Newsletter #35 November 18
Principal's News
Dear St Paul's Families,
Welcome to this week's news update.
Over the next two days staff, some students and parents will be participating in our External School Review. This review provides us with the opportunity to reflect on our achievements over the last five years and more importantly plan for the future directions of St Paul's to ensure the standards we have set continue to improve. Please keep our community in your thoughts and prayers as we engage in this process.
On Monday we had a practise Fire Evacuation Drill. It is part of our OH&S compliance requirements to ensure that our children and staff know what to do in case of an emergency and highlight any areas for improvement.
Today the school nurse will be onsite to visit some of our Foundation students and we also welcome back our new Foundation children for 2021 for their second orientation session. I hope they have as much fun as they did last week.
The weather patterns are certainly keeping us on our toes at the moment going from cold to hot to dusty to sunny. As a result of this our lost property basket is overflowing. Please encourage your children to have a look in the basket and please make sure all items are clearly labelled.
Due to the Covid-19 restrictions we have had more parents accessing the drive through as no one is allowed on site. We have noticed over the last couple of weeks that more children are being picked up from school before 3.25pm. I am concerned that parents are coming early to avoid having to wait in line through the drive through pick up. This is impacting on your child's learning time. Please be patient and help us in supporting your children with their learning.
On Tuesday 24th November we will be hosting our School Advisory Council meeting to prepare for our Annual General Meeting which will we held on Monday 30th November at 7.00pm. Our AGM will be hosted virtually this year and there will be a link provided for families to access and login if they wish to join. We currently have three vacancies on the School Advisory Council for 2021. If you would like to join, please fill in the form (below) and return to the office by Thursday 26th November.
As we near the end of the year, which has come around so quickly, we have begun planning for the 2021 school year. Next week we will be conducting interviews for the teaching position that was advertised recently. We have been looking at dates for 2021 as well. The calendar has been updated. School will commence next year for the children on Thursday 28th January. For those of you who like to plan ahead, Easter next year begins at the start of the term one holidays. The children will finish school on Thursday 1st April with Friday 2nd April being Good Friday.
Congratulations to this week's Gotcha winners and congratulations to Lacey Hunt from Foundation who was our Gotcha Voucher winner.
25 GOTCHA AWARDS: Matilda Wilkinson, Monica Leslie, Eddy Lion, Laura Cifra, Lila Senior50 GOTCHA AWARDS: Lacey Hunt, Sylvia-Jade Simmons, Reyon Shermin, Paityn Miller, Nathasha Allieu, Christian Dobricic, Elijah Hunt, Hunter Rayson
Thank you to Mrs Kennedy, the staff and our indigenous children who helped plan our NAIDOC day celebrations. The children did an excellent job and should be proud of their efforts.
We received reflections from our past students, William Rodgers who went on to become 2020 St Joseph’s College Captain & Elly Pantazopoulos who will be 2021 St Joseph’s College Vice-Captain. It was lovely to know that St Paul’s played a part in their continued Catholic education.
Elly Pantazopoulos
What was your best memory of Primary School?
My time at St Paul’s Primary School was filled with fun and amazing memories that I will treasure for the rest of my life, the best memories from my primary school experience would definitely have to be the school camps to Nhill, Douglas Scrub and Melbourne. On these camps is where I further developed the friendships I already had and created many new ones with the others in my year level and some are still strong bonds today.
What values/learnings did you take from Primary School that are instilled in you today?
During the time I spent at St Paul’s Primary School I genuinely remember the topic of norms being a very big part of people’s behaviours at school. These norms were propped up around the school with signs about respect all the way to responsibility. The promotion of these norms at St Paul’s was strong and I believe that it is where the roots of the person I am today were formed and I am very grateful for that.
William Rodgers
What was your best memory of Primary School?
My greatest memory of my time at St Paul’s was definitely the whole grade 6 year and the many amazing experiences I had that year. These included the opportunity to be Chaffey house captain, form a really close bond with my year level (whom I am still very close with today), and be able to experience the great fun of graduating from primary school by arriving to the ceremony in a limousine with my mates! I remember so vividly the final day of my primary schooling and the emotions of embracing my mates and taking in all the memories I have accumulated over my seven-year history at the school. I think that is a great testament to how special that year was for me
What values/learnings did you take from Primary School that are instilled in you today?
Although all of my teachers throughout my primary school journey taught me many amazing values and lessons, the learning that impacted on me the most were the ones that came from my grade 6 teacher Mrs McGlashan. She demonstrated to me through her wonderful teaching and nurturing personality how a person can be successful and strong, and confident in their own abilities whilst also being warm and approachable, a concept I really struggled with in my own life at that time. I attribute that years’ worth of teaching and ethics I took from Mrs McGlashan to be the reason why I am where I am today as a college captain of St Joseph’s College, and the person I have grown up to become.
