Newsletter 2 - 27th February 2025

Security Cameras

During the summer break, security cameras were installed in some classrooms. At this stage, the cameras have been installed in the years 3 - 6 classrooms. The remaining classrooms and new classrooms will have cameras installed at a later stage. There are many benefits to installing security cameras in the school  including:

• Monitor the premises to protect the safety of students, staff and visitors.
• Monitor the premises during the course of the working day for added security.
• Deterring unlawful activity on the school premises after hours.

The CCTV footage is collected by the school for only 7 days and will be held by Catholic Education Tasmania. The privacy policy applies to the footage collected by CCTV. If you have any questions, please contact the office on 6426 1626.

 

Shrove Tuesday & Ash Wednesday

Next week marks the beginning of Lent with Shrove Tuesday which directly precedes Ash Wednesday. Shrove Tuesday was the day when Christians were encouraged to go to confession in preparation for the penitential season. Over the years, Shrove Tuesday not only became a day for Confession but a time for Catholics to feast on eggs, sugar and dairy which are traditionally restricted during the Lenten fast. Next Tuesday morning, we will be having an extra special Shrove Tuesday breakfast for students.

In the Roman Catholic Church, Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, the season of preparation for the resurrection of Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday. Ash Wednesday always falls 46 days before Easter. Since Easter falls on a different date each year, Ash Wednesday does, too.

On Ash Wednesday, Catholics are encouraged to attend Mass and receive ashes on their foreheads in order to mark the beginning of the Lenten season. The ashes are made by burning the blessed palms that were distributed the previous year on Palm Sunday. After the priest blesses the ashes and sprinkles them with holy water, the faithful come forward to receive them. The priest dips his right thumb in the ashes and makes the Sign of the Cross on each person's forehead. The ashes that we receive are a reminder of our own sinfulness. As Lent begins, we set specific spiritual goals we would like to reach before Easter and decide how we will pursue them—for instance, we may forgo indulging in luxury foods. St Patrick’s will be learning about poverty and justice in the 6 weeks during Lent. We will be sending home small Project Compassion boxes to fundraise for people living in poverty. If you have any small change to donate, this would be appreciated.

Effective Instruction in English

Catholic Education Tasmania is committed to supporting our educators with a deep understanding of the Science of Learning through the INSIGHT Project. As a part of INSIGHT, Literate Learners for Life, we continue to teach our students the essential core knowledge and strong foundations systematically and explicitly to be successful readers and writers. We continue to develop teacher’s literacy knowledge and practice, use evidence-based programs, and develop consistent frameworks in literacy.

Multilit Suite

All early childhood teachers have participated in training with Multi Lit (Making Up Lost Time in Literacy) Pty Ltd. Multi Lit is a leading Australian company that provides effective literacy instruction based on scientific evidence and best practice.

St Patrick’s will continue to implement the MultiLit suite across the early years’ classes:

Kinder - PreLit

Prep to Year 3 - InitiaLit

We are also using the associated programs of Language Lift, MiniLit and MacqLit to provide intervention support for identified students.

The InitiaLit suite of programs assists us in identifying students’ current literacy levels and allows for targeted instruction so that students are receiving explicit teaching at the level that each student requires.  Therefore, some students are participating in literacy instruction time in another classroom with another teacher.

Spelling Mastery

Spelling Mastery is designed to explicitly teach spelling skills to students in grades 3 through 6. Spelling Mastery includes phonemic, morphemic, and whole-word strategies and is delivered in daily 15-20 minute sessions. Spelling Mastery provides teachers with fully-scripted lessons organised according to students’ skill development. Instruction is provided in scaffolded steps to help students finish each concept before a new one is presented.

The Writing Revolution

The Writing Revolution provides teachers with an evidence-based and proven instructional methodology, the Hochman Method Ⓡ.

The methodology rests on explicit, carefully sequenced instruction, building from sentences to compositions. The Hochman Method is not a separate writing curriculum but rather an approach designed to be adapted to and embedded in the content being taught in any subject area and at any grade level. The Writing Revolution is explicitly taught, scaffolded and reinforced. The Writing Revolution’s evidence-based strategies ensure that all students at all levels can produce clear, coherent, unified, and structured writing. Armed with those strategies, students become better readers, communicators and most importantly, critical thinkers (The Writing Revolution, 2023).

