Newsletter #6 Mar 2
Principal News
Dear St Paul's families,
Welcome to our weekly update. The weather continues to play havoc with us at the moment with heat, humidity, rain and the occasional thunderstorm thrown in for good measure. Whilst the day may appear overcast the UV index is still high and children are still required to wear hats.
ASH WEDNESDAY: Today is Ash Wednesday and we celebrated Mass with the Sacred Heart Parish. It begins the season of Lent as we prepare for Easter which is the most important season within the church's calendar. Yesterday we celebrated Shrove Tuesday with the children sharing pancakes. Traditionally the day before Ash Wednesday, families would prepare a meal using up their eggs, flour and milk as Lent has been recognised as a time of fasting. Today we received the ashes on our forehead in the sign of the Cross. The ashes symbolise sorrow and repentance. There are many traditions associated with Ash Wednesday and the Season of Lent, which are still observed to this day. I wonder what traditions families still have today.
CONDOLENCES: I ask that you please keep in your thoughts and prayers the Mammone family, Rafael J8, on the passing of his grandmother (Nonna) and also the Cavallo family, Jessica S13 and Natasha M10, on the passing of their great-grandmother (Bisnonna) recently. May their families be comforted at this time.
CONTINUOUS RAFFLE: We are still looking for a parent who can volunteer their time to coordinate the continuous raffle prizes. If you are interested, please contact Loretta in reception for more detailed information.
SCHOOL UNIFORM: It is becoming more noticeable lately, that several children are not wearing the correct uniform, especially on sports days. The Sports uniform protocols are as follows:
Students may wear their sports uniform to school on their allocated physical education and sports days ONLY. If students do not have their FULL sports uniform, then they are to wear ordinary school uniform (including school shoes) to school and change into their runners prior to sport.
Footwear: Runners with non-marking soles
Summer: Plain Black basketball shorts (logos or inserted colours are not permitted), red polo top, white anklet socks & runners.
Winter: Plain Black trackpants (logos or inserted colours are not permitted), red polo top, green windcheater, white anklet socks & runners.
Please note that bike shorts are not part of our uniform.
If your child doesn't have the correct uniform, then an explanation must be provided by the parent advising the classroom teacher.
Over the coming weeks there will be a reminder of what the current uniform policy is for the school in the newsletter. Watch this space.
GOTCHA AWARDS: Our focus on positive behaviours at school continues and today I am proud to announce our first milestone recipient for the year:
BEE MILESTONE WINNER: Andrea Norton. The Bee Milestone recognises children who have reached 25 Gotchas and the Hive Milestone is 50 Gotchas
BOOK FAIR: Well done to Miss Marg and the children who have made our first Book Fair a resounding success. It was lovely to see parents and children making their way down to the hall to look at all the books on offer and take home some wonderful additions to their personal libraries.
REMINDERS: Please check the calendar and daily messages for regular updates. Yesterday the Department of Health have asked our families to participate in an online survey regarding the RAT program. Please take the time to fill it in as St Paul's was one of many schools across the state selected to participate in it.
I hope you all have a wonderful week and the weather is a little more kind to us in the coming days.
As always
Keep the Faith!
Vince Muscatello
SCHOOL PHOTOS
Catch up School photos will be taken tomorrow Thursday 5th May @ approx 1pm.
If you have ordered and paid for your child's photo previously the order has been held for you.
If you haven't previously paid a book mark with your child's photo on it will be sent when the photo orders arrive at school. You will be able to order from this.
Please ensure you have told your child that they will be having their photo taken. We will call those students on the PA to come to the office at 1pm.
Senior Camp Update
We are in the process of organising our senior unit camp. If your child has any dietary requirements can you please email Melissa Sutherland - msutherland@spmildura.catholic.edu.au by Friday 4th March.
Students are also required to bring a box of snacks to share whilst we are away. You are welcome to start bringing these in at any time.
If you have any further questions, please let your classroom teacher know.
Middle Unit News
In Literacy we have been focusing on writing paragraphs. In order to help us write our paragraphs students interviewed a partner. They then created a paragraph using this information. Here are some photos of our interviews.
We are so proud of all our students who completed SRC speeches last week. Whilst there is only one person elected for each class we want to celebrate the fact that everyone had a go. You all did an amazing job and we are very proud of all of you.
Junior Unit News
The beginning of Lent is always a special time in Catholic schools. The children participate in the excitement of Shrove Tuesday (Pancake Day) and the solemnity of Ash Wednesday. They learn that times of waiting are also times of preparation. In the lead up to the joy of Easter Sunday, we might prepare by saying sorry for our mistakes, forgiving others who say sorry to us, or by doing special acts of service.
On Friday 18th March, at 12.15pm, we will come together as a Junior Unit for a special liturgy in our Chapel. Family members (who are double vaxxed) are welcome to join us. Happily, our liturgy falls during MAPPEN week, so there will also be wonderful student work showcased across the school straight after Mass.
Foundation Unit
Yesterday was Shrove Tuesday, also known as Pancake Tuesday. The children learnt about why pancakes were eaten on the day before Ash Wednesday. They also had the opportunity to enjoy some yummy pancakes.
