St Paul's Newsletter: Thursday 15 July, 2021
2021 St Paul's Newsletter - Term 3, Week 1
From the Principal
Dear Families,
Welcome back to Term 3. I hope you all had a nice school holiday break. I was away with my family for the first week in Queenscliff, and for the second week worked through a list of home and school tasks in order to be ready for an exciting term ahead.
We have lots to look forward to this term, especially our school musical, Shrek Jnr, on Thursday 2 September. We welcome Isabella Lepore into the Year 4/5 classroom each Thursday, as of the first week of term, with Stephenie Peels having Thursdays off. We have our tutoring program to look forward to, Kelly Geoghegan is already doing a great job overseeing this. Our tutoring sessions are scheduled to begin in Week 2 of this term. Following the musical we will head off to Sovereign Hill with our Year 5 and 6 students and we are very excited about this experience.
At the beginning of Week 2 we have a new student, Stella, beginning at St Paul's in Year 4. We look forward to welcoming Stella, along with her parents, Kim and Vin, as well as her little sister Ivy, into the St Paul's community.
I am really looking forward to the term ahead. We are excited to be providing many and varied learning experiences for our students.
COVID-19 Update
FACE MASKS
Late last night the Victorian Government changed face mask rules across the state.
From 11:59pm Wednesday 14 July, wearing a face mask will be mandatory indoors for all Victorians aged 12 and above.
Face masks are recommended outdoors where physical distancing of at least 1.5 metres cannot be maintained.
PARENTS: QR CODE CHECK IN
The use of Service Victoria QR codes for electronic record keeping is now mandatory in all
schools to enable the effective contact tracing of any COVID-19 cases.
FOR COVID-19 CONTACT TRACING - PARENTS AND VISITORS: We now display the Victorian Government QR Code system.
Vic Government QR code check ins are required to be used by:
- all visitors on school site (including contractors, MACS and other external staff and
building and maintenance staff) - all parents who enter school buildings when on school site
Vic Government QR code check ins are not required to be used by:
• staff
• students
• parents who come onto school grounds for drop off or pick up, but do not enter
buildings.
Schools can now permit parents to enter buildings for student pick up and drop off
providing sufficient QR code locations can be identified and utilised to ensure parents are
able to check in.
Parents - if you enter a school building, you must check in using the Vic Government QR Codes displayed around doorways and entrances. Thanks for your understanding on this.
*Please note - as always, this is subject to change in line with restrictions!
School Musical Production: SHREK Jnr
We are extremely excited to be presenting our school musical production on Thursday 2 September - SHREK Jnr. The senior cast is now finalised, and the cast list is as follows:
- Storyteller 1, 2 & 3 - Mahaliah, Ivy, Shiloh
- Mama Ogre & Mama Bear - Tess
- Shrek - Dash
- Captain of the Guards - Monty
- Pinocchio - Evie
- Big Bad Wolf - Lachlan
- Pig 1, 2 & 3 - Sophia, Keira, Ava
- Wicked Witch - Lila
- Peter Pan - Antoinette
- Ugly Ducking - Eddie
- Papa Bear - Ben
- Baby Bear - Maddy
- Donkey - Grace
- Lord Farquaad - Mitchell
- Gingy - Oliver
- Young Fiona - Ava
- Teen Fiona - Beth
- Fiona - Meg
- Knights 1, 2, 3 - Henry, Nate, George
- Dragon - Indya
- Pied Piper - Lukas
- Guards - Caleb, Ruby, Kristian, Alyssa
- Stage - Bailey
Please keep our PRODUCTION DATE FREE - Thursday 2 September. We need all hands on deck to ensure a successful event and therefore SHREK Jnr is compulsory for all students.
ON THE DAY - THURSDAY 2 SEPTEMBER: All students will be dropped off at Burrinja Cultural Centre by 8:30am.
Students will not be at St Paul's in their classroom on Thursday 2 September, they will spend the school day at Burrinja.
There will be a matinee performance at 1:00pm.
Students will be collected from Burrinja by parents at 3:00pm (or after the matinee).
Students will return to Burrinja by no later than 6:30pm. Lead roles are required back by 6:15pm. There will be an evening performance at 7:00pm.
*Please Note: Plans for SHREK Jnr are subject to change, or even cancellation, pending Covid restrictions. We are very hopeful of our production going ahead!
