Term 1, Week 8 2024
FROM THE PRINCIPAL’S DESK
Dear Parents, caregivers and friends,
As St Patrick’s Lochinvar comes together to celebrate Harmony Day, we embrace the beautiful tapestry of cultures, traditions, and backgrounds that enrich our school community. Today, we reflect on the values of inclusivity, respect, and understanding that are at the heart of our Catholic faith.
In our diverse community, we find strength in our differences and unity in our shared humanity. Each person brings unique experiences, perspectives, and gifts, contributing to the community that makes our school a truly special place.
Let us take this opportunity to celebrate the richness of our cultural heritage, to learn from one another, and to foster a spirit of harmony and acceptance. By embracing diversity, we uphold the teachings of Jesus, who welcomed all with open arms and taught us to love our neighbours as ourselves.
Our thanks go to Mrs Harvey and Mrs Hawes for their organisation of coordinating Harmony Day at our school.
Together, let us continue to build a community where every individual is valued, respected, and celebrated. Happy Harmony Day!
With best wishes,
Dennis Nolan
Acting Principal
CALENDAR EVENTS
IMPORTANT DATES FOR 2024
WEEK 8:
21/3- Harmony Day
21/3- Marty Ogle- Cybersafety parent talk @ 7pm
22/3- School assembly- 9am
22/3- Marty Ogle 3-6 student Cybersafety workshops
WEEK 9:
27/3- P & F Meeting @ 6pm
28/3- Holy week liturgy/ Hat parade/ Easter raffle
29/3- Good Friday
30/3- Holy Saturday
WEEK 10/11:
31/3- Easter Sunday
1/4- Easter Monday holiday
5/4- School assembly- 9am
5/4 – School cross country
2/4- 12/4- Parent Teacher Conferences
9/4 – Combined ANZAC Service – Civic Theatre
12/4- Term 1 concludes
Please note that due to term 1 being an 11 week term the newsletter will come out in week 11 not week 10 for the last newsletter of the term.
ORGANISATION AND MANAGEMENT
PUPIL FREE DAYS
Please find our planned pupil free days for 2024 for staff development. School will be closed on these days.
Term | Date/Week | Content |
2 | 29/4/24 | 1. Office Of Safe Guarding mandatory training |
2 | 7/6/24 | 2. Restorative Practices PL- aligned to PBS initiative |
3 | 16/9/24 | 3. System Formation Day |
4 | 15/11/24 | 4. Curriculum – data analysis and development linked to writing/ Data analysis and triangulation |
PARENT/ TEACHER CONFERENCES
Teachers are offering parents the opportunity in Week 10 and Week 11 for Parent/ Teacher Conferences. Information regarding schedules, teacher availability and ways to book appointments has been provided to you by Mrs Hacker via Compass. The conferences provide a valuable time to share information about your child’s learning and meet to discuss 2024 student goals. It is critical to the success of each child that home and school partnerships are strong, and we are working towards the same goals.
KINDER ENROLMENTS ARE NOW OPEN
Enrolments for Kindergarten 2025, opened 1st March 2024 and will close 24th May 2024. Parents/carers are encouraged to go online to St Patrick’s Lochinvar website below and complete the online enrolment application. If you are unable to complete this process please contact the school office for an enrolment package. St Patrick’s Lochinvar is one of 8 Pilot schools trialling the online enrolment process this year.
IMPORTANT MESSAGES FOR PARENTS
APPOINTMENT OF STAFF TO TEMPORARY POSITIONS FOR 2024
Following interviews held recently, the following staff members have been appointed to new positions. Congratulations to:
Matthew Perkins- Primary Coordinator- Release of 1 day per fortnight provided by Megan Redman
Erin Saxby- Primary Coordinator- Release of 1 day per fortnight provided by Megan Redman
Tracee Cinello- Gifted Education Mentor- Release of 1 day per week provided by Kate Sadaj
Maryanne Hacker- Pedagogical Mentor- Maryanne will be released 0.7 and this release will continue to be provided by Sarah Richards
SOCIAL MEDIA/ CYBERSAFETY PARENT INFORMATION NIGHT AND STUDENT SESSIONS
On Thursday 21st March, Marty Ogle will be presenting a parent information session on Cyber Safety commencing at 7pm in the school hall. This will be followed up by student sessions on Friday 22nd March. We encourage as many parents as possible to attend this session tonight as this is such an important topic in our current world. If you are yet to RSVP, just come along and learn about this important topic.
School Communities session on ‘Internet Safety and Social Media – Pros & Cons’
Presented by Marty Ogle
The topic of ‘Internet Safety and Social Media’ is relevant to students, staff and parents and in this day and age, we all need as much help as possible so as to ensure we all make the correct decisions for ourselves and those in our care. The presenter, Marty Ogle with expertise as a teacher, principal, education officer and as an educational consultant, shares his knowledge and passion to positively impact on this important topic.
The topic of ‘Internet Safety and Social Media’, is extremely relevant to those in our school communities. As well as gathering and sharing data and information to ensure those in our care are aware of the dangers, Marty will present a wide array of connected topics plus the benefits of social media.
Marty will be delivering many aspects of Social Media during the next day to the students and staff and he will endeavour to cater for their needs according to their age plus social circumstances. Some of the areas he will present to parents and carers, and then to students will include;
- IT – it is here to stay so how best to be involved
- Laws in Australia
- The eSafety government website eg parent pressures and family digital agreements
- Pressures associated with social media including peer pressure, screen time, cyberbullying, addiction plus more
- Pornography & Groomers
- Gaming – benefits and problems
- Other issues including online gambling, scams, and Ai
ST PATRICK’S FAMILY NIGHT
Thank you to the many families who were able to attend our St Patrick’s Family night last week. It was wonderful to see so many families engaging with each other and enjoying time together. A special thank you to our P & F committee and Chris Jones for the work in providing food on the night. A great community spirit was evident.
