Newsletter #12 May 5
Principal's News
Dear St Paul's families,
Welcome to the weekly update. We had a wonderful assembly on Friday acknowledging our cross country champions as well as our overall house winner. Congratulations to all involved, especially the children for their participation, Mrs Mitchell for coordinating the event and you the parents for your ongoing support. It was a great way to wrap up the week. Today we have a number of students representing St Paul's in the Interschool Cross Country Championships at the Aero ovals. I am sure they will try their best and represent our school community with great pride.
Hopefully you enjoyed the beautiful sunshine over the weekend, however, it has not lasted long with quite a chilly blast yesterday. It's a good time to check that your child's school jumper is clearly labelled and they are wearing appropriate clothing. We certainly don't want our children falling ill this early in the term.
2022 Enrolments
This week we have been conducting our Open Day Guided Learning Walks with our prospective 2022 families. Our format has changed to provide more tours over three days for parents to attend and to also provide a more personal experience for them. We will be following up with interviews in the coming weeks. If you have not contacted the office to make an interview appointment, please do so as soon as possible.
Tomorrow we have our Mother's Day Stall. Each class has been allocated a time to visit the stall to purchase a gift for mum, grandma or someone special in their life. I hope you all enjoy the whole school BYO shared lunch on Friday, followed by the Mother's Day Liturgy. Thank you Ms Jess for your organisation of the Liturgy and thank you Mrs Gibson for organising the stall.
Next week the Year 3 and 5 children will be participating in the NAPLAN assessments as a part of our standardised testing program implemented by the government. The NAPLAN assessment is just another piece of data that we use to gain an insight to where the children are at in their learning a moment in time. We have many other assessment tools that we use throughout the year to gain a better understanding of your child's development and growth
Congratulations to this week's Milestone achievers.
BEE MILESTONE: Samisoni Vea, Jasper Trinh, Justin Tran, Blair Traeger, Pheonix Toutai, Hunter Rayson, Sarah Richmond, Aidan Silcox, Darcy Silcox, Alliyah Silorio, Sylvia-Jade Simmons, Olivia Smith, Aisha Smythe, Jed Thomas, Spencer Kimpton, William Langford, Monica Leslie, Alia Lijo, Charlene Lion, Meranda Miller, Paityn Miller, Olivia Puleio, Aaysha Ram, Elena Akkus, Felix Blanchard, Darcey Bysouth, James Echanes, Jasmin Gill, Lucien Graham O'Connor, Cohen Hately, Naomi Havea, Emmy Rayson
HIVE MILESTONE: Olivia Prescott, Dan Boby, Niro Arden
Enjoy the rest of the week and for our St Paul's mums, have a wonderful Mother's Day!
As always
Keep the Faith!
Vince Muscatello
SENIOR UNIT NEWS
Welcome to Week 3!
Next week the grade 5 students will be participating in NAPLAN while the grade 6 students will be doing an alternative activity. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to let your child's teacher know.
Yesterday, Phil Kettle came to wow us with his amazing writing skills and the importance of reading. Phil was actually born in Mildura, and lived in Cardross. This made his visit even more special.
In maths we have been learning about flips, turns and transformations. Students used their initial to show these transformations.
Middle Unit News
As the weeks fly by it’s hard to believe we are in week three. This week students have been introduced to NAPLAN. We have explained what NAPLAN is and the process that will take place next week. We have exposed students to some practice tests so that they know what to expect. The students have done a great job of attempting the questions. Once again if your child is in grade 3 and you are concerned about your child sitting the test next week please see your classroom teacher.
On Tuesday this week the students were lucky to get a visit from the author Phil Kettle. Phil writes the books Toocool, Boyz Rule, Get Real, Girlz Rock, I Can Be, Our Australia, Marcy & Billy Kool. During the presentation students learnt about the different things that happened in Phil’s childhood and how he used these to inspire his stories. He gave the students ideas and hints for writing their own stories and we cant wait to use some of these ideas.
