2022 Newsletter #16 May 25
Principal News
Dear St Paul's families,
Welcome to this week's update. It's hard to believe we have already hit the halfway mark of the term. The weather is cooling down and it looks like more rain is on the way. There has been a significant rise on the number of children falling ill with the flu at the moment as well. Please make sure your children are wearing warm clothing and more importantly, keep them home when unwell.
CATHOLIC EDUCATION WEEK: While we officially recognise and celebrate Catholic Education this week, it's important to remember that every week is Catholic Education Week. This Friday we have an opportunity to celebrate Mass, at 10.00am as a school community, with all our Catholic schools in Sunraysia at St Joseph's College, Mercy Campus. Our theme this year is "Share the Good News". Our catholic school communities are beautiful places that continue to explore our relationship with Jesus and with each other. We have many opportunities to share our Catholic faith tradition with each other. St Paul's is such a diverse and multicultural community that allows our message to be shared.
"Go into the world and proclaim the good news to the whole of creation" Mark 16:15
CONGRATULATIONS: Once again a special mention to the literacy team of Bec Thurman, Emma Rutherford and Breeana Wade for their recognition by the Diocese of Ballarat for the Partnership Award. They have been the driving force behind this Literacy Project and the support of the staff at St Paul's and St Joseph's Red Cliffs has been instrumental is this recognition. Well done to all involved.
Well done to this week's Milestone award winners for following our school norms.
BEE MILESTONE AWARDS: William Buffon, Noah Demario, Willow Droffelaar, Christiaan Giang, Lenin Guevarra, Soobhanah Parvez, Arianna Pileggi, Jessie Pitt, Hunter Rayson and Orlo Williams
HIVE MILESTONE AWARDS:Eliza Campbell, Nicola De Maria, Will Hogan, Mischa Pascale, Abbiegail Peters, Lorenzo Pettinau and Holliee Tickle.
FAREWELL: It is with much sadness that I share with you all the news that Carl Hunt, Learning Support Officer, will officially finish at St Paul's this Friday 27th May. Carl has been a part of St Paul's for 11 years and in that time has established many wonderful relationships with the children and staff that he has worked with. On behalf of our school community I congratulate him for what he has achieved and wish him well as he commences a new role at Mildura South.
ENROLMENT INTERVIEWS: Please check the school website for the link to book an interview if you have a child starting school next year, particularly in Foundation.
YEAR 6 TRANSITION DAY: I hope the Year 6 children enjoy their transition day at St Joseph's College today. Parents should drop their child off directly at Mercy campus (cnr Eleventh st & Riverside Ave) please enter by the 11th street gate by 8.30am. A staff member will meet all students. They can be collected by parents at the end of the day (3.20pm). The college will provide a BBQ lunch for all students.
WELCOME: A special welcome to Kerry Thomas who is completing a placement as a Learning Support Officer in the Junior Unit. I hope she enjoys her time and finds it rewarding as she aims to pursue a new career in education.
Enjoy the rest of the week and as always
Keep the Faith!
Vince Muscatello
Communication Survey
We want to know what you think!
At St Paul's we value communication with parents. This survey is designed to rate the communication that St Paul's has with parents and provide us with ways we can strengthen this.
Please click here to provide your valued feedback - https://forms.gle/xMUjzA9a7tHpY1ju6
Religious Education News
Catholic Education Week - Friday 27th May 2022
This Friday 27th May 2022, all students and staff at St Paul's Primary School will be celebrating our combined schools Catholic Education Week Mass with Sacred Heart PS, Our Lady's Merbein, St Joseph's Red Cliffs, St Mary's Robinvale and St Joseph's College at the St Joseph's College Mercy Stadium (located on the corner of Eleventh St & Riverside Ave) from 10am-11am. This year's Catholic Education Week theme is "Share the Good News."
All staff and students will travel to and from the stadium via bus, with the first buses departing school at 9.10am. All staff and students will be back at school by 11.30am. As this is an offsite excursion, all students will require consent via SIMON Everywhere. Please provide consent for your child / children at your earliest convenience.
Students will need to wear their full school uniform. They will not need to take anything with them to the Mass, however will still require their usual brain food, lunch, snacks etc. to eat when they return to school. Lunch orders will still be available to order for a slightly later lunch.
If you have any further questions regarding our celebration, please don't hesitate to reach out.
Sacrament of Confirmation Booklets
Just a friendly reminder for the children celebrating their Sacrament of Confirmation that completed booklets need to be dropped off to the Parish Office. Unfortunately if Fr Matt has not received children's booklets, they will be unable to celebrate their sacrament. If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to contact the Parish Office.
Library News
Tomorrow at 10.45 children at St Paul's will participate in National Simultaneous Storytime (NSS).
NSS is an Australia-wide group reading and literacy event, where schools, libraries and other institutions gather school-age children together to read the same chosen picture book at the same time.
The NSS event has been held by the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) since 2001. Ever since its inception, the aim of NSS has been to promote the value and fun of books, reading and community storytime activities, as well as the work of the featured author and illustrator.
