2023 Newsletter #20 December 6
Principal News
Dear St Paul’s families,
Welcome to our second last newsletter for the year. It’s amazing how quickly the year has flown by. As we near the end of the year, it’s obvious with all the different Christmas activities happening outside of school, our children are showing signs of tiredness. As challenging as it may be, it’s important to maintain a routine and try and keep things relatively normal. There is still plenty of learning to happen over the next week and a half. The children have certainly been getting into the festive spirit at school and the little elves are up to mischief once more.
STAFFING UPDATE: We have been finalising our staffing for the 2024 school year. This week we conducted interviews for a learning support officer and have successfully filled the vacancy. In next week’s newsletter, we will announce all the other teaching support and specialist roles for 2024 as well as the Learning Support placements for the various units across the school.
WEATHER UPDATE: Due to the extreme temperatures, we are experiencing now, it is important that your child is wearing a hat when outside and staying hydrated. We have refrigerated drinking stations around the school for children to access and refill their drink bottles as needed.
UPCOMING EVENTS: Lots of important events over the next week and a half. Our final assembly for the year is next Friday 15th December.
Friday 8th December 9.15am- End of Year Thanksgiving Mass- all welcome to attend.
Sunday 10th December 5.00pm- Year 6 Graduation mass and ceremony at Sacred Heart church Tuesday 12th December 9.00am-11.00am- Whole school transition- students will be with their new teachers for 2024.
Thursday 14th December 11.15am-2.15pm Middle Unit End of Year excursion.
Friday 15th December 2.30pm- Final Whole School Assembly- Announcement of 2024 student leaders and 2023-year 6 excellence awards.
School finishes at 3.25pm for students on Friday 15th December after assembly.
GOTCHA AWARDS- Congratulations to this week’s milestone achievers for following our school norms: Be Safe, Be Respectful and Be Your Best!
Bee Milestones - Kooper Carmichael, Tolini Vave, Hollies Tickle, Candice Trewwek, Max Mangan, Pippa Doecke, Cohen Hateley, Elih Groenen, Abbiegail Peters, Tilly Wankun, Shivreet Gill, Ryan MacDonald, Levi Morton, Sienna Humphrey, Heidi Slimmon, Farai Nyabonda, Sophia Crabtree, Ava Fidura, Dustin Scott, Cooper Chapple, Harry Burns, Nico Pettinau, Lily Pham, Nhu Nguyen & Jemma Trinh.
Hive Milestones - Mele Toto, Faye Ratcliffe, Natasha Cavallo, April Nyabonda, Olivia Prescott, Erica Ram, Matthew Read, Samuel Laiju, Zalee Le Poidevin, James Echanes, Ella Garland, Mike Hogan, Grace Panagopoulos, Ariani Arden, Ariah Tickle, Mia Aranas, Dante Mazza, Jed Thomas, James Nadalo, Sylvia Simmons, Charlie Smith, Emma Williams, Harriet Gibson, Konna Peters, Catherine Lotong, Seth Ram, Tyler O’Rielly, Rafael Mammone, Ruby Slimmon, Jessica Allieu, Harvey Hegarty, Kyky Philp, Memphis Johnson, Esta Pascale, Siena Sbaglia, Alirah Jones, Aisha Symthe, Denim Humphrey, Poppy Thannhauser, Taylor Burns, Khloe Garland, Lucien Graham-O’Connor, Dan Boby, Candice Treweek, Dolly Moore, Bruce Ratcliffe, Spencer Kimpton, Lachlan Limburg, Alia Lijo, Harry Williams, Jennifer Ly, Indy Baker, Daisy Gibson, Sienna Mackay, Phoenix Toutai, Angela Iang & Baran Rona.
I hope you all have a great week and enjoy the weekend.
As always,
Keep the Faith
Vince Muscatello
Senior Unit News
Next week, we are planning a range of fun activities for the students to end the year off on a high!
Tuesday - Students are to bring in a plastic bag to take home any artwork.
Wednesday - On Wednesday afternoon, students will be having some fun with water play to end the day! We are able to facilitate children bringing in any water pistols they may have. This activity is being run on the understanding that students are participating fairly, sensibly and with respect to their peers.
Students should pack a change of clothes, enclosed shoes and towel to change into at the end of the day.
Friday - Grade 6 students are to bring in a separate Grade 6 shirt to be signed by their peers. They are also to bring in their own texta for signatures.
Thursday/Friday - On Thursday and Friday afternoons we will be watching a PG movie in the Senior Unit. If you have any concerns regarding this, please contact the classroom teacher.
