Newsletter 1 - 8th February 2024

Welcome back to the new school year and a special welcome to all new students and their families who have joined the St Patrick’s Catholic School Community. We welcome new staff, Ms Tess Locket who is working alongside Ms Erin Moore in year 4; Ms Jane Stuart returns after working at Our Lady of Lourdes last year. She will work in year 5 on Monday to Thursdays with Ms Sharon Jarvis who will work on Fridays.  Mrs Kayla Lockett is taking leave this year; Ms Sharon Jarvis will teach Japanese in her absence. We also welcome Mrs Patrice Riordan who will be teaching in year 3. Mrs Abbey O’Brien goes on Maternity Leave at the end of term one, and we will advertise her position during this term.

The staff have been working hard in the lead up to the students' return. Thank you to all our Teachers and Teacher Aides have been working hard to transform their classrooms into welcoming learning spaces. Thank you to David Broos who ensured our school was well presented for the students’ return.

Staffing for 2024

I think it is useful to publish staffing for 2024. This may be helpful when communicating with staff.

All Parent Newsletters, information and upcoming events are shared via a number of ways including:

• St Patrick’s Catholic School Website at https://stpatslatrobe.tas.edu.au/
• Newsletters Via COMPASS
• Parental notes and permission slip Via COMPASS
• Facebook https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100057514267179
• Hard copies of the Newsletter are available from the school office on request.
• Student Diaries

Professional Learning

On Thursday, 1st February all staff participated in a First Aid refresher and completed Child Safety modules. The statewide Catholic Education Insight Day at the Paranaple Centre was attended by all teachers and teacher assistants on Friday, 2nd February. A Writing Revolution workshop, run by Lisa Fenning from Catholic Education Tasmania on Monday 5th February, enabled staff to further their knowledge in writing. Staff also participated in a Grow Your Mind workshop. 

Catholic Care Counselling

We are fortunate to have Catholic Care Counsellor Jasmine Bier working at St Patrick’s on Mondays and Tuesdays each week. Jasmine can work with students in a variety of ways. Her work includes:

• Protective behaviours
• Grief and loss
• Conflict resolution 
• Social skills
• Personal Development
• Family relationships

Parents and carers can request a referral for a consultation. Before consultation begins, necessary forms are filled out and returned to Jasmine. The parent/carer forms allow Jasmine to obtain necessary information about presenting issues. The forms can be returned to the school office. All information is treated confidentially. If you feel your child would benefit from counselling please contact the school office, or myself Mrs Carmen Aylott on 6426 1626.

Responsible Use of Digital Technologies - Acceptable Use Agreement

St. Patrick’s Catholic School is committed to ensuring child safety and compliance with State and Federal regulations. To this end, the school has implemented Acceptable Use Agreements (AUA) to outline the expected behavior of students when using digital technologies. The AUA is an opportunity to set out information to support safe, ethical, and responsible use of digital technologies. It seeks agreement from students and outlines the school’s roles and responsibilities in supporting safe digital learning for all students within its care.

The AUA is a formal process that is exercised at the beginning of each academic year in catholic schools across our system and is aligned with Catholic Education Tasmania’s ICT Policy for students. It is designed to ensure that every student understands their obligations when using digital technologies. The AUA is an important tool in helping schools meet their obligations under both State and Federal legislation and regulations. It is an opportunity for schools to clearly set out their expectations regarding students' use of digital technologies in relation to child safety, privacy and duty of care associated with digital technologies. It is also an educational opportunity to provide information to students and their families to support the safe, ethical and responsible use of digital technologies.

The AUA is an essential tool in helping schools create and foster a safe and supportive learning environment for all students. In the next week, we will be providing all families with an Acceptable Use Agreement (AUA) for the responsible use of digital technologies. Parents/carers are asked to acknowledge and declare their understanding of the AUA by providing their signature. This will be sent out via Compass in the coming weeks. We thank you for your cooperation in ensuring our students understand their obligations in the use of technology and helping to foster a safe and supportive learning environment.

  
Term Overviews

Term Overviews will be sent home to families via Compass later in the week. These overviews are intended to provide families with a snapshot of what will be covered in each of the main subjects across Term One. It is not an exhaustive list and small changes may occur as the term progresses.

Families will have also receive a welcome letter with class expectations and information about specialist lessons and programs.

Allergy Aware School

We are seeking your help to support the students in our school with severe allergies to certain foods in our school. These foods include tree nuts, peanuts, shellfish, berries, raw egg, dairy, and wheat. Anaphylaxis is a severe allergic reaction that is potentially life-threatening. The most common causes of anaphylaxis in schools are allergies to food and insects (bees). To help manage allergies, our school is following the National Allergy Council’s Best Practice Guidelines for Anaphylaxis Prevention and Management in Schools.

The Best Practice Guidelines recommend an Allergy Aware approach, which means we are supporting students at risk of anaphylaxis in the following ways:

• training staff
• educating students about allergies and anaphylaxis
• teaching students that we all have different needs and to be respectful of others
• teaching students the importance of getting help immediately if their friend with an allergy looks sick.

For food allergies, we are also:

• encouraging students with food allergies to wash their hands before and after eating
• encouraging students to wash their hands after eating something their classmate or friend is allergic to
• teaching students not to share food.

Food allergies are common in school aged children and avoiding the food is the only way to prevent an allergic reaction. Therefore, we have put a range of different things in place to help keep these students safe. In younger primary classes, we may send letters home to suggest ways to support a child with food allergies that are additional to those listed above.

Parents and carers can support in the following ways:

• clearly label all student lunch boxes and water bottles with your child’s name.
• not sending ‘messy’ foods that contain the student’s food allergens where possible. For example, sliced cheese is less messy and therefore less risky than grated cheese. 

For more information see the Allergy Aware Website

Allergy Aware

Strategies to reduce risk - Allergy Aware

SETUP - Inquiring Minds

Research shows that the first five years of a child’s life are critical for their development. The experiences they have can shape who they become as an adult. We realise the importance of these years, and ensure that our SETUP sessions are full of play-based activities that allow children to investigate and learn in their own way.

Lots of time spent playing, talking, listening and interacting with you helps your child learn the skills they need for life. These skills include communicating, thinking, solving problems, moving and being with other people and children. That’s why our SETUP sessions allow children time for provocative play and exploring both on their own and with other children. We offer arts and crafts, story time, interactive games and activities as well as outside play.

Our sessions run on Fridays starting from Friday 16th February from 9:00 - 10:30 a.m. Please bring a piece of fruit to share, a hat and a drink bottle. Tea and coffee are provided for parents/carers. We hope to see you there!

Have a great week!

Carmen Aylott 

Principal