In Parishes throughout the Diocese of Wollongong we celebrated the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C. The reflection by Loyola Press explains that last Sunday's Gospel reading is the third of three parables that explore the theme of the unexpected reversals brought by the Kingdom of God.

A question from the crowd “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”  gives Jesus the chance to make a prophetic statement. Jesus answers that they must strive in the time remaining to enter through the narrow door because many will be trying to get in but won't be strong enough. He then moves to a parable about another door.Once all those entering the master's house are in and he locks the door, there will be no way for others to get in. Those left outside may knock, but the master will say he doesn't know them. Unlike the Gospel reading from a few weeks ago where Jesus was teaching about prayer, and we were told to knock and the door would be opened, in this parable, the master will not open and say he does not know us. People from the north, south, east, and west will take our place inside. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets will take our place in the Kingdom of God. Those who do not make it through the narrow door will be cast out to where there is wailing and grinding of teeth.

The image of the door is replaced in the final verses of the parable with the image of the heavenly banquet. The answer to the question if only a few will be saved is no. In the end, many will be saved, but many who thought they would be saved will not be saved. The parable is a prophetic warning to repentance in order to enter the kingdom.

Dear Parents and Carers,

Tomorrow we farewell Mrs Julie Ferguson as she retires from over 40 years of  teaching, of which 33 have been at St Paul’s. Julie’s last day of teaching at St Paul’s will be Thursday 25 August 2022. Julie has been heavily involved in many whole school community events and has prepared many students for the Sacrament of Penance, Eucharist and Confirmation. 

Julie has led many initiatives at St Paul’s and has held a number of leadership roles. Julie has influenced and led the creative thread and pulse of our St Paul’s community. Julie has been instrumental in leading many whole school experiences for our students over the past 33 years. This has included concerts, eisteddfods, plays, debating, signing competitions, art competitions, the school choir, crazy hair competitions, Easter hat parades, book week celebrations and the list keeps going.

Julie’s dedication, professionalism, care and support to students and staff at St Paul’s is testament of her love for teaching.

On behalf of the St Paul's school community I wish Julie and her husband Kim and their family the very best as Julie moves onto a new chapter in her life.

Congratulations

Congratulations to Mrs Bree-Anna Fogliada and her husband Kyle as they welcomed a new baby boy Fergus to their family.

Bree-Anna and Kyle are doing well and beautiful Fergus is absolutely adorable. On behalf of the St Paul’s school community we congratulate Bree-Anna and Kyle and wish them all the very best as they journey together in life with beautiful Fergus.

Year 6 Mass with the Bishop

On Thursday 11 August  Bishop Brian celebrated Mass with our Year 6 students along with 10 other Diocesan Primary Schools who came together at Nazareth Catholic Parish Primary School.

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 10 Diocesan Primary Schools.

Following the Mass,  students were able to enjoy entertainment facilitated by members of the Catholic Youth Ministry Wollongong team and our students had the opportunity to mingle, sing and dance together. 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 Miss Katie DeSousa, Mrs Bianca Koczka and Mr James Bryce who supported our Year 6 students on the day.

Feast of the Assumption

On Monday 15 August St Paul’s celebrated the Feast of the Assumption - our Catholic belief that Mary was taken, body and soul, to enjoy eternal life. In celebrating this feast, the Church recalls how Mary’s life on earth ended - an apparent perfect ending to a perfectly lived life of grace and so in honouring her passing, we also honour her living. Mary shows us a glimpse of how the life of grace makes us more human and that in God’s presence we become completely ourselves, fully alive in body and soul. On this feast we celebrate her unique role as a true disciple of Jesus.

In Mary’s assumption, we stand on the promise that we can each make a difference in this world.I would like to thank Fr. Leo for celebrating the Eucharist with the school community on this important Feast Day and Mrs Jodi Marsh for planning the liturgy.

Book Week Celebrations at St Paul’s

Students and staff are very excited to celebrate Book Week on Friday 26 August. Students will be involved in a number of fabulous learning experiences including a Book Week Parade, a Book Week Author live stream visit, planned Book Week literacy activities and a Cheese Toastie Day. I would like to thank 

Mrs Michelle Griffiths, Mrs Gemma Bolton Mrs Alexandra Hingston, Mrs Olivia Roberts, Miss  Katie DeSousa, Miss Samantha Ryan and Miss, Julianne Tonini for their excellent planning and organisation of the day. I would also like to thank Mrs Amy De Santis and the Year 6 2022 Parents and Carers Graduation team for organising the Cheese Toastie Day. 

