2025, Term 2, Week 5 Newsletter

Child Safe Statement and Commitment

The Child Safety Officers at St Patrick's are Tegan McDonald and Shona Louden. slouden@spkoroit.catholic.edu.au

Acknowledgement of Country

Principal's Message

Dear parents and carers,

Welcome to Week 5! 

Congratulations to our students who participated in the Division Cross Country at Albert Park in Warrnambool last week. We had 9 qualifiers for the event - Ayla, Ava, Fraser, Hudson (unwell), Jack, Olivia, Remi and Tayla. The day started off very chilly but it did not take away from the enthusiasm of our students. All of them ran great races in large groups.

Both Fraser (1st) and Remi (12th) have qualified into the Regional Cross Country to be held next Monday - Good luck!

A huge thank you to Emily Batt and Kristy Milward who transported and supervised students. 

Open Night/Enrolments 

Tonight we welcome parents looking to enrol their students in St Patrick’s in 2026. We are excited to showcase our wonderful school to new and existing families. 

Could existing families who have not yet submitted their enrolment forms for Foundation 2026 are encouraged to do this as soon as possible so we can work on class structures.

There are also opportunities for students to attend Learn and Explore mornings and Little Learners sessions. Please see information below.

Learning walk

Apologies for the mix up in dates for our Learning walk. We understand that next week may not suit some already registered but if the new date suits you, we would love to see you here. Contact me for more information.

Have a wonderful week everyone!

Kind regards,

Tegan McDonald 

Principal

This week we are sharing what SWPBS looks like at St Pat's when we are on the Bus for travelling to and from school and for school events.

Enrolment Information

Enrolments close soon, and acceptance letters will be sent out along with your Foundation interview time and date in early Term 3.

Home Reading at St Pat's

At St Pat’s, our home reading program is designed to support what students are learning in the classroom and is grounded in the Science of Reading. Here’s how it works across different year levels:

Foundation to Year 2

Students in F–2 will bring home decodable readers. These books are carefully selected to match the explicit phonics instruction they are receiving at school. This means:

• The texts are decodable based on the sounds (phonics) they have already learned.
  
  
• Students can read with success, which helps build confidence and fluency.
  
  
• Books will often include ‘Speed Sounds’ to practise, supporting the development of automatic and accurate decoding.
  

Why decodables? Because they align with our evidence-based approach to teaching reading. Research into cognitive load and cognitive architecture tells us that practising something easy and familiar, especially after it's been explicitly taught, strengthens understanding, supports long-term memory, and reduces the chance of forgetting. When books seem easy at home—that’s exactly what we want! Success fosters confidence and strong reading habits.

Your child may also bring home a fluency passage to reread and strengthen expression, smoothness, and pace in reading.

Some students may also take home a reading journal. This is optional and acts as a way for parents to log reading at home. Please note that teachers will not be checking journals in F–2—they are for home use only. If you have any questions or need to discuss your child’s progress, please contact your child’s teacher directly via Class Dojo, email, or by calling the school office to arrange a meeting.

Years 3 to 6

Once students have mastered the alphabetic principle and learned both the simple and complex phonics codes, they move into reading for enjoyment and knowledge. In Years 3–6:

• Students bring home books of personal interest—including fiction, non-fiction, and chapter books.
  
  
• They also receive a reading diary, helping them track their reading and begin building independence and organisational habits in preparation for secondary school.
  
  

This shift reflects their growing ability to engage with a wider range of texts and deepens their understanding across subject areas.

If you have any questions about the home reading program, please don’t hesitate to contact your child’s classroom teacher. We're always happy to support your child’s reading journey at home and school!

NCCD Information

Parents & Friends

Winter Uniform

🧥 Winter Uniform Reminder (May – September)

As we head into the cooler months, students are expected to wear full winter uniform each day.

Uniform Guidelines
✅Black socks and all-black school shoes must be worn each day.
✅Runners with white socks may be worn on Wednesdays and sport events only.
✅No jewellery or makeup is to be worn.
✅Headbands to be school colours.

👕 Winter Uniform Options
Students may choose from the following:

✔ Check Tunic
✔ Grey School Trousers*
✔ Green Polo Shirt*
✔ School Jumper*
✔ Black Tights or Socks (not with summer dress)
✔ Activewear Options (see below)
Activewear bottoms may be worn all week:

Black Shorts*

Black Skort*

Black Tracksuit Pants*

🧢 Optional Extras
School Beanie

All clothing items marked with * feature the school logo.
We are currently exploring the possibility of adding plain black pants and jazz pants to the approved uniform list. We appreciate your patience as we ensure this process is handled correctly.

🧺 Please clearly name all clothing items. Lost items can be found in the Lost Property basket.

💬 We ask for your support in:
Ensuring students come dressed appropriately and according to the uniform guidelines, promoting equality and school pride through correct uniform wear.

If you have any questions, please contact the school office or your child’s classroom teacher.

Canteen & Cake Raffle

The Canteen & Cake Raffle are coordinated by our P&F.

Canteen operates at lunchtime on Wednesday and Friday.  Wednesday is sales of  icy-poles and snacks and Friday includes distribution of lunch orders. 

Click here to sign up for the Term 2 Canteen Roster

Cake Raffle is just something for fun! Students can purchase tickets in the classroom on Friday mornings for 20cents and the raffle is drawn by a student from the family who has supplied the cake.  "Cake" is a general term - the prize does not have to be home made and you can choose to bring whatever you like biscuits, slice or chocolates.

Click here to sign up for the Cake Raffle Roster

Assembly Roster

Playgroup & St Patrick's - Biggest Morning Tea

Lost Property & Second Hand Uniform

We've cleared out some long term items from the Lost Property but we don't want to refill it - please remember to label your uniform items so your uniforms don't end up here!

Second Hand Uniform

Please speak to Becc Sanderson 0423 956 556 if you wish to purchase or donate some preloved items of uniform.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to Jobe Dobson and Mrs Griffen who have celebrated their birthday this week.  We hope you had a fantastic time celebrating with family and friends!

Star of the Sea - Parish Bulletin

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

SZ App Update

A new update for SZapp is now available in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. Please update to the latest version to ensure all features, including document uploads, work as expected.

Community News