2023 Newsletter #01 February 1
PRINCIPAL NEWS
Welcome back to what is going to be a fantastic year. It was so lovely seeing the students' smiling faces returning and listening to the happy conversations they were having with their friends.
New Students
We welcome to our community the following new students
Foundation
Yana Alofi, Dartanyon Coffield, Elsie Freeman, Levi Hickey, Alirah Jones, Luca McDonald, Rosie Midgley, Louis Nguyen, Esta Pascale, Erica Ram, Matthew Read, Charlie Robinson, Baran Rona, Siena-Rose Sbaglia, Rhianna Shermin, Oscar Tamwipak, Oliver Thannhauser, Eseta Toutai, Jack Vea, Aaliyah Windahl, Phillip Abucha, Reuben Allford, Mehar Atwal, Isabella Carter, Vincent Cricelli, Giuseppe Gazzo, Lilah Golding, Mia Hofer, Ira Janssen, Memphis Johnson, Mansirat Kaur, Sione Latukefu, Parvaan Maan, Halle Mammone, Lizbeth Maria Mathew, Sophie McGregor, Oliver Moroni, Neve Morton, Shani Singh, Heidi Slimmon.
Other Year Levels
Ryder & Indy Baker, Charlie Rowe, Emmy Hoy, Catherine & Veronica Lotong, Renay Akdemir, Francis Chan Za Hmung & Kaan Demirel.
We also would like to welcome the new parents joining us for the first time. We hope you will create many new wonderful memories with your children as their education begins or continues.
Staff Members
This year we are excited to welcome new and returning staff members. Welcome to Rebecca Stevenson (Grade 5/6), Laura Squillace (Grade 3/4), Shaun Emmett (ICT), Jenna Chisari (Grade 5/6) & Michelle McClure (Middle Unit Learning Support Officer) & John Pantazopoulos (cleaner).
New Opening Time of Classroom Doors
From week 2 the classroom doors will be opened from 8.50am. This will allow students 5 minutes to unpack their bags, complete their morning jobs and be on the floor ready to learn from 8.55am. From 8.30am each day a teacher is on duty to supervise students while they play before school. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays students are able to join in with Walking Club and Breakfast Club facilitated by Learning Support Officer Narelle Simpson.
Communication to our Community
We have a range of ways that we communicate to our parents as we welcome and value engagement with your students’ learning.
SIMON Everywhere App
Our school uses this App as the main method of communication. There has been recent changes to the logins. Thank you to the many families who have set their passwords & logged back into the App.
If you have not yet managed to get back onto the App please contact the office for help. It is important that ALL families are able to access the App.
Newsletter
From next week our Newsletter will be published fortnightly. It will be available on assembly weeks. A link to the Newsletter will be put on SIMON Everywhere
Week 2 - 8th February
Week 4 - 22nd February
Week 6 - 8th March
Week 8 - 22nd March
Week 10 - 5th April
The newsletter is the place to find out all important information and includes updates of what is happening in each classroom and specialists area.
You can also like our Facebook page for reminders of upcoming events and photos of students participating in special activities.
SIMON Daily Messages & Calendar
This can be accessed by the SIMON Everywhere APP. Daily messages are where we place secure updates and reminders that only the St Paul’s community can view. The calendar is also an important place to check for dates coming up so you can plan ahead. If you cannot log into your APP, please contact Admin.
SMS
We use SMS occasionally to remind parents of time sensitive important events coming up.
Meet the Teacher
We will hold a ‘Meet the Teacher’ evening on Wednesday 1st March. More information about how to book times will be in next week's newsletter.
Assembly
This year at assembly classes will each take a turn at presenting an item. It would be great if as many parents and friends could attend as possible. This term we have M9 presenting on 24th February and S13 on 24th March. Assembly is every second Friday from 2.45pm-3.25pm.
Vince is on leave so any concerns you would normally direct to the Principal can be directed to Melissa Sutherland (Acting Principal) - msutherland@spmildura.catholic.edu.au or Lauren Gibson (Deputy Principal Wellbeing) - lgibson@spmildura.catholic.edu.au
We look forward to working with you and your child/ren this year to ensure they learn and thrive.
Melissa Sutherland
Foundation Unit News
Welcome to all of our new and existing families who have a child in Foundation this year. We have had an awesome start with lots of enthusiasm and excitement from the children and the staff. The children are learning the expectations of school and are settling very quickly which is wonderful to see.
For some children it can be a huge adjustment and the days can seem quite long, so your child may be coming home very tired. This year we have the first 5 Wednesdays scheduled as rest days. Today is our first one and I hope the children are enjoying the chance to sleep in and rest.
On Thursday we will be sending an information booklet home with the children. It is important to read it thoroughly as it contains everything you will need to know including specialist days, daily routines etc.
If you have any queries and are unable to come in and speak to your child's teacher please feel free to email us.
Mila Giddings F16 - mgiddings@spmildura.catholic.edu.au
Maryanne Heeps F17 - mheeps@spmildura.catholic.edu.au
We look forward to an exciting year with your children and look forward to working closely with you all.
Junior Unit News
A very warm welcome back from the Junior Unit team! We hope you had a wonderful summer break and are ready for another amazing year. It has been great to see the children settling into the Junior Unit's routines. This week we have enjoyed various ‘Get to know you’ games across the unit, which have been appreciated by all.
