Term 3 - Week 2

Message from the Principal

Dear Parents & Carers

Welcome to the first newsletter for Term 3. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and are recharged for another busy term of school.

We started our term celebrating NAIDOC week. The staff attended The Lakes Aboriginal Education Conference, ‘Learning for Justice through Education’. The day was very thought provoking and gave a greater awareness of issues faced by indigenous Australians. On Tuesday, Mrs Anne Turner and our indigenous students lead the school in a beautiful liturgy to celebrate NAIDOC week. As part of the days’ activities, the students painted some rocks which will be placed near our school entry as part of acknowledgement to the Awabakal land on which our school is built.

This week all classes commenced using the Smiling Mind program and resources as part of our whole school focus of supporting the social and emotional skill development in our students. Smiling Mind is an evidence-based approach to supporting the mental health and wellbeing of children in the classroom and home environments. The feedback from staff and students so far has been very positive. We look forward to unpacking Smiling Mind with our families so we can work in partnership to provide every child with lifelong mental fitness, empowering them to thrive.

During the holidays, our canteen underwent a makeover. Local artist, and dad to 2 of our students, Daniel Joyce, transformed the walls of the canteen to reflect the story of our school. This work of art has been months in the planning with the students collating which images would best reflect where we have come from, where we are and were we are heading. The result is the story of St Patrick’s. The main mural represents the land on which St Patrick’s is built. Siarn Staley, local Aboriginal artist and ex-student, painted the Indigenous cross at the centre, the heart, of the landscape. The rest of the mural depicts the flora and fauna of Swansea and Swansea Heads as identified by the students. The detail in every image is incredible.

The next part of the mural depicts the story of the Sisters of St Joseph who founded St Patrick’s in 1952 on the original site where McDonald’s now stands. The nuns would travel to the Black Ned’s Bay wharf by rowboat, where they moored the boat, and walked to the school. When St Patrick’s was relocated to our present site, it was Sr Ellen Shanahan, the principal at the time, who developed our present school logo and school motto, ‘Grow In Hope’. 

The last mural helps tell our story of continued growth. It represents our hope for a future at St Patrick’s where, as a community, we can continue to grow together in all facets of life; spiritually, socially, emotionally, cognitively and physically. This space will allow us to focus on and showcase our learning and wellbeing.

The staff and students would like to thank the P&F for financially supporting the painting of the murals. Thank you to the families of St Patrick’s who support all fundraising, allowing the P&F to help build THE best school community! The murals allow the history of our school to live on.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Lucy Harvey
Principal

Welcome

This term we warmly welcome the Lackey family – Daina, Ben and Alana (Year 6). We also excitedly welcome Benji back to Year 2! Thank you for choosing St Pat’s!

ASPIRE

Today our students in Year 4, 5 and 6 had the opportunity to attend the ASPIRE performance of The Pirate Code. ASPIRE is the Maitland/Newcastle Catholic Schools Office creative and performing arts program which provides opportunity for students with a passion for the performing arts to grow, perform and shine. This year’s production follows Captain Lucy Dastoor and her swashbuckling crew as they hunt for the lost treasure of Andreas against the backdrop of an over-taxed community under the control of a greedy Governor. We are very excited and proud that Aiden Bowmaker from Year 6 will be showcasing his talents as one of the cast. I’m sure he could hear and feel the support from the St Pat’s students in the audience.

Up coming events

We have many community activities planned for this term. The first is our annual Book Week and Grandparents Day celebration. This year we have also combined National Science Week with our open day (see attached flyer). Please come along and help us celebrate this big day.

Please send Mr Lockwood your grandparent photos for the liturgy as soon as possible daniel.lockwood@mn.catholic.edu.au 

Our Spring Fair will be the major community event for the year. Make sure you have Saturday 16^th September marked on your calendar. The Spring Fair Committee are working tirelessly behind the scenes to make this an event to remember. We would greatly appreciate your support in any way that you can. A survey will be posted soon on Facebook and Compass where you can nominate a way to show your support. Let the community spirit of St Pat’s shine!!

