In Parishes throughout the Diocese of Wollongong we celebrated the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, Year A. Last Sunday's Gospel reading is part of a discourse between Jesus and a crowd of Jews.  Jesus tells the crowd that he is the bread of life. He explains that just as God gave the Israelites manna to sustain them in the desert, so now God has sent new manna that will give eternal life. It is in this context that Jesus repeats those words in last Sunday's Gospel and tells them again that he is the living bread that came down from heaven.

Jesus’ words are not well understood by the crowd; they argue that Jesus is not from heaven but born of Mary and Joseph. The crowd also has trouble understanding how Jesus could give them his flesh to eat. Jesus tells them that when they eat his flesh and drink his blood, they will remain forever connected to him. These are difficult words, but they are important because they seek to show us our intimate connection with Jesus.

In the elements of bread and wine, Jesus’ Body and Blood are truly present. When we share in the Body and Blood of Christ, Jesus himself comes to dwell within us. This communion with the Lord makes us one body, brings us eternal life, and sends us forth to be Christ’s Body in the world.

Dear Parents and Carers,

This coming Sunday June 18 marks the beginning of Refugee Week. Australia joins with the world in celebrating Refugee Week, this year culminating in World Refugee Day on Saturday June 24. Refugee Week is Australia’s peak annual activity to raise awareness about the issues affecting refugees and to celebrate the positive contributions made by refugees to Australian society. During this week, we are all asked to reflect on and, if possible, contribute to creating a ‘better understanding between different communities and to encourage successful integration enabling refugees to live in safety and to continue making a valuable contribution to Australia.’ This year, as we celebrate ‘Finding Freedom’, we continue to celebrate the positive contributions made by refugees to Australian society. Teachers will be exploring the stories of refugees and acknowledging and celebrating the diversity of our wonderful country. May we as a Catholic community continue to be accepting of all people whatever their cultural or social background, whatever their faith tradition, because that is what makes St Paul’s a community that cares.

Year 6 Mass with the Bishop

On Friday 9 June Bishop Brian celebrated Mass with our Year 6 students along with eight other Diocesan Primary Schools who came together at St Francis of Assisi Parish Primary School Warrawong. The annual Year 6 Mass with the Bishop is an opportunity to celebrate the Eucharist and remind students how they can foster their relationships with Jesus through compassionate actions and loving words as they grow. It was a very prayerful celebration of the Eucharist and our Year 6 students were very responsible, respectful and were mature when interacting with other Year 6 students from the eight Diocesan Primary Schools. Following the Mass,  students were able to enjoy the opportunity to mingle, sing and dance together with students from the eight Primary schools present. They were also able to broaden their network of friends across the diocese during this time. I was incredibly proud of our Year 6 students who exhibited excellent leadership throughout the day. Thank you to Mrs Jodi Marsh, Mrs Katie Colquhoun, Mrs Kirsten Ezea and Mrs Lauren Wilson who supported our Year 6 students on the day.

Semester One Student Reports and Teacher and Parent/Carer Learning Conversations

Teachers will be finalising Semester One reports this week and these will be available on Compass from Wednesday of Week 9. Teacher and Parent and Carer Learning Conversations will be held in Week 10. Both the Semester One Student Reports and the Teacher and Parent/Carer Learning Conversations are an opportunity to celebrate the many achievements and growth students have made in the first Semester of the 2023 school year. I would like to express my gratitude to the teachers and Grade Leaders who have spent much of their time finalising the student reports. Thank you to those parents and carers who have booked their learning conversation with their child’s teacher for Week 10. Another great example of the collaboration between our staff and parents and carers that we value at St Paul’s.

Michelle Rodwell

Principal

Acknowledgement to Country

St Paul's Albion Park acknowledges and pays respect to the Dharawal people past and present, the traditional custodians of the land on which our school is built.

Parents of students in Year One to Year Six will be provided with a Semester One report via the Compass Portal on:

Wednesday 21 June

At this time of year, Kindergarten does not receive a written report in Semester One. Kindergarten only receives an end-of-year report (Semester Two).

