Community Update # 4.8

The children's beautiful memories of Mrs Barclay are displayed on this butterfly tree. 

Karin Dornbierer (our retired art teacher) is coordinating a special project for the memorial garden in the front yard. Karin is getting input from the children and will work on the project over the next few weeks. The project will be finished early in Term 1 2021.

Safety Message

The number of cyclists riding to school has increased significantly this term. This is a great sign ! However, it has led to a need to replace the worn, wooden bike racks with new metal ones which will accomodate the bicycles more easily and safely. The new racks will be installed over the weekend.

Another outcome of the increase in cyclists, is the number of children with bikes waiting on the pavement in the morning outside the back gates. It is becoming a safety hazard for other families and pedestrians walking past. Please note the children can't enter the grounds until 8:45am as per the notice in Community Update #4.3 There is no reason for the children to arrive before that time. A number of children are arriving early and waiting on the street. Starting from Monday, there will be safety cones out in the street and the children waiting will be required to stand on the school side of the cones to allow room for pedestrians to safely go past.

It is also important to remind your children to always cross at the crossing. We remind the children at school but we need your support  in order to keep all children safe. This is vital especially for the children that enter and exit through the back gates.

After school today we will put cones out on the footpath and ask that all parents waiting for children please try to stand on the school side of the cones during peak pick up times especially around the front yard entry gates. Please ensure you enter the front yard to collect your child at the end of the day and immediately exit through the church gate to prevent the bottleneck around the gate entry point. 

We appreciate your support and understanding as we work together to keep our children safe. 

Book Week activities

Thanks to all of the families who supported our dress up day on Monday. The children looked great in their different costumes. The costumes were very creative.

Thanks to Mrs Woods, Miss O'Halloran and Mrs Maddocks who organised the book activities for the week. 

Classes 2021

I have received several email requests with regards to classes for 2021. Due to 2020 being a different year to normal, for consistency and stability, all classes will remain the same for 2021 with some minor adjustments only.

Please email me directly if necessary principal@spmurrumbeena.catholic.edu.au

Children will be able to meet their class teachers for 2021 during our first transition session on Friday 4 December.

We have a number of new families joining our school and they will be able to join the transition sessions too.

Jenny Hawkins

Principal

Parents & Friends - Annual General Meeting - Thursday 26th November

The St Patrick's Primary School Parents & Friends Association will be holding its Annual General Meeting via Zoom on Thursday 26th November 2020 at 7.30pm.

While the P&F has been necessarily quieter than usual this year, we are hoping that circumstances in 2021 will allow us to resume our important work in supporting the school, our children and the wider St Patrick's community. We would love you to be part of our committee in 2021!

Looking for ways to help in 2021?

We are seeking a volunteer to fill the role of Treasurer (no financial background necessary), and we always welcome new general committee members. If you are interested in learning more about these roles, please feel free to contact:

• Jenny Jones - 0410 470 647
• Kim Johnston - 0450 954 223

or email pandf@spmurrumbeena.catholic.edu.au

Anyone from the school community is welcome to attend the AGM, even if you don't want to join the committee:-

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88097387939?pwd=THRDd0h0LzBCMzkzdmJqWDFhaGIyUT09

Meeting ID: 880 9738 7939
Passcode: 443219

Term Dates

Term 4 2020

Whole school photo                                    November 24

Parish Education Board Meeting               November 25

Parents and Friends AGM                          November 26

School Closure Day                                    November 27

Community Christmas Celebration           December 8

Modified Mini Market                                   December 11

Modifies Year 6 Graduation                        December 14

School finishes at 1pm                               December 16

Term 1 2021

Staff only return Closure Day                     January 27

All children commence                               January 28

End Term 1                                                    March 30

Closure Day Staff PL  Day 1                        March 31

Closure Day Staff PL  Day 2                        April 1 

Community Update #4.7

Do you read the newsletter ? Weekly newsletter views 

Thanks to all of you who read the newsletter and keep informed about our school activities. We are able to track our weekly newsletter views. These have increased during 2020 !! The views are very good considering we only have  241 families. Here are the statistics for Term 4.