In Religion we have been exploring the concept Growth. We have been talking with students about what growth means to them. We have discussed how it may mean physical growth, it could be about the growth in our environment and it could be about how we grow as people. Students listened to an inspiring story about Abdoulie Asim and how he was able to overcome some of his challenges to help him grow. Students have created an art piece that represents their understanding of growth. It would be lovely to discuss this with your child.
Below are some pictures of our “Growth” artwork that is in progress
Junior Unit News
Hi Junior Families. Welcome to Week 3!
As the weather is getting cooler, the students are wearing their jumpers and often taking them off during the day. Please ensure their jumpers are clearly named so we don't end up with an overflowing lost property box.
In Maths, we have begun learning about addition. We have been learning a range of strategies we can use to add numbers together. Some students have been learning how to count on and others have been learning how we can partition numbers by splitting the numbers into smaller parts using their place value.
In Reading and Writing, we have been focusing on Information Reports. This week, the students have watched a short documentary on sharks. Each class worked together to record facts the students could remember to support them in writing their own information report.
During sport this week, the students had lots of fun developing their fundamental movement skills. This week the students practiced a range of skills including balance poses, throwing, dribbling by hand, dribbling by foot and dodging. The students always enjoy getting outside and moving their bodies!
You may have noticed, or been told about our Junior Unit Teddy Bear’s Picnic this Thursday! This activity is a part of the student’s learning in Religion, where the students have been exploring what it means to invite and gather with others. The students have created an invite for their teddy to come and join them on Thursday for a Junior Unit brainfood picnic. Students are asked to bring in their brain food as per normal.
On behalf of the Junior Unit, we would like to wish all the special friends, nannas and mums a very Happy Mother’s Day. We hope the students give you a much deserved sleep in, eat all their vegetables and give you all the hugs and kisses you deserve.
Foundation Unit News
This week the Foundation children have been learning about the following things:
Maths - how to read, write, order, match the numbers up to 20
Writing - how to write a recount of the weekend
Religion - what bucket fillers and bucket dippers are
Reading - decode words and read decodeable texts
Spelling - to recognise the SATPIN phonemes and writing mini stories
We had a special visitor to the school - Phil Kettle the author of some of the books in our Library.
We have also been busy making a special surprise for our mums on Mother's Day. We hope you love it! We would like to take the opportunity to wish all Mothers and Grand Mothers a very special time with your loved ones on Sunday.
Religious Education News
It was lovely to see so many of our St Paul's students at Mass over the weekend, receiving a copy of the creed in preparation for the sacrament of Confirmation in a couple of weeks time.
It was also beautiful to see many of our families from the Filipino community celebrating "Flores de Mayo" on Sunday, by covering the alter in beautiful flowers and dressing in gorgeous white gowns, to honour Mary.
Technology News
Middle and Senior Unit students have put their 'Design Thinking' hats on this week, as they began applying the Engineering Design Process to imagine and plan solutions to a solve a presented challenge.
Students in the Middle Unit are learning how food and fibre are produced in modern and traditional societies. This week, they were faced with the challenge of growing food in traditional ways that promote sustainability. Students were quick to identify edible plants that can be grown from food scraps, such as lettuce, spring onions and sweet potato and how this can be done. Next week students will put their designed solutions to the test and see if they can grow some edible plants from humble food scraps.
In the Senior unit students are learning to understand how and why food and fibre are produced in managed environments. The learning has focussed on controlling growing environments by managing soil quality. This week students investigated how worm farms work and can aid in improved soil quality, then drew their own design for a mini worm farm. Next week, they will have the opportunity create their designed solution.
Donations Needed
For students to be able to create their designed solutions, we are in need of more donations of the following items. Thank you to those people who have already sent in items:
- 1.25 - 2L softdrink/water bottles
- 2 & 3L milk bottles
- med - large tin cans
- med - large yoghurt containers
- a variety of other recyclable plastic 'containers' that could be used as pots for planting.
Rinse these items well and send them in to the Technology room, we will be very greatful.
