2023, Term 1, Week 4 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

Welcome 2023

Dear Parents and Carers,

Next week marks two significant days in our Catholic liturgical calendar. Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday. These days signify the beginning of the Lenten season. 40 days leading to Easter where we are encouraged to reflect, serve and pray. During Lent at St Pat’s our students will be given opportunities to think about what it is they can do to serve others. Traditionally, we think of Lent as a time of fasting, however, it is also a time to focus on the opportunities we have to support others in our lives. I encourage you during this time to talk to your child/ren about the opportunities they have to support those around them, “For it is in giving that we receive.” St. Francis of Assisi

Lenten Prayer for Ash Wednesday 

God of goodness and mercy,

Hear my prayer as I begin this Lenten journey with you. Let me be honest with myself as I look into my heart and soul, noticing the times I turn away from you. Guide me as I humbly seek to repent and return to your love. May humility guide my efforts to be reconciled with you and live forever in your abundant grace. Transform me this Lent, heavenly Father. Give me the strength to commit myself to grow closer to you each day.

Amen.

School Opening/Ash Wednesday Mass

Next Wednesday, students will be attending Mass to celebrate the commencement of the school year, along with Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent.
Students will walk across and sit with their classmates.
Parents and extended family members, along with Parishioners are welcome to attend. Mass commences at 10am.
Please access your PAM account to grant permission for your child to attend.

Shrove Tuesday 

On Shrove Tuesday we will be sharing pancakes together as a school. 

If your child has any allergies or intolerances to pancakes or their ingredients, please make contact with your child’s teacher or the school office as soon as possible.

School Fundraising - Port Fairy Folk Festival BBQ

Trish Watson (St. Pat’s Koroit Folk Festival BBQ Coordinator) has reported that she has had solid take up of volunteers for one of our major fundraising events for the year the Port Fairy Folk Festival BBQ. At this stage she sttill needs a few Dads to help with heavy lifting on the Monday 2.30-4.30pm, if you are able to support, it would be greatly appreciated.

Kind regards,

Nick Murrell

Principal

AWARDS

ROOM 1 

Hunter Noble for his excellent attitude to all learning tasks. Hunter contributes great ideas and is a kind friend to others. Well done. 

Floss Young for being a motivated and independent student with a great love of learning. Keep up the great work Floss.

ROOM 2

Olympia Jordan for constantly being a respectful, responsible and safe member of Room 2. You are a wonderful role model for your peers as you are always kind, caring and helpful. Well done Olympia!  

Mimi Martin for stepping out of your comfort zone and sharing your ideas and experiences during class discussion time. You are a star Mim! 

ROOM 4 

Edmund McMahon for the responsible way you have helped and made welcome our new students to our classroom. You have shown great maturity, kindness and leadership skills in making sure our class flows smoothly and everyone is included. Thank you for being such a great role model Edmund!

 Poppy Martin for being an amazing, responsible and respectful leader of our classroom. Poppy always leads by example and offers to help her peers, new teachers to our school and other students of the school without being asked.  Your kindness is always noticed, Poppy, thank you!

ROOM 5

Tarneisha Harris for being a responsible member of our class. Tarneisha, we are impressed with how well you are focusing on your tasks during your lessons and how well you contribute to our discussions. You offered great ideas in up-levelling sentences this week.  Well done.

Dominic McEachern for being a responsible learner by working with people from outside of your usual friendship circle during group activities. We appreciate your flexibility in working with anyone from our class and it shows how mature you are. Well done.

ROOM 7

Beau Porter

Beau, you have been an incredibly responsible buddy. During our sports afternoons you have been flexible and taken on extra foundation students without a fuss. You have also displayed leadership qualities during preparation for school assemblies.  

Addy Fechete

Addy, you are always looking out for others and today you were determined that both you and Allira understood how to add and subtract positive and negative integers. You worked so hard until you were an absolute master! Congratulations on a great start to the year.

Yearly Calendar

We will soon be sending home a paper copy of our school yearly planner for all families to assist with planning your 2023 year with school events in mind. Please keep an eye out for this.

We are waiting on confirmation from two professional development facilitators in order to finalise our remaining closure days for 2023. We will continue to have this calendar in DRAFT format on our school newsletter until these specific dates are confirmed. 

School Advisory Council (SAC)

We thank Erin Holscher for her time with our SAC. Erin's period of service is complete and we are currently looking for one parent/carer from our school community to join our School Advisory Council (SAC). Our school's SAC is a representative body, bringing together in a formal way all parties connected with the school. Some key roles of the SAC are to offer ongoing advice around the alignment of the school vision with the school’s plans for improvement and growth and provide strategic advice and support to the principal on matters relating to school operations and ongoing improvement. 

Our current members staying on are: Emma Arthur (Chair), Paul Andriessen, Clinton Perry, Josh Porter, Ms. Tegan McDonald (staff representative) and Nick Murrell.

If you are interested in joining our SAC or would like to know more, please contact Nick at school or via email principal@spkoroit.catholic.edu.au 

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to Lincoln Arthur, Sachnoor Kaur, Maya Lilley, Olympia Jordan and Poppy Martin who are celebrating their Birthday at this time.

Dates to Remember

REMINDERS

February

21st - Shrove Tuesday

22nd - Ash Wednesday / School Mass 10.00am 

24th - Moyne District Tennis W'bool Lawn

March

2nd - Division swimming Aquazone W'bool

7th - Lions Eye Testing

9th - WPH Division Tennis W'bool Lawn

10th -13th Port Fairy Folk Festival

13th - Labour Day Holiday

16th - School Photos

17th - St Patricks Day

21st - Harmony Day

30th - School Athletics Sports Day

April

3rd - Easter Arts Show 5:00 – 6:00pm

6th - Last Day Term 1

7th - Good Friday

9th - Easter Sunday

School Fee Direct Debit Payments

If you currently have a direct debit payment plan set up for 2022 it will automatically continue for 2023 unless you notify Bronie in the office. Payments will begin next Thursday 9th February with the final fortnightly payment being on the 14th December. If you would like to start paying your fees via direct debit please complete and return the attached direct debit form or call into the office.

Cyber Safety user agreement

PLEASE GIVE YOUR CHILD PERMISSION VIA YOUR NEW PAM ACCOUNT.

In accordance with St Patrick's Acceptable Use and Cyber Safety Agreement, it is a requirement for parents/carers to discuss the attached agreement with their child/ren and accept the terms. This agreement is to ensure that all students that have access to the school’s digital resources are aware of their responsibilities and agree to abide by the school’s Acceptable Use and Cybersafety Agreement. The following agreement covers the student’s use of technology equipment (such as computers, chromebooks, macbooks, hand held devices, camera, printers), and digital platforms (such as Internet, networks and email. social media, apps, and software). Permission is required for each child in your family from Foundation to Year 6.

Catering Volunteers

Cake Raffle

Food Bank

Canteen Helpers

SIMON Everywhere

Please see the below details if you require more information on setting up your account within SIMON everywhere.

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