St Paul's College | Newsletter

05.04.24

From the Principal

Dear Families and Friends of St Paul’s

Week 10 and our last newsletter for Term 1 2024. As time flies so quickly, we should constantly remind ourselves to make the most of every moment, take some time to slow down and enjoy the beauty of everything around us.

Easter time is certainly a wonderful reminder of all that. The joy and hope of the Easter season encourages us all to become more aware of the good in our lives and encourages us to be more positive than what the world around us shows.

Easter Liturgies

Last Thursday and this Tuesday we were blessed as a community to share in several wonderful school liturgies. As a catholic school in the Edmund Rice tradition, we know that this season is the most important and the most relevant in our liturgical calendar. The journey from the cross of Calvary on Good Friday, where Jesus gave us the greatest ever example of sacrifice and love through to the Resurrection story of hope on Easter Sunday enables us to reflect on what is important in our lives and to keep our lives very much “in perspective.”

The College Stations of the Cross liturgy on Holy Thursday was a beautiful and poignant reflection and the Resurrection liturgy in the gym on Tuesday another faith-filled experience for all our staff and students. In addition to these the two lovely Primary liturgies again highlight what a beautifully reflective and celebratory community we have here at St Paul’s.

Multi-Cultural and Multi-Faith Community

All families and friends of St Paul’s know and understand we are very much a multi-cultural and multi-faith community. In fact, it is our absolute strength. We often speak of the forty-seven different languages spoken in our family homes, but we do not often speak of the many and varied faith backgrounds our families have. The beauty of this is in the fact that every single major world religion such as Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism, and Sikhism all have one major belief in common. This belief revolves around the way we treat each other and quite simply is “To treat others exactly the same way you wish to be treated.” Surely this is the core ingredient to a successful and loving community.

From a multi-faith point of view, our aim at St Paul’s is quite simple. We hope that every student that comes through our gates and joins our Catholic community grows in a deeper understanding and commitment to their own faith and grows in a deeper respect for our Catholic faith. The journey of a student at St Paul’s should allow each student and their family the opportunity to express who they are and participate in our community celebrations to the point where this spiritual growth occurs.

Term 2 Leadership

As has been communicated to all our families, I will be taking some Long Service Leave across Term 2 and part of term 3. During this time Mr Josh Foulis (our current Deputy Principal) will become Principal and we are fortunate and pleased to have Mr Frank Ranaldo (currently Deputy Principal at Rostrevor) join our community as Deputy Principal for Terms 2 and 3. We look forward to welcoming Frank and I know our community will offer both Josh and frank the continued support that we all experience.

On behalf of our staff can I offer everyone an incredibly happy and restful break, if you are having one and our most sincere thanks for the wonderful relationships we have across each dimension of the College.

Take care, God bless

Paul Belton

Dear Families and Friends of St Paul’s

Easter Liturgies

Multi-Cultural and Multi-Faith Community

Term 2 Leadership

Take care, God bless

Paul Belton

From the Deputy Principal

MIDDLE YEARS REVIEW (LEARNING AND WELLBEING IN YEARS 7-9)

As with all areas of our college, St Paul’s remains proudly diligent by continually seeking improvement for students. Whether in faith formation, learning or wellbeing, it is imperative that our community continually reviews practices to ensure we are delivering what is best for our students and families.

Importantly, I advise that the college’s Executive Leadership Team has endorsed a full and comprehensive review of our Middle Years Program (Years 7-9), which was endorsed by the School Advisory Council last week.

In 2018, as a response to changing learning needs and student engagement and the advent of Year 7 within CESA Secondary Schools from 2019, St Paul’s College implemented a ‘Middle Years Learning Program’ for Years 7-9.

This started with STEM (Sciences/Technology/Engineering/Mathematics) and LEAF (English/HASS/RE), which were integrated subjects of 11 lessons each in Years 7-9, both taught by a separate teacher. This minimised the number of teachers, classrooms, expectations, and norms that a student would experience in the transitional years from Primary to Secondary.

