2022 Newsletter #39 November 30
Principal News
Welcome to this week's newsletter. We may be getting down to the final weeks of this school year, however there is still plenty happening at St Paul’s!
On Thursday this week the Middle Unit students will have their final activity day which is in lieu of their camp that unfortunately had to be cancelled earlier in the term. All activities will be taking place at school and will make for another fun and memorable day.
The excitement is building for next week’s premiere of the 2022 End of Year Concert which is being held at the Wallis Cinema, Deakin Avenue Mildura. Ms Jess and the students have been working very hard over many weeks to create this special production and we look forward to everyone having the opportunity to watch this in the comfort of the Wallis (Deakin) Cinema Complex. Tickets are free, however they do need to be pre-ordered via the link available on the Simon Everywhere Daily Messages.
Congratulations to the Foundation students who have earned their Unit ‘Gotcha’ Reward. All Foundation students reached the milestone of 50 Gotchas so will have a special celebration by visiting Benetook Farm next Wednesday.
On Monday I had the pleasure of visiting the Senior Unit to listen to the prospective 2023 School Leaders present their speeches to their peers. It was wonderful to see so many of our Grade 5 students striving to take on leadership roles and it was obvious that they had put much thought and preparation into their presentations. They all did an excellent job and I know that they will all be wonderful leaders for St Paul’s. School Leaders and House Leaders will be announced to the whole school community on Friday 16th December at the final school assembly for the year.
Last night we held the Annual General Meeting for the School Advisory Council online. We would like to say thank you to our retiring members, Julie Humphrey, Melissa Mott and Loretta Ghidinelli. We welcome returning members Lauren Droffelaar, Martine Silcox and Mia Kolpin. We welcome new member Thomas Stevenson. We look forward to continuing with a strong and robust School Advisory Council in 2023. Please contact the office for a nomination form if you would like to sit on the council for 2023. We have 1 position available.
We have finalised the teacher placements for 2023 and are pleased to share this information with our school community.
Classroom Teachers:
| Foundation Unit | Junior Unit | Middle Unit | Senior Unit |
F16 - Mila Giddings F17 - Maryanne Heeps | Grade 1: J7 - Aimee Oxlade J8 - Danielle Baker Grade 2: J4 - Karen Brouwers J5 - Amy Jones | M1 - Rebecca Bugden M2 - Laura Squillace M9 - Rachel Slimmon M10 - Kirstie Emmett | S11 - Alison Kedmenec S12 - Rebecca Stevenson & Rhia Doherty S13 - Narelle Simms S14 - Tom Pike |
Specialist Teachers:
Literacy Leader -Rebecca Thurman Intervention Support – Carmel McGlashan Languages (Italian) – Mary-Anne Ghidinelli EAL Support – Ronica Vergara Physical Education – Alisha Parker | Religious Education Leader – Maria-Stella Blagus Library – Marg Pongrac The Arts - Jessica Freeman Technologies – Shaun Emmett |
Finally, congratulations to this week's milestone achievers for following our school norms: Be Safe, Be Respectful and Be Your Best.
BEE MILESTONE: Spencer Kimpton, Angela Iang, Harper Hannah, Layla Powell and Scarlett Moir.
HIVE MILESTONE: Lilly Hector, Cooper Chapple, Chaz Biddle, Jason Tran, Akesa Toto, Tirath Singh, Izzy Nadalo and Jessica Ram.
Lauren Gibson
Deputy Principal, Wellbeing
Religious Education News
It's Advent - A Time of Great Celebration!
The season of Advent begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day and it lasts through to Christmas Eve. It also marks the beginning of the Church’s liturgical year. Advent is a special time of waiting and preparing to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Last Sunday 27thNovember was the first week of Advent and the theme for this first week is Hope. It centres on the hope that comes from the announcement of the birth of Jesus and the expectation of his returns. Students will be participating in short Advent liturgies in their units for each Sunday of Advent, for the remainder of the term.
