Newsletter #36 November 25
Principal's News
Dear St Paul's Families,
I hope you got through the extremely hot weekend and more importantly are better prepared for this coming weekend. We have certainly been experiencing some unusual weather patterns of late with heat, dust, wind and rain all rolled into one. So whatever you are doing this weekend, make sure you are well hydrated if outside.
Last Thursday and Friday staff, students and parents were involved in our External School Review. We met with a panel over two days reviewing our school's performance over the last 5 years and also planning ahead for the future. I am very pleased to say that the panel were grateful for the opportunity to meet with us and also very impressed with our sense of community and how we conduct ourselves. It shows how important it is for us to continue to work together in making St Paul's what it is today. They were impressed with the work we have been doing in Learning, Teaching and Wellbeing. Of particular note, was the importance they placed on the relationship between academic success and wellbeing. You can't have one without the other. I would like to thank the Review Panel members: Malcolm Joseph, Chris Robarts, Sandra Harvey, Ange Jones and in particular, Mark Gibson for their involvement throughout this process. A special congratulations to Mark who has been appointed as the new principal of Sacred Heart. We have set three new priorities to focus on over the next five years and will begin the process of planning and implementing strategies to meet those priorities. In a couple of weeks’ time we will receive our final report based on our review. Thank you to everyone involved from filling in surveys to sitting in google meets with the review panel. St Paul's is headed in the right direction.
Last night our School Advisory Council met to finalise details for our Annual General Meeting on Monday 30th November. This will be held via Google Meet at 7.00pm. The link will be made available on SIMON daily messages as well as our Facebook page for those families that wish to join. We still have 3 vacancies on the School Advisory Council to be filled for 2021. Please see below for Nomination form. If you would like to know more about it, please contact our current members: Lauren Droffelaar, Loretta Ghidinelli , Julie Humphrey, Kelly Nowak and Jack Freeman for further information.
We had originally put in a grant submission to upgrade the staffroom and provide additional toilets for the senior students. Just recently we received notification that our submission was unsuccessful. While I am disappointed I have another opportunity to resubmit our application early next year. Hopefully the news will be better third time around.
This week we will also be conducting interviews for a replacement teacher for Mrs Regester for the 2021 school year. Mrs Regester will be returning to South Australia next year. There will be an opportunity to formally farewell her before the end of the school year. You will be notified of the new appointment in next week's newsletter.
As you are all aware the State government has been making lots of announcements regarding the easing of restrictions in Victoria. I am awaiting further advice from Catholic Education Ballarat which should be arriving today. It is anticipated that we will be able to have parents join us for the Year 6 Graduation ceremony, however, there will still be some restrictions in place regarding numbers attending. The date is still the same however the format and time most likely will change. At least we can finally do something together!
As of the 1st January 2021 the governance of our Catholic primary schools will change and will be transferred over to the newly formed company, Diocese of Ballarat Catholic Education Ltd (DOBCEL). This means that Fr Matthew, as our parish priest, will no longer be our employer. The DOBCEL board, under the guidance of the Bishop of Ballarat, will oversee the governance of all our Catholic schools in the Ballarat Diocese. As we transition to this new form of governance, today the Executive Director of Catholic Education Ballarat, Mr Tom Sexton, along with Tracey O'Neil, Chair of the DOBCEL Board and Father Matthew will be signing the transfer agreement here at school. It will be a very brief ceremony at 11.00am.
Welcome today also to our new foundation children for 2021 as they continue their orientation program. This will be their third session. There will be more updates for parents regarding the information session which will be in the form of a webinar this year. An information letter will be sent home with the children today. Thank you to Mrs Heeps and Mrs Simms for organising this.
Congratulations to this week's Gotcha winners. I was fortunate yesterday to have afternoon tea with some of the students as well. I love the stories they tell me about their busy social lives on the weekend. Oh, to be a child again!
25 GOTCHA AWARDS: Chaunte Clark, Lucas Nguyen, Harshveer Khangura, Zander Hateley, Sophie Freeth, Cooper Chapple, Rosy Senior, Sophie Lloyd, Dustin Kennedy, Gabriel Williams & Mia Campbell
50 GOTCHA AWARDS: Soobhanah Parvez, Jontae Moraitis, India Droffelaar, Faye Ratcliffe, Ava Fidura, Sam-Soni Ahotaeiloa, Taiana Moala & Jensen Mitchell
Have a great week everyone and stay safe.
