“Today salvation has come to this house.”

Luke 19:9 

(from the Gospel for the thirty first  Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C)

Dear parents and carers,

Grandfriends' Day tomorrow Friday 1 November

We are holding the annual “Grandfriends' Mass”, tomorrow on the Feast of all Saints, Friday 1 November. The purpose of this day is to acknowledge and celebrate the contribution made to our families and community by grandparents and older community members. We have called the day “Grandfriends' Day” in an attempt to be inclusive of both grandparents as well as the more experienced members of our community who both play such an important role in the lives of our children. 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 to donate to the school library. From 2pm onwards, the visitors are invited to join our children for a “byo picnic” in the playground. We have installed additional seating in the playground courtesy of the P&F this year. Our visitors will need to bring something to eat and perhaps a picnic blanket to sit on. This was a wonderful day last year. We hope that as many visitors as possible can attend. 

Awards for Week 3 

Given that tomorrow is Grandfriends Day we will not have an assembly. We will give our awards at morning assembly at 8:50am in the weather shed.

Water Safety Program in Week 4 (Tuesday 5 Oct to Friday 8 Oct)

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

At the conclusion of the water safety program, we will hold our annual swimming carnival on Friday 22 November at Moss Vale Pool. Event nomination forms will be sent home next week for you to complete with your child and return to school.

Compulsory iPads in 2020 in Year 3- response to feedback received

Over the past weeks, we have sought feedback from our Year 2 families regarding the changes to our school’s iPad program for Year 3 in 2020. After reviewing the feedback we have received, there was insufficient interest in having a community meeting to go over the details of the proposal as detailed in the correspondence already sent home. If you have questions about the program, please feel free to contact Mr O’Brien to have a discussion. There will be a meeting at the beginning of the 2020 school year when the children will receive their iPads. The ipads will be configured to our school management system and pre-loaded with the required apps. We will go through the use and the management of the devices at this meeting.

In short, the new arrangement, commencing in 2020 with our incoming Year 3 group, will entail 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. The iPad, which is a learning resource for your child will be locked to the school’s management system.  At the end of Year 6, the iPad will be unlocked from the school system and will be yours to keep. 

Ideally, we would like our all our Year 4 to 6 children to have an iPad at school from 2020. Many of the children in these classes already have an iPad. Children who will be in Year 4 to 6 in 2020 who don’t currently have an iPad, will be given the opportunity to participate in this new 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 for which 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. Additionally, the cost of the iPad will be spread over two years (or eight terms). In doing so we hope to minimise the impact on family budgets as far as possible.

Kindergarten 2020 playgroup

This week we commenced the Kinder 2020 Transition Playgroup. It was wonderful to see our new Kinder children, their parents and families participating, meeting each other and playing together. This program aims to begin to build positive relationships before the Kinder children arrive at school for the first time in February. Kinder playgroup is held in the school hall between 1:30pm and 2:45 pm on Tuesday and Thursday. We will be holding the more formal Kinder Orientation on Tuesday 26 November.

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.

The two year transition period from the old to the new school uniform concludes at the end of Term 4, 2019. From the beginning of the new school year, all children will be expected to be wearing the “new” school uniform that was designed in 2017 and introduced in 2018.

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.

Transition from Skoolbag to Compass

In the past we have discussed moving away from Skoolbag and into Compass for all notifications such as the weekly newsletter and notifications to parents. 

Skoolbag will be de-commissioned on Monday (Week 4).  There will be no further messages sent via Skoolbag.

From next week, the newsletter will no longer be communicated via Skoolbag. It will be sent via email and a compass notification.

Any future notifications will also be sent via compass, with last minute messages sent via SMS.  Please make sure SMS notifications are turned on in your Compass settings if you wish to receive the notifications this way.

If you need your Compass log in details again, please contact the school office.

St Paul's Facebook page

Our facebook page is now established and we are enjoying using this platform to promote the positive school community we have here at St Paul's.  Please remember to 'like' the St Paul's Moss Vale page (click the link below)

Date claimers for Term 4:

Educating with a Mission Lens

On Friday the 25^th of October we held our staff development day at Penrose Park. We engaged in Module 4 of the Educating with a Mission Lens Program which focused on the school Vision and Mission Statements. We collected some great feedback and this will inform our work going into 2020.

Whole School Mass – Grandfriend’s Day

Tomorrow, Friday the 1^st November, we will be celebrating Grandfriend’s Day. This will include a Whole School Mass at 12:30 in the school hall. Following Mass, grandfriends will have the opportunity to visit classrooms and enjoy a picnic with their grandchildren. All are warmly invited to attend this special day.

Thank you

Catherine du Bois

Religious Education Coordinator

This week all students have been participating in the Water Safety Program at Moss Vale Aquatic Centre.

The children have had a fabulous week of swimming so far!

Here are some photos of Year 1 swimming and having fun this afternoon!

Last week was Environment Week.  Here are some of the ways we celebrated it:

Kindergarten - Learning in the 'natural light'.

Year 4 - 'Rubbish in the bin'.

Year 5 - Went to Lake Alexandra and learnt all about the importance of worms to our gardens.  I think Year 5 are keen to set up a Worm Farm at school.

And some creation station fun!

Junior Super Clinic - Bowral 

Sydney Thunder hosting 5 Junior Super Clinics across the Western Sydney & Regional NSW regions.

Bradman Oval, Bowral is set the host the Junior Super Clinic on Monday 18th November at 4:30pm - 6:00pm. Don't miss out on your opportunity to meet your Sydney Thunder heroes. 

Entry to the Junior Super Clinics is FREE! Register here:

Contact Sydney Thunder for more information community@sydneythunder.com