2022 Newsletter #17 June 1
Principal News
Dear St Paul's families,
Welcome to this week's update. The winter chill has certainly hit Mildura. What a wet and windy way to start the week. With the sudden drop in temperature we are also experiencing a rise in the number of children being sent home with flu like symptoms. Today's updates have some important reminders for us all as we move into Winter.
WINTER SCHOOL UNIFORM: As of Monday 6th June, next week, all children will be required to wear the correct winter uniform. Please notify the classroom teacher, if your child is out of uniform. A uniform notice will be sent home for those children who incorrectly wear the school uniform without an explanatory note provided by a parent. If there are any concerns or queries, please contact the office . Please see below for Uniform requirements.
RAPID ANTIGEN TESTS: Tests are available for collection. Please remember only use the test when children are displaying symptoms.
SACRAMENT OF CONFIRMATION: Congratulations to those students who will be receiving the sacrament of Confirmation at this weekend's masses. You and your families are in our thoughts and prayers at this special time.
INTERSCHOOL SPORTS: Good luck to the senior students participating in Soccer and Netball today and Football and Hockey on Friday I am sure they will have fun and display good sportsmanship against their opponents.
WELCOME: A special St Paul's welcome to Michelle McClure who is completing a placement as a Learning Support Officer in the Senior Unit. I hope she finds her time with us rewarding and enjoyable.
Congratulations to this weeks Milestone Award winners for following our school norms.
BEE MILESTONE: Ben Boby, Roman Caristo, Estee Clifford, Natasha Cavallo, Pippa Doecke, Charli Dunn, Ava Fidura, Khloe Garland, Harvey Heagerty, Oscar Hissey, Nicholas Horne, Harshveer Khangura, Riana Paththini Kuttige, Asiate Pohahau, Jackson Puleio, April Simmons, Darcy Strubelj, Jemma Trinh
HIVE MILESTONE: Oliver Capp, Jessica Cavallo, Joseph Fotheringham-Gottardo, Sophie Freeth, Sienna Humphrey, April Nyabonda, Ruby Slimmon, Oliver Traeger
ENROLMENT INTERVIEWS: We are nearing the end of our enrolment interviews, if you have not made a booking please visit the school website asap and click on the links to register.
Stay warm this week everyone and as always,
Keep the Faith
Vince Muscatello
NAIDOC Day 2022
We are excited to be celebrating NAIDOC Day at St Paul’s on Monday 6th June. NAIDOC Day is an important opportunity for students to learn about, celebrate and recognise the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
The day will commence with a whole school Liturgy in the Hall beginning at 9.15am. We extend a warm welcome to all members of our school community to attend and celebrate this with us.
We are fortunate on this day to have Indigenous performer, Sean Choolburra visiting our school and presenting to our students. Sean is a captivating entertainer who blends traditional dance, didgeridoo, story, knowledge and humour into his performances.
Throughout the rest of the day studnets will undertake various Indigenous Cultural learning experinces within their units.
We encourage everyone to wear casual clothing in NAIDOC colours and/or designs on the day.
Student Led Conferences - Wednesday 15th & Thursday 16th June
Student Led Conferences are available on Wednesday 15th and Thursday 16th June between 3.45pm-6.15pm. Students will lead the interview celebrating their learning over Terms 1 & 2. This is an opportunity for them to take responsibility & ownership of their own learning as well as a forum for parents, teacher & student to set realistic learning goals for the next semester.
We encourage all parents to book a 15 min timeslot on the Simon Everywhere App.
- Select Parent Teacher Interviews from the Home screen.
- Select Child
- Select Student Led conference
- Select Class (this will default to their CORE class which is their usual classroom.
- Select Interview Time
- Book Interview
Repeat process for any siblings.
We look forward to as many families as possible attending to affirm the learning of our fabulous students.
Foundation Unit News
Last Wednesday the Foundation Unit were very lucky to spend an hour with their buddies in the Senior Unit. They had the opportunity to take part in some fun activities with their buddy. They made bracelets, went on a shape hunt, did some colouring and traced each others hands and decorated them. It was a special time to spend with their buddy and they all had a lot of fun.
This week in Maths we are learning about addition. We are learning to add two groups together and rather than count two collections we are learning to count on from the larger number.
In Religion we are learning how to help others. We are going to have Kathryn (from the office), who volunteers at the soup kitchen to come and talk to us about what she does there and how she gives up her time to help others. We will have discusssions about how we can also help others.
On Tuesday 7th June we are going on an excursion to Mildura Eco Village to take part in a wildlife demonstration with EnviroEDU to learn about our local native and threatened wildlife species and opportunities to help conserve them. This will be a wonderful experience for the children and it ties in beautifully with our Science topic about Living things. Please make sure you give consent on the Simon Everywhere App.