Father’s Day

On Friday 2 September the St Paul’s school community will be celebrating Father’s and Garndfather’s Day with an egg and bacon roll, open classrooms and games on the playground. This will be another wonderful event where the community of St Paul’s recognises the importance of positive male role models in the life of our students and to express our gratitude for Fathers or those men who are significant in the lives of our students. I wish all of the Fathers and Grandfathers and the special men in the lives of the students of St Paul's a very happy Fathers Day. We hope that you can really enjoy your day with your family and your children on Sunday 4 September as we celebrate you and the very important role you play. Thank you for all that you bring to the life of our school community.

School and Parent and Carer Partnership 

Thank you to Mrs Amy De Santis and the St Paul’s Parents and Friends Association for facilitating the Term 3 Parents and Friends Meeting. This was an excellent opportunity to discuss the a number of highlights and School Review and Improvement priorities achieved throughout Term 3 and to highlight a number of whole school celebrations. 

I would like to express my gratitude to the Year 6 2022 Graduation Parent Committee who have been hard at work raising funds for the Year 6 Graduation and connecting with the school community with the Pie Drive and the upcoming Cheese Toastie Day, which will be on our Book Week celebration day. This is another example of the excellent school and parent collaboration which we value at St Paul’s.

Furniture Update

We will be updating the student furniture in Years 3 to 6 over the coming months. Our staff and students are very excited to have their furniture in classrooms replaced. I would like to thank the Catholic Education Office Diocese of Wollongong for their financial support with the replacement of the furniture. 

I look forward to celebrating Book Week this coming Friday 26 August and Father’s Day on Friday 2 September, further whole school events that connect our wonderful school community.

Thank you to all parents and carers for your continued support.

Yours in faith and learning,

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.

Term 3- week 6

Online safety tips

Dear Parents and carers,

As children begin to develop the skills to navigate the online world and interact with others, it is important that they are aware of the risks and understand what is expected of them when using devices. Parents and carers can play a critical role in guiding children to make safe and responsible decisions. The eSafety commissioner website provides resources that support parents, students and educators in developing the knowledge and skills to navigate the online world safely and responsibly.  

In this week's newsletter we have provided some tips from the eSafety Commissioner website to support you in building safe technology practices at home. If you would like any support with setting up restrictions on your child’s devices or have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to contact the school. 

Advice for parents and carers (eSafety Commissioner)

• Keep the computer or device in an area of your home that can be supervised. And check in regularly with your child to see what they are viewing.
• Stay engaged with their online activity. If they agree, consider setting up your own accounts with the sites they use most so you can see how they work and understand the risks. 
• Explore the online world with them to help establish that this is not just a solitary activity. Play games with them. Do a creative project together.
• Think about social media readiness. Most social media sites require users to be at least 13 years of age before they can register, although some sites are created especially for children under 13. See are they old enough?
• Encourage respect and empathy. Teach them to avoid sharing or posting things that may upset others. 
• Start building resilience. Teach your child that there are ways they can deal with material that worries or frightens them. This includes immediately telling you or another trusted adult of any concerns or uncomfortable material. See good habits start young.
• Encourage them to learn about online safety by exploring the kids section of this site.

Review your rules as your child grows older

• Be clear about how much time they can spend online, the apps they can use, the websites they can visit and what they can share or post online. 
• Refer to our advice about time online and online gaming if these are of concern. 

Technology tips for parents of kids 5 to 12

• Ensure your own devices are protected by a password or pin, so your child cannot accidentally come across inappropriate content.
• Use parental control tools appropriate for the age and experience of your child.  Be upfront and get your child on board. Let them know that these can be reviewed and changed as they get older and they continue to demonstrate responsible behaviour. Consider installing a ‘child-friendly’ search engine that will allow them to explore a limited number of sites. See taming the technology.
• Check out Raising Children Network’s healthy screen time and quality media choices: 6-11 years.

Year 6 ICT Leaders Communication

The ICT leaders have a very important role here in our school. Every ICT leader has daily accountabilities and tasks to carry out at school. We make sure all of the grades have their iPad/computers on charge and are ready for learning. At each assembly the ICT leaders always lend a helping hand, to ensure every assembly runs smoothly. 

