2024 Newsletter #17 September 18
Principal News
Dear St Paul's families,
Welcome to our last update for Term Three. It has been a jam-packed term once again and unfortunately, we have been hit hard by the flu, gastro and whatever else you can think of over the last few weeks. Hopefully, the two-week holiday break will give everyone the chance to recover and come back refreshed for term 4. Thank you to everyone who has been involved in our successes this term and there have been many to celebrate. You only need to look at all the wonderful Facebook posts this term alone promoting our children and their achievements.
BUS SERVICE CHANGES LAST DAY OF TERM: CDC Mildura (formerly Sunraysia Bus Lines) have advised us that their bus services will not change for the last day of term. School finishes at 2.25pm, this Friday. The first bus will not be arriving till 3.30pm. If your child normally catches a bus that day, please make alternative arrangements as there will be no supervision duty at 3.30pm. Likewise, if you are collecting your children via the drive through, please be on time.
STAFFING UPDATE: As previously mentioned, Louisa Maiorana finished up recently at St Paul’s as an LSO. Miss Katie Hawkes has been appointed to fill the vacancy for the remainder of the school year. We also welcome for the 2025 school year Miss Ellen Bock as a classroom teacher. Ellen is currently working as a casual relief teacher at St Paul’s this term and we look forward to her joining us fulltime next year.
DIVISION MINI OLYMPICS: Congratulations to the students who qualified for the next stage of the Schools Sports Victoria Primary Athletics regional finals in Bendigo next term:
Samuella- Triple Jump and 100 metres sprint, Erin- Discus, Konna- Long Jump and Tyler- 800 metres.
RAAF HOT AIR BALLOON VISIT: Despite the hot and windy conditions the Balloon visit was a success. The RAAF crew were very impressed with our children in relation to their behaviour and the quality of the questions that were being asked. The children certainly enjoyed the opportunity to meet them and learn about the RAAF and their Hot air balloon. They were in town for the Mildura Air Show and then travelling back to Canberra. We were fortunate for them to visit us out of all the schools in the region. They also presented us with special medallions which are on display in our cabinet opposite our uniform cupboards.
WELCOME: A special St Paul’s welcome to secondary students Charley Mannes and Abbey Aldridge who are completing their work experience placement here this week. I’m sure they will have a fun time working with the children.
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. Check our Facebook page and Parish bulletin for more details. Please share it with anyone you know who is or has been associated with St Paul’s over the years.
ST PAUL’S 10 YEAR MASTER PLAN: As a part of our ongoing growth and development for St Paul’s, we are seeking input from our school families for ideas and suggestions to make our school facilities even better. Our staff and students are being engaged to seek their input and it’s important that parents have an opportunity as well. Some of the ideas already put forward are:
-Kindergarten for 3 & 4 year olds (Etiwanda avenue preferred site)
-Middle/Senior Ninja Course style playground
-Junior Basketball Court on the Mercy oval
- Maintenance and Storage shed
- New Specialist classroom wing (replacing portables) for The Arts, ICT and languages
- Refurbishment and redesign of current student toilets
- New external toilets at the senior end of the school
- Seating and tree planting along John Hill oval service road for children to sit
- New vegetable and fruit garden for the children.
A concept plan will be on display in the foyer next term.
HATS: A reminder that hats are compulsory in Term Four for all students.
SENIOR UNIT LITURGY: This Friday morning the senior unit will be celebrating their co-created liturgy at 9.15am in the Chapel. All parents are welcome to attend.
JUMP OFF DAY: Don’t forget this Friday between 12.00pm and 1.00pm the children will be involved in the Jump Rope for Heart Jump Off. Keep those donations coming in.
ASSEMBLY: Assembly this week is at 1.45pm in the hall. Please come along and join us as we celebrate our children’s achievements.
Finally, congratulations to this week’s gotcha recipients for being their best, being respectful and being safe -
Bee Milestones – Elise Davies, Jason Tran, Chase Humphrey, Jordan Tran, Chaz Biddle, Jaxon Higgins, Ruby Powell, Kyden Noble, Mischa Pascale, Nicholas Caminiti, Hugo Blagus, Michelle Mithun, Aiden Silcox, Aiden Varghese-Moolayil, Helen Mouzakis, Eternity Conquest, Harry Traeger, Lily Dobricic, Gurshaan Tiwana, Tapsita Pome’e, Clinton Rose, Emi Walter & Kenolee Hettiarachchi.
Hive Milestones – Soobhanah Parvez, Rhianna Shermin, Jack Vea, Jesse Pitt, Felix Moyle, Paddy Stevenson, Peyton Tarr, Hunter McInerney-Greco, Nhu Nguyen, Penelope Doecke, Michael Davies, Chimdi Ilozue, Louis Nguyen, Mansirat Kaur, Ollie Thannhauser, Bella Kennedy, Zac rben, Chaunte Clark, Faye Ratcliffe & Joshua Catipay.
CALENDAR EVENTS:
SEPTEMBER:
Friday 20th- Senior Unit Liturgy (Co-created prayer) 9.15am in the Chapel
- Jump Rope for Heart- “Jump Off”
- 1.45pm Assembly. Last day of Term.
