Newsletter #26 September 2

Principal's News

Dear St Paul's families,
Welcome this week’s news.   On Sunday 6th September, the State government will announce its road map to recovery. There will be a different roadmap for regional Victoria and metropolitan Melbourne.  Once we have received advice from Catholic Education, we will inform you as soon as possible of what the changes mean for our school community.

It is a shame to some extent that the announcement is being made on Father's Day. Let's hope it's a good announcement to lift our spirits and give us something positive to focus on leading into the school holidays.

This Sunday is Father's day and whilst we are unable to host our traditional Fathers' day breakfast on Friday we have organised a mini raffle at school where 5 lucky dads will receive a voucher from BCF. Make sure you watch this week's online assembly to hear who our winners are.
This week is also Australian Teacher Aide Appreciation Week. St Paul's would like to acknowledge the important role of the LSO staff (Learning Support Officer) whose hard work and dedication make a difference to students, teachers and the St Paul's school community. Thank you for all that you do, especially for your amazing efforts during the remote learning period.

Congratulations to this week's Gotcha winners.
25 GOTCHA AWARDS: Max Mangan, Chloe Moir

50 GOTCHA AWARDS: Xander Hunia, Darcy O'Callaghan, Sophie King, Renay Akdemir, Annalise Goncalves-Wood, Sarah Richmond, Joseph Coslevich, John Holani

This year Catholic Education Week will be celebrated on 6-12 September.  The theme for Catholic Education Week 2020 is  "Listen to what the Spirit is saying". This theme focuses on listening and discernment which is borne from rich dialogue. Pope Francis defines discernment as more than intelligence or common sense: ‘It is a gift which we must implore. If we ask with confidence that the Holy Spirit grant us this gift, and then seek to develop it through prayer, reflection, reading and good counsel, then surely we will grow in this spiritual endowment.’ Gaudete et Exsultate 166. As a community we will celebrate this special week as part of our Remote Learning.

As the weather is beginning to warm up, and children are onsite, it is a timely reminder to start wearing hats. Please ensure your child has their hat in their bag when they come to school.

HAPPY FATHERS' DAY TO ALL OUR DADS, UNCLES, GRANDDADS AND SPECIAL MEN IN OUR LIVES!

As always

Keep the Faith
Vince Muscatello

Teacher Aide Appreciation Week

This week is Australian Teacher Aide Appreciation Week. This is an opportunity to acknowledge the important role of teacher aides or as we refer to them, Learning Support Officers (LSO's), whose hard work and dedication make a difference to students, teachers and the school community.   

Thank you to our thirteen LSO's, 

Cindy Andrews, Vicki Baird, Denise Devereux, Louise Frasca, Carl Hunt, Bel Jenkins, Meagan Johnson, Elise Monteleone, Michelle Moyle, Shona Pantazopoulos, Anne-Marie Sapuppo, Narelle Simpson & Georgie Willis. 

You all make a significant difference in the achievement of student learning and wellbeing at our school. 

They all participate in training so that they can run evidence based, research validated literacy interventions for struggling learners and also support dozens of students in the classrooms. They provide support and assistance to teachers and contribute in all aspects to the running of our school. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our Learning Support Staff for all that they contribute at St Paul’s.

Middle Unit News

Hello to all our Middle Unit Families,

The holidays are in sight! Keep working hard because we are nearly there! Students did such an impressive job with their inquiry learning in week 7 and we were able to see some presentations that really blew our socks off! It was great to see how enthusiastically the students researched and reported on some explorers from the 17th century. Moving into week 8 and 9 we are continuing to look at procedures and encourage everyone to get involved in them in some way at home. This week, the teachers are recording how they have been following procedures during lockdown and we would love to see what you have done too!

Overall, students are accessing the learning and putting in great efforts. If students are unable to participate in the learning for the day, please either call the school and let them know or email the classroom teacher. Thank you so much for your hard work and we look forward to seeing what crafty or cooking creations have been made at home!

Miss you all!

Foundation Unit News

During remote learning the Foundation Unit have been completing a unit about Creation. They have been looking at all of the beauty that surrounds us. The children have taken photos while they were at school and also around their own homes to depict images of beauty. They have viewed clips about nature and animals. It has been an enjoyable unit to take part in and the children are really getting a lot out of it.

Next week they will take a different angle and learn how to look after our environment by understanding the importance of Recycling, Reusing and Reducing. We ask that you continue to encourage discussions about these topics to back up what we will be teaching. They will be completing an activity about sorting rubbish into the correct bins, so it would be great if they could also see this happening at home and have discussions about it.

Next week there is also a Movie night scheduled for Thursday. The children are encouraged to watch the movie "The Lorax" to learn about the importance of looking after our environment. The children who are attending school that day will be watching it during the day. As it is rated PG, if you do not want your child who is attending school to watch it, please let the school know before Thursday next week.

Thank you for your continued support.