This coincided with revamped learning spaces and furniture for Middle Years students to begin 2019, based on flexible learning spaces (pedagogy meeting learning philosophy). Now in 2024, the context of Middle Years is best outlined in the 2024 Middle Years Curriculum Handbook.

To review the Middle Years Learning Program at St Paul’s College, we reference effectiveness for learning outcomes, achievement, and wellbeing. This is appropriate given the extensive change in educational landscape (state and national) and significant changes within the college, including student numbers, renewed learning aspirations for students and enrolment profile.

The purpose is to capture and analyse the view of students, staff, and families, to inform future planning for the Middle Years 7-9, regarding subject offerings, timetable structures, philosophies and methodologies that will deliver best outcomes for students.

Respective students and families and staff will be involved in the review and formal feedback will be sought at the start of Term 2. Our community will be an essential component of this transparent review process:

The areas being analyses/assessed are as follows:

Student experience
Orientation to Secondary (high school)
Student learning outcomes
Student wellbeing outcomes
Readiness for success in Senior Years
ERICA (the college’s Learning Principles: Engaging, Relevant, Innovative, Creative, Authentic) and the college’s strategic directions
Developments in education (landscape) and external contexts (EREA, CESA, Government Bodies, Research)
Teacher administration (teacher efficacy, workload, capability, effectiveness, documentation)
Meeting the requirements of the Australian Curriculum

We ask all members of our community to invest their time into this important review, with more information to be provided at the start of next term.

ONLINE SAFETY AND SEXTING/SEXTORTION

There are many benefits of technologies and the many online platforms that improve lifestyle. However, we also know that there are challenges and safety concerns online, particularly for young people as they navigate social settings and online settings alike.

One of the increasing concerns relates to the sending of intimate images – ‘sexting’. This observation aligns with reports from the Australian Federal Police (AFP) that the ‘sextortion’ has increased since April 2022.

We are aware that the holidays are approaching and holiday periods is accompanied by an increase in students sending intimate images via social media/devices. Unfortunately, this is not only a reality for our older students, but all people who operate online. There are many variations of ‘sexting’ but familiar patterns includes:

Young people sending intimate images of themselves to others, often not realising that if they are under 18 years, this may represent child exploitation material (see here for jurisdictional advice for South Australia).
Non-consensual sharing of any intimate image of another person (please see here for jurisdictional advice for South Australia).
Young people receiving requests from newly formed online interactions that might include a request for the student’s face as well as an intimate image. It is not uncommon for this person making the request to have previously ‘shared’ their (fake) face and intimate image as a means to securing trust.
Escalations in behaviour in which photo images are traded in advance of ultimately sending video material of sexualised acts.
‘Sextortion’ whereby the young person is threatened with the release of an image if they do not pay a fee. Payment of the fee does not guarantee that the images are not released at a later date and it is common for the offender to request additional payments after the initial sum has been received.

Commonwealth and State legislation apply to the sending of intimate images and SAPOL can provide support, likewise the eSafety Commissioner where online harm can be reported.

Needless to say the impact on young people and their families is significant and can include:

Emotional distress including increased risk of self-harm, noting that the first 4 hours after receiving a sextortion represent an especially heightened risk of self-harm.
Engaging in criminal acts to access funds to pay the fee asked to prevent further release of the image/s.
Longer term impacts on students and the families where images continue to be distributed, or resurface at a later date.

In recognition of this important and current issue, we would like to share the following resources for the consideration within our community. We continue to educate young people at St Paul’s in ways that are age-appropriate and sensitive. Additionally, our staff receive ongoing resources to assist their support of young people. Our college will always endeavour to support students and families; however, it is not possible for the college to monitor online activities offsite (e.g. at home or outside of school hours). For this reason, we urge families to have conversations about online safety ‘early and often’, including topics such as sexting and sextortion where you feel it is age-appropriate.

