NEWSLETTER 28 - 6th September 2022

After 40 years of teaching, I can say confidently that there is much promise in our youth, which is complemented by my complete admiration for the dedicated adults who staff our school who work extremely hard in support student outcomes and staff welfare, and my deep respect for our many committed parents and family members who are challenged daily to be loving and nurturing role models. As I reach the final weeks of my career in education, I often feel humbled by the experience of having the opportunity to spend time in developing and maintaining quality relationships with people who genuinely appear to appreciate the values that we try to promote at St Patrick's.

Looking back over such a ‘generational’ time period in education, an enduring outlook for all educators and those being educated (which include school staff and parents in addition to students) involves having faith in ‘change’, which ultimately helps create character by developing ‘faith’ - in oneself; in others; in a community; in God. One very important learning for me during our very busy and sometimes challenging times together is an appreciation of the process involved in any faith development. Respectful relationships are paramount in the success of education and it is the manner in which we all engage in individual challenges that tempers the formation of character as we, in turn, engage in group or collaborate responsibilities that helps distil the essential ingredients of faith formation, which include:

• Encounter (a personal experience by the person in truly understanding the reality of the truth of what it means to be in a relationship);
• Knowledge (being aware of our traditions);
• Community Identity (showing our collective concern for social justice through action);
• Celebration (being part of affirming who we are).

All members of St Patrick’s School are involved in encounter, gaining knowledge, developing a sense of our part in various communities and hopefully having good reason to celebrate - as a group we increase our faith in ourselves and others by experience that is always characterised by ‘change.’ It might come as a surprise to some but the Catholic tradition is always changing, is quite radical, however, it is change based on a continuity that is based on a rich tradition, founded upon prayer, reflection, meditation – the essential introspective aspects of knowing self. It is also characterised by outreach – reaching out to the marginalised, trying to fill an emotional, physical, and spiritual vacuum.

Intrinsic to any educational process is change, hopefully positive and affirming. Guiding and facilitating change, as any parent would attest, can involve times when one’s patience is tried. I thank the many families who have provided the school and our staff with the necessary trust in our endeavours to bring about positive change in children’s lives. We all need to be challenged at times and I pray that in all our conversations we are open to the perspectives of others. We should always be prepared to discuss our mutual interests in a spirit of courtesy and consideration. I take heart from the following passage from the book of Psalms, “Test me, Oh Lord, and try me; examine my heart and my mind”. Our actions and decisions do not always bring about happiness for all, however, if we recognise a need to reflect from both our ‘heart and head’, hopefully others can come to understand the reasons for decisions that may be difficult for some to accept.

Regards                              

Rod Linhart (Principal)

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

September

October 

Our fees will increase from $1660 to $1700 and capital levy from $270 to $280 next year. A one child family will be paying $1,980 for 2023, up from $1,930 ($50 increase)

Please read the following letter regarding parent input into the process of selecting a new principal for St Patrick’s; I would encourage all interested parents to be involved, which involves registering for the meeting which is scheduled for 2.00pm next Tuesday 13^th September. Thank you (Rod Linhart).

Please find below our recently updated Student Mobile Online Devices Policy – I thank the School Board and staff for their input into this updating process. School policies and guidelines are available from the school website.

In addition to providing families with examples of student work via Seesaw that reflects our Online Feedback and Reporting Guidelines, teachers will be providing student work in English next week. This resource will hopefully allow parents the opportunity to review some of the work that is covered in class, to engage in some focused conversations with children and to provide scope for similarly focused conversations with teachers. The home-school partnership is a crucial support relationship for student progress and parents are welcome to note in their child’s diary or ring the school office to organise parent-student-teacher meetings to discuss any aspect of a child’s education at St Patrick’s. Please ensure any books that are brought home for parent review are returned the next school day. Thank you.

Mrs Meech is away today – we welcomed Mrs Carrol-Jones to Year 3. Mrs Badcock will be away this Thursday and Friday.  Mrs Meech, Ms Mundy and Mr Linhart will be attending a Year 3 excursion this Friday; Miss Moore, Mrs Hyland and Mr Linhart will be attending Year 5 camp next Monday and Tuesday; Ms Stuart and Mr Atkins will be away next Monday and Tuesday attending a Literacy PL.

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

Prep: Jayce Jarman for displaying WEST values and for being kind and caring towards your classmates. 

Year 1: Milla Rockliff for the great effort and improvement you have made towards your reading. Keep it up Milla

Year 2: Xavier Parker for an improvement in self-regulating his responses and showing patience during class discussions. 

Year 3: Connor Bray for his application towards learning and for always being willing to help others.

