23 June 2022

Dear Families and Friends of St Paul’s,

As you would all be aware this week, we begin a new semester in our academic year. It is an unusual time for this to happen given it is not the start of a new term, but the reality of our work is that there are not four even terms that we can split in half for two equal semesters!

With a change of semester comes a change of timetable and with that several subject, staff, and lesson swaps. This year, more than ever before, considering COVID implications and staff taking leave, we have been stretched in more ways than one to sort through all of this. There has been a huge amount of work done behind the scenes by Mr Michael White our Timetable Coordinator, Mr Matthew Muscat our Senior Years Head of Teaching and Learning and our Deputy Principal Mr Josh Foulis. It has been enormously time consuming and stressful for many but as always at St Paul’s we are so grateful for the patience and resilience offered us by the staff and the students. As always, we continue to hold the students at the centre of all our planning and we look forward to another successful semester.

Year 12 Formal

Last Friday we had the absolute pleasure of sharing the evening with our Year 12 cohort and partners at our Year 12 Formal. It was a tremendous evening; they were extremely well behaved – even extremely well mannered and respectful in front of their guests – but we would have expected that from this group of fine young men! We are grateful for all the work our College Organiser, Ms Bonnie Phillips, Mr Callary, Head of Student Wellbeing (Year 7-12) and all the Leaders of House, who worked together to ensure the success of this important function.

Year 9 Camp

While the current weather is not fantastic, the Year 9 students under the guidance of Mr Chris Martin and his team of staff, have set off for chilly Kuipto Forrest. While this may be challenging it is an experience that the College believes are a particularly important part of what we call a holistic education. I’m sure they will remember the experience!

Staff Professional Development

On Friday of week 6 the whole staff finally had the opportunity to meet for some professional development. In 2015 when we all gathered there approximately 50 of us. Given our growth of over 200 this year we now have approximately 120 staff! To be able to gather in the new senior Learning Centre and be able to physically introduce the 30+ new staff to the community was a significantly special occasion.

College Tours

Over the last couple of years being able to show prospective families around St Paul’s has been difficult. With the COVID restrictions being eased we are now able to conduct these tours with greater freedom. Two Saturday’s ago, we had approximately 160 visitors to the College.  Following the presentation in the new building and after a complete “lap” of the school, families couldn't wait to submit enrolment forms. For your interest since July, 2020, when we announced we were becoming co-ed until now we have had between 2,500 and 3,000 enrolment enquiries. That is quite phenomenal and sadly we will not be able to enrol them all. Hence, if you know families or in fact have siblings who you want to attend St Paul’s we require enrolment forms at least two years out from any anticipated starting date.

It is a great news story for St Paul’s, and we are sure that Blessed Edmund Rice and Br Dally (our first principal) would be very proud of how the College has progressed.

God Bless
Paul Belton  

Dear Families,

The other day, Mr Year 2 popped his head into my office during recess and said, “Mrs Loftus, I like school!”  I replied, “Guess what?  Me too!”  I proceeded to ask him what the best part of school was, and he responded without a blink, “Well, you know, I like it when you have two numbers like a 3 and a 7 and then you have another two numbers like a 4 and a 2 and they have a line under them and sometimes there is a plus sign?  I like doing that, it’s called Maths.  And did you also know that sometimes there are carry overs!”

This very brief but beautiful conversation is a wonderful example of a young student sharing their passion for learning and understanding of addition in Mathematics.  I wonder what your child would say about themselves as a learner if they were to write their own report.  Our teachers are currently busy writing your child’s report and I thank them for the unconditional time and energy they give to your children, every day. 

A huge congratulations to the many students in our Primary Years who have worked hard throughout Term 1 and Term 2 which has resulted in very pleasing results.  Many have made a great start to the 2022 school year which can now be consolidated in Term 3 and Term 4.  To those students who have set learning goals for next semester, the time is now to make the most of Semester 2 with your time and energy. The most important thing is to engage in learning and find the joy it can bring.

Our prayers and best wishes are with the students at our college who received the sacrament of Confirmation and Communion this past week at St Pius X Catholic Parish.  We thank the college Catholic Identity team and parents for all their time, commitment and hard work in preparing the children. The two ceremonies were beautiful, sacred experiences.

There are many things to be grateful for in our lives and during these challenging times, we need to be even more responsive and thankful to things we might take for granted.  Gratitude is about being thankful and appreciative of things in our lives, or even life itself. Described by many as a sense of wonder, gratitude is about building optimism and positive emotions. Now, more than ever, we need to name the many things we give thanks for.  

Last Friday, during our staff prayer, we were challenged to find our ‘happy’ and the things we are grateful for.  What do you we truly appreciate in our lives? How do we find our happy and show gratitude?  Whilst the easy path is to take all our blessings for granted, we need to challenge ourselves to display gratitude for all those people and circumstances that we encounter in our daily lives.  This is the most important concept that we wish to instil into our children and students in our college.  We have so many opportunities in our lives to find our happy and express our gratitude.  Do we seize the time to do so and name it?

I want to share with you the top 5 on my ‘Gratitude List’ this week. It is a great way to soothe the soul and remind me daily of the things that truly matter:  

Family and friends
Good health
Learning from mistakes
The joy of laughter
St Paul’s community

Finally, thank you for your ongoing support. I am grateful for all you do in working in partnership with us. It is truly valued.

Take care and have a great fortnight.

Marianne Loftus
Head of Primary Years

The Year 10 Geography “Wellbeing” Excursion last week was a fantastic day when 2 classes conducted a Quality of Life Fieldwork Study, analysing 3 suburbs (Lightsview, Greenacres and Oakden). We met a Senior Town Planner from Villawood called Stuart Headland who spoke with the students and offered fantastic insight into a fascinating industry. We also collected some interesting urban fieldwork data. Several students were inspired to the point of angling their career path in a similar direction. This is the first time we’ve run this excursion, it went very well and will likely be a recurring experience for future classes given the positive feedback. We also got our steps up, walking at least 10k for the day, with not 1 complaint. 

There is a large push for Geography in the senior school at the moment, given we now have 2 specialist Geography Teachers (Amber Dias and Chris Martin). We will be offering Stage 1 Geography as an elective option next year for the first time in St Paul's history. Exciting times for a very important and fun subject. Ms Dias has some amazing plans for the proposed Stage 1 Geography course. Excursions, camps, possibly even scuba diving! She oozes teaching talent, St Paul's is lucky to have her aboard. Watch this space!!!

On Tuesday, Year 12 Modern History students visited the city to hear from Dr Gareth Pritchard, an historian who specialises in Nazi Germany, as part of their studies. They also received membership to the Barr Smith Library and the South Australian State Library, where they undertook research for their Historical Study, which is a independent major essay on a topic of interest. This was a valuable day for preparation with this task and the end of year exam.

Year 3 Hayward & Year 5 Iuliano Buddy Class

Buddy class saw Year 3 Hayward and Year 5 Iuliano work together to create a Paper Bag Pirate. The students look forward to spending valuable time with their buddies and love to share stories about themselves whilst engaging in fun craft activities.