St Paul's Newsletter: Thursday 2 December, 2021
2021 St Paul's Newsletter - Term 4, Week 9
From the Principal
Dear Families,
It definitely is all happening at St Paul's! Over recent times we have seen children celebrate First Reconciliation, First Eucharist, the Sacrament of Confirmation, our Year 6 Retreat Day, Christmas Carols Free Dress and Filming, Inter School Sport, and our new Prep students for 2022 have visited! ... WOW!
2022 Prep Transition
Last Tuesday we had our third 2022 Prep Transition session and our 17 preps joined us for a taste of school. Our 2022 Prep teachers, Maria Cook and Maree Ranahan, taught the session and have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know their 2022 Prep students. Our 2022 Prep students and their families are already well and truly members of our community and we look forward to getting to know them even more next week at our fourth session this Wednesday, followed by our 'Meet the Teacher' on Monday 13 December.
Interschool Sport
Yesterday our Year 5 and 6 students competed in the District Interschool Sport competition. Although it was a very warm day, we had a fantastic time, with two soccer teams and one netball team representing our school. We thank Kelly Geoghegan for all of the work that went into organising the day, along with Carolynne Boyd, Greg McCourt and Jo McIntosh for their assistance in making the day happen. We also say a huge thanks to Michelle Barnard, Cara Kirby, and Tash Koole for attending the day, umpiring, coaching and scoring - this was a tremendous help! Most of all we thank the Year 5 and 6 students for the huge effort they made, and the way they conducted themselves on the day, it was an absolute pleasure to be involved.
Parents and Friends Association
Our Parents and Friends Association (P & F) has always been a very strong support for our school community. Our P & F drive our fundraising initiatives and community events.
P & F funds are used for a variety of school improvement projects, and we use P & F funds for programs that benefit all students from Prep to 6. The most recent spending of P & F funds has been on our playground spaces.
Fundraising through Parents and Friends activities has been extremely challenging over the last couple of years, and we are looking forward to a brighter future where we can hold community events and engage in fundraising once again. The structure of our P & F post-Covid may look a little different to what we have set up in the past, and this will be worked out in collaboration between parents and the school.
A lot has changed over the past couple of years and a conversation needs to be had about how we move forward with our P & F. Early next year we will hold an open meeting we all parents will be invited to share ideas about possibilities for the future of our Parents and Friends Association - what will our P & F look like? How will it run? We are looking forward to setting up hot lunch days, the school disco, our Country Fair, movie nights, and many other fun and engaging community activities that our P & F work hard to set up every year. We will be looking for ideas on how these activities can be overseen moving forward, and we will be looking for people to get involved.
Please give some thought over the summer break as to how you might be able to get involved in our P & F, it is a fantastic way to engage and involve yourself in the community and contribute to the continuous improvement of our school.
It is a privilege and honour being Principal at St Paul's.
As Principal I am passionate to live the values we strive to teach, and this has led me to join Teacher Presence, a not-for-profit charity. The Teacher Presence mission is to empower teachers
and families to make a difference in the world by re-deploying the money that may otherwise be spent on the traditional end of year present to a charity supported by Teacher Presence. Basically, instead of purchasing a gift we donate to charity!
Some families choose to give a gift to me as principal at the end of the year, for which I am always VERY GRATEFUL. As we now approach the end of the school year, if you may be considering purchasing an optional end of year gift, as grateful as I am, may I encourage you to consider making a donation to Teacher Presence instead.
This is something I have chosen to do, and if you were planning to purchase a gift for your child's teacher, that is totally ok!! Please go ahead! Teacher Presence is a personal choice that I have made. Please know that I do not have any expectation that your household purchase a gift, however, if your family is considering a gift, maybe now is the time that together we can help people less fortunate than ourselves.
The charity I will personally be supporting through Teacher Presence this year is "Eat Up".
For you to join me in supporting this very worthwhile charity please CLICK HERE.
100% of all money donated goes directly to "EAT UP". Teacher Presence does not receive any of the money donated. The core function of Teacher Presence is to raise essential funds for those who most need it.
Here's a very short video on how Teacher Presence works.
Prayer Gathering: Today
Our Year Prep/1 Prayer Gathering Assembly will be today at 2:10 pm. This is the final Prayer Gathering Assembly for 2021. Our year Prep/1 students will lead a reflection that will focus on gratitude. St Paul's has much to be thankful for after another year of high-quality education. Further to this, we will be presenting some important awards and we hope that many people can join us.
The Prayer Gathering Assembly will be held online, via Google Meet. Please log in using your child's Google account, open "Meet" and enter the code: stpassembly.
Kind regards,
Michael Watt
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
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. When not prevented by restrictions, 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
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
