NEWSLETTER 22 - 26th July 2022

“Wisdom, compassion and courage are the three universally recognised moral qualities of being human.” Confucius.

 Irrespective of our age, gender, educational attainment or workplace responsibilities, we will all at some point be challenged in regard to our levels of wisdom, compassion and courage. Schools are ‘in the business’ of education and we would hope that, from the mutual efforts of home and school, these three qualities would be enhanced. However, it is often not until we are placed in a position of responsibility or trust that these three qualities can be tempered and hopefully strengthened. Rasmus Hougaard is CEO of the global leadership organisation called the Potential Project and he is co-author of The Mind of the Leader. This book is the result of a two-year study, in conjunction with Harvard Business Review, in which 35,000 leaders and 250 high-level executives from a range of large organisations such as Microsoft and Google were interviewed. He wanted to understand what qualities leaders need to have in the 21st century to create a productive and happy workforce; his comprehensive research came up with the three quite traits of selflessness, compassion and mindfulness as being intrinsic to effective leadership.

There is a very big difference between empathy and compassion, with compassion being the ‘layer of action’ that comes after empathy; we try to solve the problem with this person by coaching or mentoring, by delegating the work to others, by taking on the work for ourselves if needed. The empathy-compassion link can be enhanced by engaging in the action, with some recent studies supporting this by identifying the part of the brain that is associated with mirror neuroning - the neurons in the brain that allows us to see another person in pain or see another person being happy - with that part of the brain becoming gradually ‘switched off’ if we do not take action in being compassionate. Therefore, one of the most important jobs for people in leadership - educators, parents - is to ensure the ego doesn't drive our behaviour, and that we behave in a selfless way, not for our own gain but for the gain of the people for whom we are responsible.

The research in the field of neuroplasticity in the brain, - that our brain is changing constantly depending on how we use it - is providing evidence that for every moment that we pay attention, in being ‘present’ with others, our brain is rewiring and making itself a more ‘present’, a more attentive, a more focused brain. For every time that we do something that is selfless, our brain is rewiring for selflessness to be our default behaviour, and the same with compassion. For many, compassion is an inappropriate word to bring into the concept of leadership, however, in Hougaard’s study and assessment of the 35,000 leaders, 96% of the leaders said that compassion is extremely important for their leadership. But Hougaard’s study also concluded that when we are entrusted with positions of power we sometimes lose our ability to really empathise with people, with almost all leaders surveyed concluding that their ratings in compassion declined for each year in their leadership position. Compassion implies an action, although it has the risk of leading to ‘burnout’, which we attempt to ‘deal with’ by gradually distancing ourselves from our role in supporting others. There is good reason why compassion is one of four Mercy values that are intrinsic to our identity at St Patrick’s.

Regards

Rod Linhart

(Principal)

July

August 

Term 1 - Thursday 3rd February - Thursday 14th April

Term 2 - Monday 2nd May - *Friday 8th July

Term 3 - Monday 25th July - Friday 30th September

Term 4 - Monday 17th October - Thursday 15th December

*Student Free Day Friday 8th July 2022

Winterfest Smartie Mosaics

Anette Victoria Barker, a young mother of a family who attended St Patrick’s, sadly died unexpectantly during the school holidays and our school is organising some funds that will offer some support for Anette’s family. Funds that we raise from the Latrobe Winterfest Festival will contribute to our school's offer of support to Anette's family. If you are able to spare 30 minutes on Sunday 14^th August, please nominate a time below that you can assist with the supervision of the activity, which will be located in the school hall. A school staff member will be in attendance at all times - help will be required in distributing mosaic boards and smarties, heating chocolate and cleaning up. Thank you. A link to the google form to nominate a time to assist is:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfHcrZcJA5rCxd_7-fGUB9MaxB6exOk2tLm0szJGbb7UyDoZA/viewform

Students have been developing their oral language alongside their writing skills through their participation in the Talk for Writing (T4W) program. Throughout Terms 1 and 2, students internalised, recited, adapted and created narratives, informative texts and poetry. 

T4W aims to develop written language skills by first targeting oral language skills. The core principles of T4W include: 

1. Provide a model – the teacher systematically models the speaking, listening, vocabulary and sentence patterns students will need to be successful.
2. Oral rehearsal – students internalise the pattern of the language required by ‘talking the text’ before they write it.
3. Co-constructed learning – students are involved in activities that deepen their understanding, supporting them towards being independent thinkers and writers.
4. Visible learning – model texts and co-created samples are displayed on the journey towards students’ independent application.