School Photos

Our 2023 professional school photos will be taken on Monday 28^th August. Students must be in full winter uniform. Please avoid taking holidays around this time. It is important to us to have all students present for their class photo.

Ordering Photos

Your 2023 school photos are now ready to order through the Compass Portal. To place your order, make sure you have your login details handy!

If you're unsure of your login details, please contact the school for assistance.

Click here to get started!

Once you've logged in, you'll need to follow a few easy steps!

Click here for our simple, online ordering guide.

Once you have placed your Individual Photo order you can place your Sibling photo order, these MUST be ordered before midnight prior to photo day.

Please remind your child that they are having their photos taken. If they are having a sibling photo, all siblings will need to be ready for their photo at the allocated time set by the school.

Please note that after 11/09/2023 an archive fee of $20.00 will apply.

If you have any questions regarding the photography service or packages available for purchase, please contact our friendly team on 02 4966 8292 or by email orders.hcc@msp.com.au

Get your smiles ready!

Term 3 Week 3

Term 3 Week 4

Message from RE Coordinator

Sacramental Program

The celebrations of the sacraments will take place on the following dates:

CONFIRMATION: Tuesday 17th October 5pm at Belmont

FIRST HOLY COMMUNION: Saturday-Sunday 21st-22nd October. 

The Sacramental Programme for children resumes next week. This programme is for those who either earlier this year, or last year, prepared for the Sacrament of Penance & Reconciliation. (A couple of the children did not complete the Penance Programme this year. Please contact Fr Gerard if this is your situation.) 

Your child will need a copy of Youcat for Kids for the lessons and homework. They cost $35 and are available from the School reception. Please place the correct amount in an envelope with your child's name on the front. Some of you may already have a copy from last year. These are necessary resources for the lessons. 

If your child misses their lesson at School, a make-up lesson will be held on the Saturday following at 10am at Belmont Parish Hall. 

Term 3 RE Curriculum

During Term 3 the students will be focusing on the following topics:

Kinder: Knowing God and the Holy Spirit

Year 1:  Belonging to the Christian Family

Year 2:  Justice- Belonging to the Community & Christian Scriptures: Stories about Jesus

Year 3:  Forms of Prayer & Values- The Beatitudes

Year 4: Liturgy as a Celebration & Justice- Called to Serve

Year 5:  Hebrew Scriptures & Sacraments of Healing

Year 6: Christian Scriptures & Justice

I encourage you to discuss the concepts that your child is learning in RE.  Ask them to explain what it is they are learning about and how these lessons can be applied to their lives.

Grandparents Day Liturgy

Our Grandparent's Day Liturgy will be held on Friday 11th August at 10:15am.

For this special event we would like to put together a photo presentation of our students with their grandparents. If you would like to send in a photo, please email directly to: Daniel.lockwood@mn.catholic.edu.au no later than Friday 4th August. 

To ensure that all photos are received, a receipt email will be sent acknowledging the delivery of your photos.  If you don’t receive a receipt email within 48hrs of sending your photo, can you please contact the school office.

Term 3 Liturgical Celebrations

Tuesday 8^th August – St Mary of the Cross MacKillop

Friday 11^th August – Grandparents Day (Feast of Joachim and Anne)

Tuesday 15^th August – Assumption Mass (Stage 2 & 3 joint Parish Mass at Belmont Church)

Friday 1^st September – Father’s Day

Mr Daniel Lockwood
RE Coordinator

Assistant Principal News

NAPLAN Results

NAPLAN results for Year 3 and Year 5 students were sent home this week. If you did not receive your child’s results, or you have any concerns, please contact your child’s classroom teacher.

Mathematics

Mathematics is a major focus in this year’s St Pat’s school improvement plan. This week we welcomed our CSO Education officer, Michelle Rosewell, to lead our Professional Learning Team meetings. Michelle guided us through a collaborative inquiry approach to data analysis. This approach ensures we use data to drive our teaching practice by identifying any gaps in student learning and collaboratively planning best teaching strategies to ensure growth in these areas. We look forward to welcoming Michelle back later in the term.

Safeguarding Information for Parents

The Catholic Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle has an absolute and abiding commitment to promote the safety, welfare and wellbeing of children. As a parent sending your child or children to a Diocesan school, you should be aware of your rights and obligations in protecting your child and all children in our schools.

