2022 Newsletter #29 Sep 7
Principal News
Dear St Paul's families,
Welcome to the Term 3 Week 9 update. Only one week left until school holidays. Like you, I cannot believe how quickly the term has progressed. It only seems like yesterday we were starting the term. The weather is beginning to warm up a little, however, there is more rain on the way. I am happy for the rain as long as we don't get the hail and thunderstorms like we did last time.
BOOK WEEK: Congratulations to Miss Marg and Georgie for organising another successful Book Week and Parade. The children looked great in their costumes and some parents were very creative and talented in designing and making their children's costumes. Well done everyone!
FATHERS' DAY BREAKFAST: Unfortunately, I was unable to be present for this year's Father’s Day breakfast. However, I was reassured that it was a lovely morning shared by all involved. A special thank you to Mr Pike, Mrs Gibson, Mrs Sutherland and Narelle Simpson, who coordinated and cooked the breakfast. Thank you to the staff who assisted in the canteen. I certainly hope everyone enjoyed the breakfast provided.
FATHERS' DAY MASS: On Saturday night I had the pleasure of attending our annual Fathers' Day Mass at Sacred Heart Church. Thank you Mrs Blagus for organising everything for the Mass and to the student choir who sang so beautifully during the Mass. There were lots of children involved in various roles. I received lots of thanks from parishioners at the end of Mass who loved see our young people celebrate with them. Well done everyone.
INTERSCHOOL SPORTS: Yesterday I accompanied a group of senior students with Mr Pike and Claire Gowers to the Mildura Sporting Precinct to participate in basketball. The children were very good in representing St Paul's and really tried their best when competing. For some of the children it was the first time they had played basketball competitively. Our terms were unsuccessful in progressing to the next stage, but, there is always next year. Today the children participated in tennis and volleyball.
SCHOOL ADVISORY COUNCIL: Last night the School Advisory Council met to discuss some important issues arising. Catholic Education are currently in negotiations with the Independent Education union regarding the new award for catholic schools. Our discussion centred around the changes to our landscape in regard to working conditions and what impact that will have on schools moving forward. There will be more information to follow as updates begin to flow through to schools. We have also begun looking at our budget and staffing requirements for 2023. Once again there will be more information to share with you at a later date.
STRUCTURED LITERACY APPROACH UPDATE: As you may be aware, we have invested a lot of time, planning and professional learning in our Structured Literacy Approach. An approach that both St Paul's and St Joseph's Red Cliffs have been working on together for the last three years. As a result of the work we have done in this area, a number of schools across the Ballarat Diocese have expressed interest in learning more about Structured Literacy. We have also been contacted by schools from Melbourne who would like to visit St Paul's and St Joseph's to see how we teach literacy. This is exciting as it is recognition and acknowledgement for the commitment, dedication and collaboration by the staff in our schools to improve our literacy practices and student outcomes. If you haven't already, checkout our Facebook page "The Sunlit Project". It has lots of information on what we teach, how we teach and why we teach.
LOST PROPERTY: The basket is overflowing with school jumpers and believe it or not drink bottles. Please call in and have a look to see if your child's jumper is in the basket or water bottle is on the bench. I continually remind the children to put their jumpers in their bags , but, more importantly, also make sure their name is on the label.
Congratulations to this week's milestone achievers for following our school norms.
BEE MILESTONE: Jessica Allieu, Tarlow Fangatua, Will Hogan, Andrea Norton, Jack O'Callaghan, Mila Pascale, Lorenzo Pettinau, Tevita Pohahahu, Gurman Singh, John Thang, Jordan Tran, Aiden Varghese Moolayil and Leon Zaire.
HIVE MILESTONE: Alice Blanchard, Robert Burns, Darcey Bysouth, Eliza Campbell, Kooper Carmichael, Jessica Cavallo, Emma Circosta, Estee Clifford, Abbie Freeth, Oscar Hissey, Treeza Jessil, Isla Madden, Lam Nguyen, Grace Panagopoulos, Sophia Pangopoulos, Riana Paththini Kuttige and Haseena Qasem.
