6 Mar - Merit Assembly

Sat 7 & Sun 8 March - Sacramental Enrolment Masses @ OLM (all Masses)

10 Mar - Year 6 Leadership Mass @ 2:00pm

13 Mar - Harmony Day Assembly @2:30pm / Icy Pole Day

16 Mar - Pupil Free Day for Students - Staff PD Day

17 Mar - Year 2 Liturgy @ 11:00am

20 Mar - PCPS Swimming Carnival

26 Mar - URSTRONG Student & Parent Workshop @ 6:00pm

2020 Pupil Free Days

Monday 16 March

Thursday 28 & Friday 29 May

Monday 24 August

Monday 31 August

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

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

Dear Parents

It was so wonderful to see so many families and all the staff at our beginning of the year mass last week at Our Lady of the Mission Church. Thank you to all families for joining in the celebration and making it a priority in the busyness of your week. Gathering together to pray as a school community is so important as it brings us into a different dimension of God’s presence, rather than when we pray alone. Father Cyprian blessed us all and he asked for God to look after our PCPS children, staff, parents, P&F and Board and also asked God to guide us and strengthen us in this new school year. Jesus asks something of us at PCPS and that is to cherish his commandment …

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another:

just as I have loved you, you also, are to love one another.

By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another"

This is our school motto at PCPS and Jesus asks each and every one of us to live out this commandment in our daily lives, both in our words and in our actions. Let our motto of love rest peacefully in our hearts this year as we journey through together.

Our Lenten season commenced on Ash Wednesday. We gathered together as a school community to celebrate a special liturgy. 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. 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. May this Lent be a time for discovering the sense of communion with God that we can experience through fasting. As well as fasting from food, we might also:

· Fast from mindless entertainment in order to experience the Word of God in scripture

· Fast from shopping for something new and needless in order to share our treasure with those for who whom simple everyday survival is a constant struggle

· Fast from overly demanding schedule in order to rediscover the love of family and friends.

· Fast from anger, impatience and our need to be in control in order to recognise our humbleness before God.

· Fast from whatever deters us from being centred fully in the great love of God that is especially present to us during this Lent.

This year Father Cyprian is taking inspiration from the Holy Father’s encyclical on the environment and is inviting members of our parish who are associated with care of our natural world to be candidates for foot washing at the Holy Thursday evening celebration. If you are involved in any way with environmental care such as volunteer fire fighter, or involved in coastal care, environmental science or biology for example and would like to volunteer for Holy Thursday please leave your name and number at the school office.

The Latin word sacramentum means ‘a sign of the sacred.’ Sacraments are ceremonies that point to what is sacred, significant and important for Catholics. They are special occasions for experiencing God's saving presence and are signs and instruments of God's grace. Celebrating sacraments is such an important part of our lives. The Sacramental Programme at Our Lady of the Mission Parish has commenced with enrolment masses taking place this weekend. The school will continue to work very closely with the Parish Team to ensure that our children and families are fully prepared. In our parish the sacramental programme is Parent focused, Parish based and a School supported Sacramental programme. Please refer to the Religious Education and calendar section of the newsletter for further details and dates and keep reading the newsletter for updates regarding parent information evenings.

Please join us next week on Friday 13 March at 2.30pm where the Year Three children will be leading a Harmony Day assembly with the theme ‘Everyone Belongs’. Harmony Day is a day of cultural respect for everyone who calls Australia home, from the traditional owners of this land to those who have come from many countries around the world. At Padbury CPS, we have families from many different nationalities and we celebrate and embrace the individuality and uniqueness of all cultures.

Our school Code of Conduct is mandated by the Government and Catholic Education Office of WA. The purpose of the Code of Conduct is to describe minimum standards of conduct in all behaviour decision-making to ensure the safety and well-being of students. The code applies to staff, students, parents, volunteers and guardians. It promotes positive work practices and establishes expectations for personal and professional boundaries concerning appropriate and inappropriate behaviour in relation to staff, students, volunteers, parents and guardians. It provides guidance about behaviour, relationships, attitudes and responsibilities and outlines the process that will be followed if the code is not observed. Please take the time to read the Code of Conduct on our school website –

https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/addf41_13acf06f23cf4d86b703bcc0a62dd433.pdf

The Protective Behaviours Programme taught at Padbury CPS is the Keeping Safe: Child Protection Curriculum (KS:CPC). It is a child safety program for children and young people from age 3 to year 12. It teaches children to:

· recognise abuse and tell a trusted adult about it

· understand what is appropriate and inappropriate touching

· understand ways of keeping themselves safe.

