2022 Newsletter #22 20 July
Principal News
Dear St Paul's families,
Welcome to this week’s update. There has already been a lot of things happening behind the scenes since the term has started. Here are just some of them.
CEB LITERACY TEAM VISIT: Yesterday the Catholic Education Ballarat Literacy team visited St Paul's to learn and understand more about our Structured Literacy Approach. It was an excellent opportunity for them to see first hand the implementation of Structured Literacy at St Pauls from Foundation to Grade 6. This year has been our first full year of implementation and the results so far in improving student outcomes in literacy have been significant. The feedback from the team has been very positive. The St Paul's staff should be very proud of what they have achieved to date. Today the team are visiting St Joseph's Red Cliffs to experience first hand how Structured Literacy is implemented in a small school setting. The work we are doing is ground-breaking in the area of literacy and the results speak for themselves. Several other catholic schools in the Ballarat Diocese have shown a great deal of interest in the work we are doing in this area which speaks for itself. The literacy team at St Paul's and St Joseph's have also created "The SUNLit Project" Facebook page. This page provides numerous posts highlighting the understanding, implementation and resourcing of Structured Literacy in our schools. Check it out.
SHADE SAILS LABRYNTH: The shade sails were installed this week at the front of the school over our labrynth. This had created another outdoor learning space for our children and also a reflective space for our staff and families. There is still some landscaping to be finished off and then some outdoor seating to be installed. Once completed we will be hosting a blessing ceremony as we commemorate this space to those staff, students and family members of St Paul's who have passed away over the years.
ST PAUL'S ATHLETICS CARNIVAL: Due to the mid term circuit breaker on 12th and 15th Aug, the Athletics Day will be held on Friday 5th August, a week earlier, at school.
Congratulations to this week's milestone achievers for following our school norms.
BEE MILESTONE: Emrys Clifford, Tiarna De Maria, Maddilyn Gibson, Fleur Gorringe, Sienna Humphrey, Christian Hunt, Nhu Nguyen, Farai Nyabonda, Lilly O'Meara Quayle, Blair Traeger and Gabb Yandan
HIVE MILESTONE: Samuella Allieu, Rubi Barila, Pippa Doecke, Sofia Echanes, Tarlow Fangatua, Harriet Gibson, Shivreet Gill, Lily Jamieson, Jennifer Ly, Konna Peters, Olivia Prescott, Jessica Ram, Keelan Roper, Poppy Thannhauser, Ariah Tickle, Vanessa Trajceski and Justin Tran.
ASSEMBLY: This Friday in the hall at 2.45pm. I wonder who this week's Gotcha winner will be?
GUIDED LEARNING WALK: On Thursday 11th August between 9.00-10.30 I will be hosting a Guided Learning Walk. The Walk is an opportunity for parents to come to school and be led on a facilitated and structured learning walk of the classrooms. The focus of the structured walk is the children and their learning as opposed to teachers and the teaching. If you are interested in attending, please email office@spmildura.catholic.edu.au. Depending on the level of interest, another guided learning walk will be provided.
CYBERSAFETY: There is important information in today's newsletter regarding cybersafety by Mrs Simms. Please read it carefully and have the conversation with your children around being cybersmart. Social media platforms can be very positive when used correctly. Unfortunately, when it's not the consequences can be catastrophic for all involved.
COVID UPDATE: There has been a lot of information circulating in the last couple of days regarding COVID. It is continuing to spread rapidly in our community and we are receiving notification of confirmed cases and expect that this trend will continue for some time. We would encourage families to continue with twice weekly testing at home to help prevent the spread. RAT tests can be collected at any time from the front office.
Face Masks
New information by the Department of Health strongly recommend that face masks are worn in indoor settings, with face masks mandatory for those aged 8 and over who are household contacts and attending school. Wearing masks is effective in reducing the transmission of COVID-19.
Masks are not required to be worn outdoors but can be worn when physical distancing is not possible. This recommendation should not constrain student participation in the full range of school activities, including music, sport and performances.
Reduction of Testing and Isolation Exemption Period.
The period of time when someone is considered a recently confirmed case and therefore exempt from testing and isolation requirements has been reduced from the previous 12 weeks to 4 weeks. This means that staff and children who are household contacts of people with COVID-19 are not exempt from the testing and isolation requirements after 4 weeks of completing isolation with COVID-19. Previously, this period was 12 weeks.
