“There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. 

But what are they among so many people?”

John 6: 9

(from the Gospel for the seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary time, Year B)

Dear Parents and Carers,

This weekend’s Gospel reading recounts the familiar story of the feeding of five thousand. This Gospel speaks directly to the power of the many who, when they share whatever gifts they have, can collectively produce an abundance sufficient for all. This is an important text in describing Jesus’ vision for the Kingdom of God. When we work together, seek to build each other up, work for the common good setting whilst aside selfish desires, we can achieve almost anything. This is the vision of the Christian community - a place where everyone is welcome, cared for and treated with respect whilst everyone contributes whatever we each are able in achieving this vision. I truly believe that St Paul’s is such a place. This is how we teach our children about faith, by having them witness how we adults participate in the life of this Christian community. As Jesus always taught, we lead by example in both words and deeds. This is the collective responsibility of all adults in our community.

VISION AND MISSION REVIEW

We are undertaking a review of our school’s vision and mission as part of our school’s annual School Review and Improvement (SRI) plan. These two documents are central to who we are as a school and what we want to achieve together. 

To draw a metaphor, if our school was a car, the mission statement would be the engine (what we do) and the vision statement would be the GPS (the direction we want to go). We want to review our vision and mission in order to be clear as a community as to what we hope for the children at our school in the future.

The first step in this process is a brief survey seeking your feedback and thinking. As well as parents and carers, a similar survey will be conducted with the primary children and school staff.  The link to the survey is here.  I ask that you take some time to complete the survey by Friday 30 July (Week 3). Your voice in this process will be highly valued.

Once we have collated the survey data from each stakeholder group, we had planned to conduct a community forum to review and respond to the feedback on Thursday 19 August. Given the ongoing nature of the COVID emergency, it looks likely that we will need to postpone this. We will keep you informed.

WELLBEING FUN DAY - Pyjama Day Friday 30 July

Last year we conducted a series of “fun days” just because it is fun. The goal was to keep children’s spirits up and have a bit of extra fun at school. It was very successful and we want to continue this during Term 3.

Next Friday, 30 July we are going to have a pyjama day. The children can come to school in their Pyjamas (and dressing gowns!). We ask that children wear enclosed shoes for the day. They will still go outside to play. PJ day was a great hit last year and I’m sure it will be again next week! 

BOOK WEEK PARADE - Thurs 19 August (Week 6)

We will conduct our annual book week parade on Thursday 19 August. The book week theme this year is  'Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds'. We have been reading the shortlisted books to the children. The children can come dressed in a costume for the day. We will hold a parade where every child gets to show their costume. Again this is an annual highlight. Start thinking about your costumes!

COVID-19 - Level 2 restrictions on going

Thank you for your patience, understanding and cooperation in helping to keep everyone safe during this latest COVID outbreak.  We are all doing our bit. The management restrictions we have had in place since the beginning of term have not changed. We continue to monitor and stay alert to any such variations. We will of course let you know.

Earlier this week, I wrote to you regarding support for families who are experiencing any hardship as a result of the COVID outbreak. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you wish to access this offer of support.

As anticipated, there are now changes to planned events within our diocese. The Year 6 Activate Fire day that we were scheduled to host on Monday has been postponed until later in the year. The Western Region Athletics carnival has been cancelled. Families who had children attending that event have been contacted and where applicable entry fees refunded. As other postponements come to hand we will notify you via COMPASS as soon as possible.

We will continue to remind the children of good hygiene practices (wash your hands; cover your cough/sneeze; wash your hands; stay at home if you are sick). We have maintained our regular, daily regime of hand washing and hard surface cleaning. 

The current measures in place in Level 2 schools are detailed on the  current COVID- 19 guidelines for Catholic Schools in the Diocese of Wollongong . You will also see on this website the restrictions in place for Level 4 schools (that do not apply to us). This website is regularly updated to reflect the current measures in place. I suggest you check in regularly in order to stay up to date as well as seeking clarification.

CANTEEN SERVICE HAS RECOMMENCED

Our school canteen service has now recommenced. You can place an order and pay online on Wednesday evening for Thursday lunches. Thank you for your patience, understanding and support of this service.

CHRIS SMITH MEMORIAL BUDDY CHAIR

We have created ‘buddy chair’ on the Veritas veranda to make sure every child has someone to play with. Thank you to Kellie and Craig Burgess who painted the chair and printed the buddy bench expectations for the use of the chair. Chris Smith was a long standing and much loved teacher at St Paul’s who always had the wellbeing of the children at the centre of her work. Chris passed away in 2015. This chair is in memorial of her loving contribution to our school culture.