As always Keep the Faith!
Vince Muscatello
ADMINISTRATION NEWS
**2021 School Fees**
Thank you to parents who have returned their 2021 Fee forms back to the office promptly. If you haven't yet returned your 2021 Fee Form (green) please complete and return back to the office immediately.
Once we received your form a follow up Payment Option (white) form was/will be sent home. This needs to be returned back to the office ASAP.
If you have any queries don’t hesitate to contact the office.
Senior Unit News
Handwriting Club
Mrs McGlashan has been working with small groups of students to improve their handwriting, both in cursive script and joining. The groups have been practising on a range of mediums to enhance their handwriting skills. We are very proud of their acheivements and dedication.
Handwriting Club Gallery
Excursion Reminders
Over the next 2 weeks we have a number of excursions planned. It is essential that you provide consent via the Simon Everywhere App. If we do not have consent for your child to participate in the excursion, we are unfortuately unable to take them on the excursion. Below is a summary of the upcoming excursions:
- Tuesday 1st December - Grade 6 Fun Afternoon at the Waves Outdoor Pool. Students will need to bring bathers, hat, sunscreen, towel. Students to wear their sports uniform. We will be travelling to and from the venue by bus.
- Wednesday 9th December - Grade 5/6 Camp day - visiting Sunraysia Ten Pin Bowling then Jaycee Park for a pizza lunch (provided). Students to please wear their sports uniform and pack a drink bottle, snacks and hat.
- Thursday 10th December - Grade 5/6 Camp Day - leaving school at 9am, we will be visiting the Perry Sandhills, Darling and Murray River Junction for lunch (packed), then the Wentworth Pool. Students are to wear their sports uniform and bring a packed lunch, snacks, drink bottle, bathers, towel, hat and sunscreen.
Grade 6 Graduation - UPDATE
With the easing of restrictions recently announced, we will now be holding our Graduation Liturgy and Ceremony at Sacred Heart Church, followed by a meal at the Pizza Cafe on Sunday 13th December.
Please note the following:
- ALL Grade 6 students are to be at Sacred Heart Church no later than 5.45pm. We will meet out the front of the Church.
- due to restrictions on numbers allowed to gather, we are only able to accomodate parents/caregivers of the Grade 6 students at the Graduation Liturgy and Ceremony
- After the Graduation Ceremony, all Grade 6 students are invited to the Pizza Cafe for dinner. Please enure that your child is delievered to the Pizza Cafe no later than 7.15pm. Your child will need to be collected by a parent/guardian at 8.15pm.
Middle Unit News
Hello Middle Unit families,
At school we will be moving onto learning about how to tell time. It is very important that students can read, represent and manipulate time on both a digital and an analogue clock. We use language like 'quarter past', 'half past' and 'quarter to'. As student progress we also like to get them thinking about how long something takes to complete by giving them the start and end times. You can focus on any of this at home by discussing time with your children. This frequent practice will help them quickly learn all about how to tell the time.
Next Wednesday, we are also moving onto coding using Scratch. If you have a device at home then ask your child to show you some of the things they have done. This program will help them to understand how computer programs are written and the children will be able to make small animations, games and quizzes.
Have a lovely weekend and try to stay cool!
Junior Unit news
During the past week the Junior Unit has been continuing to work on Persuasive writing, Division in Mathematics and discussing ‘Growing Older and Wiser’ in Mappen.
When working on Division problems the students have been using concrete materials to ‘share’ into equal groups. Sometimes we have even had to record the ‘left over’ amount. We have used things like paper plates to help us see the groups easily. ‘These plates sure help’ – Jett in J6.
Writing this week began with creating a ‘Mind Map’ of our ideas for ‘Junk Food v’s Healthy Food.’ The students chose the side of the argument they wanted to advocate for and recorded their ideas and reasons as a brainstorm before proceeding to write their persuasive piece.