UPDATES: Please check the calendar for the last week of term. Don't Forget that Friday 16th September is the last day of term and school finishes early at 2.25pm. Assembly will be at 1.30pm
Have a great week everyone and to any of our families that are involved in grand finals or finals this weekend across the district in various sports, I wish you the best of luck.
As always,
Keep the faith!
Vince Muscatello
SRC News
R U OK? Day - Supported by the SRC
Tomorrow is R U OK? Day. It’s our national day of action dedicated to reminding everyone that every day is the day to ask, “are you OK?” and support those struggling with life's ups and downs. For students, learning how to support their peers and talk about how they feel is an important life lesson.
To take action at St Paul’s we are inviting students to wear a touch of yellow to school. Students are to wear their normal school uniform and they are invited to add a touch of yellow; a scrunchie, bow, hat, socks or something creative. Students will participate in activities in their classes.
More information can be found at https://www.ruok.org.au/
Senior Unit News
Week 8 provided several opportunities for the Senior Unit to get involved and show some school spirit. Firstly, Congratulations to all the students who participated in the Regional Mini Olympics. We were lucky enough to have some successful outcomes, but most importantly it was amazing to see the passion the children displayed when representing our school. Well done to you all!
Next, the Senior Unit took part in the annual Book Week celebrations. It was fantastic to see the time, thought and effort the students put into designing and making their costumes; you all looked amazing and get an A for effort. The students rotated through several activities featuring books such as ‘The First Scientists’ by Corey Tutt, ‘What do you wish for?’ by Jane Goodwin, ‘Blue Flower’ by Jane Hartnett and ‘Walk of the Whales’ by Nick Bland.
This week the Senior Unit have been partaking in the Interschool sports carnival with students representing our school in Basketball, Volleyball and Tennis. Thanks Mr Pike for your hard work to organise these events, stay tuned for the results next week.
Our final Police in schools visit for the term is scheduled this week. It is great to see the students get involved and gain knowledge and awareness of the local community.
Tomorrow is the national R u okay ? day we will recognise this event and we invite students to wear a touch of yellow with their school uniform on the day.
We would also like to invite you to support Fr Mick’s Peru mission by sharing a favourite recipe. Sister Helen and the Parish are organising to publish a book of recipes with all proceeds supporting Fr Mick’s cause. If you have a recipe you would like to have added to the book we would love to hear from you.
Next week is our final week for term four, we will have assembly on Friday and school will finish at 2.30pm
Working scientifically
Interschool Basketball
Foundation Unit News
Welcome to Week 9!
It is hard to believe that we have less than two weeks until the end of term. The learning the children have achieved so far is amazing. We are so proud of how enthusiastic they are to learn. Below are a few writing samples from our Foundation students.
Yesterday during SWPBS the children were learning how to be their best when they are playing together. We had an observer for each group who had to come back to the class and describe what they observed while they were watching their peers play. It was a very interesting exercise and the observers that were chosen were very good at their role.
Next Friday the 16th September the Foundation Unit will be having their Liturgy at 9am in the Foundation Unit. We invite parents, grandparents or special people to come and share our Liturgy with us.
Junior Unit News
At the moment in Mathematics, the Junior children are learning all about Australian coins and notes. They are enjoying the 'real-life' work of adding amounts, ordering values and converting cents to dollars. If you have a money box at home, or just a bowl of coins, it would be a great time to ask your child to count it or sort the coins into piles.
We are very excited to announce that our Junior Camp will be taking place here at St Paul's on Wednesday 2nd November (Week 5 of Term Four). This is Melbourne Cup week, so the children will have had an extra long weekend and will be ready for an exciting day of activities, followed by a sleepover at school for the Grade 2 children only. Further details will be sent home in Term 4. If your Grade 2 child is nervous about spending a night away from home, or if they haven't had much experience of this, it might be helpful to have a couple of 'practices' during the school holidays to help build their confidence.
Middle Unit News
This Friday 9th September we celebrate our unit Liturgy. We invite family and friends to join us at 12.15pm in the chapel to celebrate, followed by an afternoon tea back in our classrooms. We would appreciate if students could bring along something small (eg a packet of biscuits) to share. Please remember no nuts.