Grade 6 Graduation
We look forward to celebrating with the Grade 6 students at their Graduation this Sunday 10th December. Mass at Sacred Heart Catholic Church will begin promptly at 5pm and family and friends are welcome to attend. Please ensure your child arrives by 4.45pm. The Graduation ceremony and presentations will happen in the Church after the Mass. Following the Graduation ceremony, parents are asked to take their child to the Pizza Cafe where staff and Grade 6 students will enjoy a meal together (There will be a sign in /out sheet for parents to sign). Please ensure attendance on SIMON Everywhere. There are strictly no phones permitted at the dinner, they must be left with parents. Students to be collected by 7.45pm. We look forward to celebrating with them and wish them all the best for the future.
Senior Italian Shared Lunch
As part of the Grade 5 and 6 Languages Lessons, students have been researching and designing their own Italian menu. As a way to finish up this theme with Ms Priestly, students are asked to bring something Italian for a shared lunch on Wednesday 13th December.
This could be as simple as salami sandwiches, pizza, pasta, cheese & biscuits or even some red, green and white foods. While we can't heat food, we can keep it cold in our fridges until it is shared at 11.45am. Please ensure there are no nuts.
Middle Unit News
As we prepare for the end of the year, we also prepare for the birth of Jesus and our Christmas celebrations. On Monday students participated in an Advent liturgy, taking a moment to reflect and remember the significance of Jesus' birth.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our wonderful students and parents for their support this year. We have had terrific year with our class, and although we are sad to see them go, we are excited for what is to come next in their learning journey. We wish them all the best of 2024 and beyond.
Wishing all our families a very Merry Christmas and a safe and happy holiday season.
From Mrs Slimmon, Mrs Emmett, Mrs Bugden and Miss Squallice .
Junior Unit News
Welcome to week 10! Just like that… we are closing in on the last week of 2023.
We would like to say a big thank you to all of our special guests that were able to join in our Junior Unit Litugy last week. It was wonderful to share this celebration wtih you.
Last week the students participated in our Junior Unit Camp Day! The day was an absolute blast, filled with joy and laughter! Here are some snapshots of the day.
Junior Camp Day 2023
Week 11: During our final week for 2023, the students will be participating in a range of fun acitivites across the week to celebrate our year together.
**Reminder** End of term pack up: Could all students please bring in a bag, plastic, paper, reusable, that we can fill with student's artwork, etc as we pack up the classroom, Thank you.
Religious Education News
End of Year Thanksgiving Mass
This Friday 8th December, we will gather together as a St Paul's School Community to celebrate our End of Year Thanksgiving Mass. Our Mass will be celebrated at 9.15am in our School Hall. It is a time to celebrate and give thanks for our wonderful year together and reflect on the many gifts that we have been blessed with on our journey together throughout 2023. We welcome all parents, carers, extended family and friends to join us for our final whole school liturgical celebration. We look forward to seeing you then!
Grade 6 Graduation Mass
This Sunday 10th December, we will be celebrating our Grade 6 Graduation Mass at 5pm at the Sacred Heart Church, followed by the graduation ceremony. Our extended school community are most welcome to join us as we congratulate and farewell our graduating class of 2023.
Hands Up Mallee
Our school is a registered member of Cancer Council Victoria's SunSmart Schools Program. We aim to protect children and staff from too much UV.
Sun protection and skin cancer prevention is a shared responsibility. Please help support or SunSmart membership and sun protection efforts by ensuring your child follows the SunSmart measures included in our policy at school and at home.
During the daily local sun protection times (usually from mid-August to the end of April), use these 5 SunSmart steps - even if it's cool and cloudy.
1. SLIP on covering clothing
2. SLOP on SPF30 (or higher) broad-spectrum, water resistant sunscreen
3. SLAP on a hat that protects the face, neck and ears.
4. SEEK shade
5. SLIDE on wrap-around AS1067 sunglasses
This year we have served over 4600 breakfasts to our students during breakfast club! Our students have really enjoyed coming into the Hall between 8:30 - 8:45, whether it be for breakfast, a 2nd breakfast or just to socialise while their friends ate. It has as always been a pleasure to serve them, their manners have been incredible and are a credit to you their parents. Breakfast Club would not be possible without the support of the Mildura Region School Breakfast Partnership who give us access to all our staples that we provide to the students. Finally, a big thank-you to each and every student that has assisted with the serving of breakfast or the cleaning and packing up each week. It has been so pleasing to have the students want to help out and continually offering to help - thank-you!
I look forward to starting it all up again in 2024.
Narelle Simpson.
Sts Anne and Joachim Catholic Parish Bulletin
Parent Noticeboard
Our Diocesan Community - November 2023
Please find below the link for the November 2023 edition of “Our Diocesan Community”
https://www.ballarat.catholic.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/ODC-November-2023-web.pdf.