God loves courageous and generous souls.

Mary MacKillop

Dear Families,

This coming Sunday is Father’s Day. We wish all fathers and father figures a very happy Father's Day.  We hope that you get to spend it with the people you love. Often our Dads are courageous and generous souls and it’s because above anything else they love their family and would do anything to protect them. The P&F have organised a BBQ on Wednesday morning under the School Hall cola. We hope you enjoy the morning with your children and each other. Only children who have a parent or carer attending may attend the BBQ for safety reasons. Thank you  to the P&F and parent helpers  for organising this event.

We are very close now to meeting with the Cyclic Inquiry panel to share our story as a school. In the lead up to the preparation for these two days, staff have reflected on what we have achieved over the past four years and analysed various datasets to identify where we are heading for the next four years. This has been a joyous experience as we have much to celebrate and to look forward to. I would like to thank the staff for their level of participation and professionalism in walking through this process. I would also like to acknowledge the community, students and families for engaging in the Tell Them for Me survey earlier this year. This data gave us great feedback and insights that we have been able to use towards future ideas. 

On Thursday 14 September a member of the panel would like to meet with a parent group to engage in a discussion about the school. If you are available from 12 noon on that day for about an hour please let the office know. We would love to have you.

With Spring just around the corner, enjoy the burst of new life and smell of freshly cut grass. As the days get longer may you enjoy the outdoors and feel a sense of renewal.

Thank you and God Bless,

Katie Browne

Principal

Teacher Aide Appreciation Day

Today is Teacher Aide Appreciation Day. We are very fortunate to have wonderful School Support Officers who fulfil this role in our school. Our teaching staff will tell you they couldn’t do their job without their support. We are extremely grateful for the work they do for our school community and the dedication they have towards their roles.

Book Week

Thank you to everyone for your participation in Book Week. It has been a wonderful day today seeing the level of enthusiasm and participation. A special thanks to Mrs Smith and Mrs Gillespie for the preparation towards the day and the Burgess family for donating the printing cost of the large display in the library.

System Professional Development

Mrs Browne, Mr Farrugia and Mrs Claremont will be at System Professional Development with the diocese on Wednesday 30 August. Sandra Hogan will be the relief principal on the day.

Body Image Presentation by the Butterfly Foundation

We have been fortunate to receive an opportunity to have a member of the Butterfly Foundation present to our Year 6 class. Joining us on the day will be Year 6 from St Thomas Aquinas Bowral and St Michael’s Mittagong. This day is being funded by the Bowral District Children’s Foundation. We appreciate their generosity in providing this great service to our schools. A letter was sent to Year 6 parents via compass yesterday with further details.

Principal’s Retreat

Mrs Browne will be on retreat on Tuesday and Wednesday in Week 8.  Mr Farrugia will be acting principal on these days.

Screen Awareness week

This week parents are encouraged to check in with their children about their devices. Screen Awareness week is a week where we can sit with our children and have a look at what they are viewing. Online environments can be wonderful places where we can interact and learn so many things but they can also be dangerous and unsafe. As parents and carers it is vital we check in regularly to see what our children are viewing and accessing. Moving forward each term we will name Week 7 as Screen Awareness week and prompt families to check in with their children at home. At school we will go through the user agreement with the children and remind them of their responsibilities in using technology and what to do if they have a problem. The eSafety Commissioner is an excellent website for families to source fact sheets on challenging situations and how to be safe online. Another site is the Thinkuknow site that has a seven day challenge for families. Please see the attached resource which guides families through a safety audit of devices.

The Catholic Education Diocese of Wollongong has a Social Media Policy and it is recommended that families review the expectations named in this policy on a regular basis.

On Monday 11 September we will be holding a connection to Country Day. This day will be an opportunity to engage with our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Inslader community representatives in storytelling and games.

Berrima Buslines

Students must show their bus pass when catching the bus. All drivers will be checking these over the coming weeks. Students who do not have a bus pass will be charged a fee. Please contact Berrima Buslines if you have any questions about bus passes and travel fares.

St Paul’s participates in the 1:1 iPad school managed  program from Year 3. Parents purchase the iPad through school and pay for it over two years in the school fees. This program is compulsory. Future details will be sent out later this year.

Just a reminder that the parent information session on this Thursday evening is an adult only event, no babysitting service is available.

We are finding an increasing amount of children coming to the office at break time asking for extra food as they have finished the food in their lunch boxes.  Could you please make sure you are supplying an adequate amount of food for your child.  A limited supply of carrots are available at the office.

We currently have vacancies for new enrolments in all year groups except Year 2.  If you know someone who is considering our school, please let them know to download the application from the website or give the school a call.