St Paul's Newsletter: Thursday 26 August, 2021
2021 St Paul's Newsletter - Term 3, Week 7
From the Principal
Dear Families,
Although we would desperately love to have all of our students here with us on-site I am witnessing a truly high quality Remote and Flexible Learning program be carried out on a daily basis. Being at school with a small number of students and staff gives me the pleasure of seeing every aspect of our remote learning program in action.
The way we are currently working is very different to what our normal practice looks like! Teachers and Learning Support staff are often working with students in Google Meets. Staff are working from home, running Google Meets, monitoring and responding to the fantastic Seesaw and Google tasks, making videos, preparing lessons, marking work and contacting families. Throughout the week teachers are busily preparing take-home learning packs. They are working on-site at times, on a supervision roster, and also ensuring that we are meeting Government policy obligations under our School Operations Guides.
It gives me great pleasure to see the students responding to their teachers and happily smiling and interacting over their Google Meets. I also thoroughly enjoy being able to say hello to the many parents who also take the opportunity to give the teacher a wave or say hello. It is quite inspiring the way our parents are supporting their children whilst at the same time being able to meet their own work commitments. This community can be extremely proud of the way the parents and staff are working in an authentic partnership to ensure continuity of learning.
As positive as our learning program is, we also know that there are many people across Australia, across Victoria, and especially throughout Melbourne, that are doing it really, really tough. This must be acknowledged. Many people in our society at the moment are suffering and the well-being of many people, adults and children, is being affected. I think that one of the ways we can support our own well-being is by having things to look forward to. Even the smallest of positive things that we can look forward to, can help us to keep moving forward. With this in mind, our school staff have organised the following events for our students and families. The events below will go ahead whether the students are in remote and flexible learning or on-site. We hope to be on-site for the last couple of weeks of term.
Remote and Flexible Learning Parent Feedback
We thank the 12 families that responded to last week's "2021 Remote and Flexible Learning T3 Parent Survey". Overall, the feedback we received was positive, and we appreciate this. We asked families to rate their satisfaction with the type of tasks being set (paper vs online, etc). A rating of 10 is a satisfied parent. In the chart below, we can see that the satisfaction level is generally high with regard to the types of tasks set:
We also asked families to rate satisfaction (from 1-10) with regard to number of tasks being set. The responses indicate that we have a balance, and I am not surprised by this result. For some families the children are getting through the work very quickly, in other households the work is taking longer, and every family, and every child, is different.
An interesting observation is that some of us might complete learning tasks on weekends. This has been the case at my own home, where myself and my wife may be busy with online meetings and other commitments on weekdays, and we sometimes can't assist our children while working ourselves. It is not an expectation that families complete work on weekends! I was just curious to see if people were managing remote learning this way.
I personally, on 1-2 occasions, have used weekends to catch up on some of the learning tasks my children may have missed during the week because I am juggling my own commitments. This is ok. If you choose to do a task on the weekend, just let your child's teacher know. Although they may not respond to work submitted on weekends, your teacher will be aware that the work is completed. Remember: weekend work is definitely not an expectation!
There were some valuable comments that we can take on board as a staff. I won't show them here because some comments have names in them, but they have been shared with the staff and we thank you for your positive feedback. Interestingly, there were families that indicated they would like more Google Meets, and there were families that commented that they would prefer less time on the screen. This is a balancing act that teachers are constantly grappling with, and speaks to the fact that we have a mix of paper, hands on and electronic activities for students to complete.
In response to the comments, we are encouraged to continue our Friday community activities, our Lunch Clubs and we have introduced Library Borrowing (see last night's email and also see below). There may be some suggestions and feedback that we have considered, and will continue to do so, but may need to be individually managed. An example of this is the spectrum of feedback around Google Meets. The teachers are always willing to discuss and clarify concerns directly with you if you feel like your views have not been acted upon.
Thank you very much for your support and for answering our survey.
School "Community Fridays"
From the beginning of our sixth lockdown we have intended to run a "Community Event" each Friday (Principal's Pop Quiz, Watt's The Answer ...). Last Friday we held our quiz, and we had just under 50 entries, which was terrific. The students worked very hard on their answers and we had some fantastic examples of lateral thinking! We wish to acknowledge and thank the wonderful team at "Friends on the Hill" who generously donated the 3 prizes - a $20, a $10 and a $5 voucher. Thank you Grogan family!
We have 4 Fridays left for Term 3, and we intend to run a community event for at least 3 of them. So far we have planned:
- Friday 27 August: Book Week Themed Dress Up Day. 12:00pm Live "Read To" Get Back in Your Books! Join us on Google Meet - code: stpbook. We will share a book about Book Week, and we can't wait to read it to you!