Something For Parents
Don't forget the eSafety Commissioner is offering free access to their webinar - eSafety's Guide to Parental Controls at the following times:
- Tuesday 4 May 12.30 to 1.30 pm
- Wednesday 5 May 12.30 to 1.30 pm
- Thursday 6 May 7.30 to 8.30 pm
- Tuesday 8 June 12.30 to 1.30 pm
- Wednesday 16 June 7.30 to 8.30 pm
To learn more about utilising parental controls and device safety settings to help kids and young people stay safe online, register for this free opportunity by clicking the link below.
Until next week, remember - technology is just a tool, what matters is how we use it.
Mrs Simms
Arts News
We are having SO much fun in the Arts room this term, with our main focus being DRAMA.
The seniors have been looking closely at how scripts are written, in particular the importance of stage direction.
The middles are investigating the 10 elements of Drama including; scripts, characters, dialogue, scenes and props.
Our juniors have been practising using facial expression, body language and voice to show different emotions in drama.
Showing Emotion
Wellbeing News
Child Information Sharing and Family Violence Reforms - Information for Parents and Carers
Sharing information to support child wellbeing and safety
From 19 April 2021 (Term 2) all Victorian government and non-government schools and centre-based education and care services (eg. long day care, kindergarten and outside school hours care), will be prescribed as Information Sharing Entities under the Victorian Government’s Child Information Sharing Scheme (CISS) and the Family Violence Information Sharing Scheme(FVISS).
These Information Sharing Schemes have expanded the ability of schools and services to collaborate and share relevant confidential information with other authorised Information Sharing Entities to promote the wellbeing and safety of children, and to assess and manage family violence risk. Information can only be shared under the Schemes by organisations prescribed as Information Sharing Entities.
The Information Sharing Schemes were introduced in response to Royal Commissions, coronial inquests and independent inquiries over the past decade that identified poor information sharing as a barrier to service collaboration with detrimental outcomes for children and families.
Phase One of implementation of the schemes commenced in September 2018 and included key services, such as Child Protection, Maternal and Child Health Services and Victoria Police. From 19 April 2021, as part of Phase Two, universal services such as education and health will be authorised to share information using the Schemes.
The Information Sharing Schemes complement and expand upon existing information sharing and child protection laws and do not replace already existing authorisation to share information such as the Child Safe Standards, reporting to Child Protection or Victoria Police, the Reportable Conduct Scheme and other privacy and information sharing laws.
Further information regarding these Whole of Government Reforms can be found on the Victorian Government website:
https://www.vic.gov.au/information-sharing-schemes-and-the-maram-framework
NAPLAN - Grades 3 & 5
NAPLAN is conducted on May 11th - 13th of May. All students in grade 3 and 5 are expected to sit these four assessments - Mathematics, Writing, Reading and Language Conventions. If you have concerns or questions regarding NAPLAN please see your child's teacher or Melissa Sutherland.
Hands Up Mallee
In this weeks’ newsletter, I have included some tips from Kids Matter, which gives us some key points for supporting children’s friendship skills that they can use throughout their life.
Provide children with opportunities to play with others
Children gain experience and learn important social skills from playing with friends. This could involve encouraging them to think about what games the other child would like to play when they arrive, or deciding whether to share all of their toys or only some.
Teach positive social skills
Little things like smiles, looking at the person, knowing names and using a confident, friendly voice can make a big difference when making friends. Teach one behaviour or social skill at a time and make sure the child is able to do it before teaching them another skill.
Be a coach
Coaching involves prompting, reminding and encouraging children to use the skills they have learned. Support children’s learning by giving positive feedback and praise.
Help children solve friendship conflicts
Talking through problems with a supportive adult helps the children to think about what happens, how they feel about it and what to do next. Thinking things through like this helps to build more mature social skills.
Breakfast Club Roster | ||
Friday: 7th May Tuan N Sarah R | Monday: 10th May Darcy Silcox Alliyah S | Wednesday: 12th May Olivia S Vivian T |