Dear Parents,

On Sunday we celebrated Palm Sunday the first day of Holy Week, a seven-day span that culminates the day before Easter Sunday. The feast commemorates Jesus’ triumphant arrival in the city of Jerusalem for Passover, where he was greeted by a crowd of people laying palm branches at his feet. Jesus’ welcomers hoped that Jesus would overthrow the Roman government in Jerusalem. They shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord,” “Blessed is the king of Israel," and other words of praise.

Today, there are still palms involved in the Palm Sunday mass. Each year, palms are blessed and distributed, and many believers tie them into the shape of a cross. "Because the palms are blessed, they may not be discarded as trash. Instead, they are appropriately gathered at the church and incinerated to create the ashes that will be used in the following year's Ash Wednesday observance." 

This week all students will be involved in Holy Week activities as we remember the special events that lead to Easter Sunday. Parents and friends are warmly welcomed to join us in the Amphitheatre on Thursday morning at 9am for a Liturgy depicting this most holy season. The Liturgy has been prepared by Yr 3 and Yr 6.

Our end of Term Mass will be celebrated on Tuesday, this week, in the church at 10am. Parents are most welcome to join us. Preps will not be attending Mass.

Preps Prayers in Pyjamas

This Wednesday night our Prep students and their parents are invited to join us for a night of song, meditation and prayer in the Open Learning area outside the Prep classrooms at 6pm. 

School Photos

School photos will be held on Tuesday of this week. Students are asked to be in full summer school uniform (including school jumper, navy socks, correct shoes and no colourful jewellery or hair accessories). Year 6 wear their Year 6 jackets.

NAPLAN

On 12 May, Term 2, our Year 3 and Year 5 students will begin sitting their NAPLAN tests in reading, writing, spelling, grammar and numeracy. NAPLAN was not conducted during 2020 due to Covid19.

NAPLAN is National data required to assess the skills of every child in the core learning areas. It is important to remember that NAPLAN is not about passing or failing, but about assessing learning progress. At the classroom level it is just one of a number of important tools used by teachers to measure student progress.

On its own, NAPLAN is not a test that can be studied for and students are not expected to do so. You can support your child by reassuring them that NAPLAN is just one part of their school program, and by reminding them on the day to simply do their best. Teachers will ensure students are familiar with the types of questions in the tests and will provide appropriate support and guidance.

NAPLAN tests include:

Writing - tests are designed to assess a student’s ability to convey thoughts, ideas and information through an independent construction of a narrative or persuasive text. Students are given a writing prompt and 40 minutes to construct a piece of writing.

Reading - tests are designed to assess the ability of student’s to make meaning of written texts including those with visual elements. It tests whether students can do more than decode the words on the page. It tests the extent of their vocabulary and whether they can infer information from texts.

Language conventions - tests are designed to assess a child’s ability to independently recognise and use correct grammar, punctuation and spelling in written contexts.

Numeracy - tests are designed to assess a child’s knowledge of mathematics, their ability to independently apply that knowledge in context, and their ability to independently reason mathematically.

School holidays are a great time to continue with reading and being read to every day. 

 Benefits of Reading

• Children who read often and widely get better at it. ...
• Reading exercises our brain. ...
• Reading improves concentration. ...
• Reading teaches children about the world around them. ...
• Reading improves vocabulary and language skills. ...
• Reading develops a child's imagination. ...
• Reading helps children to develop empathy. ...
• Reading is fun.

Board Meeting

The next Board Meeting will be held on May 17th.

World's Greatest Shave

April Arundel and Nicholas Antonello's combined fundraising during the World’s Greatest Shave for the Leukaemia Foundation will receive around $10k donations!

We are all really proud of the values being demonstrated by the kids - not only April and Nico but all the kids who have got behind them. A Huge THANKYOU to the St Paul's community for their generosity and words of encouragement for April's "Worlds Greatest Shave" campaign. April raised a staggering $5420 for the Leukaemia Foundation, which would not have been possible without our school's support. April is rocking her new shaved locks and is thinking about the next cause she will get behind.....!" 

Nico has raised around approximately $5600 and is looking super cool with his new hairstyle! Thank you to everyone for supporting him and a big thank you to Mr Maher for shaving Nicholas's hair in front of his Grade 6 classmates.

Basketball

One of our Year 2 basketball teams having a lot of fun together and keeping fit!

End of Term

Term 1 will end with a splash of colour! Please see information in the Newsletter for all the details. Parents are most welcome to come and join in the fun from 2-3pm in the Park.  The Term will end with the drawing of our Easter raffle prepared and run by the Yr 6 Leadership Teams. All proceeds will go to the Leukemia Foundation. Thank you to all families for your generous donations which have made the raffle possible.

Wishing everyone a safe and happy holiday and a joyous Easter from all the staff at St Paul’s.

Take care,

Catherine