Please see the attached video to listen to Michael Grose, founder of Parenting Ideas, who is one of Australia's leading parenting educators discussing important advice for parents when receiving a child's report. 

Watch this before looking at your child's report

Student Science and Technology Workbooks

In Week 8, Friday 16 June we will send home Science books. Science and Technology activities will also be evident on Seesaw and through Google Classroom for Grades 4-6.

Your child will bring home their workbook to celebrate some of the work they have completed this term. Please ensure you complete the confirmation slip in the workbook and return the workbook to school the on the next school day. 

Your child would love you to look through their book and use this as a starting point to discuss what they have been learning. If you would like to give your child some feedback you might like to try the following format. 

Acknowledge a success	✓ Identify what is done accurately ✓ Describe something that is quality work ✓ Point out if they have used a good strategy eg: evidence of editing
Guide a future action	✓ Ask a question about something  ✓ Offer a suggestion to improve one aspect of learning- try to reinforce any comments from the teacher

In 2023 one of our Annual Improvement Plan goals at St Paul's is for students to demonstrate understanding of the school's Catholic values. While it is important to live all Catholic values, as a school we would like to focus on those specifically important to the student community at this point in time. Staff have worked together to identify values that they feel are most valuable. 

We are now seeking input from the wider community. 

Could you please read the selection of goals and choose four that you believe are most important for the community of St Paul's Primary School to hold as their school values?

Follow this link to access the survey: https://forms.gle/9MUAgc87bACTfpHN9

There will also be paper copies available at the school office, if this is your preferred option.

This term our school community will be supporting the St Vincent de Paul, 2023 Winter Appeal by holding a Pyjama Day on Friday 30th June. Students are invited to wear their winter pyjamas (along with enclosed shoes and school hat) to school. 

We are offering an optional hot chocolate and cinnamon donut deal on the day. The cost of the hot chocolate and donut will be $5 with all profits raised from sales going to support St Vincent de Paul. Students will need to pre-order the hot chocolate and donut, with the note coming home this coming week.

The St Paul’s Community will gather together at a Liturgy on Wednesday 19th July at 1.00pm to celebrate NAIDOC Week. Parents are invited to attend.

On Tuesday 25th July, St Paul’s will be celebrating Grandparents Day beginning at 9:30am. More details will follow in the coming weeks.

Last Friday, Year 6 attended Mass at St Francis Assisi at Warrawong. This celebration was led by Bishop Brian Mascord and was attended by students from 9 Diocesan schools. Our Year Six students represented St Paul’s in a reverent and respectful manner. Following Mass the students had the opportunity to meet the Year 6 students from other schools while eating lunch, dancing and playing in the playground.

Students from the older grades will be attending Mass on the Friday’s below. Parents and carers are invited to attend Mass, followed by an opportunity to visit the grade classroom and have morning tea in the hall. Mass begins at 9:30am in St Paul’s Catholic Church.

Two weeks ago, Year 4 invited parents into the classroom following attendance at the Parish Mass. Parents and Carers had the opportunity to view their child’s work and enjoy a cup of coffee afterwards.

Please find a list below of Liturgies and events that will be celebrated in Term 2. Some Religious occasions will be recognised in the classroom during Religious Education lessons.

Each grade will have the opportunity to present an assembly fortnightly on Friday afternoons in the hall at 2:30pm. ACE, Principal and Mary MacKillop Awards will be presented at these assemblies. Parents are welcome to attend. Please see below the dates for the remainder of the year. 

Term 2

Term 3

Term 4

Mrs Jodi Marsh

Religious Education Coordinator

Year 6 Celebration of Learning.....

