Newsletter #08 March 24

Principal's News

Dear St Paul's families,

Welcome to our weekly update. It's hard to believe that we only have a week to go before the holidays. This year Easter is at the beginning of the holidays, which is a welcome change. As always there are lots of things happening at school and this week is no different. 

STAFF UPDATE: I would like to announce today that Miss Gabrielle Burt, who teaches in Grade 3/4 with Mrs Byrnes, has resigned and will finish at the end of the term. I am sure you will join me in wishing Gabby all the best for the future and that we will certainly miss her humour, enthusiasm and joy of teaching here at St Paul's. Mrs Rhia Doherty, who is currently employed at St Paul's, will step into the classroom role to teach with Mrs Byrnes.  As a result of this Rhia will be replaced by Mr Shaun Emmett in supporting the Middle and Senior Unit. Whilst there have been a few changes, we are very fortunate that we have been able to find suitable replacements who are currently working with us. It has certainly made the transition so much easier for the children and staff alike. 

LEARNING SUPPORT OFFICERS PLACEMENT: This week I would like to welcome Maeva Lopez and Madeline Bertalli who are completing a Learning Support Officer placement here at St Paul's. We often see this as a wonderful learning opportunity for them as they get firsthand experience of what it is like to work in a school. Please make them feel welcome when you see them in Foundation and the Junior unit.

EASTER: As we come to the end of the term and prepare for Easter, we begin our Easter Week by celebrating Palm Sunday with the Sacred Heart Parish at 9.00am Mass. It would be lovely to see you join us in this special celebration at Sacred Heart church.

As Easter is at the beginning of the school holidays Term 1 will finish on Thursday 1st April at 2.30pm. We will be celebrating a whole school Holy Week liturgy in the hall at 9.15am Thursday morning.  Assembly will be at 1.45pm in the hall including the Easter continuous raffle.

TUTOR FUNDING PROGRAM: Last year we were notified by the government that we would receive some additional funding to support our children affected by the pandemic. As a result of this tutor funding program, we have employed some 3rd and 4th year preservice teachers from La Trobe university, Mildura Campus. These preservice teachers will be working across the school with children under the guidance of Mrs Thurman (English Leader) and Mrs Gibson (Deputy Principal Wellbeing). We are very grateful for the funding and see this as an excellent opportunity for the preservice teachers to gain some invaluable experience and provide additional support for our children as needed. It is a win-win for everyone!

 GOTCHA AWARD: Congratulations to Hayley Rowe who was our Gotcha winner drawn out of the new beehive barrel at assembly. Thank you once again to Mr Graham Moyle who generously donated his time and skills to make our new barrel. 

Congratulations to these week’s Bee Milestone achievers and to our first three Hive Milestone achievers. A wonderful effort by everyone.

BEE MILESTONE: Jett Yates, Emma Williams, Ari Williams, Oliver Welsh, Simione Vea, Jordan Tran, Jenny Tran, Vivian Thai, Darcy Strubelj, Dustin Scott, Keelan Roper, Lucas Nguyen, Jontae Moraitis, Jasper Mitchell, Jett Johnson, Angela Iang, Sienna Humphrey, Mike Hogan, Harvey Heagerty, Suiti Havea, Lucien Graham-O'Connor, Amaya Fangatua, Willow Droffelaar, Nimrat Dhaliwal, Nicola De Maria, Aaron Clarke, Kooper Carmichael, Emilia Capp, Harrison Burns, Samuella Allieu, Jessica Allieu

HIVE MILESTONE: Jessica Ram, Mila Pascale, Levi Morton,

SOCIAL MEDIA: On a more serious note, we spend a great deal of time and effort educating our children about being cyber safe and cyber smart at school and at home. It is also important that you as parents are a part of that learning journey and have the conversation with your children regarding what is and isn't acceptable. It becomes increasingly challenging for us, as teachers, when children engage in social media platforms outside of school and don't behave appropriately as it often impacts on their relationships and learning at school. I strongly encourage you to please talk to your children and monitor their social media use. Most of the social media platforms require a minimum age of 13. Mrs Simms regularly puts great tips and ideas in the Technology news section on our newsletters. It is well worth the read. 

As always

Keep the Faith

Vince Muscatello

Senior Unit News

During the past week senior students have been concentrating on proofreading and editing their historical narrative, as well as adding their own drawn (or traced) illustrations. This piece of work will be uploaded for parents to access at the completion of the term via Simon Everywhere. In addition student’s literacy skills have been continuosly developed by the usual scheduled classes of No-Nonsense Phonics and Spelling Mastery.

