newsletter term 2 week 9 2022

End of Term 2

How quickly the year is going! We are already at the halfway mark for 2022.

I would like to use this mid-year reflection opportunity to thank our families for the support and trust you place in our staff team. Also for your willingness to be part of our parent feedback sessions, sports days, tuckshop and school life. This genuine connection creates the welcoming culture that is St Paul’s.

In addition, I would like to acknowledge the school board members who are committed to the success and future of our school.

To our whole staff team, thank you for your professionalism and desire to inspire learning in our students.

Lastly, a MASSIVE well done to the efforts of our students. Your willingness to reflect on who you are as members of St Paul’s and the desire to be positive contributors to your school is outstanding.

The remainder of 2022 is set to be a powerful season of learning!

Reports

As you read through your child’s reports, we encourage you to talk through the strengths and areas of improvement with your child. Talking through their approaches towards learning and their personal learning goals This can be a powerful connection to empower your child to value their growth. The attached link provides some conversations starters and ways to frame discussions with your child. These can be used for everyday reflections throughout the year and to also talk through the reports.

https://happyyouhappyfamily.com/questions-for-kids/

The Importance of a Mental Health Check-in

A MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL

At St Paul’s, we want to ensure we are always focusing on the positive mental health of our students. Recent data shows nationally, an increase in primary aged students showing signs of negative mindsets and a lowering sense-of-self. The connection between the school and the home is a critical relationship that is strengthened when communication to support a child is timely and supported by both the home and school. Please take the time to complete the Wellbeing Barometer Survey to provide us with data to help us support the needs of our student community.

HAPPENINGS WITH HOLLIE

What a term it has been! Here a few highlights for me…

+ Tuckshop! The excitement on a Monday is evident and students adore having their Mums and special helpers come in to serve some amazing food –apple crumble, chocolate brownies, cupcakes, there was even a coffee machine this week (for the adults of course!) Thank you, parents for your willingness to be involved. It’s a very special thing and really helps build a positive culture at SPH.

+ Pat on the Back Fridays! It’s encouraging to hear and witness students showing love and empathy and expressing how their understanding has developed over the term.

+ mainly music! I love seeing a mixture of new and old faces walk through the front doors every 1st and 3rd Monday of the term. Kerri, Renae, Cherryl and everyone who helps, do such an amazing job – thank you. One week we had over 20 people enjoying dancing, singing, rhyme and it’s always topped off with a delicious morning tea.

+ Athletics carnival! Every new event I get to participate in at SPH always makes me smile. This day was no exception. What a relaxed atmosphere and well organised event this was, with lots of parents enjoying themselves, with some rather loud cheering heard! I’m very grateful for Miss H and her organisation – thank you!

+ PBL! What’s not to love about seeing students engaged in their learning? The design process has been well under way in both classrooms, with K-2 designing, creating, testing and changing packaging for playdough and the 3-6 class becoming fashion designers and creating mini-collections using preloved fabrics. It’s exciting and it’s these hands on, genuine learning opportunities that will be remembered for years to come. You can’t put a value on experiences – they’re real and authentic.

+ The staff! What a joy it is to come to school each day and be surrounded by a team who are passionate about doing everything they can for their students and the St Paul’s community.

Reports will be emailed out next week. You won’t hear it out of the mouth of a teacher often, however, the process of writing and reflecting on student learning through report writing is a valuable tool and I actually enjoy it! It’s always exciting to see growth in students and to pinpoint what as a teacher we need to work on further. We hope you appreciate and understand the new format. I appreciate any feedback!

Finally, I will be taking Long Service Leave at the beginning of Term 3 for three weeks. We are heading to the UK to see my husband’s family and to Switzerland to catch up with good friends. Felicity Habermann will teach Mondays in addition to her normal teaching load and we welcome Mrs Sue Trethowan to the team. Sue comes with a wealth of knowledge and experience. I know the community will make her feel very welcome!

Enjoy the two weeks break with your children. Thank you for entrusting them to our care Monday-Friday. We love spending time getting to know them and figuring out what makes them tick… How good is God that he has created us all to be unique individuals and brought us here to SPH for this time.

Blessings,

Hollie

P&F TRIVIA NIGHT
Friday 29 July

mainly music
Monday 1 August

FIRST DAY TERM 3
Tuesday 19 July

mainly music
Monday 15 August

RAS ATHLETICS CARNIVAL
Tuesday 2 August

P&F MEETING
Tuesday 9 August

5/6 CAMP
Wednesday 10 - Friday 12 August

3/4 CAMP
Wednesday 17 - Thursday 18 August

LAST DAY OF TERM
Friday 1 July

PBL SHOWCASE AFTERNOON
Tuesday 28 June

Philippians 3:12-14

Winter is here, and so is all the rain. It has been super chilly and wet outside. It feels as though we are in hibernation. Many outdoor activities have been cancelled, such as the planned athletics events. At St Paul's it was decided instead to have indoor gym activities which the children thoroughly enjoyed. This gym activity got me thinking about how we Christians exercise our faith. Lutherans often refer to this as “faith active in love.” Paul the apostle declares in Phil. 3: 14 “I run straight toward the goal in order to win the prize, which is God's call through Christ Jesus to the life above.” This is Paul’s shorthand for how active faith happens. Our faith is never still. The Christian has a goal to reach, that is, heaven or the “life above.”

We journey towards our heavenly prize knowing that “Christ Jesus has already won me to himself.” Let those words from Paul settle into your heart, because they concern YOU. That is faith. Faith knows that you have been won, claimed, by Christ.