On Friday 26 May and Friday 9th June, our K-2 Curriculum Advisor; Alexandra Hingston, and Instructional Coach, Belinda Evans gathered with Teachers and Leaders from schools across the Diocese of Wollongong to engage in professional learning focused on the K-2 English and Mathematics Syllabus. This series of professional learning provides school leaders with a deep understanding of the intent of the new English and Maths syllabus and strategies to support the implementation of evidence based, high impact teaching strategies. We are looking forward to taking this learning back to school to share with our colleagues at our next Staff Development Day on Tuesday the 13th June - Week 8.

Mrs Alexandra Hingston

Mathematics Staff Development Day Professional Learning Update

On Tuesday 13th June, our dedicated staff gathered for a professional learning day facilitated by Bridgeen Pritchard from CEDoW, Belinda Evans, Alexandra Hingston and Eliza Treble to develop our Mathematics goal: 

Teachers will have a deep understanding of the Aspects of place value and implement evidence-based strategies for teaching Representing Number so that all students demonstrate growth in place value.

Staff_Development_Day_136.pdf

Staff_Development_Day_136 _pdf 1.59 MB

During the day, our staff had the opportunity to delve into the research of Peter Liljedahl, renowned for his work on 'Building Thinking Classrooms.' This research emphasised the paramount importance of creating classroom environments that encourage student thinking. By designing highly engaging tasks, we aim to cultivate longer and deeper learning experiences. We recognise the significant role of student engagement in mathematics and the positive impact it has on their overall learning journey.

To further enhance our students' mathematical experiences, we introduced a variety of mathematical games that can be utilised both at school and at home. These games have been carefully designed to be easily differentiated, accommodating the diverse needs of our learners. 

Games have long been regarded as an effective tool for engaging students in mathematics, as they create positive learning environments, enhance student motivation, and foster rich mathematical discussions. According to Monroe and Nelson (2003), providing opportunities for social interaction and meaningful mathematical dialogue increases enjoyment and engagement with mathematics. In fact, there is evidence that lessons built around game-based activities result in students spending more time on tasks and generating more student-to-student mathematical dialogue.

We are excited to incorporate these new approaches into our teaching practices, as they will undoubtedly enhance our students' mathematical understanding and engagement. We are committed to creating a vibrant and interactive learning environment, and we look forward to sharing further updates on our continuous efforts to enrich mathematics education at our school.

Mrs Belinda Evans

Throughout the year teachers have access to a variety of quality professional development opportunities. Casual teachers are employed to cover classes with the teacher ensuring the teaching program and routines are followed. 

“Those who dare to teach, never cease to learn” John Cotton-Dana

Every year, all schools in Australia participate in the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD). The NCCD process requires schools to identify information already available in the school about supports provided to students with disability. The NCCD provides state and federal governments with the information they need to plan more broadly for the support of students with disabilities.

Information provided about students to the Australian Government for the NCCD includes:

• year of schooling
• category of disability: physical, cognitive, sensory or social/emotional
• level of adjustment provided: support provided within quality differentiated teaching practice, supplementary, substantial or extensive.

The school will provide data to the Australian Government in such a way that no individual student will be able to be identified – the privacy and confidentiality of all students is ensured. All information is protected by privacy laws that regulate the collection, storage and disclosure of personal information. 

This information assists schools to:

• formally recognise the supports and adjustments provided to students with disability in schools
• consider how they can strengthen the support of students with disability in schools
• develop shared practices so that they can review their learning programs in order to improve educational outcomes for students with disabilities.

If you have any questions about this annual process, please contact Alexandra Hingston or Jodi Marsh. 

We would like to invite the Parents & Carers of students in Kindergarten, Year 1 and Year 2 to our first parent  workshop for 2023. The K-2 Reading Workshop will be held on Monday the 26th of June 2023 (Week 10) and this year we are offering two sessions; the first commencing at 9:30am, and a second session commencing at 2:00pm in the St Joseph's Room. 

The K-2 Reading Workshop will explore the importance of early literacy, how children learn to read and what you can do to support your child/children at home as they develop the essential early literacy skills. 

Mrs Alexandra Hingston

On Friday 9th June Kindergarten shared their FIRST assembly with the whole school community. We were very excited to share our learning.

