Newsletter #37 December 8
Principal News
Dear St Paul's families,
Welcome to our second last newsletter for the year.
The week has kicked off to a flying start. The Christmas tunes are bellowing over the loudspeaker to get the kids into the festive mood. Elf on the shelf has been making random appearances everywhere and the children are eager to find out what the elf is up to next. Whilst the kids really enjoy all the 'Christmas' themed activities, it is important to remind ourselves of the real importance of Christmas as we celebrate the birth of Jesus. Let's not forget it is who is around the Christmas tree not what is under it that matters. With the hardships experienced over the last two years the meaning of this is more significant than ever before.
JUNIOR UNIT EXCURSION: The junior unit celebrated their modified Excursion Day yesterday. There were lots of fun activities involved and by all accounts they had an absolute ripper of a time. Thank you to the junior unit staff for organising and coordinating the day for them. They had a blast.
SECONDARY TRANSITION DAY: The Year 6 students spent the day at their respective secondary schools as a part of their transition program. I am sure that had lots to share with you about their experiences for the day. St Joseph's College also hosted their Year 7 Information Evening last night.
IMPORTANT EVENTS COMING UP: As the year comes to an end there are still a lot of things happening over the next week.
VIRTUAL CONCERT: Thursday night our Virtual concert will be posted online. Sit back, relax and enjoy the performances by the children. Make a night of it and invite family and friends over.
END OF YEAR MASS: Friday morning we celebrate our End of Year whole school Mass at 9.15am in the hall. Parents are most welcome to attend. Please be aware that you must QR Code in, wear a mask and show proof of vaccination status upon entry.
YEAR 6 GRADUATION: This Sunday evening at 5.00pm, at Sacred Heart Church, we will be celebrating our Year 6 Graduation Mass and ceremony. A wonderful opportunity to officially farewell our Senior students. The Year 6 students will then be joining staff for dinner.
SENIOR UNIT CAMP DAY: Monday 13th Dec, the Senior unit will participate in a revised camp day. Students will visit the Perry Sandhills, Wentworth Junction for lunch and Wentworth Pool.
WHOLE SCHOOL TRANSITION: Tuesday 14th Dec our whole school transition session from 9.00am-11.00am will occur. The children will meet their fellow classmates and new teachers for the 2022 school year.
SENIOR UNIT & MIDDLE UNIT CAMP DAY: On Wednesday 15th December, the senior unit will participate in their second "Camp" day experience going to the cinema in the morning and having lunch together before returning to school at 1.00pm. The Middle unit will be participating also on Wednesday in their revised camp day visiting Jaycee Park, Ten Pin Bowling and Wallis Cinema.
LAST DAY OF TERM & WHOLE SCHOOL ASSEMBLY: Thursday 16th will be the last day of school for the children. The school day will end at 3.25pm as usual. Our final assembly will be held at 2.00pm (please note earlier time) in the hall. All parents wishing to attend must QR code in, wear a mask and show proof of vaccination status. At this assembly we will be presenting our Year 6 excellence Awards and announcing our new school student leaders for 2022.
COVID UPDATE: There have been many reports in the media regarding the TGA provisionally approving the Pfizer vaccination for 5-11 year old’s becoming available in January. Catholic Education Ballarat have not received details regarding the widening of the vaccination program at this stage. Parents will be notified when the information becomes available.
Congratulations to this week's milestone achievers and thank you to the children who had afternoon tea with me last week for following our norms.
BEE MILESTONE: Sophia Panagopoulos
HIVE MILESTONE: Charlie Stephens, Aisha Smythe, Seth Ram, Taiana Moala, Lacey Hunt, Charlotte Hogan & Emma Circosta
Enjoy the warm weather and have a great week.
As always
Keep the faith!
Vince Muscatello
SRC News
The members of the Student Representive Council will again be selling Zooper Dooper icy poles tomorrow, Thursday 9th December at afternoon recess break. Zooper Dooper's will cost 50 cents each and will be sold near the canteen. Any profits made will go towards purchasing some new Passive Play equipment.
Senior News
GRADE 6 GRADUATION - Sunday 12 December
COVID Restrictions Update - we have been advised by Catholic Education Ballarat that our year 6 primary school children will be able to attend the graduation Mass and ceremony regardless of their vaccination status. All other attendees 12 years old and up must be fully vaccinated and will need to QR code and provide proof of vaccination status. We will also be able to have ALL students attend the Pizza Cafe regardless of vaccination status.
Program of Events
5pm - Graduation Mass at Sacred Heart Church
6pm - Graduation Ceremony at Sacred Heart Church
6.45pm-8pm - Parents to drop students at Pizza Cafe for dinner. Please ensure your child is picked up promptly at 8pm.
For those that can not attend the Mass & Ceremony will be live-streamed via our Facebook Page.
Camp Reminders
CAMP DAY ONE – Monday 13th December
Students will visit the Perry Sandhills, Wentworth Junction for lunch and Wentworth Pool. Students will travel to & from the venues by bus leaving at 9.15am and return at 3.00pm. As it is forecast to be a warm day, students are to wear CASUAL sunsmart clothes and will need to bring – a packed lunch, large water bottle, snacks, sunsmart bathers, towel, hat & sunscreen.
