Friday, 6 May 2022

Community Update #2.3

Mother's Day liturgy

It was lovely to welcome mums, grandmas and special friends of the children in Year 3A this morning for the whole school Mother's Day liturgy.

We wish all mothers a very special day with their families on Sunday.


A Mother's Day Prayer

I said a Mother's Day prayer for you
to thank the Lord above
for blessing me with a lifetime
of your tenderhearted love.
I thanked God for the caring
you've shown me through the years,
for the closeness we've enjoyed
in time of laughter and of tears.

And so, I thank you from the heart
for all you've done for me
and I bless the Lord for giving me
the best mother there could be!
- Author Unknown

A message from Fr Siby
Shalom World is a 24/7, family-friendly, Catholic TV channel whose mission is to bring the peace of Christ to all nations. The channel is a commercial-free, high-definition network that appeals to all ages, young kids and old alike. Shalom World is an official partner of the Vatican and is authorized to telecast all papal events and liturgies. Shalom Ministries also offer SW Pals (Kids TV).
Please see the inspiring channel here:Shalom World The link to the website is  www.shalomworld.org


Garden of Hope
Many of you will know that a beautiful water feature was designed and created by our staff and children in memory of our wonderful PE teacher Michelle Barclay. The water feature is now back in pride of place in the garden at the front portico after Bern Woods and Karin Dornbierer, with the help of Felicity Renaudin, planted a variety of new plants in the garden. 
A huge thank you must go to Bern and Karin for sourcing the plants and planting the garden too.
We especially thank Rose from Bunnings for generously donating all of the plants to the school free of charge. 
The Year 6 Environmental Leaders will share the significance of this garden at assembly and support the upkeep of it in the coming weeks to ensure that the new plants begin to grow and flourish.



Peer Support
Week 1 and Week 2
We commenced our Peer Support lessons this week. The whole school participates in Peer Support for 30 minutes each week. Two trained Peer Leaders facilitate a small group of 8-10 younger students, who work together through a number of structured activities. Each teacher supervises 2-3 groups. We are working on a module called Keeping Friends helping to explore the concept of friendship, building relationships and developing skills in empathy and critical thinking. The module runs for 8 sessions.
We encourage you to talk to your children about Peer Support every week as it will help to reinforce the concepts learned in each session. Next week the children will explore the skills of cooperating and listening. During the week encourage your child to show that they are interested in the person they are talking to by being an active listener. 

Parents can assist the children by encouraging them to play with many different children, hence strengthening their social capacity and ability to cope. The following is a list of key behaviours parents can encourage in their children to help promote friendship skills:
• talking with others during play
• take a genuine interest in others
• smiling often
• providing help to others
• offering encouragement
• being willing to share with others
• learning how to move graciously into or out of a group
Our school core value focus for this term is:
We support one another

Principal Appointment Process 

As you are aware, I will finish as principal of St Patrick's at the end of this term to take on a new role as Regional Leadership Consultant for the Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS). Here is a link to my letter to the community from last week.

The Principal Selection Process has begun this week. The Principal Selection Process panel has
been formed and will work through a MACS specially designed selection process to provide advice for the MACS Regional General Manager as to who is the best applicant to lead our school into the future. The panel consists of:
  • Parish Priest – Fr Siby John
  • MACS Executive Director & Nominee – Maree Holmes, Regional Leadership Consultant
  • An experienced, current Primary Principal – Nigel Rodriguez, Principal: Trinity Catholic Primary School Richmond North
  •  MACS Regional Leadership Consultant – Debbie Darvell, Former Principal: St Mark’s Catholic Primary School Dingley
  • 2 parent representatives: Victoria Jones-Nguyen Chair School Advisory Council (SAC) and Brendan Fitzpatrick former member SAC and current parent
Our school staff and St Patrick’s School Advisory Council have met Maree Holmes and Debbie Darvell to provide their insights into to the knowledge, skills and expertise of a new principal. 

The process is a highly confidential and thorough process that will see a new principal being appointed to our school either in Term 3 or by negotiation.

It is not uncommon that the position is re-advertised eg not enough applicants applied or applicants didn’t meet the specific requirements as per the process guidelines. 

