Community Update # 1.2

Our school year has got off to a great start. In particular we warmly welcome our new prep children and other new families to St Pat's. Thanks to all parents and carers for preparing the children so well for the new school year and to our wonderful staff too.

We welcome all new staff to our school, especially our teachers Mr Tim Moran (4M) and Mrs Kristina Krikas (2VK). We would also like to introduce you to Laurence Guerra who has taken up the part time role as school caretaker / groundsmen. Laurence is the grandfather of Thomas in Year 1.

Covid Safe Update

We ask that any parents entering the school building to please wear a face mask. We appreciate your support with this regulation.

Chromebook Licenses

Thanks to those families who have informed me about the purchase of licenses and handed the devices into the office. Russell our IT technician will set up the devices accordingly in the coming week. Again, please email Jenny directly with any further queries. The school user agreement will be sent home for families to sign.

Birthdays and Casual Dress

The children can wear casual clothes with runners on their birthday. It is a special treat.  Here are the guidelines:
1. This is optional. Your child can still choose to wear their school uniform.
2. Birthdays that fall in the weekend (celebrate it on the first day of the school week) or the holidays (birthdays in January and early February choose a day during Week 3 or Week 4, term holidays choose a day in Week 1 or 2 of the following term).
3. If the birthday falls on an excursion day, for safety reasons, they must wear their uniform and choose a different day during the week of their birthday to wear casual clothes.
4. If the birthday falls on a PE Day then they must wear suitable casual clothes for PE.

Music Melodies

Music Melodies will be resuming keyboard and guitar lessons starting next Friday.

We welcome new to keyboard, Naomi Woods and also welcome back Tim Chilman who will be taking guitar lessons on Fridays.

Music Melodies enrolment forms are available from the office for any student in years 2-6.

St Patrick's Parents & Friends News

The Parents & Friends (P&F) Association is a group which exists to support the school, through creating opportunities to strengthen friendships within the school community, fundraising and enhancing the school experience for the children and their families. Anyone in the school community is welcome to join the committee or come to our meetings.

P&F Class / Year Level Representatives needed

The Parents & Friends Committee are looking for volunteers to be their representatives in each class or year level for 2021. The main role of the Class Reps is to foster a sense of community within the year level by:

- Welcoming new families who may joining mid year.

- Being a conduit from the P&F to the families in your class/year in relation to P&F social events or fundraising efforts

- Organising social events for your year level in conjunction with your other year level reps.

Thank you to those parents who have put their names forward already.

If you would like to volunteer, or would like more information – please email pandf@spmurrumbeena.catholic.edu.au or contact Jenny Jones (0410 470 647).

The 2021 Pink List is coming!

All families will soon receive an email from Christie Alexander, our Pink List coordinator requesting that they check and update their contact information for inclusion in a school-wide directory of students and parents. The sooner these responses are returned, the sooner we can get the Pink List to you.

2021 Pink List: St Patrick's Community Pages

The P&F would like to support and promote our school families' businesses in the 2021 Pink List by publishing details under a banner of  'St Patrick's Community Pages'.

If you would like to have your business appear in the 2021 Pink List, please send a quick email to us at: pandf@spmurrumbeena.catholic.edu.au so we can start arranging our layout.

We hope that many in our school community will choose to support other families where they can.

Icypoles

The P&F arrange for icypoles to be supplied to the children at lunchtime on Thursdays in Term 1 and Term 4 at a cost of 0.50c each. The school will arrange for a free icypole for every student on Thursday 4th Feb. Icypoles will officially be available for purchase from Thursday 11th Feb. If you would like your child to purchase an icypole, details around the payment method will be shared next week.

2021 Term Dates

Please note the changes to the end of term dates for Term 1 and Term 2 since last year. This is due to the necessary postponement of the Staff PL days with travel restrictions in place for the facilitators.

Sacrament Dates are published below for your reference. We are still awaiting the Confirmation date from the Archbishop and will publish that once it is announced.

Term 1

Staff only return Closure Day                      Jan 27

All children commence                                Jan 28

End Term 1                                                    March 30 at 1pm

Closure Day Staff PL  Day                           March 31 (postponed to end Term 2)

