Dear Parents,

It's been another busy term at St Paul’s - full of plenty of learning and lots of special events. As this is the final newsletter of Term 2, I would like to thank you all for your support and enthusiasm throughout the term. There have been many highlights throughout the term: Year 3 Reconciliation, Year 6 Confirmation (with  a visit from Bishop Tony Ireland), Year 3 – 6 Cross Country, a wonderful Mother’s Day stall and breakfast, the Year 5 School Camp to Sovereign Hill, the incredible School Disco, and plenty of excursions, incursions and Learning Assemblies to name a few. Such an active and positive school climate happens when we have families, staff and students working together.

Farewell

This term we bid farewell to Abby Lo from 3AM and Hudson Vincitorio from 1A.  Wishing Abby and Hudson all the very best at their new schools, you will both be very missed!

Staffing News

I’m so happy to announce that Amanda Moore will be teaching Art for the remainder of the year. Amanda has stepped back into St Paul’s this year doing some casual relief teaching. This term in particular, Amanda has enthusiastically picked up where Emily Thorowgood left off to become the new Art teacher. She's rearranged the Art Room, created some great pieces with the students, and is taking onboard the Art Show for Term 3 (brave soul!). Welcome back Amanda!

Student reports and learning achievement

Student Reports will be made available on Compass this Wednesday 26 June.  Please refer to the email from Cath Knights sent earlier today. I would like to thank the teachers for their work and professionalism to put these together. The Parent-Teacher interviews next term is an excellent time to discuss your child’s report.

As a final request for the term, I ask you all to login to Seesaw over the holidays and look closely at the work samples uploaded by your child and their teachers. These videos, images and accompanying comments represent a detailed insight into their learning and goals during the year so far. Their creation involves a lot of hard work and teachers really appreciate when we see that an upload has been viewed or, even better, that a comment is added that a parent enjoyed viewing a Seesaw post. 

Shadesail

Our highly anticipated shade sail is finally up! The shade sail is beautifully designed and was part of the Victorian Government Shade Sail Grant.

This funding was aimed at enhancing the sun protection of community spaces such as schools, parks, sports clubs, and other communal venues. The shade sail was custom designed to compliment the recently refurbished Junior classrooms, which included a beautiful decking area on the Riddle Street side of the school. The next phase will be to plant some trees along the fence line to continue building up the aesthetics of the school.

Digital Citizenship Advice for Families

As the Term 2 holidays approach, and while the weather is so cold outdoors, many children may be spending time indoors and on devices. We ask that parents be mindful of the chats and online messaging that happens between children, particularly that they are monitored by a parent and the messages remain respectful and appropriate. A few weeks ago, Cath Knights shared a link with parents around the eSafety commission: Parents | eSafety Commissioner. There is plenty of fantastic advice and resources to delve into. 

Congratulations to our Chess players

Last week at the Chess Tournament St Paul's came 4th overall against all competing schools - well done to Eli Board, Christos Tsihitas and Max Foster.  This is a fabulous achievement! 

More Congratulations

Against the odds, St Paul’s Green Ball’s team won their tennis tournament for the season. Congratulations to Eli, Christos and Charlie. Well done to Charlie for winning the award for best performing player in the competition.  

Student Awards

Upcoming Events (the Term 3 Parent Calendar will be added to the school app and distributed later in the week)

Tuesday 25 June - End of Term Mass 10am

Friday 28 June - casual clothes day. Wear a touch of purple and bring a gold coin donation to support Epilepsy awareness. Finish 2.30pm

Monday 15 July - first day of Term 3

Thursday 18 July - Beginning of Term Mass 10am

Monday 22 July - Whole School Assembly 3.00pm

Thursday 25 July - Grandparents and Special Friends Morning

Wednesday 31 July and Thursday 1 August - Parent Teacher interviews 

Lost Property

We have an incredible amount of clothing and containers in Lost Property.  We do our very best to return items to their owners but this can be a hard task when property is not named clearly or at all, or has a past family name on it.  Please come and check for any items that you feel you may be missing. Any unclaimed clothing will be donated to the second hand uniform shop; any unclaimed containers will be thrown out at the end of the week.

2024 School Closure Days

Monday 9 September - School Closure Day 

Monday 4 November - School Closure Day

Tuesday 5 November - Melbourne Cup Public Holiday

Friday 29 November - School Closure Day

Last Day of Term 2

A reminder that Friday is the final day of term - our casual clothes day and a 2:30pm finish. This casual clothes day theme is wacky hair, and wear a touch of purple. This is to raise money and awareness for the Epilepsy Foundation.

Holiday Wishes 

I hope everyone has a restful break over the next two weeks! Everyone has deserved this opportunity to recharge the batteries and I commend our school community for the great spirit of cooperation and determination through the first six months of 2024. I look forward to seeing everyone back at school on Monday 15 July.