We all love being a part of the ICT team because we enjoy having the responsibility and providing a great service to our school.

Year 6 ICT Leaders: Phoenix, Dakodah, Deakin, Keiran, Brodie, Preston, Alexis, Lilliana, Isabella, and Sam.

James Bryce

Acting Assistant Principal

In 2015 Pope Francis established 1st September as the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, encouraging the Catholic community around the world to pray for our common home. The day is inspired by Pope Francis' landmark encyclical Laudato Si’, which calls on "every person living on this planet" to care for our shared Earth. 

The Season of Creation begins on September 1st and the theme and invitation of this year’s season is Listen to the Voice of Creation. In his message for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation 2022, Pope Francis calls us to use the season to "cultivate our ecological conversion” and to pray together in “the great cathedral of Creation”. He warns that we are reaching “a breaking point" and must act decisively so that "we and future generations can continue to rejoice in creation’s sweet song of life and hope."

At St Paul’s we will begin the Season of Creation with a Liturgy at 1pm on Thursday 1st September in the Hall. Students will be involved in activities throughout September to develop their appreciation of Creation.

In Term Three, the following grades will be hosting the fortnightly assembly.

CHRISTMAS ART

DATES FOR LITURGICAL CELEBRATIONS IN TERM 3

Towards the end of Term 3, the individual student reports will be dispatched to schools for distribution to parents. These reports contain more detailed information that will provide parents with the best understanding of their child’s achievement in NAPLAN.

PB4L is an evidence-based framework that emphasises school-wide systems of support for all students and staff. These include proactive strategies for defining, teaching and supporting appropriate student behaviours. Positive behaviour supports are implemented for all students, across all school settings, by all staff, at all times. This continuum of support ensures students’ academic and social outcomes.

All student behaviour expectations are founded on our three school rules – Be Respectful, Be Responsible, Be Safe.

PB4L Focus for Weeks 7 - 9 Term Three 

Based on the PB4L data, the focus for weeks 7-9 is Being a Respectful learner. The students will be explicitly taught how to be respectful in the classroom and the playground. Teachers will also discuss how to be self aware of actions and revising self management skills to ensure that all students can participate in learning and safe play in the playground. 

PB4L Focus for Weeks 7 - 9 Term Three 

Please see the behaviour matrix below for further details. 

ACE Awards

Ava Van Akker

Scarlet Richardson

Beck Bissett-Amess

Amaya Brennan

Principal Awards

Evie Dron

Baye Bissett-Amess

Beck Bissett-Amess

Mary MacKillop Awards

Kaleeah VanDeVoorde

Lily Jones

Literacy and Numeracy Week is observed annually in August and September each year, and this year it takes place from August 29 to September 4. It is an initiative that was started by the Australian government to encourage reading, writing, and numeracy in students as well as recognize their achievements and the work of teachers and parents in the fields.

Literacy & Numeracy Week was created to encourage the exploration of literacy and numeracy activities. Digital literacy has also become a major part of the observance, to encourage the importance of learning digital skills in this new age.

St Paul's will be recognising and celebrating Literacy and Numeracy week from Monday 29 August to Friday 2 September. Throughout the week teachers will be sharing students' literacy and numeracy learning tasks on SeeSaw and Goolge Classrooms. On Friday 2 September our Open Classrooms for Fathers and Grandfathers will focus on Literacy and Numeracy tasks. A parent and carer workshop has been planned for our parents and carers to learn more about how to support your chikd with their numeracy learning.

Please join the students and staff at St Paul's to celebrate Literacy and Numeracy Week.

Parent Information Session 

St Paul’s is holding a Parent Workshop on Friday the 2nd of September at 2:15pm. This will be focused on supporting your child with mathematics at home. Olivia Roberts and Belinda Evans will be running the session. If you would like to attend please complete this quick survey here. More information to be provided via Compass.

Olivia Roberts

Middle Leader

On Thursday 11 August, Year 6 attended mass at All Saints Catholic Parish in Shellharbour with peers from surrounding Diocesan schools. The mass was led by Bishop Brian and it was a wonderful prayerful celebration. Our Year 6 students represented St Paul’s exceptionally well, participating actively in mass. Following the mass, students ate lunch at Nazareth Catholic Primary school and had the opportunity to connect with students from other schools who they may potentially go to high school with next year. Members of the Youth Mission Team put on a concert on the basketball court, allowing for fun, games and dancing.

