This Saturday and Sunday, the Catholic Church celebrates the feasts of All Saints and All Souls day.

All Saints Feast Day- 1st November

On the 1st of November, the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of All Saints.

• A saint is someone who the Church believes has died and whose soul is with God.
• All Saints day commemorates and celebrates the lives of all the baptised who have died and who lived a good life; those who have been canonised by the church, those whom we have known personally as well as those whose names we do not know.

All Souls Feast Day- 2nd November

On the 2nd of November, the Catholic Church celebrates The Commemoration of all the Faithful Departed (All Souls’ Day).

• This feast celebrates the memory of all those ‘departed souls’ we have known and loved over the years; that they might pray for us and that we never forget God’s saving love and live lives worthy of it.

Congratulations to our Year 3/4 Girls Hoop Time team for a successful day at the Regional Competition on Wednesday 29 October. The girls won every game and have now made it through to the State Competition on December 4th.

All the girls played so well together and shared the ball around. A huge thank you to Gemma Mott for coaching the girls on the day.

Go St Clare's Cobras!

Our market is shaping up beautifully, and we still have some space left for anyone interested in running a stall!

We’re currently full for candles, slime, hair accessories, and pet accessories, jewellry, but we’d love to hear from anyone offering cakes, cookies, or other unique and creative products.

Please note: all undercover spots are now taken, but there are still plenty of great outdoor spaces available. You can email market market2@stclaresofficer.catholic.edu.au  to get more information or complete this form https://form.jotform.com/252027732857865

Get in quick, spots are filling fast!

Sponsorship

SCHOOL FEES

Below is the schedule for our 2026 fees which has been provided by DOSCEL.  Please note we are still finalising the cost of camps and swimming so this may vary slightly.

Please ensure the school has your current Health Care or Pension Card - if the details we have indicate you card is expired we are unable to provide a discount for your 2026 fees.

If your family is having financial difficulty with payment of fees, please email the school via finance@stclaresofficer.catholic.edu.au to arrange a confidential discussion and receive a Special Consideration Application Form.

JOB VACANCY - PARISH SACRAMENT CO-ORDINATOR

St Patrick’s parish is seeking to fill the role of Parish Sacrament Co-ordinator.

If you have good interpersonal skills, can work as a team member, are outgoing, and interested in organising parish events, this job is for you. We are looking to employ someone for approximately 20 hours a week, which includes some evening and weekend hours. The successful applicant will be responsible for the preparation and management of the parish sacrament programs including Baptisms, First Reconciliation, First Eucharist, Confirmation and RCIA.

Applications can be emailed to: parishoffice@stpatrickspakenham.com.au by Mon Nov 10th. For a copy of the job description, please contact the parish office via email or on 03 5941 7315.

A Special Report: Transition to High School

All transitions are important, but the transition into high school is unique. Successful transitions rely on a number of social, emotion and practical factors. Being well prepared is key to an easier transition that should be viewed as a process over time, rather than a one-off event.

Starting high school can feel exciting and challenging, all at the same time. However, it would not be uncommon for this to heighten any pre-existing mental health conditions or concerns your teen may have. Parents and carers will need to remain vigilant in monitoring their teenager’s mood and behaviour as they settle into their new “normal”.

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted student’s lives in various ways. These different times pose unique challenges that may have many students feeling a little bit more anxious than usual about their expectations of starting high school. Parents and carers will need to be mindful and supportive, but also realistic in their expectations.

This Special Report offers strategies to help support students and their families as they navigate the challenges of high school.

We hope you take time to reflect on the information offered in this Special Report, and as always, we welcome your feedback.

If you do have any concerns about the wellbeing of your child, please contact the school for further information or seek medical or professional help.