UPDATES TO SCHOOL ATTENDANCE MANAGEMENT PROCEDURES

If your child is away from school, you need to notify the school and explain why your child was absent. You currently receive a message via COMPASS informing that your child is away from school. 

Commencing this week you will be contacted directly after your child has had three (3) consecutive, unexplained absences. You will also begin to receive reminder notifications for any unexplained absences from school for your child via COMPASS. You can respond in COMPASS to provide an explanation.

KINDERGARTEN ENROLMENTS OFFERS FOR 2022 ARE DUE 23 July

We have made a first round of enrolment offers for Kindergarten 2022 at the end of last term. The acceptance for these offers is due back to school by Friday 23 July.

We still have a couple of places available for Kinder 2022. We will also maintain a wait list. If you know of anyone who has a child ready for school in 2022, they can still apply. Applications can be picked up from the school office or downloaded from the school website. 

School Terms for 2021

Class Overviews

The class overviews are all updated on the Parent Portal for Term 3. Take some time to have a look at the topics your children will be learning in Term 3 in each of the Key Learning Areas. Teachers have also added any other relevant information for their class for this term on the overviews. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact your child’s teacher by contacting the office. Some teachers are happy to receive emails however please note they are not able to answer emails or check them during the day while they are teaching. 

We will be having some more fun and exciting days this term to encourage everyone’s self esteem and provide some joy in what is a difficult time at the movement with COVID 19. We will keep you updated throughout the term.

Regards,

Katie Browne

Assistant Principal

Catherine du Bois

Religious Education Coordinator

UPDATES TO SCHOOL ATTENDANCE MANAGEMENT PROCEDURES

Regular attendance at school is a legal obligation. I have attached a link to information regarding regular school attendance here. If your child is away from school, you need to notify the school and explain why your child was absent. You currently receive a message via COMPASS informing that your child is away from school. 

Commencing this term you will be contacted directly after your child has had three (3) consecutive, unexplained absences. You will also begin to receive reminder notifications for any unexplained absences from school for your child via COMPASS. You can respond in COMPASS to provide an explanation.

COMPASS USAGE

COMPASS is our school’s communication app. Whilst this weekly newsletter remains the “source of truth”, COMPASS is one of the modes of delivery for the newsletter (website and email being the others). It is important that our COMPASS app and usage is working for us.

In COMPASS, you receive push notifications, updates, letters, school reports and attendance notices directly to your device. Staying in touch is important in maintaining good communication and the home/school partnership.

Last week you received in your COMPASS feed a troubleshooting handbook for your information. We are always happy to help if you are having trouble with COMPASS. You simply need to call the school office and we can assist.

How to get COMPASS

If you don’t have COMPASS, you can download the free COMPASS app from your app store. Search for “Compass School Manager”. It is a free to download app for both Apple iOS and Android. If you need help with the setup, feel free to contact the school office.

Your Contact Information

It is important that you keep your contact information up to date in COMPASS. This is especially true of your email contact. Please make sure that your email listed in COMPASS is the email you most frequently use. You can change your address or telephone number in COMPASS

Forgotten passwords

If you have forgotten your COMPASS password, you will need to ring the school office. We can reset the password for you. Please be aware that each COMPASS account has a unique password. The password that one parent uses is different from the other parent’s password.

Sport Uniform days for Term 2

Sport uniforms are to be worn on the following days for each class:

Kindergarten - Wednesday and Friday

Year 1 - Wednesday and Friday

Year 2 - Wednesday and Friday

Year 3 - Wednesday and Friday

Year 4 - Wednesday and Friday

Year 5 - Wednesday and Friday

Year 6 - Wednesday and Friday

CANTEEN ONLINE SERVICE ON THURSDAYS 

Our school canteen service has recommenced this week and operates on Thursdays each week. The service will be an online ordering service only. Please note that there is no canteen counter service at school. 

Orders for the canteen will need to be submitted each Wednesday before Thursday service. Our canteen supplier, Fresh Start Canteens, have moved to an online ordering system called QuickCliq. Your child’s ordered lunch will be delivered to the school in time for first break each Thursday. 

If there is a problem with your child’s order please let our canteen supplier Fresh Start Canteens know. They will be only too happy to assist. If a child misses a lunch order, the school will make sure that your child has something to eat! We don’t want any child being hungry or unhappy!

How this new system works:

1. Set up your QuickCliq account: you will need to set up a free account for your family with QuickCliq in order to place orders and pay. The instructions for how to set up this account are attached to this newsletter.
2. Order and pay for your child’s lunch on Wednesday through QuickCliq. 
3. Lunch will be delivered to your child in time for the first break on Thursday.

Sentral_QuickCliq_Family_Register_flyer_Canteen_1_.pdf