2 April 2020
Newsletter Articles
FROM THE PRINCIPAL’S DESK
Dear Parents,
I sincerely hope that this newsletter finds you well and managing the latest challenges presented by social distancing, home isolation and changes to work arrangements and community life. Life at St Patrick’s is certainly much quieter, and we are very, very lonely!
There is no doubt that the national pandemic of COVID-19 is impacting everyone in our community and around the world at this time, and there is a deep sense of uncertainty at the moment on a global scale. The image below asks us to reflect upon the symbol of the rainbow, a sign of God’s covenant, as a reminder to be positive and optimistic about the future, when we will return to normal life.
MESSAGES OF LOVE AND SUPPORT
A recent edition of the Newcastle Herald, focused on the Diocese’s approach to encouraging students to develop messages of hope in the face of COVID-19.
The Rainbow Initiative is sending a message of hope, love and good will and helps to capture the voices of our youngest citizens….our children. Our school took part this week and sent photos of the rainbows to the Catholic Schools Office. These messages of love, support and positivity will be shared with Reggio Emilia Early Learning Centres in Italy! See the photos below, capturing the efforts of Year 1 and 2.
LEARNING FROM HOME
This week we began the roll-out of Learning from Home options for our children from Kinder-Year 6. We will use the last weeks of term to continue our planning at school to best suit our school context and community. St Patrick’s has employed a flexible timetable for staff, giving teachers the option to combine working from home with attendance on site. Students and parents are welcome to make contact with individual class teachers via email and/or Dojo to check understanding, clarify expectations, seek support, provide encouragement and connect socially. If there is an important concern, please ensure that the email is sent to admin@lochinvarsp.catholic.edu.au as this account is monitored more frequently by all executive and administration staff.
All Catholic schools in the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle believe that parents are the first and foremost educators of the child, therefore parents are trusted and empowered to make decisions about how children learn at home. I urge parents to keep in mind that it is unreasonable to expect that the school environment will be replicated at home. Our aim is not to overwhelm students and parents, many of whom are also working from home. Accordingly, parents are encouraged to try to establish a daily routine to suit the age, capability and interest of their children. We encourage students to have a balance of class-based content and play time, with a variety of hands-on activities, supplemented by online learning tasks. It is important too, to recognise and accept that isolation protocols may present problems and challenges for parents and students, as time goes on. The overview below is a recommendation of the time allocation.
|
Stage |
Recommended Focused Literacy & Numeracy Learning Time |
|
Early Stage 1 |
1 hour per day |
|
Stage 1 |
1.5 hours per day |
|
Stage 2 |
2 hours per day |
|
Stage 3 |
2 hours per day |
CALENDAR EVENTS
The Term 2 What’s On for parents is attached for your information. At this stage I am unable to confirm whether any of these events will go ahead. Further updates will be provided via COMPASS.
IMPORTANT MESSAGES FOR PARENTS
ENROLMENTS REMAIN OPEN
Enrolments are OPEN for families seeking entry for their child to Kindergarten in 2021 at St Patrick’s Lochinvar. Please be advised that due to the demand for places, and to best meet the needs of each child, St Patrick’s Enrolment Committee will consider children who will turn 5 years of age before February 28th 2021.
Each enrolment application is considered according to our Enrolment Policy, with preference given to existing families, and Catholic families who live in the immediate area.
Enrolment packs can be collected from the School Office.
FEES & FINANCIAL HARDSHIP
Please see the letter below from the Director of Schools, Gerard Mowbray regarding fee relief for parents and carers during this uncertain period.
RE NEWS
SUNDAY MASS LIVE STREAMED FROM THE SACRED HEART CATHEDRAL
LIVE STREAM - MASS 9.30am Sundays or use the same link to watch at a later time.
STATIONS OF THE CROSS- FEATURING YEAR 4
CLASSROOM NEWS
Hello Kinder Blue!
We hope that you are all well. We miss seeing you!!!
We are thinking about you every day and wondering what you might be
doing.
Being at home every day on a school day must feel a bit funny, to you and
to your families.
School is very different for us, too.
We will soon be sending a special email to your Mum or Dad about some
more interesting and fun things that you can do at home.
We hope that you stay safe and well.
We are missing you.
Mrs Jordan and Mrs Hartcher
Dear Year 2 students,
This week you received the following documents to assist with learning at home:
- Week 10 Booklet with various worksheets
- Gratitude Journal to help stay positive
- Parents online links for online learning ideas and websites
- Learning from home Grid provided in Week 8
There will be printed copies of the booklet left in the school office if mum or dad is unable to print these resources at home. Don’t forget the Year 2 care packs will also be available at the office (dice, counters etc.)