As part of St Paul’s commitment to developing student leadership all of our students in Years 5 and 6 will be participating in a Stage 3 Leadership Day program facilitated by Cameron Brown from Explore! Discover! Act! and supported by our Stage 3 teachers in the school hall on Monday 5th September.

The purpose of the program is to engage, challenge and inspire our Stage 3 students so they can consistently own, notice and act on the opportunities they’re presented with to make a difference. It will support students to move beyond seeing leadership as a badge or a position; to embrace the purposeful skills, attitudes and behaviours that are open to us all. The day will focus on the following three elements: exploring leadership, owning leadership and being the change.

Staff professional learning is a key component for professional growth for the staff at St Paul's and a key component for teacher accreditation and maintenance as established by the NSW Education Standards Authority. At St Paul’s, we value the critical role ongoing professional development plays in enhancing quality learning and teaching. Therefore, throughout the year all staff are encouraged to engage in professional learning opportunities. The New South Wales Education Standards Authority requires Staff to ‘participate in learning to update knowledge and practice targeted to professional needs and school and/or system priorities’ and regularly ‘undertake professional learning programs designed to address identified student learning needs’. (NESA Standard 6)

Week 7

Week 8

Olivia Roberts

Middle Leader

TIER TWO INTERVENTIONS

This week a number of students participating in Tier Two Interventions across our school completed  20 week programs and have made wonderful growth. It was lovely to see their confidence improve, along with their Literacy skills. Our Tier Two Interventions include Mini-Lit, Macq-Lit, Multi-Sensory Language (MSL) and Reading Recovery. Mrs Marsh or Mrs Hingston will be in contact with parents over the next few weeks to update them on their students progress.

In Week 8, our Semester 2 Intake for Tier 2 Interventions will commence. The Diverse Learning and Interventions Team have been busy assessing students to determine who would benefit from a Tier 2 Intervention across our school and we look forward to monitoring the growth and progress of these learners. Students participating in these programs will be contacted by either Mrs Marsh or Mrs Hingston and receive a note containing further information in the coming weeks.

ENRICHMENT MATHEMATICS 

Congratulations to our Primary Enrichment Maths team from Years 4, 5 and 6 who recently completed their fourth mathematics competition paper. The Maths Olympiad program is specifically designed to stimulate and challenge students at primary school level. It teaches major problem solving strategies and strengthens students’ mathematical intuition prior to starting high school. The Olympiad comprises five separate contests roughly six weeks apart and the Team are due to complete their last contest for 2022 in Week 8 of Term 3. We wish them all the best for Week 8! 

Mrs Jodi Marsh

Diverse Learning Needs Support Teacher Monday - Thursday

Mrs ALexandra Hingston

Diverse Learning Needs Support Teacher Friday

During the second half of term 3 we will continue to run our small groups programs across Stage 2 and 3. Good Sports Good Mates will run with students in Year 3 and 5. Mpower Girls will run with year 4 and Keepin’ it Cool will run with invited students in Year 6. 

Upon completion of the programs, feedback from participating students continues to be positive. Students believe the programs help them reach their goals, gives them a variety of strategies and skills to support them in their communication and in their relationships with others, builds confidence and awareness of individual strengths and areas for personal growth and development. The programs support the students in understanding and developing empathy and resilience, offers strategies for recognising and handling strong emotions and options for approaching and managing difficult and challenging situations.

A reminder that this Thursday, 25th August the esafety Commissioner is running a free live parents webinar entitled Parents guide to Popular Apps. This workshop is aimed at parents of children aged 8-13 and is  looking at Tik Tok, SnapChat, Instagram and YouTube. The webinar will include case studies, research, and targeted advice so you can support your young people to have safe, enjoyable online experiences. For more information go to the esafety website, or register here for the webinar.

Monica McCann

Reading Recovery Teacher and Catholic Care Pastoral Support

National Science Week ran from the 13th- 21st August. This year its theme was ‘Glass, more than meets the eye’. Within our classrooms we completed different activities and experiments around this focus. Throughout the week each stage looked into how glass is made, the properties of glass and other exciting facts about glass! Different year groups also looked at how magnifying glasses work and the science behind light and glass. 

