2023 Newsletter #13 August 16
Principal News
Dear St Paul’s families,
Welcome to this week’s news.
MINI OLYMPICS Congratulations to everyone involved in our Mini-Olympics at the Aero ovals last Friday. It was fantastic to see so many parents and family members come down to support the children throughout the day. A big thank you to Miss Parker for coordinating the day and to the staff for their support. There will be presentations made this Friday at Assembly regarding the age level champions.
AUSKICK The after school Auskick program continues to be a success with the number of children participating. Once again, a wonderful opportunity provided locally to keep our children active and engaged in team sports.
THE WORLD CUP The sports theme continues with Australia and New Zealand hosting the Women’s World Cup in soccer. I’m sure many of you were glued to the tv on Saturday night waiting nervously for the outcome of the match. It was a momentous occasion in Australia’s sporting history and the Matilda’s have certainly proven themselves to be worthy adversaries. They certainly have the skill, talent, dedication and commitment to go all the way and become world champions. It has been the topic of conversation among the children at present and hopefully it will encourage more children to get involved in team sports. “Go the Tillies” as they prepare to take on England tonight.
NAIDOC WEEK This Friday our school community will celebrate Naidoc Week with a liturgy at 9.15 am followed by a day of planned activities concluding with a whole school lunch and assembly in the afternoon. Hopefully you can come along and join in the celebrations.
UPCOMING EVENTS Next week proves to be action packed as usual with Interschool Basketball and Softball, Book Week celebrations (Parade in the hall at 9.00am), Healthy Harold visiting and the Senior Unit liturgy.
CONFERENCE Today I am travelling to attend the IEU Vic/Tas Principals Council in Echuca. The theme of our Conference is “Learning Culture for Learning Impact” focussing on topics such as: Effective Leadership for learning, Important conversations, Adult Language in Action and Highly effective listening skills.
GOTCHA AWARDS: Congratulations to the following children who have reached important milestones in following our school norms: Be Safe, Be Respectful and Be Your Best
BEE MILESTONE: Ava Fidura, Harper Hannah, Harry Burns, Keelan Roper, Aisha Smythe, Bella Kennedy, Pippa Doecke, Treeza Jessil, Amir Al Kragolli, Ariah Tickle, Poppy Thannhauser, Ethan Jones, Lenin Guevarra, Amber Echanes, Lucien Graham-O’Connor, Emilia Capp, Addison Welsh, Marco Guevarra, Owen Vo & Charlotte Hogan.
HIVE MILESTONE: Erin Taylor, Zalee Le Poidevin, Ariani Arden, Denim Humphrey, Harry Williams, Taylor Burns, Hayden Rowe, Chase Chau, Riley O’Callaghan, Elsa Allieu & Reuben Allford.
I hope you all have a great week and enjoy the weekend. Good luck to those children who are competing in different competition events over the weekend. I hope you do well and most importantly try your best.
As always,
Keep the Faith!
Vince Muscatello
Junior Unit News
We have a lot to celebrate in the Junior Unit this week:
Positive Behaviour SuperStars: To boost our efforts to follow our school norms, "Be Respectful. Be Safe. Be Our Best" we have implemented a regular whole-unit meeting. Each term, the whole unit will come together to set a goal and celebrate four children (one from each class) who have been models of outstanding behaviour.
We would like to congratulate our next four 'Positive Behaviour Superstars'- Layla (J5), Aubree (J7), Carlos (J8), and Francis (J4). These students have shown leadership by having a ‘Growth Mindset’. They were all able to explain to the unit that;
- We don't give up, even when things get hard- Aubree
- Thinking positively- Layla
- Having a go at games you don’t know how to play- Francis
- Letting other people learn around you- Carlos
Our next focus will be ‘Independence’ and we look forward to celebrating our next four Positive Behaviour Superstars!
Religion: This term in Religion, we are learning all about Wisdom, and making wise choices. In the last few weeks, we have dived into reading and interpreting scripture. Specifically, we have been focusing on Micah 6:8. The scripture of Micah 6:8 guides us to act justly, to love kindness and to walk humbly with God.
Last week, the students were immersed in a variety of artwork that portrays the main message from Micah. The students then had a go at creating their own artwork based on the message provided by Micah 6:8.
SPECIAL REMINDER: This Friday 18 Aug, J5 will be hosting assembly. You are as always invited to join us for assembly Friday afternoon at 2:45pm in the school hall.
Foundation Unit
Welcome to Week 6!
Congratulations to all of the children who participated in the Mini Olympics last Friday. They all tried very hard and should be very proud of their efforts. They displayed positive behaviour throughout the day and they were a delight to be with.
This week we are celebrating NAIDOC week, on Friday we will be having a special day to celebrate the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their culture. We are asking the children to come dressed in red, yellow or black clothing on Friday. We have been watching some Dreamtime stories and reading some books as well as fun activities to compliment the books. Yesterday the children made Rainbow Serpents out of air dry clay. They will bring them home today.
We have a lot of lost property in the unit. Could parents please make sure that clothing is named clearly to make it easier for us to return to the owners.