Where a student or staff member who is a household contact wishes to attend school from 4 weeks after the end of an isolation period where they had tested positive to Covid, they must:
-take 5 rapid antigen tests (RATs) over 7 days and receive negative test results, and
-wear a face mask (if over 8 years old) in indoor spaces.
Families and staff will also have to report being a household contact to their school after this 4-week period.
Please continue to fill in the online form notifying the school when your child is covid positive or a household contact.
Hopefully the weather improves over the coming weeks and we have less children and staff absent due to illness. A few prayers wouldn't go astray!
As always,
Keep the Faith.
Vince Muscatello
Senior Unit News
The Senior students, teachers and LSO’s have had a wonderful beginning to the term! During Literacy we have started our new focus on Ethics. Last week we read and analysed the picture story book. “A boy and a ball” by Phil Cummings and illustrated by Phil Lesnie. The students compared their interpretations of the story without the images and then with the images. The students also identified the key parts of the text and created a summary paragraph.
Enjoy reading some of the students work below:
A boy and a ball by Charli Dunn
During the war a boy was playing soccer with his brother and suddenly the ground started shaking. They ran to their father and they hid in the fireplace. Their father promised that they would leave to go to a place of soft green grass where they can play with a new ball and be free. The next night they started to travel. They got on a wrecked old boat and traveled for months. The boy got sick very quickly. Soon they arrived the grass was not green and they were not free but they didn't care ,they were safe. They were surrounded by fences and gates. The boy kicked the ball very hard and it went over the fence where he couldn't get it.
A boy and a ball by Lilliana Bush - During the war, in a smokey, dusty and trashed place lived two boys and their dad. They were playing soccer in a very messy area.. Many rockets and bombs begin the drift across the sky roaring like lions. All huddled up using their dad as their shield. He says “I promise that we will go somewhere safer and better, with green grass for you to run and and feel free” Then they traveled by boat for days, weeks and even months. They finally arrived where it was safe but no green grass. He kicked the ball as hard as he could, continually spinning in the air like earth. It went over the fence, which left him wondering if he would ever get it back. Then a little girl walks up to the ball and slowly picks it up…
A boy and a ball by Ben Boby - In a worn-torn city during the war, a boy and his brother were playing soccer when a thunderous sound came from the cloudless sky. The boys ran inside where their dad surrounded and protected them. He decided to leave the worn-torn city and go somewhere safe for his children to play. The next night, the boys left the city and went on a refugee boat. For days, weeks and months the boat sailed as the treacherous rose upon them. When they finally reached there, the boys were well fed and had space to play. The boy got a new soccer ball and started to kick it. He kicked it as hard as he could and went over the fence. He looked over it and waited until someone had got it for him.
A boy and a ball by Darcy Strubelj - During the war, A small boy and his brother were playing soccer when the sky roared like thunder. The boys ran to their father who protected them like a human shield. After the noise settled they set on a journey to someplace safe. They crossed fields and land until they reached a boat and scurried across the ocean. Finally after weeks and months they reached a fenced off block. Enclosed, but safe.in excitement the boy found a small soccer ball and lobbed it and it darted above the fence. He grasped the edge of the and sighed as the ball came to a stop outside of the boy’s grip.until a little girl picked up the ball and smiled.
A boy and a ball summary by Lily Jamieson - During the war, there was a boy and his brother playing soccer. Until there was a thunderous boom! Skyrockets falling from the sky. The brother grasped the boy’s arm and together they ran home, leaving the ball. Where their dad cradled them and protected them. Their dad told them they needed to leave, go somewhere safe. So that night they set off on a rickety old boat. They travelled months over threatening reefs and on savage waters. When they arrived it was not what the boy imagined it was fenced in, no soft green grass but at least he had a new ball and he was in a safe area. The boy kicked the ball with all his strength and energy he kicked so hard it flew over the fence. He couldn’t get himself, but someone else could.
Play Leaders The Senior students were all invited to participate in the “Play Leaders” program. This involves students leading a variety of activities for the Foundation and Junior children during lunch play on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The students who have volunteered to participate have been preparing their leadership skills by explaining activities and taking small groups of Foundation students to learn new games. The program will continue for the term.
Middle Unit News
In Literacy this week we have been reading the book, 'Little People, BIG DREAMS', Ada Lovelace. We are reading and writing to learn about how science understanding influences people’s actions. This book explains how science impacted the way that Ada followed her dreams. The students have been using the information from the text to add appositives to their sentences.
This week in Numeracy we started a unit on Fractions, it would be great if you can chat about the ways that fractions are related to our everyday lives. For example, the simple sharing of a pizza or how much milk is left in the carton.