Next, we sang ‘I can sing a rainbow’ as we have been learning about verbal and non verbal communication. We have learned that we can use our words and our bodies to communicate a message. We had so much fun learning Auslan for this performance.

Finally we presented the ‘Affirmation Song’ by Doggyland. We have been learning about The Zones of Regulation and BIG feelings. In Kindergarten we have been trying different ways to get ourselves ready for learning and stay in the Green Zone. We also got to showcase our cool moves and rapping skills! This was really fun!

Some of us got to use the microphone for the very first time. It was a bit scary, but we all did an AMAZING job. It was really great that we had so many parents, carers and family members in the audience. We can’t wait to present our next Assembly In Term 4!

If you wanted to catch a glimpse of  the Kindergarten performance, head over to our St Paul’s Facebook page.

In January 2021, Pope Francis announced the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, to be celebrated each year on the fourth Sunday of July, coinciding with the feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary's parents and Jesus' grandparents, Sts. Joachim and Anne.

St Paul’s will be celebrating Grandparents Day on Tuesday 25 July. Save the Date and join the St Paul’s School Community on the 25 July. Please see below the invitation that was sent home with students today. 

St Paul’s will be participating in the ICAS Assessments again this year. The official sitting window is between the 7th August and 1st September 2023. Specific dates for each assessment can be seen in the table below.

ICAS is designed to target students’ higher-order thinking and problem-solving skills in English, Mathematics, Science, Writing, Spelling Bee and Digital Technologies.

Each assessment celebrates students’ accomplishments by providing opportunities for recognition and development. Every student that takes part will receive a printed certificate and an online results report. Top performers will be eligible for medals and are invited to attend special award ceremonies to have their academic excellence publicly recognised.

These assessments are suitable for students wishing to extend themselves academically and take up the personal challenge of competing in an international assessment that has been running for 40 years. Your child will be presented with high-quality, expert-developed questions, allowing them to apply their learning without the need for prior study or revision.

ICAS Assessments are now online, a move that reflects a sector-wide transition to online assessments. This allows greater accessibility for students and faster delivery of results.

Learn more about ICAS here: https://www.icasassessments.com/products-icas

2023 Participation and Payment

St Paul’s has signed up for the ICAS Assessments parent payment system (PPS) for all

Assessments. Through this system parents can pay for ICAS directly online while tests will still being held at our school.

The assessments are for years 2-6 students, except digital technology and writing which is only for 3-6 students.  A permission note with details of parent sign up codes will be handed out this week. 

Eliza Treble 

Selected SPLICED students from Stage Three will participate in a workshop to continue to develop the Visual Arts aspect of their SPLICED Project. The half day workshop will run under the guidance of Mrs Rachael Luna, Art Teacher from Ss Peter and Paul’s Kiama andl take place in the Ss Peter and Paul's Art Room from 9am - 12:30pm on Wednesday 21st June.

Mrs Jodi Marsh

The National Education Standards Authority (NESA) have developed ‘Supporting your Child: Parent and carer guides’ in English and Mathematics for Early Stage 1 - Stage 3. These documents have been created in response to the Curriculum Reform and align to the new English and Mathematics Syllabus. This supporting documentation provides parents/carers with information, ideas and strategies to effectively support their child's learning at home. This supporting documentation spans across all aspects of English and Mathematics, Kindergarten through to Year 6. 

As you work with your child at home, please ensure you discuss any questions or concerns with your child’s classroom teacher, they will be able to work with you to support your child in these areas. 

To access these resources, click the link here, navigate across the top drop down tabs to ‘Resources’ and click on ‘Teaching Resources’. You can then use the search function to find the ‘Supporting your child’ resources. 

St Paul’s community would like to congratulate Harrison and Laikyn who competed at the PSSA Hockey tournament in Tamworth last week. These boys both played amazingly well and displayed outstanding sportsmanship throughout the competition. Their team came away winning the Catholic Cup, meaning they were the best Catholic School at the Tournament. They also won a bronze medal as their team was third overall! 

