1

FRIDAY 9 FEBRUARY

Assembly @ 8.30am

WED 21 FEBRUARY

Sacrament Evening

Years 3, 4 and 6

WED 28 FEBRUARY

Year 4 visit to

Seton

Years 3 to 6

swimming training

@ 7am

FRI 2 MARCH

Assembly @ 8.30am

Years 3 to 6

swimming training

@ 7am

WED 7 MARCH

Years 3 to 6

swimming training @

7am

N E W S L E T T E R

8 T H F E B R U A R Y

2 0 1 8

Dear Parents,

Welcome back to the new school year. I would like to extend my

warm wishes to the families that join us for the first time in 2018

and to our new staff member Miss Kylee Paynter who, along with current staff, have been working

hard in preparation for the school year.

Thank you for the great support we have had with uniforms, drop

off and pick up, and organisation of school supplies to start the

year. It has been quite a hectic start with swimming lessons,

classroom routines, and new teachers to get used to but the children have settled back

beautifully.

As we get back into the routine of school and the organisation and discipline required of our children

and our households, I am reminded that, as a parent I was

and still am, often faced with the battle of wills with my children and sometimes it is easier to say

“yes” than be the ogre.

My wife once showed me this reflection which was used with staff and parents at her school at

the time. I was really happy to see this in writing and it

reminded me that sometimes we, as parents, need to be reminded that it is OK to say no. I thought I

would share it with you:

From the Principal

St Patrick’s Primary School

8 Ellen Street

Fremantle WA 6160

(08) 9335 5215

admin@stpatsfremantle.wa.edu.au

www.stpatsfremantle.wa.edu.au

Dates

For the

Diary

“Children should not be the

centre of attention in their families; parents should

be the centre of attention; if they aren’t, children won’t pay

attention to them.

Parents should expect their

children to obey. They should not wish that children

would obey, they should not

plead with children to obey, they should not rant

and rave at children to obey. They should simply, without

apology, expect them

to toe the line.

A child who does something bad ought to feel bad about it. All too

often, the child does something wrong and

the parents feel bad about it.

Why should a child accept responsibility for his

own behaviour, if someone else is accepting it for him/her?

Children should receive all those things they need and a

conservative amount of those things they want.

Today’s children desperately need

more “Vitamin NO” the most character building two-

letter word in the English language.”

PARENT INFORMATION NIGHTS

Thank you for the strong turnout and active interest in our parent teacher night on Wednesday.

Continued over the page….

2

From the Principal (cont.)

The evening was a valuable way to begin

building a close working relationship with your child’s class teacher, and to gain insight

into the teaching and learning that is planned for the year ahead. When schools and families really work together for the best

interests of each child, amazing things can be achieved.

Thank you to all those who were able to make it along on the night. If you couldn’t

be in attendance for any reason, please let your child’s teacher know and they will

inform you of how to access any information needed. Many thanks to staff for the work they put into preparing their presentations

and the gift of their valuable time.

OPENING SCHOOL MASS-COMMISSIONING OF STAFF, STUDENT LEADERS, BOARD AND P & F

As a part of the Church’s mission, schools

form vital aspects of Parish life. It is

essential that the Parish and school maintain

a close and mutually beneficial working

relationship. With this in mind you are

invited to come and help celebrate this

special occasion on Sunday 11th of February

at 5.00pm Mass in the Basilica. Children

should be seated with their parents for this

celebration.

John Ryan

Principal

For those children that struggle getting

started and avoid homework:

Set up a daily routine that is consistent as possible (at least as much as you can from day to day). You may need to

experiment to find a time that best suits your child.

Provide verbal reminders, “ Jessie, you have 15 minutes until homework time.”

Sit down together to plan the homework

tasks and how long they may take. Set a timer or alarm for a specific time

to get started with their homework. Use rewards and natural consequences.

Reward the child for improving their best

time and for the completion of homework.

Late, Lost and Unprepared: A Parent’s Guide to

Helping Children with Executive Functioning.

J. Cooper & L. Dietzel

Bernadette Higgins Learning Support Co-ordinator

From the AP Desk (cont.)

From the AP Desk

Try This

Some children tend to rush through their homework in order to get to

free time. For these children try not just designating a start time for homework, but a homework hour.

(Older children) If the child finishes with time to spare, they can read a

book that they pick out. Only homework and reading are allowed, that way the child is less likely to

rush through their work to get to games or technology.

3

Keeping Safe Curriculum at St Pat’s

Term One Focus Area

4

SkoolBag App

From our School Nurse

Welcome to the new school year. My name is

Judy Sullivan and I am the Community Health Nurse who visits your school.

Community Health Nurses work in schools to promote healthy development and wellbeing

so students may reach their full potential. A major part of my work is focused on early

intervention and the School Entry Health Assessment program.

Community Health Nurses serve as a health contact point for children and their families,

providing information, assessment, health counselling and referral. The services provided are free and confidential.

If you have a concern about your child’s

health or development, please contact me via your school office or at my Community

Health Base on 9314 0100.

Lynne Cronin (of Jump Music) currently has

places available in her music programme.

Lynne takes music lessons here at St Patrick’s either during school time or after school hours.

If your child is interested in learning either

the piano or the guitar this year, please phone Lynne on 0428 326 560.

Jump Music

5

P & F News Welcome back to all our existing families and

a very big welcome to all our new families who have joined the school in 2018. We

hope you have all settled back into the school routine.

2017 was a great year in terms of what the P&F was able to provide to the school and we look forward to what we can do this year!

