2024, Term 2, Week 1 Newsletter

Acknowledgement of Country

St. Patrick's School acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land on which we work, the Koroitch-gundidj people of the Maar Nation. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging. 

Principal's Message

Dear parents and carers,

Welcome to Term 2! It has been lovely to see smiling faces and productive learning happening in each classroom this week, after a refreshing Easter break. 

Term 2 is shaping up to be a very busy term, with a few public holidays and special events.  Please ensure you have access to the school calendar so you don’t miss a thing!

Thank you to the P&F who have organised a Father’s/ Special Person’s gathering at Dukes tonight at 6:30pm. This will be a good opportunity to make positive connections within our school community. 

The Koroit Irish Festival is fast approaching- if you are able to, please register to volunteer your assistance with the P&F.  We are hoping to have as many students as possible at the parade to walk with the St. Pat’s float, next Saturday 27th at 12:00pm. 

Next Thursday is ANZAC day and a school closure day.  Our student leaders will be representing our school in the wreath laying ceremony at the Koroit War Memorial Cenotaph, at 12:30pm. This invitation is open for all St. Patrick’s students to represent our school and demonstrate respect by attending.  If in attendance, could your child please wear their St. Patrick’s uniform. Thank you. 

On Wednesday 24th, at 2:30pm, we will be holding a special liturgy at school, open to families to attend.  Weather permitting, this will be held at the top end of our oval, surrounding our Lone Pine tree. 

St. Patrick’s is one of only 100 schools in Victoria to be the caretakers of a juvenile Lone Pine tree, cultivated from the seeds of the Lone Pine in the Warrnambool Botanic Gardens.

I have taken an excerpt about the history of the Warrnambool Lone Pine from the official website to include here.

The Battle of Lone Pine was fought from 6-9 August 1915, on a heavily fortified plateau of the Gallipoli Peninsula, upon which stood a solitary pine tree. Intended to create a diversion for a British landing in Suvla Bay, the battle left between five and six thousand Turkish and 2,277 Australian soldiers dead.

In September, men of the Australian 23rd and 24th Battalions arrived fighting on alternate days. From the ruins of battle, Sergeant Keith McDowell picked up a pine cone from where the tree had once stood and carried it back home to Australia.

On his return, McDowell gave the pine cone to Mrs. Emma Gray, the aunt of McDowell’s wife Iris. Born in Tower Hill in 1870, Emma Gray ran a general store in Grasmere with her husband Robert. After about ten years Emma successfully grew four young pine trees from the pine cone.  The fourth was planted in Warrnambool’s Botanic Gardens, with a dedication service on 21st January 1934.

We received our Lone Pine through the ‘100 Lone Pines Project’, developed by the Friends of Gallipoli Inc and supported by the Victorian Branch of the RSL and the Victorian Government. Students have been caring for the Lone Pine at school since it was planted in 2022. We look forward to welcoming the school community on Wednesday afternoon, to pay respects for ANZAC day at such a special and significant living monument. 

There have been some distressing events in the news recently.  Please see details further in this newsletter from School TV, on how to help students cope with upsetting news.  School TV is freely available via our school website and has information on many wellbeing topics curated by experts. 

 Kind regards,

Shona Louden

Assistant Principal

School TV - Wellbeing Resources

Explaining Traumatic Events

In the wake of the tragic event in Bondi in this last week, we thought it important to share this video on "Explaining Traumatic Events to Young Children and Teens" with families.  While the event referred to in the video is in Las Vegas, the content is relevant to children here in Australia at this time.

https://spkoroit.catholic.schooltv.me/newsletter-external-resource/explaining-traumatic-events-young-children-and-teens-brandon-jones

In addition, BTN have a good article on upsetting news.

https://www.abc.net.au/btn/upsetting-news/10500572 

The team at School TV have advised that they will be sharing a Special Report in response to this early next week.

Shona Louden

Wellbeing Leader

Religious Education

Confirmation Formation Evening

A reminder for families of students celebrating the Sacrament of Confirmation this year that there is a formation meeting next Monday evening (22nd April) at 6pm at the Church of Infant Jesus.  This meeting is for both the parent and candidate and we ask you to bring a photo from the child's Baptism for an activity during the session.