As part of National Science Week, all students at St Paul’s were able to attend a very exciting Sub-Zero Slime Show run by Creative Science Australia. The show was a slimy, gooey, and cryogenically cool exploration of the states of matter and how heat causes a change of state. Solids and liquids were tested with slime, putty and wax, and all of the students really enjoyed the spectacularly cool liquid nitrogen demonstrations of the properties of gases!

         

Ms Samantha Ryan

On Tuesday some students from our school participated in the ICAS Spelling Bee assessment. Congratulations to these students on their efforts during this assessment. The next ICAS assessment is focusing on Science and will be held this Friday. The final ICAS assessment is Mathematics and will be held on Tuesday 30th August.

Bianca Koczka

Middle Leader ICT and Special Projects

It’s Book Week! 

Theme: Dreaming with eyes open...

BOOK WEEK PARADE AND MUFTI DAY - THIS FRIDAY 26 AUGUST

• All students are invited to bring in their favourite book and dress up as their favourite character for the day. 
• Parents and carers are invited to attend. 
• Each class will parade around the Front Playground during the morning assembly. 

FOR YOUR DIARY

What: Student Book Week Parade 

Date: Friday 26 August

Time: 8:55am-9:55am

Location: St Paul’s Front Playground

Each year teachers and students across our country spend one glorious week sharing stories, celebrating Australian children's literature, and discovering the magic of reading. This year's Book Week theme "Dreaming With Eyes Open" acknowledges Australia's First Nations People and their rich story based culture. 

Throughout Week 6, your child will have the opportunity to participate in a range of activities that celebrate the CBCA Shortlisted Books for 2022, visit the library and enjoy the adventures of “Story Quest; Book Week 2022”; a live streamed production  featuring a selection of CBCA  shortlisted books 2022 that have been woven into an engaging, original narrative filled with music, adventure and intrigue. 

The Book Week Committee 

Please join St Paul's students and staff for our Father's Day celebrations on Friday 2 September and enjoy a morning of fun!! 

The celebrations will begin with egg and bacon rolls in our school hall for Fathers and Grandfathers at 8:30am. 

Fathers and Grandfathers will then be invited for a blessing by our students on the front playground before moving to Open Classrooms. Our students will showcase their amazing Literacy and Numeracy learning that has been occurring in our classrooms.

Fathers and Grandfathers will then have an opportunity to join our students on the playground spaces for games.

We look forward to seeing our Fathers and Grandfathers on Friday 2 September

Our focus over the past two weeks has been eliminating plastic packaging from our fogo bins. On our composting duties, we have seen an unnecessary amount of plastic and tissues landing in our organic waste bins. To stop this, we have created signage to be displayed in the classrooms and will be talking to all of the students.

At St Paul’s we encourage students to have zero waste in their lunchbox, where possible. Please use reusable containers to store your food and talk to your kids about bringing any uneaten food home so that it doesn’t go to waste.

Milla, Zara, Chelsea, Mitchell, Gabby, Poppy and Kobi

Enrolments for Kindergarten 2023 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. Please share this information with your friends and family. 

All acceptance letters for Kindergarten 2023 have now been sent out via email. If you have not received this please call the school office on 4256 2772.

Please see below the Transition to School Playgroup dates which have been sent out via email.

Thank you to those parents and carers who attended the Term 3 Parents and Friends meeting on Monday 15 August. Further fund-raising ideas were raised and will be communicated with the school community in the coming weeks.

The Year 6 2022 Parents and Carers Graduation Committee will be holding a Cheese Toastie Day on Friday 26 August. Please return all order forms by Thursday 25 August.

The Parents and Friends Association will be holding a Father's Day Stall on Friday 2 September in the school hall at 11:30am. The cost of all items is $5:00. Could students please bring a bag for their purchased item.

Amy De Santis

P&F President

Michael Grose is one of Australia’s most respected experts on parenting. He knows all about why children act out in the way they do and how parents should behave so their children do too. 

A former teacher and inspiring speaker, Michael Grose was the first person to conduct a parenting seminar for our nation’s leaders in Parliament House, Canberra. For over 20 years, he has delivered informative, entertaining presentations to audiences in Australia, Asia, in the US and UK.

 Well recognised in the media, Michael has been a regular on The Today Show, Sunrise and The Morning Show. He regularly comments on family matters on radio and in the press around Australia. A prolific writer, his books include Spoonfed Generation – How to Raise Independent Children.

See information written by Michael Grose on the website Parenting Ideas about building stronger relationships with teachers.