End of Year Thanksgiving Mass – Friday 9th December 2022
Next Friday 9th December, we will be celebrating our End of Year Thanksgiving Mass, reflecting on all of our celebrations, growths and changes throughout the year. Mass will be celebrated at 12.15pm in our School Hall. We invite all families and friends to join us in our final whole school liturgical celebration of 2022. We hope to see you there!
St Vincent de Paul Giving Tree
This week, our St Vincent de Paul Giving Tree is being set up in the foyer. This is a yearly tradition, whereby we kindly ask our families to donate any non-perishable food items and place them under our tree. These items will then be passed onto those in need within our local community. Let’s work together to help spread the joy of Christmas to all!
Arts news
I hope you're getting as excited as we are!?! Only ONE week until our End of Year Concert at the Wallis (Deakin) Cinema! It's not to late to grab your tickets! At last count there were 50 tickets left for the 5pm session, 20 tickets left for the 6:15pm session and 20 tickets left for the 7pm session. Remember that tickets are FREE OF CHARGE but are necessary so that we can keep track of the number of people attending the event, as we have limited seating per session. Every person attending will need a ticket, including students.
To order your tickets simply click HERE
A reminder that the Candy Bar will be open on the night for you to purchase popcorn, drinks or any other goodies that you may like. You can also choose to bring your own snacks, but please note that NO HOT FOOD will be permitted in the cinema.
Literacy Study: Participant Information
In 2021, an action research literacy study commenced called the SunLit Project, led by Emma Rutherford, Breeana Wade and Rebecca Thurman at St Paul’s Primary School, Mildura and St Joseph’s Primary School, Red Cliffs.
This project is now involved in a formal research project, and requires that all parents read the following Information Statement.
Aim of this study
The primary purpose of the SunLit Project is to improve Literacy outcomes for all, by means of an intentional and strategic whole-school shift to teaching practices that are based on scientific research into how the brain learns to read and write. This approach is referred to as Structured Literacy.
To ensure that the steps we are taking as a school are successful in improving outcomes, we need to gather, analyse and track student literacy data across time. This data will form the basis of all decision making and is vital for accountability and validation purposes.
What will be asked to do?
All student literacy data over the life of this project has been/will be collected and collated. For the purposes of this project we will be tracking group and whole-school achievement, rather than individual progress. All information has and will be de-identified, which means that all names have been/will be removed from documents. Your child remains anonymous, and will not be able to be identified from the data included.
The literacy data collected will include:
- Assessment Scores
- Work Samples
- Growth Over Time
- Reporting Information (5 point-scale information only)
- Standardised Testing Results (NAPLAN & PAT)
- Intervention Assessment Data
If you approve of your child’s de-identified data (from 2021 onwards) being included in the research project, you do not need to do anything. Consent will be assumed from December 8th, 2022.
If you do not wish for your child’s data to be included in this research, please opt out by emailing the school project leader, Rebecca Thurman, at rthurman@spmildura.catholic.edu.au, with the subject line Withdrawal of Consent for Data Sharing.
Who can participate?
All children and teachers in SunLit Schools will have their de-identified assessment data included in this research project, unless consent has been withdrawn.
How will data be stored and kept confidential?
Data is collected and collated through highly-secure online platforms. All names are removed from data sets prior to sharing beyond the school, ensuring anonymity for all students and teachers. Data is stored on cloud-based, password protected Google servers within or outside of Australia, in accordance with CECV practices and the schools’ privacy policies.
The outcomes of this research project may be presented in academic journals and at professional conferences, but at no time will your child be identified. The results of this research may also potentially be used for a future larger-scale study.
Are there any benefits from my participation?
By including your child’s data in this research project, you will be assisting in increasing the knowledge of all educators in providing best-practice literacy education for students.
Are there any risks from my participation?
