Newsletter #16 June 9

Principal's News

Dear St Paul's families,

Welcome to this week's news. 

The phrase "Here we go again" has been circulating over the last week as we ponder what may happen next with the restrictions. Whilst it is the talking point of everyone, adults and children alike, it is important for us to continue to focus on what we can control. For us as educators, it's ensuring that our children are happy, safe and engaged in the learning at school. Let's continue to focus on that and remain positive. Unfortunately, children are very good at picking up the vibes we give off. Our anxiousness and frustration at times can be felt by them as well and they do not necessarily know how to deal with it. Our three norms at school are easily transferable to home as we continue to remind our children to " Be Safe, Be Respectful and Be Your Best".  If we can mirror those at home, we are one step closer to  helping our children to become more resilient  as young people.

SENIOR UNIT CAMP: This week we will have a definite response regarding the Senior Unit Camp which is scheduled for the last week of this term. We are in regular communication with Urban Camps in Melbourne and Catholic Education Ballarat to ensure we have all the information necessary to make a decision. This is all dependent on the next State Government announcement regarding restrictions for Victoria, both metropolitan and regional.

ASSEMBLY: We will be hosting assembly this week, however, at this stage it will be for staff and students only. 

COVID SIGN IN:  Our current restrictions require parents who are on site for longer than 15 minutes must sign in using the QR Code provided and any parent coming inside must also wear a mask. 

FOUNDATION ENROLMENTS 2022: Our enrolments for Foundation 2022 have officially closed.  If for some reason you have not contacted the office regarding your child's enrolment for next year, you must do so no later than this Friday 11th June or run the risk of missing out on a place. 

Congratulations to this week's award winners for following our norms.
BEE MILESTONE:Bella Tardio, Sofia Tardio, Zach Garland, Zalee Le Poidevin, Deji Obatoki, Jackson Rowbotham, Alice Blanchard, Lola Droffelaar, Livinia Fitzgerald, Isabella Edwards, Sophie Freeth,

HIVE MILESTONE: Dustin Simmons, Holliee Tickle, Angus Hissey, Harlow Johnson, Ashton McDonald, Max Millsteed, Parker Mott, Soobhanah Parvez, Milan Caristo, Laura Cifra, Aaron Clarke, Estee Clifford, Finn Droffelaar,

UPCOMING EVENTS:
Queen's Birthday Long weekend.  This Monday 14th June is the Queen's Birthday Public Holiday.  School will be closed. 
St Paul's Feast Day- is scheduled for next Friday 18th June, however, this may change pending the Senior Unit Camp decision.

I would like to leave you with this quote from  Pope Francis
“The pandemic has highlighted how vulnerable and interconnected everyone is. If we do not take care of one another, starting with the least, with those who are most impacted, including creation, we cannot heal the world.”
As always
Keep the Faith !

Vince Muscatello

ST PAUL'S FEAST DAY

St Paul's Feast Day- is normally held on the last Friday of Term 2.  As we have Gr 5/6 Camp scheduled on that date then St Paul's Feast Day will be held Friday 18th June.  If camp is cancelled it will return to Friday 25th June.

Students will celebrate a whole School Mass in the morning, followed by some whole class 'Minute to Win it' Games.  Students will also spend time looking at our Patron Saint Paul,  and learn about the history of St Paul's School.

Lunch will be provided for students on this day.  Lunch will consist of your child's choice of pie/party pies/sausage roll or pastie.  If your child does not eat any of these, please ensure that you provide lunch for them.

SENIOR NEWS

It has been fantastic having the students back onsite after our short lockdown.  

CAMP - We are still unsure if we will be heading to Melbourne for the senior camp on Monday 21st June.  Hopefully we will hear something today about the easing of restrictions in Melbourne so that the Catholic Education Ballarat can make a decision about whether we can travel.  As soon as we know something we will let students and parents know.  

This week we have been working hard on the writing genre of reports.  Students have spent time learning about paraphrasing and note taking.  Students will complete a "CD cover style" report on Solar Eclipses.  

