St Pat's Shamrock: Community Update #1.4

Alpha is coming to St. Pat’s School & Parish!

Commencing online on Thursday, 10 March at 7.30pm

We invite our parents and staff to the inaugural Alpha program that is commencing online via Zoom on Thursday, 10 March with a “Come and See” session. This is a significant event for our school and parish, and we would love you to consider registering for our first session.

What is Alpha? It’s an opportunity to take some time out from the fever of modern life and explore more about life, faith and meaning. It’s also a wonderful opportunity to connect with new people.

Here is a link to a short video #TryAlpha short from Alpha Australia on Vimeo

Even if you have never considered something like this before, we encourage you to give it a try.

I will be participating in the Alpha program - I hope to see you online too.

To register email principal@spmurrumbeena.catholic.edu.au or for more information text/call Maria on 0438 088 681.

We love being back at school

Thank you to Billy and Aria from 1Y who shared their marvellous creations with Ms Hawkins during the week. Billy's image is the "coronavirus" and Aria is a "bird".

Connection Event - Meet the Teachers Monday February 28 @ 7pm

There will be an opportunity for parents to meet our staff, outdoors in the school grounds on Monday 28.

If the weather doesn't work in our favour, we will introduce the teachers online.

Please keep Monday free at 7pm. We will provide you with more details shortly.

Covid Update

This week, the Victorian Government announced that existing COVIDSafe measures in schools and early childhood settings would continue until the end of Term 1.

This means rapid antigen surveillance testing will continue until the end of Term 1.

The testing settings will remain the same, with all primary and secondary school students and staff, early childhood education and care staff, and children aged 3–5 recommended to test at home twice a week.

RATs have proved an important COVIDSafe tool to help reduce the number of COVID-19 cases and ensure our schools are as safe as possible. Their use will remain voluntary for staff and students, but is strongly encouraged.

From 6 pm on Friday 18 February, QR code check-in requirements will no longer be in place in schools.

We will provide more advice on those settings as soon as we have the details.

School Photos

A number of families were in isolation when the sibling and individual photos were taken. Unfortunately we can't arrange for another class photo but will arrange a "catch up" day for other photos. Please email the office office@spmurrumbeena.catholic.edu.au by Wednesday 23 Feb if you wish your family to have photos taken on the "catch up" day.

Dendy Tennis Trials @ St Patricks
On Friday 11th Feb, we had 4 of our superstar students compete in the Dendy Tennis Trials held at St Pats. Mia Thomas, Kathryn Atzis, Max Sheedy and Jake Williams represented our school and competed against 6 other schools within the District. They were all outstanding on the day putting in max efforts into numerous games and sets. Max, Jake and Kathryn all finished top of their pools which progressed them all through to separate semi finals. Unfortunately the competition was extremely tough and they didn't progress through to Beachside. All students displayed great sportsmanship throughout, and should be extremely proud of their efforts. Well done!!!

Free Hockey session this Saturday!

Tuesday and Wednesday PE lessons this week were with two hockey coaches from the Waverley hockey club. The year 1’s, 2’s, 5’s and 6’s learned new hockey skills had great fun putting them into minor games and drills. The club is hosting a free hockey clinic this Saturday for all ages to come and try! See flyer details for more info.

Parents & Friends (P&F) News

Thanks to everyone who attended the first P&F meeting of the year. Here is a link to the minutes from the meeting. You can also access the minutes and past meeting minutes on the Learning Community Site at this link.

2022 St Patrick’s Pink List – please check your emails

It has been a long tradition that every family in the school receives a full family list, referred to as the ‘Pink List’ that contains every child’s name, class and, with your permission, your contact details. You should have received an email this week from our Pink List coordinator, Christie Alexander, asking you to confirm your details. Please take the 2 minutes to review your current listed details and give your permission, or otherwise, to be included in this highly useful P&F publication. New families to the school may find a hard copy letter sent home with your children. Any questions, please contact christiemalexander@gmail.com

Pink List Community Pages

In 2022, the Pink List will again include details of businesses associated with our school community, as we know many of us are keen to shop local and support other families where we can. If you have a business big or small to promote - we'd love to include the details. Please email the P&F: pandf@spmurrumbeena.catholic.edu.au with details of your business if you would like to be included.

