Last Sunday’s Gospel focused on the Transfiguration and the message of this Gospel is clear, to see, we need to look, to hear, we need to listen, to experience, we need to open our minds and hearts to the possibility of God's voice. The Gospel message encourages us to look at Jesus and listen to his words, to open our minds and hearts  to his presence. We don't need to be on the top of a mountain to experience God's fullness. The Transfiguration affirms life, a light that shines ahead into Lent to keep that season in perspective, never without hope and confidence. This light speaks a promise that God is here and that God seeks a relationship with us because God is life. 

Dear Parents and Carers,

This week we celebrate Catholic Schools Week. The theme for 2021 is ‘Faith in the Future’. This theme is shared with dioceses across the country as together we celebrate 200 years of Catholic education in Australia, marking the bicentenary of the first Catholic school established in Parramatta in October 1820. The first Catholic school in Australia was founded by Irish Catholic priest Fr John Therry and run by convict and lay person George Marley. The school, which Catholic historians believe was in Hunter Street, Parramatta, taught 31 students. By 1833, there were 10 Catholic schools in the colony. Over 200 years, Catholic schools have grown to become the largest provider of schooling in Australia (outside the government sector) with one in five school age students attending a Catholic school. This represents some 768,000 students in 1,751 schools across the country and employing 98,000 teachers and staff. Nearly 40 per cent of Catholic schools are located outside of metropolitan cities in regional, rural and remote communities. 

Throughout Catholic Schools Week we reflect on the precious gift of Catholic education, we remember the intergenerational contributions that preceded us and that we continue to build upon. Since the very first Catholic school was established, countless children and young people have benefited from the dedication and commitment of parents and staff in our Catholic schools. I would like to thank Mrs Jodi Marsh for her leadership with Catholic Schools Week celebrations at St Paul’s and the teachers for their professionalism and preparation of the learning experiences students have engaged in throughout Catholic Schools Week.

I would like to also take this opportunity to thank our teachers and also those parents and carers who have taken the opportunity to be involved in the meet and greet telephone conversations over the past few weeks. I would like to thank those parents and carers who have provided me with such positive feedback regarding the success of these meet and greet conversations. In the Week 2 newsletter I outlined the St Paul’s school improvement priorities for 2021 and one of those priorities was to continue our focus on parent and carer engagement in student learning.  It is our intention to create more effective opportunities for parents and carers to be engaged in the growth of faith and learning of their child so that they are knowledgeable of their child’s needs and growth. The meet and greet telephone conversations and the upcoming personalised planning meetings with parents certainly work towards a collective contribution to achieving our school and improvement priority. 

I would like to congratulate Monica Ward-McCann as the successful applicant for the CatholicCare School Chaplain role at St Paul’s. Monica brings much knowledge and expertise to the role as School Chaplan. Monica will work in collaboration with Doreen Waddington our School Counsellor and classroom teachers to provide support for our students.

Wishing you every blessing,

Michelle Rodwell

Principal

This week the school has released the Seesaw Family access. This access allows you to see selected learning tasks, some photos or videos that students have been working on. Each grade was sent a Compass post with the link to access their child's journal. If you are having difficulty logging in to see your child's journal please let us know so we can help troubleshoot through the technology issues. All those families that are already connected got to see a virtual classroom tour. 

St Paul's Facebook Page

Click this link to access the school Facebook page. 

Meetings for students with a Personalised Plan

All students with a Personalised Plan will have the opportunity to discuss their child's goals and adjustments with the class teacher. Your child's teacher will make contact with you via phone across Week 7-9 (8 March - 26 March). You will receive a time frame on a set day that the class teacher will call you.

After the meeting, a copy of the plan will be sent home for you to view. We look forward to collaborating with parents of students with a Personalised Plan.

Rebecca Nunes

Assistant Principal

This week we celebrate Catholic Schools Week. The week began with a whole school liturgy in the hall. On Tuesday each family had the opportunity to view a virtual tour of the classroom. Today Religious Education books will be sent home for you to view. Please return the book to school the next day.

Tomorrow Thursday 4 March - Each grade will participate in rotations around a number of different Creative Arts activities. While on Friday 5 March, children are invited to dress in mufti clothes. Please ensure students wear appropriate clothes and closed-in shoes. Each child will receive a special treat and our Virtual Assembly will be released in the afternoon.

On Monday, a National Prayer to celebrate 200 years of Catholic Education in Australia was sent home with all students. As a family, take time this week to pray the National Prayer and reflect on your families experiences with Catholic Education. For more information view the website: https://200years.catholic.edu.au/

Last week Project Compassions boxes were sent home with each child. Donations to Project Compassion allows Caritas Australia, the Catholic Agency for International Aid and Development, to work with local communities around the world to alleviate poverty, hunger, oppression and injustice.

