Please check the community calendar for upcoming and future dates as the calendar is regularly updated.

https://www.padcath.wa.edu.au/community-calendar

2021 Pupil Free Day Dates for your diary:

Friday 12 March 2021

Friday 28 May 2021

Tuesday 8 June 2021

Friday 18 June 2021

Monday 16 August 2021

Dear Parents

Despite the COVID lockdown hiccup in Week 1 of the school year, the children have settled into their classrooms seamlessly. We are now well and truly into a routine! Thank you to the many parents who have provided positive feedback on the Parent Teacher electronic information sessions. The Leadership Team and teachers are so pleased that this format was such a huge success and we may look to continuing these sessions in the same format going forward. Your continued support of the classroom teachers and our school is always very much appreciated. We will be introducing COVID safe rostered parent help in the classrooms soon. Please read your class newsletters for further information.

At PCPS we are very blessed to have such a dedicated and professional staff who are totally committed to providing the very best education for the children as well as nurturing and caring for all children on a pastoral care level. Special welcome to new our staff members for 2021: Mrs Renee Babac (Yr. 4 teacher) and Signora Mazzero (Italian teacher); returning staff members Mrs Donelle Wright (Yr. 1 teacher) and Mrs Nicole Sadowski (Yr. 1 Education Assistant). We look forward to them sharing their special gifts and talents within our school community. On the holidays Miss Ashleigh Reggio was married to Mr Christian Tinelli. Congratulations and best wishes are extended to the happy couple. Ms Remigio will be keeping her maiden name so will be addressed as Ms Remigio.

The 2021 Leadership Team consists of Mrs Margaret Williamson (Principal) and Mrs Loretta Hutcheson (Assistant Principal PK-2) and Mr Ryan von Bergheim (Assistant Principal Yr3-6). We are always available to meet with you at any time should you have any concerns or queries regarding your child’s education. We welcome back Father Cyprian, Parish Priest at Our Lady of the Mission, and Father Francis, Assistant Parish Priest. We look forward to their spiritual guidance throughout the year.

On Wednesday we gathered together as a school community in our hall to celebrate our Ash Wednesday liturgy, marking the beginning of Lent. Lent prepares us for Christ’s Resurrection on Easter Sunday. Taking place 40 days before Easter Sunday, Ash Wednesday is one of the most important holy days in the liturgical calendar and signals a season of prayer, reflection, penance and fasting. Coming from the ancient Jewish tradition of penance and fasting, Ash Wednesday involves applying ashes, made from blessed palm branches from the previous year's Palm Sunday Mass, to a person’s forehead. The ashes applied to the forehead symbolise the dust from which God made us. The priest speaks the words:

"Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return"
or "Repent and believe in the Gospel."

The Ashes we receive are a symbol of penance made sacramental by the blessing of the Church and they help us develop a spirit of humility and sacrifice. The Lenten season is a good opportunity for us all to spend time in prayer, to give to others in need and to ‘fast’ or ‘give up’ something as a commitment to becoming a better person. Please find in this newsletter the 2021 Lenten Pastoral letter from Archbishop Costelloe.

Our Lady of the Mission Pastoral Council extends an invitation to all PCPS families to join in celebrating Father Cyprian’s ten years being a priest on 7 March at 11.00am. Celebrations will commence with a Mass on the oval near the church, followed by lunch and entertainment. This coincides with the Sacramental Enrolment Mass for children making a sacrament this year. Please note that there will be no 9.30am mass on this day. Parking available at Albion Park and Whitford CPS netball courts.

I would like to thank all parents for your continued support and understanding as we navigate our way through COVID Phase 4 restrictions again. We may need to do things a little differently at this point in time however we are doing our very best to ensure most events and activities can still continue in a safe manner and that the children remain our priority. We hope that the next few weeks allow us to reconnect with parents by some changes we are making.

The commencement of parent rosters will be communicated in due course by the classroom teachers. COVID hygiene practices and safety procedures will be in place so that the school can permit this to occur.