CAMP DAY TWO – Wednesday 15th December
Students will watch a PG rated movie at the Wallis Cinema (snack & drink provided) followed by lunch at the Mildura Working Mans club both on Deakin Ave Mildura. Students will travel to & from the venues by bus leaving at 9.15am and return at 1.00pm. Students are required to wear normal school uniform.
Middle Unit News
On Tuesday students were given the design challenge of making a paper plane. Students were able to look up different designs and then make their plane. They did test flights with their planes and then made modifications. We then had a flight competition in each class. The winner of each class then flew their plane in the Unit Final. At the end we measured how far each plane had flown. Everyone had a great time and it was great to see the perseverance that students displayed.
Camp Reminder:
Next Wednesday 15th December is our camp day. Students are to arrive at school normal time and we will be going for a game of Ten Pin Bowling, then to Jaycee Park for lunch and will finish the day off with a trip to the cinema. Students will need to be in sports uniform and will need to pack their snacks and their lunch. Parents will need to complete the permission form on SIMON Everywhere. Pleae contact your classroom teacher if you need any assistance with this.
Junior Unit News
What a day we had yesterday celebrating our Junior Unit Camp Day. It was a very busy and exciting day full of fun and laughter.
We started the day by getting our groove on participating in an incursion with Emily and Casey from Limitless Dance Academy. We had so much fun moving and dancing and playing games together.
We also spent some time in the morning preparing our afternoon tea by decorating a biscuit with icing and lollies.
Dancing and Biscuit Decorating
After a yummy pizza lunch, we competed in the Junior Unit Amazing Race. The students were able to compete in groups of 4, naming their team and completing different challenges throughout the school.
The Junior Unit Amazing Race winners are pictured below.
Team: Mega Cookies
Team: L.N.H.J.
Team Name: Mullet Boys
Team Name: Flower Power
The Junior Unit Amazing Race
In the afternoon we braved the heat and went outside to play with some water. We had lots of fun playing games like Duck Duck Splash, Water Balloon Hot Potato, Sponge Relay and Water Cup Relay. The children finished the day a little more wet than expected but they had a ball! It was a lovely day and so enjoyable to observe the students working together in teams, communicating and problem solving.
Water Games
Foundation News
Last week the Foundation Unit celebrated their Liturgy about Creation. It was lovely to see some parents attend and be part of the celebration.
We have also had a very special visitor arrive at St Paul's last week. Loretta brought a parcel down to the Foundation Unit that had come from the North Pole. There was great excitement as some children unwrapped the parcel. Inside was a book with an Elf on the Shelf inside. The children named the elf Dash. He has been very cheeky and has been keeping an eye on everyone to make sure they are all being good. We have found him hiding in some interesting places in our area. It has been a lot of fun searching for him each day.
The children will be receiving a special gift from their teachers (a photo book). If your child is not going to be here on the last day of school could you please let your child's teacher know so they can arrange to give it to them earlier.
Hands Up Mallee
This Friday will be our last Walking Club and Breakfast Club for the year. A huge thank-you to all our wonderful students for walking with me during the year and an extra special thank-you to the Senior students for being so enthusiastic with volunteering their time to help with breakfast club - whether it was buttering the toast, pouring the drinks, stacking the chairs at the end of the week, unstacking the chairs at the beginning of the week or wiping the tables down. You have made our job much easier.
I have received the results of the Walk to School Competition that was conducted throughout the month of November across all schools in the district. We narrowly missed out on the $500 incentive - our congratulations go to Mildura West Primary School.
The winners of the 3 scooters were students from Mildura Primary School, Mildura Specialist School & Irymple South Primary School.
All families that registered will be receiving a family pool pass to the Mildura Waves. These will be going home this afternoon with the eldest child of your family. Thank-you for registering and enjoy your time at the pool!
Technology News
If you seem to be missing any children, check your snow globes and Christmas trees. It seems some of them have been trapped or turned into decorations.
Students in year 3-5 had a great time this week applying many of the digital and critical thinking skills they have learned over this year to create a variety of digital projects with a Christmas flair.
Projects included:
- using green screen technology to create digital images
- applying coding skills to control Ozobots
- applying critical thinkings skills to interpret instructions and bake (create) digital cupcakes
- applying designing thinking skills to create Christmas coffee cups.
Green Screen Christmas Images
'Baking' Digital Christmas Cupcakes
Designing Christmas Coffee Mugs
IMPORTANT INFORMATION - YR 6 STUDENTS
In the coming days, year 6 students will bring home information with options for how to create a copy of any documents in their school Google Account they wish to keep.
At the end of this year, Yr 6 student Google Accounts will be deactivated and Chromebooks decommission, so they are no longer managed by the school system.
If you have any questions or queries please email nsimms@spmildura.catholic.edu.au
Until next week remember, although computers and digital gadgets have become everyday items, they don't have to be a part of every moment of every day!
Mrs Narelle Simms
Parent Noticeboard
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