We encourage you to put your compassion into action this Lent through your prayer, fasting and almsgiving by supporting Project Compassion. Boxes can be returned to the school office and money will be forwarded to Caritas Australia.

Students are encouraged, for a gold coin donation, to wear green or a touch of green on St Patrick’s Day, Wednesday 17 March. Money raised will be considered a donation towards Project Compassion. Students will learn more about the needs of those less fortunate than ourselves.

Second Week of Lent

Parish News

Father Leo Duck has given dates for the celebration of the Sacraments for 2021.

Further information about preparation and registration will be forwarded to you as it comes to hand.

FIRST RECONCILIATION (for students in Year Three or above)

21 June to 25 June

FIRST HOLY COMMUNION (for students in Year Three or above)

11 September or 12 September

CONFIRMATION (for students in Year Six)

29 April or 30 April

Jodi Marsh

Religious Education Coordinator

This year is the Year of St Joseph. On December 8 2020, Pope Francis launched the “Year of St Joseph”. The Apostolic Letter “Patris Corde” (“With a Father’s Heart”) outlines the Pope’s devotion to this great saint. He writes that his desire to share his reflections increased during the months of the pandemic, when “we experienced, amid the crisis, how our lives are woven together and sustained by ordinary people, people often overlooked.

People who do not appear in newspaper and magazine headlines, or on the latest television show, yet in these very days are surely shaping the decisive events of our history. Doctors, nurses, teachers, storekeepers and supermarket workers, cleaning personnel, caregivers, transport workers, men and women working to provide essential services and public safety, volunteers, priests, men and women religious, and so very many others. They understood that no one is saved alone… How many people daily exercise patience and offer hope, taking care to spread not panic, but shared responsibility.

How many fathers, mothers, grandparents and teachers are showing our children, in small everyday ways, how to accept and deal with a crisis by adjusting their routines, looking ahead and encouraging the practice of prayer. How many are praying, making sacrifices and interceding for the good of all. Each of us can discover in Joseph – the man who goes unnoticed, a daily, discreet and hidden presence – an intercessor, a support and a guide in times of trouble.”

We will be celebrating the Year of St Joseph as a school community throughout the year and please see our Newsletter which will feature information about St Joseph throughgout the year.

Ryder Hollingsworth - Kindergarten Red

Sophie Jones - 5 Blue

Jaxon Davit-Stonham - 6 Red

Archie Newing - 6 Red

Connor Shelton - 6 Blue

Scarlet Hu - 2 Blue

Kai Fleming - 1 Red

Chloe Ndisabiye - 2 Blue

Amaya Brennan - 1 Blue

Vanessa Matta - 4 Red

Lukas Bocko - 1 Red

The PB4L Team

The following dates have been planned as Staff Professional Development Days for St Paul’s this year. Being Staff Development Days they are pupil free days, so children do not attend school. The dates are as follows:

Please note that CatholicCare OSHC Care will put a survey in the newsletter closer to the Staff Development dates to seek parent/carer feedback regarding the provision of Vacation Care style service for the Staff Development dates.

CatholicCare OSHC Care would like to thank parents and carers who completed their recent survey regarding vacation care. They did not have enough response to run during the April Holidays however the feedback is looking promising for June/July!

CatholicCare OSHC Care process will be similar for Staff Development Dates. When these are coming up please keep an eye out in the newsletter for a survey to register your interest with them. If they gain enough feedback to warrant running the day they will provide a Vacation Care style day, from 7am to 6pm, based off of children's interests and ideas! Please give them a call at 0460 666 010 or email them at albionparkoosh@catholiccare.dow.org.au if you have any further questions.

St Paul's Catholic Parish Primary School has a duty to take reasonable care for the safety and welfare of our students.  This care extends to assisting students manage their medical condition that requires medication, where medication cannot be administered outside of school hours.

If your child requires staff to administer prescription or over-the-counter medication at school, you will need to complete a Request to Administer Medication Form.  

School staff will only administer prescription medication that: 

• Has been prescribed by a qualified medical practitioner (e.g. doctor, dentist)

• Is in its original container 

• Has an attached pharmacy label to the container

• Has been delivered to the school by the parent / carer and is accompanied by a completed Request to Administer Medication Form 

School staff will only administer Over-The-Counter medication that: 

• Is in its original container 

• Has been delivered to the school by the parent / carer and is accompanied completed Request to Administer Medication Form including the signature and stamp from a qualified medical practitioner

If your child requires more than one medication, you will need to complete a form for each medication.

