St Paul's Newsletter: Thursday 9 December, 2021
2021 St Paul's Newsletter - Term 4, Week 10
From the Principal
Dear Families,
Although we will send a final 2021 newsletter next Wednesday, we include our end of year acknowledgements today as this is the final day of primary school for our Year 6s.
I wish to personally thank each and every St Paul’s family and student for a wonderful 2021 school year. In particular, we say goodbye and good luck to those families that finish their time with us. We are most grateful to the following families for their contribution to St Paul’s over their years here:
Bowen, Cosme, Coyne, Fahey, Foster, Goggin, Matte, Osborne, Thomas and Trinnick
These families begin a new chapter in their journey and we will miss their positive spirit, eagerness to help and their sense of community. All of these families have been a tremendous support to the school and we wish them every happiness in the future.
Year 6 Community Awards
At St Paul's we are fortunate enough to be able to present 3 annual awards in recognition of sustained leadership qualities, compassion for others and commitment to studies.
BENDIGO BANK:
At last week's Prayer Gathering the staff from the Monbulk branch of the Bendigo Bank, presented a plaque and cheque to Monty, one of our Year 6 students. Our thanks to Aimee teBoekhorst, Manager at the Monbulk branch of the Bendigo Bank for the generous and continued support of St Paul’s Primary School.
ROTARY:
The Monbulk Rotary Group donated an award for citizenship and community service. This was awarded to Dash. A representative from Rotary, Helen, attended our Prayer Gathering especially to present to the award on the video conference.
COUNTRY WOMEN'S ASSOCIATION:
The Country Women's Association presented Meg with a leadership award, recognising her commitment to the community. The CWA Award Plaque is displayed in the School/Church foyer space.
We congratulate all 3 of these students on their achievements and we are grateful to the community groups that make these awards possible.
2022 Prep Transition
Our 2022 Prep Transition Program has all but concluded, except for our "Meet the 2022 Teacher" session this Monday at 10:00am. We began the term with our 2022 Prep Parent Information Night which was held online. Our 17 Prep students then had 4 Transition Sessions over Term 4, and they are well and truly prepared for school life.
Over the past week Mrs Cook, Mrs Ranahan and myself have visited our 2022 Prep students at their Pre-School. We gained great insights into life at kinder for our future Preps, and it was so lovely to be welcomed by their excited faces. We met many of their kinder friends too! It was an absolute pleasure to visit the kinders and meet the educators that work at each pre-school. The teachers in pre-schools do terrific work with our young people. Everything that the students were doing had a learning intention, often around communication skills and oral language. The students coming to our school have had a great grounding in their preparation for school and we thank the people in our local pre-schools for all they do.
Welcome to St Paul's
We welcome the following families to St Paul's in 2022:
Anoop Nechikottil, Bafekrpour, Boden, Burns, Colahan, Hardman, Kenins, Koelwyn, Lacey, Magnay, Melia, Pye, Simpson and Soudah/Wilson
Semester 2 Reports & 2022 Classes
All returning Years Prep-5, as well as our 2022 Prep students, will visit their 2022 classroom for one hour this Monday 13 December to spend time with next year’s class and teacher. The transition will take place between 10.00 and 11.10am.
Year 6 students will take home their Semester 2 Report today.
Year P-5 students will receive their Semester 2 Report on Monday 13 December, along with a copy of the class list that your child will join next year.
Second Hand Uniform Shop
We thank Kylie Storer for all her time and effort in managing our Secondhand Uniform Shop, ably assisted by Angela Silver this year, for which we are very grateful. Thank you to Kylie and Angela for providing this service for our families.
Kylie is stepping away from this volunteer role, and we wish to acknowledge all of the hard work that has gone into managing the Secondhand Uniform Shop. Kylie has been approachable, reliable, organised and dedicated in her time as Secondhand Uniform Coordinator and she has helped many of us when we have required assistance. Thank you Kylie!