Here is the link to your special report:
https://stclaresofficer.catholic.schooltv.me/wellbeing_news/special-report-transition-high-school

Immediate Crisis Support in Australia:

1800RESPECT - https://www.1800respect.org.au/

Kids Helpline - https://kidshelpline.com.au/get-help/webchat-counselling 

Liz Hunt

Mental Health in Primary School Leader

lhunt@stclaresofficer.catholic.edu.au

How to Help Kids Stay Safe Online

Adapted from:  https://www.esafety.gov.au/about-us/blog    Office of the eSafety Commissioner

1. Start the chat

It’s not possible to be at your child’s side every second of the day, so it’s important to talk with them about online safety issues to help develop their critical thinking and ability to make good choices. It’s also good to let them know they can come to you for help if they have any concerns. You may feel they know more about the latest technology than you do, but you have more life experience to guide them.

• With primary school aged children use online devices in the open living spaces at home to make parent supervision part of the expectation for your child.
• Take the opportunity to set some boundaries around when and where they can use devices  like tablets, smart TVs and gaming consoles, to help limit potential tech tantrums — you could even fill in an Early Years Family Tech Agreement 
• Screen free time before bed is important for good sleep. Consider charging devices in a central location at a regular time each night to allow an hour screen free before bed.
• While you are all at home more, it’s a great time to co-view and co-play with your kids, so you can understand what they are doing and experiencing online.
• Learn about the games, apps, social media and platforms they are using at The eSafety Guide, including how to protect their information and report inappropriate content or conduct.

2. Use parental controls and safe search options

Parental controls can help block your child from accessing specific websites, apps or functions. They can also monitor your child’s use of connected devices and set time limits. But beware! You cannot always rely on them — they should be used in combination with other online safety strategies.

• Parental controls are available on most tablets, smartphones, computers, TVs and gaming consoles.
• You can also download family safety controls or buy robust filters out of the box. 
• You can set up child-friendly search engines, or select safe search settings on digital devices, to help prevent your child from stumbling across inappropriate sites and content.

3. Check smart toy settings

It’s surprising how many toys or devices can connect online these days, from drones and smart teddies to tablets and wearables. While they can be both entertaining and educational, they can reveal your child’s personal details and location — and allow other people to contact them without you knowing. You can help keep them stay safe by:

• setting strong passwords
• turning off location settings 
• limiting the amount of personal information shared.

The eSafety Gift Guide has advice on what to check for and how to stay safe.

4. Look out for unwanted contact and grooming

Unwanted contact is any communication that makes your child feel uncomfortable or unsafe, even if they initially welcomed the contact. It can come from a stranger, an online ‘friend’ or even someone they actually know. At worst, it can involve ‘grooming’ — building a relationship with the child in order to sexually abuse them.

You can help by:

• making sure their accounts are private — including chat functions on games
• encouraging them to delete requests from strangers and any contacts they don’t know in person
• checking in with your child as they use online devices in the open living spaces at home
• reporting and blocking anyone suspicious on a website or service 
• remembering that if suspicious online contacts become aggressive or threatening you should contact your local police.

5. Know the signs of cyberbullying

Kids who are bored by long periods at home can pick at each other, and that happens online too. So it’s important to keep an eye out for cyberbullying. It can include mean posts, comments and messages, as well as being left out of online group activities like gaming. 

• Remember, when they are away from school, kids have less access to their usual support systems, including friends, teachers and counsellors. 
• eSafety research shows that girls are more likely to be affected than boys and the person doing the bullying is generally someone they know from school.
• Watch out for signs such as your child appearing upset after using their mobile, tablet or computer, being unusually secretive about their online activities or becoming withdrawn.
• Cyberbullying can make social isolation worse and the longer it continues, the more stressed kids can become, impacting on their emotional and physical wellbeing.

What to do if your child is being cyberbullied

As parents, our first instinct may be to ban our children from social media, disable the wi-fi or turn off the data access. But this can actually compound the problem, making your child feel as if they’re being punished and heightening their sense of social exclusion.

There are four simple steps that can help minimise the harm:

• report the cyberbullying to the social media service where it is occurring
• collect evidence of the cyberbullying material
• if the material is still public 48 hours later, make a report to eSafety — we work with social media platforms to have the harmful content removed.
• block the offending user.