Safety Review: School Grounds, Drop Off and Pick Up
Our car parking regulations exist to ensure the safety of our children and adults while in the car park.
Cars should park on the asphalt/basketball court area for drop off and pick up. At the conclusion of the school day, unless a child is walking or catching the bus, students must be collected from classrooms.
Students can not be collected from the administration office at 3:00pm for a number of reasons, except in one-off or exceptional circumstances.
Students that ride scooters and bikes to school are reminded that there is to be no riding of bikes and scooters through the schoolyard at any time, for everyone's safety.
I ask that everyone read through the following rules, and if there are any questions please don't hesitate to contact me:
- Please observe correct procedures for using the car park (please refer to plan further down)
- Never leave a car unattended in the drop off zone
- The drop off zone is set up for parents/guardians to pull the car in, say goodbye to children, and promptly keep moving.
- Driving speed is to be that of walking pace
- Always exercise extreme caution when reverse parking
- Children must always be accompanied by an adult when walking through the car park to the school or vice versa (In other words, hold the hands of young children. Older children should never be more than 1m away from an adult.)
- Children and adults should always use the designated pathways
- At the conclusion of the school day, when children have been collected from their classroom, they must not go to their vehicle unaccompanied by an adult, regardless of their age. If you have young children or toddlers, never let them walk around or behind parked vehicles. They should remain next to you at all times.
While the asphalt car park is the preferred car park of use, some parents require the staff/parish car park when visiting during school hours. Should this be the case, I ask you to understand that the same rules apply with the addition of the following:
- Vehicle traffic flow is one direction only! Cars should enter the car park from Moores Rd and exit via Prices Rd
- Driving speed = walking pace
- Vehicles must always reverse park carefully
- Please observe the Disabled Car Park spaces on Wednesday mornings
- Children, regardless of age, must be accompanied by an adult - Children are
never to walk through the car park by themselves - If the car park is full, please do not park in the driveways.
SAFETY REVIEW
Managing COVID-19 Requirements such as last year’s school pick up and drop off procedures gave us a chance to review our car park safety.
Further to this, you may be aware that we are also in negotiations for a new playground unit to be installed outside the Year 5/6 classrooms, replacing the old portable. This has included a review some of our playground safety procedures.
I have been consulting with our maintenance team, MACS Staff and playground companies on ideas for the safest possible outdoor facilities and procedures.
In light of this I want to make our community aware of some possible changes and ideas that are on the horizon, in addition to those respectful reminders (above) about our procedures in the interests of student safety:
SCHOOL CAR PARK - ASPHALT AREA REVIEW: Currently we have no lines on our basketball court and very little signage to direct the traffic. Although our families "know" the car park procedures, we will soon be painting lines to indicate parking bays as well as the drop off zone and no parking areas. This will include an extension of the parking bays in the middle of the courts. We are also looking at removing the reverse parking area. We intend to paint zebra crossings so that parents and students can walk through the car park in a safer manner. There will be consultation with the School Advisory Council on this process and for now nothing has changed, but I thought it would be a good idea to inform our community that over the course of the second half of the year we are reviewing our car park practices to ensure clear communication for cars and pedestrians, and maximum safety for all.
SUPERVISION BEFORE & AFTER SCHOOL: The children are supervised in the mornings by teaching staff outside on the yard from 8:25 – 8:45am. Classrooms open at 8:30am and during this time the children may enter their classroom and commence setting up for the day and play outside. Ball games are not permitted before school. Students are not permitted to play in the undercover area.
Children dropped off at school any earlier than 8:25am cannot be supervised as staff are regularly involved in meetings, preparation and administration. We respectfully ask that children not be dropped off prior to 8:25am.
The children’s school day concludes at 3.00pm. We respectfully request that students playing in the yard after school are directly and closely supervised by parents. Students must always be in the line of sight of parents and/or staff before and after school. Classrooms remain open until 3:15pm and parents that cannot get to school by 3:15pm are reminded to please call the school office in order to avoid unnecessary worry for the students.
Please note that Before School Care and After School Care are available.
Tutor Learning Program
The Victorian Government Tutoring Program is a statewide initiative. It is in place to support students in their learning as a result of the disruption caused by the Coronavirus (Covid 19) pandemic.
All Victorian schools have received funding to employ tutors and St Paul's received enough funding for a 10 week (not consecutive) program. The program is being led by Kelly Geoghegan, along with Julie Dietrich and Greg McCourt as our tutors.