CONGRATULATION MS GRACH
Congratulations to Ms Grach and Josh, on the birth of Lucia Jane, born 8.28pm on Tuesday 12/3/24 weighing 5lb 8oz, 50cm long and a head full of hair. Ash and Josh are so incredibly in love with their girl they can't stop staring at her.
CURRICULUM NEWS
NAPLAN
NAPLAN tests the sorts of skills that are essential for every child to progress through school and life, such as reading, writing, spelling, grammar and numeracy. It is important to remember that NAPLAN tests are not pass/fail tests. At the classroom level, it is one of a number of important tools used by teachers to measure student progress.
The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is a point in time assessment of literacy and numeracy skills. Each year students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 participate in tests for writing, reading, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy.
NAPLAN commenced Wednesday 13th March and continues through to Friday 22nd March. The change to NAPLAN taking place in Term 1 is so that results can be returned to schools earlier in the year which will support teachers to understand the learning needs of their students and plan accordingly.
NAPLAN tests are just one part of our school learning assessment program and questions are primarily based on knowledge, understanding and skills gained from the prior year of schooling.
If you have any questions about NAPLAN, please contact your child’s teacher.
Thank you to Megan Robinson for coordinating NAPLAN for 2024. There is an enormous amount of preparation and organisation that is required to ensure the success of the assessment.
RE NEWS
HOLY WEEK
Beginning on Palm Sunday and lasting through Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday, Holy Week is the week that precedes the important Christian festival of Easter. During Holy Week we remember the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, the Last Supper, the agony in the Garden, the betrayal, the passion, and the death on the cross. We remember that the body of Jesus was laid to rest in the tomb. A week that starts with celebration ends in despair. It is not until Easter Sunday that we rejoice in and recall Jesus’ resurrection.
This year we are in a special situation where Easter will be celebrated throughout the term rather than the during the holidays and for that reason, we will be splitting our Holy Week Celebrations into two parts – a liturgy reflecting on the events of Holy Week ending on Good Friday and a liturgy to celebrate the Resurrection.
We warmly invite you to join us in the school hall for our Holy Week Liturgy, led by Year 5 on Thursday 28th March at 11:45am followed by our Easter Hat Parade and Easter Raffle.
The Liturgy is the central aspect of our celebrations. We know that some parents prioritise the parade and/or the raffle but explicit start times for these aspects of the celebration are unknown and emphasis will always be given to the liturgy.
After the Easter weekend, we will gather for our Resurrection Liturgy, led by Year 2 on Tuesday 2nd April at 9:00am. All are welcome.
MACKILLOP PARK BLESSING & OPENING
On Tuesday 19th March we gathered to official open our MacKillop Park space. We were joined by some of the Sisters of St Joseph, representatives from our parish office and the Catholic Schools Office.
Thank you to Divya in Year 5 for her wonderful idea of including a ceremonial ribbon cutting to officially open the space and to Mrs Collins for making this idea become a reality! It was an honour to have the space officially opened by Sr Carmel Hanson (Congregational Leader of the Sisters of St Joseph, Lochinvar) with the assistance of Divya.
PROJECT COMPASSION
Earlier this term, Project Compassion donation boxes were sent home with each family to help support Caritas Australia in their mission of transforming the lives of people living in poverty.
Thank you to everyone for supporting this cause. We ask that these boxes be returned to school by the end of Week 9 (Thursday 28th March).
HOLY WEEK MASS TIMES
Please see the attached flyer for the various Holy Week Mass Times for our Parish.
ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER NEWS
WHS
HALL DISMISSAL AND CARPARK
On Wednesday 13/3/24, Mr Nolan and Mrs Hacker held a meeting with our Safety and Risk partner and Manager of School Infrastructure. Ideas were discussed for improvements to the afternoon dismissal at hall gate along with strategies to improve the hall carpark. These ideas will now be taken to the Leadership Team and staff for further discussion. Parents will be informed of the plan following these meetings. Please note that this item it at the top of our agenda regarding safety and organisation. We will be sharing news with parents as soon as plans are finalised.
SPORT NEWS
CROSS COUNTRY
Our school will hold our annual Cross Country Carnival on Friday, April 5th (Week 10). This will be held across the road at Ted Coffey Field and all children from Year 2 to Year 6 will participate in the event. However, all children are not expected to finish the course. The distance of the race varies between age groups:
2kms - 8/9/10's
3kms - 11/12/13's
Below are the approximate times each age group will run on the day:
9:40am - Boys & girls 12/13 Years (to run together due to assembly)
10:05am - Boys 11 Years
10:30am - Girls 11 Years
11:40am - Boys 8/9 Years
12:10pm - Girls 8/9 Years
12:40pm - Boys 10 Years
1:10pm - Girls 10 Years
FURTHER REPRESENTATION
All selected students must meet the qualifying times in order to progress to the Diocesan Cross Country Carnival. Each school is able to send 3 runners per gender per age group. The 8 years and 9 years is ONE category, they run as 8/9s. It is the same for the 12/13 years (one category).
The 2024 Diocesan Cross Country Carnival will be held on 15th May at Maitland Park. Students will be informed in Week 11 of Term 1, if they will represent St Patrick's at this event.
CONGRATULATIONS
Congratulations to Eli Unicomb who has progressed through to the Diocesan trials for football (soccer). We wish him the best of luck at the trial next Thursday!
LIBRARY NEWS
CANTEEN NEWS
PARENTING PAGE
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