Term 1 - Week 6 (belated)

Message from the Principal

Dear Parents and Carers

Welcome to Week 6 newsletter. Sincere apologies for the delay, I have been on sick leave with vertigo.

Last Monday, the staff continued our Wellbeing journey, working towards formalising a whole school Wellbeing Framework. Fiona Walker and Renee Tyczynski (Education Officer CSO) lead our inservice day using the data gathered last year and from our parent session this year. The data gathered has informed the following 6 key focus areas to be addressed by a whole school wellbeing framework:

1. Reimagine our whole school approach to wellbeing, drawing on research and best practice.  ​​
2. Build social and emotional skills to support students in making and keeping friends and regulating emotions.​​
3. Inspire opportunities for student voice and leadership. ​​
4. Advance student engagement and participation in extra-curricular activities. ​
5. Empower parent engagement, communication and collaboration as partners in student learning and wellbeing.​​
6. Enhance student knowledge and competencies in addressing ​safe and responsible use of digital technology.

A major take away for the staff has been the intrinsic link between learning and wellbeing. To best support student learning, it is essential to provide a safe and accepting environment where students are provided with a positive sense of self and belonging.

Our journey continues and further parent sessions will be scheduled to provide not only input but the opportunity for feedback as well.

Welcome

We warmly welcome Leo (Kinder), his mum Brittnie and dad Luke to the St Pat’s community. We hope you very quickly feel at home.

Farewell

We say farewell and thank you to Mrs Margaux Windever who is leaving St Pat's as Library Assistant. We are very grateful for the contribution she has made to the Library and to instilling the love of reading in our students.  We wish Margaux all the best as she continues her Library role at Morriset.

Extra-Curricular Activities this term

Already this term the students have participated in gymnastics and Clean Up Australia Day. Today the students in primary participated in a Writer’s Workshop with two local authors, Jess Black and Ed Wright. We are hoping to create a published book of some of the student’s writing.

This week, Years 4-6 will also attend the V8 Super Cars event. We are very grateful to the many dads who were ‘super’ keen to help supervise on the day.

For the remainder of the term, the students will also participate in basketball coaching clinics on a Friday (Thursday next week due to St Patrick’s Day).

Enrolments

Enrolments are now open for the 2024 school year. If you require an enrolment pack for a sibling, please contact Rachelle for one to be sent home. We will also be holding Enrolment Open Days for all new families (see attached flyer). Please pass this information on to anyone who know who is looking for a fantastic school to enroll in!

PEG / P&F

All parents are invited to attend tonight’s meeting at 6:30pm in the Library to discuss the preferred option of the St Patrick’s Parent Engagement Group (PEG) or P&F model. Schools work best with a strong partnership between home and school, so please come along to have a voice. During this discussion, I hope to formalise some fundraising and social engagements for the year.

Assemblies

A reminder that our fortnightly Awards Assembly takes place on Fridays of ODD weeks in the hall around 2:20pm. All are most welcome to attend.

Parking Fines / Kiss and Ride

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not pull into the bus zone during Kiss & Ride pick up of an afternoon. You are risking heavy fines and loss of points.

Lucy Harvey
Principal

Message from RE Coordinator

Ash Wednesday

Last week we acknowledged the commencement of Lent with Ash Wednesday. During this liturgy, we were marked with ash on our foreheads.  These ashes are made from the blessed palms used in the Palm Sunday celebration of the previous year and symbolise the dust from which God made us.  As the ashes are applied, the words, “Repent and believe in the Gospel.” Are announced with our response, “Amen”.

These words and actions are a symbol of our penance, and they help us develop a spirit of humility and sacrifice, particularly during Lent.  To assist the students in focussing their thoughts this Lent, the students have completed an activity pledging how they will act more like Jesus this Lent.  This would be a lovely way to start a dialogue at home about the meaning of Lent and how our actions can assist others.

