newsletter term 3 week 5 2022

At St Paul’s, we strive to be a school who inspires our students for life and aim for a wholistic educational experience. We strive to be a school who builds resilience, creative thinking and positive mindsets in our students. We value the development of polite students with a strong work ethic that will set them up for success in the world. We are also a school who gains it's identity from the Gospel:

A MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Lutheran schools, as part of the mission of the Lutheran church, are communities of worship and service, sharing and living the good news of Jesus Christ.

Lutheran schools are communities which acknowledge God as creator and join in the ongoing creation and care of the world and all people.

Lutheran schools are communities that recognise that God has intentionally created each person and that each person is uniquely gifted to live in relationship with God and others.

Lutheran schools are communities where grace abounds. While recognising the brokenness of humanity, they reflect the unconditional love of the Father, revealed through the saving work of his Son, Jesus.

Lutheran schools are communities open to the influence of the Holy Spirit, who invites and equips for a life of worship, learning and service.

Lutheran schools are communities that value learning as God’s gift to people for their wonder, growth, and to inspire them to respond to the needs of the world.

Lutheran schools are communities of hope, nurtured by the promises of God’s word, love and forgiveness which empower staff and students to embrace the future with confidence.

Yours in Christian Service

Brad Moss

HAPPENINGS WITH HOLLIE

It’s great to be back at school! My family and I had a wonderful trip away. Family is such an important part of our lives, so it was great spending time catching up on the all the things we’ve missed about each other.

Now it’s back into it and what better way to spend three days than in Canberra with our Year 5/6s! I want to start by saying how proud I was of our students. So many of our guides at the venues we attended commented on how great the students were, asking engaging questions, listening and genuinely showing respect to those around us. Both the St Paul’s and St John’s students were GREAT and it was a pleasure spending time and getting to know them better. This is really what a camp is about! Thank you for entrusting your children to my care, I hope they enjoyed the experience just as much as I did.

Our values this term are ‘Courage’ and ‘Curiosity’. For some students, going on camp was a huge courageous moment where they were forced to step out of that comfort zone and into the unknown. Deuteronomy 31:6 says, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Several of our students also displayed curiosity on camp. This was evident with some great questions and a genuine desire for information. It’s also clear that by asking questions, we don’t know always know the answer or get it right the first time. I love it when students have-a-go, put their hand up and have the courage and the curiosity to show up and be present.

I’ve just spent the last two days at a Brene Brown – Dare to Lead workshop. I have always been a bit of a fan of Brene and her work. I love this quote, ‘A leader is anyone who takes responsibility for finding the potential in people and processes and has the courage to develop that potential.’ A goal of mine is to do this … in staff here at St Paul’s, in students and in myself. The message of courage and curiosity is not just for our students here at St Paul’s, it’s for the teachers, the learning coaches, those in admin and those in leadership. The last two days have been fascinating, interesting, big … my brain is full but also filled with inspiration, courage and curiosity to learn and implement more. (I’ll share more next week about the training!)

It’s great to be back! Have a blessed week,

Hollie

mainly music
Monday 5 September

HENTY MACHINERY FIELD DAYS
20 - 22 September

BOOK WEEK
Monday 22 August

FATHER'S DAY CHAPEL
Tuesday 30 August

BOOK PARADE
Wednesday 24 August

ST PAUL'S FAMILY SERVICE
Sunday 28 August

5/6 RESILENCE DAY
Friday 2 September

3/4 CAMP
Wednesday 17 - Thursday 18 August

WORKING BEE
19 August POSTPONED to 2 September

KINDER TRANSITION DAY
Wednesday 14 September

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 welcome Sue Trethowan to the St Paul’s team for Weeks 1-3, while Mrs Kinning is travelling through Europe. We are very lucky to have such an enthusiastic and experienced educator here for the short term to share her skills and knowledge with our students and staff!

After having a number of students ill at the end of Term 2, it's great to see so many smiling faces back in the classroom and eager to keep learning in Term 3.

Next week we will be looking at 'Volume'. If you have some spare ice cream containers at home can you please send them in with your children to help our understanding of how volume works?

We've also managed to take advantage of some of the beautiful sunshine and head outdoors this week.

Welcome to Term 3! I am so excited to be back!

This week, we read the book The Day the Crayons Quit and wrote our own story about the day the chairs quit! 3-6 were surprised to see our classroom chairs had quit when they walked into class on Thursday!

It has been such a beautiful, sunny week that we have done some learning outside.

Kindest regards,

Miss Ridley

5/6 CANBERRA EXCURSION

Book Week Starts on Monday!

Book Week will be starting on Monday 22nd August and will be here until Friday 26th August.

A variety of books will be on display and available for purchase, so please come by any time during school hours to have a look. Books sold at the Book Fair and through Book Club help our school stock up on resources to enrich our student's education, so come on in and support our school whilst getting your hands on the best new children’s books!

Book Parade

Children can come dressed as their favourite book character on Wednesday 24th August. The parade will start at 9:30am and family and friends are welcome to attend!

Eden Bisset

Wyatt Bisset

Oscar Haines

Harriet Schuller

FATHER'S DAY BREAKFAST

To celebrate the special men in our lives we will be holding a Father's Day Breakfast and Chapel Service on Tuesday 30 August.

Please come and join us at 8:30am for a Bacon & Egg Roll and a cuppa (or juice) and stay and enjoy a special Chapel service.

All parents, grandparents, students, siblings and special people in your life are most welcome to come along. Please RSVP to the school office for catering purposes.

The P&F will be drawing the raffle at our Father's Day Chapel service on Tuesday 30th August.

Thank you for the many returned raffle books. Just a reminder that all raffle books need to be returned to the school office no later than Wednesday 24th August.

Any questions about the selling of raffle tickets can be directed to Kerri.

We have started collecting goodies for the Goods Hamper. Any items you'd like to donate can be dropped to the school office.

Thanks for your support.

Tuesday 20 September - Thursday 22 September

Rosters have been sent home and can be returned or emailed to the School Office, or send a photo through to Kerri. If you'd like any extra copies let us know!

HENTY MACHINERY FIELD DAYS

On the Year 5 Discovery Day at St Paul’s College, Aiden, Blake, Micah and Oscar made lava lamps in science.

During agriculture, we decorated ducks with pipe cleaners and had duck races. Micah and Blake’s duck won twice in a row.

In drama, we did acts of the 3 little pigs and then we went and learnt about our wellbeing.

After that, we went in the gym and played sport. We played hockey and tic tac toe.

The Discovery Day was really fun and we would like to thank the College for organising an awesome day!

Written by Aiden and Blake.

What a fun way to finish off what has been a very busy term!

The Working Bee scheduled for this Friday has been postponed to Friday 2 September

3pm onwards

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.