As always, I hope you all have a great week and more importantly, Keep the Faith!
Vince Muscatello
Senior Unit News
It's Camp Time!
Our camp this year is very different given 2020 and the challenges it has thrown our way. Nevertheless, we are sure that the following camp days will be enjoyable for all. Please ensure you follow the permission links on Simon Everywhere and ensure that you provide consent for your child/children before the dates listed below.
WEDNESDAY 9th DECEMBER
We will be departing school, by bus, at 9.30am for a game at Sunraysia Ten Pin Bowling. Students are required to wear their sports uniform and bring a hat and drink bottle. After our game we will head to Jaycee Park for a pizza lunch (provided) and a few games. We will be returning to school at 2.30pm.
THURSDAY 10th DECEMBER
Today will be a big day! We will be departing school promptly, by bus, at 9am for Perry Sandhills where we will spend some time enjoying the natural surroundings. After the sandhills we will visit the Darling and Murray River Juntion for lunch, then enjoy a swim at the Wentworth pool.
Students will need to wear their sports uniform and bring the following:
- bathers, towel, goggles, packed lunch / snacks, drink bottle, sunscreen, hat
FRIDAY 11TH DECEMBER
We will spending the day at school participating in a range of fun activities. Stay tuned for further information.
GRADE 6 POOL FUN AFTERNOON
To celebrate the Grade 6 students last year at Primary School, we will be enjoying a fun afternoon at the Waves outdoor Pool on Tuesday December 1st, 1pm-2.30pm.
Students will need to wear their sports uniform and bring the following:
- bathers, towel, googles, drink bottle, sunscreen, hat
Date for your Diary
Grade 6 Graduation Mass and dinner will be held on Sunday 13th December at 5pm. This year, due to COVID restrictions, the Mass and dinner will be held on site at school. More information to follow in next weeks newsletter.
Middle Unit News
We have finally made it to the day where we will construct our balloon powered cars! Hopefully everyone has been carefully collecting equipment to build their cars with because we are going to have to refine our designs to make sure they are the best that they can be. Students will be using what they have learned about forces and Newton's Laws to create a vehicle that can travel at least five metres using only the force exerted from a blown up balloon.
Outside of this, we are focusing on summarising and recounts. We want the children to start thinking about what the main idea is when they are reading books, magazines and newspapers. Whenever your child is reading, encourage them to tell you what they have read in their own words and in a short summary, rather than simply rereading facts to you. It is important that, while students are reading, they are noticing the key ideas.
In maths we have moved onto fractions and decimals, so if there is any cooking, building, shopping and/or measuring to be done around the house then please consider getting your child involved to give them some real world experiences of what a fraction actually is.
Finally, we would like to recommend introducing your children to BTN (Behind the News). It is important for the children to be gaining some general knowledge without always watching the news for adults. We will be watching the weekly BTN on Friday's in class but there are many other episodes that are worth watching.
Junior Unit news
Greetings from the Junior Unit! On Friday the 13th of November students had the pleasure of celebrating NAIDOC DAY! It was such a wonderful day filled with informative activities, craft and games! Students were lucky enough to even listen to their fellow peers who shared incredible artefacts they had brought from home. A big thank you to everyone who was involved in planning the day it was a huge success!
Foundation Unit News
On Friday the children enjoyed participating in the Naidoc Day activities. Thank you to the children who brought in some special artefacts from home to share with the class. Congratulations to Oliver Harradine for going to the middle and senior unit to talk to them about his items from home.
Today is the second orientation session for the new Foundation students that will be attending St Paul's in 2021. It was lovely to see the increased confidence from their session last week when they entered the school this morning.
My New Gallery
Technology News
With last Wednesday being Remembrance Day, the Junior Unit students took the opportunity to learn a little more about the significance of the poppy. Students applied the principles of the Engineering Design Process to:
ASK questions to develop a deeper understanding of what a poppy looks and feels like,
IMAGINE the type of materials they could use and how they would use them to build a poppy,
PLAN their final design by verbally describing what they will use and how,
BUILD a poppy from their chosen materials to match their plan
The end result was a large display of wonderfully designed and build poppies.
Coding with Sphero
Students in the Middle and Senior Units have continued to challenge themselves as they learn to design, modify and follow algorithms involving sequences of steps, branching, and iteration. Having the Sphero robots to test out their code has been super fun.
Religious Education News
Sacrament of First Eucharist
Over the past two weeks, the following students have celebrated their Sacrament of First Eucharist. Congratulations to:
Lilliana Bush, Oliver Capp, Harper Caristo, Jessica Cavello, Tiarna DeMaria, Nicola DeMaria, Sofia Echanes, Christian Fidura, Livinia Fitzgerald, Maddilyn Gibson, William Hogan, Lily Jamieson, Zac Scott, Darcy Silcox, Alliyah Silorio, Harry Stanger, Darcy Strubelj, Macki Tickle and Vanessa Trajceski.
