The Drum

From the Principal

Dear families,

 

As we prepare to celebrate Laudato Si Week next week, we are filled with excitement and gratitude for the opportunity to deepen our commitment to caring for our common home. This annual event, inspired by Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato Si, calls us to reflect on our relationship with the environment and to take meaningful action towards ecological sustainability and social justice.

 

Throughout our religious education program, called 'Awakenings', as well as the Healthy Living program facilitated by Julie Delaney, we have seen the principles of Laudato Si integrated in many elements of school life. From lessons on stewardship and reverence for creation to practical strategies for reducing our carbon footprint, our community has embraced the teachings of Laudato Si with enthusiasm and dedication. There is still much work for us to do in this area. In our Parents and Friends meeting this week, I mentioned in passing the amount of waste generated by lunch orders each Friday - approximately 2-3 garbage bins per week for this lunch alone. 

 

As we look forward to Laudato Si Week, let us continue to draw inspiration from Pope Francis' visionary encyclical and reaffirm our commitment to our collective stewardship. Together, let us strive to build a more just, sustainable, and compassionate world for all.

New Promotional Video

We are excited to announce the launch of our brand new promotional video. A massive shoutout  to Kev Cummins from Modular Media for producing this piece. With Kev's expertise and dedication, we've crafted a high-quality promotional video that captures the essence of our school's refurbishment, as well as the dynamic learning and teaching experiences within our walls.

St Patrick's Beanies

Recently our Grade 5/6 students have been designing a school beanie. Congratulations to Charlie, for his winning design. The beanies are now in production and will be about 4 weeks away...we'll keep you posted!

Visiting Authors

A reminder that over the next two weeks we have published authors George Ivanoff and Nicky Johnston visiting St Patrick's to share their experience of story telling in alignment with our semester one concept. We look forward to this valuable learning opportunity for our students.

School Wide Positive Behaviour Support

In the previous newsletter, I outlined the school's work thus far in School Wide Positive Behaviour space. Today, we met as a whole school and introduced the new behaviour matrix. To support the accessibility of the behaviour matrix to all students, we are still referencing the school High 5 as an inroad, but also leaning into the matrix to provide greater clarity around desired behaviours to promote respect, responsibility and safety. 

Sitting behind this document, is a behaviour management flowchart that is being implemented to guide all our staff to respond with ongoing consistency to behaviours experienced around the school. As previously mentioned, there will continue to be ongoing behaviour blitzes across the school to catch students doing the right thing.

Drummo Social Circle Re-Branding

We have such a great parent community and it's always such a pleasure to engage with you to discuss ideas for support and initiatives across the school. Last Monday our Drummo Social Circle met to plan some forthcoming events for the remainder of the year. I completely understand the challenges associated with making meetings and attending events. To extend further opportunities to engage, we will be having a morning and evening meeting next time. 

 

The next meetings are scheduled for Monday 29th July:

  • 9am at school
  • 7pm at The Western Hotel

There will be further information to come regarding the following events, but please note the below dates:

  • Thursday 15th August - Disco (date before a school closure day)
  • Thursday 29th August - Father's Day Breakfast 
  • Friday 30th August - Father's Day Stall
  • Friday 25th October - 100 Year Celebratory Cocktail Party
  • Thursday 5th December - Carols on the Turf

Any help or support for the events is always appreciated - if you're keen to be a part of the organisation for any of the above, please let us know. 

Winter School Uniform

It is now expected that all students are in their correct winter uniform - time for the shorts to be packed away until term 4. For an outline of the correct uniform items please check the information page here.

 

I have called Noone Crockers to confirm that all sizes are currently in stock. We also have some sizes available in the secondhand uniform shop. 

Closure Days - Term 2

Our next scheduled closure day is Friday 7th June.

2025 Foundation Enrolments

Please note that next week is the final week for Expressions of Interest for 2025 Foundation student enrolments. Following the closure of Expressions of Interest, there will be an allocation of first and second round offer in accordance with the centralised DOBCEL procedures. It is pleasing to note that we have had strong interest in our school for 2025.

 

Further details for the process can be found on our website: www.spballarat.catholic.edu.au

 

 

Wishing you a blessed Laudato Si Week filled with reflection, action, and solidarity.

 

Kind regards,

Ben Shields