There are no expected risks or harms associated with participating in this research study. You can choose to cease the collection of your child’s future data at any time without having to give an explanation, by contacting Rebecca Thurman at rthurman@spmildura.catholic.edu.au
Contact and Questions
Any questions regarding this project may be directed to:
Emma Rutherford (Project Lead) at erutherford@ceob.edu.au
On behalf of our research team, we thank you for your time and assistance with this study.
Hands Up Mallee
Thank-you to all the parents/carers who encouraged their children to walk/ride/scoot to school (or even for part of the way) during Walk to School month. Just because Walk to School month has now completed, it would be fantaastic to see the children continuing the habits that they have created and continued it on!
I received an email yesterday advising me that our school came 2nd in the Walk to School Challenge and therefore we have won a $500 HART sport voucher! CONGRATULATIONS to each and every one of you for helping us achieve this fantastic result!
This Friday the MIDDLE UNIT will have the chance to join me on the basketball court at lunch time with their bikes/scooters to have some fun with an obstacle course.
Technology News
Year 3/4 are very proud to have finished the digital library they have worked on over this term. The display was presented to Ms Marg in the library earlier today and will be on display for all to enjoy.
The students worked in groups of 2 or 3 and combined image and sound files in iMovie to create a video read aloud of some of their favourite picture story books. They sincerely hope you will pop by the library with your children, scan one or more of the codes and enjoy watching and listening to their read aloud versions of picture story books.
The students are even keen to add more to the digital library in the future!
Until next week, remember, consider this from quote from Tim Berners-Lee, Inventor of the World Wide Web, “The Web as I envisaged it, we have not seen it yet. The future is still so much bigger than the past.”
Cheers, Mrs Simms
Senior Unit News
It has been a very exciting time in the Senior Unit this week!
On Monday, the Grade 5 students presented their carefully prepared school leadership speeches to the Senior Unit. All the students that participated should be congratulated on how they delivered their speeches with confidence and provided evidence on why they should be chosen as a school leader. Even though there can only be two positions, the students should be extremely proud of themselves for all their hard work!
On Tuesday, the Grade 5 students had the opportunity to travel by bus to St Joseph’s College Mildura for an orientation day. The activities students participated in were: Making Slime, Rocket Launchers, Light Bulbs, Lava Lamps and Catapults. A sausage sizzle was supplied for lunch in the courtyard. The day was a huge success for everyone and some photos have been uploaded to capture the enjoyment during the activities.
Meanwhile on Tuesday, the Grade 6 students celebrated the end of the year with a game of Ten Pin Bowling where they could enjoy each other's company and make some wonderful memories. After bowling, the Grade 6 students were taken to Sacred Heart Church to practice the upcoming Graduation Mass, scheduled for Sunday 18th December 2022 at 5.00pm. The time has come very quickly and the realisation of the year almost being over has prompted some students to reflect on their years at St Paul’s and also make the most of the next two and a half weeks.
Just a friendly reminder Specialist Day will be on Thursday this week so the students will be required to wear their sports uniform.
Year 5 visit to St Joseph's College
Middle Unit News
The Middle Unit are very excited to be having an activity day on Thursday. Students will be participating in a range of activities which will be lots of fun. Just a reminder that students are invited to wear casual clothes. They will need to pack their lunch as per a normal school day.
Foundation Unit News
Welcome to Week 9!
This week the Foundation Unit will be having their Liturgy on Friday at 12:15pm in the Foundation Unit. We welcome parents, grandparents and special friends to join in our final Liturgy for the year. We have been learning about "joy" and what it means to have joy in our lives and to take part in joyful activities. Our Liturgy will also incorporate prayers for the first week of Advent as we prepare for Christmas. We invite parents into our space to come and look at the "Nativity Scene" that is on display.
A reminder about our special days coming up next week.
Wednesday 7th December - Benetook Farm visit from 9am - 11am. Followed by a fun day.
Thursday 8th December - Buddy session from 12pm - 2pm.