The Principal Selection Panel will work its way through the various steps of the process during this term.

The position will be advertised over the next two weekends.

We pray for the panel in all their deliberations and may the Holy Spirit guide their discernment and enrich their discussions. We do ask that you and your family pray for the panel and for the right applicants to apply. St Patrick, pray for us.

AFL Clinic
Our Preps, 1's & 2's were lucky enough to have an AFLW player from Carlton Football Club, Brooke, visit and run a football clinic during PE last Wednesday. Brooke ran a session structured to teach the basic skills of AFL and build confidence whilst incorporating fundamental skill development. The students had a great time improving their skills before putting them into action in fun and engaging drills and games. I think we have a few future Joel Selwoods and Daisy Pearce's in the making.

Miss Trott





SIBLING ENROLMENTS 2023

We are beginning to process enrolments for 2023.Here is a link to the enrolment form. Please complete and return as soon as possible or pick up a hard copy from the front office.

Parents & Friends Notices

 

Mothers & Special Friends Gifts – Contributions via CDFPay

The P&F and the school have been working with the children to provide beautiful handcrafted gifts for Mums and Specials Friends. These will be brought home

today (no peeking!). To cover the costs associated with this, a CDFPay Store has been created. We ask that families contribute $5 per child via the CDFPay store. We hope all mums and special friends are spoiled on Sunday.

You can access the CDFPay Store via this link: https://spmurrumbeena.cdfpay.org.au/

 

Election Day BBQ & Cake Stall Saturday 21st May – Help Needed

The school will be continuing the great ‘democracy sausage’ tradition and be running a Sausage Sizzle and cake stall on election day – Saturday 21st May. This is a great opportunity to fundraise with support from the community. We need assistance to man the BBQ and cake stall (with further communications about the cake stall donations to be sent home next week). If you can assist with a 2 hour slot – please add your name to this google spreadsheet:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1p6lFtqKMlrlIZ0vMep_OpE4-w0dKg9CV/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=112009151139332992101&rtpof=true&sd=true

 

Save the Date – Parents’ Social Evening – Thursday 2nd June 7.30pm – 10.00pm

We are just waiting to confirm final details but ask you pencil this in your diaries. We will be inviting all parents to join us for a drink and chat at a local establishment.

P&F Minutes from meeting May 3


Calendar Dates

Term 2 2022


May

Friday 13                         Dendy Cross Country (Year 3 – 6)


Friday 13, 20, 27              Interschool AFL/Netball (Yr 5/6)

Monday 16                      Closure Day Staff PL

Tuesday 17                      Year 5 First Reconciliation

Saturday 28                     Year 5 First Eucharist 9:15am

Tuesday 31                      Beachside Cross Country


June

Friday 3,10                      Interschool AFL/Netball (Year 5/6)

Monday 13                      Queen's Birthday

Wed 15                            Soccer Lightning Prem

Thursday 16                    Parent Teacher Meetings

Thurs 16                          Netball Lightning Prem


Fri 17                               AFL Lightning Prem

Friday 24                         End Term 2


Term 3 2022


July

Monday 11                        Beginning Term 3

Wednesday 20                Confirmation Year 6 5:30pm

Friday 29                          Hoop Time (Year 3 / 4 )


August

Friday 5                              Hoop Time (Year 5 / 6)

Tuesday 30                         Dendy Athletics


September

Tuesday 13                        Year 4 First Reconciliation 6pm

Wed 14                                Rugby Gala Day (tbc)

Friday 16                           End Term 3


October


Term 4 2022

Monday 3                           Beginning Term 4


November

Thursday 3                       St Pats Sports Day


T20 Cricket (Year 3 / 4)


T20 Cricket (Year 5 / 6)

Saturday 19                        Year 4 First Eucharist 9:15am


December    

Tuesday 6                          Year 3 First Reconciliation 6pm

Tuesday 13                        Year 6 Graduation Mass 6pm

 







Friday, 29 April 2022

Community Update #2.2

 "They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old; Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. We will remember them."

The Year 6 Leaders led a special Anzac prayer service with the whole school to start off Term 2 on Tuesday morning.