Movie Night

Junior Unit news

Greetings from the Junior Unit and well done to all students completing another fantastic week of learning! 
All of the teachers were extremely impressed with the quality of work that students have completed and it is fantastic to see most students submitting a weekly dropbox task.
We hope you enjoyed listening to Sue DeGennaro's poem 'We're Stuck' during Reading this week and we were all blown away with the hats you created! 
Well done Junior Unit!

Our Paper Hats

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Senior Unit News

Last week for Religious Education the Senior students were tasked with re-writing one of our school prayers and make it suit our present context ie. the students at St Paul’s School in 2020.

Below are a few examples of the prayers that our students wrote.

Student Prayers

Student Survey

Last week we asked for feedback from the seniors on on how they were managing remote learning 2.0. On a whole the feedback was positive with lots of different suggestions about how we could improve the lessons we plan and deliver. The survey is still open and can be found on the stream on Google Classrooms.   A snapshot of some of the results are listed below.

As always, if you have any concerns or suggestions for improvement we would love to hear from you. 

Technology News

As COVID-19 continues to challenge individuals and families in many ways, we would like to take a moment to share an amazing free resource: KIDS HELPLINE (www.kidshelpline.com.au)

Kids Helpline is Australia's only 24/7, private and confidential counselling service specifically for children and young people aged 5 to 25 years. Expert trained counsellors can be accessed via phone, webchat or email. We encourage all families to take a moment to explore the website and give permission to young people that it's ok to seek help if you're feeling worried or overwhelmed.

In addition, we invite parents to join in a webinar this Thursday that aims to both raise money for the Kids Helpline as well as share insightful information to inform and empower parents. Please set aside this Thursday at 7.30pm and book your tickets today: www.bit.ly/kidshelplinewebinar . Please see the attached flyer for all the details.

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

The senior students have done an AMAZING job creating their names in graffiti style. We looked into the history of the graffiti art form, before having a go ourselves.

I've put together a little video of the children's work, check it out!

I hope you're enjoying the Spring sunshine and Happy Father's Day to all of our special dads, stepdads, grandpas etc for this Sunday!

Languages - Italian News

And here are some more photos of our Minestrone Master Chefs  ...   

Congratulations  and  Well done to all our students who tried out their culinary skills to whip up a family meal   -  What a wonderful effort.    Mangia  e  Buon Appetito !

Grazie   -Signora 

St Paul's Minestrone Master Chefs

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Online Olympics

This Friday, albeit a little bit different to our normal Mini Olympics, we will hold a special sports day; our first ever Online Olympics.

This will be a whole school house event, with points awarded for each event students participate in and a variety of ways to earn extra bonus points, including dressing up and wearing your house colours.  More information and details of events and scoring will be available on Friday via the usual remote learning platforms.

GO HILL, GO CHAFFEY, GO MERCY, GO McKENZIE!!

Hands Up Mallee

It is getting to that time of year when we need to start thinking about protecting ourselves from the sun's harmful UV rays. Although it may still be cold, Victoria’s UV levels are on the rise so please check the daily local sun protection times to see when you need to be SunSmart.  The sun protection times are a forecast from the Bureau of Meteorology for the time of day UV levels are forecast to reach 3 or higher in your location. At these levels, sun protection (hat, clothing, sunscreen, shade and, if practical, sunglasses) is recommended for all skin types.

Sun protection times are available via:

• the free SunSmart app
• the free SunSmart widget  (add it to your service’s website)
• the Bureau of Meteorology website’s UV and sun protection page
• MyUV

Remote Learning Gallery

Remote learning continued throughout week 7.  It looks like cooking minestrone was a winning lesson, not only for the kids but also the parents who got a night off dinner duty.

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Physical Education News

I am continuing to receive so many fantastic videos and photos from remote lessons each week. Thank you to those students and parents who have taken the time to show me the learning that is happening. These bring a huge smile to my face! Here are some more photos I've receive during the past week!

Target games & jumping obstacle courses

Sunraysia Catholic Communities Bulletin

The Sunraysia Catholic Communities bulletin for last weekend is below.

The Bulletin will also be put up on Daily Messages on SIMON Everywhere.

MARRIAGE ENCOUNTER ONLINE WEEKEND

If you are spending time together, but feel the distance between you …

THIS IS A GREAT OPPORTUNITY TO SPEND A WEEKEND IMPROVING YOUR COMMUNICATION IN THE COMFORT OF YOUR OWN HOME

This VIRTUAL Weekend gives couples the chance to sleep in their own beds and check-in on kids or animals during meal times.

Come and learn how to keep/rekindle the passion in your relationship and how to keep your love growing!

The weekend we offer is based around Catholic values but couples of all faiths are welcome.

Couples from regional areas may find this option ideal.

Next weekend is on  9-11th October 2020.

Information/Bookings: Phone Mercy & James 0409 183 676 or

Email: vicbookings@wwme.org.au    Website: wwme.org.au