Community Update #4.1     916 views

Community Update #4.2     914 views

Community Update #4.3     596 views

Community Update #4.4     409 views

Community Update #4.5     660 views

Community Update #4.6     448 views

Remembrance Day

This week we celebrated Remembrance Day on Wednesday 11 November with a liturgy prepared by our Faith and Community team leaders Ms La Fontaine and Mrs O'Dwyer. You can access the full liturgy to share with your family at this link on our Learning Community Site.

A number of activities and events have been organised for our Year 6's this term. Traditionally, the students prepare special projects to be presented for an award at the local RSL club. Due to the pandemic, the Remembrance Day award ceremony wasn't able to take place. However, an exception was made for a Covid safe visit to St Patrick's by local members. 

Congratulations to Lila S for winning a scholarship to attend Star of the Sea.

Congratulations to the runners up  - Angus Mc,  Hamish B, Bradley J , William W and Eleanor. 

Their projects are on display outside the school hall and their classrooms.

Book Week dress up day reminder

Don't forget to come dressed up as your favourite book character on Monday. We will begin the celebrations with our dress up day and Covid safe parade (sorry no parents can join us this year) on Monday and continue with special activities throughout the week to Friday 20 November. The theme this year is Curious Creatures Wild Minds. So in order to get into the spirit of costume creativity, the children can come up with characters from a book they love or wear anything quirky, curious or wild!!! The idea is to have FUN!  One great website is the CBCA. Here is a link with more information about dress up ideas for families.

Mini House Sports Day Friday 20 November

All children are invited to come dressed in their house colours on Friday ready to participate in a mini sports day with the Year 6 leaders.

Second Hand Chromebook wanted

One of our current Year 5 students requires a second hand Chromebook for their final year in Year 6. Please email principal@spmurrumbeena.catholic.edu.au for further details.

Thank you to one of our school families who generously offered to purchase an extra Chromebook as an anonymous donation for a school family in need.

Parish Education Board News  (PEB)

The PEB met for another meeting via Zoom at the end of October.

• The school accountant presented the annual financial report. Following the challenges of the pandemic year, the PEB have agreed to support the principal's recommendation to freeze the school fees for 2021. This means that the fees and levies will remain the same for 2021 as they are for 2020.
• The school will embark on an internal refurbishment programme aligned to the Masterplan in 2021. The principal is meeting with K2LD (Architects who consulted with the community to design the current Masterplan 2018/2019) and will update the community with plans going forward.
• The transition to the new school governance model is underway in readiness for execution January 1 2021. You can learn more about the model by watching this video.
• Student success during the Flexible Learning period as reported in last week's newsletter puts our children in good stead going forward with their education. Special thanks to the hard work and dedication from staff, parents and of course our students.
• The school is always open to receiving feedback. We thank you for taking the time to give us feedback. Feedback can take place through many mediums :

1.  Verbal in person or via a telephone conversation
2.  Written via email to a teacher or the principal
3.  Most recently, parents have begun to give feedback via social media through google reviews. 

TeamKids

At TeamKids we have been focusing on ‘gratitude’ during the last two terms. We have created a gratitude display and also had daily catchups where the students have been encouraged to share something great that has happened for them during that day or week. We are fostering students’ growth mind-sets and encouraging a positive outlook on life.

 In relation to this, Andrew is participating in Movember where he will be running 100kms for the month of November. This is all about raising awareness around mental health. If you would like to donate to this cause please click below.

 

https://movember.com/m/andycell?mc=1

Term Dates

Term 4 2020

BOOK DAY dress up and activities            November 16

House Colour Mini Sports Day                   November 20

Whole school photo                                    November 24

School Closure Day                                    November 27

Community Christmas Celebration           December 8

Modified Mini Market                                   December 11

Modifies Year 6 Graduation                        December 14

School finishes at 1pm                               December 16

Term 1 2021

Staff only return Closure Day                     January 27

All children commence                               January 28

End Term 1                                                    March 30

Closure Day Staff PL  Day 1                        March 31

Closure Day Staff PL  Day 2                        April 1

 

Community Update # 4.6

Farewell Mrs Barclay

On Monday 2 November, the sun shone down over our school remembrance garden which was filled with golden gerbera daisies. The funeral service to celebrate the life of Michelle Barclay commenced at 10:30am and was a truly moving celebration of Michelle's life. We were blessed to have worked alongside such a passionate teacher and leader who put her heart and soul into everything she did for our children and our community.