School Vision Narrative

The staff have worked hard over the past few years to contribute and bring our vision for engaged and motivated learners to life. The vision narrative is a living document and we constantly come back to it and ensure any professional learning and initiatives are true to this vision. Originally all staff contributed to the formation of the vision narrative ( access the vision and a link for background about the vision ).
Feedback about the vision:
We welcome any feedback from parents and carers in relation to the vision. your feedback will be shared with the staff at our Professional Development Closure Day on Monday 16 May.

Please answer the following questions:
  • How does the vision make you feel ?
  • What are you excited about ?
  • Do you have any suggested minor changes (tweaks) to any words or sentences in the vision narrative.
We request your feedback by next Friday May 6. Please email your suggestions to principal@spmurrumbeen.catholic.edu.au

CHILD SAFETY / OHS / PLAYGROUND SUPERVISION

In particular we draw your attention to the Child Safety, OHS and Supervision policies. These policies were discussed at the Child Safety/ OHS meeting in Term 1. You can access the minutes from the meeting here. The minutes clearly state the reasoning behind the current post covid drop off arrangements that differ to the pre covid arrangements.

5C Bake Sale for Elisha's Poppa with Parkinson's
Elisha from (5C) wrote a letter to Ms Hawkins last term (her own initiative). Here is a link to the letter. Elisha asked whether she could host a bake sale to raise money for Parkinson's. Her grandpa (Poppa) has unfortunately got Parkinson's and this is Elisha's reasoning for wanting to support the charity. 

Elisha's mother has created a donation link .Their goal is for $250 

Donation Link - "Elisha's bake sale for my poppa fight parkinsons"

Thanks to all of the families who prepared goods for the Bake Sale and sent donations with their children. The sale was a big success with all of the children at school. We will let you know how much was raised once it is finalised.







Parents & Friends Notices

 

Children’s Mothers & Special Friends Day Gifts – CDFPay Store

The P&F are working with the school to provide beautiful gifts handcrafted by the children to bring home at the end of next week. To cover the costs associated with this, a CDFPay Store has been created. We ask that families contribute $5 per child via the CDFPay store. You can access the CDFPay Store via this link: https://spmurrumbeena.cdfpay.org.au/

 

Next P&F Meeting - Tuesday 3rd May at 7.30pm – All welcome

All parents are welcome to join our next P&F meeting, which will be held on Tuesday 3rd May at 7.30pm. We are excited to be able to meet in person in the school hall, but will provide a Zoom link for parents who wish to join us from the comfort of home. 

Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85698323963?pwd=N1BOSlExL2ozaldDeDRSN1ZSMjdVdz09 Meeting ID: 856 9832 3963 Passcode: 369430

 

Pre-Loved Uniforms - winter uniform

As we transition to Winter Uniform, please keep an eye out for any uniform items that may be suitable for donation to the Pre-Loved Uniform store. Any uniform items still in good condition can be dropped by your child to the school office. We are particularly keen to receive Winter Uniform Items. If you would like to purchase items, this can be facilitated via email by making an enquiry to: stpatssecondhanduniforms@gmail.com - all items are $5 and can be paid for using CDFPay.




                                                               Term 2 2022

May

Tuesday 3                Parent & Friends Meeting 7:30pm

Thursday 5              School Advisory Council Meeting 7pm

Monday 16              Closure Day Staff PL

Saturday 28            Year 5 First Eucharist 9:15am

June

Monday 13              Queen's Birthday

Thursday 16            Parent Teacher Meetings

Friday 24                 End Term 2

July 11                    Beginning Term 3

Wednesday 20        Confirmation Year 6 5:30pm

September

Tuesday 13            Year 4 First Reconciliation 6pm

Friday 16                 End Term 3

October

Monday 3               Beginning Term 4

November

Saturday 19            Year 4 First Eucharist 9:15am

December    

Tuesday 6              Year 3 First Reconciliation 6pm

Tuesday 13             Year 6 Graduation Mass 6pm






Monday, 25 April 2022

Community Update # 2.1

 


We look forward to seeing all of the children back at school ready to reengage with their learning for Term 2.

Thank you for your ongoing support in keeping our school safe.

