Dear Parents & Guardians,

Naturally, I’d like to begin the first newsletter for Term 4 by welcoming everyone back to the busiest term of the academic school year.  As the days go by in Term 4 the deadlines get closer, the demands for social events to celebrate the end of the year require planning and then happen, teacher interviews for new staff happen, planning for teacher professional development in 2020 begins, Kindergarten Orientation for the 2020 cohort occurs and many other matters that haven’t come into my head as I sit and draft this newsletter.  In addition to this, we keep pushing ahead with teaching your children, trying to keep the students focused on their learning right up to the last week of school. Now I’m scaring myself! In all seriousness though, this is quite a stressful time for staff as they try to keep all the balls in the air, at the one time and naturally your support in trying to do this will be helpful. Quite often with highly stressful times come reactive actions and we must all watch for this, support each other and focus on solving the problems that arise rather than blame.

I’m sure, like last year, we’ll do a good job together as we attempt to deliver all the above.

Now for some exciting news, that makes me very proud of our school community.  Our NAPLAN results for 2019, overall, are the best the school has had since 2008.  If it was only Year 3 results or only Year 5 results, then maybe, one could argue that it was just a “bubble year” with a strong cohort of students.  This quite often happens. However, the results for both Year 3 and Year 5 largely reflect each other. I am of the belief that this has been due to a significant change in classroom practice at St Paul’s that commenced under Mrs Sillis’ leadership.  The teachers have engaged in a comprehensive capacity building program, especially in how we teach reading, both decoding words through a focused approach on phonics (linking sounds to letters) and phonological awareness (hearing sounds and being able to hear the difference in sounds) as well as the explicit teaching of comprehension and writing.  I had heard from parents occasionally, that the teacher of their child had been away a lot. Usually they weren’t away, they were being trained in the above to build their capacity as educators to make a greater difference to your child’s learning. The end product of that is our best NAPLAN results in the past ten years with the school being above the state average in all areas, in some areas more than 15 points above.  This is a huge turn around. The mathematics results, whilst above state average, were not significantly, an area of the curriculum that has just begun to be a focus point this year. The table below clearly outlines a school that is beginning to show considerable strength in it’s curriculum delivery and student performance.

Year 5 NAPLAN Results

Year 3 NAPLAN Results

It is always very rewarding when one can see tangible evidence of a positive outcome for the hard work the teachers and students do.

Go Gently,

Michael Reardon
Principal

School Disco

This will be held on Friday, 1 November 2019.  By now everyone should have received the details and information.  Whilst there is no specific theme, children can feel free to come in dress up or any clothes of their choice.  This will be supervised by the teachers and Mrs Harb is assisting with the planning and organising parent helpers for handing out drinks and chips. Parents are to follow the directions carefully, to drop their children off and leave straight away, otherwise parents can get in the way of our supervision as the children may not see the teachers as being responsible for decisions concerning their behaviour.  This way, everyone has a good time and the expectations on behaviour are from the school which will be consistent for all.

We Now Have Lego Tables Next to the Hall

The P & F have generously paid for two special tables to be constructed that have been placed near the stage in front of the hall.  I now need to fill the special tray with Lego. This will mean that many of our students will be able to enjoy construction at play time.  With our limited play space, it gives the students another opportunity to be creative with their play during the lunch time breaks.

If there is any Lego at home just gathering dust and no longer used at home we would love to have it.  I’m only after the Lego blocks, not other pieces such as trees, people, curved pieces, windows etc.  I ‘m also not wanting particular Lego kits as the pieces will get lost or even taken and this will then become an issue.

I’m also only wanting official Lego blocks not other generic types, as this enables consistency when restocking the lego trays as pieces will eventually go missing and will need a top up.

I’ve already ordered some blocks for the tables, naturally if this can be supplemented with additional blocks from home, the greater opportunity for the students.

I’m also after some of the Lego mats for the students to construct on. Please send those through as well if they are lying around at home as well.

TechnologyOne Update

The school has moved to a new Financial Management system, TechnologyOne, and adding enhancements to our Compass Student Information System. This is an exciting transition for our school and will result in more efficient electronic financial management for our school office. 

