3 June 2021
Contents
- From the Principal
- Primary News
- From the APRIM
- $390K Sports and Recreation Grant
- Sacrament of Confirmation and Holy Communion
- Year 12 Outdoor Education Kayaking Journey
- Year 3 Rite of Passage - Ubuntu
- Co-Curricular News
- North East District Cross Country Carnival
- Year 11 Semester 1 Examinations – Week 7
- Careers
- Uniform Shop Reminder
- Enrolment Withdrawal Reminder
- Notices
Dear families of St Paul’s College,
Further to my letter of 19 May that provided an update on enrolments, buildings and grounds, uniform and events associated with co-education from 2022, I now provide an exciting announcement as we prepare for growth and co-education next year.
It is St Paul’s pleasure to announce that Mossop Construction and Interior have been appointed as builder for our College’s most significant building and landscape works to date. In addition to Mossop’s earlier appointment as the builder refurbishing our Wilson Building (previously our Resource Centre), Mossop have now also been appointed to build the double-story amenities/changeroom/senior-learning-centre, as well as the complete landscaping of the main courtyard. In congratulating Mossop on this appointment, we look forward to our partnership throughout these important building works for our College.
Mossop will begin work onsite as soon as this weekend (some fencing visible from 4 June), which places some urgency on communicating changes to College-life that are necessary for these significant building programs to occur. This week, students will also be made aware of this following information.
Bathrooms
From this Friday 4 June, there will be no access to the secondary (Years 7-12) bathrooms or changerooms because Mossop will begin demolition of the old amenities block. Instead, students will now access the two temporary amenities blocks that have been placed adjacent the tennis courts to the east.
With our Primary Years bathrooms nearing completion, students in Years 5-8 will access one of the temporary bathroom blocks, while students in Years 9-12 another, to ensure ample access for all. Upon the opening of the new Primary Years bathrooms for Term 3, Year 5 and 6 students will resume using bathrooms in the Primary Years area. Safeguarding and supervision of the temporary bathroom area have been key considerations, while CCTV of the general outside area has been installed as an added safety mechanism. We certainly want students to feel safe when using these facilities.
Any students requiring access bathrooms will make alternate arrangements with Mr Jake Stewart (Primary R-6) or their Leader of House (Secondary Years 7-12).
Access to Main Courtyard
Next week, as early as Tuesday 8 June, Mossop will also begin landscape work to revamp and rejuvenate the College’s main courtyard. This central location creates a notable and necessary disruption to student movement around the College; most of the main courtyard will be fenced-off and students will be required to walk around the main courtyard when accessing lockers or classrooms near the Murray, Trembath and Science buildings. While obvious, there will also be some noise disruptions at times.
Movement around the courtyard and noise interruptions will be managed by the College to ensure that learning is maintained. Similarly, student responsibility will be a heightened focus to ensure all members of our community can move throughout the College efficiently and appropriately.
Safety and Welfare
Our College remains conscious of student/staff safety and welfare, especially as construction occurs throughout our College. There are obvious risks that arise when construction occurs near learning and play spaces. In partnership with Mossop who have an onsite safety officer and who have completed an array of school projects, St Paul’s recognises these risks and commits to maintaining the safety and welfare of students through education, clear information and appropriate supervision.
While this information is preliminary, our College will keep families and students updated on changes to College-life throughout this construction period over the next six months. Thank you in advance for your patience and understanding that the short-term challenges will ensure our College moves into and beyond 2022 with outstanding facilities.
Should you have any questions about aspects of this letter, or any aspect related to our preparations for co-education, please do not hesitate to contact the College.
As per the campaign to announce co-education, Together We Grow.
Yours sincerely,
Josh Foulis
Acting Principal
Recent News
Dear Families,
As we have hit the halfway mark of the term, we recognise all the success of our staff, students, and community thus far. We still have a few weeks to go in this term and I am very much looking forward to what is instore for us for the last part of the term.
Primary Bathroom Facilities
With our Primary Years bathrooms nearing completion, students in Years 5-8 will access one of the temporary bathroom blocks opposite the primary tennis courts. Our Reception – Year 4 students will continue to use the bathrooms opposite the primary quad for the remainder of the term.
Upon the opening of the new Primary Years bathrooms for Term 3, Year 5 and 6 students will resume using bathrooms in the Primary Years area.
Mid-Year Receptions
In the coming weeks we welcome the new mid-year Reception students. They will begin their transition to school at the end of the term in preparation for Term 3. The purpose of the transition days is to provide students with the opportunity to transition into their future year level with a focus on teaching and learning, relationship building and establishing a positive school culture.
