I am the living bread from heaven says the Lord; whoever eats this bread will live forever.

Jn 6:51-52

Dear families,

This coming weekend is the feast of the most holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi). This is a great time to pray for our students who are preparing to receive their First Holy Communion on Sunday 18 June. We wish them all the best in their preparation and hope they are filled with the love and joy of Christ as they receive the sacrament for the first time.

Thank you to all our families that took the time to complete the Tell Them From Me Survey. We have received great feedback from the community. Over the coming months we will unpack this data and begin to form some key ideas for our cyclic inquiry later in September. Overwhelmingly families have reported that they feel St Paul's is a safe, inclusive and welcoming school community that communicates well and supports learning and positive behaviour. We do not take this feedback lightly. It is necessary that we continue to ensure we provide a quality faith filled learning environment for our students.

Next Tuesday 13 June we will be holding a Staff Development Day. This is a pupil free day. On this day staff will be actively engaged in professional development around mathematical pedagogical practices. This work stems from our annual improvement goal on improving student engagement in mathematics. Teachers have been providing launch tasks in mathematics with their students and already we are seeing a new level of engagement with the students. Launch tasks are designed to be solved in multiple ways. For some students this is causing them to be in a state of productive struggle. Productive struggle is when something is difficult or challenging and you need to work at it in order to solve it. This is a very necessary process to be in as it builds resilience with learning. It is considered a high impact teaching strategy as it produces greater results for student learning. Some students don’t like being in this phase however with time will learn that it is necessary and helpful to their overall learning. Teachers are reporting that they are seeing how their students think differently and in ways they did not know before. This is great feedback and demonstrates the need to continue with this ongoing professional development so we can continue to unlock the potential of our staff and students.

I would like to wish all families a wonderful long weekend. We hope that it is a time for families to treasure being together.

Thank you and God Bless,

Wellbeing Fun Day Thursday 8 June

On Thursday children may come dressed in their team colours or favourite sports team outfit. This day is just for fun. No money is required. Children who do not wish to participate can wear their sports uniform.

Winter Uniform

It is an expectation that students wear the full school uniform correctly. We have noticed some children are wearing a combination of uniform items or not wearing all the parts such as ties. Only Kindergarten are exempt from wearing ties. Please ensure your child has all the correct items required and they are labelled. White socks are to be worn with the sports uniform and the correct shorts. Bike shorts are not acceptable sports uniform attire. All uniform items can be purchased from Whytes and the school hat and accessories such as gloves, scarves and beanies are purchased from NSW uniforms. The information for both suppliers is on our school website. Teachers will be reminding children to tidy their uniforms and to wear the correct items on a regular basis. Children have also been reminded that their uniform is to remain tidy while travelling to and from school.

Personal Development Lessons

Many classes are participating in Personal Development lessons this term. During these lessons children learn about their bodies and the changes that can happen. This is part of the curriculum. You can access the curriculum via the NESA website. All lessons focus on the inherent human dignity of each individual and the importance of respect within a Catholic context. Teachers have or will be sending compass notifications letting families know of some of the content that has been taught so you can have further discussions with your children at home.

Tree removal

On Tuesday 13 June there will be a number of trees removed. Each year the trees are assessed and we are provided with a report. From this trees that are considered to be unsafe are removed. The excessive rain over the past two years has caused a number of trees to die or become damaged therefore they need to be safely removed