As of Monday 22 February parents will be welcomed into the classrooms before school (8.30-8.45am) or after school (3.00-3.10pm). The classroom teacher will invite parents in a few at a time. However, in order for us to adhere to the 2 square metre regulation, this will be limited up to 3 parents at a time. This will ensure that the school is within COVID guidelines. Parents will be invited to stay up to 5 minutes thus allowing other parents waiting outside an opportunity to enter the classroom. Your co-operation and mindfulness of others is very much appreciated. Parents in PK-PP are of course more than welcome to spend time with their child outside as well, as is currently occurring.

Assemblies will continue this term in a slightly different format. There will be two types of assemblies, Merit assemblies and Prayer/Item assemblies. At this point in time Merit assemblies will be held with all the classes from PP-Yr6 in attendance and with only 1 parent in attendance per child receiving the award. This is so that we can ensure that the school is safely able to maintain the COVID regulations of 2 metre square and 1.5m distancing in our hall. The parents attending the Merit Assembly will be asked to enter through the rear sliding door of the hall where they will be signed in by a staff member. Prayer/Item Assemblies will be held in the hall and the class presenting will have their Buddy Classes in attendance and streamed to the other classes in their classrooms. With a reduced number of children in the hall, this will allow parents, grandparents etc of the presenting class to attend with the 2 metre square and 1.5m distancing regulations safely being applied. Please check dates on the PCPS electronic community calendar which can be found on our school website at https://www.padcath.wa.edu.au/community-calendar

Last week Year Six children enjoyed a sensational camp at Woodman Point. Mrs Barry, Mrs Woodall and Mr VB planned an educational and fun programme, which enabled the children to develop their team building skills and spend time bonding with each other. Thank you to the Year Six teacher and also Mr Hignett, who also went on camp, for giving generously of time away from their own families to ensure the children had a great time on the camp.

Our first P&F Meeting for the year will be held next week on Wednesday 24 February 7pm in the Library. The 2021 P&F Executive: Susan Kadak (President), Ella Pearce (Vice President), Sally Kelly (Treasurer) and Romina Cangelosi (Secretary). All parents are more than welcome to attend these meetings and a special invitation is extended to all our new families too. P&F Meetings are a great opportunity to gather together with the Leadership Team, P&F Committee and parents and find out what we can do together to continue making PCPS such a great community. The P&F Committee also works hard to fundraise throughout the year to help purchase extra resources for the children and they also plan some fabulous ‘friend raising’ events for parents and exciting events for the children too.

The Family Fun Night on 5 March is one P&F event not to be missed. This is a special event in Term One where we can all catch up with everyone on a social level. The Family Fun Night is organised by the P&F and this year Catherine and Clinton Rudd are the co ordinators. I thank them both for all the planning that has already be done in preparation for this evening including ensuring it is COVID safe. It promises to be a wonderful family night so put the date in your diary and come along and enjoy the evening! I look forward to catching up with you all. Please read the P&F section for further details.

The first P&F Icy Pole day for the year was held today and proved very popular in this hot weather. Icy poles are sold to children from Years 1 to 6 during lunch time every second week on a Friday. Items may include vanilla bucket, calippo, lemonade icy pole, paddle pop, a small number of gluten free vanilla cups (Everest) for the children with dietary requirements and some low sugar options. Please see the P&F section for further information. Big thank you to Elva MacDonagh for co ordinating this for the children.

After postponement of our workshop last year, our P&F Faith and Education committee are excited to be hosting URSTRONG, an internationally recognised Social Emotional Wellbeing program, that empowers children with the skills, language and self-confidence to be better friends and develop healthier relationships. At PCPS we always have the children’s social-emotional needs at the forefront, implementing tools and strategies to support our efforts in creating a safe and caring school. We believe that empowering our students with these skills will create a school community where children are better able to manage their relationships in a safe and respectful environment. URSTRONG’s Language of Friendship is suitable for students in Yr. 1-6 and will take place on Tuesday, 9 March from 5:00 pm to 6:30pm in the PCPS hall in a COVID safe environment with the 2 metre square rule being applied. Due to restrictions, numbers will be limited so get your tickets fast. Please see the P&F section for further details. Big thank you to Natalie Bullen for co ordinating this event.

Next Wednesday we also have our first Advisory Council (School Board) meeting for the year.

