Week 3 Term 4 2019

Congratulations Confirmation Candidates
Fr Hayes anointed many of our students with the oil of Chrism (a consecrated oil) and made the Sign of the Cross on their forehead and said “Be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

On Wednesday evening, we celebrated a beautiful Confirmation mass. Congratulations to our Year 6 students, past students and parishioners who made their Confirmation. Fr Brendon Hayes and Fr Leenus co celebrated the mass. The church was filled with sponsors, families, staff and parishioners. Special thanks to Anne Mullan, Natalie La Fontaine and Jo Guscott for preparing the students so well and to all staff who supported the preparation for this occasion. Our Year 5 choir prepared by Mrs O'Dwyer and conducted by Lisa Harris ensured that the singing was superb. It was a momentous occasion for our students.

Fair
Tomorrow is the big day. Please pray for good weather and support our fair. Thank you to and all volunteers, sponsors and supporters of the 2019 fair.

Term 4 Dates

Sat 26 Oct       School Fair 11am - 3pm
Mon 28 Oct     Year 3 Assembly
Tues 29 Oct     Prep Orientation Session 2:45pm
Thurs 31 Oct   School Sports Day
Mon 4 Nov      School Closure Day
Tues 5 Nov     Melbourne Cup Holiday
Fri 22 Nov      School Closure Day
Mon 25 Nov    Prep - Yr 4 Swimming commences and continues to 6th Dec
Fri 29 Nov      Year 5/6 Life Saving Day
Tues 3 Dec      Link Booklist collection from 3pm
Wed 4 Dec      Year 5/6 Sailing Program
Wed 11 Dec    Carols Evening 6pm
Mon 16 Dec    Year 5/6 Graduation 6pm
Wed 18 Dec    Last day of term 4. School dismissed at 1pm

Week 2 Term 4 2019

Confirmation
Our Year 6's are prepared and ready for their Confirmation. We wish them well on Wednesday evening at 7pm.

Father of love and power, Guide these candidates as they begin their preparation for Confirmation.
Strengthen them in their baptismal promises, build them into the kingdom of your Son,
and seal them with the Spirit of your love. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Classes for 2020
If your child is currently in Prep - Year 5 and won't be attending our school next year please notify Jenny directly to help with class arrangements for 2020.

Flag Raising Ceremony
Here are a couple of  messages from our CEM guests in response to the ceremony on Monday:

"Thank you Jenny, the whole experience was inclusive, sacred, inspiring and soul deep. Congratulations on making such an inspiring difference to the students, staff and community."


"Thank you Jenny for inviting us to participate in such a beautiful ceremony today. I feel blest with that experience."

You can access all of the photos from the event on our school Facebook page. We will also publish a video very soon.

School Fair - 8 Sleeps to Go !!
A huge thank you to Nadine and all helpers who are working busily behind the scenes to make the fair a huge success. It is an opportunity to come together as a community and have fun as well as support our school. Please invite grandparents, family and friends. Spread the word.

St Patrick’s Early Bird Ticket to Ride!

Book your Fair ride tickets today via trybooking at  https://www.trybooking.com/BFWHP

This year we have some awesome rides including;

25m Ninja Course, 10m Giant Drop Slide, Petting Zoo, Jumping Castle, Giant Rock Climbing Wall and Bubble Soccer.

Early Bird Package (wristband + $20 worth of activity tickets) 

$30 -  SAVE $5

All Day Ride wristband $15

**Bring your Trybooking receipt on the day and pickup your wristbands from the Ticket booth**

All funds raised from this fair will help the school to purchase the following:

• Portable PA system with microphones and stand
• Drinking fountains and water bottle refill stations for the front yard
• Scooter racks for the bicycle shed
• St Patrick's Marquee

If you still wish to help at the fair in some way, please send all your expressions of interest through to Nadine Power npowered@icloud.com this week.

Review Summary for the Community
Here is a summary of our recent school review. We are very proud of the outcomes of the review. Reviews take place every four years and include a review of the minimum standards and requirements for school registration and the Child Safety Standards compliance.  You can access a copy of the full report on our Learning Site at this link.

St Patrick’s Catholic School has been involved in a Schoolwide Review in 2019. As the school approached their next review cycle they opted for a Special Focus School Review as a specialised challenge for improvement in specific, focused areas emanating from rigorous, evidence-based self-reflection.

