Let us take care of everything God has given us

A copy of our Bushfire Plan can be found here on our website - https://www.padcath.wa.edu.au/formsandprocedures

Please check the PCPS community calendar for upcoming and future dates as the calendar is regularly updated https://www.padcath.wa.edu.au/community-calendar

Our PCPS Family Mass held recently at Our Lady of the Mission Church was such a beautiful celebration. It was wonderful to see so many families and staff and parishioners coming together and it was very heart-warming to see the future leaders of the Church, our children, taking on roles such as readers, altar servers, welcomers, choir members and collectors alongside many parents.

Huge thanks to Family Mass co ordinators Severine Gibson and Liz De Haas, as well as all parents and staff who were able to play a role in this special mass. We had a massive 44 volunteers and 28 children in the choir!

Yesterday we had our Term 2 Social Justice, Mission Fundraising Day. The Yr 6 Spiritual ministry came up with the idea to have a free dress day for a gold coin donation and making coin lines to raise money for those less fortunate in our community. Thankyou to Ms Callisto and Yr 6 Spirituality Team for organising this. We raised $923.20 which will go to Wheelchairs for Kids.

Next week our PK, K and PP children will have their Social Justice Week and dress in Djooribidinny colours and make coin lines in the Early Learning Centre.

Our Aboriginal Education celebration day, Djooroobidiny, will be held next Thursday commencing at 1.30pm. Djooroobidiny (jura/bid/in/i) means go along happily.

Dignitaries including local member for Hillarys Caitlin Collins MLA, special guests with Aboriginal heritage and staff from Catholic Education Western Australia, will join parents, staff and children for this special event.

This year Assistant Principal, Mr Peter O’Mara, is co ordinating the event with the support of PCPS staff and our children from Pre-Kindy to Year 6. Over the last term our students have been immersed in integrated learning, driven by the central idea of exploring the cultures and voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the truth of our shared history. This learning will be showcased during our interactive exhibition, celebrating our learning as a whole school.

The staff have been instrumental in ensuring the voices, stories and perspectives of First Nations peoples, are authentically embedded within the curriculum at our school. I thank them for their passion, inspiration and dedication for the wonderful work they have planned with the children.

I would like to thank the PCPS children for all of their great work - art, multimedia displays, research, creative writing, interactive displays and singing.

Parents and grandparents are invited to come and discover the children’s understanding of our shared history ‘From the past, today, tomorrow and the future’ Parents are asked to join their child’s class group for the journey.

We hope that you have enjoyed the journey and learn something new that you didn’t know before about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the truth of our shared history.

Please volunteer for co ordinator roles, to help out at events, take on big or small roles and give some of your time to our amazing P&F, who work so hard for all children at our school.

Everyone is part of our beautiful school community but we need new volunteers to step up and help out in order for our events to be sustainable.

Put yourself out there and get a friend or two and come on board....we need you!

Huge thanks once again to our wonderful Sausage Sizzle co ordinator Ann Sargeant, who does an absolutely amazing job co ordinating the winter lunches for our children. We are looking for one or two parents who can be co ordinators with Ann as she cannot do it on her own. Please think about helping in this role otherwise we may not be able to run the Sausage Sizzle lunches next term at all or only run them twice per term.

Big thanks to Interschool Cross Country Sausage Sizzle Co ordinator Susan Kadak and her army of helpers who cooked up a storm today serving sausages sizzles at the event held today. 1400 children from a variety of schools took part in the event today, so that was a lot of mouths to feed! Thankyou to everyone who helped out, you are all amazing!

The first Dads and Kids Camp for this year was thoroughly enjoyed by all. A big thanks goes to Nick Lynch who co ordinated the event and ensured that everyone had a great time. The second camp later in the year is already booked out!

Dads put 28th Aug in your diary now and keep it free for a dads night out at Alex Junior for a Meet and Meat! Details to come next term.

The P&F are organising some super beaut new water chillers for the children. They will be installed over the holidays and will be a lovely surprise for the children when they return! Huge thanks to the P&F for their generosity.

Congratulations to all the children who took part in the interschool cross country event today. PCPS came 2nd! Well done to everyone who participated today, you were all amazing runners!

I am so very proud of our children who showed such great sportsmanship during the day, trying their hardest and also cheering on their teammates.

Big thanks to Mr Hignett for training the children, along with other staff, during the term.

First semester reports will be sent electronically next week. The children have been working extremely hard and parents I know you will be super proud of their achievements throughout the first half of the year. Please do not hesitate to see your classroom teacher should you have any difficulties interpreting the report.