Members of the Padbury Catholic Primary Advisory Council 2021:

Margaret Williamson (Principal); Father Cyprian (Parish Priest); Brad Schrader (Chairperson); Gianni Da Rui (Vice Chairperson); Sheree Merry (Treasurer); Richard Haynes (Secretary); Meg Horne (P & F Rep); Emma Marpole (Parish Rep); Peter McKenzie (Committee Member).

Padbury Cares is a group of school group volunteers (parents and staff) who provide assistance to families in our school community during a time of need (either short or long term) due to illness, bereavement, family crisis, birth of a newborn or any type of change. ​If you are going through a time of need or if you know of a family that requires assistance please make contact. The information that is provided to Padbury Cares remains confidential.

​We also look for volunteers to be part of this valuable and rewarding program so if you can offer assistance in any way we would love to hear from you. Some examples of help that we offer are providing a simple family meal that is delivered to the school office for collection; transporting of children to and from school; ironing, cleaning, shopping, baking, gardening, dog walking etc. Generally, we would ask you to help once a semester. Please note once you register your name will stay on our database and you will not need to re-register with each new school year. ​Huge thanks to Padbury Cares coordinator Ruth Tan (0412 358 746) who is so pastoral in her approach with our families. Please contact Ruth, the front office, your class teacher or one of the Leadership Team, should you need some assistance or wish to volunteer. More details can be found on our school website - https://www.padcath.wa.edu.au/padbury-cares.

Please find in the newsletter information from CEWA regarding Fairer Funding and the upcoming elections.

Enjoy the weekend with your family.

Kind regards

Mrs Margaret Williamson

Principal

Welcome back to the 2021 school year. We hope you enjoyed a wonderful (extended) holiday break with your families - we certainly did! It has been fantastic seeing our students back at school this week, so happy and excited to see their friends and teachers. We look forward to seeing you around the school in the coming weeks and look forward to a brilliant year ahead.

Mr Ryan von Bergheim & Mrs Loretta Hutcheson

Assistant Principals

If you would like to deposit your containers and donate your refund amount to Padbury Catholic to put back into our sustainability initiatives, at the depot/drop-off point please enter our Scheme ID: C10370571

Choir for Boys and Girls in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 will be held each Tuesday morning in the hall at 8:15am.

All that is needed is a voice and lots of enthusiasm!

Mrs Cusack 🎶

Music Teacher

Teaching our students about Digital Citizenship is an important part of the curriculum here at PCPS. Our Digital Citizenship programs aim to create digital citizens who have the knowledge and skills to effectively use digital technologies to communicate with others, participate in society and create and consume digital content. Digital citizenship is about confident and positive engagement with digital technologies.

This year, we are using a resource called 'Common Sense Education' - Designed and developed in partnership with Project Zero at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and guided by research with thousands of educators.

The areas our classes will be covering (at age-appropriate levels) mainly focus on:

• Media Balance & Well-Being
• Privacy & Security
• Digital Footprint & Identity
• Relationships & Communication
• Cyberbullying & Digital Drama
• News & Media Literacy

Keep an eye out for your child's learning when they engage in their Digital Citizenship studies throughout this year.

Mr vB

Assistant Principal

24:7 Whitfords Youth Group For all youth in Years 6 to 12 1st and 3rd Friday @ Whitfords Parish Hall, 7pm Coming up: (Next week for Friday youth groups) Friday 19th February Call Luke 0401822932 for more information

Children's liturgy starts again from this weekend (14.02,21) ongoing during the term, 9.30 mass. All children 3+ years welcome.

Save the Date - Fr Cyp's 10th Sacerdotal Anniversary Thanksgiving Mass and Celebration:

Fr Cyprian will be celebrating 10 years of Priesthood on Sunday 7th March. A Special Thanksgiving Mass is planned for 11am followed by Lunch on the WCPS Oval. The Parish Council would like Padbury Catholic Primary School families to come and celebrate with him. To aid with the preparations, the 9.30am Mass will be cancelled on that Sunday so everyone is invited to the Special 11.00am Thanksgiving Mass. (8.00am & 5.45pm Mass will go ahead as usual).

Rev Fr Cyprian M Shikokoti - PP

Our Lady of the Mission, Whitford Parish

Website : www.olm.myparish.net.au