And from that awareness comes an active faith, a faith that pushes through the cold and wet winters of life. The Christian has a foretaste of heaven, the “life above.” The tastiness of God, a God who gives himself in Christ, keeps faith going. We get to spiritually feast off Christ everyday and we taste heaven. In faith, we praise God, call on him, and give him thanks. In faith, we are drawn in empathy to serve our neighbors who are in need. As we love God and others, we encounter heaven on earth. And that keeps faith going. With the love of God in our hearts we push through the coldness of life. The Spirit warms our hearts to God. We are then warm people in an often wet and cold world. A warmed Christ-heart is an active heart. Such a heart is drawn to heaven and encounters God in the here-and-now. These divine-encounters, foretastes of heaven, keep faith in motion. And then the world gets to taste and see what it means when “Jesus has already won me to himself” for that “life above.”

DEVOTION WITH Ps WILL

We have had a lot of students away the last few weeks due to sickness and holidays, however, it has been lovely having the majority back in the room this week.

We have almost finished our PBL Science unit.

The driving question is: How do we store items that need to stay fresh?

Students are finalising their final packaging after creating a prototype, trialling and modifying it, to get it just right.

You are invited to our Showcase event, where students will have the opportunity to share their learning journey with peers and parents.

When: Week 10, Tuesday 28th June

Where: K-2 Classroom

Time: 3pm Blessings,

Hollie Kinning

We will be holding our PBL Showcase on Tuesday 28th June in the hall at 2:30pm. We invite you to come along, we'd love to show you what we've been working on!

For our STEM challenge students were asked to design and construct a bridge.

It took us four attempts to hold our Athletics Carnival but with the glorious weather it was worth the wait!

Adults Only Dinner

Thank you to those who attended the Adults Only Dinner at the DCA last Friday, and thank you to our High Schoolers who so graciously offered their babysitting services to allow us to be free from parental duties for a whole meal! What joy! We had a lovely evening - good food, good company, what more could we ask for?

Major Raffle

In the not too distant future tickets will be sent home with students for our major raffle. Each family will be given a book of twenty tickets to sell. Tickets are $5 each or 3 for $10.

First Prize: Helifly Scenic Flight Voucher for 2 People

Second Prize: Dressed Pig

Third Prize: Goods Hamper

The raffle will be drawn at:

Family Friendly Christmas in July Trivia Night

Shake out the mothballs from your Ugly Christmas Sweater (What? You don't have one? You might need to find one 😉) because the P&F are hosting a trivia night on Friday 29th July. This will be a family friendly event with special rounds for the kids, games during the night and a prize for the ugliest Christmas sweater.

More information will come out in the coming weeks but make sure you save the date in your calendar.

Dear St Paul’s School Community,

On behalf of the School Board, I would like to announce changes to the board that was elected at our May Annual General Meeting. First and foremost, we would like to sincerely thank Brad Wettern who has served on the board for thirteen years, and for the past eight years as Chairperson. Brad’s management skills and calm presence has brought a wealth of knowledge to our school during both the good and challenging times. Brad will continue to sit on the board for the next year to assist with the handover.

Our 2022 School Board is –

Joanne Knobel, Chairperson

Tim Lubke, Vice Chairperson

Renae Lieschke, Secretary

Jamie Armstrong, Megan Schuller, Noel Stein, Brad Wettern, Members

Non-Voting Members

Stephen Zweck (Congregation Chairperson)

Brad Moss (Principal), Hollie Kinning (Deputy Principal)

Pastor of Henty Congregation (currently vacant)

I would like to provide our school families with a brief statement on the role of the school board. Our school board meets once a month and in general, we are responsible for all matters relating to the policies, practices, management and operations of our school. We are required to drive the mission and performance of our school and ensure that St Paul’s complies with all its contractual, statutory and other legal obligations.

Each month we review the financial affairs of our school and receive reports from the Leadership Team ensuring our learning practises and activities are in line with our strategic plan.

In addition, our board works closely with Lutheran Education Victoria, NSW & Tasmania (LEVNT) who is committed to supporting school boards in the region through attendance at meetings during the year, and by providing ongoing advice and support to Chairs. LEVNT also supports our school providing education and training for board members in particular areas of succession planning, developing strategic priorities for school improvement, facilitating board review, policy processes, and risk frameworks. In short, LEVNT is an incredible resource we work alongside to ensure our school is the best it can be.

As a past parent of St Paul’s, I love our school and all that it stands for. St Paul’s is an authentic Christian community and with Jesus as our Head Teacher, we can provide the highest quality education for your children. It is a pleasure, to serve our school in this capacity, and look forward to all that God has planned for us. If you would like any further information from the board, please do not hesitate to contact one of our members and I look forward to meeting you all soon.

Joanne Knobel

Board Chairperson

Gabe Bisset

Blake Klemke

Mitch Forland

Sora Todori

Evie Haines

Phoenix

Harriet Schuller

Daniel Male

Meg Todori

We had a glimpse of sunshine this week but winter has reminded us it's not going anywhere!

Don't forget to bring $1 to warm up with a hot chocolate each Friday.

With the school holidays coming up it's a great chance to check through your uniforms.

You can check that you have your uniform and not someone else's, and also do a bit of a stocktake to see if you are missing any items.

We have one unclaimed, unlabelled sports jacket in lost property - perhaps it could be yours?

If you find that you never seem to get around to returning cans and bottles for the 10c refund then we might have the solution you've been looking for! We will have a specially designated recycling bin in the lunch area for refundable bottles, and we would be happy to add yours to our collection. All money raised will be made available for the students to put towards resources and equipment, which they will collaborate their spending ideas with teaching staff.