Mothers Day Liturgy

Please note that this Liturgy is Thursday morning.

AEDC Survey (Foundation Families)

Foundation families, earlier this week you received a letter providing information about the Australian Early Development Census. The AEDC is a national census conducted every three years by the Australian Government, in partnership with state and territory governments.  

The purpose of the AEDC is to measure how children have developed by the time they start their first year of full-time school, and it is a voluntary and confidential process.  

At St. Patrick's, this process will take place in May. To provide consent for the collection of your child's information, you do not need to do anything.  However, if you do not consent, please contact Tegan McDonald or Rhiannon Lumsden before the 16th of May.  

Please see the brochure in this newsletter for more information, or look on the AEDC website http://www.aedc.gov.au/parents/faqs 

Koroit Irish Festival Parade

Thank you to our school P&F volunteers for their contributions so far in preparing for the KIF coming up. This is a huge undertaking and is one of the main fundraisers for the school each year. Our school will again be participating in the procession, if your child would like to join in, please complete this very short survey below to let us know. The more the merrier! Our theme is farm theme again this year. Students can (if they choose to) come dressed as a farmer or farm animal OR in the school sports uniform.  Students are required to have a ticket to participate. These are free with adult tickets. The school will purchase children's tickets for those who would like to participate and whose parents are not attending the festival. The procession is 12-12.30 pm. Students will be required to arrive at Duke’s Hotel at 11.30 am. You will be able to collect your child/ren opposite Mickey Bourkes when the procession has finished. Please let a staff member know when collecting your child/ren.

Procession Survey Involvement Link

See information below in the Parent & Friends section regarding our stall volunteers.

Toastie Tuesdays

Book Club

Issue 3 of the Scholastic Bookclub is now available.

https://issuu.com/scholastic_australia/docs/bc_3-24_issuu?fr=sMWM4YzcwNDI5MTA

The feature book for this issue is Roarsome and a $5 promotional credit on this issue when an order is placed through LOOP, plus, people can spend their $5 credit earned from issue 1.

The catalogue includes "Bowerbird Blues" by Aura Parker which we will be reading as part of National Simultaneous Storytime.  There is a diverse range of books available for $10 or less throughout the entire catalogue.

Anzac Appeal

A number of items are available at school to support the ANZAC Appeal and the work of the RSL. 

The range of items include wristbands, key rings, pins and pens and range in price from $1 to $5.

Room 7 students will visit the classrooms each day or call in to the office.

Parents & Friends

Koroit Irish Festival

Thanks to those who have already volunteered with our stall at the Irish Festival, there are still a couple of vacant spaces in our roster, if you have a couple of hours to spare next Saturday, we'd appreciate your help.

If you require any further information, please contact Kate - 0408 399 144. Thanks.

Irish Festival Volunteer Sign Up link: volunteersignup.org/TKAAE

Mothers Day/Special Person Breakfast

Mothers, Grandmothers and special people are all welcome to attend the breakfast, along with your St Pat's students and younger family members.  Orders can be placed via CDF Pay.

Casserole Bank

The St Pat's community has a wonderful tradition of the "Casserole Bank" where families come together to provide a meal or snacks/lunchbox items for families within our school who are in need of support (for example, a new arrival, family illness or bereavement).

This year, the Casserole Bank will be coordinated through the school office.  If you are aware of a family requiring support, please contact the office.

If you are willing to help out during the year, please register your name details on the google form below & we will reach out when the need arises.  The more volunteers we have, the fewer times people will be called upon to help out.

Canteen & Cake Raffle Rosters

Thanks to those who have already signed up for the Canteen & Cake Raffle Rosters. We now have a new Canteen Sign Up Sheet available for Term 2.  We appreciate everyone's help with Canteen - without your assistance, it can not run.