School fee management will also move to TechnologyOne. Please be aware that:

• Your school fee statement and receipts for payments will look different.
• The school fee statement will be received monthly from TechnologyOne and will have a ‘balance carried forward’ showing any transactions that have occurred during the month rather than a detailed list of any transactions completed during the year due to the movement of the fees from the old financial system to TechnologyOne.
• All current BPay, Direct Debit and Centrepay arrangements will continue as normal and be electronically redirected to your new school fee account in TechnologyOne.
• After you receive your first statement from TechnologyOne, if you do pay via BPay we ask that you update the BPay details as per the new reference numbers on your statement.

As part of this change we will also have new features available in Compass. These will include:

• Visibility of your school fee account in the Parent Portal
• The ability to pay school fees and pay for events such as Year 6 Farewell Dinner and Diocsan and Mackillop Spoting Events via the Parent Portal

The school will provide you with further information on these Compass enhancements as they become available through out this term.

The school appreciate's your patience and understanding throughout the first few weeks of Term 4 as we move through this change.

Should you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact the school office 46548900.

Mackillop Awards

Students who are eligible to receive a MacKillop medallion are asked to submit the required number of Principal awards to the school office no later than Friday, 22 November 2019.

Unfortunately awards submitted after this date cannot be accepted as sufficient time is required for the printing of award certificates

Camp Quality Puppet Show

On Monday, 11 November 2019 Camp Quality will visit our school and deliver a puppet show for all students. Students will watch vivacious and loveable puppets, Kylie, Dean and Melissa to help support children affected by cancer. The puppets despel myths and misconceptions that are commonly associated with the illness. 

On this day, the school will have a crazy sock day where students can wear crazy socks in support of camp quality. A gold coin donation is asked from all students.

School Travel Pass

On the evening of Wednesday, 16 October 2019 four students: Jada Halls, Charlotte Cornett, Christian Patricio (Year 6) and Angelisa D’Costa (Year 5) journeyed with Mrs Huxley, Mrs Clancy and their families to the Wollongong Art Gallery to attend the “Wollongong Diocese Christmas Art Competition and Exhibition”. The students have worked tirelessly over five weeks to produce an artwork celebrating and exploring their creative, artistic and reflective ability to express their understanding of the Christmas Story, which enabled them entry into the Christmas Art competition.

The night was a beautiful celebration congratulating the 56 students who had been given the honour of entering artworks into the competition, these were chosen from over 170 artworks from schools within our Diocese.

On arrival at the Art Gallery everyone was given the opportunity to admire the students artworks and the atmosphere was electric, filled with conversation and praise for every artwork, each artist posing for photos, accepting congratulations and passionately sharing their artistic journey. Following this we made our way to the auditorium for the official opening of the Exhibition and to wait nervously for the awards to be presented. Each of the official speakers acknowledged the importance of the competition and how students are given the opportunity to express themselves artistically while being offered encouragement, support and guidance from their school community and families. They also congratulated all the children on their amazing talent, creativity, perseverance and wonderful ability to respond to the Christmas Story in such mature and reflective written responses. They encouraged all the children to be extremely proud of their achievements and for gaining entry into the competition. Then it was time to announce the 17 award recipients – all the students were very humble in their acceptance and congratulated each other enthusiastically!

All four of our students received an award! They also gained entry into the Sydney Christmas Art Competition and Exhibition, which will take place in December at the Notre Dame University, Sydney. They will be competing against students from the Archdiocese of Sydney, Diocese of Bathurst and Catholic students in State schools.

We are extremely proud of Jada, Christian, Charlotte and Angelisa and their outstanding commitment, passion and dedication throughout the whole process and we look forward to attending and supporting them on the next stage of their Christmas Art Journey! We would also especially like to thank:

•     Mr Reardon for supporting and encouraging this wonderful opportunity within our school community. 
•     Mr John Charadia for his commitment, dedication, support and guidance during the Christmas Art Competition process.
•     The Year 5 and 6 teachers and students for their implementation, support and dedication
•     The parents and families for their support and encouragement.

The exhibition will be on display from the 5th October through to the 23rd October at the Wollongong Art Gallery, it is a wonderful opportunity to experience outstanding student creativity!

First Holy Communion Programme
This weekend, a second leaflet is available to confirm the workshops to which families have been assigned. This is almost exactly the same as the previous one issued as there were only a few requests for changes. Please be mindful that workshops begin Monday 28 October. Workshop books will be issued after all Masses next weekend.  A form given out during the Masses needs to be presented in exchange for your child’s workbook. Thanks.