As we have continued on with our Mappen topic we have been looking at the healthy Food Pyramid. After much discussion we categorised a number of food pictures into groups; fruit and vegetables, bread and grains, meat and protein, dairy, fats and oils; as well as ‘sometimes’ foods (High in sugar and salt).
You may notice in the photos Miss Riana ‘teaching’ J6 about the Food Pyramid activity. Riana received 50 Gotchas last week and as her reward she chose to be the teacher for an hour. Well done Riana, you did a great job!
Best Wishes for the week ahead! – Junior Unit Teachers.
Foundation Unit News
Next Thursday, 3rd December the Foundation Unit will be holding their Foundation Breakfast. This is part of the school Camp Program and all children are expected to attend. Children will arrive at school at 8am for a delicious breakfast of fresh fruits, cereals and pancakes. There will be a staff member at the gate to greet the children at 8am and they will then make their way to the hall for breakfast.
At 9am after breakfast, the children will be going by bus out to spend some time at Benetook Farms and they will return at 11am. Please give consent on SIMON Everywhere App for your child to attend. They will then be supplied with a pizza lunch and an icy pole back at school.
The children will complete a short activity to follow up their visit at Benetook Farms and then finish the day with the movie "Sing". It will be a lovely way to have some fun as we round up their Foundation year.
Excursion time!
Physical Education Update
It's been another fun and exciting week in PE here at St Paul's!
Senior & Middle classes: participated in a range of target activities this week. Bocce returned, this time with everyone using beanbags, and a new frisbee toss into a popup barrel was introduced. Quoits with a 5 pole stand to aim at were a challenge, with different scoring points for each pole creating a challenging competition within groups. The most popular game by far though, was the bucket catch! In teams, children threw a stringy ball to land in a bucket. The rules were changed often to include things such as the bucket being held by a team mate, throwing from under one leg, running up to catch with the bucket, or the bucket must be held behind someone's back. When the ball successfully reached the bucket target, that student could choose a piece of duplo to add to their team's tower. Once all the duplo was used up, the tallest tower was the winner. With each class choosing the teams to be boys verses girls, the cheering was especially enthusiastic!
Foundations: enjoyed a third lesson of dance on Tuesday. They learned how to move their body to different types of music. The speed at which children could freeze in Musical Statues was much improved this week.
Juniors: had more fun this week with brightly coloured and different shaped objects. Children focused on working with a partner and taking turns at the roles of being the person to throw and being the person to catch.
Junior Catching
Senior Target Activities - Bucket Catch & Duplo Building
Technology News
It has been great to watch all students developing their critical and design thinking skills this term. Not to mention all the bonus skills they have been developing such as problem solving, creativity, curiosity, decision making, leadership, acceptance of failure, persistence, teamwork, empathy, resilience, patience and confidence.
Last week, Foundations put their design thinking skills to the test with a STEM challenge. After listening to the singing story, 'Chicka Chicka Boom Boom,' students were challenged to build their own 'alphabet tree.' Problem solving, persistence, patience and teamwork were only some of the skills displayed by all students.
Students in Grades 1 and 2 explored a range of familiar and new coding tasks. Not only did they build their critical thinking skills when following and describing algorithms, they were also developing their resilience, confidence, curiosity and decision making skills.
Attention Parents & Carers
Are you children playing the latest game craze, 'Among Us?'
If they are, or if they have asked to play it and you are weighing up the pros and cons, the flyer below and link provided has all the information you need to inform and empower yourself.
Until next week, remember...
TECHNOLOGY, like art, is a soaring EXERCISE of the human IMAGINATION ~Daniel Bell
Mrs Simms
Hands Up Mallee
Our Vending Machine has been out of order for some time now and we have decided to sell items from the machine as a stall. Items will be available for purchase at the beginning of recess time each day in Room 11.
Hats, hats, hats! Please make sure that your child has a school hat with their name clearly marked on it. The sun’s UV rays (even on overcast days) are extreme at the moment and we need to make sure that our children really understand the importance of wearing a hat and protecting their skin from too much exposure to the sun’s UV rays.
Breakfast Club Roster | ||
Friday: Joel Tuifua Oliver Welsh | Monday: Millie Ahotaeiloa Nathasha Allieu | Wednesday: Evan Beyer Russell Clark |