2024 Newsletter #16 September 4
Principal News
Dear St Paul's families,
Welcome to this week's news update. What a great day we had on Friday. It was wonderful to see so many dads, granddads and special male role models come along and have breakfast with us. Even better was the turn out for our Father’s Day liturgy. Thank you to the parents who participated and celebrated with us. Thank you to Fr Matt, Mrs Blagus and the children who played special parts in the celebration. I certainly hope everyone had an enjoyable Father’s Day weekend. I know I did as I got to spend time with my children and my granddaughter. Lots of moments and memories to cherish.
NEW FAMILIES: On behalf of the St Paul’s school community, I would like to welcome the Linde family and the Ayala family to St Paul’s. I’m sure the children in their classes will make them feel welcomed and support them in settling into their new school.
SCHOOL ENTRANCE: We have been working with the children to ensure they enter and leave the school grounds appropriately. We are trying to minimise the noise level and disruptions in the Admin/Reception area. In the morning before school, any child who has a mobile phone or smart device are expected to hand them into the office and then go back outside until it is time to go into their classrooms. Children can visit the library before school by entering via the junior sandpit entrance. Any child, accompanied by an adult, may walk through the front admin/reception area. All other children are to enter their classrooms via their classroom doors.
At the end of the day, the same rules apply. Children can go to the front office to collect their smart devices or pick up notices. Children accompanied by their parents may walk through the admin/reception area. All other children are to exit via their classroom doors.
The front reception area gets very busy in the afternoons with the staff often answering phone queries and it becomes very difficult to hear with so many children walking through admin.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me if needed.
STAFFING UPDATE: last week interviews and appointments were made to recently advertised positions. I am pleased to share with you following appointments:
Deputy Principal-Wellbeing/Learning Diversity- Mrs Lauren Gibson
Deputy Principal- Learning & teaching- Mrs Rebecca Thurman
Classroom Teacher – Miss Chloe Henderson
These appointments commence in 2025. The Deputy Principal positions are a 3-year appointment.
HATS: As the UV levels continue to rise, with the warmer weather, all children are encouraged to wear hats outside. Hats are compulsory in Term Four.
AUSKICK: Thank you to Dave Kennedy and his team from AFL Victoria for running the Auskick clinic at school. It was lovely to present the certificates to the children who participated in the program. They certainly looked like they were enjoying themselves.
DIVISION MINI OLYMPICS: Good luck to the students who qualified for the next stage of the Mini Olympics. I am sure they will represent St Paul’s well by trying their best, cheering on each other and displaying good sportsmanship.
FOOTY COLOUR DAY: I am looking forward to seeing which teams the children support for our Footy Colours Day this Friday. Hopefully it’s a see of Black and White! If children are into other sports other than AFL, they can wear those colours, eg. rugby, soccer, netball etc. They may even have their own team colours that they wear to play a sport in! All children are to wear runners. There is no fundraising attached to this day.
WOW PROGRAM: The WOW program will continue over the coming weeks and into next term with several of our students from Grade 3- 6 participating in the WOW (Working On Within) program. If you want to know more about the program, click on the link: https://www.wowprogram.com.au/
RAAF HOT AIR BALLOON VISIT: On Friday 6th September, The Royal Australian Air Force will be visiting St Paul’s and putting on a presentation for the children throughout the day The children will be participating in a unique experience involving the RAAF Hot Air Balloon. Each unit has been allocated a time throughout the day. It will be set up on the John Hill oval.
ST PAUL’S 50TH ANNIVERSARY: Don’t forget, on Friday 11th October, St Paul’s will officially celebrate its 50 years of Catholic Education in the Ballarat Diocese. There is a public notice in the local paper, on our Facebook page, Parish bulletin and throughout the diocese promoting this event. Please share it with anyone you know who is or has been associated with St Paul’s over the years.
COMPLAINTS AND GRIEVANCES: It is important that whenever a parent has a concern regarding their child at school that it is addressed in an appropriate manner. If it is a classroom concern, then please make a time to discuss this with your child’s teacher. If you need to discuss it with Executive leadership, once again please make a time to come and speak with me or any of our team. At the heart of what we try to do is built on trust, communication and establishing good relationships. Unfortunately, in some instances, some parents are not following our processes, and this leads to very difficult and challenging conversations for all involved. Please be aware, that we always try to do our best. However, I do not and will not ever condone poor behaviour directed at my staff, myself or other members of the school community. We have a Parent School relationship code of conduct, and it is expected that everyone will follow it accordingly. We acknowledge & appreciate that the majority of our parents do in fact follow this code of conduct. So this is a reminder that if you have any concerns to raise them appropriately and respectfully.
WELCOME: Next week, we welcome Rebecca McRae to St Paul’s as she begins her Learning Support Officer placement till the end of term. I’m’ sure she will find her time with us both positive and rewarding.
JUNIOR UNIT LITURGY: Don’t forget this Friday the Juniors will be celebrating their Liturgy at 9.15am in the Chapel. You are all most welcome to attend.
NO ASSEMBLY: There will be no assembly this Friday due to the RAAF Hot Air Balloon visit.
Finally, congratulations to this week’s gotcha recipients for being their best, being respectful and being safe -
Bee Milestones – Alyson Morshedi, Mayta Tamangaro, Baine Hateley, Lam Nguyen, Clayton Body, Freyja Thake, Tiffany Tiyagu, Charlie Van Roy, Farai Nyabonda, Konna Peters, Sam Mafi-Reale, Tania Latukefu, Skylar Humphrey, Luna Fenech, Callum Humphrey, Dazzle Douglas, Sukhmeet Bassi, Tate Gorringe, Jennifer Ly, Cienna Pascale, Justin Tran, Franco Pettinau, Elsie Freeman & Archer Barlow.