Students are guided throughout the process by learning and applying specific Rules & Tools. The Rules & Tools explicitly outline what a student should and could do to create a successful piece of writing.

Please enjoy viewing the exciting and engaging poems created by our Year 2 students!

Congratulations to the following students who have received Student of the Week.

Prep: Zarli Dolega for her great attitude and application towards all her school work.  Thank you for being a kind friend.

Year 1: Mark Hingston for your great effort with Maths throughout Term 2. Great work Mark.

Year 2: Xave Parker for his excellent attitude and application towards all mathematical tasks. 

Year 3: Hunter Viney for improved effort and application towards the completion of tasks.

Year 4: Sophia Simmonds for using her initiative to help out with the organisation of the classroom.

Year 5: Zara Omogbai-Musa for consistently showing a great attitude towards learning and always giving 100% during Term 2. 

Year 6: Connor Anderson for being a respectful guest at David Gough’s book launch during NAIDOC Week at Tiagarra.

Congratulations to our House Raffle winners this week: 

Dooley - Jake Bracken  Martyn - Logan Page 

Byrne - Suraya Khan

Our school beanies arrived yesterday just in time for the remainder of the cold weather and are already a big hit with our students. Beanies can be purchased from the uniform shop for $16.00.

We will be welcoming Melenna Zeleznik to Year 5 to teach Thursdays and Fridays from the beginning of term 3 until the end of term 4. Miss Moore will teach Year 5 Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays from the commencement of term 3. Miss Stuart will now be teaching Mondays to Thursdays in Year 4, with Mrs Fraser continuing to teach Year 4 every Friday. Mrs Fenton will be taking leave from Monday 15th August for the remainder of term 3, Mrs Emma Jones-Macuacua (Mrs Mac) will teach Year 2 on Monday and Tuesday and Mrs Lockyer teaching Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. 

Please continue to follow Health advice regarding notifying us if your child contracts COVID-19. Some important considerations regarding the updated COVID-19 School Safety Plan include:

• Parents are welcome inside school buildings without masks – please sanitise upon entry and wear a mask if you are a close contact (as per Health instructions.)
• Positive cases are still required to isolate for at least 7 days.
• Close contacts are still required to follow close contact rules for 7 days including testing daily if leaving their home and wearing a mask (all persons 12 years and older) in indoor settings when outside their home.
• There is no need to sign-in at the school office unless you are collecting or dropping off your child outside the usual drop-off/pick-up times (always come to the school office and office staff will contact the class teacher please, rather than picking your child directly from the classroom.)

Colds and flu

• Students/staff with cold or flu symptoms are required to stay home and test for two consecutive days.
• If the person has twice tested negative on successive days for COVID-19 and their symptoms are mild e.g. a runny nose, there is no coughing or sneezing and, if a student they have indicated when asked that they feel well, then the person is permitted at school /workplace.
  
  

Rapid antigen tests

Schools and the TCEO will allocate rapid antigen tests to CET personnel (staff and students only) as per the following schedule:

• Provide one (1) test when requested due to the person being symptomatic.
• Provide five (5) tests when requested due to the person having household close contact status.

COVID-19 testing

• If staff or students have symptoms, they should stay home and test for COVID-19.
• If it is less than 28 days since they had COVID-19, they do not need to get tested but should

still stay at home if unwell.

• If the test is positive and the person has not had a COVID-19 infection within 28 days, the person is considered a confirmed case.
• If the initial test result is negative and symptoms continue, students and staff with ongoing symptoms are advised to take a second test the following day.
• If the second test remains negative, this is sufficient to enable a return to work or school.
• If a person has returned 2 successive negative rapid antigen tests and still feels unwell consider

taking a PCR test.

• Positive rapid antigen tests must be registered on the Tasmanian Government COVID-19 website by the confirmed case or their parent/carer.

Confirmed cases

Should a student or member of staff test positive for COVID-19 they must:

• Isolate for a minimum of 7 days, provided outside the 28-day reinfection exclusion period.
• Isolate for a further 3 days if they still have symptoms on day 7.
• If test positive using a rapid antigen test, register the result with Public Health using their online declaration form or phone the Public Health Hotline 1800 671 738.
• Notify household close contacts of the need to observe close contact requirements when leaving their homes.

Catholic Education Tasmania supports schools in offering children creative play and learning within our outdoor spaces through our Outdoor Play and Learning Policy.

It is timely to restate some purposes of this policy, being:

•  Support learning and creative play with reasonable levels of risk-taking.
• Offer age-appropriate activities and items to encourage the development of gross motor, collaboration and risk assessment skills.
•  Enable children to extend their capabilities.