In our Rights, Resilience and Respectful Relationships Program we have been focusing on Stress Management.  Next week students will come up with 10 favourite ways to calm down or relax.  

In School Wide Positive Behaviour Lessons we have been focused on 'Being Respectful' by looking after our environment.  Students are being taught to recycle rubbish using a system like we have in our homes.  Students are being encouraged to separate soft plastics, paper, food scraps and general rubbish.

Middle Unit News

It has been great to see everyone’s faces back at school this week. Thank you to all our students and their parents/guardians for being so resilient last week in our lockdown. We are very grateful to be back learning at school this week and look forward to a great couple of weeks to end the term. 

This week in Literacy we have continued exploring Jackie French's books and we are working to write narratives using a similar style. It is great to see the language choices that our students are using. 

Students have been exploring their learning goals. They have been reflecting on the goals that they have set this term and set new goals. They have been talking about the strategies that they will use to meet their goal. These skills are lifelong skills so it would be great if you can discuss these with your child!

As per our last newsletter we have been exploring what sacred means to us. We have attached a small video of the students learning so far. 

Junior Unit News

Welcome to Week 8!

What a rollercoaster we have all been on for the past two weeks. The students are very excited to be back at school with their friends, as are we.  

The Junior Teachers would like to thank all our parents and carers for supporting the children in their learning last week. We know remote learning is challenging on everyone. Let's cross our fingers we don't have to experience it again! 

Over the past few weeks in Maths, the students have been learning about subtraction. The students have been learning a range of skills including subtracting using a number line and using our knowledge of place value to subtract numbers by first subtracting the ones, then the tens and then the hundreds. 

During Writing this week, the students have been learning about adjectives and nouns. We have learnt that nouns can be a person, a place or a thing. We explored how we can add more detail to our writing by using adjectives to describe nouns. 

Below is some examples of the student's writing. 

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Foundation Unit News

We would like to say a huge thank you to the parents and carers who worked with and encouraged their children during the lockdown period last week to complete the booklets that were sent home.  The children were very excited to be back at school on Friday, enabling them to play and work with their friends.  It was so lovely to see their smiling faces and the enthusiasm to be learning at school again.

There has been great excitement coming from the children in regards to learning the Magic 100 words.  They are very eager to come in and show their teacher the words they know and be able to put their name up on the rainbow and collect their new set of coloured words.  They also receive a certificate each time they learn a coloured set of words.  We would like to thank the parents who are encouraging their children to learn these words, as we are definitely seeing the results in the children's reading.  Keep up the great work!

In Maths the students have been learning about addition.  They are learning how to 'count on' from a number.  We have been using concrete materials to assist them when adding two groups together.

This Friday the Foundation Unit will be celebrating their Liturgy in the Foundation Unit.  The concept is "STORY". Unfortunately, due to COVID restrictions, parents will not be allowed to attend.  We will take lots of photos and put these photos in next week's newsletter.

REPORTS AND LEARNING JOURNALS - Semester One

Reports - 
Reports will be available on SIMON Everywhere on Monday 21st June from 3.25pm.  To access, click on child's profile, then Assessment Reports.  This achievement report will show where your child is compared to the Victorian Curriculum.  It will also include a comment on your child's social and emotional competence.  

Journals - Foundation to Grade 2

Hand copy journals have been compiled for students in F to Grade 2.  These will be sent home with the student on Monday 21st June.

Journals - Grades 3-6

Click on your child's profile picture - select Learning Tasks from the drop down menu, then select the task you want to view.  Each task should have a comment from the teacher about what the child achieved during the learning.  

Student Led Conferences

Student Led Conferences will run (hopefully onsite) on the 20th and 21st of July.  More information will follow once bookings are open.

Languages - Italian News

Che  tempo  fa ?   -  What is the weather  ?

In recent weeks St Paul's students have been immersed in an Italian Unit of work learning about the seasons and the weather ...

