Dear Parents,

Term 2 has been another challenging term, with remote learning, restrictions and waves of uncertainty. I would like to thank you for the trust you put in our school and staff who have worked hard to support the learning and wellbeing of every student in their care. I am very proud of the way our teachers have found new ways to support online learning and prioritize staying connected to the students. 

Today your child's report will be emailed to you with instructions on how to access the report via the Parent Portal. You should be proud of all your child has achieved. I hope all parents are now booked in for Parent Teacher Interviews which will be conducted online. Students in Years 3-6 are expected to attend.

With restrictions easing, parents are now welcome to come onsite to collect or drop off their children. You will not need to check in via the QR code unless entering the buildings. Meditation and classroom visits will recommence next term. For the remainder of this week I ask that parents do not come into classrooms or open learning spaces unless you have contacted the Office. If you need to come to the Office please use the Vic Government QR code to check in.

On Friday we will be celebrating St Paul's feast day with Mass and icy poles at the park and a special St Paul’s trivia quiz organised by the Year 6 leaders. Children can wear PJ’s to school on this day as we missed out earlier in the year. Please wear runners with PJ’s, not slippers. Students will be dismissed at 2.30 on Friday. 

Farewell

It is with sadness that we will be saying farewell to Sharna from OSHClub at the end of this term. Sharna has been an amazing supporter of students and families, providing a nurturing environment where students feel safe and happy in their ‘home away from home’. Our best wishes and thanks go with Sharna as she explores retirement and new adventures ahead.

Sacramental Programs

Eucharist

Fr Jacob has confirmed that Eucharist for the Year 4 students will be celebrated over two Masses next term. The students will receive the Sacrament as a class group for this year. The dates are as follows: 

4GM - Saturday 31 July at 6pm Mass

4C - Sunday 1 August at 9.30 Mass.

Confirmation

I am still waiting to hear from Fr Jacob as to the date for Confirmation which needs to be confirmed by the Bishop Elect. The date I have requested is Friday 6 August. I will let you know via email as soon as possible.

Reconciliation

Congratulations to the following students who received the Sacrament of Reconciliation over the weekend: 

Xavier Campbell, Joseph Foti, James Schneider and Jackson, Zac & Sienna Coniglio.

School Calendar

The Term 3 calendar will be emailed home this week. Please take note that the School Closure Days for Term 3 are 12 July and 20 August for staff Professional Learning. All professional learning for staff is aligned to the Annual Action Plan. The learning outcomes for professional learning for Term three include:

•  That effective data is used strategically to measure the impact on student learning
• That staff work collaboratively to measure student outcomes and design appropriate adjustments  

Staff Professional Learning 12 July

On the first day of Term three all staff will be working onsite on the Intervention Framework.   The Intervention Framework promotes academic and behaviour success for all learners through the systematic implementation of early identification, strategic support and scaffolded learning. It is premised on the belief that this can be best realised when teachers work collaboratively in a team based approach. The professional learning also aims to  improve staff skills in analysing and interpreting data sources for the purposes of informed decision making and the design of targeted interventions. These  include group interventions, personalised learning plans and behaviour support plans. The day will be facilitated by Mrs Marg Mitchell, Learning Diversity Leader.

Staff Professional Learning 20 August

The second professional learning day will be facilitated by Mrs Danni Molino, Literacy Leader, with a focus on reading assessment.  At the beginning of the year, we began to use The Fountas & Pinnell Benchmark Assessment Systems which provides teachers with precise tools and texts to observe and quantify specific reading behaviours, and then interpret and use that data to plan meaningful instruction. During the day, Danni will lead the teaching staff in bridging the information from recent Reading assessment data and the planning of specific reading strategies the students will need.  We will focus on using a literacy continuum tool to understand the specific reading behaviours, what we teach and how we can support students to read proficiently.

Canteen week 10

This week there will be a change to the days the Canteen will be open. Please note that Wednesday is the final day for tuckshop orders for this term. There will be no tuckshop on Friday.