Stay safe & well,

Jenny Hawkins
Principal


Friday, 8 April 2022

Community Update #1.11

A heartfelt story emerges on Harmony Day
Just as many children represented their diverse backgrounds and cultures, Tess Hartnett Year 3A, proudly walked into school wearing the colours of the Ukraine on Harmony Day. I asked Tess to tell me more more about her family connection to the Ukraine. 
Tess shared a beautiful story of love and strength and some special photos of her great grandmother and her grandmother.
.... Bubi was incredibly strong, brave and resilient much like the Ukrainian of today. She was also loving, gentle and kind.
Slave Ukrani (Glory to Ukraine)


Thanks to Year 5V and Ms Valcanas for composing this beautiful prayer together. The prayer is on display outside their classroom.

Did you see our stories published in the Parish Magazine ?

During the week your children would have brought home a copy of the Parish magazine. The magazine is a wonderful initiative from the Parish to help keep us informed about life connected to the Parish. Don't forget to take some time over the Easter break to sit back, relax with a cuppa and read the magazine and spot our children's work at the same time. We are proud to be part of the St Patrick's parish.

Easter Blessings

After a very special Palm Sunday liturgy in the church, the choir sang Everyone Belongs.
We all belong together to the St Pat's family community.
A huge thanks to all of you for your support during the term. 
Thank you to our hard working teachers and leaders, Fr Siby and the SAC parents, the P& F parents and to all of our parents and carers.
We wish all of you a restful term break and Easter blessings of peace, love and joy.
We look forward to welcoming your children back to school on Tuesday 26 April in their winter uniform.

Jenny Hawkins
Principal


Arrangements for drop off Term 2

During the last couple of years, we have made several changes to drop off and pick up times to remain Covid safe.

In Term 2, we will continue to use both front yard and back yard entrances. 

We recommend that children cycling or scooting from Year 3-6 enter the bike sheds through the back gates and Prep - 2 cyclists use the front gates to avoid congestion.

In the morning, gates will be opened at the original opening time of 8:40am with the children able to directly enter their classrooms between 8:45am until 8:55am. The grounds will be supervised from 8:40am until 8:55am.

Children may only enter the grounds prior to 8:40am to attend Team Kids.

Children will exit at 3:25pm at the end of the day.

Covid Update 

Thanks to all of the families who tested their children during term 1. The government will supply RAT tests for the first 4 weeks of Term 2 and we will be required to continue with twice weekly testing.

The numbers of cases at St Pat's averaged 3 cases a week across the whole school throughout the term. Families notified us about positive cases or family isolation periods. Teachers worked hard to ensure that children isolating received some home learning support.

This is a reminder for Term 2 to please notify the office and copy in the class teacher & principal so that we can make the relevant notifications.

MACS COVID-19 Vaccinations - Parents and Carers on School Sites Guidelines. You can read the full guidelines at this link. Any parents or other adults attending a gathering at school, whether indoors or outdoors, need to show evidence of vaccination on arrival.

All of our school policies can be accessed on our Learning Community Site at this link.

Winter Uniform for Term 2

Just a reminder that the children will change to their winter uniform for Term 2 and Term 3.

You can access details of the winter uniform from our school website at this link.

Parent Access Module Manual (PAM) & Simon Everywhere (SE)

Here is a link to a PAM manual to help you understand how PAM works. There is also information about the Simon Everywhere App which you use for quick access to PAM.

From Term 2 we will no longer communicate via Flexischools. PAM is our main source of communciation.

Have you downloaded the SIMON everywhere app ?
Graphical user interface, application

Description automatically generated

Project Updates

As the ground floor refurbishment and kindergarten projects for 2022 continue to move ahead, I have updated the Learning Community Site with the following plans & timelines:

  • ground floor refurbishment
  • kindergarten
  • Michelle Barclay running track 

You can read the full story about the GEKA partnership at this link


Parents & Friends (P&F) News

Easter Raffle - thank you for your generous support
A huge thankyou to all of the wonderful families who donated goods to make up the Easter Raffle prizes and to those who bought raffle tickets. We were thrilled that over 2100 tickets were purchased, and hope that the lucky winners share the prizes with their families. The Grade 2 parent group coordinated this year's Easter Raffle - thankyou to Kathryn Manning-Clark and her helpers: Alanna Bailey, Nathan Albon and Sharelle Braithwaite. We would also like to thank the Truscott family for their generous support again this year.

