“He is not God of the dead but God of the living; all live to Him.”

Luke 20:38

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

Dear parents and carers,

Last Friday’s Grandfriends' Day was a wonderful celebration of the place of Grandparents and the more experienced members of our community in the lives of our children. It was delightful seeing the children take such pride in showing their visitors around their school. You can see pictures from the day on our facebook page. We hold Grandfriends' Day annually on (or close to) the feast of All Saints Day. Thank you everyone for supporting this event and sharing this day with the children.

Water Safety Program in Week 4 

The children have been participating in the water safety program this week. The children have been both enthusiastic, cooperative and a credit to us all. I’m sure they are sleeping well at night as well! The program concludes tomorrow, Friday 8 November.

Swimming Carnival Nomination Forms due back to school Monday 11 November 

We will hold our annual swimming carnival on Friday 22 November at Moss Vale Pool. Event nomination forms were sent home yesterday for you to complete with your child. An electronic version of the nomination form was shared via COMPASS today. Please return these nomination forms to school by Monday 11 November.

This will be the final swimming carnival for our current Year 6 children. It will also be the final Term 4 swimming carnival for the school. Commencing in 2020, we will be holding our annual swimming carnival in Term 1. This brings us into alignment with the diocesan carnival. We will, therefore, be holding a swimming carnival in Term 1, 2020 on Friday 28 February. The diocesan carnival will be held shortly afterwards on 13 March. Selection for the school swimming team to complete at the diocesan carnival will be made at the Term 1 carnival. 

For the current carnival, planned for 22 November, we will award age champions and house points as normal. This upcoming event is the substantive 2019 carnival. The awards will be presented at a special school assembly on Thursday 28 November at 2:20pm in the school hall.

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. We assume this to mean that parents fee comfortable and satisfied with the concept. 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.

iPad arrangements for Year 3 to Year 6 in 2020

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 and bring it to school daily. Children who will be in Year 4 to 6 in 2020 and don’t currently have an iPad, will be given the opportunity to participate in this new resourcing arrangement. Families who wish to opt in with the school managed 1:1 iPad program will be given the opportunity to do so. The cost of the iPad will be added to your resource fee and paid off over two years. For our Year 4 and Year 5 children in 2020 whose families who wish to opt in, your child will have up to two years use which makes paying the device off over two years worthwhile. Year 6 in 2020 will be a little different and individual arrangements can be made.

Our diocese is able to purchase iPads at an education price on our behalf. The purchase price for school supplied iPads is significantly lower than the recommended retail price. It is a 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. A detailed explanation has been shared to day with Year 3, Year 4 and Year 5 families via COMPASS. I ask that you take time to read through the concept carefully. If you have any questions, please contact the office to make an appointment to see Mr O’Brien to discuss your options.

Kindergarten 2020 playgroup continues

The Kinder 2020 Transition Playgroup continued today. It was wonderful to see our new Kinder children, their parents and families participating, meeting each other and playing together. You can check out the Playgroup Photos on our school facebook page. 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. The final Playgroup session will be held on Thursday 21 November.  We will be holding the more formal Kinder Orientation on Tuesday 26 November.

Year 5 Leadership Day at Santa Sabina Outdoor Education Centre, Talong  Friday 29 November

We will be taking our Year 5 children to Talong to participate in a leadership formation day. This is in preparation for the student leadership election process to be held in early December. Candidates for our school student leadership roles will be required to make a brief (1 to 2 minute) speech regarding their understanding of leadership and suitability for the role. The day at Talong is an opportunity to for the children work on team building, collaboration and understanding leadership.

Student Resource Packs for 2020

This year the school introduced student resource packs. These packs include what your child needs at school and fully covered by your school resource fee. By bulk purchasing we are able to buy items cheaper than is available in retail outlets. In organising this, we no longer need to send home the list on school needs that you need to provide at additional cost. We are trying to save you money. We are currently organising the student resource packs for 2020. They will be ready for the return to school in January.

