“If your brother sins… and he repents… forgive him.”

Luke 17:3 

(from the Gospel for the twenty ninth  Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C)

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome back to Term 4! I trust you were able to have some quality time with your families over the recent vacation period. Term 4 is an especially significant term for our Year 6 students who are in the last ten weeks of primary school. Term 4 is always a busy and eventful term. Tomorrow, our VEX robotics team will compete in a scrimmage at St Peter and St Paul’s Kiama. Next Tuesday, Year 5 and Year 6 will attend the Wingecarribee Council Environmental Day at Lake Alexandra, Mittagong. Today we are launching our school’s new Facebook page (see below). So given the many things planned, it is  fitting that we commenced our term with a wonderfully joyful whole school Mass this morning to give thanks and dedicate our work in the term ahead to the glory of God. 

Book week parade and celebrations

The book week parade with which we concluded last term was a great success. The children thoroughly enjoyed dressing up. It was great to see so many parents and community members joining us. Thank you everyone for the effort you put into providing the children with costumes. We intend to make this an annual event to conclude Term 3. Great work everyone!

Staff Development Day Friday 25 October

We will conduct a staff development day on Friday 25 October. There will be no classes or supervision on that day. The whole staff will be working off site at Penrose Park for the day. We are undertaking Module #4 of “Educating with a Mission Lens”, a professional development being rolled out across the diocese.

Kinder 2019 playgroup and orientation

Our new Kindergarten class for 2020 will begin their transition to school with the Kinder playgroup on Tuesday 29 October at 1:30pm in the school hall. The children enrolled at St Paul’s for next year and their families are invited to come along for a play and to make some new friends. This program will run on Tuesday and Thursday afternoon between 1:30 and 2:45pm for the next four weeks. 

On Tuesday 26 November, there will be a more formal Kinder Orientation meeting for the children and families to find out about life at St Paul’s in readiness for 2020.

Grandfriend's Friday 1 November

We are going to hold the annual “Grandfriend's Mass” on the Feast of All Saints, Friday 1 November. The purpose is to acknowledge and celebrate the contribution made to our families and community by grandparents and older community members. There will be a Mass in the school hall commencing at 12:30 pm. After Mass, the classrooms will be open for visitors to be shown around the children’s learning spaces. There is also a book fair being held in the library. Books can be purchased and also purchased to be donated to the school library. From 2pm onwards, the visitors are invited to join our children for a “byo picnic” in the playground. They will need to bring a blanket and something to eat. We hope that as many visitors as possible can attend.

Water Safety Program in Week 4 (Tues 5 Nov to Fri 8 Nov)

Our annual water safety program will be conducted during Week 4 between Tuesday 5 November and Friday 8 November. This is a change from last year’s arrangements. After reviewing the program and taking feedback, we feel that four consecutive days will maximise the impact of the lessons as opposed to spreading them over four weeks as in the past.

The children will walk to Moss Vale pool for their lesson. Children need to have swimmers, towel, sunscreen, hat and change of dry underwear and a plastic bag in which to place wet clothing. Children can wear sandals or crocs to the pool. We strictly will not allow thongs to be worn. Children will change into their shoes upon returning to school. 

There is a link to a swimming skills survey attached to this newsletter that the pool has asked us to share. They are seeking feedback from you regarding your child’s swimming skills in order to begin to place each child in a group for the program. Please take a moment to complete the survey for your child. The link is here:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdK2mxi--Any_ovIfdJ1AqQgpid4k-Zi9tuvr7i6QFp-DfHiw/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1

At the conclusion of the swimming program, we will hold our annual swimming carnival on Friday 22 November again at Moss Vale Pool. Our swimming team for the Term 1 regional carnival will be chosen on the basis of the times recorded at this carnival.

iPads in 2020

After much deliberation and research we have made a significant decision regarding the use of iPads at St Paul’s. For the past several years the school has operated an optional “Bring Your Own iPad” program from Year 3 onwards. Whilst this program has served the school well in the past, it is no longer an effective approach given the change in the technology available to schools. It has become clear that if we are to derive maximum benefit for our children’s learning, every child needs their own iPad. Obviously, this is an additional cost burden to families. We have worked out an arrangement to mitigate the costs to families.

Commencing in 2020 with our incoming Year 3 group, we will have a compulsory 1:1 iPad program. The school will purchase and provide the iPads as part of your resource fee. Families will be asked to pay off the iPad over two years. At the end of Year 6 the iPad will be yours to keep. We will be writing to the current Year 2 families with details regarding the program including the management of devices at both home and school. 

Children in Year 4 to 6 in 2020 who don’t currently have an iPad, will also be given the opportunity to participate in this resourcing arrangement. We will write to these families to detail the program.

Obviously, these changes will mean an increase in your resource fee. The price the school is able to purchase iPads is significantly lower than the recommended retail price. Our diocese is able to purchase iPads at an education price on our behalf. It is a significant saving for families. 

Student Update Reports

The Student Update Reports were issued at the end of last term. They are a formal opportunity to report and reflect upon your child’s progress and development. If your child’s teacher has asked for an interview, please take this opportunity by making an appointment. We are happy to meet at a mutually convenient time at any time.  Semester 2 reports will be issued at the end of Term 4.

Summer Uniforms in Term 4

Now the children have returned to Term 4  they are to be wearing their summer uniforms. Summer uniforms are worn in Terms 1 and 4. Winter uniforms are worn in Term 2 and 3. Whytes, in their shop front on Argyle Street, Moss Vale and NSW Uniforms (mob: 0400805 596 email: ethnae@drewdesigns.com.au) both stock a full range of our uniforms.

Term 4 date claim

I have included a Term 4 overview of significant dates for your information below. Please take a moment to review these dates in readiness for Term 4.

St Paul’s new Facebook page launched

We are proud to announce the launch of our new, official, school-run Facebook page. We are very excited to use this platform to be able to share and promote the positive school community we have here at St Pauls. The new page won’t replace regular communication modes (such as the weekly Newsletter and Compass), rather, it will communicate through social media, photos of school community events and many of the interesting, exciting, fun and terrific learning of our students, giving you the chance to interact with and celebrate these events and achievements with us. The weekly newsletter remains the ‘source of truth’ for information sharing at St Paul’s.

Please familiarise yourself with the Social Media Policy and the CEDoW Social Media Standards (see the links below) and note that should you have an enquiry or concern, to please contact the school office directly.

The photo consent form that was signed this year includes online publications (such as the website and social media) and we will be following what each student's photo consent form says in regards to social media, unless we are contacted and advised otherwise.

Please ‘like’ our new Facebook page:

Date claimers for Term 4:

Whole School Mass

On Thursday 17^th October we began our term with a beautiful Whole School Mass. We are blessed to have the opportunity to celebrate Mass together as a school community each term. As always, we had many students involved in roles throughout the Mass, including reading, singing and altar serving. There was a great sense of joy throughout this Mass.

Altar Servers

We have a large number of enthusiastic students who are learning how to be altar servers for school Masses. Students will be allocated a Mass to serve at this term and will undertake training prior to this.

Thank you

Catherine du Bois

Religious Education Coordinator

Next week Year 5 and 6 students have an excursion to Lake Alexandra for the Wingecarribee Schools Enviroment Day.

The excursion note had the date as - Tuesday 23rd October.  However the correct date is - TUESDAY 22ND OCTOBER.

Just a reminder to please like our facebook page!  Click on the link below.