Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome back to Term 3. Our students have returned revitalised ready for another term of learning. 

On Monday our staff engaged in a professional learning day on social and emotional learning. When students experience high levels of wellbeing, they are more likely to be engaged, motivated, and open to new experiences, which are critical components of effective learning. Positive wellbeing fosters a sense of security and confidence, enabling learners to take risks, ask questions, and explore new ideas without fear of failure. Conversely, poor wellbeing can lead to stress, anxiety, and disengagement, all of which hinder cognitive functions such as concentration, memory, and problem-solving skills. Our school is prioritising the wellbeing of our students through the development of researched based learning programs. 

Staffing Updates

Mrs Miller has decided to extend her leave for all of Term 3. Miss Beecher is continuing in 5 Blue this term. We wish Mrs Miller the very best as she continues her recovery from illness. 

We are thrilled to announce that Mrs. Linnett is expecting her second baby girl! We eagerly anticipate the safe arrival of her baby and wish her all the best during her maternity leave. This is a joyous time for her and her family, and we couldn't be happier to share this wonderful news with our St. Paul's community. Please join us in congratulating Mrs. Linnett and wishing her all the best as she prepares for the arrival of her new baby.

We are pleased to announce that after a thorough recruitment process, we have employed Mrs. Floro to replace Mrs. Linnett. Mrs. Floro will be teaching Creative Arts from Kindergarten to Year 6. Mrs. Floro has been a valued casual teacher with us for several years. We are confident that her familiarity with our school community and her dedication to education will make her a wonderful addition to our team. Please join us in welcoming Mrs. Floro to the St. Paul's school community. We look forward to the positive impact she will have on our students.

Building Updates

We have had some important developments at St. Paul's that took place during the holidays. Several classrooms have undergone repairs due to the flooding earlier in the year. Both Year 2 classrooms and 5 Red have had their fixed joinery removed and will be replaced with new mobile storage units, enhancing flexibility and functionality. Repairs in 2 Blue are still ongoing, and in the meantime, they are currently working in the library.

We appreciate your understanding and support as we continue to improve our facilities to provide the best possible learning environment for our students.

Continuous Catholic School Improvement

We are currently engaged in a School Cyclic Inquiry (SCI), a collaborative and school-led review process that typically occurs every four years. The Cyclic Inquiry report provides an opportunity for us to reflect on student growth in faith, learning, and wellbeing from 2019 to 2023. This self-reflection involves our entire school staff, the parish priest, parents, students, and other key stakeholders from our broader school community.

Earlier this year, we gathered feedback from staff, parents, and students through the Tell Them From Me survey. To further enrich our review, the Cyclic Inquiry panel would like to conduct face-to-face interviews with parents. These interviews will take place on September 10.

If you are interested in participating in this parent forum, please register by completing the following Google Form: 

Click here to register to participate in our Cyclic Inquiry

Thank you for your involvement and support in this important process.

NAPLAN 

This term our students in Year 3 and 5 received their NAPLAN results. These results are an important part of our assessment and evaluation process, helping us to understand and enhance student learning outcomes.

As part of our commitment to ongoing improvement, we will be reviewing these results closely and incorporating them into our broader analysis during the School Cyclic Inquiry (SCI). This review will help us identify strengths and areas for development within our teaching and learning strategies.

Parent and Carer Evening with Dr Justin Coulson at St John's Catholic Parish Primary School Dapto

The St John's Catholic Parish Primary School Dapto Parents and Friends Association are excited to announce they are hosting a parent and carer information session with Dr Justin Coulson on Wednesday, 28th August 2024 at 6:30pm.

Dr Justin Coulson is the co-host and parenting expert on Channel Nine’s “Parental Guidance” and the founder of happyfamilies.com.au and is considered one of Australia’s most trusted parenting experts.

The parent session will focus on the topic of Resilience. In this session, parents will learn the psychological secrets that build their child’s sense of identity, strengths, and growth mindset in order to perform better, be happier, and build resilience.

Tickets can be purchased using this link https://events.humanitix.com/resilience-with-dr-justin-coulson-parental-guidance-workshop

The live session runs from 7:00pm-8:30pm and refreshments will be provided from 6:30pm on the night.

Individual Student Reports for NAPLAN have been sent home to students in Years 3 and 5 who took the tests. The results are also available on Compass under the 'Reports' tab for your child.