Lost Property

There is lots of lost property waiting to be claimed before the holidays. The year 6 students will have tables out in front of the Hall for parents to claim their goods over the next few days.

Leaving Students

We are sadly saying farewell to two of our students at the end of this week. Alexandra Contessotto in Year 3 will be moving to Shelford Girls Grammar. We wish her continued success and hope she stays in touch.

Christian Bolton in Year 4 is relocating to Dingley and will begin school at St Mark’s next term. All our best wishes Christian, please stay in touch.

St Paul’s Feast Day celebrated at our final Mass for Term 2

 St. Paul was the most popular apostle in the early church. He was both a Jew and Roman Citizen St. Paul was born in Tarsus. His birthplace was a major city in eastern Cilicia.  St. Paul was not a disciple of Jesus. Soon after his conversion on the road to Damascus, Paul became quite a sensation. He became more powerful and baffled the Jews in Damascus by proving that Jesus was Christ. This made the Jews conspire to kill him. They waited to execute their evil plan day and night. However, Paul had learned of this plan- his followers and Jesus’ disciples helped him escape through the wall in a large basket. St. Paul was seen as a messiah to his people.

Jews and Gentiles had many differences and each stuck to their ‘side’. Paul was believed to be a Messiah to his chosen people when he started preaching, especially by the Jewish followers. Paul however preached to the non-Jews as well, also known as Gentiles. He wanted to show that God meant salvation for everyone, including Gentiles. He attempted to break the divide.  St. Paul was a practical teacher and writer.

St. Paul was also a tentmaker. He  learned and enjoyed working with his own hands. He learnt how to make and sell tents from the time he was a child and into his Youth. He still practised this even after converting to Christianity and starting to teach. St. Paul kept his leather-working tools with him as he travelled and set up shop anywhere.

You will find St. Paul’s epistles or letters referred to in the Catholic Church, Protestant denominations and Orthodox Church. They give the basis for many issues that Christians face in their faith, no matter the denomination- they are vital roots of the theology, worship and pastoral life in these churches.

St. Paul was one of the first generation leaders of the Christian faith. He is considered of utmost importance right after Jesus- he enabled and accelerated the growth of Christianity among the Gentiles. His epistles explain and simplify aspects of Christianity such as the relationship between God the Father, and Jesus the Son, and the relationship between the human and holy nature.  He died in Rome Italy, by decapitation, martyred for his faith. 

Thank you again for your continued support.  Best wishes to everyone for a restful, safe and fun holiday. See you next term!

Catherine

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the fabulous SRC team for Semester One 2021. We have had a wonderful time working on a number of projects to make sure St Paul’s continues to be a fabulous place to learn, be safe and have fun!

In Term One, the SRC helped collect data about the various backgrounds we all belong to and then helped create our wonderful ‘Diversity’ display in the hall. They got to travel on the bus to St Peter’s in East Bentleigh to take a look at their new learning spaces, take photos and write down any ideas they’d like to see in our new renovations for the Prep - Year 3 building. They also helped their teachers and classmates unpack school values so that students could learn to live out those values in their everyday lives.

In Term Two, the SRC team had a focus on ‘Safety’. They collected information from their classmates about how we can make St Paul’s an even safer place to be both when in the classroom and out on the playground. Then the team took a walk around the grounds to take a closer look at some of the suggestions that came up from their surveys so that action could be taken to ensure all students are safe when playing and moving around the school.

Each SRC member should be proud of their efforts and I thank them for being such a wonderful team to work with this Semester.

Katrina Gardiner

Wellbeing Leader

We will be holding a Japanese Drumming incursion next term and as part of that the children will be wearing special head bands. These head bands need to be ironed in a particular way and we are asking for parents to help us out with ironing these. If this sounds like something you would like to do please let Anna in the office know and further instructions will be provided. Thank you :)

Glen Eira Story Telling Festival

See link below for all information:

https://www.storytellingfestival.com.au/