ASCIA ANAPHYLAXIS ACTION PLANS / ASHTMA MANAGEMENT

ACTION PLANS

If your child is at risk of anaphylaxis, asthma or an allergic reaction, it is important that the school is provided with a current ASCIA Anaphylaxis Action Plan / Asthma Management Plan completed by a doctor.  This plan provides up-to-date information for the school regarding the medical management of your child’s condition.  

If there are any changes in your child’s health care needs, please inform the school as soon as possible.

Starting Kindergarten has been one big adventure! Some of us have been excited, some of us also a bit scared. We have been very brave walking in the school gate by ourselves. We have been placed in our classes now and have been on all of the different playgrounds. There are so many new places to learn and play. Mrs Hingston and Mrs Grove have been teaching us our school rules. We have learnt that we have school rules to keep us safe!

We have been to the library to borrow some books. We got to meet Mrs Warton and we also got to meet Ollie! He got up to some mischief in the Library. We had such a great time.

During our learning we have been also exercising our brains when we do brain breaks. Brain Breaks help us to get ready to read and write. Our favourite one is ‘Super Heroes Unite’.

We have also been learning about the Zones of Regulation. We know we are ready for learning when we are in the Green Zone because we can learn, listen, work hard and do our best!

We have also been doing our PE Lessons with Mr Holgate and our Art with Ms Pollard. Tuesdays are a very busy day for Kindergarten!

Best of all we love to do group activities every day. We just love groups and our activities are so much fun.

We have met our buddies and we can’t wait to see them again very soon.

We cannot wait to see what else we will learn in Kindergarten!

April Grove and Alexandra Hingston

Kindergarten Teachers

Enrolments for Kindergarten 2022 are now open. Enrolments packs are available for collection at our school office. Please let your friends and the wider community know that enrolments are now open.

Applications close 3:00pm, Thursday, 1 April 2021

At St Paul’s staff use a variety of learning frameworks to diversify the curriculum and facilitate quality learning and teaching experiences for all students. Gifted Education is a shared responsibility between teachers and parents.

St Paul’s follows Gagné’s differentiated model of giftedness and talent. Gagné defines giftedness as the possession of natural abilities at levels significantly beyond what might be expected for one’s age; that is, giftedness is outstanding potential that may or may not yet be evident in outstanding performance. Gagné defines talent as the achievement or performance of one or more systematically developed skills at a level significantly beyond what might be expected for one’s age.

Teachers may devise specific Individual Learning Plans (ILPs) for students who have been formally assessed as gifted or requiring extension in particular subject areas. These plans may include:

• Differentiation within the classroom
• Opportunities for growth outside the classroom (including SPLICED,  Maths Games, STEM/Coding)
• A variety of grouping strategies
• Modified reporting procedures

Some of the gifted education initiatives available at St Paul’s for students to show their potential and engage in higher order thinking processes, include:

• The ACER General Ability Tests (AGAT) - a test designed to assist teachers of students aged seven to sixteen years (approximately Year 2 to Year 10) in their assessment of students’ general reasoning ability. These tests have been developed especially for use in schools. Each of the tests assesses students’ reasoning skills in three areas: Verbal and Numerical and Abstract (visual). At St Paul’s, all students take part in the AGAT assessment in Year 3, along with any students who are new to our school. The results of this assessment will assist teachers in differentiating the curriculum for all students at the school.
• The Slosson Intelligence Test - a verbal one-on-one test that provides an estimate of verbal cognitive ability. As it is not a full scale IQ test, the Slosson will not provide an IQ score, but rather an indication of the band in which a child may fall and also some valuable anecdotal evidence of their areas of strength and weakness. The assessment focuses on the following areas: Similarities and Differences, Vocabulary, Comprehension, Quantitative, General Information and Auditory Memory. If students perform highly in AGAT, they are then given the opportunity to take part in the Slosson assessment.  Along with the observations of class teachers and the collection of class assessment data. These two measures will assist St Paul’s teachers in better targeting the specific intellectual needs of our learners.
• SPLICED - A Catholic Education Diocese of Wollongong initiative offered to students who demonstrate creativity, flexible higher order thinking, independence and reflective thinking. SPLICED stands for 'Stretching Potential through Learning in Interactive and Challenging Environments in the Diocese of Wollongong'. Students complete engaging and challenging activities based on the seven Key Learning Areas.
• The Maths Games and Maths Olympiad competitions - an opportunity for mainstream students in Years 4, 5 and 6 to learn valuable problem solving skills and expose them to the application of mathematical problem solving strategies and techniques. Teams of high-achieving Year 3 students may also be considered for entry to the Maths Games competition as a precursor to the Maths Olympiad. The Maths Games is aligned with the Australian curriculum and focuses on challenging students to think laterally and creatively when solving mathematically-based problems. 
• ICAS Assessments - ICAS Assessments are online assessments, designed to recognise and reward academic excellence.  The assessments are based on the curricula for the relevant year. Students are asked to demonstrate a deeper, integrated, and thorough level of knowledge.  New ICAS Assessments are developed annually for each subject at every year level. This is to ensure an engaging and beneficial experience for all students.  All students at St Paul's are offered the opportunity to participate in the ICAS Assessment annually.  Please note that these assessments are voluntary and do come at financial cost.
• STEM/Coding - Various coding enrichment incentives are offered at St Paul’s K-6.  Select students who show strength in problem solving, reasoning and creative thinking are invited to participate with the support of a teacher during Recess breaks.  STEM/Coding enrichment includes use of technologies such as VEX IQ, MBots, Blue Bots, Spheros and Ozobots.

