety standards are maintained. However, this working group will prove a very useful collection of people with diverse experiences and skills, to assist Jenny with this responsibility. Some of the responsibilities of the working group will include:
- Conduct walkarounds of our school premises and buildings to identify any OH&S risks or concerns, and consider mitigating activities. This will contribute to the school goal of having a safe and secure environment for all children, staff and visitors to our school.
- Implement any OH&S audit findings made by the Catholic Education Office
- Consider the good practice suggestions in place from Federal and State government bodies (e.g. Worksafe Victoria) as well as suggestions from our Catholic Education Office and implement these, where appropriate
- Assist the school implement new OH&S initiatives
- Foster and develop an OH&S Culture across the school
Time commitment :We envisage the OHS working group meeting once per month/twice per term with each meeting lasting no longer than one hour. Time of that meeting can be scheduled to work around your availability. Goal is to have all OHS to provide a brief written update to the PEB for their full Board meetings.
What to do next? If you are interested in being considered for joining this working group, please call Sandra in the school office or email Jenny directly at jhawkins@spmurrumbeena.catholic.edu.au.
DOGS
This is a reminder that due to health and safety reasons, dogs are not to be on the school grounds unless with approval for a special class visit.
Thank you from the P & F
The P & F would like to thank the mums who attended the Mother's Day afternoon tea and would like to advise that the funds raised ($51.00) have been donated to the LOVE YOUR SISTER charity.
FAMILY FAIR MEETING
All welcome to join the Family fair meeting at 7:30pm in the staff room.
HELP REQUIRED
56 year old lady with a disability living in Carnegie (close to St Pat’s) seeks a cleaner to support her with cleaning her small unit twice a week for one hour. Potential cleaner must have their own ABN or work for a registered cleaning company and be prepared to charge the NDIS rate for cleaning ($41.43 per hour). For more information please contact Hans van de Graaff on 0418 352 706.
Term 2 Dates
Monday 27th May Assembly - Choir performance
Thursday 30th May Down Syndrome Day at St Pat's - wear coloured socks/gold coin
Family Fair Meeting 7:30-8:30pm
Thursday 30th May Down Syndrome Day at St Pat's - wear coloured socks/gold coin
Family Fair Meeting 7:30-8:30pm
Friday 31st May 5/6 Interschool Sport
Years 3/4 Level Mass
Mon 3rd June 5H Assembly
Friday 7th June School Closure DayMonday 10th June Queen's Birthday Holiday
Friday 14th June 5/6 Interschool Sport
5/6 Level Mass
Mon 17th June 3D Assembly
Thu 20th June Parent/Teacher Interviews
Friday 28th June Last Day of Term 2
Secondary Schools for 2020
No comments:
Post a Comment