“By your endurance you will gain your lives.”

Luke 21:19

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

Dear parents and carers,

Pets’ Mass Sunday 17 November a 10am

On Sunday, Fr Richard will celebrating the annual Pets’ Mass at 10am. This is the regular 10am Sunday Mass at Moss Vale. Children and families are encouraged to bring along your pets, both great and small, for a blessing. The Mass will be held in the undercroft at the front of the school hall. There will be seating provided. Alternatively, you are welcome to bring a camp chair or picnic rug to sit on the grass if that would be more convenient and comfortable for you (or your pet). We ask that your pets be restrained for the Mass. From past experience we know that the pets can become rather excited. We ask that dogs and cats be on a leash or in a carrier if that is more convenient. Birds need to be in a cage. Similarly, other small animals need to be in a carrier of some sort. Everyone is welcome, with or without pets. I would love to see as many families and pets as possible joining us for what will be a joyous occasion, thanking God for the gift of our pets and the loving kindness they inspire in our children.

Swimming Carnival Nomination forms due back immediately

We will hold our annual swimming carnival next Friday 22 November at Moss Vale Pool. Event nomination forms were sent home last week in hard copy and electronically for you to complete with your child. We are still waiting for some nominations to be returned.

Please return these nomination forms to school by tomorrow Friday 15 November.

Changes to the swimming carnival arrangements for 2020

This will be the final school swimming carnival be held in Term 4. Commencing in 2020, we will be holding our annual swimming carnival in Term 1. This brings us into alignment with the diocesan carnival and selection processes. We will, therefore, be holding a swimming carnival in Term 1, 2020 on Friday 21 February. The western region carnival will be held shortly afterwards on 3 March. Selection for the school swimming team to complete at the diocesan carnival will be made on the results of the Term 1 carnival. 

Swimming Carnival Awards Assembly

We will award event ribbons, swimming age champions and house points at a special school assembly on Thursday 28 November at 2:20pm in the school hall. Everyone is welcome to join us in celebrating the outcome of the 2019 swimming carnival. Please note that there will be no Friday assembly that week.

Drought Support Initiative

Our P&F have discussed the possibility in recent months of doing something towards assisting with the drought. I have been in touch with the Armidale diocese Catholic Education Office. The Armidale diocese is almost completely drought declared. The CEO have suggested that St Mary of the Angels, Guyra is a community that require urgent support and attention. The town has been without water for five months and is on category 5 water restrictions. Many of the children of the school come from farms. Their families have been without income for several years. Families are concerned that they may not be able to afford Christmas gifts for the children.

What we would like to do is to provide child to child gifts from our children to the children of St Mary’s. After speaking with the Principal, she believes that the psychological lift for the community and her children gained from knowing that people from as far away as Moss Vale are thinking of them in their time of need would be invaluable. We want our children to have an experience of what St Mary MacKillop directs us to do, that is “see a need and do something about it”.

We are calling for small gifts (pencils, colouring books, stickers, books) that could be placed into a small, shoe box size container to give to each of the sixty families of the school. We don’t expect expensive gifts. The Reject Shop could be our friend in this! We will have the children write messages and offer support to be included. We will also include prayer cards. Mrs Burton and her husband have volunteered to drive the gifts up to Guyra and deliver them to the school.

For now, could you start collecting suitable items. We will call for gifts to be sent into school during  Week 7 (Monday 25 to Friday 29 November). We will need all donations of gifts to be sent into school by Friday 29 November. More information to come.

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. 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 year worthwhile. Year 6 in 2020 will be a little different and individual arrangements can be made.

Families who have a suitable existing iPad, who wish to opt in with the school managed 1:1 iPad program will be given the opportunity to do so.

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 

Our Kindergarten Transition Playgroup continues next week. The final Playgroup session will be held on Tuesday 26 November in the school hall between 1:30pm and 2:45 pm.  It is wonderful to see our new Kinder children, their parents and families are 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.  

Kindergarten 2020 Orientation Thursday 28 November 

We will be holding the more formal Kinder Orientation on Thursday 28 November commencing at 9:15am. Please note that this date has moved from the date previously advertised in this newsletter and date claimer.  On the morning of the orientation, the children will work in the Kinder classroom whilst parents and family members will meet in the school hall. The Orientation morning will conclude by 11am.

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. We ask that the permission and medical forms sent home last be returned by tomorrow Friday 15 November.

Student Resource Packs for 2020

This year the school introduced student resource packs. These packs include what your child needs at school. The cost of the resource pack is fully covered by your school resource fee. By bulk purchasing we are able to buy items cheaper than what 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. Items such as, for example, pens, pencils, work books, art materials and glue sticks are included in the resource packs. Teachers have worked out what the children need in class. In introducing this efficiency, we are saving you money. The only items we ask you to provide is an art shirt, library bag, pencil case and headphones. We acknowledge that children usually like to choose these items themselves. We are currently organising the student resource packs for 2020. They will be ready for the return to school in January.

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.  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:

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 participating during the Mass will recieve a note on Friday to confirm their role. We ask that these students arrive at approximatly 9:45am. 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

Just a quick reminder to the students who still havent brought their swimming notes back, we need them back as soon as possible please.

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

Interest Groups:

Every second Friday the interest groups meet up to learn more about their chosen interest.
Students have chosen from a number of different groups such as - Choir, Wakakirri, Enviromental, Science, STEM (Year 6) and a selection of Sports.
This week we are featuring some photos from the environmental interest group.

Sydney Thunder FREE Junior Super Clinic - Bowral 

Sydney Thunder are 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.