Dear Parents and Carers,

We offer a huge thank you to Mrs Harnett for her organisation of another fabulous Southern Region Athletics Carnival, held this week in Bega. Mrs Harnett, your effort and energy for all things sporting has been rewarded by the great event you organised this week! On behalf of all the Southern Region schools and the students who participated - thanks.

We thank Ms Thornton, our wonderful canteen convenor, for the BBQ and snacks stall and for the many parent helpers who gave their time on the day. Thanks to all the home bakers for the cakes, slices and treats that you provided for the stall. What a great community effort!

Noa Jessop Memorial Award Students and staff are invited each year to recognise, through nomination, any student they see living 3 of Noa's attributes: Sportsmanship, Christian Spirit, and Commitment to school. Students who have multiple nominations from the staff and student bodies become the short list for the final decision. Congratulations to the nominees for the 2022 award: Will N, Archie S, Cohen, Jacob E, Arly, Colin, Luke, Charlie J, Nate, Cooper, Eloise, Jasmin G and Chase. 

Congratulations to the 2022 Award winner ELOISE DEIGHTON.

Illness and Covid restrictions At present we continue to follow a roadmap from our archdiocese for the management of health and wellbeing for all in our community. The impact of ill health, covid or otherwise, is being felt at St Pat's like many or most other schools. Our priority is teaching and learning, and we work each day to ensure that there is as little disruption to the learning program as possible. The shortage of relief teachers is making this difficult at present.

We thank you for your continued support in keeping your children home if they are unwell. Learning is available for all students on the Seesaw app, and a pack of reading material can be provided to you if your children are at home.

A RAtest kit has been sent home for each child this week, please check your child's school bag for the pack.

Homework at St Pat's Don't be fooled if your children say 'We don't have any homework!' There is very important homework every night for St Pat's students - READING! Every child is expected to read every night (or morning if that is a better time in your family). Your child will bring home books from the classroom or library, and you may have books at home of interest and challenge at home. Please ensure your child has a space conducive to reading at home. Mrs Sheahan shared important information about reading and gave lots of great tips in the first newsletter of this term, and more this week! Please go back and go forward and take a look. 

Review of Community Council structures This week we communicated via Skoolbag that Catholic Education is undertaking a review of School Boards and Community Councils. If you would like to contribute your thinking to this review please go through this link to further information and some questions to which you may respond. https://cg.catholic.edu.au/school-board-and-community-council-review/foreword/

Blessings

Jo

At St. Pat's there is an expectation that students read for 20 minutes every school night. Children need a lot of practice to become fluent and accurate readers. Listening to your child read every day provides opportunities for demonstration, correction and discussion in a supportive environment. The more your child reads, the better your child’s reading will become. 

How long should my child spend reading to me? 

Reading at home should be a successful and positive experience for your child. Twenty minutes of daily reading at home with a supportive adult can make all the difference. It is best to have your reading session when your child is not tired or hungry! If it is turning into a very stressful time, please do consult your child’s class teacher for advice. 

What kind of readers will my child bring home and why? If your child is a confident and independent reader, any age and content-appropriate book, chosen by your child, can be read. Books may be sent home from school or borrowed from the local library. If your child requires more reading support and is not yet reading independently, the teacher will provide suitable reading books based on the needs of your child. This should be a book that has controlled vocabulary to provide more targeted reading practice. 

How should I support my child when reading at home? 

Before reading, set the scene by asking your child to predict what the book may be about and link the book to any prior knowledge.

Encourage your child to read carefully and with expression. If a word is read incorrectly or your child gets stuck use the following steps: 

Step 1: Allow your child a couple of seconds to self correct or work out the unfamiliar word. Don’t jump in straightaway. • Step 2: If your child is unable to work out the word independently, guide his or her attention back to the word. Don’t ask your child to guess the word from context or by looking at the picture. Rather, encourage him/her to look carefully at the word and provide a prompt related to the letters and the sounds they make, e.g., point to the letters ‘ai’ in ‘rain’ and say, “The letters ‘a’ and ‘i’ together say /ay/. Can you read the word now?” Very unusual or irregular words should simply be provided. 