Examples of potential activities with suitable risk controls include:

• Loose parts imaginative play & building. e.g. Logs, sticks, milk crates, rocks, tyres, mud play, etc
• Limited tree climbing/play.
• Approved items disassembled.
• Tricycles ridden without helmets (Kinder.)

St Patrick’s is responsible for canteen duty this weekend Saturday 30^th July,  A Google doc has been created for family members to book a 20 minute block of time to assist behind the counter – your support of this request will be gratefully appreciated  The link for your 20 minute booking is

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfzmY4SEyRCILcjj4i_gsvoNz4pVkBpFIad7esPQvZDHcRqVw/viewform or you can nominate a time between 8.00am and 12.00pm in your child’s diary or ring the school office.

We still require volunteers between 10.00am-11.00am.

Thank you to the following families who have already booked their times below:

Parents who did not book a time to discuss their child’s mid-year report are welcome to arrange a time via their child’s diary to meet with their child’s teacher early this term. One print copy of this Mid-Year Report was issued to parents – please contact the school office if you require an additional copy. Copies of reports were also made available via Compass on last term. In addition to providing parents with several items of student work via our Online Feedback and Reporting platform that uses Seesaw as the medium, teachers are always willing to provide any additional samples of student work and insights into student application and attitude to provide clarity and elaboration for the mid-year report.

Canteen resumes this week and will be again operating each Thursday and Friday. Parents are reminded that the only way to now order and pay for any canteen items is via the Qkr! app for St Patrick’s Catholic School – Latrobe. Parents and adult family members are welcome to assist with the school canteen – please contact Lennice or Tameka in the school office or Tameika Anthony, Canteen Convenor, for details.

Towards the end of this term, you will receive an invitation to meet with your child’s teacher and myself to review your child’s learning plan and view a new draft learning plan for discussion and implementation at the start of term 4.  If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Melissa Marshall

Student Support

The 2022 Devonport Basketball Spring Primary School Roster will commence on Friday, 2nd September until Wednesday 7th September for Grades 1 & 2. If your child wishes to play in this roster, registrations will be open on Friday, 5th August and close on Friday, 19th August. Registrations can be completed through the following link.  https://www.playhq.com/basketball-tasmania/register/4acf47

Primary School Tournament

This Tournament will be held on the 23rd, 24th & 25th of September and will be played across venues in Ulverstone, Devonport and East Devonport.  More information will be provided in forthcoming school Newsletters.

Parents are welcome to contact Mr Linhart at any time to discuss issues relating to their child’s education. It is important for parents to always make contact with Mr Linhart or their child’s teacher if they require elaboration or clarification on any issue. The school phone is diverted to after hours to ensure your question should be answered.

We gratefully appreciate our volunteer parent coaches who offer coaching immediately after school on some days, and we acknowledge that a quick ‘catch-up’ amongst parents after school can offer the only face-to-face opportunities for parent get-togethers. As a shared space between the Latrobe Early Learning Centre (who use our hall and playground before and after school, from 6.30am until 6.30pm) parents who are briefly catching-up after school or watching any sport coaching are expected to be active in their supervision of their child or children, and be respectful of the Childcare requirements that the school grounds are for Childcare use after 3.20pm unless a school event, such as sporting coaching, is taking place. Thank you for your cooperation and support.

Karlie offers discrete counselling services to students upon both parent's signed request. Request forms are available from the school office or can be downloaded from the school website.

Whole school assemblies have commenced again each morning – parents are welcome; please follow the COVID Safety Plan protocols – sanitize and observe personal distancing.

Aussie Hoops Term 3 - 5yrs to 10yrs

Starting Saturday 13^th August @ 10am

6 Sessions

Registration Link - Term 3 Aussie Hoops

If you would like to use Ticket to Play (TTP) please contact Kristie 0418 385 597 and a separate link will be sent to register.

‘Inquiring Minds’ Birth to 5 program - a ‘Set-Up for Success’ Catholic Education Tasmania initiative.

Our ‘Inquiring Minds’ birth to 5 program operates each Friday during school term time from 9.00am to 10.30am;This program involves a considerable focus on communicating to parents the learning intentions of important activities that are associated with early years learning. Mrs Klug will be working to engage parents in early years learning experiences that will ensure children who are enrolling in Kindergarten, will be informed in regards to developing key social, emotional, physical and cognitive skills and understandings.

A reminder to parents that St Patrick's is a Nut Allergy School and that we ask that parents not pack nuts or nut products in their children's lunchboxes.