End Term 1                                                    March 31 at 1pm

Closure Day Staff PL Day                             April 1

Term 2 

Beginning Term 2                                          April 19

Year 5/6 Camp ADANAC                               April 19-21

Year 5 Reconciliation                                    May 5 10:30am

Year 5 First Communion                               May 9 9am & 5pm

Year 4 Reconciliation                                    June 16 10:30am

End Term 2                                                     June 25 at 1pm

End Term 2                                                     June 23 at 1pm

Closure Day Staff PL Day 1                          June 24

Closure Day Staff PL Day 2                          June 25

Term 3

Beginning Term 3                                          July 12

Closure Day  Staff PL Day 4                         Aug 20

Year 3 Reconciliation                                    Sep 8 10:30am                                 

End Term 3                                                     Sep 17

Term 4

Beginning Term 4                                          Oct 4

Year 4 Reconciliation                                    Oct 20 10:30am

Year 4 First Communion                               Oct 24 9am & 5pm

Closure Day Assessment                                Nov 1

Closure Day Planning 2022                          Nov 19

School Swimming                                        Nov 29 - Dec 10

End of term                                                   Dec 15 at 1pm

Community Update #1.1 Welcome Back

Welcome to the 2021 school year. We hope that you are all well.  We look forward to welcoming all children from Foundation to Year 6 to school tomorrow Thursday 28 January 2021.

Here are a few 5 key tips for the beginning of Term 1.

1. Drop off and pick up arrangements 

Drop Off

We will continue the arrangements that were in place during 2020 to enable all children to remain safe. 

Prep, 1 and 2 children will enter the school through the front yard and Years 3-6 through the back yard.

ONLY PARENTS of the the 2021 preps and any other new families may bring their children into the classrooms to drop them off during this first week.

All other parents and carers must remain outside the school grounds unless they need to come to the front office.

Pick Up

During Week 1 PREP children will be collected from their classrooms from 3:15pm. In Week 2, the Prep children will be brought out to the front yard at 3:15pm to be collected. Parents must wait outside the school grounds until they see their child. Prep parents will also need to wait for siblings outside the school grounds.

Year 1-6 parents must wait outside the school grounds as per the table below.

2. Chromebooks Year 1-6

The Chromebooks have been delivered to school. As the children have diverse orders, level tables will be set up in the front and back yard for you to collect your child's boxed chromebook package to open at home with you. We ask you to label your child's device and any other belongings and return to their classroom.

Packages will be available for collection from Thursday afternoon.

No students will be accessing Chromebooks until the safe user agreements have been signed and returned schools. Further details to follow.

Any other queries please email Jenny: jhawkins@spmurrumbeena.catholic.edu.au

3. Stay Sunsafe

We are a Sunsmart school, please ensure your children bring their sunhat to school.

4. Lunch orders

Lunch orders will commence on Monday 1st February. Icy poles will commence next week.

5. 2021 dates and further notices.

The Shamrock weekly newsletter is published every Friday.  This is our main form of communication and will contain further details and notices.

Community Update # 4.12 Christmas Blessings

 Christmas Blessings of Hope, Joy and Love to our School Community

The Year 6 special Graduation cakes in front of the nativity scene in the school office

We finished the school year with a very special whole school mass. This was our first mass together since the beginning of the year and our first one with Father Siby. After the mass, we presented the Confirmation certificates, awards and Yearbooks to the Year 6 students as we said farewell to them for the final time. 

A video of the awards and presentations is displayed below. This is an unlisted video to protect the privacy of our students. Below is a video of the full Year 6 Live streamed Graduation and the Graduation Video prepared by the students too.

Year 6 passing on the Light of Leadership to the Year 5's

Year 6 leaders carrying the leadership candles

Congratulations to the following Year 6 students who were recognised with these 2020 awards:

• Higgins Community Leadership - Kayley & Jack
• Spirit of St Patrick - Christian 
• Carol O' Sullivan - Grace
• Core Values - Daniel
• Salesian Scholarship  - Leo

Congratulations to Rhiannon and Scarlett from Year 4 for receiving the Eileen Nelson Award

Farewell and thank to our Year 6 families leaving our community 

We bid farewell to the following families who are finishing with us : 

Aranda, Bolton, Brooks, Crawford, Cromie,  Engelander, Fraser, Gravina, Fernando, Howard, Imber, Joy,  Kirkles, Leeton - Ball, Main, McAlistair, McGrath, Migliorati, Ogilvie, O’Shannessy, Paterson, Pickering, Quayle, Saito, Saunders, Santiago, Stewart, Tippett, Turner and Taylor families.

Some of these families have been associated with our school for several years and will be remembered for the tremendous support they have given our school in numerous ways to help our school community to thrive.

On behalf of all of the staff and students I thank all of these families and wish them and their children well in the future.

The video from Graduation 2020 will be uploaded to this page once it is processed.

Thank you and Christmas blessings from the Staff

We welcome all of the new Prep families and other families joining St Pat's across the school for 2021.

Thanks to all of our current families you who supplied morning teas, special cards and gifts for us all.

Thanks to the Parents and Friends, Class Reps, Parish Education Board members and all parents who supported us during 2020.

We are truly grateful for the support of a very special St Pat's community.