In Numeracy, we are learning about Time. We are learning how to read both analogue and digital clocks. We are also exploring the duration things take and how reading a clock assists us to determine this. Dicussing time at home with your student can assist them in strengthening their understanding of this topic.
This Thursday we will celebrate 'ARE YOU OK? DAY'. This is to show support for those who are struggling with lifes ups and downs. If you wish to discuss this with your child before the day please feel free to do so.
Technology News
Junior Unit students were on a roll last week. This term they have been learning how technologies use forces to create movement and last week they explored a wheel and axle. Students discovered this simple machine is most commonly used to make transporting heavy loads easier by reducing the amount of force needed to move loads from one place to another. Then, they got busy making their own cart with at least one wheel and axle to move items around the classroom.
Are you and your children
eSMART?
This week is National eSmart Week across Australia and a great time to reflect on our online practises. This year, everyone is being asked to consider their online presence and consider, can you say, I am proud to be me, digitally?
This week is the perfect opportunity to start a conversation with your children about their online activities and presence. You can use the checklist below from the eSafety Commissioner to check if you and your children are; 'Proud to be me, digitally'?
Until next week, remember; "technology should improve your life...not become your life." - Billy Cox
Cheers, Mrs Simms
Hands Up Mallee
Think UV not heat
UV levels are starting to rise
It's time to dust off those sun hats, check the sunscreen expiry date and get your SunSmart app ready.
UV can't be seen or felt. It's the part of the sun that can damage the skin and eyes and lead to skin cancer. The good news is, most skin cancer can be prevented if we protect from UV.
To be sure you are using sun protection when you need to, check the sun protection times on the SunSmart app, add the SunSmart widget to your website or make SunSmart one of your web favourites so you can check the UV levels and sun protection times for your area each day.
Regardless of the weather, remember to SLIP, SLOP, SLAP, SEEK and SLIDE whenever UV levels reach three or more.
- To help create a barrier between your skin and the sun's UV, SLIPon clothing that covers as much skin as possible.
- For any skin you can't cover with clothing, SLOPon SPF30 (or higher) broad-spectrum, water-resistant sunscreen. Apply 20 minutes before going outside and reapply every two hours.
- Protect the delicate areas of the head and face and SLAPon a sun protective hat. Make sure it has a wide brim that provides good shade to all areas. Caps do not provide enough UV protection so are not a suitable alternative.
- Consider built, natural and temporary UV protection and encourage children to SEEKshade whenever possible. Set up activities in shaded areas.
- If appropriate for your situation, SLIDEon wrap-around sunglasses labelled AS1067 to help protect the eyes from UV.
Hats will become compulsary at the beginning of term 4 but we strongly recommend your child starting to wear them now.
This Friday the FOUNDATION AND JUNIOR UNIT are invited to ride/scoot to school and join Narelle Simpson on the basketball court at lunchtime for a bit of fun.
PE News
Division Mini Olympics
Last Thursday, 30 of our students competed at the Division Mini Olympics at the Mildura Athletics Track. This was a great opportunity for students to compete in track and field events against other school students in the Sunraysia region. It was a great day and it was so encouraging to see students support their fellow team members so well. Some of our top performers of the day are listed below. Students who placed FIRST or SECOND will have the opportunity to compete at the Regional Track and Field finals in Bendigo on Monday October 10th.
Shot Put
Naomi Havea - 1st
Long Jump
Konna Peters - 1st, Mia Aranas - 1st, Sophie Freeth - 3rd, Robert Burns- 2nd
Discus
Naomi Havea - 2nd, Keelan Roper - 2nd
100m
Samuella Allieu - 1st
4x100m Relay
9/10 girls - Addison Welsh, Erin Taylor, Phoenix Toutai, Samuella Allieu - 1st
9/10 boys - Tyler O'Rielly, Zac Erben, Cohen Hateley, Konna Peters - 3rd
Well done to everybody who represented St Paul's!
St Paul's at Division Mini Olympics
Parent Noticeboad