Pre-Loved Uniforms - transition to winter uniform
As we transition to Winter Uniform in Term 2, please keep an eye out for any uniform items that may be suitable for donation to the Pre-Loved Uniform store. Any uniform items still in good condition can be dropped by your child to the school office. We are particularly keen to receive any smaller sized tunics. If you would like to purchase items, this can be facilitated via email by making an enquiry to: stpatssecondhanduniforms@gmail.com - all items are $5 and can be paid for using CDFPay.

Thank you to all our P&F Class Reps
Term 1 is a busy period for our P&F Class Reps - as we all try and keep up with the flurry of school activities. Many of the Class Reps have also organised Pizza Nights and / or parent social events this term. The P&F appreciate having such a great team behind us, so a big shout out to them for their time and efforts.

Mothers Day/Special Friend's Day is coming 
The P&F are working with the school to provide beautiful handmade gifts for the children to present to their Mums & Special Friends. As with previous years, there will be a small cost associated with this ($5) that families can pay via CDFPay. There will be further communication next term about this.

Next P&F Meeting - Tuesday 3rd May at 7.30pm
All parents are welcome to join our next P&F meeting, which will be held on Tuesday 3rd May at 7.30pm. Please pencil it into your diaries, as we'd love your input into our future events and fundraisers.
.






Please note that the Sacrament dates are now confirmed with Fr Siby and highlighted on the calendar below in orange.

                                                                Term 2 2022

Tuesday 26               Beginning Term 2

Tuesday 17 May.      Year 5 Reconciliation 6pm

Wednesday 27         Year 5 Eucharist Parent Workshop 6pm

May

Tuesday 3                Parent & Friends Meeting 7:30pm

Thursday 5              School Advisory Council Meeting 7pm

Monday 16              Closure Day Staff PL

Saturday 28            Year 5 First Eucharist 9:15am

June

Monday 13              Queen's Birthday

Thursday 16            Parent Teacher Meetings

Friday 24                 End Term 2

July 11                    Beginning Term 3

Wednesday 20        Confirmation Year 6 5:30pm

September

Tuesday 13            Year 4 First Reconciliation 6pm

Friday 16                 End Term 3

October

Monday 3               Beginning Term 4

November

Saturday 19            Year 4 First Eucharist 9:15am

December    

Tuesday 6              Year 3 First Reconciliation 6pm

Tuesday 13             Year 6 Graduation Mass 6pm




Friday, 1 April 2022

Community Update #1:10

 Harmony Day Assembly Celebration Monday 4 April (children can wear national dress or orange clothes)

Harmony Week was celebrated during the week that ​includes 21 March, which is the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

Since 1999, more than 80,000 Harmony Week events have been held in childcare centres, schools, community groups, churches, businesses and federal, state and local government agencies across Australia.

Harmony Week is about inclusiveness, respect and belonging for all Australians, regardless of cultural or linguistic background, united by a set of core Australian values.

Why orange?

Orange is the colour chosen to represent Harmony Week. Traditionally, orange signifies social communication and meaningful conversations. It also relates to the freedom of ideas and encouragement of mutual respect. Wearing orange shows our support for cultural diversity and an inclusive Australia.

The children's learning in the classrooms during Harmony Week will be celebrated with a special assembly on Monday 4 April. Our choir will lead the school as they sing together Everyone Belongs .


Peer Leaders' Training Monday and Tuesday Week 10

Our qualified staff members will train the Year 6's to prepare for their role as Peer Support Leaders next term. There will be 2 days of training as part of the our plan to create a safe school with the opportunity to develop and practise leadership skills within a supportive environment.
You can learn more by watching the video at this link https://vimeo.com/347745682/bda0592767

Benefits for Peer Leaders include:
  • building positive relationships across the school
  • practise leadership skills
  • increasing confidence in leading a group
  • improving organisation and time management
  • enhancing social and emotional learning
  • developing skills to assist with transition to secondary school
Kindergarten Development

We are proud that GEKA Murrumbeena Kindergarten will be operating from St Patrick’s Primary School commencing term one 2023. Please read the full details from Geka at the follow link.

