St Paul's Newsletter: Thursday, 9 June 2022
2022 St Paul's Newsletter - Term 2, Week 7
From the Principal
Dear Families,
Last Monday we continued the "Ready, Set, Prep" Program. Signora Lepore showed our future Preps a "Taste of Italy" and they had a wonderful time creating (cardboard) pizzas!
Our "Ready, Set, Prep" Program is open to 3, 4 and 5 year old pre-school students and families. The program runs fortnightly, on a Monday at 10am, until the end of Term 3. Each session has a different theme and our next session is a 'Science Fair' on Monday 20 June, 10 am. In term 4 we begin our 2023 Prep Transition Program where students begin their 'official' school preparation.
We are looking forward to welcoming 16 Preps and their families next year. Many of the 2023 Preps have participated in our "Ready, Set, Prep" Program and it has been wonderful getting to know them.
Child Safe Standards
Ensuring children’s safety is a top priority for all educators. Children have the right to be safe and protected at all times, including at school. St Paul’s has many policies and procedures in place that keep children safe.
Back in 2016 the Victorian Government mandated a set of 7 X Child Safe Standards that help us document these policies and procedures. We now have an update to these Child Safe Standards.
The new Child Safe Standards are set out in Ministerial Order No. 1359. They are as follows:
- Child Safe Standard 1 – Organisations establish a culturally safe environment in which the diverse and unique identities and experiences of Aboriginal children and young people are respected and valued.
- Child Safe Standard 2 – Child safety and wellbeing is embedded in organisational leadership, governance and culture.
- Child Safe Standard 3 – Children and young people are empowered about their rights, participate in decisions affecting them and are taken seriously.
- Child Safe Standard 4 – Families and communities are informed, and involved in promoting child safety and wellbeing.
- Child Safe Standard 5 – Equity is upheld and diverse needs respected in policy and practice.
- Child Safe Standard 6 – People working with children and young people are suitable and supported to reflect child safety and wellbeing values in practice.
- Child Safe Standard 7 – Processes for complaints and concerns are child focused.
- Child Safe Standard 8 – Staff and volunteers are equipped with the knowledge, skills and awareness to keep children and young people safe through ongoing education and training.
- Child Safe Standard 9 – Physical and online environments promote safety and wellbeing while minimising the opportunity for children and young people to be harmed.
- Child Safe Standard 10 – Implementation of the Child Safe Standards is regularly reviewed and improved.
- Child Safe Standard 11 – Policies and procedures document how the organisation is safe for children and young people .
These new child safe standards are being phased in currently to make sure that schools and other organisations are safer for everybody, especially children. All of our school policies and procedures must reflect these new standards as of 1 July, 2022.
Division Cross Country - Congratulations!
In very cold and wet conditions, 6 of our students participated in the SSV Regional Cross Country at Yarra Glen Racecourse last Tuesday: Mitchell, Evie, Esther, Lexi, Tom and Benji. Jessica won through to the Division, but was unfortunately unable to participate on the day. Well done to our competitors who proudly represented themselves and St Paul’s. Thanks to Emma-lee Curwood for doing a fantastic job preparing the students and thank you to Kelly Geoghegan who was there to represent and support our school. Congratulations to Evie and Tom who are through to the next level!
Student Reports & Parent-Teacher-Student Conferences
The teaching staff are currently in the process of writing reports. Countless hours are spent on each child’s report to ensure that parents are provided with a commonsense report that describes what children have achieved against the Victorian Curriculum. The information contained within your child’s report is based on evidence from teachers’ assessment records linked to judgements made against the Victorian Curriculum.
- Reports will be forwarded home on Monday, 20 June.
- Parent-Teacher-Student Conferences will be held on Wednesday, 22 June.
A Parent-Teacher-Student Conference is a 10 minute meeting that actively involves parents, students (from Year 2-6) and teachers in reflecting on student progress in Semester 1 and setting future goals/targets.
Parent-Teacher-Student Conferences will be held in person (face to face) in your child's classroom.
Parent-Teacher-Student Conferences begin at 1:50pm, with the last appointment being available at 7:10pm.
We ask our Year 2-6 students to attend. Students in Prep and Year 1 are not required for the conference.
School will finish at the normal time of 3:00pm on Wednesday 22 June.
Students will be supervised by specialist and education support staff from lunchtime until the end of the day on 22 June. Year 2-6 students will need to be collected from staff for their conference if the appointment is prior to 3:00pm. Parents will be notified of their child's classroom/collection area for that afternoon, prior to the conferences.
On that same day, we have our Year 5s going to Mount Lilydale College. Jo McIntosh is taking the students to Mount Lilydale. Year 5 students and Mrs McIntosh will be back at school in time to conduct the conferences.
Bendigo Bank Community Rewards Night -
Thank You Bendigo Bank!
Last Tuesday 6 June, I attended the Monbulk and District Bendigo Bank Community Rewards Night. Aimee te Boekhorst, a past St Paul’s parent, is the manager at Monbulk Bendigo Bank. The Monbulk Bendigo Bank is a tremendous support for St Paul’s and assist us in many ways.
At the Monbulk and District Bendigo Bank Community Rewards Night, on behalf of our school community, I collected a cheque for $1,650 for our school, which we can use to support the construction and installation of our mural. I also collected a cheque for $560 from the rewards program!