Carla Rademaker will now take over as Secondhand Uniform Coordinator, for which we are very grateful.
The secondhand uniform shop welcomes donations of St Paul's current school uniform which is still in good condition and for which you no longer have a need. Please feel free to leave donations at the school office.
Lost Property
There are several lost property items in our Church foyer space. If you have any missing school uniform items please "QR Code Check In" and take a look at the lost property items.
Any items remaining on Wednesday 15 December will be donated to the Second Hand Uniform Shop.
Gumbuya World
Last Monday Carolynne Boyd, Kelly Geoghegan, Greg McCourt and Michael Watt accompanied our Year 5/6 students to Gumbuya World. It was a spectacular day! We visited the wildlife park, dry rides and the day warmed up we floated down the lazy river and hooned down the water slides.
It was an absolute pleasure taking these students out for the day. They displayed gratitude, impeccable manners, and had a day of good fun. We laughed and smiled all day!
School Advisory Council
We are extremely fortunate at St Paul’s to have an active and most valued School Advisory Council. They are great advocates for our students, our parents and for the vision of our school. They are your friends and neighbours – with extraordinary dedication to our community and our children. They provide a vital service in our community.
Each member is a strong advocate for continuous improvement in student learning. They read, discuss and research so that they can make informed decisions on countless complex issues.
I would very much like to thank the 2021 School Advisory Council members - Fr Anthony Cruz, Stephenie Peels, Troy Czaja, Sally Zylinski, Cara Kirby, Kristen Dias, Megan Bourke and Mary Larkin - for all that they have done, and for all we have achieved together this year.
In particular we say thank you to Mary Larkin after six years of service on our School Advisory Council. Mary has dedicated a great deal of time to assist as a Council member, and also coordinate the Emerald BBQ's for many years. Mary is stepping down from the SAC and we wish to thank her very much for her service.
I also acknowledge the work of our 2021 Chairperson, Troy Czaja. Troy was a terrific Chairperson this year, who was a great support and 'sounding board' throughout another challenging year. Troy will stay on our SAC as a general member due to other commitments taking him away from the role.
I thank every member for attending the meetings and offering unconditional advice and support. We applaud them for their vision and their willingness to accept the responsibility of guiding school improvement and being the ‘voice of the parents’.
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.
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 this is something you choose to do, 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.
2022 Transition Days - 31 January & 1 February
Transition to a new school year for staff and students involves setting up strong communication processes and building on the relationship between teachers and families to support student learning. At the beginning of the school year, we ask that parents book a 30 minute individual timeslot where they can bring their child to school to spend time with their teacher. We refer to this process as the Beginning Year Transition Interview and these interviews are held over the two days before classes begin. During the interview your child will participate in literacy activities with their teacher. This will provide some insight into the starting point for teaching your child to their point of need.
On Monday 31 January, and Tuesday 1 February 2022, students will not be engaged in formal classes. 2022 Classes begin on Wednesday 2 February 2022. To book dates and times we use the same process as booking for Parent-Teacher Interviews, schoolinterviews.com.au. Every family will soon receive an email with instructions for booking a time over the course of the two days.
Kind regards,
Michael Watt
Important Community Notice
We received the following letter from the Yarra Ranges Council last Tuesday, 7 December:
Good morning St Paul’s Primary School,
The Yarra Ranges Council have had recent concerns raised from local residents regarding skating/ cycling kids using the Moores road footpath in a way that causes safety risks to other pedestrians using the footpath network, specifically the section from No.29-33 Moores Road. (See picture below).
The concerns are not directly linked to St Paul’s Primary students, but as St Paul’s Primary is one of the schools in the vicinity to the section of concern we are requesting that you could advise your students who skate/ cycle down Moores Road to do so with caution and care of other pedestrians.
Should you have any questions regarding the matter, please feel free to contact me.
Kind Regards,
Curtis Karajic Powell
Traffic and Transport
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