The Relationships and Sexuality unit has been focussing on helping our students understand the changes that they will experience as they progress through puberty. This unit is covered by using the Department of Education resource called ‘Catching on Early’. Parents are welcome to view the entire curriculum document by the following link: https://fuse.education.vic.gov.au/Resource/LandingPage?ObjectId=ee5cfd49-48e7-4698-a06d-37e2e21cbbd9&SearchScope=All

Please contact your child’s classroom teacher if you have any questions or concerns. The Western Australian Department of Health also has a useful parent resource for discussing puberty and sexuality with your child as well that can be accessed via this link.  https://healthywa.wa.gov.au/-/media/HWA/Documents/Healthy-living/Sexual-health/talk-soon-talk-often.pdf

Middle Unit News

We can't believe that we only have a week left of school (after this week) before the school holidays; time is flying. This week the students are learning how to upload their learning pieces onto Simon so that we are able to share them with you. For each learning piece the teachers will allocate ‘I cans' based on what the student can achieve. These will be uploaded and have comments by the end of the term.  It would be great if you are able to give your child the opportunity to discuss the learning task with you and your family. 

In RRRR we have been learning cooperative skills on how to work as a team. The students had a great time practising some skills while playing a game with balloons. They had so much fun doing this. Attached are some photos of the activity.  

As you will read in other areas of the newsletter at the end of the term we will farewell Miss Burt (a teacher of M2). Miss Burt has been a valuable member of our teaching team this year. We will miss her and wish her all the best on her new adventures. 

Mrs Byrnes, Mrs Baker, Miss Burt, Mr Freeman and Mr White

Junior Unit News

Hello Junior Families. Happy Week 9! 

Last Friday, the Junior Students gathered together to enjoy a Liturgy of the Word. It was a lovely way to celebrate our term of learning about ‘Belonging’. Thank you to the families who joined us and also to Father Matt for sharing his morning with us.

In Maths this week, we have begun learning about 2D shapes. The students have enjoyed engaging in a variety of activities in which they have been sorting shapes, making shapes, tracing shapes and recognising shapes in a game of shape bingo. We have been learning about the attributes of different 2D shapes for instance how many sides or corners the shapes have. 

In Writing, we have continued our learning on how to write a Narrative. When we write a Narrative, sometimes we use a picture to prompt us to write creatively. This week our picture is of a young girl and a t-rex. Here are some examples of the students writing so far:

• Once upon a time there was a little girl. Her name was Mila. She thought it was raining but it was a t-rex. Mila did not know if it was a t-rex while she was walking slowly on the path. - Cienna, J4
• There was a girl walking on the path and her name was Balla. She thought it was raining. But… a dinosaur came out of a portal and he was hungry. - Soobhanah, J4
• One cold day, in London, a girl named Kooper was walking along the street. Suddenly a big drop of water landed on Kooper and when she looked up she saw a t-rex! He told her his name was Rex and he had ice stuck in his mouth.  - Cooper C, J5
• One windy afternoon a little girl was walking on the side of the road. Suddenly it started to rain so she got her umbrella out but it was not raining on the other side. It was a t-rex but she didn’t know. - Bridie, J5
  
• Mum and dad took Bella to the museum because it was a nice and sunny day. They were looking at a fake t-rex but suddenly the t-rex was coming to life! Bella was so scared. - Lam J7
  
• On a sunny day Azzy went out to play and it started to dribble slobber. So she put on her raincoat and she looked behind her she saw a dinosaur. - Sofia J8
• One day there was a girl and a dinosaur. They were on the bridge. But then the bridge broke! They both fell in the water. - Joe J6
• One day a girl was walking down the park then a t-rex was chasing the girl but the girl ran away. - Skylar J6

Next Thursday, the students will be participating in a whole school Holy Week Liturgy at 9:15 in the Hall. After the Liturgy the Junior and Foundation Students will come together to eat their brainfood outside the Hall before we begin our Easter Bonnet Parade. We welcome all families to come join your child/ren while they eat their brainfood.  The parade will begin at approximately 10:15. The Junior Students will be creating their Easter Bonnet at school during week 10. 

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Foundation Unit News

Arts News

Check out these absolutely fantastic plasticine monsters that our Middle Unit students have created! Next week the children will learn how to remove the background of their monster and place it in its habitat. Stay tuned for the finished products! SO MUCH FUN!!

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The Junior Unit students' sunflowers are now proudly displayed in the middle of the school as you walk through the library. They look absolutely stunning and you can't help but smile when you walk past! Well done to those children who were selected to share their artwork at assembly last week and to Jed for your great reading!

Sunflowers

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The above art competition is open to ALL school aged children. They can create something at home or come into the art room over the next week to create a piece. If you would like a copy of your child's sunflower art piece to enter, please email me.

Ms Jess :)

Technology News

Over the past 3 weeks, students in Year 5 & 6 have been exploring how digital footprints are created and how they can impact on a person's future.  Students have spent their time exploring:

• what they would like their digital footprint to reveal about their future self.
• how a positive digital footprint  is created by carefully considering what they post & share online. 
• why it is important their digital footprint is a positive reflection of themselves.

Students have also compared what they post and share online with tattoos; both are permanent - even if you delete them, there is still a trace left behind.

By the end of the term, students will upload a piece of work that demonstrates their understanding of the learning to their digital learning portfolio via 'Simon Everywhere' for parents/carers to access and view.

Until next week remember, the internet gave us access to everything; but it also gave everything access to us.

Mrs Narelle Simms

Young People and Social Media Usage

• Social media is a big part of social and creative life for many young people.
• Social media benefits include connection, learning and creativity.
• Risks include exposure to inappropriate content, cyberbullying and data breaches.