Michelle's husband, Mal, described Michelle as a "rock star". Everywhere they went together, whether overseas or locally, they would always be greeted by people who knew Michelle. She touched the lives of so many people, especially our staff, children and parents at St Pat's. Staff members came together at the end of the service to pay tribute to Michelle. We formed a guard of honour to farewell our gifted and much loved colleague and friend.

Our St Pat's children have been decorating butterflies and writing pages for a special book of recollections  in loving memory of their PE teacher. The book will be presented to Michelle's family. I will continue to share some of the children's moving reflections with you in the coming weeks. Please read below a heartfelt prayer written by Rhiannon in 40.

The original live stream of the service was disrupted for some people, however you can rewatch an uninterrupted version of the service at this link.vimeo.com/474493615

Plans are underway with our SRC students to design the Barclay fitness circuit/running track which will become a major fundraiser through the P&F for 2021.

May we continue to pray for Michelle's family and give thanks for her life. She was such a generous, loving person who gave so much of herself and cared deeply about those around her. May we learn from her example.

Parish Newsletter Update Regarding Father Paul Newton

Late on Friday afternoon, Father Leenus shared a letter with me from the Archbishop regarding the resignation of Father Paul. The letter which he received from the Archbishop is being shared with the Parish at 10 am this morning. As we are a Parish school, it is important that our school community is informed of this news in a timely manner especially as reference is made to our school in the letter. 

Here is the link to the Parish newsletter.

Celebrate 96% Student Success Rate Across the School

Our priority since the return to school has been the wellbeing of each student and family. We have facilitated many activities in the classroom, across levels and in the playground to ensure all children feel connected and confident.

Since the children returned to school, they have each been assessed according to the schedule we sent home last term. It was important to determine how our students were travelling, especially given the hype in the media about the impact of home learning on students’ educational outcomes.

The results of our students are a credit to the parents whose support has been overwhelming, along with the targeted, dynamic programs provided by the teaching staff, and the small group and one-on-one support provided to students as needed. We are delighted to share that not one of our students has returned a result indicating a slide in their academic performance. A small number of children have plateaued or made minimal gains, and more than 96% of our students have made significant gains in both reading and maths (some as much as 14 months in a 6 month period). A couple of weeks ago, we commenced extension and intervention programs to again meet the various needs of our students, and ensure a solid, positive end to 2020. All our students, and our teachers, are ready for the challenges of 2021!

Extra school expenditure during Flexible Learning supports successful outcomes for our students

During the home, remote and flexible learning period, our school outlaid in excess of $53,000 on extra resourcing over and above the "non covid" normal operational costs for the school. The school remained open and fully operational and staffed during this period. The extra resourcing included and is not limited to : additional online educational software licenses and programmes, online incursions, upgrading of the school wifi network, printing of workbooks and resource packs, purchasing of Chrome books to loan to families, purchasing of replacement laptops for staff, purchasing of equipment for filming teaching and tutorial videos, employment of additional Learning Support staff to teach small and individual support groups and the employment of teachers to release staff to carry out one to one students assessments.

Celebrate our Leaders of the Future - Higgins Medal Winners 2020

On Thursday evening, two of our hardworking and diligent Year 6 leaders were awarded with the coveted Higgins Medal. The Higgins medal is an annual award recognising local students who excel in their studies, show strong leadership amongst their peers and provide exemplary service to their community. Our warmest congratulations go to Kayley and Jack. You can learn more about the reasons they were nominated for the award in next week's assembly.

Book Week

We are launching Book Week at St Patrick's this year on Monday 16 November, Term 4 Week 7. We will begin the celebrations with our dress up day and Covid safe parade on Monday and continue with special activities throughout the week to Friday 20 November. The theme this year is Curious Creatures Wild Minds. So in order to get into the spirit of costume creativity, the children can come up with characters from a book they love or wear anything quirky, curious or wild!!! The idea is to have FUN! There are fantastic dress-up ideas out there as many schools celebrated Book Week last week.

