Dear Parents/Carers,

Welcome to our week eight newsletter. Last Friday the P&F officially welcomed our new parents to St Paul’s school community. As I chatted with our new parents I listened to their worries for their children, I heard about how the teachers and staff have taken many of those anxieties away.  It is a big challenge to hand over your child each morning to the staff at St Paul’s, then walk away placing in our hands responsibility for their education and happiness.  On the whole we do this very well, but I also heard from one parent that to do this perfectly every day is not necessarily achievable, it hasn’t been for them as the parent either.  This parent reminded me of that well worn saying: “It takes a village to raise a child.”  The parent  wasn’t seeking perfection but a relationship with the school.  This was very obvious in our conversation.

The conversation also reminded me about a book written by a famous English educator, Ken Robinson.  He passed away August, 2020 and over the Christmas vacation I read his final book co-written with his daughter: “Imagine If……..creating a future for us all.”

Ken Robinson, in this book, suggested that to engage and succeed, education has to develop on three fronts. Firstly, that it should foster diversity by offering a broad curriculum. Secondly, it should promote curiosity through creative teaching, which depends on high quality teacher training and development. Finally, it should focus on awakening creativity through alternative processes that put less emphasis on standardised testing, thereby giving the responsibility for defining the course of education to individual schools and teachers. He believed that much of the present education system encourages conformity, compliance and standardisation rather than creative approaches to learning. Robinson emphasised that we can only succeed if we recognise that education is an organic system, not a mechanical one: successful school administration is a matter of engendering a helpful climate rather than "command and control”.

For our school, to be this type of school, we have to work together as a team. This is why our Cocktail Party and Listening Assembly is so important. Every 3-5 years, if a school doesn’t stop, reflect and take stock of its journey, it will reach a tipping point where, if change is not implemented, it will go backwards. It is time for us to celebrate our journey together since our first Listening Assembly (even through COVID) and create a new story, otherwise we end up in between stories. If you haven’t registered for our Listening Assembly, please do so, come along, have fun together and plan our new direction. I haven’t heard a negative word about our first Listening Assembly and many of the recommendations that came out of it have been implemented.  I will share this with parents on the night as well.

A reminder notification will come out, if you haven’t registered, please respond and register your attendance.

Go gently,

Michael Reardon
Principal

Principal Awards

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

Alexander Bourke, Caster Ivicevic, Ellie-Rose Raco, Violette Bustos, Lourdes Fuentes, April Grech, Jackson Carney, Samuel Vincent, Izabella Robertson, Audrey Buda, Ava Browne, Alessio Silvano, Ollie Croke, Ruby Robertson, Valentina Mula, Atticus Booth, Corey Teuma, Ryan Maydew, Lorenzo Santucci, Jonathan Sparkes-Howarth.

Information about Parent-Teacher Data Meetings (Zoom)

Monday, 27 March - Friday, 31 March 2023 

From Monday, 27 March to Friday, 31 March 2023, parent-teacher data meetings will take place via Zoom. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss your child’s Semester 1 short term learning goals for Mathematics and English. This meeting will provide an opportunity for your child’s teacher to explain the learning goals, the strategies that will be used to achieve this in the classroom and the strategies that you can use at home to support your child. 

Every child will bring home their goals in an envelope on Friday, 24 March 2023. If your child is away on this day, your child will bring the envelope home the next day they are at school. 

Bookings for the parent-teacher data meeting are currently open on COMPASS. The bookings will close on Friday, 24 March at 3:30p.m. 

Zoom links for individual classes will be sent out via COMPASS prior to the meetings. 

If you have any further questions, please contact your child’s classroom teacher.

Thank You - St Patrick's Day

Thank you to our families for generously donating to Project Compassion. Funds raised totalled  $1618.80. This money will be sent to Caritas to help those less fortunate.

