Dear Parents and Families,

The Christian holiday of Pentecost, celebrated on the fiftieth day after

Easter, commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles

and other followers of Jesus Christ while they were in Jerusalem

celebrating the Feast of Weeks, as described in the Acts of the Apostles

(Acts 2:1–31).

Pentecost Sunday is the day for opening doors. It began with the

unlocking of the doors of the Upper room where the disciples had been

hiding in fear of the Jews. In John’s Gospel on Sunday, the risen Jesus

comes and stands in the midst of the disciples. He breathes on them and bestows on them the

Holy Spirit, the ‘first – fruits’ of his passion and resurrection. The Spirit is given to them to

remind them of their Easter Faith and encourage them to continue the mission of spreading the

word of Jesus. “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.”

Pentecost marks the birth of the Church, as those who accept the

message of the apostles are baptized and are added as original

disciples.

The symbols of Pentecost are the flame, wind, and the dove, which

represents the Holy Spirit. The color of Pentecost is red and the priest

wears red vestments on this day. Parishioners are also invited to wear

red on this day. Red decorations as well as celebrations are

appropriate, similar to any other birthday. Special prayers are often said just for Pentecost.

We thus celebrate and welcome Bianca, Beatrix, Rose and Mabel Flint as members of our

Catholic Community here in the Gordon Parish, who were baptized during the Easter Vigil, 50

days ago! It was wonderful to see Bianca participating in the Sunday Mass, along with our

wonderful Altar Servers; Angus and Billy. Thanks to those families who attended to show their

ongoing support of Bianca and her family.

I wish you all a wonderful week.

Bambi Afford

St Patrick’s

Primary School

Newsletter 6 t h J u n e , 2 0 1 7 .

Weekend Mass Times

Springbank Saturday 6.30 pm, Bungaree Sunday 8.45 am Ballan Sunday 10.30 am

School Mass Sunday 18th June 2017 This year we are also very excited about the prospects of

celebrating combined Masses with our Parish members as we commence Children’s Masses for the first

time this term, on Sunday 18th June at St. Patrick’s Parish Church.

Our children will lead the first and final song and participate as altars servers, readers of the prayers of

intercession and in the offertory procession.

We are currently looking for two adults to be the First and Second readers, so if you can help, please

register your interest at the front office. Thank you!

News from the Rooms Year Prep/One/Two We had great fun on Friday finishing our bridges! We also spent time

learning about Reconciliation and we made some aboriginal pictures in light of this. This

week we will be writing an information report on mini beasts in partners noting all key

features on an information report.

STUDENT OF THE WEEK Beatrix for working so hard on her handwriting

Year Three/Four “In our class I really enjoyed participating in the interschool sports. We

played at home against St Alipius. Our netball team won easily and it was lots of fun.”

Charlotte Frazer.

“On Friday we played interschool football and we won by 4 points and it was really fun. It was

really great to see Mr. Stott back at our school. We know Mr. Stott must miss us heaps!”

Xavier Winter

STUDENT OF THE WEEK Willow Blazko for always being a conscientious and

enthusiastic student in all areas of the curriculum.

Year Five/Six As part or our integrated unit on the environment, the students in Year 5/6

have been looking at their ecological footprint. We’ve discussed the impact we have on the

environment as an individual, family, school, community and country and what we can do to

lessen our impact on the environment.

STUDENT OF THE WEEK Nathanial for working well in class to produce a great report

on rainforests and for his efforts in participating in all class and school activities, such as

interschool sports.

P a g e 3

TOMORROW Wednesday 7th June - KELLY SPORTS - Can all interested

families please enrol as soon as possible.

Interschool Sport - Away game for participants. Children will travel to and

from excursion via school bus.

NEXT Monday 12th June - QUEEN’S BIRTHDAY LONG WEEKEND

PUBLIC HOLIDAY

Thursday 15th June - Bravehearts Personal Safety Education incursion.

Sunday 18th June - Sunday School Mass - We invite all families along to

Mass, as children will be participating in the Mass. Our choir will lead us in

song at this Mass. Thanks for your support.

Sunday 18th June - Bulldogs Literacy students to attend Football match in

Melbourne.

Thursday 29th June - Anointing Mass at 11am at St Patrick’s Church,

Gordon. All families invited to join in this Mass.

Friday 30th June - Whole school attending production of “The Wolf & Peter”

at the Melbourne Art Centre.

SCHOOL BANKING IS ON A WEDNESDAY. Thank you to Kellee Frazer,

who is our school banking co-ordinator.

Swim and Gym 5 Week

Program for all students

Next Term our students will

commence the Swim and Gym

program at the YMCA in Ballarat.

Our students will be transported by

a Gold Bus coach, to and from the

program, each Friday.

The first session will commence on Friday 21st July, which is the first Friday in

Term 3.

Please return your child/children's permission slip, if you have not already done

so.

Students will be required to bring along bathers, towel and goggles if preferred.

School Closure Days

Yesterday on Monday 5th June, our staff joined with St. Michael’s in Daylesford for a

school closure day, to participate in a workshop led by Fr. Barry Ryan and Sr. Veronica

Lawson, on the topic of Faith Seeking Understanding in the Contemporary World.

This was a wonderful opportunity for our staff to collaborate and dialogue with other

professionals in order to enhance their own spirituality, and enable them to grow and

develop their own faith in today’s contemporary world. As teachers and leaders, it is

important to be lifelong learners, continually growing our capacity to grow to be leaders in

our community.

