I invite you to join the students as they attend Mass each Friday. The children love to have their parents attend all school events and attendance at Mass is even more special to them. Please join your children at the Parish Mass ay 9.30am.

Thanks to all those who come along when our students have been to Mass.

• Week 10; Friday 27 September - Year 3

Congratulations to our young parishioners who received Jesus for the first time in their First Holy Communion last weekend. On behalf of the parish and school community I sincerely thank all those who supported the children in making this day very special for them.

I ask the parents of these children to allow them to continue receiving Jesus in Communion by regularly attending holy Mass each weekend. You have each presented your child for this sacrament and your child needs you to support them.

Thank you Mrs Ferguson for all that you do in the parish to make these days so reflective and happy for the children.

On behalf of the school community, I warmly welcome Fr Leo Duck our newly appointed parish priest as he takes up his pastoral duties in our parish while we are away on school holidays.

We look forward to welcoming Fr Leo to our school to meet with the students when he settles in. I invite the school community to welcome Fr Leo when he celebrates the parish masses and introduce your child to him.

Welcome to Albion Park Parish Fr Leo we are so blessed to have you as our parish priest.

Our Week 8, Term 3 Waste Free Warrior Winners are:

• Jessminda Borg - Year 2 Blue
• Phoenix Bradford - Year 3 Red
• Sam Goodwin - Year 3 Red
• Henry Smallman - Year 3 Blue

Our Week 9, Term 3 Waste Free Warrior Winners are:

Principal's Awards

Congratulations to April Gray and Callum Greig who will receive a Principal’s Award at our next Assembly on Friday 18 October 2019 - Week 1 Term 4.

Congratulations to Mia Sassi and Elleah Estalilla from Year 1 Red who recently competed in the Australian All-star Cheerleading Federation (AASCF) Cheer & Dance State Championships over the weekend on Sunday 15 September 2019 at Sydney Olympic Park.

Mia and Elleah competed with their team of 6 girls from the Academy of Cheer in the division of Mini Cheer Novice. Their team ‘Spike’ completed against 5 other clubs within their division and came away with 2^nd place. This is a fantastic achievement for the girls who have worked so hard all year.

Kimberly Robertson

Next Assembly will be held on Friday 18 October 2019 - Week 1 Term 4 commencing at 2:20 pm in the hall and will be presented by Year 4.

Parents are asked to use the Parish side entrance to the hall.

We sincerely thank the panel from the Catholic Education Office, Mr Mark Raue (Chair), Mr Noel Henry (Head of School Improvement, Primary) Mrs Kay Blundell (Senior Professional Officer K – 12 School Improvement Services) and Mrs Anne Duggan (Principal of St Patrick’s Catholic Parish Primary School Port Kembla) who will spend the day with us on Wednesday for our school’s School Improvement Cyclic Review.

I also take this opportunity to thank staff members who will meet with them to report on School Improvement. A group of parents and students will also meet with the panel to discuss and report on student and parent engagement with the school and community.

Please accept my most grateful thanks for volunteering to be part of the discussions.

All entry after 8:30 am and 3:15 pm each school day is through the Back Gate and Church Gate.

All bus children and waiters are dispersed through the church gates. Parents and carers need to come into the premises to collect the children. The Back Gate and St Joseph’s Walkers’ procedures remain the same. NO CHILD WILL BE ALLOWED TO LEAVE THESE AREAS TO ENTER A CAR. This is safety precaution and has always been the procedure.

Hopefully, when we return in Term 4, we will have some update as to the use of the entry to the school.

I thank all parents, carers and visitors to the school for your patience and understanding during the upgrading works.

Students will wear their Summer Uniforms when we return to school for Term 4 on Monday 14 October. If the weather is cool, please pack a school jumper in your child’s bag.

Sports Uniform Jackets are not to be worn with the school uniform. The jacket is part of the Sports Uniform. Thanks to all those students who take pride and responsibility in wearing our St Paul’s uniform correctly.

Three members of our staff are presently on Long Service Leave for the rest of this term. Their classes have experienced teachers taking the responsibility of learning and teaching. We wish Mrs Bennett, Mrs Sykes and Mr Dutaillis a restful break and pray for their safe return back.

{! sz_gallery_by_id; 41 !}On Monday the 23rd of September, Year 6 were invited to attend Activate Fire, with other Catholic Schools, Stella Maris, Nazareth, Ss Peter and Paul, Corpus Christi and St Joseph’s at Ss Peter and Paul school in Kiama. We predict that they called the day 'Activate Fire’ because the day was all about the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit’s symbol is a flame and a flame is fire, so it means activate your Holy Spirit. 

Throughout the day, we did activities, sung songs about God and Jesus and met and hung out with other students from other schools. We got split up into small groups, to talk about what we had just discussed in the talk that a man Joel spoke about. He spoke about taking ownership of our faith.