We are excited to continue this project as it will allow us to truly target students' learning in literacy in their zone of development. If you have any questions regarding the project or the placement of your child in the program, please contact me on 6426 1626.

 

URSTRONG

URSTRONG’s whole-school friendship strategy has improved the social climate in schools around the world, connecting over a million kids, parents, and teachers with a common language of friendship. We are proud to be a URSTRONG School and are committed to empowering your children with friendship skills.

You are invited to take advantage of a FREE Parent Membership to access hundreds of resources – including an 8 session video series. This will allow you to learn the same language & strategies being taught in the classroom through the Friendology 101 curriculum. We hope that, as a URSTRONG Family, you will reinforce the important messages of empowerment, self-compassion, & kindness at home.

As a next step, we would recommend:

• Click here to view an overview of URSTRONG.
• Activate your FREE Parent Membership and explore all the resources available to your family.
• Explore the hundreds of resources available to you!

We believe that empowering our students with these skills will create a culture of kindness at our school and we hope that, together, we can support your children to have healthy, feel-good friendships.

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.

 

Nominations for Tasmanian Catholic Schools Parents Council

The Tasmanian Catholic Schools Parents Council is the Parent Representative Body that was established by His Grace Archbishop Porteous a number of years ago.  It is in place to assist Catholic School parents (and children), ensuring they have a voice at both a local and national level.  The TCSPC also assists with Parent Engagement within Catholic Education, and helps parents take an active role in the education of their children. The TCSPC is a member of Catholic Schools Parents Australia (CSPA), which is the National body representing parents with children in Catholic schools. The TCSPC also has a representative on the Tasmanian Catholic Education Commission and the CSPA has a representative on the National Catholic Education Commission.

 It is highly desirable for all Schools and Colleges to have a parent represent them on the TCSPC. The role is not onerous or time consuming.   If you would like to be nominated to represent St Patrick’s for the TCSPC, please email me at carmen.aylott@catholic.tas.edu.au to express your interest.

Have a great week!

Carmen Aylott

Principal  

As a whole class, Year 3 constructed a joint narrative story. We focused on designing a 'sizzling start' to hook the reader and continuing with backfill to give the character some history and context.  Next, we had to devise a complication that would keep the reader intrigued.  Finally a resolution was constructed to end the story in a satisfactory way.  We also focused on swapping out boring words for interesting words, for example stumble, descended and plummeted. Please enjoy the following story, 'The Mysterious Superworm'. Attached are two examples of illustrations to compliment the class story.

We will hold Year 6 Meetings towards the end of Term 1 and will notify Year 6 Families regarding bookings closer to the time.

Insight SRC is conducting this survey on behalf of St Patrick's Catholic School and Catholic Education Tasmania. It is designed to assist schools in gaining an understanding of parents' perceptions of their children’s experience of school. 

The results will benefit everyone within the school by providing valuable information about how the school can use staff, student and parent input to plan programs and activities to improve your child's experience at school.

While your participation is voluntary, it is important to remember that the success of this important project is dependent on the involvement of all parents. Surveys will be emailed to families the week beginning Monday 24th March. 

St Patrick’s Day Family Fun Afternoon

Monday, 17^th March.

 

To celebrate St Patrick’s Day, we are hosting a range of activities.

• Mass-9.30am in the school hall.
• Lunch: Special student lunch-Hot Potatoes.  Order via the QKR App.
• From 1.30pm, parents may collect their child/children from the classroom and accompany them in a range of free and small charge activities.  Students who do not have parents attending will be supervised by their classroom teacher.  Please complete the RSVP note on Compass if you are attending the afternoon.  The afternoon will conclude at 2.50pm.
• There will be stalls of treats, produce, preserves and craft.  Students may bring money for purchases.

We are kindly asking for donations from families for items for the stall.  Food items require a list of ingredients. Items may be dropped into the school office.

 

 

Event Details:

What - Bluff 2 Boat Ramp
 Date: March 16th

 Location: Haines Park 
 Goal: The school with the largest registered team wins $2,000!

• Netta (grades 2,3 & 4)
• Primary (grades 5&6)
• Starts Saturday 15^th March
• 8:30am & 9:45am time slots
• Devon netball courts, Spreyton
• Links to register a player to Woolworths Netta: https://www.playhq.com/netball-australia/register/e88f37