2022's chosen book is Family Tree by Josh Pyke; a story about family, celebrations and seasons. A great "feel good" story to share with students.
Marg Pongrac
Hands Up Mallee
Well done to all students who walked to school last Friday for Walk to School Day. I know I certainly had a lot of fun with our walking school bus, a special thank-you to all the students who joined me.
Last Friday the Middle students had a lot of fun playing limbo, follow the leader and other games with their bikes/scooters on the basketball court. This Friday will be the JUNIOR AND FOUNDATION UNIT that will be able to ride/scoot on the basketball court at lunchtime.
Don’t forget that Sunraysia Community Health Services (SCHS) are running a competition for all school aged children across Sunraysia to create an Active travel poster that will be used to promote Walk to School later this year.
We encourage any student to create a poster. There will be 3 prizes of $100 Gift Vouchers to Officeworks as well as their design being used to promote Walk to School month during 2022.
The poster MUST include – lots of colour, pictures and text, information promoting kids to walk/ride/scoot to school, be in A4 format.
Think about what is active travel and why is it good for us? What pictures can I add to support this.
Any entries can be given to Narelle Simpson, dropped off at the Office or emailed before 20th July to - nsimpson@spmildura.catholic.edu.au
It would be great to have a winning entry from our school! Let’s get designing!
Foundation Unit News
Welcome to week 5.
The children have been learning how to write sentences. This week they were given picture and asked to write a sentence about the picture with no support from the teacher. Below are some examples of the wonderful sentences they have written.
Last week in maths the children were learning about Ordinal Numbers up to 10. They listened to the story "The very hungry caterpillar". They discussed the food the caterpillar ate and then had to order the food.
Junior Unit News
We had so much fun last week, learning about different instruments that can be 'banged, twanged or blown'. We made our own percussion instruments and played a rhythmic accompaniment to 'We Don't Talk About Bruno'. This week we'll be learning more about interesting different instruments including the Balinese gamelan, the digeridoo, the bagpipes and the pipe organ.
Here's a quiz question for you to discuss at home: what type of instrument is the piano? Is it a percussion instrument (banging), a stringed instrument (twanging) or a wind instrument (blowing)?
Next week will see the end of our Subtraction unit. We are proud of the progress the children have made in this area. You can support your child's number skills by taking any opportunity to count forwards or backwards, skip count by 2's, 5's or 10's, or solve simple every day maths problems such as adding up the total cost of a lunch order.
Please remember to provide permission for your child to attend the Catholic Education Week Mass on Friday, if you haven't done so already. Thank you.
Middle Unit News
In Numeracy this week we have started learning about Multiplication. Students are looking forward to starting some new learning. You may wish to discuss with your child how you learned your times tables when you were at school.
In Literacy, we are continuing to learn about the significant events that have shaped Australian History. To assist us with our writing we are engaging in an activity called sentence expansion. Students are given a short sentence and asked to answer the questions where, when and why relating to that sentence. They then write their expanded sentence. We have added some photos of our work for you to see.
Senior Unit News
On Friday, the Senior Unit students went on an excursion to the Mildura Field Days. We had a great time exploring all the exhibits and learning about how businesses promote their product or service. We will be using this new knowledge in MAPPEN week when we will have our own special products to advertise and market. A special thankyou to Martine Silcox, Tanya Pascale and Jo Scott, our parent helpers on the day. Your support was greatly appreciated.
Here are some reflections from our students:
Harry S - I love that there were a lot of different displays that caught my attention and I got lollies.
Deji - I learnt that if you want someone to be interested in your product you have to give them interesting presentations.
Nicola - They advertised products by giving out free things that had their company name and logo on them. It was fun seeing all of the new farming technology and how it has changed over time.
Eliza - I liked the way they marketed the products. My favourite was the lolly shop because they were right at the entrance which helped their marketing.
Next week is another super busy one with many of our students participating in the Interschool Sports soccer, netball, hockey and football events. Oliver Capp is off to St Arnaud for Region cross country. Best of luck to all our students!
Soon we will begin our Relationships and Sexuality lessons, focussing on growth and development including puberty. Now would be a good time to have a chat with your child in preparation for the lessons. Parents are also welcome to make contact with their child’s classroom teacher for more information on the sessions.
Mildura Field Days
We Need Your Help...
Technology News
A new generation of computer programmers put their coding skills to the test last week! Students in the Junior Unit learnt how to write algorithms using arrows to represent movements and actions. They took to it like ducks to water.
Until next week, remember; "technology should improve your life...not become your life." - Billy Cox
Mrs Narelle Simms
What Parents Need to Know about Group Chats
Occurring through messaging apps, on social media and in online games, group chats are among the most popular ways that young people engage with their peers online. Involving, by definition, three or more individuals, these groups allow users to send messages, images and videos to everyone in one place. While they are useful for helping friends, people with shared interests or members of a club to communicate and coordinate activities, they can also leave young people feeling excluded and bullied – as well as providing opportunities for inappropriate content to be shared and viewed.
In the guide below, you'll find tips on a number of potential risks such as bullying, inappropriate content and unknown members.