Whether known and approved by parents or in secret, many of our students, your children, are accessing social media platforms and apps on a regular basis.  While, under supervised conditions, the benefits of using social media can be beneficial for young people, the risks cannot be ignored and include:

• being exposed to inappropriate or upsetting content, like mean, aggressive, violent or sexual comments or images.
• uploading inappropriate content, like embarrassing or provocative photos or videos of themselves or others.
• sharing personal information with strangers – for example, phone numbers, date of birth or location.
• cyberbullying.
• exposure to too much targeted advertising and marketing.
• data breaches, like having their data sold on to other organisations.

The greatest risk to your children is the effect on student relationships, wellbeing and their learning when issues surrounding social media use outside of school, in particular cyberbullying and creating and sharing inappropriate content about others, occurs and spills over into students school day. 

Active supervision of students when online at home and talking are the best ways to protect your child from social media risks. Talking gives you the opportunity to help your child:

• work out how they want to treat other people and be treated online – for example, you can encourage your child to make only positive comments.
• understand the risks involved in using social media – for example, your child might be tagged in an embarrassing photo taken at a party.
• learn how to navigate the risks – for example, if your child posts an identifiable selfie, they can reduce risk by not including any other personal information.
• learn what to do if people ask for personal details, are mean or abusive online, post embarrassing photos of your child, or share information that links back to them.

Get trusted information about internet safety from the Office of the eSafety Commissioner where you will find resources, activities and tips to help you start a chat about online safety.

Religious Education News

Congratulations to those students who will be recieving the Sacrament of First Reconciliation this Wednesday and Thursday evenings at the Sacred Heart Church.

Physical Education News

Rugby League:

Our Middle and Senior rugby league teams will be competing against other schools next week, Seniors on Tuesday and Middles on Wednesday. If your child is involved, please ensure you provide your child with consent on the SIMON Everywhere App this week.

Foundations:

Our Foundation classes have been working on their underarm throwing skills for the past few weeks. Here are some photos of the students enjoying our bucket catching challenge game where they were allowed to add a building block to their team tower when they successfully threw their object into the bucket.

Foundation Bucket Challenge Game

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Hands Up Mallee

Looking for some inspiration to keep the kids occupied during the upcoming holidays? Start planning now! The Get Active Victoria website has some great tips and ideas for the whole family to do. Set yourself and the kids goals, sync your tracking device, receive reminder notifications etc. Get Active Victoria is free to join, and gives you access to a huge resource of tips and tools for being more physically active. You won’t need any fancy gear and expensive equipment to try our guided videos or activity ideas. We can also help with motivation, bringing together a goal-setting tool and an activity tracker on your own personal dashboard. Get Active Victoria has something for everyone. Join the movement, today. Check it out https://www.getactive.vic.gov.au/about/

Sunraysia Catholic Communities Bulletin

Continuous Raffle Draw

Congratulations to the following families who won a prize in the  Continuous raffle drawn on Friday 19th March.

• Football, Frisbee & Zee Rocket  won by Akkus family
• Bash set, Football & Notepad  won by Mammone family
• Hula Hoop & Rebel sports voucher won by Ari Williams family

The next raffle (Easter raffle) will be drawn Thursday 1st April.

Donations for raffle can be left at the office.

END OF TERM 1 2021

Tomorrow, Thursday 1st April 2021 is the last day of school for Term 1.  
**School will finish at the earlier time of 2.25pm.**  
The school buses will be running to an earlier time table.  Parents of children who make a connection to normal Main Road City Buses, please note that these buses run to the normal timetable.
Monday 19th April is a Pupil Free day, Professional Development day for staff.   Term 2 Classes for students will resume again on TUESDAY 20th April 2021.

Parent Noticeboard

Enrol now for Small Group Music Therapy for Kids in Term 2 2021 at Sunraysia Arts and Learning

We still have some spots available in our small group music therapy program for kids!!

Join us for our specially tailored programs in our custom studios with our qualified and passionate music therapists Alida and Lewis. Sunraysia Arts and Learning is an NDIS provider.

Music therapy can support progress towards communication, social/emotional, self regulation, gross and fine motor goals in a fun and engaging environment.

Term 2 Programs

Tuesday 4.40-5.25pm           8-14 years           Lewis

Wednesday 9-9.45am          0-5 years             Alida

Wednesday 5.40-6.40pm     6-12 years           Alida

Saturdays 9-9.45am             0-5 years             Alida

Saturdays 10-11am              6-12 years           Alida (very limited spots available  - book now!)

To register your interest contact Catherine on 0420939229 or catherine@sunraysiaartsandlearning.com.au

WARATAHS HOCKEY CLUB ~ “COME AND TRY” NIGHTS

Tuesday 23rd and Tuesday 30^th March.

All ages welcome. Time -> 5.30 – 6.30pm. Venue -> Sunraysia Hockey Turf, Old Aerodrome Ovals, Mildura. Some equipment available for loan though players need to bring own mouth guard (available at pharmacies).                                                               

Enquiries to waratahshockeyclub@gmail.com. See you there!