Dear Parents/Carers,

As we move towards the end of this term, at its completion we will have celebrated the two most significant community events of the year; St Paul’s school fete and this Friday, Grandparents and Great People Day.

A small strategy that I use to connect with the students is conversation over a game of chess.  Many of the students have learnt the mature skill of booking a meeting, arranging for a friend to also attend to play “Mr R” in a game of chess. You would be amazed at what I learn from a game of chess with two of the students! The art and wisdom of conversation enables me to learn about the aspirations of our students, their challenges with friendships and gives an insight into their values, sense of belonging and connectedness to school. 

In recent days, with two students, I asked about the things they like about the fete, and why Grandparents and Great People day are so special. Many of the answers were about connecting family to school, having fun with friends and the ownership of something special that was shared by many.

I realised, for the students, the St Paul’s fete and Grandparents and Great People Day is really not about their “special” person or the day itself. These special community events are in fact a part of their identity and offer the children some community which is welcoming and stable in a world purely defined by rapid change.

In my conversations I also realised that whilst these two events are hugely important to their belonging story, their identity is multi-faceted and seems to rise from many sources:

• How we welcome new students and families,
• Regular school assemblies and liturgies,
• Participation in public events together (eg ANZAC Day March, Netball Gala Day),
• Celebration of school events (eg fete, Grandparents Day/Special People Day, St Paul’s Feast Day, sacraments),
• School rituals eg House Cup
• Development of student and parent loyalties to the school eg donations for fete day and the Fete Poster Competition

The list could go on for pages! During my chess games with the students, I now deeply understand what glues them to the St Paul’s school community. It is the experiencing of an affinity for the school as a place where they are recognised by people and feel linked with others. This affinity offers support and affirmation for each person in the school community, including the deeply valued grandparents who will turn up at the gate in droves this Friday, on the very last day of the term. Our students have told me, in their own way as we have chatted over a game of chess, that their presence in the school community is significant to the group and they have a real contribution to make to its growth.

The other final simple matter that is very clear, is how much joy they get in beating “the elderly statesman” of the community in chess! I’m sure they will remind me of that when they bump into me down the street in Camden in ten years time!

Thank you for such a wonderful term, where community has shone a light brighter than words can describe upon us all.

Go gently and may there be a chance for all to have some form of rest, not just the students and staff.

Go gently,

Michael Reardon
Principal

Principal Awards

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

Emma Ryan, Harper Halse, Tate Durrington, Zoe Durrington, Sofia Cocco, Lily Vella, Hunter Greene, Amalia Accoto, Oliver Mackie, Jacob Dunbar, Isla Russell, Ariella Arico, Lenny Sacilotto, Oliver Lawrence, Joseph Iofrida, Taylor Scorah, Joanna Iofrida, Johnny Iofrida, Ryder Harris, Mariah Oliva, Maddison Aldred, Thomas Sammut, Peyton VonWartburg, Lucy Farrugia, Levi Manser, Adalynee Cranfield, Luka Peich, Marcus Mura, Mason Mura, Alessio Mosca, Sofia Mosca, Alexander Brett, Georgia Cahill, Eden Shephard, Rhys Taylor, Ruby Fuller, Alexander Campbell, Isla Crnek, Ivy Burnett, Sophia Moraghan, Ruby Humphries, Mackenzie Bowen, Lewis Danjoux, Audrey Zammit.

Congratulations

Congratulations to Paige (Year 6), who recently entered the kids news 'Short story competition 2023' and received a Highly commended for her story 'The Ghostly Shadow'.

Paige's story and other winners can be viewed via the following link; 

Kids News - Short Story Competition 2023

St Paul’s Feast Day Celebrations

Schools draw inspiration and direction from the stories of how their founding religious congregation, patron saint or significant people in the school's history exemplified particular gifts of the Spirit in living out the gospel of Jesus Christ. We at St Paul's Primary School, draw from the model and examples of St Paul and St Mary of the Cross MacKillop as highlighted in our school’s vision statement:

This week we will especially focus on the charism that St Paul offers our school as on Thursday, 29 June 2023, the church worldwide celebrates St Paul's feast day. 

