Dear Parents, Guardians and Carers,

On Wednesday, we celebrated Ash Wednesday with a whole school mass in the Church. Some parents, grandparents and parishioners also attended, which made for a full Church. Ash Wednesday is one of the most important Holy days in the Liturgical calendar. It is the first day of the Easter season of Lent, which is traditionally a time of fasting and prayer. On Ash Wednesday, ashes are applied to a person’s forehead, which symbolizes the dust from which God made us. The ashes are made from the palm branches from the previous year’s Palm Sunday Mass.

On Tuesday, we also celebrated Shrove Tuesday. Shrove Tuesday, also known as Pancake Day, dates back to 1000AD and became a day of confession, whilst also being a time for Catholics to feast on eggs, sugar and dairy, which are traditionally restricted during the Lenten fast. The feast of these foods would become pancakes. We celebrated Shrove Tuesday, with the Parents and Friends cooking pancakes for all the students. The students were asked to bring in a gold coin donation on the day to raise money for Caritas Australia, a recognised charity trying to eradicate poverty and injustice.

St Patrick’s Swimming Carnival

On Wednesday, we also held our Annual Swimming Carnival. After 38 degrees on Tuesday, we were blessed with a beautiful 22-degree day. The students competed in freestyle, backstroke and breaststroke races, whist a few elite swimmers also competed in butterfly. The students all did an amazing job and show great sportsmanship throughout the day. They were awarded points for their House Team based on their finishing position for each race. The final results for the day were:

1^st – Brice (154 points)

2^nd – MacKillop (114 points)

3^rd – Ryan (59 points)

Age Champion Medals were awarded to those students that gained the most points throughout the day for their house in each age group. The Age Champions were:

12 & Under Boys – Josh Morton

12 & Under Girls – Tenesha Fieldsend

11 & Under Boys – Jack Cartwright

11 & Under Girls – Isla Dorning

10 & Under Boys – Riley Bartlett

10 & Under Girls – Jemma Pattison

9 & Under Boys – Mitchell Bates

9 & Under Girls – Leeanna Fieldsend

From the day, some of our swimmers will go on and represent the school at the Heyfield and District Swimming Carnival on Thursday 29^th February.

Parent/Teacher Interviews

For most classrooms, our Term 1 Parent/Teacher Interviews were held on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Thank you to all the parents (and children) that attended these interviews. They are a great opportunity to find out how your child has started the year and provide vital information to your child’s teacher. If you were unable to attend an interview and would like to catch up with your child’s teacher, please contact them via Dojo or email to arrange a suitable time.

PSG Meetings

For those students that require additional support, PSG Meetings are held instead of a Parent/Teacher Interview. Parents of students requiring a PSG Meeting should have received an invitation via PAM. The PSG Meetings will be held on Wednesday 21^st February and Wednesday 6^th March. If you have not booked a PSG Meeting time, please do so as soon as possible or contact the school office if you require any support to do this.

School Captains

This week, Miss Napolitano and I have held School Captain interviews with those Grade 6 students that applied for the position. We interviewed 9 students and have shortlisted the group to 4 for the next stage of the election process. These 4 students will now prepare and present a speech to the Grade 5 and 6 students as well as some staff. Following the speeches, the students and staff will have the opportunity to vote for our 2024 School Captains. I congratulate all those students that applied for the School Captain positions; you made it very tough to create a shortlist. I look forward to announcing our School Captains early next week.

Kind regards,

Joel

For safety and accountability reasons, visitors and late/early arrivals are required to sign in and out at the front office. The Ipad is located at the front desk and allows this to be done quickly and easily.

Children arriving late or leaving early are to be signed in upon arrival or out when leaving. (This includes when returning to school from appointments).

To minimise interruption to learning time, we would appreciate if apppointments for children be kept to a minimum during school time.

If your child has an appointment during school times, as a courtesy, please email your child's teacher.

Thank-you for your co-operation.

School Morning Routine

8.15am - 8.20am Bus students arrive - Students who travel by bus wait in the courtyard until the teacher on duty opens gates and puts crossing flags out.

Students travelling by foot, bike or car are reminded not to arrive before 8.30am

8.30am - Gates open - Teachers commence duty

8.55am - Bell rings for students to line up in courtyard

9.00am - Classes commence

11.00am - 11.30 Recess break

12.30pm - 1.00pm Lunch

2.00pm - 2.30pm Recess break

End of day routine

3.25pm - Gates open

3.30pm - Bell rings

3.30pm - 3.40pm - Teacher supervisors school crossing

3.30pm - 3.50pm - Teacher supervises students catching buses home.