Hive Milestones – Ella Garland, Fleur Gorringe, Harlow Johnson, Layla Powell, Olly Morton, Indy Baker, Mithran Vasanthakumar, Luca McDonald, Dan Boby, Liv Mackay, Estee Clifford, Phoenix Toutai, Mackenzie Mangan, Gerry Jayan, Jeremiah Jayan, Sophia Panagopoulos, Victoria Mouzakis, James Echanes, Memphis Johnson, Lottie Moyle, Ruby Slimmon, Lucas Trinh & Jack Stevenson.
CALENDAR EVENTS:
SEPTEMBER:
Thursday 5th – Division Mini Olympics for those students who have qualified.
Friday 6th - Footy Colours Day
- Junior Unit Liturgy 9.15am in the Chapel
- RAAF Hot Air balloon Visit F- 6
Tuesday 10th- Foundation Unit Responsible Pet ownership incursion
- SAC meeting 7.00pm at school
Friday 13th- Senior Unit Liturgy (Co-created prayer) 9.15am in the Chapel
Friday 20th- Jump Rope for Heart- “Jump Off”
- 1.45pm Assembly. Last day of Term.
I hope you all have a wonderful week and enjoyable weekend. As always
Keep the Faith!
Vince Muscatello
Foundation Unit News
We would like to say a huge thank you to the parents who came along last week to support their children as they competed in the Mini Olympics. They all had a wonderful day and enjoyed participating in the various activities. Congratulations to Charlie Van Roy and Alyson Morshedi, our age group champions for 2024.
Last week we also had our second visit from the firefighters. The children had the opportunity to look in the fire truck and also have a go at using the fire hose. Check out the Facebook page to see photos of the children.
On Tuesday 10th September, Liz from Responsible Pet Ownership will be bringing in her Italian Greyhound, Echo, to meet the children. She will be talking about how to be a responsible pet owner and teaching the children how to approach a dog.
This Friday is FOOTY COLOURS DAY. Please wear your favourite football jumper or the colours of your favourite football team. This is not a fundraiser, children are just asked to wear their colours/jumpers for fun.
Junior Unit News
In the last few weeks, we have been learning about what a growth and fixed mindset means and strategies we can use to help our emotional wellbeing.
A person with a growth mindset believes they can improve their knowledge, skills, and talents if they work hard and try new things. A person with a growth mindset is more likely to experience success in school and life.
A person with a fixed mindset lacks confidence or belief in their learning. They believe they cannot learn or improve their understanding, knowledge, skills or talents. Wanting to quit or give up are characteristics of a fixed mindset.
We are empowering the students to understand ‘The Power of Yet!’
The Power of Yet is a reminder that we need to persevere when we find things are tricky or challenging. It is all about embracing mistakes and making them a normal part of the learning process.
Father's Day Activity: Last week we made a special card for all of our amazing father's and special people in our lives.
Middle Unit News
After our whole school launch day on Friday for Jump Rope for Heart, we have all been very busy practising our skipping. Our sport lesson consisted of fundamental skipping skills and mastering a few different skips, such as the ‘skier’, ‘criss cross’ and some students have even made up their own skipping moves!
In Numeracy this week, the Grade 3 students have been learning all about the two’s, three’s, five’s and ten’s multiplication and division turn around facts.
The Grade 4 students have been learning about multiples and factors, while continuing to build on their multiplication skills.
Perhaps you could listen to your child explain the strategies they have learned about multiplication!
A friendly reminder that this Friday is Footy Colours Day where students may come to school dressed in casual clothes that are in the colours of footy/sporting teams. Please remember to wear enclosed sport shoes.
On this day we also have a visit from the Royal Australian Air Force, where we will get to see a hot air balloon and some demonstrations. We look forward to seeing this unique experience.
PE News
Division Mini Olympics
The Division Mini Olympics will take place this Thursday, 5th September.
Students are to be dropped off at the Aero Ovals, Athletics Track at 8:45am to meet Mr Pike.
Students participating only in the relay will travel by bus from school at 1pm accompanied by a staff member. All students will return to school at approximately 2:30pm to be collected from school at the end of the day.
As the forecast is for 30+ degrees, please ensure your child has water, a hat and sunscreen applied before the event.
If you have any further questions, please direct them to Mr Pike at tpike@spmildura.catholic.edu.au.
Jump Rope for Heart
We are up and running with our Jump Rope for Heart initiative!
Thank you to all those parents/guardians who have signed children up for this important initiative.
It has been a pleasure to see so many students skipping in the yard these past few weeks.
If you would like to sign up, please follow the link to do so https://www.jumprope.org.au/register/jump-rope-for-heart-2024/defaultparentflow.
Below is some more information regarding incentives for parents as well as students!
Hands Up Mallee
Just a reminder that the sun's UV rays are again starting to climb. With that in mind, from now until the end of term we are highly recommending that you send your child/children to school with their hats. Please take the time over the next couple of weeks to find their hats (and purchase a new one from the uniform shop if needed). It is also a good time to make sure that their hats are CLEARLY LABELLED. From the beginning of term 4, school hats will again become compulsory. The Cancer Council has also updated their recommendations for sunscreen. They now recommend SPF50+. Any SPF30+ is still safe to use but when you are buying new sunscreen, purchase SPF50+. At St Paul's we always have SPF50+ available for students to apply.
Sts Anne and Joachim Catholic Parish Bulletin
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