Newsletter #23 August 12
Principal's News
Dear St Paul's families,
Welcome to our weekly update. This week we received updated guidlines from Catholic Education regarding Health and safety practices for children involved in learning at school. As a result of this information, we have introduced daily temperature checks. Each morning as the children arrive at school they will have their temperature checked before entering the school building. We have been advised that if a child's temperature is at or above 37.5 C we will ask them to wait in the sick bay and recheck 15 minutes later. If there is no change you will be contacted to come and collect your child from school. These protocols are put in place to ensure the safety and wellbeing of everyone.
I would like to thank those families, who qualify as essential workers, for your prompt responses in providing letters from your employers. This is one of the many protocols we must follow for children to attend onsite. The State government advice has been, where possible and practical, if a parent can work from home then the children must also. For parents who send their children to school, it is important that you notify us if and when your circumstances change, either by phone or email. Every day we keep a record of the children onsite. We have a certain number of staff rostered on each day according to our numbers. When children arrive unexpectedly at school,with no notification from parents, please do not be offended when contacted to come and collect them.
I would like to welcome Britney DeWyse and Steven Gale who are completing their 3rd year placemnets as pre-service teachers at St Paul's. They will be engaging with the children via google meets as well as rostered days onsite. It is not the normal process for completing a placement but none the less it is still an invaluable learning experience. If you happen to see them on google meet please make them feel welcome.
Congratulations to this weeks winners for the 50 GOTCHA AWARDS: Mike Hogan and Tanveer Cheema.
Congratulations to the Clarke family (Aaron M10) on the arrival of a beautiful little sister, Rukia.
Please continue to check the SIMON EVERYWHERE app for updates regarding remote learning. If you have any questions regarding the remote learning activities provided for your children, please make contact with your child's teacher. Don't forget to send photo's of your child/ren completing their online remote learning to fb@spmildura.catholic.edu.au
As always
Keep the Faith!
Vince Muscatello
Languages - Italian News
Buongiorno - Over the last few weeks our Middle and Senior Unit students have been immersed in a story called "Mangia, Mangia!" - an Italian story centered around the dinner time experience of a family sharing a meal together. You may wish to ask your child to recount the mischievous antics of the central character Franco and his gatto called Micio.
As part of this unit of work, we were planning to do some Italian cooking lessons at school and enjoy making and eating a Minestrone Soup full of healthy vegetables. Senior students discussed the Minestrone recipe at school, and both Middle and Senior students performed an Italian role play based on the "Mangia, Mangia!" story in class.
l am unsure when we will next get the opportunity to cook up and enjoy a Minestrone meal at school. If interested, you may wish to have a go at cooking this hearty soup recipe at home. There are different variations of Minestrone; you can add or leave out ingredients, according to your preferred taste. The Minestrone can be completely vegetarian or can be made to also include a meat flavor such as bacon, chicken or beef stock.
I have included a simple recipe in the photos below as well as a link on the Yr 3-6 Remote Learning Google platform. I would love to receive any photos of your child cooking Minestrone and l will share these with the St Paul's community in up coming newsletter articles. - Buon Appetito !
Grazie - Signora Ghidinelli
Senior Unit
Technology News
Although online remote learning is in full swing, we haven't had our first technology lessons yet. Let's take a look back at the last week when the Technology room was full of students, learning and having fun.
Foundation students had a blast getting to know 'Jack' our new Code & Go Robotic Mice and programming him to follow directions in order.
Year 1 and 2 students also met 'Jack' and used their creative skills to design and make mazes and then programmed Jack to make his way through them.
Until next week, remember...
Technology is cool, but you've GOT to use it as OPPOSED to letting it use YOU!
Mrs Narelle Simms
Arts News
Hello everyone! Welcome back to remote learning. It warms my heart to hear lots of happy, positive responses to the Arts lessons so far. The Grade 3/4 children were right in the middle of a project at school, involving making creatures out of found objects, so they continued this in a digital format this week.
We looked at the work of Aminah Robinson, an American artist whose work ranges from drawings to complex sculptures, and is predominantly symbolic of her African heritage and culture.
Using the website Aminah's World, the children created a digital collage. Check out the gallery below to see some of their creations.
Digital Collage
Hands Up Mallee
Community Relief Service
Monday to Friday, 8am - 5pm
Phone: (03) 5018 8588
Email: communityrelief@mildura.vic.gov.au
Online request form:
The Community Relief Team is here to help keep our community safe. They are working closely with other organisations and can connect families to find out what they are eligible for and get the support they need. This includes emergency food relief, social support, mental health support, financial support, housing support, collecting prescriptions and more!
Anyone is welcome to access this service by calling, e-mailing or completing the online form. Anyone can make a referral to this service. Once your request has been received, a team member will be in contact to help take away some of the stress and link you with services that will support your health and wellbeing during this challenging time. Where possible (if requested) you will be linked with an Aboriginal team member or interpreter service.
Foundation Unit News
Hopefully everyone has settled back into remote learning second time around. I feel that we all know what is ahead of us this time and we have been able to learn from our last remote teaching and make adjustments. Therefore we are going in more prepared and have a positive mindset. Thank you to the parents who have given some positive feedback on the lessons. We have tried to make the videos shorter and have incorporated worksheets to compliment the learning.
Just a few reminders:
* Please ensure your child is reading every day
* Google Meets are on Monday & Thursday (beginning next week)
* Don't forget to remind your child to check out each day (this is how we mark the roll)
* If you have any questions, feel free to email your child's teacher.
Thank you again for your co-operation.
Junior Unit news
Hello Junior Unit parents, carers and friends.
Welcome to our first week of Remote Learning, take 2! We hope that the hardcopy learning packs are supporting the daily lessons and your child’s learning well.
Each week, there will be a learning task that we ask to be submitted via Dropbox. The daily morning message and slides will indicate which task should be completed and submitted. Feedback to students will be during class Google Meet times.
On our last day of school before remote learning (last Monday), we were very excited to celebrate our Gotcha Prize Fun Day. The Junior Unit made it to the top of the Gotcha tube and was awarded with a range of fun activities for the day. Students chose from a variety of activities such as sand pit, lego creations, home corner, art and craft. A fantastic day was had by all. Well done for following the 3B's Junior Unit!
Gotcha Day
Middle Unit News
Hello Middle Unit families!
Thank you for all the communication and support we have received so far regarding remote learnig. We have hit the ground running and are off to a great start. We love seeing how each student is making the most out of remote learning. Oliver Capp got creative and made some 'classmates' to join him while he is learning. We would love to see what other creative things people are doing at home to make learning as fun and engaging as it usually is.
In Religion, we are focusing on miracle stories from the Bible. In Reading and Writing we are continuing to break down what a persuasive text should look like. In Maths, students will continue to work from the Origo at Home Learning website in Topic 8. Overall we can see students have been accessing the learning quickly and easily however there are some students who have not yet accessed them learning. Do not hesitate to contact the school or the classroom teacher to help get things running smoothly for you. We look forward to working with you all again over the next six weeks.
Physical Education Update
Here are some photos of the Junior and Foundation students enjoying their remote PE lessons at school...with their PE teacher supervising!
My New Gallery