For all our new parents I would like to introduce you to the P&F Executive:

2018 P&F Executive Committee Peta Evans President

Chrisitina Gatti Vice President Tracy Duffy Secretary Jo Da Silva Treasurer

Once again, we will be holding one P&F

meeting per term and we would love to see as many people there as possible. The date for our first meeting is Tuesday 27th

February at 7pm in the Staff Room.

Firstly, a big thank you to the parents who have taken on the Class Rep Roles for their classes in 2018. For the new parents if you

have not met these parents yet I am sure they will introduce themselves to you soon

as they will be keen to add you to the class Friendship Lists.

The P&F has already been busy assisting the

school with items they require and at the start of last week a new storage cupboard

was installed in the Library. There is some more carpentry due later this month in the terms of a reading corner on the library

balcony and new storage system in the children’s construction area, so watch this

space. The P&F has also provided $10,000 to the

school, $5000 to acquire more literacy tools and $5000 that is being put towards

incursions and excursions for the children, so the school can reduce the amount of money they have to ask parents to pay for

these activities.

Term One is action packed, so please lock in

the dates below in the “Dates for your

Diaries”, and I have briefly outlined a couple

of events happening in the next two weeks.

Pasta & Paella Days: As previously advised

the Canteen will be closed in week 3 and so the opportunity was given to a couple of classes to put a class fundraiser on, which

allows for orders still to take place on the Wednesday & Friday.

On Wednesday 14th February the Kindy class will be putting on a cake stall for

morning tea, then the Year 5 class are holding a Pasta Day for

lunch. On Friday 16th February the year 1 class are putting on

Chicken Paella for lunch.

You should have all received notes at the

start of the week and they are due in

tomorrow (Friday).

Thank you to the classes for providing this to the school.

The Class Reps for 2018

Kindy Rachel Catley & Jo Humphries

Pre-Primary Clare Cullen & Caroline Kiely

Year 1 Joanne Da Silva & Kellie Olivieri

Year 2 Ben & Renee Williams & Samantha Ross

Year 3 Michelle Wilshaw & Rachael Roach

Year 4 Fiona Tomasich & Rochelle Williams

Year 5 Enrica D’Ortona & Christina Gatti

Year 6 Fiona Tomasich and Sarah Davey

6

P & F News (cont.)

School Banking: For those children who

enjoy school banking this will recommence for the year on a new day of the week,

Wednesday 28th February between 8.15 – 8.45am in a new location, small office in front of the Kindy room. It will then

continue every Wednesday throughout each term.

School Banking is a fun, interactive and engaging way for our children to learn about

money and develop good savings habits. It is also a great way for them to begin to do

things around the house to earn pocket money that they then can bank and save. Children who deposit money into the CBA

Youthsaver account through the school banking system earn Dollarmites tokens

which they can save up and redeem exciting rewards.

We have organized for the School Banking Representative from CBA to speak to the

Kindy, Pre-Primary, Year 1, 2 and 3 students about banking and saving on Tuesday 27th

February. They will also receive information about how they can set up their own bank accounts.

For those students who do not do banking in

Year 4 to Year 6 and would like to start

banking, there are 2018 School Banking

Program Information Packs at the front office

to collect or you can visit

www.commbank.com.au/schoolbanking to

find out all the information and set up an

account online. There is also an information

flyer at the back of this newsletter. Happy

banking!

Introduction to Meditation Workshop:

Late last year we advised that Nicole

D’Alessandro had offered to host an

Introduction to Meditation workshop that she

will be providing at no charge to the parents

of St Patrick’s Primary School. This is an

initiative that we are hoping we may be able

to do once a term and, if enough interest, it

could grow to become more frequent. So

please make a note to join Nicole

D’Alessandro on the 20th February 2018

for an Introduction to Meditation Workshop.

Nicole has spent many years practising

meditation and teaches meditation at her private Reiki Practice, Nicole D’Alessandro Reiki - for Women, when she is not working

at St Patrick’s Primary School. This workshop will include a brief introduction to the

benefits of meditation; together the group will experience a Christian meditation; Vocal meditation and a Sound Healing meditation

from the lovely Fran Fuller from Somatonal. There will also be an opportunity after the

event to enjoy herbal teas and raw treats (gold coin donation) and to reflect and provide feedback on the experience with the

possibility of running further meditation workshops. The night will commence at

7.00pm and finish at approximately 9.00pm and will be in the school library.

Lastly for our new parents, we want to let

you know about our “St Pats Fremantle Parents and Friends” Facebook page.

Please if you are on Facebook come on and like us. It is another great communication tool that we use to put up events and

important messages to parents.

Dates for your diaries; Term 1

Kindy cake stall – Wed 14th Feb, recess Year 5 pasta day - Wed 14th Feb, lunch

Year 1 chicken paella day – Fri 16th Feb, lunch Free Introduction to Meditation Workshop

– Tues 20th Feb, 7.00—9.00pm (School Library)

Term 1 P&F Meeting – Tues 27th Feb – 7.00pm (Staffroom)

School Banking recommences – Wed 28th Feb – 8.15—8.45am St Patrick’s Day Lunch for children – Fri

16th March School Disco – Fri 6th April

PP – Year 3: 4.30pm – 5.30pm Year 4 – Year 6: 5.30—7.30pm (Dinner for all students 5.30—6.00pm)

Peta Evans, President on behalf of the P&F Exec Committee

7

Community News

Term 1 Before School Hot Shot Tennis Coaching at St Patricks Primary School Commences Wednesday 7th February: 7.30-8.15am

( 8 week Program All ages and levels of play welcome)

Special Promotion- All enrolments receive a new Hot Shots Racquet To enrol please contact Brendan on 0401 565 051 or fremantletopspintennis@gmail.com (We take late enrolments if you miss first week.)

8

School Banking