What a sensational achievement boys. St Paul’s is very proud of you both!

Netball gala day teams have been entered. A compass post has been sent out for parents to give consent and payment, we are looking forward to a wonderful day!

The day will be held at Fred Finch Park, Berkeley on Tuesday 20 June 2023. A reminder that Parents and Carers are responsible for transporting their child/children to and from the venue. Students are required at the park by 8:00am. A reminder there will be NO canteen facilities available on the day. 

A huge thank you to the parents who have nominated to be a team manager. I will be in contact with each of you again shortly with an outline of the day once this information has been received. 

This year we have Mrs Hingston, Miss Treble, Mrs Calleja and Mrs Harb attending the carnival. We can’t wait for a fun-filled day!

Catholic Education Diocese of Wollongong Sport

The Catholic Education Office has a very useful website that has information on all gala days, representative sport, news announcements and the sports calendar. This website is a go to for all information sports! The link is attached below. 

https://www.dow.catholic.edu.au/sport/diocesan-sport-news/?ref=quicklinks

The Catholic Education Office also has a document outlining the philosophy all schools must follow in regards to Gala Days. Please have a read through the following document created by the Catholic Education Office. 

 

Primary Gala days – “A non-negotiable philosophy for schools”

As a balance to the representative pathway structures the Diocesan sports council facilitates gala days in netball, football, basketball and cricket. These days are:

• Strictly non-competitive,
• No scores are kept,
• No finals are played and
• No awards are given out

The gala days are designed for students to enjoy the sport, try the sport out, have fun and exercise without the pressure of competition and winning. Students, teachers, parents and supporters are to be reminded of this philosophy and treat all games and interactions with others with this in mind. 

Referees or umpires should be treated with courtesy and respect as most of these are sourced from local catholic secondary schools and we are very lucky to have this support. If we did not have this, schools would need to supply one umpire/referee per team entered. 

Students, teachers and parents should maintain a safe and respectful environment for all. They should maintain positive relationships with team officials regarding their child’s wellbeing and behaviour and encourage participation by all children.

Parents should provide a model of good sportsmanship for their child to copy and be courteous and respectful in communication with players, team officials, game officials, other parents and event organisers. For students, teachers or parents looking to play in higher level competitive days, the Diocesan gala days may not be for you.

Miss Eliza Treble

Refugee Week is from 18-24 June, 2023

Another way that we will be responding to the plastic problem in our school is shifting our Laudato Si’ award to be awarded to the cleanest playgrounds. Each grade has been allocated a playground that is their responsibility to keep free from rubbish and equipment. This will be monitored and the winners will be announced in our next newsletter. Stay tuned!

The St Paul’s Stage 3 Maths Olympiad Team have been working hard; crunching numbers, solving problems and sharing their mathematical thinking in preparation for the upcoming competition. The second competition paper will be released on Thursday the 15th of June - Week 8. We wish our amazing Maths Team all the best! 

Mrs Alexandra Hingston

If you intend to volunteer at school events or carnivals please email through your current working with children number if you have one or please fill out a volunteer declaration form and send into the school office.

While COVID-19 remains an unpredictable virus, NSW Health advise that it will continue to present a health risk to the community. Accordingly, our school continues to implement baseline COVID-smart measures to help reduce the risk of transmission for students and staff members. We ask that students who are feeling unwell be kept home and test, and only attend school when symptom free.

The article below is from Happy Families, and highlights excellent points when reading the Semester One student reports. The article is titled "Grades do not define our worth"

The Parents and Friends Association is currently needing additional clothing racks to hold the second-hand uniforms. If anyone has any, preferably with wheels, that they could donate we would really appreciate the assistance. If you have one to donate, please drop it to the school office. Thank you to those parents and carers who have donated a clothing rack.

A reminder that the Second Hand Uniform Shop will be available after the Week 10 School Assembly on Friday 30 June.

Thank you for your support

Amy De Santis

St Paul's Parents and Friends Association President