If you have some cardboard laying around the house can you please send it to school by Thursday morning. We are doing some STEM lessons on Thursday that we need it for.
Junior Unit News
The children are to be congratulated on settling back into a new school term with enthusiasm and determination to be their best. We are focusing on the values of resilience and independence over the next few weeks, and reminding the children every day that in the Junior Unit we:
* are resilient and brave,
* make mistakes and try again,
* do not get upset about tiny problems.
Lottie, Rafael, Harper and Rayon have been chosen by their teachers as models of resilience and are proud to be our new 'superstars'.
100 Days at School!
On Wednesday 27th July (week 3) we will be celebrating our 100th day of school for 2022. On this day we invite the Y1/2 children to dress up as 100 year old versions of themselves and to bring in 100 items (see suggestions in the image below). They will be participating in some fun activities that reinforce the important mathematical notion of 100.
If you have any questions about this, please reach out to your child's teacher.
Foundation Unit News
Friday 29th July the Foundation Unit will be celebrating 100 days of learning at St Paul's. We ask that the children dress up as a "100 year old person". The day will consist of lots of fun activities that incorporate the number 1oo.
Sometimes at school, accidents happen and your child may require a clean set of clothes. If this occurs you will notice that your child will be in different clothes and their own clothes will be in a separate bag in their school bag. We are asking that you promptly wash the spare clothes and return to school asap. Our spare clothes items are very depleated at the moment.
We are learning about 2D shapes. (Circle, square, rectangle, triangle)
Thank you to the parents who took time to fill out the form and discuss with their child where their name came from. It was a lot of fun to share and find out where each other's names came from and why they have their special name.
In Literacy this week we have learnt the difference between "nonsense" and "real" words. We are also learning to write a recount of our weekend.
Reminder - the SRC are organising a pyjama day this Friday. Please come dressed in your pyjamas but remeber to wear sensible shoes.
Hands Up Mallee
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. A big thank-you to those students who have already emailed their entry to me. I would love to submit more entries, so get creative.
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 27th July.
It would be great to have a winning entry from our school! Let’s get designing!
Last Friday the Senior students had a lot of fun with their bikes/scooters at lunchtime. The Seniors discovered that it is a lot harder to land a bean bag in a target when you are moving! They did however increase their confidence by needing to concentrate on a set task and also to ride/scoot with one hand.
This Friday the MIDDLE UNIT will be able to ride/scoot at lunchtime.
SRC News
PYJAMA DAY
This Friday the 22nd July, the SRC will be hosting a pyjama day at school to help raise funds for the “The National Pyjama Foundation”.
The aim of National Pyjama Day is to raise funds for The Pyjama Foundation's Love of Learning Program which is offered to children in foster care.
Donations go towards providing children their very own special Pyjama Angel mentor who empowers them with learning, life skills and confidence to change the direction of their life.
Students are encouraged to wear their pyjamas and dressing gowns to school and bring in a gold coin donation.
The SRC will host a movie in the hall at lunch and recess breaks. Everyone is invited!
Students are required to wear school appropriate pyjamas and enclosed shoes.
Technology News
Social Media Warning
It has come to our attention several TikTok accounts utilising our school’s name and logo have been created by students. As the creation of these accounts utilises our school’s identification fraudulently, and without permission, we have engaged the services of the eSafety Commissioner to trace and remove these accounts.
The most concerning aspect of these accounts is the associated posts identifying students by name and the link with our school identifying their location. This potentially exposes these children to a significant safety risk and we ask that all community members be vigilant to keep all students safe from unwelcomed harm.
Just as concerning is the nature of the posts which amount to cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is any use of the internet to be mean to others by way of threatening, intimating, harassing or humiliating others. Whether intentional or not, this account and these posts are targeted at specific students and hurtful in nature.
We thank the students and parents that have come forward and notified us of the existence of these accounts. If you or your child have any further information that could help the eSafety Commissioner with their investigation please contact our Learning Technologies Leader, Mrs Narelle Simms (nsimms@spmildura.catholic.edu.au).
For more information to guide parents/carers and help keep your children safe online, use the link below to visit the eSafety Commissioner website and review the three key strategies of online safety basics. In addition, the second link below is a media release from the eSafety Commissioner due to a recent increase in reported cyberbullying. The release outlines how parents can identify signs someone is being subjected to cyberbullying and how to help or seek help for that person.
Until next week, remember; "technology should improve your life...not become your life." - Billy Cox
Cheers Mrs Simms