Kind regards,

Freda

First Eucharist

On the weekend, our Year 4 students were presented at Mass as they prepare for their upcoming First Eucharist celebration in Term 3. It was heartwarming to see them supported by their families as they deepened their understanding of the significance of this important sacrament. This special occasion marks a significant step in their faith journey, and we commend them for their dedication and effort. We wish them abundant blessings and a joyful, memorable celebration with their families, filled with spiritual growth.

We are excited to offer our students a unique opportunity to join Construction Club, a social skill development program at St Paul’s. Bec and Helen, the Speech Pathologists from Construction Club, will be running the group during Term 3 once a week at lunchtime. This evidence based LEGO therapy program supports children to enhance their communication and social skills in a fun yet highly effective way.

Interested families can register directly with Construction Club--this service is privately funded and can be covered by NDIS funding if applicable. Places are limited,Term 3 registrations close 5th July 2024. Please scan the QR code or visit https://linktr.ee/ccmelb to register or for more details, alternatively you can email them directly at constructionclubmelb@gmail.com.

Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD)

Every year, all schools in Australia participate in the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD). The NCCD process requires schools to identify information already available in the school about supports provided to students with disability. These relate to legislative requirements under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the Disability Standards for Education 2005, in line with the NCCD guidelines (2019). 

Information provided about students to the Australian Government for the NCCD includes:

• year of schooling
• category of disability: physical, cognitive, sensory or social/emotional
• level of adjustment provided: support provided within quality differentiated teaching practice, supplementary, substantial or extensive.

This information assists schools to:

• formally recognise the supports and adjustments provided to students with disability in schools 
• consider how they can strengthen the support of students with disability in schools
• develop shared practices so that they can review their learning programs in order to improve educational outcomes for students with disability.

The NCCD provides state and federal governments with the information they need to plan more broadly for the support of students with disability.

The NCCD will have no direct impact on your child and your child will not be involved in any testing process. The school will provide data to the Australian Government in such a way that no individual student will be able to be identified – the privacy and confidentiality of all students is ensured. All information is protected by privacy laws that regulate the collection, storage and disclosure of personal information. To find out more about these matters, please refer to the Australian Government’s Privacy Policy (https://www.education.gov.au/privacy-policy).

See below the link to the fact sheet for parents, guardians and carers - Nationally Consistent Collection of Data
https://www.nccd.edu.au/tools/fact-sheet-parents-guardians-and-carers

If you have any questions about the NCCD, please contact   Marg Mitchell - mmitchell@spbentleigh.catholic.edu.au

Marg Mitchell

Learning Diversity Leader

Please refer to an email from Margy D'Rozario about sending images of your child with their grandparent/s (maximum two photos per family).

* Parents please remember to bring a plate of food on the day to the hall *

https://www.trybooking.com/au/donate/stpaulscollectionpot

On Thursday the 20th June, St. Paul’s participated in the BDS Winter Sports Finals. We had 6 out of a possible 10 teams make the finals and their results are:

• Tennis Boys - 2nd  and Tennis Girls -  3rd

• Sofcrosse A - 3rd and Sofcrosse B – 1st

• Netball A -3rd   and  Netball  C – 1st 

All our teams competed extremely well and should be very proud of their achievements.

Danny Maher

Sport / P.E. Coordinator

On Friday 21st June, St. Paul’s had 90 dads book in for lunch at the Sandringham Footy Club. The massive turnout enjoyed arguably the best steaks in town with a few cold refreshments. This annual event is getting bigger and better every year and is yet another example of the amazing community spirit we have at St. Paul’s. A special shout out to Paul “Dutchy” Holland for all the incredible work he does to help make the Dad’s Group so special. Remember #itsforthekids!

Hello St Pauls parents!

Please find attached our newsletter containing what we’ve been up to the last two weeks, as well as what’s coming up for the last week of school. With the school holidays fast approaching, we encourage all families to enrol and book in as spots are booking out fast!

We have created an exciting Olympic-themed winter holiday at OSHClub, featuring a range of fun activities such as a virtual chat with Olympian Libby Trickett, international games with a global passport, creative arts and crafts, thrilling excursions, and much more to inspire and engage!

With the Government Child Care Subsidy (CCS), parents can significantly reduce the cost of our program. For example, the full price for the "Holiday HQ" program is $70.00 per day, but after applying the CCS, the cost drops to just $7.00 per day. Similarly, for "Rise then Shine" and "Stay and Play" programs, which offer different booking options such as Adventure Packs and Early Bird Adventures, the fees after subsidy are only a fraction of the full price. The subsidized fees range from as low as $7.16 to $15.96.

Please visit our website for more information: https://www.oshclub.com.au/find-us/st-paul-s-school-bentleigh/