Refurbishment Update

We are awaiting the completed architect plans to share with you very soon.

Parents & Friends News

2022 Easter Raffle -  Purchase your tickets before midnight tonight!!

Thank you to all the families for supporting this year's Easter Raffle Fundraiser by donating towards the prize hampers and/ or  by purchasing Easter Raffle  tickets.  The  prizes will be drawn on the last day of Term 1, Friday 8 April and sent home with the children. Good Luck to everyone that entered!

Tickets can be purchased  until midnight tonight for $1 each through CDFPay  https://spmurrumbeena.cdfpay.org.au 


2022 Easter Raffle -  Purchase your tickets before midnight tonight!!

Thank you to all the families for supporting this year's Easter Raffle Fundraiser by donating towards the prixe hampers and/ or  by purchasing Easter Raffle  tickets.  The  prizes will be drawn on the last day of Term 1, Friday 8 April and sent home with the children. Good Luck to everyone that entered!

Tickets can be purchased  until midnight tonight for $1 each through CDFPay  https://spmurrumbeena.cdfpay.org.au 


Parents & Friends Meeting - Tuesday  5 April at 7.30pm - all welcome

The Parents & Friends committee will be having our next meeting  via zoom on Tuesday  5 April 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.


Join Zoom Meeting at this link

Meeting ID: 836 8002 9537
Passcode: 847301


The Last Pizza Nights for 2022

Thankyou to the parents and P&F Class Reps who have organised their grade Pizza nights. We hope that all the families who attend have a wonderful time. See below for the Grade 3 pizza night details:

  • Grade 3 - Friday 1st April at Murrumbeena Park

Lost Property & the PreLoved Uniform Shop

A massive thank you to Sandra Iorlano and the PreLoved  Uniform team for sorting and clearing out the lost property box and returning several items to the relevant owners.  If the item is no longer required and it is of good quality, kindly return it to the school office to be donated to Pre-Owned Uniform Shop. 

The Last Pizza Nights for 2022

Thankyou to the parents and P&F Class Reps who have organised their grade Pizza nights. We hope that all the families who attend have a wonderful time. See below for the Grade 3 pizza night details:

  • Grade 3 - Friday 1st April at Murrumbeena Park

Lost Property & the PreLoved Uniform Shop

A massive thank you to Sandra Iorlano and the PreLoved  Uniform team for sorting and clearing out the lost property box and returning several items to the relevant owners.  If the item is no longer required and it is of good quality, kindly return it to the school office to be donated to Pre-Owned Uniform Shop. 

With Term 1 coming to an end shortly, a reminder that your chid(ren) is/ are required to wear the winter school uniform in Term 2.  If you  you need to purchase additional items of clothing,  please consider contacting the PreLoved Uniform Shop via email stpatssecondhanduniforms@gmail.com  

Pink Lists

Each family should have received a hardcopy of the 2022 Pink List  If you have not received your copy, kindly contact the school office.

Face Masks

Adult and children's face masks are available for purchase via  CDFPay: https://spmurrumbeena.cdfpay.org.au . Your purchase will be distributed to your child(ren) by the school office. 





Term 1 2022

April 

Mon 4                       Harmony Assembly (Children can wear national dress or orange)

Friday 8                    Easter Raffle 

                                 End Term 1 at 1pm

                                                                Term 2 2022

Tuesday 26               Beginning Term 2

Wednesday 27         Year 5 Eucharist Parent Workshop 6pm

May

Tuesday 3                Parent & Friends Meeting 7:30pm

Thursday 5              School Advisory Council Meeting 7pm

Monday 16              Closure Day Staff PL

Saturday 28            Year 5 First Eucharist 9:15am

June

Monday 13              Queen's Birthday

Thursday 16            Parent Teacher Meetings

Friday 24                 End Term 2

July 11                    Beginning Term 3

Wednesday 20        Confirmation Year 6 5:30pm

September

Tuesday 13            Year 4 First Reconciliation 6pm

Friday 16                 End Term 3

October

Monday 3               Beginning Term 4

November

Saturday 19            Year 4 First Eucharist 9:15am

December    

Tuesday 6              Year 3 First Reconciliation 6pm