All children and young people have a right to:

· be treated with respect and to be protected from harm

· be asked for their opinions about things that affect their lives and to be listened to

· feel and be safe in their interactions with adults and other children and young people

· understand as early as possible what is meant by 'feeling and being safe'.

The curriculum follows 2 main themes:

· we all have the right to be safe

· we can help ourselves to be safe by talking to people we trust.

The two themes are explored through 4 focus areas:

· the right to be safe

· relationships

· recognising and reporting abuse

· protective strategies.

The focus areas are targeted to the age of the learners. The KS:CPC has been taught in our school for the last couple of years, is mandated by the Government and is taught every year by the class teachers. The teachers will send home letters regarding when they are commencing their units this year and what will be taught.

We 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. To learn more about URSTRONG I would encourage you to visit their website (www.urstrong.com) where they have a number of free resources for parents.

At PCPS we value social-emotional learning programs and implement various 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.

We invite all students from Year 1 to 6 and their parents to come along on 26 March, 2020 to join us for a URSTRONG Language of Friendship Parent-Child Workshop. You can register to attend the event here. Big thank you to the P&F Faith and Education Team for organising this event, especially Nat Bullen.

Tuesday Pre-Kindy (3 Year Old) has some vacancies this term. If you have a child who is 3yrs old or is turning three this year please enquire at the office regarding enrolling your child into our fabulous programme or click on the following link for further information - https://www.padcath.wa.edu.au/early-childhood

If you have friends or neighbours who have children this age then please talk to them about our exciting Pre-Kindy programme and encourage them to enrol.

While media and public commentary in relation to Coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to raise concerns for many in our community, public health authorities are advising that the current risk remains low in Western Australia. However, as the health and wellbeing of our students and staff remains our highest priority, we need to remain vigilant to any potential for increased risks and take precautionary measures to ensure the safest possible educational environment for our children. Advice from the Health Department of WA indicates that the best way of protecting ourselves and others against COVIC-19, is for each of us to practice good hygiene by:

• Washing hands frequently with soap and water or using an alcohol-based gel.
• Refraining from touching our mouth and nose.
• Covering nose and mouth with a tissue or flexed elbow when coughing or sneezing.
• Disposing of tissues immediately into a bin and cleaning hands as described above.
• Avoiding close contact with anyone who is showing cold or flu-like symptoms.

We ask that parents reinforce these practices with children at home as we will do, at school. Each classroom has sanitising gel and there is soap in the toilets. In terms of travel, we ask that parents coming back from holidays overseas, continue to check advice from the Health Department, self-monitor and seek medical advice as required. The WA Department of Health has updated information including frequently asked questions about the COVID-19. To view this information visit healthywa.wa.gov.au/coronavirus

As we continue to respond to COVID-19 in our community, please be assured that the Department of Education, Catholic Education Western Australia, and the Association of Independent Schools of Western Australia will continue to respond as a collaborative team to advice from the WA Department of Health and provide updated advice to schools.

Please take the time to read through the school website as it offers a lot of information about our school including the history, traditions, routines and practices here at Padbury Catholic Primary School. By reading this information you will to see that our wonderful school offers innovative programmes, provides a safe and secure environment for all and encourages parents to become partners in their child’s education. Upon enrolment at Padbury Catholic Primary School all parents sign the enrolment form whereby it stipulates that parents will agree to abide by the polices and directions of the school and the Catholic Education Office of Western Australia. The school website is a handy reference for the year ahead and any updated information will be provided via the newsletter or email informing you of any alterations to procedures and policies.

Our 2020 Annual School Plan is based upon our Strategic Plan LEAD – Learning, Engagement, Accountability and Discipleship, which you can view on our school website https://www.padcath.wa.edu.au/strategic-plan