Building Projects
Our college wide building projects are commencing in the coming weeks, and we are very excited to see the initial stages of this starting next week. Whilst the majority of these building project won’t necessarily impact on the teaching and learning in our primary classrooms, we may need to alter play spaces for our Year 4 – 6 students as the Main Quad will shortly be out of action. Students will be informed next week about play spaces and where they are permitted to play before school and at break times.
Reconciliation Week 2021
The theme for 2021, More than a word. Reconciliation takes action, urges the reconciliation movement towards braver and more impactful action.
Over the last two weeks primary classes have been celebrating Reconciliation Week in our pastoral care lessons. Reconciliation Week is a journey for all Australians – as individuals, families, communities, organisations and importantly as a nation. At the heart of this journey are relationships between the broader Australian community and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Kind regards,
Jake Stewart
Acting Head of Primary
It has been a big 2 weeks in the religious identity arena, especially in our Senior Years. Our Year 11s participated in their residential retreat at Victor Harbor. For this we focus on Psalm 46 and the idea of 'Be Still and Know'. It is a challenging concept for teenagers to sit in silent reflection, especially when surrounded by peers, but this year our Year 11s were exemplary. There were many poignant moments over the three days but one in particular stands out. In our final liturgy the boys were given the opportunity to think of the positive traits of masculinity that they had seen amongst each other as we thought in a sea of media about toxic masculinity and the push for gender equity we needed to identify and celebrate the positive aspects we see everyday. They were offered the chance to write these on a box (our positive masculinity box). I had one song cued up to play during this voluntary act. We needed about another 4 so that each student who wanted to could write on the box. Whilst this was occurring the entire cohort did not grumble, mess around, rather they sang the songs in a great show of community spirit so that every voice that wanted to be on that box could be included. Whilst I am a firm advocate for the need to challenge violence and sexism I strongly believe that we need to affirm the positive traits in men, especially young men, that we see everyday. This was certainly one of those moments.
Additionally, we had our Year 12 Reflection Day. We were blessed with simply amazing weather and a wonderful lunch and hopefully some thoughtful conversation along the way. Much thanks to the accompanying teachers for both these events as it is in their generosity of spirit that we continue to offer such activities, which are a special part of who we are and by no means a standard thing that all schools do. I hope our year 12s appreciated that it is because of who we are as a community and what we stand for that we do these things.
Ms Angela Collins
Assistant Principal Religious Identity and Mission
The College is pleased to announce that we have been successful in obtaining a grant for $390K from the Department of Recreation, Sport and Racing to assist in the construction of unisex changerooms including amenities, storage, umpire’s and first aid room. The guidelines require the College to contribute an equal amount towards this project.
These facilities form part of the new and exciting $6.7m Sports and Learning Centre that will commence very shortly.
The College grounds and changerooms are used by a number of community sporting organisations including St Paul’s Old Scholars Football Club, St Paul’s Old Scholars Soccer Club and Hope Valley Cricket Club. It is through the use of our facilities by these community groups that the State Government is wanting to increase the participation in sport and recreation. In particular, the fact that we are moving to Co-education in 2022 and the importance of catering for more females in sport no doubt had a positive impact on the merits of our application.
We acknowledge the State Government for their continued support of grass roots sport and thank them sincerely for this grant.
On Thursday, 27 May, 15 young students took their Sacrament of Confirmation and Holy Communion. After weeks of preparations and learning the significance of the Sacraments, the students were ready. The Ceremony was held at the St Pius X Church, Dernancourt and Fr Mathew gave a beautiful service in the presence of family and friends.
Through the Sacrament of Confirmation, Fr Mathew confirms the sacramental journey of faith which begun at baptism and initiates the child into the church community. Through the celebration of the Holy Communion, the child continues the initiation process in becoming part of the Body and Christ, further enhancing participation in the Church community.
Special thankyou to Lisa Daws, Sam Stokes and Joshua Foulis for assisting Fr Mathew’s on the night.
Please join with me to congratulate the following students:
Louis Bastiaans, Samuel Daka, Marco De Jesus, Vincenzo Dimasi, Cobey and Kellen Drum Luca Francesca, Sebastian Garstka, Zander Girdler, Kiyan Hettiachchi, Domenic Leonello, Sebastian Ocas, Duy Tran, Joshua Tremble and Domenic Vottari.
Mrs Maria Girolamo-Corbo
Faith and Justice Co-ordinator
On May 18-20, the Year 12 Outdoor Education class undertook their first expedition with a kayaking journey starting at Swan Reach and paddling downstream to finish at Walker Flat.