The Tutor Learning Program is an opportunity for us to give students a boost in learning confidence and work with them on fundamental skills. We have identified students that are eligible for the program using data and teacher observations from Semester 1. Parents of students that are part of the program will receive on Operoo eForm.
Term 3 School Closure Day
Please note - Monday 26 July is a School Closure Day. There is no school for students as the staff will be engaged in Literacy Professional Learning.
Kind regards,
Michael Watt
NAIDOC Week
NAIDOC Week celebrates the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. NAIDOC Week is celebrated by all Australians and is a great opportunity to learn more about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
NAIDOC Week 2021 is held from Sunday 4 July to Sunday 11 July. This years theme is ‘Heal Country’
Heal Country
Country is inherent to our identity.
It sustains our lives in every aspect - spiritually, physically, emotionally, socially, and culturally.
It is more than a place.
When we talk about Country it is spoken of like a person.
Country is family, kin, law, lore, ceremony, traditions, and language. For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples it has been this way since the dawn of time.
Through our languages and songs, we speak to Country; through our ceremonies and traditions we sing to - and celebrate Country – and Country speak to us.
NAIDOC 2021 invites the nation to embrace First Nations’ cultural knowledge and understanding of Country as part of Australia's national heritage and equally respect the culture and values of Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders as they do the cultures and values of all Australians.
Heal Country, heal our nation.
Year 4/5
This week the students in Mrs McIntosh’s class have created some beautiful artwork inspired by the work of Albert Namatjira. The students explored their own personal connection to country. Using water colours and felt tip pens, the students created images of landscapes special to them.
Connection to Country
From the School Office
CDF PAY Online School Shop - Update
Please note that placing of orders for upcoming events such as hot lunch and sushi day have been suspended in CDF Pay until we are notified that these events are once again permitted to be held at school.
Uniform Shop
Ross Haywood Sports - Update:
St Paul's Online Uniform Shop
https://www.rhsports.com.au/product/school_wear/st_pauls_monbulk_ps
For in-store purchases RH Sports are located at 12/100 New St, Ringwood (subject to any COVID restrictions in force at the time).
The store is now a CASHLESS STORE, EFTPOS transactions will be the only acceptable method of purchase. Recent changes to improve the health and safety of staff and customers include perspex screens at the registers and the supply of hand sanitiser. We ask that customers please apply this on entry to the store.
Online ordering continues as normal with all delivery options available including contactless pick up. Please phone the store on 9870 1377 if you have any further queries.
Secondhand Uniform Shop - Now Open
Our secondhand uniform shop is managed by Kylie Storer with items being purchased by gold coin donation. If you are looking for items of secondhand uniform please feel free to text Kylie on 0430 546 611 with your wish list. Kylie will usually be at school on Friday mornings to fill orders. Items can be sent home via class tubs or collected from the school office.
The secondhand uniform shop welcomes donations of St Paul's current school uniform items which are still in good condition. We do not accept the old St Paul's round neck jumpers, yellow shirts or non-St Paul's items. If you have any current uniform items you no longer need please feel free to leave your donations at the school office.
2021 School Closure Days
Please note the following days in your diary. There is NO SCHOOL for students on the following dates:
- TERM 3 - Monday 26 July (Literacy Professional Learning)
- TERM 4 - TBC
OSHClub
Out of School Hours Care: OSH Club
Enrolments, Bookings and Enquiries
Parents will need to enrol with OSHClub. Please visit https://www.oshclub.com.au/ and click on "REGISTER". You will need to enrol with the Monbulk Primary School service.
Community Notices
Transition Information
To assist your decision making in relation to your child's education for 2022 and beyond, please find below a link to the 136 page March 2021 edition of the Catholic Education Guide.
CLICK HERE: https://victoriaschoolguides.starcommunity.com.au/catholic-education/
Mater Christi College – Belgrave
Mater Christi College is a vibrant, inclusive and warm community where girls feel safe and build supportive lifelong friendships. After another year of leading academic and vocational outcomes, we are experiencing a surge in demand for places.
Parents of Grade 5 students are strongly encouraged to secure a place for Year 7 2023. Visit the College website to apply or arrange a tour.
Families seeking enrolment for 2022 should contact the College Registrar 9754 6611 asap.