Term 4 Weeks 1 and 2

“God will see those who cry to him vindicated.”

Luke 18: 1-8

From the Gospel of the 29th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year C.

Dear Families,

I hope you were able to have a break with your families, rest and re energise.  This weekend's Gospel focuses on prayer. God is asking us to pray and trust in the process. God is our strength and prayer is our power. On Tuesday the staff spent the day reflecting on purpose and what this means for us individually and as a staff of St Paul’s. This was imparont work as part of our renewal of the school’s Vision and Mission. Prayer was a large part of the day providing us the opportunity to connect with our inner spirituality and truly seek what our purpose is.

During the holidays I attended the ACEL conference with the theme being Inspiring Hope Leading our Future. I was fortunate enough to listen to a range of high quality speakers who are expert in their fields. I was inspired and affirmed at the work we are doing at St Paul’s when listening to these speakers and meeting people from other schools and systems.

On Wednesday 19 October I will be taking long service leave until 26 October. Simon  Farrugia will be Acting Principal during this time. On Thursday 27 and Friday 28 October I will be attending the Lamplighters retreat with Catherine duBois, Jodie Illiani and Mari Sullivan. We began the Lamplighters program four years ago. This program is run by the diocese and is a spiritual program designed to support school teams in being able to provide spiritual support to staff at school. There are nine capacities and this retreat will see the end of the learning for the team in the nine capacities.

Year 6 Farewell

This term we begin preparing to farewell our Year 6 students. A letter will be sent home detailing the events that will take place at the end of the year to honour our Year 6 students and their time at St Paul’s.

Year 5 Leadership

Year 5 will begin preparing for their leadership roles. On Friday of Week 2 they will be spending the Day with Cameron Brown from Explore Discover Act. Cameron spends the day working with the children to develop their collaboration skills and team building skills.

Week 6 - Year 5 & 6

In Week 6 both Year 5 and 6 will go on camp where Year 6 will have the chance to enjoy each other's company before they move onto highschool and Year 5 will have the opportunity to put into practice the skills they will learn with Cameron.

Grandparents Day

On Tuesday 1 November we will be holding Grandparents Day. Grandparents and great people in the student’s lives are invited to attend the day. We will have mass in the school hall followed by morning tea. The book fair will be open and there will be the opportunity to purchase books or donate a book to the school as well as see the children’s classrooms. Further details will be sent out closer to the event.

Book Fair

We are holding a book fair in Week 4. The book fair is an opportunity for students to purchase books and consumable items. More details will be sent home closer to the event. There is no expectation that families purchase books; however it is a great way to buy gifts for Christmas while helping our school to raise funds.

Kindergarten 2023 Transition Playgroup

Beginning on Friday 4 November are the Kindergarten 2023 Transition Playgroup sessions. We are very excited to be able to hold all the sessions this year and can’t wait to start getting to know our new Kinders. The dates are as follows:

Friday 4 November 1:30pm to 2:30pm

Tuesday 8 November 1:30pm to 2:30pm

Friday 11 November 1:30pm to 2:30pm

Tuesday 15 November 1:30pm to 2:30pm

Friday 18 November 1:30pm to 2:30pm

Tuesday 22 November 1:30pm to 2:30pm

Friday 25 November 1:30pm to 2:30pm

Tuesday 29 November 1:30pm to 2:30pm

Orientation Day Thursday 1 December 9:30am - 11:30am

P&F Working Bee

We will be having a working bee on Friday 28 October 3:15 pm to 5pm. The purpose of this working bee is to have a tidy up of the school grounds including weeding and some hedging. Please bring gardening gloves, hand tools for weeding, buckets and  wear a hat. Children are welcome and join in on the fun. Many hands make light work and it doesn’t take long to make a real impact in how our school looks.

Thursday Assemblies

Will return next week. We will not be having an assembly this week or awards given it is a short week.

Colloquium For Principals and Assistant Principals

This year Principals and Assistant Principals have been participating in a colloquium on Leadership. The next day is scheduled for Monday October 31. Mrs Gayle McMahon will be Acting Principal for the day while Mr Farrugia and I attend the event.