Christmas blessings, peace, love, joy and hope that we may all continue to flourish in 2021.

End of Year Student Reports

End of year reports were released through the PAM Parent Portal on Monday.

You can access PAM the following ways:

1. on the Quicklink bar in Flexi Buzz 

2. on our website - St Patrick's School Murrumbeena >Parent Information>PAM link

3. Otherwise the PAM address which you can add to your homescreen for quick reference is as follows: https://pam.spmurrumbeena.catholic.edu.au

(Your email address should be the one you provided to the school. If you have forgotten your password please do a password reset ).

The first part of each page of the report  indicates your child’s achievement against the Victorian Curriculum Standards for Religious Education, English, Mathematics, and whichever of the other curriculum areas that have been covered in Semester 2. The second part of the report indicates your child’s achievement against specific outcomes.

Within the dot points you will find one of the following  letters:

N indicates new content progression point 

P indicates the student’s previous  progression point

C indicates  the student’s current progression point

The next sections share information in relation to Social Development and Commitment to Learning, and your child’s school attendance. Finally, the teachers have provided a personal general comment for the end of semester report. 

Secondhand Uniforms

All secondhand uniform requests can be sent to Kellie at heathcote.kellie@yahoo.com.  Donations are welcome too. Please email Kellie to arrange drop off.

2021 Pink List: St Patrick's Community Pages

The P&F would like to support and promote our school families' businesses in the 2021 Pink List by publishing details under a banner of  'St Patrick's Community Pages'.

If you would like to have your business appear in the 2021 Pink List, please send a quick email to us at: pandf@spmurrumbeena.catholic.edu.au so we can start arranging our layout.

We hope that many in our school community will choose to support other families where they can.

2021 Term Dates

Sacrament Dates are published below for your reference. We are still awaiting the Confirmation date from the Archbishop and will publish that once it is announced.

Term 1

Staff only return Closure Day                      Jan 27

All children commence                                Jan 28

End Term 1                                                    March 30 at 1pm

Closure Day Staff PL  Day 1                        March 31

Closure Day Staff PL  Day 2                        April 1

Term 2 

Beginning Term 2                                          April 19

Year 5/6 Camp ADANAC                               April 19-21

Year 5 Reconciliation                                    May 5 10:30am

Year 5 First Communion                               May 9 9am & 5pm

Closure Day Reports                                     June 4

Year 4 Reconciliation                                    June 16 10:30am

End Term 2                                                     June 25 at 1pm

Term 3

Beginning Term 3                                          July 12

Closure Day Staff PL                                     August 20

Year 3 Reconciliation                                    Sep 8 10:30am                                 

End Term 3                                                     Sep 17

Term 4

Beginning Term 4                                          Oct 4

Year 4 Reconciliation                                    Oct 20 10:30am

Year 4 First Communion                               Oct 24 9am & 5pm

Closure Day Assessment                              Nov 1

Closure Day Planning 2022                           Nov 19

School Swimming                                          Nov 29 - Dec 10

End of term                                                     Dec 15 at 1pm

Community Update #4.11

Congratulations to our Year 6 Students 

On Thursday our Year 6 students made the Sacrament of Confirmation. Special thanks to Father Siby, Father Leenus and Father Pat and our staff who supported the students to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation followed by Confirmation. Thanks also to Tia for organising to live stream the service for family members.

If family members wish to receive a copy of the group photo and a photo of their student being confirmed, please email jhawkins@spmurrumbeena.catholic.edu.au Father Siby will present to certificates to the students at their Graduation evening on Monday.

Let's continue to keep our Year 6 students in our prayers as they prepare to transition to high school.

Christmas Carol Event

Congratulations to all of our children who performed so well in the Christmas Carol Event. We are very proud of our children. Families can view the concert at this link  

Mini Market Day

Congratulations to our Year 5 & 6 students for running an exciting Mini market morning for the rest of the school. The children raised the huge amount $1484.45. The funds will go directly towards the special project for Mrs Barclay. Thanks to the teachers for helping to coordinate this special event and to all of the families and sponsors for donating prizes. 

Kaboom End of Year Incursion for the Whole School Tuesday 15 December

All of the children can wear their sports uniform on Tuesday to participate in the Kaboom sport incursion as an end of year treat. 

House Colour Day Monday 14 December for Grabau Children

Congratulations to Grabau for winning the house points for the year. The house points are linked to our core values.

All members of Grabau house will be able to come dressed in their house colour as a special treat on Monday.

2021 Pink List: St Patrick's Community Pages

The P&F would like to support and promote our school families' businesses in the 2021 Pink List by publishing details under a banner of  'St Patrick's Community Pages'.