Medicaiton

Any medication to be administered at school requires detailed information and authority. A Medical Authority Form for communicating this information is available from the school administration office and our school website. Requests must be supported by specific written instruction including the name of the student, dosage and time to be administered and be signed off by a medical practioner.

Children with asthma and Anaphylaxis are required an up to date management plan (signed by a doctor). Relevant docouments must be uploaded via PAM.

School Fee invoices were emailed out to all families this week.

If you are paying by termly instalment please see due dates

for payment below:

1st Instalment due by Friday 26th April 2024.

2nd Instalment due by Friday 26th July 2024.

3rd Instalment due by Friday 25th October 2024.

If paying by EFT, you will find our bank account details on the top right hand corner of your statement. Please use your name and account number as reference.

If you wish to adjust your direct debit, please contact the school office.

For families who are not on a direct debit payment arrangement, 1st Instalment of school fees is due on Friday 26th April 2024.

CAMPS SPORTS EXCURSION FUNDING (CSEF)

Camps, Sports and Excursion Fund (CSEF) will be provided by the Victorian Government to assist eligible families to cover the cost of camps and sporting activities. If you hold a valid means teated concession card, you may be eligible for CSEF.

Thank-you to families who have returned their forms.

Please note: CSEF Funding will be applied to eligible families shortly.

School Fee Concessions will be applied to eligible families in the coming weeks.

If you have any concerns in regards to school fees, please email: admin@stpstratford.catholic.edu.au.

STEM NEWSLETTER

Hello, My name is Alli Bigham and I am the STEM Teacher. I am really looking forward to working with the students in STEM and sharing their work with you via Class Dojo and the School Newsletter. Term One we will be completing small one/two lesson challenges. These challenges are to encourage students to think creatively, work in teams and explore STEM skills.

What is STEM?

STEM transforms classrooms into an exciting world of curiosity, problem solving, and creativity. Students take ownership of their learning and become actively engaged in the curriculum. Project based learning is fundamental to STEM along with showing scientific method and engineering design process can be applied to everyday life. Students gain a critical understanding of solving problems based on real-world connections (VIVIFY STEM)

STEM so far…

Foundation to 2 have been exploring various mathematical areas of length and weight using scales and irregular items, construction, problem solving by putting torches together and testing items. Soon we will be completing some projects and it is hoped that these skills that they have been practising will help with their next challenge. Grade 3/ 4 students have been constructing using limited materials and are embarking on a maze challenge next week. I look forward to sharing their ideas.

Grade 5 & 6 have completed towers using only newspaper and masking tape. Students have tested their designs and discussed their team work skills and engineering process.

Stay tuned on Class Dojo for upcoming news and achievements in STEM.

QUESTACON SCIENCE INSURSION

KEEP UP TO DATE WITH WHAT'S HAPPENING AT

ST PATRICK'S BY CHECKING OUR CALENDAR ON OUR WEBSITE.

Go to: www.stpstratford.catholic.edu.au

Tuesday 20th February	Year 5 Parent Teacher Interviews
Wednesday 21st February	Foundation Rest Day Parent Support Group Meeting Wellington Student Leadership Day
Wednesday 28th February	Foundation Rest Day
Thursday 29th February	HDSSA Swimming Carnival
Wednesday 6th March	Wellington Division Swimming Carnival Year 6 Shakespeare Rehearsal Parent Support Group Meetings
Thursday 7th March	Excursion - Foundation - Year 2 The Wedge Sale
Friday 8th March	Pupil Free Day - No school for students
Monday 11th March	Labour Day - Public Holiday
Wednesday 13th March	Year 6 Shakespeare Rehearsal
Thursday 14th March	Gippsland Region Swimming Carnival
Friday 15th March	St Patrick's Day Celebrations St Patrick's Day Mass at 1.00pm Special person visits - 2.00pm - 3.00pm
Monday 18th March	STOMP Dance Incursion
Wednesday 20th March	Reconciliation - First Communion Candidates - 6.00pm St Mary's Cathedral Year 6 Shakespeare Rehearsal
Friday 22nd March	Wellington Division Tennis
Wednesday 27th March	Year 6 Shakespeare Rehearsal
Thursday 28th March	Last day term 1 - Finish at 2.30pm
Monday 15th April	Term 2 commences No Buses running
Wednesday 17th April	First Communion - Final workshop and practice - 6.00pm Year 6 Shakespeare Rehearsal
Thursday 18th April	St Patrick's Interhouse Cross Country
Friday 19th April	State Swimming Championships - MSAC
Saturday 20th April	First Communion Mass - 5.30pm
Thursday 25th April	Anzac Day - Public Holiday
Friday 26th April	School Closure Day - No school for students