The main goal of this journey was to focus on creating, developing, and nurturing positive group dynamics in an outdoor setting, whilst still practising our outdoor camping skills in preparation for our final bushwalking journey taking place early in Term 3.
On the first day the students learnt how to effectively pack and stow their food, sleeping equipment, clothes and all accompanying camping gear into their kayak to enable them to be self-sufficient for three days and two nights. Students then made their way to Punyelroo caves where their resilience was tested and their comfort zones were stretched. Students went for a guided explore through the caves, at one point turning all head torches off to experience what it’s like to be in complete darkness.
The group then made their way down through Big Bend, Nildottie and Wongulla with relative ease, setting an astounding average paddling pace of 5km/h, ignoring the expected times of arrival each time and smashing the journey. This enabled the students to enjoy some quality time with each other cooking wholesome dinners and having a solid fish at each campsite. Special shoutout to Jay C who caught his first ever fish, this was made even better by it being a legal Callop! Who on earth can say that their first Murray River fish caught was a legal Callop?!
Overall an outstanding effort and sensational time spent away!
Troy Kingham
Middle and Senior Years Teacher
On 20 May, our Year 3 students celebrated their rite of passage, Ubuntu 'I am because we are'. Students learned about the values they can uphold to make our community a nicer and more supportive one. They were spoken to by Fr Michael Musyoka Kyumu, leader of the African mass at the Cathedral, and received bracelets with words relating to the philosophy of Ubuntu, which will serve as reminders to be the most caring and respectful people they can be.
On 24 May, 12 students from years 5, 6, and 7 competed for St Paul's in the North East District Cross Country Carnival. Seven of them finished in the top of their respective age groups, which means they are in contention to represent the zone at the state cross country championships.
Some stand out performances were:
- Aidan 1st place in the U12 Category
- Marcel 3rd in the U11 Category
- Blake 4th in the U10 Category
- Luke 5th in the U11 Category
Well done to all the students who represented the school!
Nick Gillard,
Sport and Co-Curricular Development Coordinator
Semester 1 examinations for Year 11 students will begin on (Monday 7 June).
The purpose of these examinations is for students to become familiar with SACE examination protocols, to learn to prepare and revise for such examinations, and to finalise subject arrangements for Semester Two.
All Year 11 students are expected to attend all regular classes during examination week, as examinations have been timetabled to align with timetabled classes.
If students are absent from examinations, parents must telephone the school before the examination begins. If a student is absent from an examination for reason of illness, they must present a certificate of sickness or a parent note to the appropriate Subject Teacher.
Correct winter uniform must be worn to all examinations.
Students are expected to adhere to the following examination protocols:
- Students must enter the examination room in a quiet and settled manner.
- It is the student’s responsibility to bring the correct equipment required for the examination. Pens, pencils, rulers and other relevant stationery will not be provided.
- Students are not permitted to borrow equipment from other students during an examination.
- Students are not permitted to communicate with other students, either verbally or non-verbally, during examinations, upon entry to the examination room, and until after all examination papers have been collected.
- Students must not in any way distract other students during the examination.
- No student will be permitted to pass up an examination or leave the examination room until the end of the exam.
All students enrolled in examinable subjects are expected to undertake the exam at the scheduled time.
If you have any questions regarding the examination process, please do not hesitate to contact the Head of Teaching and Learning or the appropriate Subject Teacher.
Yours sincerely,
Mr Michael White
Head of Teaching and Learning
The Young Professionals Podcast
Luke Marriott, a corporate lawyer, and Nicholas Sargeant, are the creators of and co-host of the Young Professionals Podcast. The podcast was created so secondary school students, their parents, tertiary students and those considering a career change can learn from young professionals who have recently navigated the transition from education to the world of work.
Click HERE to listen!
Reminder that the Uniform Shop will closed for 5 weeks so that Midford can do a major refit. The refit of the shop will allow customers to enjoy a better retail experience and to display stock more effectively.
The final day of trading will be on Wednesday 9 June, with the shop reopening on Tuesday 20 July. (Term 3).
We apologise for the inconvenience but look forward to a new and exciting relationship with Midford.
The Uniform Shop will continue to operate on site from its current location with expanded hours as follows commencing Term 3:
- Tuesday 8.00am – 4.00pm
- Wednesday 1.00pm – 5.00pm
- Thursday 1.00pm – 5.00pm
As outlined in our Fee Schedule and Policy 2021, where you intend to withdraw your child from St Paul’s, one full term’s notice will be required. This must be in writing, addressed to the Principal. Failure to provide this advance notice will incur a term’s tuition fee.
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