- Friday 3 September: Presenting ... Mr Buckets Wacky Science Magic Show! Beginning at 12:30pm, this Magic Show, is a 45-minute online entertainment extravaganza, held live via Zoom Video. The show includes a 30 minute magic show, followed by a 15 minute workshop for the students. The students are currently completing units of work on Chemical Science, so why not get a 'Scientist' to weave some magic?! I hope this gives our students and families something to look forward to if we are still in Remote and Flexible Learning. If we are on-site, part of our first Friday back will be taken up by a mad scientist doing magic via Zoom ... The Zoom link will be forwarded to all families later next week.
- Friday 17 September: BOP TILL YOU DROP!!! School Disco! This Disco will be an end of term celebration, instead of our 'normal' evening disco that can't be held for obvious reasons. This disco will be 'virtual' - held via Zoom. I hope this gives our students and families something else to look forward to if we are still in Remote and Flexible Learning. If we are on-site, part of the final Friday of term will be taken up by a Disco via Zoom!
What about Friday 10 September? This is a tricky day to plan for, because if we are out of lock down, our Year 5/6 students and staff will be on camp at Sovereign Hill from 8-10 September. If we are still in Remote and Flexible Learning, we may plan a "Watt's Cooking" or a "Principal's Pop Quiz 2.0" with a community Kahoot! We are holding on to all hope that we can travel to camp, and we have not received official notification, either way, as to whether it will go ahead. Like everyone in Victoria, we wait until announcements are made and then adjust to those announcements. Fingers crossed!
Lunch Clubs are BACK! Students have the opportunity to connect online with a variety of lunchtime activities. Please see further in the newsletter for the flyer.
Send Through Your Photos
We will display a short slideshow of the photos at our next Prayer Gathering. I invite our parents and students to send me a photo of a Remote and Flexible Learning highlight or even your children dressed up for Book Week!
If you are willing and able to contribute a photo, please send your photo to mwatt@spmonbulk.catholic.edu.
Last year we did similar things to this where we collected photos for various occasions, and unfortunately, some of those photos went into my spam or never reached my email! Not sure why... however, if you send me a photo, I definitely will reply to you within a couple of hours to confirm that I received it. We would hate for someone to miss out on their photo being shown. If you send me a photo but do not receive a reply from me within 2 hours, please contact me.
Library Borrowing - 'Click and Collect' Style
We have set up a 'click and collect' library borrowing order system. In response to parent and student feedback, we have decided to allow library borrowing within the current guidelines.
We have set up a Google form that can be filled in with an order for books, similar to a click and collect that we would do when we are shopping. The Google form is available using the link below and is also available on our remote learning website.
The process is that a student can fill in the Google form with their details and the books they wish to borrow. Contained within the Google form is a link to our library catalogue of books, online. Students can browse for books they might like to borrow!
When they click "submit" at the end of the form Alayne is sent a notification and she will then gather the books and have them ready to be collected with your learning pack on a Friday.
The important thing here is that we need to receive all orders by 11:00 am on a Thursday so that we have time to gather all of the books and place them with the learning packs ready for collection on the following Friday. Please note: Special exception on the 11am today because of the timing of the newsletter.
Orders will be accepted up until 2:30pm today.
Please CLICK HERE to be taken directly to the Library Borrowing Google Form.
Please CLICK HERE for an instructional video on the Library Borrowing system.
Condolences
It is with great sadness that we advise that Mrs Irene Haritos' Dad, Edward Hodapp, passed away last Tuesday, 24 August. May his dear soul rest in peace.
We know you will keep Irene and her family in your prayers as they mourn the death of their beloved father and grandfather.
Learning Support: Welcome Bosiljka Sofranic-Carter
This week we employed a casual Learning Support Officer, Bosiljka Sofranic-Carter. Bosiljka's preferred name is Bosa (pronounced Borsa) and we are thrilled to have Bosa working on-site with students at this time.
Prayer Gathering Assembly: Monday 30 August, 2:10pm
This Monday at 2:10pm we will hold our next Prayer Gathering Assembly online, via Google Meet.
Parents that wish to log in can use their child's Google login, open Google Meet and enter the code stpassembly. We hope you can join us!
Kind regards,
Michael Watt
Lunch Club
We had lots of fun this week, making food art and taking part in the Lego speed challenge.
We would love to see more people next week.
Lunch Club week 6
Lunch Clubs are BACK!!!
From the School Office
Prep Families - School Entry Health Questionaire
A reminder to Prep parents that it is not too late to return the School Entry Health Questionnaire to school. If at all possible, could you please return the completed Questionnaire to school this week when collecting your child's next Learning Pack. You can either give it to your child's class teacher, leave it in your child's locker or drop it in to the school office. If you do not wish for your child to participate, could you please tick the no consent box and sign on page 5 before returning the form to school. Thank you.
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 Thursday 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.
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.
2021 Edition of the Enrolments Guide for Parents
To assist your decision making in relation to your child's education for 2022 and beyond, please find below a link to the 2021 edition of the Enrolments Guide.
CLICK HERE: victoriaschoolguides.starcommunity.com.au/enrolments-guide