It has been lovely to see the excitement from the children who have been learning their Rainbow Words and have put their name on the rainbow. It is a great idea to practise these at night when you are listening to your child read. "The Rainbow Words folder" needs to stay in the children's Library bag and be brought to school every day. This will make it easier to give the children their certificate and their new rainbow words as they are up to them.
In this Saturday's Sunraysia Daily edition the Foundation students will have a photo in there with all of the other Foundation students from around the district.
MAPPEN EXPO - Friday 18th March 1pm to 1.30pm
We are so excited to have parents attend our first MAPPEN expo for 2022.
Classrooms will be open from 1pm-1.30pm on Friday 18th March for you to look through and see the amazing learning students have been doing.
Library news
Hello from the Library,
Thanks very much to the parents of the Foundation students who very kindly donated 30 beautiful new Picture Story Books at the Book Buddy Night. The books are nearly ready to be borrowed out to your children.
Our Book Fair has been very busy, remember it finishes after school today Wednesday 2nd March. Thanks very much to all the students who did a fantastic job with the colouring in competition.
Our lucky winners were: Foundations - William Buffon, Juniors - Kalasia-Rose Fonua, Middles - Riana Peiris and Seniors - Elena Akkus. Well done to these students who each won a $20.00 voucher to spend at the Book Fair.
Hands Up Mallee
National Ride 2 School Day is coming up on Friday 25th March.
Join more than 350,000 students from nearly 900 schools around Australia who will be registered to participate in this year’s National Ride2School Day
As a part of this any student who rides or scoots to school on this day will have the opportunity to ride/scoot on the basketball courts during lunch time. This will be only for students who ride/scoot to school and they will not be permitted to 'let their friends have a go' on their bike/scooter. Staff will be supervising the basketball court area during this time. This will hopefully encourage lots of students to dust off their bikes and ride to school.
Why Ride2School?
- Bike riding is the easiest way to get healthy: It is recommended that children get 60 minutes of physical activity every day to maintain their health and riding a bike to school is an easy and fun way to make sure they are hitting this target. It’s also a great way for parents to spend quality time with their children.
- It improves physical activity rates: In the 1970’s, 80% of all school children rode or walked to school but now more than two-thirds go by car. Thanks to Ride2School that trend is reversing – schools that participate in the Ride2School Program report an average active travel rate of 54%.
- It helps build confidence: Riding, walking, skating, or scooting to school makes students feel more self-sufficient, build resilience and helps them to develop an awareness of road safety and the environment around them.
- Students perform better in class: Being active on the school journey has a much greater impact on student concentration than having breakfast before school. A Danish study has shown that children who walk or ride to school display improved concentration for 4 hours longer than those who are driven.
Technology News
Online communities and behaviours were the focus of middle unit lessons last week. Students spent time discussing and exploring a variety of online communities such as gaming communities, video sharing communities and social media communities. Together, students discovered that each of these different online communities have a shared goal, for example:
- the goal of online gaming communities is to have fun.
- the goal of video sharing communities is to entertain.
- the goal of social media communities is to communicate.
To enable each of these online communities to achieve their goals, students then explored the norms necessary for success and discovered these norms can vary depending on the goal of the group.
This new information prompted evaluation of our own online community at school. Students discovered their shared goal is learning and they needed to create norms to ensure success for all.
After creating the norms, students acknowledged the importance to adhering to them by signing their very own 'Digital Citizenship Pledge'.
Students are now very keen to apply their created norms while continuing to use their Chromebooks for the shared goal of learning.
Digital Technologies Acceptable Use and Cyber Safety Agreement Spotlight
Is that a fact? I read it on the internet so, it must be!!!
How many times have you read something on the internet and thought to yourself, that can't be right? As adults we are usually able to sense when something we see or read on the internet doesn't seem right and either ignore it or take an appropriate action. At the very least if unsure adults have the ability to discern and further investigate to find the truth. This is not so for our children!
Children are still developing their digital intelligence and are not yet equipped with the skills to understand not everything on the internet is fact. At school, developing digital intelligence is a large part of our Technologies Curriculum. Students have the opportunity to explore a wide variety of information on the internet and, with guidance and support, evaluate the information to identify factual information from untruths, scams and phishing.
What can you do at home? Encourage children to think carefully about what they read on the internet, question if it is from a reliable source, seek assistance from you to discern content that is factual form that which is fabricated and, of course, monitor your children's online activities.
Until next week, remember; "technology should improve your life...not become your life." - Billy Cox
Mrs Narelle Simms
PE News
Last Wednesday, St Paul's had two students compete in the SSV Tennis competition held at the Mildura Lawn Tennis Club. Nicola and Connor competed against students from various schools around Sunraysia. Conor played 4 games and although he didn't win any of his games, he competed the best of his ability and said that he really enjoyed himself and he is looking forward to competing next year when he is in Grade 6.
Nicola won both her games 4-0 which placed her into the Grand Final. She then went on to win the Grand Final 4-0 and be crowned 2022 Sunraysia Division Girls Champion.
Nicola has been automatically entered into the Regional Finals in Swan Hill on April 4th.
Congratulations to both Nicola and Conor for being great representatives for St Paul's and we wish Nicola the best of luck for the next stage of competition.
Mr McDermott