Please note that in Term Two, we have one further School Closure Day:

Monday 12th June Queen’s Birthday Holiday

WANTED WANTED WANTED

If you are able to assist and join the church

cleaning roster, please register your interest at the

school office. You would be required to work in pairs

and your commitment would be to help out only twice

a year.

Thanks in anticipation.

School Mass Sunday 18th June 2017

This year we are also very excited about the prospects of celebrating combined Masses

with our Parish members as we commence Children’s Masses for the first time this term,

on Sunday 18th June at St. Patrick’s Parish Church.

Our children will lead the first and final song and participate as altars servers, readers of

the prayers of intercession and in the offertory procession.

We are currently looking for two adults to be the First and Second readers, so if you can

help, please register your interest at the front office. Thank you!

Anointing Mass – Thursday 29th June at 11:00 am at St. Patrick’s Parish Church.

In a few weeks’ time, the parish will hold an Anointing Mass for the sick and elderly of our

parish. Our students have been invited to attend and celebrate this mass led by Fr. Tom

Brophy.

A big thank you to Craig and Michelle Barnes

for repairing our hot house.

It looks fabulous and it will be used as part of

class environmental studies.

Children will be able to collect seeds and

propagate plants.

A Greenhouse works by allowing sunlight to enter and preventing heat from escaping.

The transparent covering of the greenhouse allows visible light to enter, where it warms the interior as it is absorbed by the material

within. The transparent covering also prevents the heat from leaving by reflecting

the energy back into the interior and preventing outside winds from carrying it

away.

National Reconciliation Week Last week we celebrated National

Reconciliation Week at St. Patrick’s School. Students from Foundation to

Year Six participated in indigenous art activities led by Mrs. Stott.

Our F-2 students were set to travel to Sovereign Hill to participate in

cultural dance workshops with the Wathaurung Aboriginal Corporation, as

a part of National Reconciliation Week. Unfortunately they were cancelled.

We look forward to exploring our local indigenous culture further during

NAIDOC Week later on this year.

Each year National Reconciliation Week celebrates and builds on the

respectful relationships shared by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander

people and other Australians. The theme for 2017 is ‘Let’s take the next

steps’. We are reminded every day to be thoughtful and inclusive of our

local indigenous culture and peoples.

WRAPPER FREE SCHOOL AT ST PATRICK’S.

Students are encouraged to bring food without pack-

aging. There are many types of lunchboxes that sup-

port this program. The waste generated from student

lunches will be disposed of in the following way:

Food scraps – sent to our chooks and our worm farms.

All other waste will be put back into the students’

lunchboxes and taken home.

At recess, food is taken out of its wrapper which is put

straight back in the student’s lunchbox. Snacks like muesli bars and crackers should be

sent to school in a container, without wrapping.

Now is great time to start thinking about what goes into your child’s lunchbox and

considering healthy alternatives.

Our Policy: Waste Minimisation and Rubbish Free Food Policy

Like all schools, St Patrick’s Primary School can produce large amounts of waste.

However, it is our aim to send as little waste as possible to landfill. This will lead to

considerable benefits for the environment and many opportunities for the students to

learn environmentally-sound attitudes and habits. It is also our aim to have the least

amount of litter in the school buildings and grounds. This will make our school more

attractive and save money and time in collecting carelessly discarded litter. It is also

important from a health viewpoint. The school is committed to a whole school approach to

environment education of which waste minimisation and rubbish free food plays a vital

role. It is the policy of our school that: • the strategies of reduce, reuse, recycle and com-

post is incorporated in everyday activities • the strategy of rubbish free food and rubbish

free lunch packaging is incorporated in everyday activities • waste minimisation is

included in the relevant areas of the school curriculum, and recycled products and others

that help reduce waste are purchased where possible.

OUTSIDE-OF-SCHOOL HOURS CARE HOLIDAY PROGRAM ACTIVITIES JULY 2017

Location– Gordon Primary School

Located in the township of Gordon, two minutes from the centre of town, situated

amongst rural homes and an inviting setting with a community persona inviting

opportunities for kids to grow and enhance their learning experiences.

Children can relax and enjoy a bag of popcorn, soft drink, beverage and lollies supplied, while enjoying a DVD children have selected. All movies from the selection are either rated “G” or “PG” and based on children interests.

Not specific to children of these schools or that attend OSHC,

but open to all Primary School aged children,

so spread the word about our excellent service in your community.

Week Beginning Monday 3rd July

Week Beginning Monday 10th July

Parents please note All bookings need to be PAID IN FULL prior to commencement as per terms and conditions of Club 1878 OSHC.

Vacation Care Days booking numbers are both minimum and limited; in order for the program to proceed Club 1878 OSHC require a minimum of 15 children per day with a maximum of 24 excluding the Regent Cinema Days therefore, if you are wanting your child/ren to attend please complete the booking form and return it no later than Friday 23rd June in order for you to be advised if the sessions will proceed. All invoices will be sent out once session dates have been confirmed.

Any bookings made after this date, you are taking a chance that there will be positions

and or sessions available, so, act now! (Enrolment forms available at St Pat’s School office)

If you require any further information, please contact: Heather Robinson

(Director) 0467 187 817

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

Cooking Lunch

Minestrone Soup

Making Sherbet Tie Die – Towels

NAIDOC

Our Languages Mat-

Cooking Lunch

Tacos

Wooden Money Boxes Ten Pin Bowling Making Sweet Treats Tic Tac Toe Electronics

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

Cooking Lunch Recycle Plastic Make my Bear Ap- Jelly Fish in a bottle Cooking Lunch

Make your own Kinet- Crazy Challenges Iron Me Beads Gold Rush Mini Golf In House Movies