One great website is the CBCA. Here is a link with more information about dress up ideas for families.

Team kids Newsletter

Term Dates

BOOK DAY dress up and activities       November 16

School Closure Day                                November 27

Community Christmas Celebration       December 8

Modified Mini Market                               December 11

Year 6 Graduation                                    December 14

School finishes at 1pm                            December 16

Community Update #4.5

 Together we pray for Michelle

May our Lord be surrounding you, his peace be yours. Amidst this great storm know you are safe in his arms. May our Lord be above you, may our Lord be behind you, and may our Lord be beside you while you walk hand in hand. 

Amen

Thanks to all of our families who joined the beautiful school liturgy for Mrs Barclay. Thanks again to Mrs O'Dwyer and Miss La Fontaine for organising the liturgy and our Year 6 leaders for helping with the readings.

Here is the livestream link to the funeral service on Monday 2 November at 10:30.

Thank you to all of the children decorating the butterflies in memory of Mrs Barclay. Please bring them into school and they will be added to the special tree in the corridor.

1:1 Chromebook Digital Device Program Year 1-6 2021

Here is a link to the letter that explains in detail our programme for 2021.

Full access to the 1:1 Chromebook portal for purchasing the device is available at this link on our Learning Community Site

Term Dates

School Closure Melbourne Cup            November 2 & 3

BOOK DAY dress up and activities       November 16

School Closure Day                                November 27

Community Christmas Celebration       December 8

Modified Mini Market                               December 11

Year 6 Graduation                                    December 14

School finishes @1pm                            December 16

Community Update #4.4 Michelle Barclay

 

We are all feeling sad at the loss of our beloved Mrs Barclay after her 15 month battle with cancer. Michelle joined our school community in 2009 as an energetic, caring and passionate PE teacher. During her time with us, she touched the minds and hearts of numerous children, staff and parents and we miss her dearly.

Class Prayers and a Family Liturgy Thursday 5pm

The children will continue to pray for Michelle and her family as part of morning prayers each day. We also set up a supervised prayer space in the hall for some of the older children to come together during morning break times.

Many of the children have written and drawn reflections about Mrs Barclay. We are going to bind them together into a book for Michelle's husband Mal and her children Lily and Hugo.

Thanks to our Faith and Community Leaders, Marg O'Dwyer and Natalie La Fontaine, who prepared a special prayer liturgy for families to join online via zoom on Thursday 29 October commencing at 5pm.

Below is the link. The waiting room will open at 4:45pm ready for the liturgy to commence at 5pm.

Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83972160353?pwd=NkpDcm02SWJkU1JMWDhjMDdqU2NPUT09 Meeting ID: 839 7216 0353 Passcode: 881172

Funeral Monday 2 November

I spoke with Mal Barclay today who again expressed his thanks for the wonderful support his family have received from our community. 

Michelle's funeral will be on Monday ( Melbourne Cup school closure day) and it will be live streamed for those who wish to participate. Mal will send us the details once they are finalised and we will share them with all of you.

Counselling available

We are providing a free counselling service through our school based psychologist Lucas Tuan - Mu for any children affected by the sad news. If you feel that your children will benefit from counselling support during this time, please email me directly principal@spmurrumbeena.catholic.edu.au or telephone me at school.

Remembrance Garden and Fitness Circuit

Together with the P & F and based on suggestions from the staff and the children, we are planning to develop a remembrance garden beside the front portico for Mrs Barclay and Mr Strelec and a fitness circuit dedicated to Mrs Barclay.

Thank you

On behalf of the staff, I thank you for your kind messages of support which are greatly appreciated.  We will continue to support each other and our children in the coming days.

Jenny Hawkins

Principal

Term Dates

Session 3 Prep 2021 Transition             October 27

School Liturgy for Mrs Barclay              October 29

Parish Education Board 7pm                 October 28

School Closure Melbourne Cup            November 2 & 3

BOOK DAY dress up and activities       November 16

School Closure Day                                November 27

Community Christmas Celebration       December 8

Modified Mini Market                               December 11

Year 6 Graduation                                    December 14

School finishes @1pm                            December 16

Community Update #4.3 Everyone is happy to be back !!