Canteen Sign Up Sheet - volunteersignup.org/BCXRE

Cake Raffle Sign Up Sheet - volunteersignup.org/PTFPM

CANTEEN ROSTER

Virginia Martin co-ordinates the canteen, arranging for the stocking of snack items and is happy to take questions from prospective volunteers  - 0419 883 657. 

There are still lots of gaps in this Term's Canteen Roster. 

CAKE RAFFLE ROSTER (Term 2)

If you have any questions about the Cake Raffle, please contact Kate Dobson 0408 399 144.

Term 2 Assembly Roster

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to Ayla Clissold, Olivia Gleeson, Banjo Milward and Miss Lumsden who celebrate their birthdays this week.  We hope you all have a great time celebrating with family and friends.

Student Awards

Room 1

Elliott King for your hard work in handwriting this week! You have made fabulous progress in your letter formation. Keep up the great work!

Jett Balcombe for a fantastic start to Term 2. This week Jett has worked hard to complete learning tasks. Keep up the great work!

Room 2

Scout Langdon for being a responsible learner and taking pride in his writing this week. Scout has worked very hard to complete his holiday writing task and created a wonderful sentence containing our focus conjunctions. Keep up the great work Scout! 

Maya Lilley for always being a wonderful friend to all of her peers. Maya always has a smile on her face and is willing to lend a helping hand to those in need. We are lucky to have you in Room 2, keep up the great work Maya!

Room 4

Tyrone Collins for being a very responsible class member this week. Tyrone you have shown how to be a good junior leader of our class and be very respectful during prayer time. Well done!

Hunter Erwin for being a very focussed learner this week. Hunter you have been leading by example, striving to do your best in every curriculum and have made good progress. Well done on reading 50 times so far this year and spelling every word correctly in Literacy.  Keep up the great work!

Lachlan  Gallogly for listening carefully to the discussions we have in class and contributing some great ideas. We love your inquiring mind Lachlan and the thoughtful comments you make. Well done!

Room 6

Jack Lane for your amazing effort and achievement during our maths unit on telling the time. You took on feedback and have shown great persistence and resilience each week to keep trying your best. Well done Jack you should be extremely proud.

Ada Leishman for the amazing transition you have made back into the classroom this week. Your kindness, friendship and humour towards others is always noted. Thank you for being an amazing asset to our classroom.

Room 7

Sadie Langdon for being an organised and responsible learner, alway putting a positive effort into tasks and asking questions to help understanding.  Well done Sadie!

Ellie Dobson for focusing on being a responsible and respectful leader in our class. Ellie, it has been wonderful to see your positive development in this area and the effort you put into organising and completing tasks. Excellent work!

Star of the Sea Parish Bulletin

Directwear Uniform

School Uniform is available from Directwear www.directwear.com.au  

Uniforms can be collected from the Directwear home address in Warrnambool or posted to you.

Contact details for Direct wear are:

email info@directwear.com.au or phone Dion Jansz: 0412 654 406

Sports Polo Shirts

The School Sports Polo shirts are purchased through the school via CDF Pay.

There has been an increase in the price of sports shirts to $50 - this is cost price from our supplier.

Dates to Remember

Please refer to the public calendar on the school website for the most up to date calendar items.

https://www.spkoroit.catholic.edu.au/news-events

Save the Date!

Community News

Koroit ANZAC Day Service

Thursday 25th April, 12:30pm at the Koroit War Memorial

All Welcome. Tea, Coffee and biscuits availabile at the Scout Hall following the service.

Tributes can be placed at any time.

All Gave Some, Some Gave all.

Enquiries - Ken Cook 0404 976 658, Doug Nolte 0407 992 027

MIURA MATSURI - FREE COMMUNITY CELEBRATION IN THE JAPANESE GARDEN

We're opening up the gates to come and explore the Miura Friendship Garden, learn about the history of the site and enjoy a great day out! Sat, May 18 2024, 10am - 3pm, Miura Friendship Garden, Albert Park, entrance off Grafton Road, Warrnambool 

Further Information - https://whatson.warrnambool.vic.gov.au/miura-matsuri-free-community-celebration-japanese-garden