2025 Newsletter #10 June 18

PRINCIPAL NEWS

Dear Families,

We hope you all enjoyed the King’s Birthday long weekend and are feeling refreshed as we head into the second half of the term. Below you’ll find an overview of upcoming events and activities at school as we wrap up Weeks 8 and 9.

Diploma of Community Services Placement  – Ms Irene Alvanos
We have been fortunate to have Ms Irene Alvanos completing her Diploma of Community Services placement with us over the past six weeks. Irene has worked closely with both staff and students during her time at St Paul’s and is now looking forward to completing her Diploma. We sincerely thank Irene for her contribution and wish her all the best in her future studies and career.

Dance Performance
Last Friday, our three school dance groups took to the stage at assembly for a special dress rehearsal ahead of their Eisteddfod performance on Monday. We are incredibly proud of all the students involved, with two of the three groups achieving second place in their categories!
A huge thank you to Mrs Simone Caminiti, who generously volunteered her time three days a week throughout the term to choreograph and rehearse with the students. It has been a wonderful experience for everyone involved, and we are so grateful for her dedication and expertise.

Choir
This week, our Senior and Middle Unit Choirs are proudly representing St Paul’s in the Eisteddfod. They gave us a preview of their talents at assembly last week, and we were blown away by their beautiful performances.
A special thank you to Ms Jess for her commitment, time, and leadership of our choirs. We wish our singers the very best as they take the stage at the Eisteddfod.

Student Led Conferences

A reminder that Student-Led Conferences will be held next Tuesday and Wednesday from 3:45pm to 6:00pm. These conferences are a wonderful opportunity for students to share their learning, achievements, and goals with their families.

We encourage all families to attend and celebrate the hard work and progress your child has made this year. Bookings can be made via SIMON Everywhere APP, and we look forward to welcoming you into the classrooms.

After-School Pick-Up Reminder
We kindly remind families to please avoid double parking in Plane Tree Drive during school pick-up times. Double parking creates safety risks for our students and adds to traffic congestion.

All students are to wait in the designated pick-up area until their car arrives or until a parent walks in to collect them. We appreciate your cooperation in helping us keep all students safe and ensuring a smooth and efficient pick-up process.

Middle Unit Swimming Lessons
A reminder that swimming lessons for our Middle Unit students will take place next week from Monday to Friday.

Students will need to bring their swimming gear, towel, goggles, and a plastic bag for wet clothes each day. Please ensure all items are clearly labelled with your child’s name.  We’re looking forward to a fun and active week as students build their water confidence and safety skills.  We thank Ms Alisha Parker for all of the preparation and time that has gone into these lessons.

Assembly – Friday
This Friday’s assembly will feature Class M1, who will be showcasing some of their learning. Families are warmly invited to join us in celebrating the wonderful work and achievements of our students.

Time: 2:45pm – 3:25pm in the hall.

Finally, congratulations to this week’s gotcha recipients for being their best, being respectful and being safe - 

Bee Milestones - Lottie, Gerry, Aaliyah, Lily, Mithran, Emma, Nico, Archer, April, Gurshaan, Jeremiah, Ruby, Kooper, Faye, Murphy, Oscar, Noah, Nhyla, Tapaita, Riley & Oliver.

Hive Milestones - Neve, Anudi, Sophie, Natasha, Franco, Tobias, Elliott, Thomas, Santos & Hugo.

Reflection
As we journey through this term together, let us take a moment to pause and reflect on the blessings in our lives.  

May we be reminded of the kindness we can show, the friendships we can nurture, and the difference we can make in the lives of others.

Loving God,
Help us to be a light for those around us—
to speak with kindness, act with compassion,
and always walk in Your love.

Amen

Thank you to all families for your continued involvement in school life. Let’s keep working together to make the final weeks of this term positive and productive for all.