Everyone is happy to be back !!

Thanks to all of our staff who helped to make the welcome back for our children a truly special experience. From the music playing over the loud speakers to the goody bags and the big smiles all around, we are all happy to be back !!

Amidst the fun of being back together, the children completed a range of assessments during the week and the overall results are excellent. We will share further details with you next week.

The highlights back at school for the SRC children included: being back with friends, not having to talk to the teacher on a screen, being able to play sport in the playground and learning new leadership skills.

During the term, we have planned a number of activities to make up for some of the curriculum events that the children missed due to the pandemic. The children would normally be treated to an ice-cream as part of Italian Day. Following on from the excitement of the special welcome back goody bags, the children were able to trade in their ice cream vouchers for a real ice cream today. Wait until we share the ice cream photos with you !!

From Monday 19 October  - All children to arrive 8:45-9:00 & finish at 3:30

Thank you to all families for supporting the staggered Week 2 drop off arrangements and helping us to stay Covid safe.

From Monday 19 October, all children can be dropped off between 8:45-9:00. We will still ensure we remain Covid safe by using all both the front, back and side school entry points. All children will finish at 3:30pm.

Parents are asked to remain outside the school grounds apart from pickup time for the Prep - Year 2 children in the front yard when the parents enter through the front gate and exit through the church gate.

 

Front yard entry and exit - Prep, 1, 2

Back yard entry and exit  - Year 3, 4, 5, 6

Parents and Friends (P&F) FREE Icy pole treat for Term 4

Last night at the P&F meeting, it was agreed to provide icy poles on Thursdays for the children free of charge for the rest of this term. THANK YOU to the amazing P&F.

FOOTY & FAIRY DAY - Thursday 22 October
Football/Fairy Day is a long-standing tradition at St Pats and allows the children to dress up as a footballer/fairy/supporter/umpire OR a combination. With the Grand Final holiday taking place on Friday October 23, the children can dress up on Thursday October 22.

There will be free icy poles from the P&F too.

Pat Care thank you

Thanks to all of the families supporting Pat Care with meals and vouchers. Our community is truly blessed.

Have a great weekend and stay safe and well. Hopefully we will get some good news about lifting lockdown restrictions.

Term Dates

Session 2 Prep 2021 Transition               October 20

Footy and Fairy Dress up day                 October 22

Grand Final Holiday - no school             October 23

Session 3 Prep 2021 Transition              October 27

Parish Education Board                          October 28

BOOK DAY dress up and activities       NOVEMBER 16

School Closure Day                                November 27

Community Christmas Celebration        December 8

Modified Mini Market                               December 11

 

Community Update #4.2 Three Sleeps to Go !!

Keeping Mrs Barclay in our thoughts and prayers

As parents and carers of the children who know Mrs Barclay, we are asking you to speak to your children over the weekend about her health situation. We feel it is your privilege and responsibility to have this sensitive discussion with them. You know your children the best. 

From Monday, our teachers will support the children as part of daily class prayers and give opportunities to those children who wish, to talk, write and draw their thoughts and special memories.

Yellow Clothes

On Friday October 16 we invite the children to wear yellow to send a message of love and support for Mrs Barclay and her family. Mrs Oliver, our Learning Diversity Leader, will be available for any children who would like to talk during the week.

During this sensitive time for our community, we will not be fundraising. Individual families can choose to contribute to the gofundme funds for the Barclay family as per the Flexibuzz communication.

We will continue the Patcare meals and the family are grateful for our ongoing support.

3 sleeps to go !! Staggered start and finish times based on family surnames

Based on our past experiences and your feedback, families will be able to drop off and pick up at the same time from Monday. Therefore, the times are based around the first initial of your child's surname......

You can read the full details about drop off and pick up starting on Monday at this link.

Covid Safety Update

Face Masks

Students who attend primary school in Prep to Year 6 are not required to wear a face mask. Students who are aged 12 or over by Year 6 who are attending primary school are not required to wear face masks at school. (CECV School Operation Guide 4 Oct 2020)

School Cleaning

Five extra hours of cleaning high touch surfaces will continue this term again (3 hours during the school day ).