We are thinking of you all as you work hard from home with your families. We have loved viewing your activities on SeeSaw and Study Ladder. Thank you for sharing all different types of learning with us including recording your voices, taking short videos, writing and matching answers and even taking photos of your work. We have been so glad to share this experience with you. Be sure to continue to read each day, enjoy this time at home, make something new, explore an idea, go on a little adventure, build something, challenge yourself to do something new and fun. Don't forget most importantly to look after the members of your family and ask mum or dad to login to DOJO and Seesaw regularly for updates. Look after each other. We will talk to you soon.
Warm Regards, Year 2 teachers x
Year 3
The Year 3 teachers are all missing seeing your beautiful faces at school each day. We have been working hard to create some interesting activities for you to be doing at home and have been testing using zoom calls so that we can use these with our classes next term. Remember if you have any problems with your online learning to contact your teachers. We are here to help!
Last week the Year 3 children that were still at school made this beautiful picture of a rainbow. They were inspired by the Rainbow Project which was designed to support the children in Northern Italy to show them that people were standing in solidarity with them. In the Bible, in the story of Noah’s Ark God used a rainbow as a sign of his promise to the world. These rainbows can be a reminder to all of us that we are all standing together and God is standing with us at this time in the world. Maybe you might like to create a rainbow of your own at home? If you do, be sure to take a picture and share it with us!
We are thinking of you and your families and praying for you all.
Mrs Hacker, Mr Warby, Mrs Kleinman, Mrs Cunningham, Mrs Williams and Mrs Latter
Hello Parents, Carers and our Year 4 Students,
We hope you are all well and safe.
To our students: We are missing each and everyone of you but we know that you are in the best and safest place you need to be during this historical time. Thank you for your online efforts with home learning so far. Don’t forget you can email your teachers if you need any help accessing the Year 4 Home Learning Tasks we have placed in each class OneNote.
We wish you a happy Easter and try to have fun in your holidays. We know we will see you again and look forward to this very happy occasion.
To our Year 4 parents: Thank you for your efforts in creating home learning spaces for your child/children. We realise this is a challenging time for you in establishing home learning routines especially with several children not to mention everything else. Do not worry about your child’s learning. As long as they attempt some home learning tasks on school days, that will make such a difference when we return to normal. We appreciate your support. We are here to help your child as much as we can. Please email (see below all Year 4 teacher emails) or phone the school (40 30 72 70) if you require any assistance.
We wish you all good health, peace of mind, hope and patience in these unusual times.
From Mrs Murray, Mrs Mahony, Mr Nolan, Mrs Quinn and Mrs Baker
Year 4 Teachers
Our email addresses:
dennis.nolan@mn.catholic.edu.au
jane.mahony@mn.catholic.edu.au
gemma.baker@mn.catholic.edu.au
christine.quinn@mn.catholic.edu.au
elizabeth.murray@mn.catholc.edu.
Hello 5B!
Oh, how I miss your smiling faces I hope you are all safe and well at home. What a weird time we are living in now. Certainly one for the history books and one you will always remember.
In your time at home, please make sure you are doing things you enjoy. Schoolwork is important but I want you to look after yourself and feel happy. I do not want anyone feeling stressed or worried.
Email me whenever you like, to ask a question about work, to send me a picture of what you are doing or just to say hello and tell me a story
I miss you all so very much, it is strange not having my 5B here with me every day and laughing together.
I hope to see you all in person again very soon.
All my love, Mrs Atkins xo
Hello 5W,
I really miss seeing all your lovely faces in my class. I hope that you and your families are safe and well. Even though working from home is very different from working at school, I am very impressed with what you have been producing. I have read some fantastic narratives, been blown away by Lego creations, looked at some impressive artwork, enjoyed listening to your voice overs for tasks on Seesaw and I have loved receiving so many emails from you at home.
Please keep up the good work and I look forward to our Zoom meeting scheduled for this Friday.
Stay safe, from Mrs. Coulter
To All My ATSI Students (and the whole beautiful community of St Patrick’s)
I was so looking forward to meeting all our families at interviews, and working with students from EVERY classroom in Term 2. We will just have to put those plans on hold for a little while, until things get back to normal. But the best part of the 21st Century is that we can be safe AND still be in touch with each other. The teachers are hard at work preparing work and polishing our skills at tools like ZOOM – so we can see your smiles and talk in real time. We know that all of you will be helping your parents in lots of ways – and one of them will be working hard and showing them all the amazing things you know and can do.
I had to have a lot of time last year when I was very unwell. Two things that it taught me are that it is okay to miss school and all your friends AND that they will all be there and it will be exciting and fun when you get to come back.
I have attached a picture of my work supervisor as I type and read at my home desk. His name is Ernie and he is not much help at all. Perhaps he thought my computer had a REAL mouse on it. He has not been very well behaved, but he does make me smile.