The Foundation and  Junior Unit have listened to a popular Italian folklore story called  ...

" il  sole  e  il  vento "   -  " the  sun  and  the  wind ". 

The story centres on a contest between the Sun and the Wind, to see which of the two was the strongest. Students watched my puppet performance of the folklore story and were encouraged to join in with the Italian dialogue in the play.

Foundation and Junior students have been eager to perform their own performance; complete with hand puppets and dress-ups. They also enjoyed rehearsing the different character roles and songs in Italian.   

Here are some gorgeous photos of our Foundation students ...

Please enjoy the lovely work pieces completed by our Foundation students, to accompany their Italian  " il sole e il vento "  role play performances last week.

Grazie  - Signora  Ghidinelli 

Che tempo fa? - What is the weather ?

Technology News

It is great having students back in the Technology room after our little 'hiatus' last week.

On Monday, students in year 3/4 started planning their final food and fibre project for the term.

After exploring food and fibre production in Australia and around the world, student learning turned to investigating the negative impacts of food and fibre industries on the environment.  Did you know the clothing industry is the 2nd largest pollutor in the world? 

Students then considered what actions they can take to generate positive change for the future, which included upcycling or repurposing clothing items rather than disposing of them.  Students researched how to upcycle a t-shirt and give it a new lease of life as either a cushion, a bag or a placement/coaster.

Next week, students will take action to create postive change for their future and repurpose an old tshirt.  If you're lucky, you might be gifted a comfy new cushion, a fancy new shopping bag or a placemat that can take pride of place on your dining room table.

Until next week, remember - technology is just a tool, what matters is how we use it. 

Mrs Simms

Cyber Safety Parent Information Session

There is no denying that children are experiencing “digitalised childhoods”. Screens, devices and access to the internet are now an everyday part of life for most children. Their world flashes, beeps, pings and booms.

Many children today can tap, swipe and pinch screens often before they’ve learnt to ride a bike or tie their shoelaces. Research confirms that many children meet digital milestones before they meet traditional physical, developmental milestones. And this is the modern parents’ digital dilemma. On one hand, we marvel at children’s technical skills, while on the other hand, it’s terrifying. We fret about the possible adverse impact of this digital exposure.

Well, fret no more!  St Paul's is hosting a parent information session - Cyber Safety: Raising Kids in a Digital World 2021.  Don't miss this 90 minutes session presented by Martin McGauran, an Education Consultant and experienced eSafety provider and Carley McGauran, a psychologist and mother of three.

When: Tuesday 15th June

Time: 7pm

Where: St Paul's School Hall

NB: This session is subject to changes in the current COVID restrictions.

NCCD Information for Parents, Carers and Guardians

Physical Education News

Soccer Sessions:

Our Senior and Middle unit students have been enjoying having Mildura Soccer Academy coming to teach them more about soccer. If your child is enjoying their sessions, please refer to the information photo for details on our local clubs. Below are some photos from some of these classes.

Interschool Sports:

Our Senior Soccer and Netball teams had a great time playing against other schools in our district competition on Wednesday 26th May. Thank you to all the staff and parents who helped to make this day a success. Our girls soccer team have progressed on to the next division stage, which is now postponed to early next term.

My New Gallery

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Hands Up Mallee

Did you know that Hands Up Mallee is more than just a connection with our school?

Hands Up Mallee is actually a Social Impact Initiative made up of a Backbone Team, the Community Leader’s Table, Community Partners and Funders.

They provide lots of different programs of support for our community including – The Infant Program, Generations Music Together, Breakfast Partnership, Smiles 4 Miles, School Active Travel, Achievement Program (Early Years Services & Schools) & the Home Base Program.

For further information about this wonderful Community Organisation click on the included link to learn more.

Sunraysia Catholic Communities Bulletin

Parent Noticeboard

Safe Travel of Children in Cars event June 30th, 2021. Professionals Session

Community Skate Days