9 June 2022

10.06.22

From the Principal

Dear Families and Friends of St Paul’s,

Last week I had the absolute pleasure of attending our Year 11 Retreat at Victor Harbor. It was an experience that all the staff that attend and all our students thoroughly enjoy. As a Catholic College in the Edmund Rice Tradition, it is imperative that we continually help students discover their true spiritual selves. We are a very multicultural and very multi-faith community but we all share the common need for a spiritual life!

When we all think about it, our spirit is what drives us to become the best version of ourselves that we can be. It is like team spirit in a sporting or community sense. The spirit we believe so deeply in, is the Holy Spirit, the influence in our lives that connects us to God and gives us the real purpose of living. This purpose is to live, in love, with each other and with our God. We sincerely hope that our students do experience this sense of spirit and this sense of purpose. We thank our APRIM, Mr Joe Hicks and all the staff that made this experience so special.

Staff Potential Development

Our ongoing commitment to being the best we can be as a Catholic College, requires us to provide opportunities for our staff to gather together to undertake activities aimed at helping us provide the best environment for our students. On Friday of this week we had the focus, in the Middle and Senior Years, a Student Wellbeing and in the Primary Years on all things Literacy. We appreciate the support of our families in allowing these activities to take place.

Building Developments

You would all be aware of the recent developments happening at the College in terms of the main courtyard as well as the Senior Learning Centre building. Whilst these are not completely finalised we are continuing to plan for the next major project which will be a new Primary Years Precinct.

A letter outlining these intentions will be forwarded to families. In becoming a co-educational school we have been inundated with interest and enrolment enquiries. The number now exceeds 2,500 since the original amount.

These exciting times mean that we will be able to further develop the College’s facilities, including an infrastructure that enables the delivery of a wide-ranging curriculum offering.

It is really very exciting times for St Paul’s and as our 2002 theme suggests 'Together We Grow'.

God Bless,

Mr Paul Belton
Principal

Dear Families and Friends of St Paul’s,

Staff Potential Development

Building Developments

These exciting times mean that we will be able to further develop the College’s facilities, including an infrastructure that enables the delivery of a wide-ranging curriculum offering.

It is really very exciting times for St Paul’s and as our 2002 theme suggests 'Together We Grow'.

God Bless,

Mr Paul Belton
Principal

Primary News

Dear Families,

The safe use of devices and the internet is such an important issue here at St Paul’s. We hear more and more about children spending time either in their bedrooms or with the family but totally focussed on their devices, be they phones, laptops, iPads or computers. This is not an unusual phenomenon and certainly a hot topic of conversation I have heard many concerned parents speak about it. It is often reported that children’s socialising is reduced to online friends and the world of virtual experiences and with this comes safety issues. Whilst the use of devices has enormous benefits, it is becoming increasingly concerning when I hear children spending all their spare time only focussed on video games.

Online safety information for parents can be found here, where you will find webinars, helpful tips and downloadable resources. This is very important information for when children ask to purchase or give permission to play certain video games. It is also very important to be and stay informed.

Our Year 5/6 students recently attended cross-country. Mr Wood was so proud to see them encourage each other during their races, show a fighting spirit and most importantly have fun! Congratulations also goes to those who were involved, and we can’t wait to hear about Venesa, Mia, Luke and Marcel who finished in the top 6 of their respective races and qualified for the next round and represented St Paul's at Oakbank!

There are still many in our college community and Primary Years coping with coughs, colds, flu and Covid-19. Thank you to those many parents who are keeping their sick children at home. We again encourage everyone in our community to maintain good hygienic practices to prevent the spread of such illness.

There are an increasing number of students are arriving at school before 8:20am, some as early as 8am. This is very unsafe as there are no teachers on duty. Students should not be onsite before 8:20am unless they are attending OSHC. A number of our staff have their own family school drop offs and care arrangements to support each morning. Staff are on duty in the yard from 8:20am. We ask that for proper and safe duty of care for your children that you book them into OSHC which is run externally by Camp Australia or that your children are not dropped off until a teacher is on duty from 8.20am.

The new plans for the Primary Years building will be made available to families. This is such an exciting time for the St Paul's community. The plans reflect a vision for collaboration, inclusivity and being learners of today for tomorrow’s future. We look forward to working together and sharing the excitement of what is to come.

Take care and have a great fortnight.

Marianne Loftus
Head of Primary Years

Year 11 Retreat

Retreats are a part of the distinctive character of Catholic schools. At St Paul’s College, we take these opportunities very seriously, and put dedicated time and effort into these events.

The Yr 11 cohort of 2022 were given the opportunity of their retreat experience last week, and it was a fantastic three days away together at Adare, in Victor Harbour.

As part of the retreat our students were given the opportunity over three days for deep reflection where prayer, liturgy and some quiet times were part of various sessions.

The theme of the retreat was ‘Stepping Up’, an invitation for these young people to embrace leadership within St Paul’s College, both individually and as a cohort.

Various staff led sessions on such things as the benefits of being spiritual, seizing the day and each opportunity, the importance of resilience and persistence, the value of prayer/meditation for overall mental, physical, and spiritual well-being, and Mass with Fr Tom Gleeson.

Students were given opportunities to affirm one another, and staff, and it was very pleasing to see the young people of St Paul’s College rise to the occasion over the three days.

We look forward to them taking these commitments into the rest of Yr 11 and into their final year of schooling in 2023.