An important note: Children are required to wear their sports uniforms on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Our specialist lessons will all take place on Thursdays.
We try very hard to keep all the children's lunches nice and cool by placing them in the Junior Unit fridge each morning. Where possible, we ask that you help us manage the challenge of fitting many lunches into the fridge by using the smallest lunchbox container or even just a named ziplock bag. Thank you for your help with this.
We look forward to meeting you all, if we haven’t already. In the meantime, please feel free to contact your child’s teacher at any time:
J4-Karen Brouwers kbrouwers@spmildura.catholic.edu.au
J5- Amy Jones ajones@spmildura.catholic.edu.au
J7- Aimee Oxlade aoxlade@spmildura.catholic.edu.au
J8-Danielle Baker dbaker@spmildura.catholic.edu.au
Middle Unit News
Welcome back to a brand new school year! We hope everyone had a lovely break and is feeling recharged and ready for a wonderful year together. The children have settled well into the routines of the Middle Unit.
This week we have explored the importance of having a positive mindset, and showing grit and perseverance towards our learning. We have created some wonderful displays and our classrooms are beginning to feel nice and homely. You are welcome to pop in and see our great work.
IMPORTANT: Middle Unit students are required to wear their sports uniforms on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Our specialist lessons will all take place on Tuesdays this year.
Just a reminder that email is often the easiest way to contact your child’s teacher. If you have any concerns please feel free to contact us. We look forward to meeting more parents over the coming days and weeks.
M1 - Rebecca Bugden rbugden@spmildura.catholic.edu.au
M2 - Laura Squillace lsquillace@spmildura.catholic.edu.au
M9 - Rachel Slimmon rslimmon@spmildura.catholic.edu.au
M10 - Kirstie Emmett kemmett@spmildura.catholic.edu.au
Senior Unit News
Welcome back to the new school year! We trust you have had a restful and enjoyable school holiday break. The students have been settling into their new classrooms well and we have been developing our routines and expectations as a Senior Unit.
This week we have been conducting various DNA activities where students think about their D-dreams, N-needs and A-abilities. This has also included students participating in whole class and small group work to help build relationships with each other.
Literacy and Numeracy Groups
This year, there will be some changes to how Literacy and Numeracy will be delivered in the Senior Unit. Due to the fact there are three homeroom classes, the decision has been made to split the classes into four groups for both Literacy and Numeracy. This change has been made so that we can deliver high-quality, targeted teaching in smaller groups. This will mean that some students may have various teachers during the week.
Please feel free to email your child's homeroom teacher if you have any questions.
Literacy Groups
Group 1 - Maria-Stella Blagus & Jenna Chisari
Group 2 - Rebecca Stevenson & Carmel McGlashan
Group 3 - Narelle Simms
Group 4 - Tom Pike
Numeracy Groups
Group 1 (Grade 6)- Lauren Gibson & Jenna Chisari
Group 2 (Grade 5) - Rebecca Stevenson
Group 3 (Grade 6) - Narelle Simms
Group 4 (Grade 5) - Tom Pike
IMPORTANT: Senior Unit students are required to wear their sports uniforms on Mondays and Wednesdays. Our specialist lessons will all take place on Wednesdays this year.
If you have anything you would like to discuss with any of the Senior Unit teachers, please send an email and we are happy to respond.
S12 - Rebecca Stevenson rstevenson@spmildura.catholic.
S13 - Narelle Simms nsimms@spmildura.
S14 - Tom Pike tpike@spmildura.catholic.
Hands Up Mallee
This year, we will again be running our Walking and Breakfast Club programs. These will both commence this coming Monday 6th February. For those of you who are new to our school, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday our Walking Club starts at 8.00am and involves walking a marked track around the front of the school to music with staff supervision, all students participate upon their arrival at school - parents are more than welcome to join us! This will conclude at 8.30am when students may go down to the Hall to have some breakfast seated at tables inside the Hall. Breakfast usually consists of toast (with a choice of butter, vegemite or honey), cereals, fruit cups (fruit, muesli and yogurt) and a milo, fruit juice or banana smoothie. Breakfast Club is open until 8.45am and is open to all students regardless of whether they have had breakfast at home or not. The students really enjoy being able to come down and socialise with each other over breakfast! The Senior students usually volunteer to assist with this and it is a great opportunity for them to give some of their time back to their school community. Again parents are more than welcome to come down and join us and see what it’s like.
Friday bikes on the Basketball ball courts are back again!
Last year the students really enjoyed the opportunity to ride/scoot to school on a Friday when they would then be able to use their bikes/scooters during the first half of lunch play on the basketball courts with supervision. Each week it will be a different unit that has the opportunity to minimise the risk of bumps and falls. This will commence on Friday 10th February with the SENIOR UNIT. Looking forward to having lots of students take the opportunity to use their bikes during this time.
Lastly, we are an accredited Sunsmart school but we need your help to protect your children by making sure that their hat is in their bag each day and remind them of the importance of wearing it. Together we can protect your children! Sunsmart does have an app which can be downloaded so you can learn more about the UV rays and what they are each day. Don’t let cloud cover trick you, the UV rays penetrate the clouds.
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