Keep smiling! It is the best thing in the world for us all.
Ms Mosman
To our wonderful EAL/D students and families,
I miss all your smiling faces!
I'll be in contact with you in Week 1 of Term 2 to discuss how EAL/D lessons will operate going forwards. The EAL/D focus in Term 2 will be on oral language, so I look forward to engaging my students with lots of videos, reading and discussion.
For now, I don't want to overload you while you're adjusting to this new (and temporary!) normal, so your EAL/D homework is simply to read books, chat to your friends on the phone and turn the captions on when you're watching Bluey together
Sending smiles!
Mrs Harvey
*****See more next term*****
SPORT NEWS
Suspended Diocesan Sport (as at 23/3/2020):
Term 2:
- Monday 27th April SSSA Diocesan sport meeting
- Tuesday 28th April SSSA Diocesan individual Football Trials
- Wednesday 29th April PSSA Diocesan Touch Trials
- Tuesday 5th May PSSA Diocesan X Country
- Thursday 7th May SSSA Diocesan X Country
- Wednesday 13th May SSSA Diocesan Senior Football Knockout
Suspended CSNSW Sport Events (as at 18/3/20). Including but not limited to:
Primary School Sport (Years K - 6)
- Wednesday 25th March – NSWCPS Swimming Championships
- Friday 27th March – MacKillop Football Trials
- Wednesday 1st April – Polding Australian Football (AFL) Trials
- Friday 3rd April – MacKillop Australian Football (AFL) Trials
- Monday 6th - Tuesday 7th April - NSW PSSA Swimming & Diving Championships
- Friday 1st May - Polding Hockey Selections
- Friday 1st May - Polding Football (Soccer) Selections
- Friday 1st May - Polding Rugby League Selections (U/11 & Opens)
- Friday 1st May - Polding Netball Selections
- Friday 8th May - MacKillop Hockey Selections
- Friday 8th May - MacKillop Rugby League Selections (U/11 & Opens)
- Friday 8th May - MacKillop Netball Selections
COMMUNITY NEWS
Hello Year 4 Students,
If you have not yet accessed your home learning using your device and your class OneNote, here are the steps to help you:
1. Turn on your device (please remember to charge it every night as you normally would).
2. Check to see if you’re connected to your wifi at home (click on the wifi icon at the bottom right of the Task Bar, located at the bottom of your screen)
3. When connected, open Edge (dark blue ‘e’ to the left on your Task Bar).
4. Type into the web address bar at the top of this page: mnconnect.cloud
5. Once this mnconnect page appears, open our class OneNote (Icon located on your task bar at the very bottom of your screen)
3.Go to your class Content Library
4.Go to the tab called 'Home Learning' (Not the usual subject tabs we use at school. This is a brand new one! We won’t be using the usual ones again until we return to normal school days).
5.Once you are in the Home Learning section in OneNote, you should see the following tabs: Religion, English, Maths, Science/History, Other, Websites.
Don’t worry if your device hasn’t synced as yet. Some devices take longer than others. Leave it turned on and in a safe place. Do something else for 15 minutes or so (perhaps a job for mum or dad!) and then go back and check it again. The learning tasks should be there. If not, let us know).
6. For you to work on some activities each school day, you need to copy and paste them across to the ‘Home Learning’ tab in your own OneNote folder.
7. Each school week (not holidays!), work through the tasks in each subject as best as you can. One hour of work in the morning. One hour in the afternoon. Some learning tasks can be completed in OneNote. Some will need to be written in your homework book (or other work book).
If you need help, please email your teacher(s) or ask mum or dad to ring the school when they can and we will assist.
From the Year 4 Teachers
CURRICULUM NEWS
HOW TO: Access Student Email
Step 1: Type mnconnect.cloud into the address bar at the top of your internet browser.
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Step 2: You will be prompted to enter your username and password – this is the same as the username and password you use to log onto the computers at school. (NB: Make sure you have selected Maitland-Newcastle Diocese from the drop down list)
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Step 3: You will be taken to the screen below. Click on the ‘mail’ tile. This will take you into your webmail account.
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HOW TO: Connect to a video conference via ZOOM
Steps for attending a meeting:
- To attend a zoom meeting, open your emails and you will see an email for you that was sent from the host of the meeting. The email will look similar to the examples below. You can see the calendar entry for the zoom and below that there is text in blue- ‘Join Zoom Meeting’. All you have to do is simply click that link at the appropriate time for the meeting and you can join.
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OR
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If you have not signed up to zoom, you will see the box below. All you need to do if this box appears is place in the code at the end of the link as in the screen shot above near the blue arrow. In the case above the number would be- 192928680. Then click Join.
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HOW TO: ACCESS SeeSaw
SCHOOL LIBRARY AT HOME
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