Next week we complete our 11 week term and I wish all families a restful break from school. Safe travels if you are going away on the holidays and rug up and enjoy this gorgeous Winter weather! See you next term.

Mrs Margaret Williamson

Principal

Condolences to the Rooney family (Isla Yr1) for the loss of their father/grandfather. Our thoughts and prayers are with you during this sad time.

If a family would like to place a note in the Pastoral Care section of the newsletter in relation to a birth or death, or if a family would like the whole school community to pray for any special intentions e.g. a family member who is ill, please send a message to please let your child’s class teacher or Mrs Ellen at the front office know or send an email to admin@padcath.wa.edu.au

IF YOU HAVE A BABY ENROL THEM NOW!

Don’t forget to enrol siblings as some families have unfortunately missed out as they had their application in late!

Our Pre-Kindy (3-Year-Old) is going super strong once again this year with sessions running on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursdays. Please contact the office and speak with Mrs Ellen to enrol your little one into our exciting PK programme. 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 who are 3 years old , please talk to them about our exciting Pre-Kindy programme and encourage them to enrol.

Our PCPS website has so much information about our wonderful school. Please take the time to click on the links and read –

School Performance Data - https://www.padcath.wa.edu.au/school-performance-data

Each year, schools are required to report school performance data on aspects of their operations from the previous year. You will find in this data, PCPS NAPLAN performance. You will find that in both Year levels, in all subject areas, PCPS Mean is higher than the national mean. Please go to www.myschool.edu.au and follow the links to the NAPLAN results where you can also compare to other schools.

Child Safe Framework - https://www.padcath.wa.edu.au/childsafeframework

Child safety continues to be a key priority for all Catholic schools. The Catholic Education Western Australia (CEWA) Child Safe Framework, launched in 2018, encourages and supports every member of Catholic school communities to make good decisions that always keep the best interests of the child or young person first.

Student Management Guidelines- https://www.padcath.wa.edu.au/_files/ugd/8592a2_3fe6f84485a94ee38753fd3951d7140b.pdf

PCPS endeavours to ensure all children accept responsibility for their education and behaviour, understanding that attitudes and behaviours have a natural consequence.

Student Code of Conduct - https://www.padcath.wa.edu.au/_files/ugd/8592a2_365fc3be014a46b9a27e2e976abea850.pdf

Our Social Worker, Mrs Fisher, worked with a group of Yr 6 students to compile the PCPS Student Code of Conduct. The children were representatives of the children within our school community and have done a phenomenal job in producing this living document. All class teachers have reviewed this Student Code of Conduct with their class and discussed it in conjunction with the PCPS Student Management Guidelines and the Student Complaint Process.

Student Complaint Process - https://www.padcath.wa.edu.au/_files/ugd/8592a2_d80f12c78b2348eca3287038482a7769.pdf

PCPS recognises the right of an individual student to feel free to voice a concern. Staff will endeavour to investigate, address and, if required, resolve that concern in an open and fair manner. If a student has a concern that they would like addressed, they follow the guidelines which are discussed with them by the class teacher.

PCPS Code of Conduct - https://www.padcath.wa.edu.au/_files/ugd/8592a2_cad84a6a559846588999dd460b13ed33.pdf

The purpose of the Code of Conduct is to describe minimum standards of conduct in all behaviour and decision making to ensure the safety and well-being of students. Breaches of the Code must be notified to the Principal and/or Leadership Team.

PCPS has a number of policies and guidelines and procedures, as above, to enhance student safety and well being. In addition we have our Social Worker, Mrs Fisher, who is a wonderful resource for students and families. We are also fortunate to have our School Psychologist, Mrs Mac Avan and CEWA Student Learning Needs Consultant Mrs Buck, who also provide us with great assistance and expertise in regards to student safety and well being.

Complaints Handling Process - https://www.padcath.wa.edu.au/policies

PCPS follows the CEWA Dispute and Complaint Resolution Policy

PCPS has a user friendly Complaints Handling Process. Parents are welcome to discuss concerns of any kind, at any time. It is more efficient, considerate and convenient to both parents and teachers if an appointment is made, so that full attention can be given to the issue at hand.

Parents are asked to direct all classroom queries to the classroom teacher first. Parents may then wish to discuss further concerns with the Assistant Principal PK-2 Ms Callisto or Assistant Principal Yr 3-6 Mr O’Mara. Should there still be further concerns after meeting with one of the Assistant Principals, then parents may discuss concerns with the Principal Mrs Williamson.