The process for embedding these initiatives into teaching and learning at St Paul's will be commencing over the coming weeks.  We look forward to facilitating these learning opportunities with students at St Paul’s and are excited to share this fantastic learning with our St Paul’s community.  

Bree-Anna Fogliada
Diverse Learning Support Teacher

Week 6

• Teaching Accreditation with CEDoW personnel- Miss Tonini, Miss Allison and Mrs Fogliada
• Religious Education Coordinator Network Day- Mrs Marsh
• Reading Recovery- Mrs McCann and Mrs Evans 

Week 7 

• Collaborative Planning Day- Stage 2 and Stage 3 teachers 
• PB4L- Mrs Fogliada and Mrs Bennett

Olivia Djodan
Acting Middle Leader

Our Year 4 students have been enjoying coding the MBots and are using the app MBlockly to code through a sequence of algorithms. This week the students coded the MBot to make the lights flash and trigger a car alarm sound. Next week, they will learn about coding the robot sensors.

As part of our School Review and Improvement priority we are engaging parents in our students’ numeracy learning.This page in our newsletter is part of our strategy and gives helpful hints on how to assist numeracy learning at home.

Being able to identify and know the value of coins and notes are essential skills for everyday life. As eftpos machines are now more common than the use of physical notes and coins it can be difficult for children to understand money. Below are some helpful hints on how to assist your child in this area.

Olivia Djordan

Acting Middle Leader

This is a reminder that school fees were due to be paid in full by 28 February 2021, unless you have entered into an agreement. Can all families please look at settling their accounts by the due date. Payments can be made via the Compass Parent Portal, BPAY or in person at the school office. If you would like to discuss your account, please call the school office on 4256 2772 or make an appointment to see Michelle Rodwell to discuss your school fees.

NAPLAN 2021 Information for Parents and Carers

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is a point in time assessment of literacy and numeracy skills that are essential for every child to progress through school and life. Students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 participate in the annual NAPLAN tests in writing, reading, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy.

Our school will be participating in NAPLAN Online between 11 and 21 May 2021. 

In preparation for NAPLAN Online, our school will also be participating in practice tests between 22 March and 1 April. The practice test is a trial-run and key preparation activity for NAPLAN Online in May. It is not an assessment of student ability and the tests will not be marked.

Excessive preparation for NAPLAN Online is not recommended. Students can use the public demonstration site (https://www.nap.edu.au/online-assessment/public-demonstration-site) to familiarize themselves with the types of questions and tools available in the NAPLAN Online tests.

If you have any questions about NAPLAN Online, please contact your child’s teacher or Mrs Rebecca Nunes (NAPLAN Coordinator).

At the end of Term 4 2020 the school canteen service provider Fresh Start Canteen indicated that they would need to review the service at St Paul's. Subsequently the school canteen will not be operating this term. We are currently investigating further options with the Catholic Education Office, Diocese of Wollongong and will communicate progress throughout the term.

The 2nd hand uniform store is particularly in need of the following items in good condition:

• Boys grey summer shorts in small sizes 4-8
• Boys summer shirts
• Girls summer dresses in larger sizes child's 12 and larger
• Sports polos and shorts all sizes
• Sports tracksuits sizes 4-8
• School jumpers size 8

All items $5

Please Note:

The Office can only accept EFTPOS payments when purchasing uniforms.

DONATIONS of uniforms which you no longer require 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 and Carers are welcome to drop off the uniform donations at the front office.