The beginning of the season of Lent also marks the beginning of the annual Caritas Australia Project Compassion Appeal. Donations to Project Compassion allows Caritas Australia, the Catholic Agency for International Aid and Development, to work with local communities around the world to end poverty, promote justice and uphold dignity.

The theme of Project Compassion 2023 is ‘For All Future Generations’ and reminds us that the good that we do today will extend and impact the lives of generations to come. It invites us to make the world a better place by working together now and finding long-term solutions to global issues.  We encourage you to put your compassion into action this Lent through your prayer, fasting and almsgiving by supporting Project Compassion. Each family will receive a Project Compassion box this week.

 First Week of Lent  
(Week beginning Monday 27^th February)

We begin our annual Lenten Project Compassion journey by learning about Laxmi, a 16-year-old girl living in Jajarkot, a remote district in Nepal where almost half of the population live below the poverty line.  Tragedy struck when Laxmi was 10 years old and her father passed away. Her father worked hard to pay for his children's education and, after losing him, Laxmi was at risk of falling further into extreme poverty.

With the support of our partner Caritas Nepal, Laxmi joined a child's club at her school where she was encouraged to resume her education. Through the child’s club, Laxmi developed the skills and confidence to become a leader, advocating for clean water taps at her school. 

Laxmi is now excelling in her studies and working towards her dream of becoming a civil engineer. She continues to be involved in the child's club, serving as an advisor and mentoring the next generation of young leaders at her old school.   

Watch a short film about Laxmi’s story here.

Mr Daniel Lockwood
RE Coordinator

Message from Assistant Principal & PM

NAPLAN DATES

All NAPLAN tests will take place during Week 8 and Week 9 of this term. All students in Year 3 and Year 5 will have 4 tests to complete. The dates of each test are as follows:

Wednesday 15^th March – Writing

Thursday 16^th March – Reading

Monday 20^th March – Conventions of Language (Spelling and Grammar)

Tuesday 21^st March – Numeracy

Please ensure students arrive at school on time on these days. All tests will begin promptly at 9:30am.

Year 5 students will sit these online tests on their own devices. As a result, every student in Year 5 will need to ensure that they have their devices with them and that these are fully charged. PLEASE NOTE: Chromebooks are not supported by the Locked Down Browser required to undertake the NAPLAN tests. Students with Chromebooks will be required to complete the tests on a school owned device.

Students in Year 3 and Year 5 will also need to bring a pair of earphones each day.

Click on these links for further information regarding the NAPLAN tests: 

Mrs Janine Schneider
Assistant Principal & PM

Save the Date

Message from Learning Support & GEM

What are decodable reading books?

Decodable books encourage students to read using the skills they have learnt (e.g. letter-sound correspondence, blending, segmenting) while predictable texts promote guess work (matching pictures to text, using repetitive phrases).

While students are still learning to read, decodable texts provide the practice they need to match letters to sounds and master the ‘code’.  Students all progress at different rates, but they all follow the same path.  As with many things in life, the more we practice the better we get.  As students become more fluent and automatic in their reading, they progress to more ‘natural’ text.  These may be simple or more complex, but as with decodable texts, these books or passages can be read 3 or 4 times with increasing fluency - fewer stops, starts and pauses to sound out words as the text becomes more familiar.  Each time the book is read, the reading should sound smoother - more like ‘speaking’ rather than a robot! You can focus on something different with each reading, for example:

1. You are using some great ‘sounding out’ skills to work out those words.
2. Your reading is getting much smoother - not so many bumps (unknown words).
3. I can hear you using more expression this time to make the story more interesting.
4. You are reading the punctuation really well! I can hear you pause at the full-stop / ask a question/ change your tone when someone is speaking.

This practice of repeated reading has been shown to improve fluency, which has an impact on comprehension - our main purpose for reading.

Mrs Jo Simes
Learning Support Teacher & GEM

Year 4 News

Year 4 has had a great start to the term. This week, Sophie asked if she could bring in her baby chickens that she watched hatch from their eggs at home, Sophie has been eager to tell us of their progress each day from when they were still in their eggs up until now so we were very excited to meet them!

