This final newsletter for what has been a tumultuous year brings to a close our 2021 school year. Whilst we still have tomorrow to navigate, I do get a sense that everyone is well and truly ready for a break. Thank goodness the restrictions have lifted sufficiently for everyone to include some social cheer into their christmas celebrations.  Now that the two square metre rule is in place, hopefully most of the parish can fit in some time to “feed” their faith over the festive season. This for me has been one of the greatest challenges in 2021.

I would like to acknowledge and thank the parent community who has worked with us and supported us throughout the whole remote learning journey, something very new for all schools. The reality is, we had to work out how we were going to respond and then train the teachers quickly to be able to use the technology involved, especially the use of Myclasses K-6. In addition, changes were announced sometimes daily, which was overwhelming on occasions for all.

As I reflect on the year I’m also very much aware that some staff will move on. Recently, as a whole school we farewelled Sr Helen. Sr joined the St Paul's School Community as a permanent member of staff in January 1999. For the next twenty one years Sr Helen worked as an SSO and Pastoral Support with many of the children and their families. Prior to St Paul's, Sr taught in many Catholic Schools as a teacher following completing her Dip Education in 1971 and then the conversion Dip Education & RE in 1983. Sr Helen has made many friends during her time and the staff and students have been blessed to have her impact our community in such a positive manner. She will be missed greatly and forever hold a place in all our hearts. 

I wish to acknowledge the work of Mrs Julie Smith who has been a staff member at St Paul’s for over twenty years. Mrs Smith has been appointed to the position of Religious Education Coordinator at St Anthony’s Catholic Primary School, Picton. In recent years, Mrs Smith, through her role as Instructional Coach, has been influential in building the capacity of teachers. Ultimately, this has resulted in greater learning opportunities for students. We wish her well as she brings a huge expertise to her new role and setting in 2021.

Miss Sarah Florio will be moving to Holy Family, Ingleburn. Sarah wanted the opportunity to experience different school settings in order to continue her own professional journey. Whilst the students in her class will miss her, I am also proud to be providing Holy Family with a teacher who has made huge growth in her own development throughout her first full year of teaching. A significant loss to our school but a great opportunity for Sarah to take with her what she has learnt at St Paul’s and apply it to her new school setting.

Rachel Daffara is taking leave from her position at St Paul’s in 2021 to experience a different school setting at Good Samaritan, Fairy Meadow. As Miss Daffara comes from the Wollongong area, I’m sure she will enjoy living closer to her work. Miss Daffara has been at St Paul’s for four years and during this time has developed her expertise as a classroom teacher and has also been an active participant of our PB4L team.

Miss Annie Larkin has worked at St Paul’s for the past five years firstly as an SSO whilst she studied teaching, then as a teacher. She has completed a number of teaching blocks  and various casual days at St Paul’s.  We wish her well as she takes up new teaching opportunities in the state education system.

Finally, Miss Madeline Kenny, during the past four years has been employed as an SSO, assisting children with their learning. Maddy will be moving into a psychology role as she achieved her tertiary qualifications this year. As Maddy embarks on her future career path we wish her well. 

It would be remiss of me not to mention our current Year 6 cohort. Normally, we would acknowledge them at the final school mass for the year.  As this opportunity was not available due to COVID19 restrictions, I’m sure you will join me in thanking them for their contribution to our school during their primary education.  In addition, the Student Representative Council and School Captains assisted in providing leadership and support to those initiatives that we could actually implement.  It has been such a challenging year for our Year 6 cohort as their camp and graduation celebration underwent various iterations as the sands shifted to manage the impact of COVID19.

Whilst, I’m sure there have been many benefits associated with 2020, where we have probably learnt considerably more about ourselves, including our ability to cope with change and the unknown, I must admit I don’t think I will look back on this year with great fondness. However, this year has given me a great sense of hope for a better year next year to look forward to as we hopefully continue our journey back to normality, where our community is a hub of activity and inclusion again.

May the birth of the Christmas child bring you and your family great joy and happiness this festive season.

Go gently,

Michael Reardon
Principal

Congratulations to the following students who have recently received a Principal's Award.

Mia Browne, Ruben Samcam, Mollee Magro, Lewis Danjoux, Paige Campbell, Michaela Togias, Bianca Kral, Cooper Smith, Sophie Mgro, Isaac Searle, Liam Ryan, Savanna Luci, Sarah Murphy

Thank You

Thank you to all of our families who generously donated to the Missions this year. Due to your generosity the St Paul's school community raised a total of $4453.00, with $4113.50  raised on the Christmas fun day. These funds  will be distributed throughout our charities as follows;

As the Christmas break approaches, you may be after some ideas for reading at home with your child/ren. Below is a list of engaging, fun and purposeful activities that you can enjoy with your child while reading at home.