If you would like to have your business appear in the 2021 Pink List, please send a quick email to us at: pandf@spmurrumbeena.catholic.edu.au so we can start arranging our layout.

We hope that many in our school community will choose to support other families where they can.

Star of the Sea Secondhand Uniform for Sale available from an ex St Pat's parent

2 x summer dress, size 14, great condition $35 each, buy one or both! (retail $85)

 

Blazer – size 14, excellent condition $100. (retail $209)

This blazer has the old logo. A new pocket can be purchased from Bob Stewart in Bentleigh for $20 (you sew on) or $35 they sew on.

All laundered / dry cleaned.

 

I live in McKinnon and please contact me on 0412 525 699. I am happy to deliver.

 

Kate McCulloch

Term Dates

Term 4 2020

Year 6 Graduation 7pm                               December 14

End of Year School Reports                       December 14

Grabau house colour day                           December 14

Whole School Kaboom Incursion              December 15

End of Year Mass  11am                             December 16

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 #4.10

 Welcome to Father Siby John

At the Parish meeting on Wednesday evening, Father Leenus was farwelled and Father Siby was officially welcomed as Parish Priest of St Patrick's and St Kevin's Parishes and St Patrick's school. Fr Siby was Assistant Priest at St Christopher's Parish, Syndal. He comes from the State of Kerala in India. He was ordained as a priest in 2004 and belongs to the Society of the Catholic Apostolate (SAC/Pallottines). Fr Siby is looking forward to confirming the Year 6 students on Thursday and meeting our whole school community in the coming months.

Classes Teachers for 2021

Today the children had the opportunity to meet with their teachers for next year as part of our transition programme. Our teaching arrangements remain much the same for 2021 with a few changes.

Congratulations to Mrs Lisa Harris from 1H who is expecting her first baby in the new year and taking leave. Miss Nicole O'Halloran is taking a year's leave to travel and pursue personal interests. We wish both Lisa and Nicole well for 2021.

We warmly welcome Mr Tim Moran to our St Pat's teaching team. Tim is currently a Year 3 & 4 teacher and is looking forward to being part of our St Pat's community. Tim has also taught Year 5 & 6 students and is an experienced junior cricket and football coach. 

We thank Mrs Andrea Arendze for temporarily taking over as art specialist after Miss Karin retired at the end of Term 1. Congratulations to Mrs Bec Maddocks, a current Year 4 teacher at our school, newly appointed to the art specialist role commencing in 2021.

Classroom Teachers

Prep A - Miss  Laura Adcock

Prep HB - Mrs Katherine Hadaway and Mrs Maria Blair Smith 

Year 1Y - Mrs Angela Yates and Mrs Bern Gallagher 

Year 1FT - Mrs Catherine Fogarty and Miss Danni Trott 

Year 1K - Miss Maddy Kappler

Year 2VK - Mrs Wendy Verstoep and Mrs Kristina Krikas

Year 2MP - Mrs Jacinta Minter and Mrs Samantha Pratt

Year 3L - Mrs Maria Lucas and Mrs Marg O'Dwyer

Year 3 D - Mr Luke Daidone

Year 4M - Mr Tim Moran

Yr 4R - Mrs Alex Reid

Year 5J - Mr Paul Jones

Year 5S - Miss Jacinta Stokes

Year 6G - Mrs Joanne Guscott

Year 6L - Miss Natalie La Fontaine

Art Specialist - Mrs Bec Maddocks

Christmas Carol Community Event

We can't wait to share our Christmas songs with you on Tuesday December 8 at 7pm.

Here is the Zoom link for families to join us. The link will open at 6:45pm for a 7pm start.

Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82882299488?pwd=UXIwN3ZJOG05eGdjaXZVZ0FEWUdwQT09 Meeting ID: 828 8229 9488 Passcode: 191328

Handy person for caretaker position at St Patrick's school for 2021

We are keen to meet with a grandparent or retired family member or friend who would be available to be interviewed for a part time caretaker position at St Patrick's. Anyone interested in finding out more about this role, please email principal@spmurrumbeena.catholic.edu.au or telephone the school office 03 95697487

Team Kids Holiday Programme

Here is a link to the Summer holiday programme for 2020/2021

Term Dates

Term 4 2020

2021 Prep Transition/Year 5 Buddies.       December 7

Whole School Transition 2021 (2)              December 7

Community Christmas Event                     December 8

Year 6 Confirmation                                    December 10

Whole School Transition 2021 (3)              December 10

Modified Mini Market                                   December 11

Modified Year 6 Graduation                        December 14

Whole School Activity Surprise Day          December 15

End of Term mass/liturgy                            December 16

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 Notice

Anglicare Victoria

Here is a link to a notice from Anglicare Victoria who can offer support to families during the festive season.