Melissa Sutherland

Principal

STUDENT LED CONFENCES - Tuesday 24th June and Wednesday 25th June

Student Led Conferences are being held on Tuesday 24th June and Wednesday 25th June from 3.45pm to 5.45pm.  Parents are invited to book a 15 minute time slot via SIMON Everywhere. 

Student-Led Conferences are a meeting where students present their achievements to their parents/careers.  Unlike traditional parent-teacher conferences, these meetings are led by the students themselves, encouraging them to take responsibility for their learning and development.

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

We look forward to as many families as possible attending to affirm the learning of our fabulous students.

Senior Unit News

Welcome to Week 9!

What a busy couple of weeks we have had in the Senior Unit. 

Good luck to our students that are participating in the Mildura Eisteddfod this week. We have some dedicated Senior students who will represent the school in the Eisteddfod Choir and Eisteddfod Dance. 

We also wish our soccer representatives all the best as they participate in the Division Interschool Soccer this Friday. They have been training during recess and lunch breaks and are ready to represent St Paul’s with pride. 

Thank you to those families who came to celebrate our Senior Unit liturgy. It was a lovely way to end the week and a wonderful celebration of our learning this Term. 

Over the last two weeks, the Seniors have been learning about how sudden geological changes and extreme weather events affect Earth’s surface. The Seniors used fun sized Mars bars to investigate how transform, convergent and divergent boundaries occur and the impact that they have on Earth’s surface. 

Grade 6 St Joseph’s College Visit 

Just a reminder, on Tuesday the 1st of July, Grade 6 students will visit St Joseph’s College. The purpose of this visit is to enable the students to experience the classes and facilities as well as to familiarize themselves with the physical environment of the College. 

Please ensure you check SIMON in the coming weeks for more information, including the arrangements for dropping off and collecting students on the day.

Upcoming Events

16/6-19/6 - Mildura Eisteddfod

24-25/6 - Student Led Conferences

1/7 - Grade 6 All Schools Visit - St Joseph’s College Mildura

4/7 - St Paul’s Feast Day

Middle Unit News

Middle Unit Liturgy

Last Friday we celebrated our Middle Unit Liturgy in the Chapel. Thank you to Fr John for leading our students and staff through the morning. 

It was great to see so many of our students participating to the Liturgy and capturing the theme of Identity, which has been our focus this term. 

Swimming

As part of our Water Safety Awareness program the Middle Unit students will be attending First Stroke Swim School, Hutchinson Street Mildura for water safety lessons. These lessons will happen in Week 10, 23rd June - 27th June. Students will travel each day by shuttle bus leaving at 12pm & return by 3pm. The students will be in 4 groups: M9 - 12:15pm, M10 - 12:45pm, M1 - 1:15pm and M2 - 1:45pm.  Students in M9 are to wear their bathers to school underneath their school uniform in readiness for their lesson. Each day the children will need to bring their bathers, towel, goggles and a plastic bag to put their wet clothes into.  Fresh bathers and towels need to be brought to school each day.

Please ensure you have given consent for your child to attend this event.

Camp - Term 3

Middle Unit Camp will be held Wednesday August 6th - Friday August 8th. 

There will be two locations where students will stay: 

Night 1 - Aldinga Beach (Active Education camp site)

Night 2 - AFL Max

More details will be sent out soon, along with SIMON permission notes, etc. 

Junior Unit News

Welcome to Week 9! 

Student-Led Conferences will be held next week on Tuesday 24th and Wednesday 25th of June. These conferences provide students with the opportunity to share their Semester 1 learning with their families.

Grade 2: In Mathematics, our Grade 2 students have been thoroughly enjoying the additional challenges we've introduced. Below are some photos showcasing their impressive work with expanded form.

Foundation Unit News

Term 2 is quickly coming to a close and there are many things to tick off before the end of the term. Next week is the Student Led Conferences on Tuesday and Wednesday night. If you have not booked a time slot to see your child's teacher please do so ASAP. The Student Led Conferences are for your child to attend with the parents to showcase some of their learning at school.