OCTOBER:
Tuesday 8th- School Advisory Council Meeting
Friday 11th- St Pauls 50th Anniversary celebrations.
Saturday 12th- School Open 9.30am-11.30am
Wednesday 16th - First Reconciliation - Parent information meeting for Children Grade 2 and above 7.00pm
Thursday 17th - 2025 Foundation Transition Session 1
Friday 18th- Grade ¾ Gala Basketball Day
Senior unit division Basketball & Softball
Assembly- 2.45pm in the hall
Thursday 24th- 2025 Foundation Session 2
Friday 25th - First Holy Communion
Saturday 26th- First Holy Communion
Sunday 27th- First Holy Communion
Monday 28th- Mission week begins
Thursday 31st- 2025 Foundation Transition Session 3
I hope you all have a wonderful week and enjoyable weekend. As always
Keep the Faith!
Vince Muscatello
ST PAUL’S 50TH ANNIVERSARY
End of Term 3 2024
Friday 20September 2024 is the last day of school for Term 3.
**School will finish at the earlier time of 2.25pm.**
The school buses will NOT be running to an earlier time table.
All school bus afternoon runs will operate according to the standard timetable and will not commence an hour earlier. We strongly recommend you make alternate arrangements for your child's pick up.
Term 4 Classes for students will resume again on Monday 7th October 2024.
Technology News
This term in Technology, the focus has been on becoming digital creators rather than just consumers of digital content, and our Year 5 and 6 students have embraced this challenge brilliantly.
Each student has designed their own retro-style single-screen computer game, showcasing both their creativity and coding expertise.
Next term, students will be creating their own gaming websites to showcase the games they've coded. They're excited to share their projects with you, not only for you to enjoy playing their games, but also to inspire you to become a creator of digital content, rather than just a consumer.
Our Year 1 and 2 students wrapped up Term 3 in Technology by participating in an exciting Kahoot quiz! They demonstrated their understanding of coding concepts, including directional and block coding languages.
From the Tech Room, we wish everyone a safe and joyful term break and look forward to welcoming you all back in Term 4!
SENIOR UNIT NEWS
The following concepts will be covered in our Relationships and Sexuality lessons this term and into next.
My Body:
- Developing knowledge about, and adjusting to pubertal change
- Naming sexual and reproductive anatomy
Life Cycle:
- Describe the process of human reproduction
Relationship/Friendships:
- Describe the characteristics of healthy relationships
- Communication skills for positive, healthy relationships
- Describe the advantages and disadvantages of communicating and keeping in touch with friends using technology and social media.
- Where can I get help
Identify - Media monitor:
- Exploring and critiquing online, social and popular media representations of sexuality and relationships.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Tom Pike on tpike@spmildura.catholic.edu.
MIddle Unit News
As we prepare for our Jump Off Day on Friday, we continue to keep practicing our skipping. We are so proud of the way the students have improved so much with their skipping skills in just a short amount of time. There is still time to sign up to Jump Rope for Heart and raise money for such an important cause.
The Middle Unit had such a wonderful time when the RAAF came with a hot air balloon basket and the students were able to engage in such a unique experience!
In Literacy and Inquisitive, we have continued to learn all about the weather, seasons, Earth, the importance of the Sun, phases of the moon and why we have day and night. Students are working on creating a booklet to incorporate all of their learning, and you will be able to share their learning when they bring these home with them shortly.
In Religion, students have completed a research project on how do Catholic Christians include hospitality as a part of their religion, and made connections of any similarities in the features of hospitality between Catholic Christians and another religious celebration they choose. The students have made wonderful information poster. We'd love you to pop in and see the students hard work. Yesterday to celebrate the end our Hospitality Unit we shared a combined afternoon picnic together.
We hope that all students and families have a safe, restful spring break and we will see everyone refreshed and ready in Term 4.
SAVE THE DATE - Tuesday 17th December, 6.30pm
This year we will celebrate Christmas and the end of the school year with a concert. All students will be performing. More information and costume requirements will follow.
Library News
📚 Holiday Book Hunt! 📚
Hey, families! Over the holidays, we’re asking everyone to check at home for any school library books that might be hiding on your shelves, under beds, or in those cozy reading nooks.
Please return them to school in Term 4, so other students can borrow and enjoy them too! Let’s make sure our library is full of great books for everyone. Happy reading! 😊📖
#LibraryLove #BookHunt #ReturnYourBooks
Hands Up Mallee
Just a reminder that at the commencement of Term 4, school hats will again become compulsory for students to wear when they are outside during lunch play, recess and sport. Over the next couple of days, please make sure that your child/children have a clearly labelled school hat ready for term 4. If you are needing to order a new hat please do so via the uniform shop app or call into the uniform shop Thursday afternoon after school. Students without a hat will be asked to sit on the 'no hat seat' until they have a hat.
Sunscreen stations are also available for the students to apply sunscreen before they go outside.
Sts Anne and Joachim Catholic Parish Bulletin
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