St Patrick’s has implemented a Safeguarding Promoter to ensure that our families are provided with information about the school’s approach to safeguarding children and its compliance with the Church and State child safe Standards. I am currently in this position.

The Children and Young Person’s (Care and Protection) Act 1998

In NSW you can report certain information to the Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ). If you are concerned for one or more of the children in the school, you can discuss your concerns with a teacher, Assistant Principal or Principal. You can report your concerns to the Child Protection Helpline (Ph. 132 111, 24 hrs/7 days) if you have reasonable grounds to suspect that a child or young person is at risk of significant harm and your concerns are current. Risk of significant harm may occur from a single act or omission or to a series of acts or omissions.

When determining how serious your concerns for a child may be, always consider whether that child has any particular risk factors, including:

· age, the younger the more dependent

· physical disabilities, developmental delays or medical conditions

· social isolation

· culturally diverse background

· diverse sexuality and gender

· nobody looking out for the child they could depend on.

It is better to be safe than sorry, so if uncertain, talk to a staff member at the school.

As parents and carers you are entitled to contact the Office of Safeguarding directly about any concerns you have about the safety, welfare or wellbeing of a child or if you are concerned that the school isn’t addressing allegations of reportable conduct or abuse. (Ph. 4979 1390 Mon-Fri).

Mrs Janine Schneider
Assistant Principal/Pedagogical Mentor

Save the Date

From the Diverse Learners Team

Gifted Education – Public Speaking

Many of you at home may well be involved in the preparation for the public speaking competition in the coming weeks.  While it is not compulsory for every student to deliver a speech to their peers, each class has been learning about how to prepare a speech - both the writing and the delivery.  Class winners will enter the school competition, so that we can select a champion from each Stage to represent St Patrick's at the regional competition in week 5.  If you would like any ideas for supporting your child in this process, please contact your child's teacher. 

Learning Support – Oral Language Skills

In connection with public speaking, is the development of oral language skills.  This week, a few of the staff watched a webinar about supporting students with speech and language needs.  Below are some excerpts from an article that accompanied the training. 

The link between oral language and literacy – article from the MultiLit website 

One of the defining features of the human species is that we talk to each other. We talk to our friends, family, colleagues, pets, strangers, ourselves, and to our babies, long before they can talk back to us. We use language – either spoken, signed or written – in everything we do. Oral language difficulties that begin in childhood can have a much wider impact than we might first think. 

Oral language and literacy 

Oral language is the most common way that teachers share information with students in a classroom, making oral language crucial for learning in all academic areas. It is also critically important for developing good literacy skills, as children need to draw on their oral language skills in phonology (speech sounds), vocabulary and grammar when learning to read and write. 

The US National Early Literacy Panel’s 2008 review of research into early literacy officially identifies oral language as a key factor which consistently predicts later literacy achievement. 

Reading between the lines 

Dr Anna Desjardins explains that making sense of written texts often requires us to combine knowledge of language with our background knowledge to read between the lines. 
 
As an example, she points to just one sentence from the picture book Amelia Ellicott’s Garden by Liliana Stafford, about an elderly lady, Amelia, who lives in a large house next to a block of flats. One night, after a storm destroys her garden, all the neighbours in the flat come out to help her, even though she has never talked to them before. At this point in the story, we come to the line: “Amelia Ellicott is so grateful she turns the colour of a beetroot.” 
 
To understand a sentence like this, a child needs to know: 

• What ‘grateful’ means
• What a beetroot is
• What ‘turning the colour of a beetroot’ refers to
• Why being helped by people you haven’t been friendly towards might be embarrassing.

This language and world knowledge must then be applied in context to fully comprehend the text. 

Teachers may notice difficulties with oral language in the classroom, and their concern alone can be an indicator that something is not quite right. However, sometimes behavioural or learning difficulties can hide issues with oral language, or children may be very good at masking their difficulties by following peers or non-verbal cues. This means some children with oral language difficulties can be easily missed. 

If you have any concerns about your child's language development, contact their class teacher.  A referral to the Learning Support team can be made to discuss further assessment or support.

