St Patrick's School Newsletter

School Advisory Council 

Parent representatives

Helen Cannell 
Moo Khu James
Zanther McEldrew
Nathan Ruge
Antoinette Toet

Appointed representatives

Ann Munro (Parish Representative)

Ex Officio

Mons. Glynn Murphy (Parish Priest)
Kingsley Dalgleish (Principal)

 

Next Meeting

Wednesday 8 September 2021, 7.30pm

Report - Meeting held on Wednesday 28 July

Welcoming Mons Glynn via Google Meet, our School Advisory Council were able to meet for the first meeting of Term 3.

Mr Dalgleish notified us that we have now received confirmation of our exemption in offering LOTE during our disrupted 2021. As we must offer LOTE in 2022, this is currently being further explored.

In the lead-up to the Review in September, Mrs Rintoule has been working hard to ensure that our documentation of our Policies & Procedures for DOBCEL is reviewed, current, implemented and uploaded. She has also worked hard to make the understanding of this, and its communication for SAC members, as straight forward as possible. Many thanks to Mrs Rintoule for your work behind the scenes here.

With our Uniform Policy up for its 3-year review this year, the school are keen for a sub-committee to head up this process to ensure that currents needs, wants and ideas are considered. Two SAC members volunteered to form part of this committee and hope to work with some other interested parents and staff. Please contact the school if you would like to be a part of this.

Mr Dalgleish presented his report on the happenings around the school and parish which, despite another lockdown, has been a very busy time. Mons Glynn spoke of the dissolution of the four existing parishes and the establishment of the new Saint Paul VI Parish, Wimmera-Mallee Region (encompassing the territories previously covered by the former parishes).

Mons also spoke to SAC members regarding plans to run school buses to Horsham from various Wimmera communities. The purchase of one bus has been made to date and plans for this to grow possibly in future are also in discussion. These buses will operate Monday to Friday, morning and afternoon for those families wishing to continue their child’s Catholic education at Secondary level.

Our School Review will take place later this term on September 6th & 7th. SAC members will be asked to participate in discussions with the external panel in an online format.

Other reports included information and discussion regarding:

  • the purchase of a new sand pit cover, which should arrive any day.
  • drumMUSTER have been contacted and collections will occur later in the year.

Last Christmas, our school donated non-perishable food items, gift cards and monetary contributions to help families in need in the lead up to Christmas. WWHS and local services were astounded by our generosity and again welcome our assistance in this area. With our participation in the Poor Man’s Mass postponed this year, St Patrick’s families are asked if they would like to contribute items to make up hampers for local families. Non-perishable food items, IGA gift cards or monetary contributions can be sent to school and/or monetary or gift cards contributions made at the office. A list of items which are often requested for donation can be found below.

Also as a part of our 2021 Community Engagement projects, SAC are looking to collect warm winter jackets as part of ‘Heat the Homeless’ campaign, which has donated over 20,000 jackets to Melbourne’s homeless over the last five years. Our School Advisory Council will arrange for our school’s collection to then be sent to Melbourne which will then be distributed to the various charities who help those living on the streets. Jackets are asked to be in a good, clean condition and ideally waterproof or thick/warm however others may also be donated. Should you like to know more about this initiative, please check out https://xtm.com.au/heat-the-homeless.

Our next SAC meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, 8th September.

 

Families are asked to donate non-perishable food items for food hampers to support local families in need.  These items may include -

  • Pasta
  • Rice
  • Cereals
  • Tea
  • Coffee 
  • Sugar
  • Flours
  • Long life/UHT milk
  • Biscuts
  • Spreads - jam, vegemite, peanut butter
  • Canned fruit
  • Canned vegetables
  • Packaged pasta meals
  • Pasta sauce
  • 2-minute noodles
  • Toiletries
  • Cash/supermarket vouchers/gift cards