P&F Class Reps for 2022 - Calling Grade 2 & Grade 4 Parents

The P&F are looking for the last couple of volunteers for Class Rep roles. Ideally, there would be one representative per class. Thank you to those parents who have already volunteered:

Prep: Christie Alexander, Razia Mohamed, Alanna Bailey
Yr 1: Kirsty Gemetzis, Kylie Thompson, Jane Naughtin & Anna McKenzie
Yr 2: Kathryn Manning-Clark (2Y)
Yr 3: Tiffany Smith, Maru Herde
Yr 4:
Yr 5: Liz Ward, Gabby Parr, Jo Da Costa, Jenny Jones
Yr 6L: Sue Williams, Jenny Jones

Please email the P&F team if you are able to assist as a P&F class rep in 2022: pandf@spmurrumbeena.catholic.edu.au

Seeking a P&F Dad Coordinator - Can you help?

The P&F is seeking a dad who would be willing to organise casual events for dads within the school community. In the last 2 years we have seen an increase in the number of dads at the school gate, and we'd like to build a social network for the dads. If you can help, please contact us via email pandf@spmurrumbeena.catholic.edu.au

Pizza Nights

Traditionally the younger year levels hold a casual pizza night in a local park on a Friday night within term 1. These are organised by P&F class reps or parent volunteers and are a lovely way to welcome new parents or catch up with other parents in the year level. Further communications will be coming out shortly, but the following dates have been booked in so far:

Prep - Friday 4th March at Packer Park
Year 1 - Friday 18th March at Parker Park
Year 2 - Friday 25 March at Murrumbeena Park, Kangaroo Road
Year 3 - TBA
Year 4 - TBA

Pre-Owned Uniforms - can you help?

The Pre-Owned uniform shop has been overwhelmed with generous donations. Thank you to all the families who have contributed, we are currently sorting through these items. Families wishing to purchase uniform items can email enquiries to the coordinators: stpatssecondhanduniforms@gmail.com. Items can be collected from the school office by parents or your children once advised it is ready.

Our Pre-Owned uniform coordinator would love some help to sort donated items by size and type and record them in an inventory spreadsheet. If you can spare a little bit of time each week to help, please email stpatssecondhanduniforms@gmail.com

PatCare

The St Patrick’s community support program (PatCare) is a long-standing group that supports members of our local community during times of need. Its volunteer base is coordinated through the St Patrick’s Parents & Friends, but the support is administered confidentially by the school. We are always looking to grow the list of volunteers available to assist.

Liz Hills will engage with families or individuals experiencing serious illness, grief or other hardship to identify what support PatCare would be appreciated, for example with a meal or two. We also support families with new babies to help in that initial busy period. Liz will then liaise with our PatCare coordinator, who then contacts the list of volunteers to see who is available to assist. The meal is dropped to the school by the volunteers, and Liz will arrange delivery to the recipient.

Our PatCare co-ordinator is Melinda Vella. If you would like to get involved please contact her via email on melinda.vella@energyaustralia.com.au

Parents & Friends Meeting - Tuesday 8 March at 7.30pm - all welcome

The Parents & Friends committee will be having our next meeting on Tuesday 8 March at 7:30pm. All members of the school community are welcome to attend any meeting without needing to be a member of the committee, although new committee members are welcome.

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to one of the P&F Committee members.

Co-Presidents: Razia Mohamed (Prep), Jenny Jones (Gr 5&6)
Treasurer: Vanessa Jirjees (Gr 1)
Secretary: Cathy Byrne (Gr 3)
PatCare Coordinator: Melinda Vella (Gr 1)
Pre-Loved Uniform Coordinator: Sandra Iorlano (Gr 1)
Pink List Coordinator: Christie Alexander (Prep & Gr 6)
General Committee Members: Kellie Heathcote (Gr 4&6), Caterina Slade (Gr 4), Kirsten Tranter (Gr 4), Anita Galovec (Gr 2), Anna Martin (Prep, Gr 2), Tiffany Smith (Prep & Gr 3), Brandon Dodds (Gr 1&3), Kathryn Manning-Clark (Gr 2), Jo da Costa (Gr 5)

Term 1 2022

February

Monday 21 Swimming Carnival

Monday 28 Connection Event - Meet the Teachers 7pm

March

Wed 2 Ash Wednesday

Friday 11 Beachside Division Swimming

Monday 14 Labour Day Public Holiday

Thursday 17 St Patrick's Day

Friday 18 Lawn bowls Beachside

April

Friday 8 End Term 1

Tuesday 26 Beginning Term 2

Community Notices

The Star of the Sea College Year 7 2024 application portal is now open. Access to the link is via the How to Enrol page on our website www.starmelb.catholic.edu.au or https://onlineform.star.vic.edu.au/