Mrs Simes
Learning Support Teacher

Aboriginal Education

St Patrick's celebrated NAIDOC Week last week, thinking especially about our elders and all that they contribute to our families, communities and our nation's journey. Special thanks to our Indigenous students, who did a superb job of leading the liturgy and sharing their stories.

Mrs Turner & Mrs Devlin
Aboriginal Education Teachers

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Year 3 News

The Book Week theme for this year is ‘Read, Grow, Inspire.’  To complement this theme Year 3 have been exploring the language of Dr Suess in the book The Lorax.  Students have enjoyed creating their own sequel to the original story and exploring the rhyming language that the author is renowned for.

The students in Year 3 have been having fun exploring length in Mathematics. We have discovered the length and width of our basketball court using trundle wheels and that the average car is 4 metres long. The students were given the task of measuring a 4-metre line and then drawing a car of this length. We ended up with some very fancy cars and limousines! 

Students have also been exploring 4 and 5-digit numbers and the role that place value plays.  They have been playing a variety of card and dice games to develop their skills and understanding in this area.

Public speaking has been the focus of the first 2 weeks of Term 3.  Students have confidently expressed their ideas, thoughts and feelings on a range of topics. 

The students have had lots of fun learning softball with coach Kylie this term. The skills of throwing, catching, fielding and batting are the focus, as well as playing this awesome game. Well done Year 3 on your excellent participation in sport sessions and in the classroom. 

Mr Lockwoood & Mrs Walker
Year 3 Teachers

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Library News

We are all getting very excited about Book Week and the activities related to that. There has been quite a bit of “Growing” happening in the library, thanks to Miss Harvey’s creativity. Each time we go in, there is something new and exciting to see. We will also be hearing about the books that inspired our teachers when they were younger, and we will share these memories in the newsletter and on the display board outside the library. Thanks to Mrs Stewart for telling us about her favourite stories.

Mrs Devlin & Mrs Kearney

Sport News

Softball

All grades have been enjoying our Term 3 Softball program. Students are developing their batting, catching, throwing, running and teamwork skills and having a lot of fun in the process!

Touch Football Gala Day

Years 3-6 are looking forward to attending a Touch Football Gala Day next Friday 4^th August. We have five teams participating in the event focusing on fun and participation. Good luck stage 2 and 3!

Regional Athletics Carnival

St Patrick’s has a team of 10 talented Athletes who have progressed from the Regional to Diocesan Athletics Carnival. We wish them the best of luck as they run, jump and throw at Glendale Sports Centre on Wednesday 2^nd August.

Congratulations on your achievements, Aiden Bowmaker, Evie Buchanan, Chloe Fitzgibbon, Khloe Hansen, Egan Joyce, Mia Porter, Skye Porter, Sienna Reddie, Jaymie Tisdell and Layla Watkins.

Pathways Sport

Congratulations to Mia and Skye Porter on their amazing achievements at the State Cross Country Championships last Friday, finishing 12th and 40^th respectively. We are very proud of them both and humbled to have such talented athletes in our midst!

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 Star

Well done to Khloe Hansen (Year 4) for achieving 2^nd Place in the 7-10yrs Ninja Parc Local Qualifier!

If your child is a Weekend Sports Star or extra curricular activity, 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

P&F

Please join us for our next P&F meeting on Monday August 7th in the school library. Children welcome to attend. Meeting also available via zoom. What does our P&F do? Our P&F committee welcome new ideas, new approaches and new ways of doing things. We run many events and provide a number of services for students and families.

These include:

* School Canteen
* Uniform Shop
* Events such as our annual rainbow run, school disco, Spring fair and Xmas movie night
* Mother's Day
* Father's Day and Father's Day stalls

The P&F create a welcoming, all-inclusive community for everyone to live, play and work. We would love for you to join in and help!

Canteen

Uniforms

Size 12 girls winter pants wanted for second hand uniform supplies.

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

For those that have settled their fees in full we thank you for your ongoing support.

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

We have many events still planned for the remainder of the year.  Please get in early and register so you won't be dissappointed in missing out.

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