Middle Unit News
In the Middle Unit, we are looking forward to celebrating and learning through lots of events and special occasions during the second half of term. Please keep an eye on the Newsletter, Simon and Facebook for updates.
Next week we will also celebrate our Middle Unit Liturgy. Liturgy will be held in the school Chapel on Friday 25th August at 2:30 pm. Please note this is a different time. We invite parents and special friends to join us for the afternoon.
Congratulations to all of our students who participated in our school athletics day last week. Everyone had a good day and we had great reports from all the staff and parent helpers.
This term in Religion, we are learning all about Respect and the Common Good. We have begun to explore some different scriptures. Recently we have been focusing on Matthew 7:12, The Golden Rule. “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.”
We have recently finished our Science unit. Our final task was to look at the design and purpose of bridges. In small groups students completed a design challenge where they had 10 minutes to plan and draw their designs, then another 15 minutes to build them. The bridges were required to pass the weight-bearing test of holding a water bottle. Well done to the students for successfully completing the brief.
Don’t forget to continue to read for 20 minutes each night and continue to practice your times tables.
Senior Unit News
Senior Unit Liturgy
Next Friday, 25th August, we will be celebrating our Term 3 Senior Unit Liturgy in the Chapel. Parents are more than welcome to come along and hear about what students have been learning about in Religion this term.
The liturgy will begin at 9:15am and will finish at 10am.
Uniform Reminder
A reminder that students are to wear full school uniform in class. This means that additional items of clothing are not to be worn inside, e.g. beanies, big jackets etc
NAIDOC Day 2023
St Paul’s will be celebrating NAIDOC Day on Friday 18th August.
At St Paul’s we recognise NAIDOC Day as an important opportunity for students to learn about, celebrate and recognise the history, culture, and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
The day will commence with a whole school Liturgy in the Hall beginning at 9.15am and throughout the rest of the day students will undertake various Indigenous Cultural learning experiences within their units. We extend a warm welcome to all members of our school community to attend and celebrate this day with us.
There will be a free BBQ Sausage Sizzle lunch provided to all students on the day. Please note that there will be no Canteen Orders available and if students would prefer to bring their own lunch instead, they are welcome to.
We encourage everyone to wear casual clothing in NAIDOC colours and/or designs on the day. Please ensure children wear closed in shoes (eg runnners)
Library
Hello everyone,
Next Wednesday 23rd August, we will be celebrating Children's Book Week. The theme for this year is " Read, Grow, Inspire". Students can come dressed as their favourite book character or something to do with this theme.
We will begin the day with our parade of book characters. The parade will begin at 9.15 parents and friends are warmly welcome to this. The rest of the day we will be completing fun activities with the short listed "Book of the year" books. We are all looking forward to a great day celebrating wonderful Australian children's books.
Looking forward to seeing you there.
Marg Pongrac
Continuous Raffle
Thank you to families who have already donated a prize for the continuous raffle. If you indicated that you would donate a prize to the value of $30 please send in to the office ASAP.
Some ideas for donations are: vouchers ie Cinema, meat, bakeries, coffee etc, craft items, sports equipment, games etc.
Hands Up Mallee
We are one of 3 schools to make it to the final voting to win Mildura Toyota's National Tree Day competition. Please make sure you go into Mildura Toyota and drop a token in our school's jar so that we can win $1000 worth of trees to plant around our school. For further details go on to the Mildura Toyota Facebook page and share it. Every token counts!
PE News
Interschool Regional Soccer
On Tuesday 8th August our Senior Girls Soccer team travelled to Swan Hill to compete in the Regional Finals for Soccer. It was fantastic to see the girls work together as a team, encouraging each other and showing high sportsmanship towards all competitors. The girls played three games against Swan Hill, Echuca, and Bendigo schools. Well done to all of the girls in the team you have made all of St Paul's very proud.
Play Leaders
On Monday, a selection of students from grades 4-6 were selected to participate in the Wild Side Play Program. Students were engaged in activities that promote the development of resilience, leadership, and teamwork. These students will be involved in running Play Leader activities at lunchtime throughout the school year for junior students. It was fabulous to see all of the students involved working together to problem solve and support each other during different activities. At the end of the day, students led the foundation students in a range of different games and activities that they had learned throughout the day.
Mini Olympics
Wow! What a fantastic day we all had on Friday at our Whole School Mini Olympics. It was amazing to see all the students participating and trying their best at each of the events. Well done to Chaffey on winning the overall day.
A number of students have now qualified for Division Mini Olympics on Thursday 31st August. Further information will be sent out soon for those students.
Interschool Sport
On Tuesday 22nd August, our Senior Unit Basketball & Softball teams will be competing in the Interschool Basketball and Softball competition. Please ensure you give permission on SIMON Everywhere App to give your child to attend.
Parish News
Parent Noticeboard
Go the Matildas!
The Matildas are into the semi-final of the FIFA Women’s World Cup for the first time in their history TONIGHT after a thrilling victory over France via a nail biting penalty shoot-out. If you are interested in watching the game with other local fans come along to the South Mildura Sporting Precinct from 6:30pm. BYO chair, Food available. This is a free community event. Go the Matildas!