School Improvement Plan – Focus Areas for 2020

Discipleship

Mercy

v Mercy Values – children, staff, parents, classrooms/school, newsletter

v Mercy Value Certificates and Banners

v Mercy crosses

v Engagement with Sisters of Mercy

v School faction history and banners

Learning

Literacy

v Whole School Approach

v Literacy Blocks

v Guided Reading

v Literacy Development – Diana Rigg

v Learning Support re-structure- Literacy and Mathematics

v Introduction of MiniLit and Levelled Literacy Intervention

Drama/Art teacher

Early Childhood Education

v Shared beliefs and understandings

v Early Childhood Charter

Aboriginal Education

v Transforming Lives – whole school approach

Engagement

v Marketing – prospectus, open day, enrolment goodie bags, PCPS wrist bands, school Facebook/Instagram page/twitter, links with wider community, intergenerational link

v Chaplaincy Worker - Social Worker

v Sustainability – Green space

This year we will be developing a new school Strategic Plan. The four key elements established by the Catholic Education Commission of Western Australia (CECWA) will be core to the school’s strategic focus – Inspiring Christ-centred Leaders, Catholic Schools of Excellence, Catholic Pastoral Communities, and, Accessible, Affordable and Sustainable System of Schools. It is these key areas that will define the school’s priorities and will guide our school’s work over the next 4-5 years. In addition, the strategic plan will outline the school’s performance outcomes and is intended to build upon our strengths and be consistent with our school’s commitment to our values of Respect, Excellence, Sacredness and Togetherness. In formulating this strategic plan, we are consulting widely with all stakeholders of the school community to assess our performance and explore new initiatives and opportunities. Staff, School Board, P&F, parish representatives, parents and children are invited to take part. On Wednesday 18 March from 6.30-8.00pm all interested parents are invited to come and join the School Board and P&F as we gather together for a parent consultation evening in our Library. This evening will be led by Mrs Carlyn Dyer, an external consultant, who has been engaged to lead us through this strategic planning process.

Kind regards

Mrs Margaret Williamson

Principal

• Enrolment Form
• Calendar of Events
• Letter to Parents

A reminder that the Sacramental enrolment Masses are being held at all OLM Masses over this weekend of the 7th/8th March.

Have a great fortnight ahead!

Mr Ryan von Bergheim & Mrs Loretta Hutcheson

Assistant Principals

Pre-Kindy

For Lent in Pre K we will focus on the concepts of 'Jesus as the Good Shepherd' who cares for us and guides us and 'The cross as a sign of Jesus' love for us'. We will be using hands on materials to explore these ideas and provoke discussion, as well as making our own crosses and going on a 'cross hunt' throughout the school.

Kindy

In Kindy we have created a Lenten tree with leaves that focus on exploring ways to show love and care for others as God sent Jesus to show his love for us.

Pre-Primary

All of the Pre-Primary children have made a Lenten promise which is displayed in our classroom.

Year 1

The Year Ones have made a Lenten Tree of Love with our Lenten promises.

Year 2

Students will combine art, reflection and literacy skills to create formally written promises be accompanied by Lenten Cross mosaic artwork.

Year 3

In year 3, we will be re-enacting the Last Supper. We will be sharing bread and apple juice.

Year 4

The Year Fours are making a Random Act of Kindness tree. Every week children will promise to do two Random Acts of Kindness, which have been written on leaves and added to our tree.

We will pray and reflect on these acts every week as a class.

Year 5

The Year Fives discussed and wrote down their Lenten promises. They received the sacrament of Penance this week in preparation for Easter. They will look at the ways that Caritas assists those in need and be encouraged to give money to Project Compassion.

On the 25th of February the Year 6 students made pancakes as it was the day before Lent, Shrove Tuesday. On this day we eat pancakes because after, during Lent, we give up these types of food to remember those who don’t have access to these beautiful foods and to remember the sacrifice that Jesus made for us. The Year 6 students were very happy to have some gorgeous parent helpers, it sure was hot in the kitchen, but without their help we wouldn’t have had our delicious pancakes!

The Year 6 students wrote down their Lenten promises that they will keep for 40 days. The student have also done some research about Lent and made posters about it.

By Ayla Radici and Luka Babich

Choir for boys only in years 4, 5 and 6 will be on Wednesdays, 8:15am in the hall.

- Mrs Sylvia Grigoroff Cusack

The Catholic Performing Arts Festival was established to help students experience the spirit and tradition of the performing arts outside the school environment. There are many sections to choose from...Bible Reading, Instrumental Solo/Duet, Duologues, Percussion and many more. Here is the website with details www.catholicarts.wa.edu.au

Please be aware that entries close 10th May.

If you need more information or clarification contact Sylvia Cusack at school or by email.

Over the past week, all families should have received their 2020 School Fee Invoices by email.

If you have not received your 2020 Annual School Fee Invoice, please contact the office.