REMINDER: Due to the cold weather, all children should be wearing their full winter uniform.
Junior Unit News
Next week looks to be a very busy, exciting and creative week of learning in the Junior Unit. We have NAIDOC Day celebrations on Monday 6th June and then lots of work to do in preparation for our Junior Unit Liturgy. All are welcome to join us in the school chapel at 12.15pm on Friday, as we give thanks and praise to God for all the love in our lives.
Reflections on Love...
Love is like your heart. (Manny and Jayden, J4)
Love is like the sun, shining down on us. (Maggie, J4)
Love is like journeys that never end. (April, J5)
Love is like a superpower that spreads hearts all around. (Lachlan, J5)
Love is like a star because it shines bright. (Soobhanah, J7)
Love is like a warm, fluffy cloud. (Sylvia, J7)
Love is caring for others. (Ari, J8)
Love is like a kiss goodnight. (Andrea, J8)
Last week we posed the quiz question, is a piano a percussion, string or wind instrument? The answer is that it can be correctly classfied as either a string or a percussion instrument, as it works through the hitting of strings with small hammers.
Middle Unit News
This week in Literacy we continue learning how to use the sentence expansion strategy to assist us to include more details in our sentences. We are very pleased with how the students are embracing this activity. We are also focusing on the grapheme 'ou'. We have been discussing how this grapheme can make three different sounds. As you are reading at night you might like to try to identify this grapheme and the sounds that it is making in the book you are reading.
In RRRR we are learning how to take responsibility for our actions and how to make a good apology. We have practised this by writing apology letters for things that we have done wrong. Below are some of our fantastic letters.
Senior Unit News
This term the Senior Unit has many opportunities to represent St Paul’s Primary School. Last week we were very proud of the Seniors' respectful participation during the Catholic Education Week Mass. It was wonderful to come together as a community and celebrate with the local Catholic Schools.
On Wednesday last week, the Grade 6 Students were invited to participate in an orientation day at St Joseph’s College. The feedback from the students indicated they had a fabulous time! Some of their favourite activities were cooking, rock climbing, making slime and team building games. The Grade 5 students remained at school, and they explored Google Sites in Literacy, 3D shapes in Numeracy, enjoyed a very special Buddy hour with the Foundation students and demonstrated their team building skills during cooperative games.
This week the Winter Inter School Sports begin with:
- Netball and Soccer on Wednesday.
- Football and Hockey on Friday.
Students have been training during Senior sport lessons on a Friday and they have also had additional coaching lessons during their playtimes. It will be a great experience for students to play as a team and promote positive sportsmanship. It is going to be extremely cold this week so please remind students to wear their jumpers each day and on their Inter School sports days. If they own a coat or beanie, it could also be beneficial to wear them when they are not playing. A packed lunch, snacks and drink bottles will also need to be brought from home for the day.
On Thursday we will continue our Police in Schools Safety program. The students will be learning some new safety tips that they will be able to share with their families. Hopefully it will promote some great discussions after school.
Arts News
On Friday 17th June, the middle and senior unit choirs will be competing in the choral section of the Mildura Eisteddfod at the Mildura Arts Centre.
The students will be travelling by bus to the Mildura Arts Centre, 199 Cureton Ave, leaving at 10.30am-12.30pm and returning to St Paul's by 2pm. We have been advised that the Grade 3/4 section will commence at 11.30 am and the Grade 5/6 section at 1.30pm, however exact performance times cannot be given. Please ensure permission for your child to attend this activity is given on SIMON Everywhere App.
Students are asked to wear FULL WINTER SCHOOL UNIFORM, including black school shoes (no sports clothes or coloured runners please).
Students will be accompanied by Mrs Jessica Freeman, Mrs Rachel Slimmon, Mrs Danielle Baker & Denise Devereux. We will eat brain food and lunch prior to leaving and when we return. If you have any queries, please email jfreeman@spmildura.catholic.
Hands Up Mallee
Last Friday the Junior & Foundation Students had a lot of fun on the basketball courts with their bikes and scooters playing follow the leader, changing directions, following instructions and bike limbo. Bike limbo is a great game to practice on your bike as you learn how to duck under things that you may encounter whilst riding your bike such as tree branches. This Friday it will again be the SENIOR UNIT that will be able to meet me on the basketball court with their bikes/scooters. I know they are looking forward to doing it again as I have had a lot of students asking me when it is their turn again, which is so good to hear!
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 to nsimpson@spmildura.catholic.edu.au before 20th July.
It would be great to have a winning entry from our school! Let’s get designing!
Sacred Heart Parish News
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