NEWSLETTER 14 - May 25th 2021

Acting Principal's Reflection

On Monday 24 May we celebrated 200 Years of Catholic Education in Australia by live streaming the 200 Years of Catholic Education Mass for our students in Years 4 - 6 (our students in Years 4 - 6 got to see Fr Mike reading the Gospel, which was a lovely surprise for the students that I was with in Year 5) and holding a Liturgy for our students from Prep - Year 3. St Patrick’s Catholic School officially opened in 1887, some 134 years ago. However, students attended St Patrick’s Church in Latrobe from 1863, so our school has contributed to more than three-quarters of the 200-year journey. I know that I feel incredibly lucky to have had a Catholic Education and I hope that our students feel the same way and can look back on their time at St Patrick’s with gratitude when they are older.

Sunday just gone was Pentecost. Pentecost is often described as the birth of the Church, as this is when the apostles first received the Holy Spirit, and hence the Church was born.

Acts 2:1-4

When Pentecost day came round, the apostles had all met in one room, when suddenly they heard what sounded like a powerful wind from heaven, the noise of which filled the entire house in which they were sitting; and something appeared to them that seemed like tongues of fire; these separated and came to rest on the head of each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit...

The Holy Spirit is often likened to a dove. These beautiful birds are symbolic of the gentle nature of the Spirit. Yet when the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles, it came in the form of powerful wind and burning flame, neither of which are particularly gentle I am sure you would agree. In listening to Fr Steven’s homily on the weekend, I was reminded that the spirit should also enliven us. To bring out our passion and to stand up for what is right. Of course, there is a right way to go about this, we still need to be compassionate and merciful, but we are also called to speak up and to use our gifts and talents to help others in need.

At St Patrick’s I believe that our students often show examples of the Holy Spirit in action when they help sort out a problem among friends where someone has not been allowed to join in a game; or when they lead by example by passing the ball to players that are less skilled than some of their other friends so that everyone gets a turn and can improve; or when they politely, but firmly ask one of their friends to stop talking behind the back of another. I hope that the Spirit continues to enliven all members of the St Patrick’s Catholic School community.

Kind regards,

Kurt Atkins

Acting Principal

Newsletter Format

It has been brought to our attention that the calendar of upcoming events is not visible when you are reading the new format of the newsletter on your phone or Ipad/tablet. The calendar which is updated regularly needs to be opened via the three horizontal lines in the top left hand corner, which will then take you to the school calendar.  Please see attached screen shots. 

Prep News - Mrs Jak

Prep Students enjoyed listening to the story 'The Nowhere Box' by Sam Zuppardi.  Whilst listening to the story, students were asked to use the comprehension strategy of visualising.  Visualising encourages readers to use their imagination and think about what sights, sounds and smells they can imagine in relation to the story.  This helps the student to form pictures in their mind and to make a connection to the story.  Students then enjoyed creating their own 'Nowhere Box'.

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Year 6 News - Mrs Kingshott

Year Six completed a unit on Poetry Writing in Term One. Grace Matheson combined her skills and understanding of writing poetry to write and include the following poem in her Google Slide presentation on Jesus’ Easter Journey.

Ash Wednesday Poem

 Angels protecting Jesus during his long 40 day journey

Sand flying into His eyes, blink, blink, blink

Hot, it’s ever so hot, walking in a desert for more than a month

Walk, walk, walk, His feet hitting the burning hot ground.

East, West, South or North? Which way will Jesus be heading?

Disciples, one of them will betray him after this journey

Never-ending pain, Jesus poor feet

Endless heat, When will Jesus return?

Summer weather, it feels so hot and Jesus has to walk through it

Desperate to get out of the desert, walking for 40 days is hard

Anticipation, as we all wait for Jesus to return

Yes, I know Jesus will make it home safely.

Garden with Mr Tim

Year 3 students Sophia, Isabelle, Jed and Violet enjoying their garden time with Mr Tim. 