In the school’s words, the main aim of the investigation was to identify, “Is our vision real, authentic and driving an improvement agenda?” We endeavour to ensure our Shared Vision and school wide professional learning, changes, innovations and practice fields are driving an improvement agenda that is contributing to excellence in outcomes for every learner. We want to identify what is learning, engagement and motivation at St Patrick's and develop consistency of quality teaching practice in all year levels. Ultimately, we want to develop a safe and inclusive culture for learning where every learner will flourish. 

The review process has been a very collaborative one where many voices have been heard - parents, students, staff, leaders, wider community. The data was collected over a four month period from April to August and involved a three day analysis and planning forward the next steps. Catholic Education Melbourne supported this review which was led by an independent consultant.

Many people were consulted for evidence - staff, students, parents, leaders and community members. The data provided some deep insights into St Patrick’s operation as a place of learning. Some of the key insights included the deliberate building of a safe learning environment. This has delivered positive results for learning and sense of well-being for students and staff. The school is performing highly and has improved being a positive contributor to its community. Strong and caring leadership is evident deliberately building an inclusive, research-based learning culture delivered with tenacious warmth. There is a strong focus on well-being for all and a clarity that slowing the pace to deliver more in-depth learning and sustainable outcomes is the way of the future.

There were many strengths and opportunities identified in the review. These included the deepening trust in school leadership from staff, students and community who see them as strong, focused and caring. The shared ownership of the school culture development is leading to staff unity and collaboration. The Core Value collaborative learning process has highlighted the need to take time and focus to embed practice and enhance culture. The Professional Learning around authentic prayer styles has enhanced the Catholic identity and deeply connected with the core value work creating the culture changes. This positive culture supports people to embrace and engage in the change process.
This was evidenced by the overwhelming feedback about the “authentic data collection and inclusive review process”. The increasing ability to successfully address meeting diverse needs across the school came through strongly and finally the highly positive curriculum outcomes and the inclusive and welcoming culture for families was clearly evident.

The opportunities to further embed practices include to continue to deeply develop shared meaning and connection with the school core values and shared vision. That staff continue experiencing and collaboratively making shared meaning of prayer styles to then share with their children. This will enhance connection with the wider community as the children then share this learning at home. There was strong evidence to continue to develop and implement the variety of interventions to meet identified diverse needs. This will ensure the school and community continue to foster well-being for all. Having had every voice heard in this culture development it is vital to continue to deepen and enrich the ability to engage every voice, child and adult. The introduction of “seesaw” as a tool that engages families, in school and home learning connections was clearly evident in the data. And finally to deepen the use of authentic inquiry for all learners at St Patrick’s, both adult and child.

There was one resounding recommendation that came from all parties: To embrace, embed and embody in all we do…. “St Patrick’s is a school where our Catholic identity underpins all we do. “ Here is a school that is well into a journey to build a strong culture of trust, making significant progress in a short time. By embedding this deeply, it would enhance the already great work they are doing as evidenced in the core values learning. Teachers and leaders all taking responsibility with the powerful voice of classroom practitioners guiding the pace, peeling back complex layers and aiming to do less and do it well, will enable the Catholic Identity to authentically underpin all that they do at St Patrick’s.

The beauty of all this - it came from within. The power of strong, deep and effective self-review is clearly evident.

School Fees
Just a reminder that all outstanding school fees are now overdue.

Term 4 Dates

Tues 22 Oct     Prep Orientation Session 2:45pm
Sat 26 Oct       School Fair 11am - 3pm
Tues 29 Oct     Prep Orientation Session 2:45pm
Wed 23 Oct     Year 6 Confirmation 7pm
Thurs 31 Oct   School Sports Day
Mon 4 Nov      School Closure Day
Tues 5 Nov     Melbourne Cup Holiday
Fri 22 Nov      School Closure Day
Mon 25 Nov    Prep - Yr 4 Swimming commences and continues to 6th Dec
Fri 29 Nov      Year 5/6 Life Saving Day
Tues 3 Dec      Link Booklist collection from 3pm
Wed 4 Dec      Year 5/6 Sailing Program
Wed 11 Dec    Carols Evening 6pm
Mon 16 Dec    Year 5/6 Graduation 6pm
Wed 18 Dec    Last day of term 4. School dismissed at 1pm

COMMUNITY NOTICES

Week 1 Term 4 2019

Welcome Back
Welcome back to our children, staff and families. Term 4 commences with the Year 6's preparing to make their Confirmation and a very special Flag Raising Ceremony this Monday. We also have our much awaited fair on Saturday October 26th. We are counting down and looking forward to it.

