St Paul's Newsletter: Thursday 11 March 2021

2021 St Paul's Newsletter - Term 1, Week 7

From the Principal

Dear Families,

I hope you enjoyed your long weekend.  Summer has now ended and we have arrived in the season of Autumn.  The time of seasonal change, from Summer to Autumn, links with Lent, where we are called to change and grow.

Hello from the St Paul's Staff

Our Staff Profiles continue this week, we hope you are enjoying getting to know the staff at St Paul's:

Maree Ranahan

Maree's role:

• Year Prep/1 Teacher 

"I have worked at St Paul’s for years and wouldn’t work anywhere else! I love the children, families and community. The staff are a fantastic team who have a shared responsibility for all our children. I work hard and always strive to do my best for the children. I have one daughter and love spending time in my garden."

Isabella Lepore

Isabella's role:

• Languages Teacher - Italian

"I have been very privileged to be part of such an extraordinary and compassionate community of teachers, families and students at St Paul’s. Hopefully, my love of teaching has inspired our students at St Paul’s to develop a passion for learning any subject and enabling them to make a difference."

Greg McCourt-Hickman

Greg's roles are:

• Learning Support Officer
• Casual Relief Teacher

"After previously teaching English in Japan and working as a CRT in Melbourne, I am very excited to be working at St Paul’s.  My main role is in Learning Support, and I also teach in classrooms on a casual basis. "

Cathie Vermeer

Cathie's roles are:

• Year 2/3 Classroom teacher
• Leading Teacher - Maths

"I have been a staff member at St Paul’s for the past 18 years, taking on a variety of roles in that time.
I strive to provide a classroom environment where students become active learners, striving to achieve their personal best.
When not in the classroom, I enjoy spending time at home with family and friends.

Emerald BBQ

For many years Emerald Meats, managed by Alan and Joy Mills, have kindly donated the sausages and barbecue facilities for each Emerald Barbecue.

Our first Emerald BBQ for 2021 is this Saturday 13 March and we thank the following families for volunteering this week: Czaja, De Wit, Maher, Collins and Barnes. 

Absence Notifications

Electronic class attendance registers, marked daily by the teachers, are legal documentation and absent notes are required in all instances.

There are 2 ways that you can notify the school of an absence in writing:

• Absence notification through our school app; OR
• Email office@spmonbulk.catholic.edu.au and the classroom teacher

Students who arrive late to school must be signed in at the front office and then escorted to the classroom teacher.

If children are picked up from school before the end of the school day, a parent or nominated guardian must sign the child out at the front office.

Please note:

• • School begins at 8:45am sharp.  5 minutes of grace is given for bus arrivals or other circumstances beyond our control.
  • If a student arrives at school between 8:50am and 9:30am then they are marked as a LATE ARRIVAL and must be signed in at the administration office.
  • If a student arrives after 9:30am but before 12:00pm they are marked as a MORNING ABSENCE and must be signed in at the administration office.
  • If a student leaves school between 12:00pm and 2:30pm then they are marked as an AFTERNOON ABSENCE and must be signed out at the administration office.
  • If a student leaves school between 2:30pm and 3:00pm then they are marked as an EARLY DISMISSAL and must be signed out at the administration office.

Attendance Guidelines state: ‘schools must advise parents/guardians of unexplained absences, on the same day, as soon as practicable, including for post-compulsory aged students’.

St Paul’s will contact parents as soon as possible if a child is marked as absent and the parents have not notified the school. This contact may be in the form of a phone call, email or text message.  Even if a parent informs the school by phone of an absence, our requirements are that we still need some form of written communication.  Thanks for your understanding on this.

Prayer Gathering Assembly - Monday 2:10pm

We are holding our next Prayer Gathering Assembly this Monday 15 March at 2:10pm.  We are returning back into our Church, but we will need to remain under our density limits.  We can invite a maximum of 30 parents in order to remain under our one person per two square metre regulation.

We have created a Google Form, with a response limit of 30 persons.  The Google Form will automatically switch off when the 30 person response limit is reached.

If any parent/carer/guest wishes to book a seat for our Prayer Gathering Assembly please CLICK HERE and complete the Google Form.  A separate response will be required for each parent, thanks.

Working Bee

Next Thursday, 18 March, we will be holding our first Working Bee for the year after school from 3:30pm - 5:30pm. 

Afternoon tea and refreshments will be served. Thanks to the following families who have already indicated that they will attend: Spargo, Maher, Selby, Austin-White, Moody, Klages, Van Kampen, Kempster, Rademaker, Jenkins, Whittaker and Perks.

So that you know the types of tools to bring, the range of tasks to be targeted next Thursday (not today!) afternoon include:

• Weeding and general tidy up of our kitchen garden
  
• Clearing paths of overhanging vegetation
• Trimming of low hanging branches
• Prune back garden surrounding the frog pond
• Weeding and general tidy up of garden beds behind our Art Room/Administration Office

Crazy Sock Day - Thursday 18 March

School Closure Day Next Week

A reminder that next Friday 19 March (not tomorrow!) is a School Closure Day. St Paul’s staff will be working on the Rights, Responsibilities and Respectful Relationships curriculum. 

Kind regards,

Michael Watt

School Closure Days:

2022 Prep Transition

Spread the word!  St Paul's is inviting 3yo, 4yo and 5yo pre-school children to join our "Ready, Set, Prep!" program.  Fortnightly, on a Friday, we will run sessions that give children a "taste" of school life.  If you know any families with pre-school children, please encourage them to contact us and register for the program.  

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