2022, Term 4, Week 9 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,

Another busy week!

This week our students participated in an amazing amount of different and fun activities. The was Moyne schools try-athlon, try-athlon training, 5/6 open water swimming program, F-3 excursion to Port Fairy, F-2 extended school day, Yr 5 students applying for 2023 leadership positions, 2023 foundation transition session and last but most definitely not least the Year 2 sleepover! Wow, what another big week at St Pat's! Next week is another busy week as we get closer to the end of the year, please see the dates to remember section further in the newsletter.

Carols at the Stage

This Sunday, 3-5pm, at the Koroit Village Green Stage our school choir will be contributing to the Koroit Carols! Our choir will be singing Jingle Bell Rock and Go Santa Go! We thank Miss Monique Brown for coordinating our choir's efforts and wish our choir all the best on Sunday afternoon. The timetable for the event is attached below. CAN ALL CHOIR STUDENTS PLEASE MEET MONIQUE AND STAFF AT THE WOODEN POTATO FARMER SCULPTURE ON THE GREEN AT 3PM SUNDAY.

School Uniform update

Thanks to our Parents & Friends and Bronie for coordinating our school uniform sale on Tuesday. It was a great opportunity for our families to purchase uniform at a reduced cost. 

The uniform sale raised some questions in our school community which I will do my best to address in today's newsletter. 

The purpose of the uniform sale was to help the school reduce its stock levels in order to make the transition to Directwear, as our new school uniform supplier, quicker. Our school is currently holding uniform stock in excess of $10,000. In order to balance our school finances we would like to sell as much of our stock as possible before we transition. 

There is currently no plan to alter our school uniform policy. Any item purchased from our school uniform shop will be able to be worn for the foreseeable future, including, once we have transitioned to Directwear as our primary supplier. 

Our current uniform policy makes it hard to achieve uniformity on school photo day. This is a school based issue, regardless of what is required for students to wear on school photo day, the school will provide uniform items to those who may not have a particular required item for the purpose of 'uniform' school photos. 

We are hoping to transition to Directwear sometime in term 2 2023. 

2023 Class Structure

Orientation day is coming up on Tuesday December 13th 11.30-1.30, on this day students will gather and complete activities with their 2023 classmates. Our class structure for next year will be:

Room 1 - Foundation 

Room 2 - Year 1/2

Room 4 - Year 2/3

Room 5 - Year 4/5

Room 7 - Year 6

There are many different factors that are considered each year when we arrange our multiage structures. These include the possible best learning outcomes for all students, learning needs, curriculum delivery, class sizes, social factors, staffing, physical school spaces and others. We believe this structure for 2023 provides, as best we can, positives for all of the aforementioned factors. 

2023 School Calendar

We are currently in the process of creating a 2023 annual school calendar to ensure as many foreseeable events are included, planned and communicated for next year. Once this has been finalised, all dates will be transferred to our school calendar on SZAPP and an A3 paper copy will be provided to families early in 2023. 

Fairytale Christmas

Our students have been VERY busy preparing for next week's Fairytale Christmas performance. The performance is on Thursday 8th of December in the school hall.  The concert starts at 6pm, students need to arrive at 5:45pm to be seated and ready for the show. The P & F will provide a sausage sizzle after the concert. Families are welcome to bring other items for a picnic tea.  Please see the timetable for this event below. 

2022 KK in classrooms - Community focus

This year we are asking students/families to provide a gift to the wishing tree for St Vincent de Paul at Koroit IGA as our classroom KK.  We believe that as a Catholic School it is important to emphasize giving at Christmas time as being more important than receiving. We also empathize that receiving is fun for our students too, each student will receive a Christmas gift from their child’s classroom teacher. There will be more detailed information coming from your child/ren’s classroom teacher very soon.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Kind regards,

Nick Murrell

Principal

Students of the Week

Room 1 &  2

Oliver for working hard on growing his mindset and seeing what he can achieve when he applies himself to all areas of learning. Oliver, you have worked so hard this term and because of that, you have been able to enjoy so much success in your learning! Well done.

Ora for always being a confident and enthusiastic member of our class. We are so proud of the way you came back to school with a smile on your face after your holiday and showed so much resilience! Keep up the wonderful work!

Sam for demonstrating an increasing confidence in new and unfamiliar situations and facing most challenges with a positive attitude. We have loved watching you come out of your shell this term and have enjoyed seeing you flourish in reading because of our positive attitude towards learning. Well done Sam!

Tilly V for communicating her ideas and showing respect for other students’ ideas and opinions in whole class discussions. Tilly, you consistently show maturity in your engagement with your peers and have been a wonderful leader and role model for the younger students. Well done!

Room 4

(Neve, Sienna, Jack, Zephyr, Ada, Harry, Poppy, Edmund, Remi, Xander, Jordie, Lila, Savannah)

All Year 2 students for their fantastic efforts at our grade 2 sleepover. Everyone displayed our motto of being Responsible, Respectful and Safe. Each person helped where needed, encouraged and supported others in trying new experiences, listened to instructions, used their manners and worked as a team.  Well done and I am very proud of you all! 

Room 5

Tighe Perry -  for writing an amazing letter to his 2023 buddy. Tighe, your letter had up-levelled sentences, it described our school in detail and you made it sound exciting to come to St Pat’s. Your new buddy should feel confident knowing that you will look after him as you have described.

Jimmy Bidmade for showing responsibility and leadership in STEM by cleaning up without prompting. Jimmy, I’m told that you did a thorough job and that you were incredible helpful throughout the lesson.

Room 7

Ace Bidmade for always quietly inspiring your classmates with your respectful and responsible attitude towards our school.  You are always happy to help others and you demonstrate thoughtfulness in your interactions with other students. Thanks for being a class leader. 

Nash Bidmade for the fantastic effort you have made in your learning this year. You have persisted, learnt and achieved success- well done! You have developed confidence and shown initiative many times, helping others and being a class leader. Thank you for the responsible and respectful attitude you have towards school Nash.  

Phoenix Lane for the thoughtful contributions you make to class discussions and group activities.  You are respectful towards your classmates and you make sure everyone feels included. Thank you for being your wonderful, caring self Phoenix. 

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to Ted Porter, Tilly Van Rysingen and Charlotte Lilley who are celebrating their Birthday at this time.

Library Returns

Have you bought your library books back?  Now is the time to return all library books so Mrs. Brown can complete stocktake of our school library collection.

The class that brings all their books back first gets a prize!!!

Dates to Remember

REMINDERS

December

6th - Year 5 Leadership speeches

8th - FairyTale Christmas performance/BBQ  5.45-7pm 

9th - End of year Mass 10 am @ Infant Jesus Church

12th - 5/6 Open water swimming 10.30-11.30

13th - Orientation Day

14th -  5/6 Open water swimming 10.30-11.30

14th - Yr 6 Graduation Lunch Yr6 Grad evening

15th - 5/6 Open water swimming 10.30-11.30

16th - Students' last day 2.30pm finish

Sports Uniform

ACTION REQUIRED - PAM (Parent Access Module) Accounts

Over the Christmas holidays your PAM account will be updated to provide better security and allow for further functionality. This change will involve moving to a PAM account per parent rather than an account per family. To help us prepare for this change, please answer the questions in the survey on PAM as soon as possible.

Fairytale Christmas - BBQ Volunteers

We are looking for some helpers to help with cooking the BBQ at this event, if you can help please contact Tammy on 0428 466 129.

Parish Bulletin

Community News

There is a lot happening in Koroit and Warrnambool! Check out the flyers below and join in some of the fun!

To view full information click on this link