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The School Newsletter Week 6, Term 3 2020

What's Coming Up

  • Term Fees Are Now Overdue!

Tuesday 25 August: The ICAS English test will be administered for those who have registered

Wednesday 26 August: P & F Meeting via ZOOM - link and instructions in this newsletter

Monday 31 August: The ICAS Mathematics test will be administered for those students who have registered for it.

Tuesday 1 September: The ICAS Spelling test will be administered for those who have registered.

From the PrinciPAL

Our Catholic Schools Office aspires to be a leading provider of Catholic education where our students’ encounters with God deepen their learning. To this end, the Catholic Schools Office has embarked on a three-year strategic plan which aims to build the capacity of every teacher and every school through collaborative professionalism. The culture of collaboration that we are building at St Patrick’s is grounded in the work of Dr Lyn Sharratt, an educator, researcher and author who works with teachers to show them how to effectively use data to improve student achievement.

This year, our school’s focus has been to use student data to develop our students as writers. In our classrooms you will find our teachers and students collaboratively developing criteria for a good piece of writing. Knowing what they have to do in order to become better writers has led to significant progress in all of the classes. Word walls, bump-it-up walls and other scaffolds around the classrooms are providing our students with opportunities to become more independent writers. Opportunities for peer assessment and self assessment are teaching our students how to critique a piece of writing.

Our teachers regularly conduct case management meetings in which we focus on writing samples from two students. During those meetings we identify each student’s strengths and their areas for development, and we make recommendations in regard to strategies that will assist those students to become better writers.

Our teaching staff is split into two professional learning teams (PLTs). Under the leadership of our pedagogical mentor, Cathy Dent, each of these teams meets for one hour each week with a specific agenda based on the teaching of writing. The PLT initiative has led to greater consistency across the school in our expectations of the students and in the strategies that we use to teach writing.

Every day I take the opportunity to visit one or two classes to conduct a “learning walk and talk”. This is an opportunity for me to speak with individual students about their learning and about how they perceive their progress as writers. I look forward to these daily opportunities and I feel privileged to be able to see first-hand the learning that is taking place around the school.

Last Tuesday morning, some of our teachers spoke at a Zoom meeting about these and other initiatives that we have implemented this year at St Patrick’s. We have been affirmed by many who attended the meeting, including our Director of Schools. I am very proud to work with such dedicated educators, and I am thrilled to see the progress that our students are making as writers.

Have a good week.

Peter Green.

AN ACT OF KINDNESS

Last Friday morning, one of our younger students was feeling a little upset and his mother was having difficulty in coaxing him to come into the school. One of our older students approached the child and his mum to offer to escort the child into the school. This did not work, but several minutes later another senior student offered to take the child into the school, an offer which the child gratefully accepted. Two small acts of kindness by two boys – Samuel and a mystery person - made the absolute world of difference to the child and his mum. Thank you, Samuel and ???

POPULAR APPS USED BY CHILDREN – FREE WEBINAR

National Child Protection Week will take place during the week of September 6 to 12, 2020. On Tuesday 8th September, from 12.30 to 1.30pm, there will be a webinar for parents and carers called “eSafety’s parent guide to popular apps”. This webinar will focus on popular apps used by young people, including TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube. It will include case studies, research and targeted advice so that you can support your children to have safe, enjoyable online experiences. To register for this webinar, go to https://register.gotowebinar.com/rt/9112156844257168398

From the REC

We are Kind Kids!

Look at our ‘acts of kindness’ displayed in the library. It is a wonderful reminder of the value we place in developing students that are caring and who make a difference in the lives of others. We encourage our students to follow in the footsteps of Mary Mackillop and Jesus by doing ‘acts of kindness’ in and out of our school. Recently, two of our students were acknowledged by a parent for an act of kindness they showed towards their child, who was finding it hard that morning to walk into school. We are very proud of our students!

Need to Breathe!

Each week I will spend time in classes cultivating the practice of breathing meditation. You might like to try it at home. Here is a simple exercise to get you started.

Begin with some breathing preparation by sitting in a relaxed position and breathing slowly in and out. Aim for a balanced and rhythmic breathing, imagining that the Holy spirit is moving in and out of your lungs and through your entire body – head, heart and hands. Breathe ‘in’ the Holy Spirit, hold that breath, and then breathe it out on all Creation.

Religious Education Units of Work – Term 3

  • Kindergarten – The Church as the Family of God & Loving God and Others
  • Year 1 – The Sacrament of Baptism & History: The Local Diocese
  • Year 2 – The Sacrament of Reconciliation & Liturgy – Celebrating the Church’s Liturgical Year
  • Year 3 – The Sacrament of Eucharist & The History of Church in Australia
  • Year 4 – Liturgy & The Sacrament of Confirmation
  • Year 5/6 – Liturgy & The Sacraments of Service

Leanne Hyland

Religious Education Coordinator

TEST RESULTS FOR COVID-19

In line with the most recent parent letter from the Catholic School Office (19 August 2020) we ask all parents and carers to continue to be vigilant and not send unwell children to school. As per the advice written in the CSO letter, “Any staff or student who is unwell should stay at home. Even with the mildest symptoms, we encourage immediate testing and will not be able to have children or staff return until a negative COVID test result has been reported.

If your child is undergoing or has undergone a Covid-19 test, please let the school know. A negative Covid-19 test result must be presented to the school before the child is permitted to return. The results are generally sent to you as a text, so please email the result to the school office in the form of a screenshot, scan or print out. Despite a negative Covid-19 test, if students still have symptoms, please keep them at home until they are well.

Thank you to all parents for maintaining safe distance in staying offsite at drop off and pick up time.

Canteen ROSTER

P&F BY ZOOM

The next meeting of the P&F will take place tomorrow (Wednesday) evening 26th August. The meeting will take place via Zoom, beginning at 6.30pm. It has been scheduled to run for 1½ hours. Meeting via Zoom will enable you to contribute your ideas without leaving home.

If you plan to attend this meeting tomorrow (Wednesday) evening:

  1. Make sure you have downloaded Zoom to your device.
  2. Use this link or copy it into your search bar: https://mncatholic.zoom.us/j/97460683839
  3. Click on ‘Open Zoom meetings’.
  4. Click on ‘Join with computer audio’.
  5. Click on ‘Start video’.
  6. If you are prompted to type a password, the password is 160484.

Looking forward to seeing you there.

Focus on Positive Behaviour for Learning

PARISH NEWS

The latest edition of the Parish Bulletin is provided in the Compass news alert of this school newsletter

Aspire information

HELP REQUIRED

As a caring community we would like to continue to offer our support to the Santamaria family after the loss of their dearly loved father and husband. If you can help to maintain their lawns for the rest of the year, it would be greatly appreciated. Please click on the link below where you will be taken to a lawn mowing roster, where you can volunteer to help on a particular Saturday.

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Unless otherwise stated, the advertisements placed in this Newsletter are placed by independent third parties who have no legal relationship with the Diocese. The activities or services of the advertisers are not supervised or controlled in any way by the Diocese. The Diocese is not in a position to endorse the advertisers or the services provided and make no representation about those matters. Accordingly, the diocese cannot accept any responsibility for the advertisers or the activities or services that are the subject of these advertisements

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