An explanation of the report is attached for your information:

Family Transitions Triple P Online, developed by the Triple P – Positive Parenting Program, is an easy-to-use online resource that gives proven tips and strategies for managing the transition in a way that can boost parenting confidence and minimise the impact on children.

This Friday we will be acknowledging Grandparent’s Day Liturgy of the Word and students will be presenting an assembly item in the School Hall from 1:45pm. This will be an opportunity to recognise the importance of honouring our grandparents and thanking them for the blessings they have passed down to us in love.

World day for Grandparents and the Elderly was inaugurated by Pope Francis in 2021 and is celebrated on the fourth Sunday of July. 

Pope Francis in his message this year states "Today we celebrate World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, we cannot grow accustomed to abandoning the elderly. The Day calls us to listen to the voice of the elderly who say, “Do not abandon me!”, and to answer, “I will not abandon you!”

With this in mind, the Pope urged all faithful to work "to strengthen the alliance between grandparents and grandchildren, between young people and the elderly." Friendship with a grandparent can help the young to see life not only in terms of the present and realise that not everything depends on them and their abilities. For grandparents, the presence of a young person in their lives can give them hope that their experience will not be lost and that their dreams can find fulfilment. 

As grandparents to Jesus St Anne and St Joachim taught the art of meeting and walking together and at St Paul’s we recognise that our grandparents are an integral part of our St Paul’s community.

On Monday 5 August, students from Year 4 will take part in the Religious Literacy Assessment. This will be administered via an electronic google form on school iPads. Students have been involved in practice assessments using the iPads in classrooms this last week.

The Diocese Of Wollongong Religious Literacy Assessment has taken place in Year 4 since 2003. Its intention is to influence learning and accountability and drive a culture of reflection on learning and pedagogy in the domain of Religious Education. 

To be religiously literate children leaving a Catholic primary school need to be able to communicate with and be at home in Catholic society and religion in general. Thus, assessment of religious literacy focuses on students’ knowledge and understanding of the key concepts that are being addressed by the Religious Education program and the children’s ability to communicate with their religious tradition.

If Year 4 students are absent on Monday 5 August, they will have an opportunity to complete the assessment the next day.

Catholic schools from the Diocese of Wollongong are invited to take part in The Christmas Story 2024 – a visual arts exhibition and competition for children in Stage 3 (Years 5 and 6).

As part of the Creative Arts unit in Term 2, Mrs Linnett worked on creating a variety of learning experiences to help students build their artistic skills. In Term 3 students will be given the opportunity to complete an artwork creation on-site at school.  Once artworks are complete Year 5 and Year 6 parents will be invited to view student’s artworks.

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.

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.

PB4L Focus - Week 1 & 2 - Dismissal Procedures 

End of Term 2 data indicated that dismissal is an area for growth, particularly at the Back Gate and on Bus Lines.  Students have practised how to be respectful, responsible and safe during dismissal across all areas of our school.

Wet Weather Procedures

As communicated in Term 2, the St Paul's Wet Weather Procedures have been updated.  On Monday of Week 1, all students attended an assembly in our Hall to learn our new Wet Weather Procedures for arrival and dismissal. 

The updated Wet Weather Procedure is as follows:

1. Arrival 

• Morning Arrival: On rainy days, students will assemble in the school hall. The students will sit in their class assembly lines. The students will be supervised by the teacher on duty.
• Class teachers will help supervise the students at 8.45am
• The morning assembly will be in the hall at 8.55am
• Students will move to class by 9am

2. Dismissal:

• Between 2:30-2:45 pm an alert will be sent to parents via Compass informing them that St Paul’s would be following wet weather procedures for afternoon dismissal.
• The Principal / Assistant Principal will open the Front Gate and inform parents of wet weather procedures, for example, if they are to go and collect their children from their classroom.
• Parents will walk around to their child’s classroom door and children will inform the teacher when their parent/carer is at the classroom door. 
• At 3:10 pm students proceed to the back gate to walk sensibly up to the back gate area supervised by a teacher. The teacher who brings the students to the back gate will ask their grade partner to help supervise their class. This teacher will stand between the classrooms. 
• At the 3:15 pm bell, the remaining students who are Out of School Hours Care will wait outside the St Joseph’s room ready for a member of staff to collect them.
• At the 3:15 pm bell, the remaining students who are ‘Waiters’ proceed to the corridor outside the Exec Office and 6 Blue classrooms by a staff member. 
• At the 3:15 pm bell, Bus students proceed to the area between the St Joseph’s room and the Year Six Classrooms by a staff member.
• At 3:15 pm, a member of the leadership will be responsible for supervising the area between the St Joseph’s room and the Year Six Classrooms.