Step 3: If your child is still unable to read the word after prompting, simply tell him or her the word and move on to maintain comprehension and enjoyment of the story. Remember to praise your child when he or she tries to work out a word, whether or not they are successful. After each couple of paragraphs or pages, ask questions to check that your child has understood what has been read. Children can practise their reading fluency and expression by rereading a section of text. At the end of the session, ask your child to summarise the story and discuss any themes arising from the book. 

Should I still read to my child?

Yes! Reading quality storybooks, chapter books or information books to your child is a valuable way to build vocabulary and comprehension, and to enrich their understanding of the world. It is also a great opportunity to expose your child to literature that they may not be ready to read on their own. 

How can I encourage my child to read independently? 

Some children will naturally find time to read to themselves, while others need a little more encouragement. Setting aside 20 minutes to read independently at bedtime is one way of encouraging your child to read. Children are more likely to be motivated to read if the book is about something that they are interested in. Your local library or bookshop will be a good source of ideas for suitable reading material.

What else can I do to support my child at home? 

Literacy and oral language are strongly connected. It is highly recommended that you use informal opportunities to develop your child’s general language skills at home. Talk to your child, using interesting vocabulary. Explain new words. Record these new words in the back of the Home Reading Diary so that you can revisit them on different occasions. Tell your child stories or ask them to tell you about their day. This work can be done, and is just as beneficial, in English or in your home language. You can also support your child’s reading and spelling by playing word games, e.g., I-Spy, hangman, and by practising the tricky words they have learnt. Most importantly, keep anything you do with your child light and playful but purposeful.

Religious Education

Upcoming Dates:

8th August - Feast of St Mary MacKillop

12th August - Vinnies Winter Appeal: Wear a beanie or colourful socks to school. Optional donation of gold coin. 

15th August - Feast of the Assumption 

2nd September - Virtual Father's Day (Details to be confirmed)

11th September - First Eucharist Family Mass 9:30am (please note change of date)

16th September - First Eucharist Retreat

18th September - First Eucharist Mass 9:30am 

Learning Walks

This week I was welcomed into the 3/4 classes during Religious Education lessons. During these lessons there was a focus on what it means to be a St Pat's Kid with a specific focus on respect. Students were reminded about the importance of valuing each other's opinions and beliefs. 

Supporting Students

This week St Pat's welcomed the Catholic Education Inclusion Team. The Team worked closely with teachers to ensure adjustments are in place for students on Personalised Plans to set them up for success. 

This year we were blessed with two lovely winter’s days for our St Patrick’s and Southern Region athletics carnivals. After not being able to hold the regional athletics event for three years it was great to see all our schools back together. Approximately 250 children spent the day doing their best to make the Southern Region team.

St Pat's Bega achieved exceptionally well. Out of the six age champions, Bega claimed three!

Archie Sly was the Junior Boy champion. This a great feat when you are only 9 years old and able to compete in this same division again next year.  

St Pat's dominated the junior events with Arly Schrader being named Junior Girl champion. Once again an amazing achievement as Arly competed in every event and she won all except 2, in these events she came second.

Eva Ridley was the 11 year girl age champion and she excelled in the field events winning them all.

Fifteen St Pat's children have been selected in the Southern Region Team. They will compete in Canberra in a few of weeks’ time. Congratulations to all those children especially our age champions.

St Bernard’s, Batemans Bay, has historically won this carnival, they are a much bigger school. This year both St Mary’s, Moruya, and St Patrick’s, Bega, were able to beat The Bay with Bega a close second in overall point score. It was a very proud day for myself and lots of our parents and kids.

My thanks to the many staff and parent helpers who made the day such a success.

Jannene Harnett

  

St Patrick's has been registered to participate in the Sydney Markets Fresh for Kids Campaign, running from the 1st August until 16th September.
We hope students and families can get involved with this important initiative by making and eating lots of healthy and creative fruit and veggie options at home and school. 

During this time students can enter the draw to win lots of amazing prizes as they have coupons signed by St Patrick's staff who can see them enjoying a healthy option at recess or lunch. As we don't have a 5 day a week canteen, this is our alternative.
Signed coupons are then collected in the library by Ms Grainger who will enter them in the major prize draw, whilst also awarding the healthy kids a bonus prize entry card and fun fruit & veg sticker. 

Please see the attached link for further information and lots of additional recipe and activity resources.

We hope to get lots of entries and lots of healthy food in lunch boxes.
Happy healthy eating!

https://www.freshforkids.com.au/for-canteens/eat-fresh-and-win/