Please keep the Year 6's in your prayers . They will be confirmed on Wednesday 23rd October.

Flag Raising Ceremony
All parents are welcome to join us on Monday morning for our very special flag raising ceremony. We will welcome the Boon Wurrung Cultural Group and special guests - Fr Leenus, Steve Dimopolous MP Oakleigh, Deb Egan Southern Regional Manager CEM, Maree Homes & Tony Levett Consultants CEM.

School Fair - 15 Sleeps to Go !!
A huge thank you to Nadine and all helpers who are working busily behind the scenes to make the fair a huge success. It is an opportunity to come together as a community and have fun as well as support our school. Please invite grandparents, family and friends. Spread the word.
Last night at our meeting I saw some of the beautiful homemade crafts from the sewing team - cloth recycling bags and purses. There will be handmade jewellery, cards, games, rides, food, high tea, plants, fresh produce and much more. It's a great opportunity to purchase quality Christmas gifts

All funds raised from this fair will help the school to purchase the following:

• Portable PA system with microphones and stand
• Drinking fountains and water bottle refill stations for the front yard
• Scooter racks for the bicycle shed
• St Patrick's Marquee

We are grateful to one of our Prep parents, George Gemetziz from Tasman AV for loaning us a PA system to trial for the fair. There are so many wonderful sponsors and supporters. 3 Little Bakers are supplying delicious scones for the High Tea.
If you still wish to help at the fair in some way, please send all your expressions of interest through to Nadine Power npowered@icloud.com this week.

Hayden's Helping Hands

About Hayden’s Helping Hands, In brief, HHH is a small organisation that visits people sleeping rough in Melbourne to leave care packages of food, toiletries, clothes and blankets. It was started by an 8 year old boy called Hayden, supported by his sister and parents. 

The main activities include: going into the city to serve food at a BBQ and man a Stall offering toiletries, clothing, blankets and more

A big thank-you to the families who have so kindly donated items to help the homeless with the Hayden's Helping Hands charity so far... and to those who have also signed up as Volunteers! We are looking for more donations of toiletries, food and blankets as well as volunteers at BBQ's.

For more info, email sallyelizabethpalmer@gmail.com (parent of Jack and Will Palmer) or visit haydenshelpinghaydenshelpinghands.org

Secondhand uniform shop
Open 3pm Tuesdays.
With the change of seasons comes high demand. We appreciate your donations of good quality secondhand uniforms. All sizes needed. Summer dresses in high demand.
All funds raised goes to the P and F fundraising.

Australian Girls Choir Open Day

Notices were available to all our girls this week.  The Australian Girls choir encourage, challenge and inspire girls as they can learn to sing, dance and perform. School aged girls are invited to come along to the Open Day on Sunday 27th October to try their fun and inclusive classes and learn more about being part of the AGC.  If you would like to attend the Open Day, Ph 1800 338 142.

Term 4 Dates

Mon 14 Oct     Flag Raising Ceremony 9:15am
Tues 15 Oct     Prep Orientation Session 2:45pm
Fri 18 Oct        Year 1/2 Trip MSAC
                        P& F Meeting 2:30pm
Tues 22 Oct     Prep Orientation Session 2:45pm
Sat 26 Oct       School Fair 11am - 3pm
Tues 29 Oct     Prep Orientation Session 2:45pm
Wed 23 Oct     Year 6 Confirmation 7pm
Thurs 31 Oct   School Sports Day
Mon 4 Nov      School Closure Day
Tues 5 Nov     Melbourne Cup Holiday
Fri 22 Nov      School Closure Day
Mon 25 Nov    Prep - Yr 4 Swimming commences and continues to 6th Dec
Fri 29 Nov      Year 5/6 Life Saving Day
Tues 3 Dec      Link Booklist collection from 3pm
Wed 4 Dec      Year 5/6 Sailing Programme
Wed 11 Dec    Carols Evening 6pm
Mon 16 Dec    Year 5/6 Graduation 6pm
Wed 18 Dec    Last day of term 4. School dismissed at 1pm