Dear Parents and Carers,

At the end of a semester that will be remembered for a lifetime, today your child’s report is coming home. As you are aware it is a modified report based on the challenge of Covid-19 time and remote learning. Both NESA and our Archdiocese have modified expectations of what is to be reported. For this report cycle teachers have used the evidence that they have been able to collate this semester - especially the evidence of learning since the students have returned to school midterm. As parents you may wonder about the grading as you have spent significant time with your child / children during remote learning and witnessed their level of engagement and achievement in the home setting. Teachers have not used remote learning evidence in this report. The judgement for Semester 1, 2020 may look different to previous school reports. We are all looking forward hopefully for a full term (and semester) of learning beyond the coming holidays. You will have the opportunity to discuss your child’s learning at the three way learning conferences next week.

Farewell This week we said thank you and farewell to Miss Russell for her dedication and service of 14 years to St Patrick’s. We wish Jen well in her new ventures.

 

 

Happy weekend: Two quotes that may inspire your weekend with your children:

  

Kind regards,

Jo

Making and keeping friends is an important part of your child’s development.

Strong friendships allow children to grow into well-adjusted adults with strong social skills.

Help your child make friends

Friendships are usually made between people who have the same interests. Making friends can take time.

Some children find it easy to make friends. Others find it difficult. You know your child best.

If you know your child is nervous or shy when making friends, you can encourage them to:

• say hello and smile
• look for another child who seems shy and talk to them
• ask questions to start a conversation, like what school did you go to last year or do you like maths, music, running?
• listen to other children when they are talking and find out if they have things in common.

You can also support your child’s interests and get them involved in clubs or groups. This means they can make friends with children outside of school too.

Help your child work through arguments

Sometimes your child will argue with their friends, arguments are an important part of growing up. 

To support your child during these times talk to your child about:

• what things they like to do with their friends
• the things they like about their friends
• the ways your child could show their friends how much they mean to them
• how their friendships are going. If there are problems this gives your child a chance to talk to you about them.

Listen to your child and use questions that can't be answered with a simple yes or no;

can you tell me more about that?

how did that make you feel?

what mistakes did you make during the argument?

what solution can you see to this problem?

The quality of friends that your child has is important, not the number. Whether your child has one special friend or many friends isn’t the issue. Developing the social skills necessary to make and keep friends is particularly important.

Caz Perryman

Assistant Principal

REMINDERS FOR THE END OF THE TERM

• Student reports will come home today. Please be mindful that the intended audience of school reports are adults. The way to discuss your child’s achievements is important and may require you to consider what language would best help your child celebrate their efforts and next steps.
• Parent, teacher, student conferences will be next week. Please log onto https://www.schoolinterviews.com.au, click on make a booking, , enter the code x33hf and follow the prompts.
•  Please ensure all absences are explained by Friday 3 June. This can be done via, email a written note or skoolbag.
•  Remaining lost property contents will be donated at the end of the term, please collect what belongs to your families.

Reconciliation

This week our Year 3 students and their families have been participating in Reconciliation Family sessions with Fr Luke. As these sessions continue over the weekend please keep these families in your prayers.

The students participating are:

Family & Relationships Information

The last of three 30 minute marriage enrichment presentations will be live-streamed this Sunday 28th at 11.45am, straight after the 11am Online Mass at the Cathedral.

Join us at https://www.catholicvoice.org.au/mass-online/  to listen, make comments and ask questions of our West Australian presenter couple. Karen & Derek Boylen will elaborate on ‘a spirituality of beholding’ - a unique way of encountering Christ for married couples. Search ‘Marriage & Family Month’ on the CatholicVoice website for more info.

Community Council Meeting

The Community Council were pleased to finally be able to meet face to face, although at a distance, for its meeting on Wednesday 17 June.

Community Council were excited to approve $20,000 toward the total $50,000 needed for the new senior playground project. With increasing interest and anticipation from the children, works have commenced to remove the current playground. Instillation of the new equipment is set to be completed in the coming weeks.

We are one step closer to the construction of our new toilets with several expressions of interest submitted to Catholic Education. Invitations to tender for the works are currently being prepared, with priority given to local contractors.

We celebrated the wonderful achievement of St Patricks’ School registration! A lot of work went into preparing for this assessment, including creating new and streamlined processes and online systems that have transformed how staff and students’ access, use, modify and store information into the future. Well done to all involved! 

As you know, sadly we will be saying goodbye to 4 of our staff over the coming weeks. As one journey ends, another begins, we wish Mary, Jen, Emma and Brendon all the best for this next chapter in their lives. Thank you for your dedication and support across the school community.  

We acknowledged the challenges faced by our school community in recent times and that each families journey has been unique through drought, bushfires and COVID. One of our school pillars is Look After Each Other, we would like to ensure that ALL St Patrick’s families feel connected and supported within our school community and seek your feedback as to how that might look for you.

One suggestion discussed to support families was calling for a parent volunteer from each class to act as a Class Contact person. Providing a warm welcome for new families and a source of collaboration to encourage regular connection and catch ups for families.

Another suggestion was for the Community Council to host some child free social evenings later in the year, by class/ grade, to encourage networking and connection with other families in a relaxed format.

If you like either of these suggestions or have any other ideas about how we can further support and connect with families, we would love to hear from you! Please contact us at: stpatsbegacommunitycouncil@gmail.com

We are also looking at further grant opportunities offering support through our journey of recovery.

As Father’s Day approaches we are looking at how we can help families celebrate with Dad and other father figures. More information will be provided after our next meeting.

The next Community Council meeting is scheduled for Wednesday 5 August. Given current COVID restrictions, we are unable to confirm at this time when we will hold an open meeting. This information will be provided once further restrictions ease.

We are here to help so please reach out if we can support you in any way. Take care.

Tamara Whiting, Communications

And the Community Council Team, Kat, Donna, Antoinette, Wendy, Sarah, Carmen, Jo, Caz, Fr Luke

NETBALL

Come and join our Monday afternoon Netball Skills Session - NETTA. For boys and girls turning 6 to 12 this year.

4.00pm TO 5.30pm each week (Term 3) 27th July – 14th September, cost is only $40

A healthy afternoon tea is supplied prior to the session for those students coming straight from school.

Registration forms and fees will need to be completed on the day of the first session, Active Kids Voucher is accepted.

If you have any questions, please contract: Vanessa:  0488065342, Coach, Secretary Lee Anne:  0427944545, President