Last Sunday’s Gospel describes God’s generosity and how we as human beings can accept God’s salvation and the blessing of generosity in our lives. Bishop Brian in his homily last Sunday described the vineyard in the Gospel as representing the kingdom of God, where God’s love for us is limitless, where comfortable expectations are withdrawn and the unexpected prevails. The Gospel outlines how we can imitate the generosity of God in our day to day interactions with others.

Dear Parents and Carers,

On Saturday 19th September and Sunday 20th September I had the privilege to join a number of Year 3 students, their families, Fr. Leo Duck, Mrs Julie Ferguson and Mrs Paula Potts as a number of our Year 3 students received the Sacrament of the Eucharist. I would like to thank Fr. Leo, Julie Ferguson and Paula Potts for preparing our Year 3 students to receive the sacrament of the Eucharist. Both celebrations were very prayerful and reverent and I look forward to celebrating with our remaining Year 3 students and their families early in Term 4 as other students receive the Sacrament of the Eucharist.

Mrs Janet Sykes who has taken twelve months leave this year will be retiring at the end of 2020. Janet has been a member of the St Paul’s school community and the St Paul’s Parish community for many years. Janet has contributed to the school community in many varied ways and we will farewell Janet at the end of the school year where we will acknowledge her many contributions to the life of our school.

Miss Lauren Potts who has taken twelve months leave this year has resigned from her teaching position at St Paul’s to pursue her teaching career abroad. We wish Lauren all the very best for her travels in 2021 and thank her for her many contributions to the St Paul’s school community.

Mr Shaun Dutaillis will continue his work with the Catholic Education Office Diocese of Wollongong into 2021. We wish Shaun the very best for his year ahead as he continues his work with the Information Communication Learning Technology team at the Catholic Education Office.

The fifth partnership principle from the Parent-School Partnership Framework asks parents and the school community to support engagement in learning and wellbeing. This principle involves;

• Participating in initiatives which share information between school and home to complement learning across both settings.
• Communicating openly via formal and informal opportunities to share all relevant information about each child’s learning and wellbeing.
• Modelling a positive attitude to learning, education, school and co-curricula activities.
• Actively supporting consistent student attendance at school.
• Facilitating a positive learning environment at school and at home.
  

Thank you to all students, parents, carers and staff for another great term of learning at St Paul’s. Thank you to our parents and carers for your ongoing support and for your contributions to the St Paul’s school community. I am very grateful for your generosity and care for the staff and students at St Paul's.

A reminder that the 2nd November 2020 is a Pupil Free Day. Students are not required to attend school on this day.

I wish all families a safe holiday, a time to enjoy each other’s company and I look forward to seeing you all in Term 4.

Wishing you every blessing,

Michelle Rodwell

Principal

This year a number of the School Review and Improvement Teams are working on using data effectively to inform the instruction that students receive. This is based on the research of Dr Lyn Sharratt who is a highly-accomplished practitioner, researcher, author, and presenter. 

St Paul's are working towards improving teachers’ assessment and instruction practices in the classroom in order to increase student achievement for all students. The School Review and Improvement areas that directly relate to this are:

2.3: Students and their Learning - Reporting Student Achievement focusing on the National Literacy and Numeracy Progressions

3.2: Pedagogy - The Provision for the Diverse Needs of Learners focusing on using data to inform differentiated teaching and learning so that students received explicit instruction aligned to their needs.

Twice a term teachers meet with the Instructional Coach (Mrs Belinda Evans) and the Assistant Principal (Mrs Rebecca Nunes) in order to collaboratively examine student data. This data could include observations, work samples, assessments or standardised tests aligned to the schools' Assessment Overview.

During these meetings, the teachers collaboratively examine data and form consistent judgements about where this places students against the levels of the Learning Progressions. From there, teachers will determine appropriate actions for the various learners within their class. The students are then able to receive targeted instruction based on their needs. This instruction can be one to one, in small groups or as a part of whole group teaching.

Recently the students from Year 1 to Year 6 participated in the Progressive Achievement Tests (PAT). These tests are designed to provide objective, norm-referenced information to teachers about their students' skills and understandings in a range of key areas. Year 1 and Year 2 completed tests in reading comprehension and mathematics. Year 3 to Year 6 completed tests in reading comprehension, grammar and punctuation as well as mathematics. The PAT tests are all completed online each year at the end of Term 3.

Teachers use the information from the PAT tests to help determine student achievement based on the norm for their age. Teachers will be examining the results of the PAT tests early in Term 4. This school-wide data also helps the school to plan to set goals and for the coming year.

Dear Parents and Carers,

In Term 4 students will wear their summer uniform. Please see below a list of the requirements of the summer uniform.

The St Paul’s Catholic School Uniform is available at Hazelton’s, Tongarra Road, Albion Park. The school / sport uniform should be worn in full by all students. However, we believe that no student should be disadvantaged because of financial difficulties. Parents are asked to see the Principal if they are unable to purchase new uniforms. We do have a second hand clothing pool from which parents can select some good condition uniforms.

Change from Summer to Winter uniform occurs during Term 2 and change from Winter to Summer uniform occurs from the beginning of Term 4.