We also have the Foundation Liturgy in the Chapel next Friday 27th June.  We would like to see you there at 9:15am.

As winter has settled in, we have lots of bugs within the school. We ask that you please keep your child home if they are unwell and experiencing cold and flu symptoms.

We have been talking about making friends and what makes a good friend. The children are trying to be kind, helpful and considerate of each other. We have also talked about the importance of building friendships within our class and our unit rather than playing with our siblings. It would be great if you could also reinforce the importance of building friendships with their peers at school.

Student reporting update - Mathematics Version 2.0

The Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) recently published its revised Mathematics curriculum (Mathematics Version 2.0).

At St Paul’s we are using the revised Mathematics curriculum for student reporting from Semester 1, 2025.

On your child’s previous report, the teacher reported against the three strands of the achievement standard for Mathematics (Number and Algebra, Measurement and Geometry, and Statistics and Probability). Under the Mathematics Version 2.0 curriculum, your child’s teacher will report against the achievement standard as a whole, providing a single, aggregated score.

As the achievement standards reported on have changed, the first time you receive a report under the Mathematics Version 2.0 curriculum, it will only show achievement and not progress. For all reports after this, progress will be shown against the single achievement standard.

The VCAA made these changes to help teachers plan their teaching and learning programs in Mathematics, giving them more flexibility to support students to link ideas within Mathematics and also with other curriculum areas.

If you have any queries about your child’s report, please contact Melissa Sutherland or Rebecca Stevenson on 50234567 or email msutherland@spmildura.catholic.edu.au or rstevenson@spmildura.catholic.edu.au

Sport

This Friday 20th June, our Senior Unit Soccer Team will be competing at the SSV Division Sports competition. We wish our boys all the best with their games and know that they will represent St Paul's with pride.  A big thank you to George Moraitis for giving up his time on Friday to coach the boys. 

Holiday Program

AFL Sunraysia will be holding a School Holiday Program. If your child loves Football or is interested in having a go. This is the perfect opportunity to learn new skills, create friendships, and be physically active. 

Arts News

This term in the Arts, students across the school have been diving into the exciting world of Media Arts! From From Foundation to Seniors, learners have been exploring how stories, messages and meaning can be shared through images, sounds, and digital technologies.

Foundation – Picture Perfect!

Our youngest learners have been discovering how images can tell a story. Using iPads and classroom props, Foundation students created simple photo stories based on emotions, everyday actions, and imaginative play. They experimented with framing a photo, making facial expressions, and even used apps to experiment with stickers and sounds.

Years 1–2 – Lights, Camera, Action!

Junior students explored sequencing and how media can show the beginning, middle and end of a story. They designed storyboards and used stop-motion techniques with lego figurines to create short video clips, adding music and sounds. The joy on their faces as they watched their animations come to life was priceless!

Years 3–4 – Making an Impact with Adverts

Middle years students explored how advertising is used to inform, persuade and entertain. They analysed the techniques used in real ads – catchy slogans, bright colours, music and characters – and then created their own short video advertisements. Students considered how to grab attention, target an audience, and clearly share a message. Some promoted existing products, while others invented fun, imaginary products!

Years 5–6 – SWAT-ing Up on Media and Animation

Senior students have been learning to “read” media using the SWAT codes – Symbolic, Written, Audio, and Technical elements. They unpacked how these codes are used in films, TV shows, ads and animations to create meaning and influence how the viewer feels. Students then applied this knowledge to create their own short animated films, using digital tools and stop-motion techniques, carefully planning their scripts, soundtracks, camera angles and visual styles to communicate their message.

Media Arts

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Parent Noticeboard

Please check the lost property box (outside staff room door) for lost jumpers, water bottles, lunch boxes etc.  We will be emptying the box and donating whatever is left at the end of the term.