Extra points to note:

• Children will need a drink bottle
• Hand sanitiser will be supplied, children can also bring their own
• Children will wear Summer uniform and MUST have their Summer school hat
• A reminder about sunscreen
• Lunch orders will recommence on Monday 12 October
• School loaned devices must be returned on Monday 12 October

Prep Parent 2021 Information Evening

A big thank you to all of the parents who joined our Zoom meting on Tuesday evening. Thanks to our staff and parents who presented including Victoria Jones Nguyen (PEB chair), Jenny Jones ( P&F co chair) and Cathy and Nathan Byrne (Year 1 parents) for sharing your experiences with the families.  Forty-eight participants joined the meeting. Below are links to 6 short videos recorded during the meeting. In particular we thank Cathy and Nathan Byrnes for this video they made themselves for our meeting. 

Part 1 Cathy and Nathan Byrne

Part 2 Liz Hills Deputy Principal

Part 3 Kerryn Oliver Learning Diversity Leader

Part 4 Prep Teachers

Part 5 Flexischools App

Part 6 Team Kids Before and After School Care

Virtual Assembly #15

Wellbeing Tips #4 from the SRC

School Fee Notice

Your statements with any outstanding fees are in the post.

Please contact Kellie in the office for any further details.

Please don't hesitate to contact Jenny Hawkins directly with regard to any payment difficulties due to financial hardship.

Parents and Friends Next meeting: 

Thursday 15th October at 7.30pm via Zoom. Everyone is welcome to join.

https://us04web.zoom.us/j/71935030603?pwd=TEVHa3NGc1pXc3YwTXljN1hMVytvUT09
Meeting ID: 719 3503 0603
Passcode: 1wALgM

Second Hand Uniform shop:

Kellie Heathcote continues to run the second hand uniform shop off-site. With the change of season and incoming Preps, we are very short of larger sizes and girls dresses, but also expect a big demand for smaller sizes once prep orientation starts. 

Good quality uniform items for donation can be dropped at Kellie's home, or collection can be arranged. If you can help, or would like to purchase an item, please contact Kellie via:  heathcote.kellie@yahoo.com

Please note there is a 2 week transition period into the Summer uniform.

PatCare

(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 Association.

How it works

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 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 next volunteer on the rotating list. Volunteers may be called upon only once or twice a year, depending on the number of volunteers available. The meal will be delivered to the school, and Liz will arrange delivery to the recipient.

How to get involved

Sarah Luck (mum to William in Prep) is our PatCare coordinator. If you think you can assist, please drop her an email:

Sarah.Luck@Coles.com.au

Are there other ways to help?

If you are in a position to purchase a digital gift card from any of the leading supermarkets, Liz Hill will be able to provide them to those in need. Please email the gift cards to:

lizh@spmurrumbeena.catholic.edu.au

(please also contact Liz if you are aware of community members who might need our support)

ENRICHING CHILDREN'S LIVES Fun | Genuine | Innovative Remarkable | Involved

Dear St Patricks families,

Andrew here, your TeamKids Before and After School Care Director.

 

Here is a short video clip we have created for you which has some information on what we have been up to over the past few weeks and some details on the new play spaces and displays created for Term 4.

 

https://vimeo.com/465654853

Password: 123

 

We have heaps more planned and look forward to providing your children with lots of fun and engaging activities at before and after school!

 

If you are new to TeamKids or would like to find out more, click here  https://teamkids.com.au/  to go straight to our website or give us a call to find out more about our daily experiences and specialised Clubs.’

Kind regards

Andrew Celle
Director of Service - St Patricks Primary
0439 003 478
Head Office: 1300 035 000
teamkids.com.au

Term Dates

Prep - Year 6 Return                                 October 12

Session 1 Prep 2021 Transition              October 13

P& F meeting                                            October 15

Yellow dress up day                                 October 16

Session 2 Prep 2021 Transition               October 20

Grand Final Holiday                                 October 23

Session 3 Prep 2021 Transition              October 27

Parish Education Board                          October 28

BOOK DAY dress up and activities       NOVEMBER 16

School Closure Day                                November 20

Community Christmas Celebration        December 8

Modified Mini Market                               December 11