Tree Removal 

Today, the large gum tree adjacent to the Sport Shed has been removed. This action has been taken after an inspection and report by an arborist. Whilst it's sad to see such a beautiful tree removed, it is in the interests of child safety that this necessary measure has been taken. We will replant a safe, shade producing tree or trees in the area.

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.

Skoolbag Closure

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 has now been de-commissioned as of Monday.  There will be no further messages sent via Skoolbag this week or in the future.

They are now 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:

Whole School Mass – Grandfriend’s Day

On Friday the 1^st November, we celebrated Grandfriend’s Day at our school. We held a lovely Whole School Mass, followed by class visits and a picnic. It was great to have so many visitors join us, and a great time was had by all! Thank you to everyone who helped to organise this special event.

Pet’s Mass

All are warmly invited to celebrate the Mass for Pets with the Parish of St Paul’s on Sunday 17^th November at 10.00am in the school hall, followed by morning tea. Bring your own pet – however large or small – and Father Richard will give a special blessing to your pet.

Students who are attending and would like a special job during the mass, please return your note to Miss du Bois by Tuesday 12^th November. If you are staying for morning tea afterwards, you are more than welcome to bring a plate of food/snacks to share. These can be placed in the hall kitchen before Mass.

Thank you

Catherine du Bois

Religious Education Coordinator

RSVP by Monday 4pm

The cyber would has become a part of our everyday life. The best way to ensure our children access it and use it safely is through education.

As part of our curriculum and in keeping with the new Diocesian Social Media Policy our students will learn about digital citizenship.

Below is a link to the New Australian Government eSafety website. It is an up to date resource available to parents in order to help keep you informed about current issues regarding cyber safety.

Diosesian Social Media Policy Link

Thank you,

Mrs Browne

On Friday November 1st we celebrated Grandfriends’ Day. The purpose of the day was to acknowledge and celebrate the contribution made to our families and community by grandparents and older community members. There was a beautiful Mass, followed by open classrooms to see the children’s learning spaces. There was then a book fair in the library and a picnic in the playground. It was a wonderful afternoon!

Our book fair has come to a close.  It was well supported by children and families.  24 books were generously donated to the library.

We still have some of this year’s short listed books that we would love to have in the library. Below is a list of these books and the price. If you would like to purchase one to donate to the library please contact the school office. We also have a small raffle with tickets for 50 cents each which we will continue to sell for 2 more weeks. Prizes are books for adults. 

Kind regards,

Louise Cassidy

St. Paul’s Swimming Carnival Event Program 

Friday November 22nd

Carnival commences approx. 9.45am

Order of Events

100m freestyle – Open boys and girls 

50m freestyle – 8 yrs, 9 yrs, 10 yrs, 11 yrs, 12yrs boys and girls 

25m races for Years 2-6

4 x 50m Individual Medleys (butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle)

50m breaststroke – Junior, 11yrs, 12 yrs boys & girls

50m backstroke - Junior, 11yrs, 12yrs boys and girls

50m butterfly – Junior, 11yrs, 12yrs boys and girls 

Junior and Senior House Relays 

N.B. War Cries will take place at approx. 11.30am (when Kindergarten and Year 1 arrive at the pool) followed by Kindergarten/Year One 25m races

Thank you,

Good luck to Jessica Wray who will compete in the PSSA Athletics Carnival (State Championships) at the Olympic Park in Sydney on Thursday 7th November.

Our school was recently asked to be part of the Mayoral Cabinet School Art Exhibition Program at the Council. The artwork of local children is displayed in the cabinet and St Paul's has a display for the month of November! Kindergarten and Year 2 have their artwork displayed. The students artwork can be found in the Foyer Gallery located in the Civic Centre, Wingecarribee Shire Council, Elizabeth Street Moss Vale.

https://www.wsc.nsw.gov.au/…/com…/arts-culture/foyer-gallery

A new delivery of our St Paul's School bags have arrived!

They are $51 each and you can purchase them from the school office.

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!