At the start of the day, one of the activities we completed, was Extreme Paper, Scissors, Rock. In the game, we played paper, scissors, rock, but every time we won, we went up a sacrament. At the start we were babies, which was a symbol for Baptism. If you won the round, you would go up to the Eucharist, the symbol, was receiving the Eucharist. The next stage was Confirmation & the symbol was having your hand in the air. When you verse someone with the same Confirmation symbol as you, if you lose you’re on their team & you also have to chant their name. In the end, there should be two big groups versing each other in paper, scissors, rock. 

Throughout the day, the people organising ‘Activate Fire’, had several talks about God, Jesus & The Holy Spirit. One of the talks was about ‘Ownership’. We talked about how once you get Confirmed, you have ownership of your faith. They also talked about how you can start your prayer journey and can decide where you prayer & when you pray.

At the end of the day, we sang a beautiful song called 10,000 Reasons. In the end, we all had lots of fun & we learn a lot about God, Jesus & The Holy Spirit. We had fun communicating & meeting students from other schools. Everybody was friendly and it was a great way to meet new people that you may be with for the next six years in high school. 

By Emilie Hermann & Noah Coopes

Below is the link to an article about the recent mBot Challenge article on the CEDoW website:

On behalf of the staff and students, I would like to thank all those who in one way or another supported Maria Bancroft and Mr Brian McCann for a very successful Colour Fun Run last Friday. The weather was certainly kind to us and with the cheers and laughter of staff, students parents and families who attended, it was a colourful fun day.

I received a letter from Mr John Balzan from Premier Illawarra Bus Company at Unanderra in relation to student's not presenting their opal card when catching buses to and from school.

Mr Balzan has asked me to share with parents, carers and students the Student Code of Conduct.  Please make sure that you share this information with your child (ren).  It is important that all students travelling to and from school have their opal card at all times.

St Paul's Catholic Parish Primary School is interested in participating in the CatholicCare National School Chaplaincy Program for 2020 to 2022.   

Parents and Carers are asked to please complete this 30 second survey to assist us with our application for funding for this program. 

https://forms.microsoft.com/FormsPro/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=zlmHQHHqOUOz47-22C6OuP466fVHeu9DvwzXS_IHxVFUNkFZRlNXSDhBVTFKRjRXNUJDM0daN1lYSy4u

School Chaplains support the wellbeing of students and the school community. Participation in programs delivered by the chaplain is voluntary. Chaplains deliver a range of non-therapeutic welfare, spiritual and emotional support to students, families and staff at the school. Some of these beneficial activities may include:

• Grief and loss programs
• Support for the spiritual needs of the school community
• Individual support
• Mindfulness
• Parent workshops
• School community support initiatives
• Social justice groups
• Social skills groups
• Youth groups

Last Wednesday, Zane Stroemer, Abbey Bartley and Thomas Allen went to a Catholic Mission Launch. It was held at St. John’s Catholic High School In Nowra. When we arrived there, we went to the hall. We had a turn on a Virtual Reality headset, it was really cool. It showed us stories of how the people lived over in Africa. Then we sat down and waited for the liturgy to start. When it started there was an Aboriginal dance that was really moving. This year the Catholic Mission Launch focused on helping disadvantaged people in a country called Ghana, in Africa. A guest speaker from Ghana came and told us about what he did and how he got to where he is now. Before this guest speaker came, there was a video that they showed us about Ghana and the conditions that they were living in. There was a really kind lady who helped at an orphanage/school in Ghana and helped the children to have a good life and a better future. It was really interesting and we found it very cool. Then we had a guest speaker that talked about his journey/life, which was also amazing. After the liturgy, they provided Subway sandwiches for lunch. On the way home we ended up going to McDonald’s. Thank you Mrs Easton and Mrs Sykes for a great day.

By Thomas Allen, Abbey Bartley and Zane Stroemer

Diocese of Wollongong Representatives

Congratulations to our St Paul’s students who represented the Diocese of Wollongong throughout Term 3:

Athletics:                    Holly Czornobej and Janae Robertson

Holly and Janae both travelled to Sydney Olympic Park Athletics Centre (SOPAC), Homebush on Monday 16 September to compete in the MacKillop Athletics Championships. Representing the Wollongong diocese, the girls competed against students from the other dioceses of  southern NSW, which includes Sydney, Parramatta, Canberra/Goulburn and Wagga Wagga.

Janae, a late inclusion in the squad, performed very well by finishing 9th in her 12-13 years 800m event, in a time of 2 minutes, 50.28 seconds. Holly, had not only a busy day, competing in the 11 years 100m, 200m and Long Jump events, but a very successful one. She achieved PBs in all three events and came away with two silver medals in Long Jump (4.08m) and 100m (13.96s), as well as a bronze in the 200m (30.27s).