Given the circumstances of 2020, the Sacramental Program and Celebrations have been very different to past years. Just because we weren't able to celebrate with you and your families, does not mean we are any less proud of each of you and your commitment to your faith.
Socktober - Missions Update
It was with great excitment, students in Year 5 & 6 finally got to take on the staff in the Socktober Sock it to Poverty Shoot Out last Thursday. Students and staff made the most of their shots at goal. Mrs Powell started the event with the first shot at goal and Miss Burt made sure she warmed up properly before her turn. For the students Ava Gemits was on fire as Goalie, the staff weren't going to slip one by her. Part way through the sockball needed some minor repairs. When it was the students turn to shoot for the goals, they put up a great fight but were no challenge for Mr M and Mr Freeman. As excited as the students were that this day had finally arrived, unfortunately they were equally as disappointed when the staff reigned supreme with a 2-0 victory.
More importantly, students in years 3-6 were able to engage in an authentic experience and gained a greater appreciation for what a small part of life is be like for children less fortunate than themselves. A special thank you to the students that took the time to arrange both the student and staff teams, set up the event on the day and even arrange fantastic student commentators.
Arts News
Our St Paul's Virtual Concert is in full swing this week! We have been having so much fun getting dressed up in costumes and starting the filming process. Here is a reminder of the items that need to be sent to school for this week and next.
Concert items to bring from home in a bag clearly named.
J4 -- Colourful clothes/ hats, headbands etc (whatever you have at home)
J5 -- Plain white shirt, sunglasses
J6 -- Christmas shirt
M1 -- Casual clothes of choice (no green)
M2 -- Plain white shirt, jacket or vest (if you have one), sunglasses
M9 - Plain white shirt, goggles (if you own some)
Grade Fives -- Plain white shirt, black shorts
Grade Six - Casual clothes of choice
***If your child's class is not listed, everything that they need will be provided for them.
Even our sensational staff members have braved the camera this week for their own concert song!
Getting in the spirit
NAIDOC DAY 2020
We had a wonderful NAIDOC day on Friday. A big shout out to our indigenous students who shared their culture and stories with us.
Hands Up Mallee
All classes have brain food in their classes at approximately 10:00 a.m. each morning and are expected to have brain food with them.
Carrot sticks, Celery sticks, Plain popcorn, Snow peas, Cucumber, Capsicum, Apples, Bananas, Grapes, Plain yoghurt, any fruit in season – there are lots of yummy stone fruits and melons in season at the moment. Frozen pineapple rings, Cherry tomatoes, Cheese sticks, Sultanas, Rice cakes – lots of healthy options for the students to bring!
While the humble apple is a great lunch box filler (sturdy and hard to squash), consider cutting softer fruit up and putting it into a smaller container for protection. Berries and kiwi fruit survive very well this way.
Don’t forget to also make sure that your child has a water bottle as well. Especially while the students are only able to use the water stations to fill their water bottles (not drink from them).
Breakfast Club Roster | ||
Friday: Alissa Ovenden Ithika Parvez | Monday: Sarah Richmond Leticia Sapuppo | Wednesday: Gabrielle Smith Vivian Thai |
Physical Education News
This week, our sports shed reopened for borrowing. Everyone, especially our house leaders, were very excited to be able to borrow and return a wider range of equipment this week!
Senior & Middle classes: tried the Rubik's Cube Challenge again this week, with the added difficulty of having an extra row to arrange in order. The Target game of bocce was introduced this week, with the children all enjoying the fun and different skills this game has to offer.
Foundations: continued their dance unit this week. They learned how to join in and move to different musical games such as the Magic Shoe Box and Musical Statues.
Juniors: had a fun new range of different balls to throw and catch this week. The children really enjoyed the different sizes, textures and appearance of the balls, enabling them to throw even further and still catch them successfully.
PE lessons
Parent Noticeboard
MIldura Life Saving Club - Nippers program
About the Nippers program
Nippers is a beach & river education program that introduces children aged 5 to 13 years to lifesaving in Mildura.
The program is about children participating in safe, fun and organised activities in a beach environment; preparing them to be future lifesavers.
The Nipper Education Program caters for all manner of experience and skill levels of participants and it happens on Sunday mornings during summer.
The emphasis is focused on fun and education, regardless of development stages to ensure experiences are positive and affirmative.
Tennis Come and Try Day
Mildura Lawn Tennis Club is holding a free come and try tennis day on Saturday 28 November
Sacred Heart Parish Bulletin
Weekend - 14th & 15th November 2020