After School Playground Use & Childcare

As many parents would be aware, Latrobe Early Learning Childcare uses our playground for after-school care. Due to regulations that they are required to uphold, they can't use the playground while other students not attending after-school care are on the playground. Therefore, we now have an agreement in place where after-school care will not commence using the playground until 3:15 pm on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays & Fridays, and not until 4:00 pm on Wednesdays to accommodate for families that have students involved in soccer and basketball training. As we have now put this arrangement in place, we kindly ask that parents ensure their children do not play on the playground after these times so that students in after-school care can use these facilities. Thank you all in advance for your cooperation.

Meeting with Teachers

At St Patrick's we encourage parents or guardians to book a meeting with their child's classroom teacher if there is an issue that requires more discussion than a note in the diary can provide. If you wish to book a meeting please contact the school office to arrange a mutually convenient time. We request that parents do not come into classrooms during class time or before school to discuss bigger issues as teachers are either teaching the class or preparing the class for the day. Thank you all in advance for your cooperation.

Staff News

Mrs Kingshott and Mrs Jak were away Monday, Year 6 was taught by Miss Flude and Mrs Halley taught Prep. Miss Moore was away Monday and today Mr Atkins taught year 5 on Monday and Mrs  Temple taught today. Ms Stuart was away today and Mrs Atkins taught Year 4.  Mrs Kingshott, Mrs Meech & Mrs Jak will be away on Friday, Year 6 will be taught by Mrs Susie Evans, Yr 3 by Mr Steve Puccetti and Mrs Emma Mac will teach Prep. Mr Atkins & Mrs Leonard will also be away this Friday attending a Corporate Services Workshop in Launceston. 

Religious Education News

Celebrating Pentecost

On Sunday we celebrated Pentecost.  This is a significant celebration in our Church's calendar.  Pentecost is the day when the Holy Spirit came to the disciples as Jesus promised when he ascended to heaven.  It falls fifty days after Easter Sunday (penta meaning five) thus ending the Easter Season.  Some people refer to this day as "the birthday of the church" because it was at this time that the disciples were both empowered by the Holy Spirit and called to spread the Good News to all people - thus beginning the work of the church. 

It can be a little tricky explaining the mystery of the Holy Spirit to our children.  One simple idea you could do is to reinforce the prayer of the sign of the cross (yes this is a prayer) that God loves us fully - from head to toe, from side to side and in our heart and has sent the Holy Spirit to be with us wholly and in the ‘here and now', just as he did for his disciples on that first Pentecost. 

Like the wind that we can not see but can see the effects of around us – through a wind chime or through the rustling of the leaves, we can feel and see the effects of the wind, be they gentle and calm or be they strong.  The Holy Spirit offers this same gentleness and calmness, this same strength in our lives.   When we pray to the Holy Spirit we invite these gifts into our whole being.

Helen Halley

REC

Celebrating Catholic Education 200 Years

On May 24, the feast of Mary, Help of Christians, we celebrate with all jurisdictions across the nation, the occasion of the 200 Year Anniversary of Catholic Education in Australia.   Tasmanian schools marked the occasion locally and our school joined in the celebration of the Eucharist at St Mary's Cathedral via a live stream of this mass.  The younger children participated in a liturgy to mark this occasion.  We will celebrate further throughout this year, especially St Patrick's years of Catholic Education in Latrobe. 

Prayer for Our Lady Help of Christians, patroness of Australia.

Almighty God, deepen in our hearts our love of Mary Help of Christians. Through her prayers and under her protection, may the light of Christ shine over our land. May Australia be granted harmony, justice and peace. Grant wisdom to our leaders and integrity to our citizens. We ask this through Christ Our Lord. Amen. 

Mary Help of Christians, pray for us.

On this occasion of Our Lady's feast day, we thank our heavenly Father for Mary, our protector, who gives us the perfect model of love, understanding and compassion.