Video/film educational resources:

Other information resources include:

From the Secondary Years

Term 1 Reporting

A reminder that Term 1 reports will be released via SEQTA at 4pm on the final day of term (Friday, 12 April). For our Year 12 students, 50 school days have already passed, leaving approximately 113 more days of their St Paul’s schooling journey! Whether in Year 7 or Year 12, the upcoming school holidays provide not only an opportunity to reset and recharge but also to celebrate success and identify areas for growth in Term 2. Goal setting is an important part of this, as well as reviewing current study habits and what is/isn’t working. For our Year 12 students, this is of critical importance, as there is little time to waste to ensure that they are working to their full potential to achieve their academic goals, in collaboration with teachers and families. Upon receiving their reports, students are encouraged to lead the conversation with their families regarding their academic progress, and proactively communicate with teachers should they require further feedback or clarification of knowledge and understanding. Subject-specific parent/teacher interviews will be held in Term 2 (Week 3).

Year 7-12 Home Group Parent/Teacher Meetings

On Thursday 11 April, Parent/Teacher meetings will take place with Home Group Teachers from 3:45 to 7:00pm. These 5-minute ‘check-in’ conversations will be held via phone and allow an opportunity for families to discuss their child’s holistic Term 1 progress with their Home Group Teacher.

All families have been sent a link via both email and SEQTA direct message with an accompanying letter that outlines how to make an appointment.

Terms 2 and 3 – Winter Uniform

In preparing for Terms 2 and 3, a reminder to all students and families to ensure that they have the full and correct winter uniform, which includes the College blazer (to be worn to and from school) upon returning to school next term.

Winter skirts must be no shorter than the bottom of the knee, and PE uniform is only to be worn on practical PE days. Black sneakers are not permitted as part of the College uniform, as students are required to wear black leather school shoes. Non-school beanies and jackets that are not part of the College uniform are not acceptable. A reminder that haircuts are not to be shorter than a number 2, and obvious patterning, cuts and slits are also not permitted.

We ask that parents support the College by ensuring that their child presents themselves in accordance with school expectations. This policy, together with all other College policies, can be found on the College website here.

If there are reasonable circumstances for which your child is unable to wear the full and correct uniform, the College requests that families communicate this with Home Group Teachers via SEQTA direct message, written note, or verbal communication.

Return to School

A reminder that Monday 29 April is a student-free day, with students returning to school on Tuesday 30 April. Friday 3 May (Week 1) is a significant day in our college calendar as we celebrate Edmund Rice Day, with more information to be communicated to students and families in due course.

Anthony Farina - Head of Secondary

From the APRIM

He is Risen!

Back to school after Easter?! The Easter weekend falling in the middle of our school term (and not in the holidays) gave us the chance to recognise two of the most sacred days in our Christian faith - the death of Jesus on Good Friday and the Resurrection on Easter Sunday.

Ms Fedele's Year 8 Drama class brought the Stations of the Cross to life last Thursday in our whole school Liturgy before the long weekend. We were blessed to have a talented group of staff musicians to guide our prayer. On the Tuesday, we celebrated the Resurrection of Jesus through separate Primary and Secondary Liturgies.

Celebrating Easter Sunday is of great importance to our faith. As St Paul wrote, "if Christ has not been raised...your faith has been in vain". Jesus's death on the cross was not the end of the story. His resurrection reminds us of God's victory above all and of God's presence in all things, even death.

The Franciscan Priest Richard Rohr (tune into the podcast "Another Name for Everything") describes Easter as the "Feast of hope": "I believe the resurrection of Christ is saying that the final judgment has already happened. It’s nothing we need to fear. God’s final judgment is that God will have the last word! Easter reveals that there are no dead ends; ultimately, nothing is going to end in tragedy and crucifixion. "

He is Risen indeed - Alleluia!

Dale Clarke
APRIM