Due to COVID restrictions on numbers allowed in our church, we have 6 Communion Ceremonies this year. We thank Fr Leo for celebrating two extra Communion Masses last weekend and congratulate Year 3 students; Mitchell Diamant, Aiden Koloski, Austin and Aden Nixon, Addison Dunn, Elise Jennison, Maya Huetter, Jaxon Moran, Xavier Cabanas, Lucas Glover, Scarlett Carrett, Jessminda Borg, and Eli Coopes on receiving Jesus for the first time. We look forward to the next four First Holy Communion ceremonies to be held in the first weeks of Term 4.

I thank Paula Potts for all her amazing help, Julianne, Raphael and Marcella Tonini for the music on Saturday and Catriona Neilson for leading the music on Sunday. Thank you to all staff for their support especially Monica McCann and Suzette Bennett.

The Christmas Story Art Competition and Exhibition is an initiative of the Catholic Education Offices in Wollongong and Sydney, designed to celebrate children’s creative ability in illustrating the Christmas story based on scripture passages. Students in Years 5 and 6 must explain (in no more than 200 words) why they chose a particular passage, how it inspires their faith and what processes they used to create their artwork.

This exhibition/competition provides the opportunity for Stage 3 students to share with the wider community the role of the arts in Religious Education.

All students in Years 5 and 6 at St Paul’s have been working on their artwork over Term 3 and their pieces will be displayed around the school during Term 4. Some pieces from both years were selected by the Catholic Education Office and we congratulate Talisha Ristevski, Eli Maounis, Joshua Cowell, Ivy  Armstrong, Ava Daly and Emma-Lee Sutton on their wonderful art. Eli’s work has now also been chosen to be exhibited at the Wollongong Art Gallery over the School Holidays. We have included some artwork in this newsletter and will also show more in Term 4 newsletters.

Julie Ferguson

Religious Education Coordinator

Thank you to all students who are trying their best to follow our school rules in the playground and classroom

This fortnight, our PB4L Focus has continued to be on our Playground Procedures, in particular the proper use of all our playground equipment. Mr McCann has been purchasing sports equipment for each class to take out at lunch and recess time. This includes soccer balls, footballs, hoops and handballs. Each class will be responsible for the care and respectful use of this equipment.

Our PB4L Representatives for Years 3-6 have continued their great work collecting playground raffle tickets from classrooms and drawing the raffle on Tuesdays.

Our PB4L Draw winners for Week 9 are:

Jake Primmer - 4 Red

Isabella De Santis - 4 Blue

Ava Van Akker - 1 Red

Lara Williamson - K Red

Harrison Whitehead - 1 Blue

Our PB4L Draw winners for Week 10 are:

Arihana Koloski - 1 Red

Taig O'Shea - 1 Red

Matthew Parker - 4 Blue

Savannah Apps - 2 Red

Lily Jones - 4 Red

We are all looking forward to joining in the whole school Green-Zone rewards this Friday. All students who have had a great week of learning and playing respectfully, responsibly and safely will be enjoying a movie and some fun and games on the Top Oval after their Cross Country event!

Congratulations to the following students who have received or will be receiving a Principal Award and/or a Mary MacKillop Award:

Principal Awards

Isabel Groznik - 3 Blue

Kobi Price - 6 Blue

Sam Goodwin - 4 Blue

Isaiah Infante - 5 Blue

Alyssa Shepherd - 5 Red

Logan Carrett - 1 Blue

Mary MacKillop Awards

Indianna Surian - 5 Blue

Ava Alaban - 5 Red

The PB4L Team

This year, we are celebrating Book Week in Week 2, Term 4. The timetable for the activities is as follows:

Monday – 19 October 

• Classroom Trivia for the Primary grades
• Book Week Craft for the Infant grades

Tuesday – 20 October

• Virtual Author Visit – Chris Collin – Infant grades

Wednesday – 21 October 

• Class Dress Up Parade – children can come to school dressed as their favourite book character; for example, Snow White, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Harry Potter, a fairy etc 

OR

• they can come dressed as something to do with this year’s theme, “Curious Creatures, Wild Minds”; for example, anything from the wild, from the jungle, a monster, a creature from a book, Einstein 

Thursday – 22 October

• Virtual Author Visit – Chris Collin – Primary grades

Friday – 23 October

• Liturgy in classroom

Book Week Book

This week, we were so excited to be sent a story written by Noah Coopes, one of our ex-students who is now in High School. Every year at St Pauls’, Noah would enter the story writing competition for Book Week. His story has evolved over the years and we were thrilled to read the next instalment. Congratulations Noah for continuing with your passion for writing and we cannot wait until next year’s sequel. How lovely when the connection with our students continues after primary school, it gives a real sense of community. Thank you, Noah. 

Robyn Warton & Louise Frendo

Library School Support Officers

We are taking enrolments for 2021.

We would love to meet your family and watch your child grow and learn.

Enrolments in Term 4 welcome!

Please contact the school office on 4256 2772 or alternatively find enrolment information on our website http://www.spapdow.catholic.edu.au/

We will be sending out our Kindergarten Transition to School ebook soon!

The Second-Hand Uniform Stall is still operating. Parents/carers who require uniform items please contact Maria Bancroft - 0400 570 105. Items requested will be left at the office to pay and pick up at your convenience.

All items $5

Please Note:

Office can only accept EFTPOS payments when purchasing uniforms.

DONATIONS of uniforms no longer required are always needed to replenish our stock.
It is important that all uniforms have been WASHED and are in relatively GOOD condition (no rips, big stains or broken zippers please).
Parents/Carers are welcome to drop off the uniform donations at the front office.