Kindergarten to Year 3:

• Have magnetic letters available, possibly on a fridge in the kitchen, for your child to investigate the orientation of the new letters they are learning and to group letters into 3 letter consonant – vowel – consonant (CVC) words. Just have the letters your child has learnt out and add the final few letters as your child learns them at school. Foam letters could be used in the bathroom or outside with water play. Make letter-sounds and have your children write the letter or letters that match the sounds.
• Practise writing sounds and words in different media. You could try sand, salt, sugar, water icing, cornflour gloop or shaving foam. An example would be for you to give your child the sound ‘ay’ and they see if they can remember the alternative spellings ‘ai’ ‘ae’, ‘eigh’ and so on.
• Try physical games to remember words – your child could bounce a ball as they spell a word or read sounds you show them. Alternatively, try setting up some cups or buckets with sounds written on them; you say a sound and your child has to try and aim a ball or a crumpled piece of paper into the correct bucket or cup.
• Practise building sentences. This is a great way of practising ‘tricky’ words as well as sounds, and also of thinking about sentence structure. Simply write a selection of words on to small cards or pieces of paper and then use these to build a sentence – the sillier the better! Or challenge your child to make a sentence using as many words as they can containing the same sound.
• Using Lego: Add letters and digraphs to building bricks for your child to build and construct new words.
• Read and draw with your child. Simply write a three-letter noun on a piece of paper (e.g. pan) or a word containing a sound they know (e.g. bee, book, night) and challenge your child to read the word and draw a picture to match it.
• Take it in turns to make up new nonsense words using the sounds your child knows – the sillier the better!
• Play word games that connect sounds with syllables and words (for example, if the letters "p-e-n" spell pen, how do you spell hen?).
• Write letters on cards. Hold up the cards one at a time and have your children say the sounds (for example, the /d/ sound for the letter d).
• Write letters on pieces of paper and put them in a paper bag. Let your children reach into the bag and take out letters. Have them say the sounds that match the letters.
• Make letter-sounds and ask your children to draw the matching letters in sand or create them using playdough.
• Take egg cartons and put a paper letter in each slot until you have all the letters of the alphabet in order. Say letter-sounds and ask your children to pick out the letters that match those sounds or ‘sound talk’ a word e.g. c-a-t and ask your child to spell the word by pulling out the letters.
• Spend some time in your local library choosing and reading the books. When you’re reading a book together, look for sounds that your child recognises and encourage them to continue sounding out words and blending the sounds to read the word.

Years 4-6:

• Read aloud to your children. You will be teaching literacy concepts simply by sharing books. Encourage your children to listen, ponder, make comments, and ask questions.
• Find a fable, fairy tale, or other short story for your child to read. Then ask your child to illustrate a part of the story he or she likes best or describe a favourite character. Have the child dictate or write a few sentences that tell about this picture.
• As you make out your grocery shopping list, give your child a sheet of paper and read the items to him or her. If the child asks for spelling help, write the words correctly for him or her to copy or spell the words aloud as your child writes them.
• Show your child a recipe and go over it together. Ask your child to read the recipe to you as you work and tell the child that each step must be done in a special order. Let your child help mix the ingredients. Allow your child to write down other recipes from the cookbook that he or she would like to help make.
• Encourage your child to make a dictionary by putting together several sheets of paper for a booklet. Ask your child to write at the top of each page a new word he or she has recently learned. If the word can be shown in a picture, have him or her look through appropriate texts to find pictures that illustrate the words and paste them on the correct pages.
• Have your child write the meaning of each word and a sentence using each new word. Your child can then use some or all of these sentences as the basis for a creative story. Have your child read this story to you and other family members.
• Help your child start a journal. Say what it is and discuss topics that can be written about, such as making a new friend, an interesting school or home activity just completed, or how your child felt on the first day of school. Encourage your child to come up with other ideas. Keep a journal yourself and compare notes at the end of the week. You and your child each can read aloud parts of your journals that you want to share.
• Homemade bookmark: Provide your child with a piece of cardboard. On one side of the bookmark, have your child draw a picture of a scene from a book he or she has read. On the other side, ask your child to write the name of the book, its author, publisher, publication date, and a few sentences about the book.
• Ask your child to tell you about favourite TV characters using different kinds of words.
• As your child watches commercials on television, ask him or her to invent a product and write slogans or an ad for it.
• Prepare a monthly calendar with symbols such as a picture of the sun to represent an outdoor activity or a picture of a book to represent reading. Each time your child engages in a daily free time activity, encourage him or her to paste a symbol on the correct calendar date. This will give you an idea of how your child spends his or her free time. It also encourages a varied schedule.

Have a safe, blessed and merry Christmas with your families. We look forward to working with you and your children in the new year. 

I would like to take this opportunity to say a sincere thank you to the St Paul’s School community who welcomed me 20 years ago and continues to be my second family. To the existing staff and to those who have come and gone, you will forever be in my heart. You have all played a special part in not only my professional growth but my spiritual growth.  It’s been an absolute pleasure to be part of the development of young lives and to witness students grow in wisdom. 

Wishing you many blessings,

Mrs Julie Smith

For Parish news and information, or to book Mass during COVID-19 please visit the Parish website.

https://www.stpaulscamden.org.au/

2021 Canteen Price List