Student Mobile Phones & Smart Watches Procedure- https://www.padcath.wa.edu.au/_files/ugd/8592a2_e4f655a5c76c4ae29ab6d7054313dae4.pdf

During Term 3, all students from PP-Year 6 will participate in weekly Edu-Dance lessons. Please find the lesson timetable below. All students will need to wear their sport uniform on their allocated Edu-Dance Day.

Please also take note of our concert days at the end of the term. All Orange classes will perform in the first concert and all White classes will perform in the second concert.

Tuesday

Yr1 Orange, PP Orange, Yr2 Orange, Yr5 White, Yr6 White, Yr3 Orange, Yr6 Orange, Yr5 Orange,

Yr 4 Orange

Thursday

Yr1 White, PP White, Yr2 White, Yr3 White, Yr4 White

Concerts will be in term 3 week 9 on Tuesday 10th September for Orange classes and Thursday 12th September for White classes. More information about concert time and costumes will come out later in Term 3.

Ms Alisia Capriotti

Edu-Dance Coordinator

The Year One children had the immense joy of having local Western Australian author and illustrator Kylie Howarth come and share her role as a children’s book author. Kylie has worked as an author for the past 10 years and has currently published 11 titles that have become firm favourites in our school library.

The children shared their favourite titles along with samples of work on her classic books Chip and Chip the Lifeguard. The day included a visual outline of the ways Kylie is inspired to draw and the many ideas that flow from her connection to nature and sea life. There was plenty of time to ask questions along with create their own book character with a drawing session. The day completed with a yummy chips and nugget lunch prepared by our parent community.

Thank you to all involved and the beaming faces on our children showed their joy in learning with this annual incursion event.

Mrs Bonny, Ms Bebich and Ms Sadowski

Next week is our final week for our Term 2 coders! They have had a great time learning how to code using CS First and Scratch to create their own games using code. Here are some quotes from our coders about Coding Club!

"It was so fun creating all of the games and playing them afterwards to test coding!" Peter

"I have improved a lot since beginning Coding Club!" Arlo

"It is very fun coding the games and testing them out!" Elliot

"It has helped me to learn more techy programs!" Gabriel

We are looking to our new coders starting in Term 3.

Mrs Danielle Wardrope & Mr Lachie Darby

IT Coordinators

Year 5 and 6 Students Shine in National Ethics Olympiad

We are thrilled to announce that five of our Year 5 and 6 students - Lachlan, Chloe, Elanie, Quinn and Elliot- recently participated in an Ethics Olympiad alongside schools from all over Australia. In this prestigious event, our students showcased their philosophical thoughts and responses by discussing five complex cases and tackling questions on broad, controversial topics where no definitive answers exist.

Our students' performance and professionalism was outstanding, reflecting their maturity and depth of thought. The judges from New Zealand, India and the USA were highly impressed with their contributions. Comments from our students highlighted their enthusiasm and engagement:

"That was so much fun!" "I'd love to do that again." "It really made us think."

"Wow, my brain is exhausted, but it was so good.

" "Thanks, Mrs. Bottega."

"Please, can we enrol for next year?"

We are incredibly proud of the children for their exemplary participation!

Mrs Bottega

Extension Teacher

Our garden has had a recent makeover! We are so proud of looking after our succulents and veggie garden. We pulled weeds and planted new seedlings.

We can’t wait to watch our garden grow. It’s now full of lettuce,

broccolini, kale, thyme, snow peas and spinach.

Mrs Bottega taught us about adding yellow flowers to the garden to help with pollination and keeping the bugs away.

Mrs Rosalba Bottega

Garden Co ordinator

Congratulations to our singing teacher, Mr Rhys Wood, on winning the Country section of this competition with his song ‘FIFO: Every Time I Went Away’. There were five nominees for the Country section and over 1200 entries overall. There are several different categories in the competition and they are judged by a panel of people from the music industry. Rhys has been nominated six times and has won an award twice, the first time was in 2011. The song is on Spotify or Apple Music if you would like to have a listen.

Mrs Roslyn Twine

Music Teacher

Mrs Ali Fisher

Social Worker

All Masses are held in the church and for information regarding days/times please follow the link below.

24:7 Youth Group

For all youth in Years 6 to 12

1st and 3rd Friday @ Parish Hall, 7pm

Call Luke 0401822932 for more information.