Due to these outstanding results, Holly will return to SOPAC in early November, to compete in the NSW PSSA Athletics Championships, as a member of the MacKillop team. Congratulations to both girls on their fantastic achievements and good luck Holly!

Junior Basketball Gala Day 

On Thursday 20 September, our junior boys basketball teams participated in a Gala day at Shellharbour Basketball Stadium. Both teams had a mixed bag of results but all of the boys gave it their best and thoroughly enjoyed the day. Special thanks to Adam Newing for coaching one of the teams and to all of the other parents who came along to cheer both teams on.

NSWCPS Basketball Challenge

Just over a month until the NSWCPS Basketball Challenge, being held in Albury on the weekend of October 26 & 27 (Term 4, Week 2). Training sessions have been progressing well, with players developing their individual skills, as well as their team game plans. Thank you the coaches and managers of each team, as well as the players for their continued dedication and efforts!

Diocesan Cricket Gala Day

The Diocesan Cricket Gala Day is due to be held in Term 4, Week 2, on Thursday 24 October, at Thomas Dalton Park, Fairy Meadow. This gala day is for Years 5 & 6 students only and initially, we are limited to nominating 2 x teams (max. 8 players) for both the boys and girls divisions. Therefore, based on expressions of interest from Stage 3 students, we may need to conduct some try-outs in early Term 4. More information is to follow.

St Joseph’s ‘Elite Athlete Program’

Congratulations to three of our Year 6 students - Breanna Cresswell (Hockey), April Gray (various sports) and Zane Stroemer (Football), who have been successful in being selected for the St Joseph’s ‘Elite Athlete Program’. Following an initial application process from 67 students across Years 7-12, Breanna, April and Zane were short-listed to be interviewed by a panel of staff from St Joseph’s, where they not only discussed their sporting achievements, but also their academic achievements and willingness to maintain a balance between study and sport.

Breanna, Zane and April recall their experiences and feelings about being selected below:

On Monday the 23rd of September, April Gray, Zane Stroemer and Breanna Cresswell from Year 6 started the Elite Athlete Program which is run by St. Joseph’s Catholic High School in association with Baimed Performance, to help future athletes to become stronger, faster, fit and to prepare us mentally with things like balancing school with sport. On Monday, we had a big day filled with testing our strength and skill. Our flexibility was tested through our backs, ankles and knees/legs. Our strength through lifting a weight, doing push-ups and holding a plank. Our speed was challenged through 20m sprints and agility tests. After the testing, we were talked to by a sport psychologist, who ran activities showing us that sport isn’t always about winning because all you can do is put in 110% effort and the only 2 things we can control is our efforts and our thoughts. After his speech, we were sent back to the gym and we got our test reports back, and we were given exercises to improve our strength relevant to our sport. We were told to do these exercises twice a week and they will check in every fortnight. Overall, Monday was a day of testing our strength, determination and our fitness, and we cannot wait until our test next term.

By April Gray, Zane Stroemer and Breanna Cresswell

Well done to Breanna, April and Zane, and we look forward to celebrating your future sporting (and academic) pathways!

Calendar Dates:

Thursday 24 October (Week 2)                      Diocesan Cricket Gala Day (Fairy Meadow)

Sat. 26 & Sun. 27 October (Week 2)             NSW CPS Basketball Challenge (Albury)

Mr Shaun Dutaillis & Mr Brian McCann, Sports Coordinators

I’m sure you will all agree that our 2^nd Colour Fun Run was a very successful day for everyone in our St Pauls School Community.

A big thankyou goes out to lots of people who made the day possible. To the many parents, teachers, our Yr. 6 student promo team and the office ladies who assisted from helping out behind the scenes, organising paperwork, to setting up, throwing colour, counting money, to helping pack it all up. A special thankyou also goes to Stephen and Peter from our local Rural Fire Brigade. These two volunteered their time to set up their truck and share their fire safety skills, even joining in with the fun of hosing the students at the tarp obstacle.  

Seeing all those smiling colourful faces having lots of fun, definitely made it all worth it. It truly was another “BEST DAY EVER”.

PLEASE REMEMBER: ALL PRIZES NEED TO BE ORDERED BY THIS THURSDAY 26 SEPTEMBER 2019. Simply visit schoolfundraising.com.au and log into your profile page. Then click on the ‘ORDER PRIZES’ button and follow the prompts.

Stay tuned for the Final Tally, and the announcement of our Top Fundraising Students, and the Winning Class who raised the most money.

Thank you for your amazing effort and support.

Maria Bancroft, Colour Fun Run Coordinator

Please find attached information for St Mary Star of the Sea College and Edmund Rice College's Try Year 7 for a Day on Thursday 7 and Friday 8 November 2019.

Parents / carers can register their child for Try Year 7 for a Day via the Edmund Rice and St Mary's College websites.

Parents / carers are required to make their own private transport arrangements for their son / daughter on the day.