The community rewards program is a benefit to our school derived from parents and students banking with Monbulk Bendigo Bank. We are extremely grateful for this support from our school community and from the Monbulk Bendigo Bank. Don’t forget to make the Bendigo Bank part of your ‘shopping list’! We are extremely fortunate and grateful for this support.
Swimming and Water Safety Excursion: Tuesday September 13
Water safety is a mandated part of our curriculum. We have booked a Water Safety and Swimming Program with Aquanation in Ringwood on Tuesday 13 September. This excursion is sponsored by the Monbulk and District Bendigo Bank!
The primary purpose of the day will be to address Water Safety, which falls under the domain of Health & Physical Education. The day will be conducted by qualified instructors, with the purpose of teaching the children life-saving techniques and water safety messages. The children will travel in class groups and will rotate through a range of 4 practical activities, including water fun!
Heads Up! We will travel by bus, and three of our classes need to start their session at 9:30am. On the day, Tuesday 13 September, our Year Prep - Year 3 students will need to be at school earlier than normal. The bus must depart school by 8:40am with all P-3 students and staff.
- Year Prep-3 students will be at Aquanation for a 9:30am start, finishing at 11:30am
- Year 4-6 students will be at Aquanation for a 12:00pm start, finishing at 2:00pm
More specific details will be provided closer to the date.
Can you assist?
Call for BROWN LIDS!
We are creating a giant mural by re-purposing plastic bottle top lids.
We are running short of brown lids! We ask our community to drink up that "Dare Iced Coffee" and "Chocolate Big M" so that we can collect your lids!
Please keep an eye out for brown plastic lids and if you can collect them and pass them on to us we would be most grateful.
Boys Lighthouse
For the past 2 months, 5 boys from Year 5 have been involved in a joint project with St Joseph’s College, Ferntree Gully called BOYS LIGHTHOUSE. The analogy is that ‘the light’ from St Joseph’s reaches out to the schools in the region and works with them to improve outcomes for boys and build positive relationships. Two boys from Year 10 at St Joseph’s - Gus and Cooper- came each Monday and Thursday afternoon to work with our boys. The boys from our school: Zach, Ben, Charlie, Tom and Morgan produced a short movie. This movie will be screened tonight at St Joseph’s College, along with the 6 other schools from our area that participated in the project. We congratulate the Boys Lighthouse Team on their achievement.
We wish all of our families a wonderful long weekend.
Warm regards,
Michael Watt
Congratulations!
Thomas came off his win from Mountain District Cross Country, came 4th in the Division, and came 1st at the Seaford Little Athletics Open Day recently, representing Cranbourne Little Athletics Centre.
He also competed at the State XC relays in Langwarrin last Saturday 4 June with his team, and also at Knox Little Athletics Open Day on the 18 June. Amazing Tom - well done!
SAVE THE DATE: “WONDER IN ALICELAND” - FULL SCHOOL MUSICAL!
THURSDAY 1 SEPTEMBER - Burrinja Cultural Centre
The students of St Paul's have begun preparing "Wonder in Aliceland", our full school musical for 2022. All students will be involved, and therefore we expect all students to attend.
School Closure Days 2022
We ask that parents take note of these dates and put them in their calendars:
SCHOOL CLOSED - Thursday 15 September:
SCHOOL CLOSED - Friday 16 September:
SCHOOL CLOSED - Monday 31 October (Cup Eve)
*Please Note: Friday 16 December is the conclusion of the school year for St Paul's students.
School Car Park Procedure
With regard to safety within the school car park, please note the following:
- Children, regardless of age, 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 - please do not stand and talk on the asphalt basketball court before or after school when it is used for parking
- Please stay with your car if you stop in the drop off zone (under the basketball rings - quick drop off only)
- At the conclusion of the school day, when children have been collected from their classroom, they should never be allowed to go to their vehicle unaccompanied by an adult, regardless of their age.
These regulations exist to ensure the safety of all children and adults within the car park area.
In summary, the following changes have been made to our asphalt area:
- Car park bays at the centre and edges of the court are painted in blue
- Crossing/walking paths have been painted to indicate safe walking areas (note: some of these paths are being finished off in the coming days/weeks, weather dependent)
- There is now NO REVERSE PARKING at the bottom of our asphalt area - this has been removed in the best interest of safety.
Lunch Clubs are BACK!
Our lunchtime clubs are back up and running. They are held in the library/open learning space 1:30-2pm, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.
From the School Office
Request from the Art Room
If you have any yarn, wool or thread floating around at home that you could donate, we would love to have it in the art room - Thank you!
Emma-lee Curwood
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 Carla Rademaker with items being purchased by gold coin donation. Payments can be made via CDF Pay. If you are looking for items of secondhand uniform please feel free to text Carla on 0409 866 901 with your wish list. Items will usually be sent home via class tubs or collected from the school office by arrangement.
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
Catholic Education Guide 2022
To assist your decision making in relation to your child's education for 2023 and beyond, please find below a link to the 136 page 2022 edition of the Catholic Education Guide.
CLICK HERE: https://victoriaschoolguides.starcommunity.com.au/catholic-education/