4. Communication:

• We will send out notifications via email and our school app if there are any significant changes to the schedule due to weather conditions. Please ensure your contact information is up-to-date.

3. Appropriate Clothing:

• Please ensure your child comes to school dressed appropriately for the weather. This includes raincoats, and umbrellas. Label all items with your child’s name to avoid them being lost.

Diocesan Athletics Carnival

Congratulations to the following students who will represent our school at the upcoming South Coast Diocesan Athletics Carnival at Beaton Park, Wollonong on Tuesday 13th August.

Savannah, Jack, Issac, Brie, Sienna, Baye, Amarli, Madelynne, Elijah, Jackson, Hugh, Nora, Ava, Chantalee, Evie, Kai, Joseph, Mia, Vai, Jacob, Oliver, Hazel, Mya, Andre, Wes, Zali, Lukas, Chase, Cooper, and Jacinta. 

We wish them all the best of luck and are excited to hear about your achievements!

NSW CPS Golf Tournament

Please see the attached flyer for information about the upcoming NSW CPS Golf Tournament.

Staff Professional Learning

During the first week back, our staff actively engaged in collaborative planning sessions with the instructional coach and stage leaders to deepen their knowledge of the new Mathematics Syllabus. The teachers have participated in professional learning opportunities to enhance their understanding of quality assessment aligned with our school's AIP goal. They have carefully co-constructed quality assessments to measure students understanding and progress in key mathematical concepts accurately. 

GOAL: Students will demonstrate continuous improvement in Mathematics as a result of explicit instruction at their point of need, informed by ongoing quality assessment.

Look at some of our Maths Learning across the grades 

Kindergarten

In Kindergarten, we have been learning before and after and are learning how to represent these numbers objects, drawings, dice and 10 frames.

Year 1 

In year 1 we have been learning how to model and describe collections of objects using the following mathematical language:

• groups of 
• the number of groups and the number in each group 
• We are also finding the total in the collection without always starting counting from one. This means we are practising to skip count by 2, 3,5, 10 

Year 4

In Year 4 we have been learning about 2D shapes and their properties. We have been exploring the definition of tessellating. We have discovered shapes that can tesselate and ones that cannot. We have been busy creating tessellating designs with polygons.

Mrs Evans - Instructional Coach

Registration for the ICAS Assessments is now closed.  The ICAS Assessments will take place throughout Weeks 3-6.  The assessments will be supervised by various members of the School Leadership Team.

Any questions can be forwarded to Bree-Anna Fogliada via the school office.

Hi St Pauls Families!

We are now gathering feedback for our next school holiday period. If you have a moment to complete the survey below that would be great. For families who don’t currently access the service you can complete just the first and last question if you would like to voice your interest in dates for next school holidays (including the next Pupil Free Day).

https://forms.office.com/r/tcbYDet7t7

During the school holidays new enrolments can take up to 5 business days to process so we do recommend enrolling during the term and being ready on our casual list just in case.

If you are interested in enrolling please email the service at albionparkoosh@CatholicCare.dow.org.au to receive an information pack.

Regards

Becky

The P&F Meeting for Term 3 will be held on Monday 19th August, via zoom from 6.30 pm. A zoom link will be shared on the day.

St Paul's Parents and Friends Association will be holding a Father's Day stall on Thursday 29th August. The cost of the Father's Day gifts is $5.00 per gift. Please provide a bag so that your child can carry the gift home.

This year’s Koori Gala Day will be held at Kiama Netball Association Sunday 25th August 2024.

We would love for you to join us for a family fun day of netball that brings the community together.

This Koori Gala Day can assist teams with training and preparation for the Koori Netball Tournament (in October at Charlestown).

The day also provides an opportunity for Netball NSW to invite selected athletes, coaches and umpires to the First Nations Emerging Talent camp held at Netball Central later this year.

Divisions available to enter:

10-12 years Girls/Mixed/Boys

13-15 years Girls/Mixed

Opens Women/Mixed

Maximum of 12 players per team and a maximum of 3 non-Indigenous players allowed per team

Team entry is $40 per team, players do NOT have to be registered with Netball NSW.

Each team supplies their own umpire.

Tell your friends and get your teams together.  We can’t wait to see you on the court!

Click the link to register your team at: https://www.playhq.com/netball-australia/register/5d4632

If you require any further information, please reach out.