Harmony Day - Tuesday, 21 March 2023

​​Harmony Day is all about celebrating the amazing cultures that make up our country. Australia is one of the most multicultural countries in the world – from the oldest continuous culture of our First Australians to the Australians who were born overseas or have a parent or grandparent  who was. Our cultural diversity is a great strength and brings with it a whole host of traditions, religions, languages and of course, food! It helps us to do things in different ways, reduces discrimination and lets us accept differences.

The theme for Harmony Day 2023 is: “Everyone Belongs”.

Orange is the colour chosen to represent Harmony Week. Traditionally, orange signifies social communication and meaningful conversations. It also relates to the freedom of ideas and encouragement of mutual respect.

This week to acknowledge Harmony Day, the students at St Paul’s will have the opportunity to participate in some Harmony Day activities in the library during their lunch break. All students will also receive a Harmony Day sticker to wear.

• Tuesday - Kindergarten
• Wednesday - Year 1 & 2           
• Thursday - Year 3 & 4
• Friday - Year 5 & 6

How to disagree respectfully - ‘Stop, Think, then Choose what to do.’

At St Paul’s we have been learning how to disagree respectfully. The students in all grades are being taught to stop (count to 10, take a deep breath), think about how they and the other person may be feeling, and decide what they will do. The below visual is being used throughout the school to assist children in remembering these important steps.

Children have been practising how to disagree respectfully by:

• Looking at the person
• Using a pleasant voice/tone
• Making an empathy or concern statement (I can see you are feeling….)
• Stating their disagreement specifically (I believe that….)
• Giving a rationale (Because……)
• Saying “Thank you”

Premier’s Reading Challenge 2023

The Premier’s Reading Challenge aims to encourage students to read for leisure and enjoyment. It is not a competition but an individual challenge for each student to increase their reading and to experience a wide range of literature. 

Kindergarten to Year 9 students in all NSW schools can participate in the PRC with certificates awarded at the end of each year to acknowledge students’ achievements.

This year, K-2 students will have 30 books read to them in class for their PRC and these will be recorded by the PRC Coordinator and assistant. 

Students in Year 3-6 are responsible for recording their own books to their PRC Student Reading Log via the PRC website. During this term’s library lessons, students are shown how to login to the PRC website, they are provided with their username and password and are shown how to add books to their Personal Reading Log. 

The Premier’s Reading Challenge for 2023 closes on Friday, 18 August 2023.

If you do choose to complete your child’s Personal Reading Log on the website and require some help, the answers to many frequently asked questions can be found by clicking on “Support” on the PRC website. If any further help is required please contact me by email via the office at info@spcdow.catholic.edu.au

Cross Country Carnival- 2023 

Finally, as an SPC community, we could enjoy a whole school cross-country that wasn't cancelled or postponed due to flooding, bushfires or COVID. We held our annual Cross Country on Friday, 10 March 2023 at the Camden Bicentennial Equestrian Park in the beautiful sunshine. All students ran with tremendous determination and SPC spirit.

Good luck to the students who have now progressed to compete at the Diocese of Wollongong Cross Country Championships at "Willandra" Browns Mt Road, Nowra. Thank you to all our staff and parent volunteers for their assistance on the day. Our House cross country champions were Therry. 

Swimming Selection Trials 

On Wednesday, 13 March 2023, nine students represented St Paul's at the Swimming Selection Trials. Congratulations to all our students who proudly represented our school on the day.

Wollongong Football Representative Selections

Last week, we had students attend Diocesan selection trials for football. Congratulations to all students who attended these trials and displayed St Paul's school spirit.

Special congratulations to Lucas, Michaela & Dean who was selected to represent Wollongong at the Mackillop Trials in May.

Chocolate Wheel Coordinator Still Needed

The fete committee is still in need of a coordinator for the chocolate wheel. The chocolate wheel is a great fun stall on the day. This role would be great shared with a friend or husband and wife team. Volunteers will be arranged to assist you on the day. 

The fete is a great community event that brings life long memories for our students and being a part of this is very rewarding for all involved. If you can help out in any way, please email you interest to info@spcdow.catholic.edu.au