St Paul taught the Gospel of Christ to the first century world. St Paul is the patron saint of missionaries, evangelists, writers, journalists and authors. He was a teacher of people and through his teaching helped to establish the Christian Church. The school seeks to do the same as it provides opportunities for all stakeholders to be truly present in faith and life. The students are constantly reminded that Christ is with them as they learn in a community embedded in ritual, prayer, sacred music, signs, symbols and our Catholic tradition. This creates a distinctly Catholic pedagogy, the way of St Paul.

On Thursday, 29 June, the students will learn some facts about St Paul during their Religion lesson. We then come together as a whole school community to celebrate Mass at 10:00am. At this Mass, each child will receive a Holy Card of St Paul. During the day, each grade will also have an opportunity to attend a Mini Fair prepared by the Year 6 students and their teachers. Some of the activities on offer include sporting activities, carnival games, face painting, disco, nail polish station, football clinic, ball in the bucket, hit the target, pin the bible on St Paul.

The proposed timetable for the day is outlined below: 

At some point during the day, each child will also receive a packet of Smith's chips to add to the celebration of the day. If for some reason you choose for your child not to have the chips, could you please send an email directly to our school office to let us know.

A big thank you to our Year 5 teachers for preparing the liturgy and to our Year 6 teachers and students for planning and organising the mini fair. 

Winter Appeal

As a Catholic School community, we are encouraged to reach out to those in need and to participate in the work of supporting others. One way we do this is by supporting our Catholic mission organisations. The mission agencies supported by our St Paul’s School community include, Caritas Australia, Catholic Mission and the St Vincent de Paul Society. Earlier this year we were able to raise $1618.80 for Caritas.

This term the school focused on supporting the St Vincent De Paul Society. In these difficult times, this organisation needs our support in their pursuit to help those less fortunate and what amazing support our families gave! We had ute loads to deliver, boxes of food, gloves, beanies, socks and blankets, as well as $306.25 in cash.

The St Vincent De Paul Society of Camden wishes to thank you for your kindness and generosity.

NAPLAN Information for Parents

The purpose of the diverse learning team is to support school communities to build their capacity, especially that of teachers and other staff, to cater for the diverse learning and wellbeing needs of students. The Diverse Learning Team will work collaboratively with internal and external professionals (Occupational Therapists, Speech Pathologists and Educational Psychologists) to ensure that an informed teaching approach is applied to student learning.

Catholic Education, Diocese of Wollongong promotes an inclusive model of education with the goal to cater for student diverse learning needs within the least restrictive environment, through a continuum of support for students with diverse learning needs that includes access to the following:

• Quality differentiated teaching in the regular classroom;
• Adjustments to cater for particular needs in the regular classroom;
• Small group and targeted individual interventions within and outside regular class; and;
• Opportunities to cater for students with domains of giftedness

The Diverse Learning Team consists of;

• Melinda Waters (Diverse Learning Support Teacher) 
• Kerry Devine
• Deb Huxley 
• Angela Mourinho (Middle Leader)

Students who require enrichment opportunities are supported by;

• Kristen King (Middle Leader)
• Donna Rae (Middle Leader) 

For parents who are looking for further support for your child/ren in regards to their learning and/or wellbeing, the following links may be helpful;

https://codereadnetwork.org/help-is-here/resources/#parents

https://beyou.edu.au/ 

Western Region Netball

Last Thursday, 22 June 2023, nine teams of eighty-eight St Paul's students participated in the Western Region Netball Gala Day. We want to congratulate all the students who participated and displayed great sportsmanship throughout the day. The main intention behind the diocesan gala days is to provide students with an opportunity to play and enjoy the game in a non-competitive atmosphere. It was wonderful to witness our students develop new skills and have fun during every game. We want to thank the volunteers, teachers, and parents who have supported us in providing our students with such valuable experiences. Thank you!