From the Principal's Desk
Dear Parents/Carers,
As we draw closer to the end of the year my mind has begun to wander back to how the year has been for us. Our community events are back and we are creating our new post COVID story. To make this happen, underpinned by a love and fidelity to our St Paul’s community, calls upon our christian vision to be real and active, day in and day out, not just at significant calendar events. This can only happen with many hours of unpaid work! Volunteers from the parent community and after hours or weekends from the staff at St Paul’s. The people are there because of the vision for work that constitutes St Paul’s way, about living in harmony and being a servant of the people. When we strive to work together as cooperative partners, not as competitors, we truly contribute to doing the work that God seeks from us. This prevents the work from becoming a list of jobs to do. St Paul’s way keeps the children at the forefront, we make a conscious decision to put others first. Thank you for being an active participant in this community and this is largely why our story, which we are creating right now in Camden, is well known and a positive one.
I am also mindful of the students in the parish currently preparing for their First Holy Communion. I look forward to their day with great satisfaction as the families have obviously made the effort to pass on their Christian tradition, faith and spirituality to their children. This is not only something that happens within a Catholic school but must come from home first, as well as from connection with parish. Jesus is obviously central to everything we do at St Paul’s and there are also many other aspects of life that children, parents and teachers value. This is our story and we are formulating it in some way every day.
A man by the name of Thomas Berry in his book; ‘The Dream Of The Earth,’ reflects on our Catholic story and the challenges facing the Catholic Church. I found this following statement by him quite thought provoking:
It’s all a question of story. We are in trouble just now because we do not have a good story. We are in between stories.
Our vision tries to articulate our new story at St Paul’s. The commitment from parents and the staff to passing on our positive new story is happening right now. I am responsible for this and so are you!
Go gently,
Michael Reardon
Principal
Parent Volunteer Thank You Morning Tea
During the school year we have numerous parents volunteer their time to help in the classrooms, attend sporting events, excursions and other events.
As a token of our appreciation, the school would like to invite our 2023 parent volunteers to a thank you morning tea on Friday, 24 November 2023.
If you have volunteered in any way this year and would like to attend, please RSVP before this Friday, 17 November 2023 via the insight in your compass parent portal.
Unexplained Absences
A reminder to parents to enter absences in the Compass Parent Portal on the day the link is forwarded to you. We continue to monitor our grade totals each week for full day absences. Our goal is for each grade to achieve, in total, below thirty each week. Last week there was only one grade that was able to achieve our target. Please ensure you discern carefully before allowing your child to be away from school.
Spliced Showcase
On Tuesday, 28 November 2023, students from Years 4-6 who have completed the Diocese of Wollongong SPLICED Project will have the opportunity to showcase their projects. The library will be opened from 3:15pm - 4:00pm for the school community and family members to see all the hard work the students have put into their projects. You are all welcome to attend.
Principal Awards
Congratulations to the following students who have recently received a Principal Award.
Hazel Thomas, Liam Oake, Isabella Castellano, Lexi Nicholson, Tasley Formosa, Samuel Clancy, Bryson Marano, Stephanie Ryan, Addison Leetch, Jacob Muscat, Eleanor Mammone, Mary Ristevski, Oliver Pace, Valentina Saliba, Jack Miller, Brendan Grech, Emaleigh Kelly, Addison Campbell, Noah McCarthy-Heise, Domenic Colagiuri, Sophie Aldred.
Junior Diabetes Foundation
|
|