Thanks Sophie for teaching us about how eggs hatch and how you look after them, thank you Mr Dunn for bringing them in to the class for a cuddle, we were all very excited!

Miss Wiseman
Year 4 Teacher

Library News

We are so happy to be back to school for 2023.

The Kindergarten students had their first day of borrowing last Wednesday, with Mrs Devlin and all of the other students were back to borrowing with Mrs Phillips on Tuesday.

This week we celebrate Library Lovers Day, and we think of all of the reasons to love libraries, reading and books. The students will write their reasons and put them in the jar on the shelf.

Have a LOVEly week of reading,

Mrs Devlin and Mrs Phillips

Sport News

Basketball 

From this Friday 3^rd March, Newcastle Basketball will be running a school wide basketball program at St Pat’s for the remainder of Term 1. Students are asked to wear sports uniform on Tuesdays and Fridays from Week 6 onwards. 

Pathways Sport

We are excited to announce that our Senior Girls 4 x 50m Relay Team has progressed to the Polding Swimming Carnival. Congratulations to Sienna R, Sienna P, Lukah and Chelsea! Sienna P will also be competing in the 50m Breaststroke and 50m Butterfly.

Last week, a number of our St Pat’s students attended Regional Netball and Soccer trials. Congratulations to Evan for progressing to Diocesan Soccer Trials and Lukah for progressing to Diocesan Netball Trials.

We wish all our talented athletes the best of luck!

Catholic Schools NSW offers many sporting pathway opportunities for talented athletes. If your child is an aspiring athlete, you might like to familiarise yourself with the CSNSW Sport web page here: https://csnsw.sport/ 

Sport information specific to our Diocese can be found on the Maitland Newcastle Diocese tile on the CSNSW Sport page https://csnsw.sport/maitland-newcastle/primary/home 

Any registrations on these pages must first be approved.  

Weekend Sports Stars

Aiden's U12 Hunter Hurricanes water polo team placed second in the Water Polo NSW Narwhal Cup Tournament. What a fantastic acheivement!

If your child is a Weekend Sports Star, please email details and a photo to claire.browne@mn.catholic.edu.au so we can celebrate their success in our next newsletter.

Mrs Claire Browne
Sports Coordinator

Canteen

Uniforms

The uniform shop is open on each Monday during the school term from 2.00pm - 3.00pm.

Orders can be placed on the QKR app. The cut-off for orders is 12pm on Monday.

Leisha and Natalie can be contacted via email at stpatricksuniformshop1@gmail.com to answer any questions or to make alternate fitting arrangements.

Thank you 
Leisha & Natalie

Office News

2023 School Fees have been invoiced for the full school year and statements were emailed last week.

If paying fees by instalment, your weekly, fortnight or monthly frequency needs to commence immediately, and fees are paid in full by 30 November 2023. If paying fees ‘in full’ as one payment, please finalise prior to 30 June 2023. Our preferred method of payment is either BPay or direct debit. For Fee Payers wishing to establish a new Direct Debit, or adjust their existing direct debit, please complete the form on the Catholic Development Fund website www.CDFmn.com.au.

For those families experiencing financial hardship, or wishing to discuss other payment arrangements, please contact the school office to arrange an appointment with the Principal.

Schools will now commence the school fee management process if there has been no contact with school office or no initial payment received.

An event for the Diocesan Pastoral Contribution has been created, this is a voluntary fee that assists the Diocesan Pastoral Support Programs, you can elect to pay or decline via the Compass Parent Portal.

Rachelle McKenzie
Senior School Officer

Volunteering at St Patrick's

If you would like to register to volunteer at St Patrick's, can you please complete the "Volunteer Registration Form" by clicking on the link here. 

St Patrick's will be notified by the Catholic Schools Office once you are cleared to volunteer.

If you are unsure if you have clearance, please email the office at admin@swansea.catholic.edu.au to enquire.

Community Notices