Please be aware that families will have a **NEW** BPAY reference. We ask that you use the new BPAY reference as shown on your 2020 School Fee Statement.

Health Care Card Fee Discount Scheme

If you are a holder of a means tested Health Care Card, or Pensioner Concession Card -Parenting Payment Single allowance, you are entitled to a school fee discount. It is important to note that the card must be in the name of the person responsible for the payment of the fees. If there is joint responsibility for payment of the fees, the discounted rate applies only to the eligible card holder. Families eligible for Health Care Card Discount Scheme need to present their card to the office and complete a form by 27 March 2020.

If you need to discuss your school fee account or notify the school if there are financial circumstances which need to be taken into account with payment of School Fee Accounts, e.g. Split Billing between two Caregivers, please phone Mrs Denise Davis (Finance Officer), 9404 4000, or email denise.davis@cewa.edu.au

We will be running the RAINBOWS PROGRAM again this year. It is a peer support program designed especially for children who are experiencing painful transitions, such as a separation , divorce, death or a parent working away (FIFO). This program is also beneficial for children who have moved from other countries, states or schools.

Please see the Information Sheet below (file), which includes an enrolment slip to be returned to the office, should you be interested in this program for your child.

Mrs Georgina Bertoldo (Rainbows Coordinator)

Get your dancing shoes ready!

This year’s school disco will take place Friday 22 May 2020.

The time slots will be as follows:

5:00pm - 6.30pm = Kindy - Yr 2

7:00pm - 8.30pm = Yr 3 - Yr 6

Please note, due to parent feedback we’ve changed the discos to annually instead of bi-annually.

Any queries, please contact Romina Cangelosi or Hailee James

Thanks

Icy Pole Weeks are Fridays in Week 4, 6 & 8 for Term 1.

The Pre-Primary children order within their classroom with the Teachers which is delivered to them on the day. If parents/guardians could please bring in small change please to order. The icy poles are sold to children from Years 1 to 6 in the hall during lunch time. The children bring $1.20 in small change and can choose from a vanilla bucket, calippo, lemonade icy pole or paddle pop (streets). There is also a small number of gluten free vanilla cups (Everest) for the children with dietary requirements. Please contact Maggie Gallagher or Romina Cangelosi if you have any questions.

Parents/Kids in Years 6-12!

That dynamic duo Jonathan and Samantha from Youth Ministry 24/7 will be here to get you into WYFI
- Whitfords Youth Faith Initiative! @ at Our Lady of the Mission
24/7 will be at the weekend masses this coming
March 7th and 8th — to get you on board!

Here's a place for fun activities, outings to places, being supportive of each other in a positive social group!
As many of the kids will be going to different schools, this is a great place and group to still keep in contact and also make new friends in our community.
Be a part of a youth group that will keep you on the right path. Have Faith - as we believe in your fabulous future!
24:7 Youth Ministry

Stations of the Cross

Every Friday at 7:00pm during Lent.

Monthly Healing Mass

Saturday 29th February at 8:30am, join the Parish for prayer and anointing of the sick.

Youth Recruitment Weekend

On 7th and 8th March, we will be registering all Year 6-12 students interested in our parish youth group. We invite all returning and new young people to join us at any of the weekend Masses on 7th & 8th March.

Seniors Family Group Luncheon

We welcome newcomers, singles and couples. Please come and join our friendly group for a meal at the Carine Tavern, 493 Beach Road, Duncraig on Friday 28th February at 12noon. Enq: Theresa 0407 442 817

Children's Liturgy - Help Needed

We are looking for people to help with this important ministry. If you are available to help please phone the children's Liturgy Coordinator, Mandy Schrader 0439 959 317.

Eucharistic Adoration

Every Wednesday and Friday after 9am Mass. All on roster and visitors are most welcome.

Glory Be Cafe

Don't forget we are open cor a cup of tea and a slice of cake after the 8:00am Mass. Please pop down for a chat and get to know other parishioners.

Sick family member or Parishioner

Are any of your family members or fellow parishioners not well? Please advise Fr Cyprian through the parish office so he can arrange to visit them if required. Thank you for taking care of one another.

24:7 Whitfords Youth Group

For all youth in Years 6-12

Every 1st, 3rd and 5th Fridays 7pm-9pm & Whitfords’ Parish Hall

Coming up: Relationships, 6th March in 2 weeks time

Call Jonathan 0478618714 or Amanda 0421144992 or email whitfordyouth@perthcatholic.org.au for more information