Year 4: Matilda Roach for her positive application in our History unit on the Age of Exploration.

Year 5: Tanner Davis for being a responsible, cooperative group worker and for participating in whole class discussions more confidently.

Year 6:Hamish Fulcher for his reverence during daily meditation by showing great improvement at being still of body.

Congratulations to our House Raffle winners this week: 

Dooley - Ethan Dick   Martyn - Mason Allford

Byrne - Grace Freeman

Emilia Ling recently competed in the Hobart Cup, representing Devonport Junior Soccer Club and her team was undefeated over the two day, five game tournament. William Hawkins also competed in the Hobart Cup representing the Devonport Strikers. Well done Will and Emilia! Parents are welcome to send details of student engagement in extra-curricula activities for showcasing the school Newsletter.

The Spring Roster is underway. Last Friday our 3/4 and 5/6 teams began the roster and on Wednesday, 7th September, our 1/2 players will take the court.

• Reminder 5/6 Girls - This Friday, one mixed 5/6 team will be playing at 7.30pm due to a number of players not attending due to Club commitments. A parent to volunteer to assist with coaching this evening please.
• Dean Hingston will commence Basketball training tomorrow with the 3/4 boys team on a Wednesday afternoon from 3.00 - 3.40pm. Training will be held on the school basketball court. 

Many thanks to the following families who contributed some delicious cupcakes in response to our Year 5 camp fund-raiser: Tueon, Bakes, Dewrance-Milligan, Sesara, Jones, Meech, Rand, Smith, Parry, Mitchell, Evans, Brazendale, Davis 

This Wednesday 7^th September (Tomorrow) Frogs-in-a-pond will be available for $2.00 from the school canteen. Funds raised will contribute to offsetting expenses for families attending the forthcoming Year 5 camp. Thank you for your support.

Our uniform policy does not require students to wear hats until summer uniform (the transition of which will begin in two weeks), however, advice from the Cancer Council strongly encourages the wearing of hats and being ‘Sun Smart’ in other ways once the UV rating reaches 3. This level 3 UV rating is now appearing to occur regularly with our clear, sunny spring days and we will be encouraging staff and students to wear hats in response to this sound advice from the Cancer Council.

Xavier Parker, Year 2, will this year be raising awareness and funds to support those in our community, especially, children, who are affected by violence.  By painting his nails blue, Xavier hopes to help raise awareness, and funds, for “Polished Man”.

 WHAT IS POLISHED MAN?

In October, the “Polished Man campaign” will encourage people to actively take a stand, paint one nail blue to spark up important and powerful conversations and raise awareness and funds to end violence against women and children. The funds that are raised will support trauma prevention and recovery programs in Australia and around the world that aim to stop violence before it can occur, as well as helping survivors on their road to recovery. That’s how together, we can create a safer world for women and children.

Whilst “Polished Man” raises the profile – and awareness – of violence against children and women, Xave also wants to take this opportunity to acknowledge that men also suffer from domestic violence. For the entire month of October, Xave will have some (and possibly all) of his fingernails painted blue. This acts as a conversation starter to raise awareness of the “Polished Man” cause, as well as offering an opportunity for people to donate towards the cause.

If you have like to join Xave in this cause – then please head to ‘polishman.com’ - and follow the links to sign up (the more the merrier). If you would like to donate towards the cause then do so at - https://polishedman.com/xaveparker2014 For the month of September, students may choose to support Xavier by painting one or finger nails blue, hopefully creating conversations about challenging violence and being agents of positive change.

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.

Thank you most sincerely for the generous offer of assistance with the school’s request for a meal donation in support of the Barker family. The response certainly reflects the generous nature of our wonderful school community. Following on from a letter that was communicated to participating families, the meal preparation roster is below. Please contact Mr Linhart, Lennice or Tameka in the school office if your circumstances have changed in regard to this offer of assistance, or if you would like to offer a meal or lunchbox item. We are asking the meals to be brought to school to allow us to send the meals home each Tuesday and Thursday. Please ensure your containers are clearly labelled with your name for the effective return to you. Once again, thank you to the families who have volunteered their time and resources; the Barker family has communicated their heartfelt thanks for this gesture of support.

Unfortunately, we have had some incidences after school regarding behaviours occurring on school grounds when students are in the care of their parents that we would deem inappropriate during school hours. We acknowledge that a quick ‘catch-up’ amongst parents after school can offer the only face-to-face opportunities for parent get-togethers, however, in the light of these incidences, parents are requested to take their child or children home promptly after school please, unless their child or children are involved in a school event, such as sporting coaching, is taking place. Thank you for your cooperation and support.

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.

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.

‘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.