Nut Aware School

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

Positive Behaviour Support (PBS)

Belonging

At St Patrick’s Catholic Primary School there is a school-wide approach towards positive student behaviour. We refer to this approach as the “Positive Behaviour Support” Framework (or PBS). There are three areas in the framework, being; Belonging, Respect and Learning.

A sense of belonging represents a feeling of being part of our school community; a school connectedness. It is the school’s aim for students to feel part of St Patrick’s Catholic School and to feel valued and cared for by others. School connectedness plays an important role in supporting prosocial behaviour, academic success, emotional wellbeing and resilience.

Practical strategies used to promote belonging include:

• creating warm relationships by greeting each other warmly, using names and smiling when we address each other
• expressing appreciations for each other’s help
• encouraging participation
• being on the look out for “Spirit of Jesus” moments
• defining success as having a positive attitude and application and encouraging persistence
• challenging and encouraging students to generate their own ideas for creative problem solving
• recognising success

WEST Award

Congratulations to Ekam Gill who received a WEST Award during today’s morning assembly. We will continue to acknowledge those students who exhibit WEST (Welcoming, Encouraging; Sorry; Thankful) qualities and Mercy Values (Hospitality, Compassion, Mercy and Respect) by presenting awards at our Monday morning assemblies. 

Student of the Week

Prep: Hudson Johnson-Duff for an excellent effort in handwriting. 

Year 1: Jackson Ryan-Woodhall for trying really hard with his listening, participation and his work. Great effort Jackson.

Year 2: Kaylee Chappell-Hope for working very hard at sounding out words as she reads.

Year 3: Oliver Singline for his kindness towards others and for his positive attitude and application.

Year 4: Mushtaq Khan for being a responsible learner and always giving his best.

Year 5: Brad Jones for his neatly presented handwriting. Keep up the great work Brad!

Year 6: Amelia Jones for her generous, kind heart that shows her thoughtfulness toward others.

House Raffle Winners

Byrne House: Chas Kelly

Dooley House:  Jacob Hingston

Martyn House: EJ Sullivan 

Photos of Sporting Teams

If any parents or guardians have photos of students from school sporting teams and would like to see these included in the newsletter, please email them to stpatslat@catholic.tas.edu.au 

P&F News - Pie Drive & After School Canteen

Our next major fundraiser for the P&F is a Pie Drive. Order forms were sent home with all families last week. If you did not receive one please contact the office or you can download one via the link below. Orders will close on Tuesday 1st June with deliveries/pickup on Thursday 10th June.      Money must be returned with all order forms. 

Due to the number of families here on a Wednesday afternoon with soccer and basketball training taking place, the P&F have decided to trial run a canteen on a Wednesday afternoon between 3.00pm-4.00pm. 

A reminder that students who are at school after hours are required to be supervised by a parent or guardian during this time.

Inquiring Minds - Birth to 5 Years

‘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. Parents or an adult family member stays for the duration of these sessions; there is no cost, however if you would like to donate a gold coin it would be appreciated. Please feel welcome to participate.

Care and Concern

Please feel welcome to be included in our Care and Concern Volunteer List - thank you to the many school community members who are already on this list and are assisting others: Always please contact your child’s teacher, the office staff or Mr Atkins if you feel we could offer support in any way to anyone in our school community in need.

Check in TAS App

It is now a requirement, as part of our COVID Policy, that any adult that visits the school for longer than 10 minutes must sign in using the 'Check in TAS App'. 

Please view the below PDF for information regarding how to install and use the Check in TAS App.

We have QR codes at the office and school hall that can be scanned using this app when you are visiting the school for longer than 10 minutes.

If you do not have a smartphone or device that will let you install this app, you will need to visit the school office so that we can check you in.

Lost Items

Tahlia Simmonds from Year 1 has lost her brand new softshell jacket, the jacket has been named. If you happen to find this can you please return it to Tahlia in Year 1.  Thank you.