Contents
- From the Principal
- From the APRIM
- Primary News
- Transition to Co-education Update: Current students at St Paul’s College
- Year 8 Camp
- Year 7 Baker Inlet Wetland Cleanup
- Year 7 Camp
- Primary Twilight Sports Day
- Year 1 and 2 Police Visit
- Sports Day Results
- NAPLAN
- Changes to Academic Awards
- Uniform Shop - School Holiday Openings
Dear Friends of St Paul’s,
On behalf of the entire staff of the College I would like to wish everyone a very blessed, restful, and happy Easter. This season, which is the most important of all in the Christian calendar, is indeed a time of great hope. The resurrection of Jesus Christ has given us the hope and belief that regardless of the ups and downs of our own lives there is still the great promise of eternal life.
We have all been greatly challenged over the last 12 months or so with the COVID epidemic and I am sure everyone would have had or are still having other challenges of their own. Hopefully, this Easter break will be an opportunity to spend quality time with those we love the most and the opportunity to rekindle some energy and the resilience to keep getting up and keep moving forward.
Yesterday we had the loveliest Easter Liturgy with our middle and senior students. While the liturgy itself was quite inspirational and wonderfully prepared by Ms Collins, the highlights were the amazing singing of Ms D’Angelo and the amazingly respectful involvement of all staff and students. It was one those moments when we feel so humbled to be a part of this amazing community and to be blessed to live in a country like Australia.
Take Care
God Bless
Paul Belton.
Recent News
Easter Blessings to all our families as we head into the most significant Catholic celebration of the year. It is so important to remember the reason for this break and the messages of love, compassion, courage and forgiveness that Jesus taught us and lived out in his times. At our secondary liturgy we considered how Jesus was committed to non-violent revolutionary change and ultimately this led to his crucifixion. We reflected on the role of Caiaphas and Pilate in the death of Jesus and how can we take these messages or learnings into our lives today – after all – ours is a living faith, a faith that calls us to action. Additionally, we took time to be inspired by the courage of St Joseph of Arimathea who risked all to honour Jesus by asking Pilate for his body so he could bury him – after all in these times to go unburied was the greatest curse and insult.
We concluded with the prayer of St Francis – a message so relevant for these current times and needs for those who ascribe to the Catholic faith and seek to live it daily:
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me bring love.
Where there is offence, let me bring pardon.
Where there is discord, let me bring union.
Where there is error, let me bring truth.
Where there is doubt, let me bring faith.
Where there is despair, let me bring hope.
Where there is darkness, let me bring your light.
Where there is sadness, let me bring joy.
O Master, let me not seek as much
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love,
for it is in giving that one receives,
it is in self-forgetting that one finds,
it is in pardoning that one is pardoned,
it is in dying that one is raised to eternal life.
Amen.
Back in 2020 the Year 8 camp was the only camp that occurred for the year, being pre covid by a couple of weeks. This year the 2021 camp at Hindmarsh Island and Goolwa continued to be very popular. We had 114 students attend out of a possible 116 – thus reflecting the groups enthusiasm and commitment to all parts of their education. The camp was made up of three activities that the students rotated through over the three days. Kayaking expedition with overnight camping and cooking experiences, surfing at Goolwa beach and sailing/fishing from the lower Murray near Goolwa. Each activity had its challenges and having spoken to most boys the kayak section was their most difficult. This was a 5km paddle to and from an overnight campsite and the first day was slightly challenging for some with winds around the 12 to 13 knot level – indeed 2 of the three groups that departed aborted their paddle due to safety reasons and ended up being bussed to our overnight location. All planned for as part of our risk assessment. This also provided a topic of conversation for the boys as they shared their various experiences while cooking dinner on trangias. Other groups at the base camp excelled with surfing as many students who initially said they did not want to go into the water ended up catching a few waves simply because it was so much fun! The most successful fishing group bagged three large carp.
We were very fortunate with the weather over the three days and the entire group were extremely well behaved, therefore making it a real pleasure for our staff and Wilderness Escape Outdoor staff who lead the main activities.
We shared our orange and lemon experiences – so I was hoping that the boys shared this with their families after arriving back from camp on Friday afternoon!
Mr Campbell
As a part of the Christian Service Learning (CSL) Program our Year 7 students were involved in a cleanup event of the Barker Inlet Wetland.
Students compiled data on the litter that was collected. In total, they picked up over 940 pieces of litter in approx. 30mins, weighing 25kg! Well done to the students involved on their amazing effort.
Last week the Year 7 cohort attended camp at the Illawonga campsite near Swan Reach on the beautiful River Murray. The weather was perfect as the students enjoyed knee boarding, kayaking gymnastics and archery. One of the highlights was the cave expedition where students and staff had to crawl through small openings in the rocks to discover fossils. On the Tuesday night, they attended a sheep shearing show with a number of students playing key roles in rounding up sheep and attempting whip cracking. Overall, it was a wonderful 3 days and all are to be congratulated for their participation and attitude whilst away.
Two Police Officers visited St Paul’s College to do a safety talk and share information about being a Police Officer with the year 1 and 2 students.
The boys created this shared language story about the day:
We found out there was a surprise visitor. We tried to guess who was coming. When we heard the sirens we knew it was the police! We shouted because we were really excited!!
We all went outside and sat in front of the police. They told us lots of information. They showed us their belts. In their belts they had a gun, a taser, handcuffs, pepper spray, a baton, a walkie talkie and a camera on their chest. We learnt that if we are ever in an emergency, we need to call 000
We all got a turn to sit in the police car. The people who sat in the front seats got to have a turn using the siren and car speaker.
It was very fun and we felt happy and excited.
Almighty Gleeson.
2021 saw sports day back to the fulfilling and energetic event that all our students love.
It all started on the Thursday night with Primary holding a twilight sports day which saw 300 parents being able to return to the community for an amazing night.
The following day was the main event - the secondary sports day. Dally went into the day with a 120-point lead over the other teams but weren’t able to hold on as Gleeson went back to back by a whopping 314 points. Marlow again came runners-up while O’Loughlin can’t break the 14 year hoodoo.
Thank you to everyone for the commitment to this year’s sports day and we look forward to more school community events in 2021.
The final results:
Gleeson - 2046
Marlow - 1732
O'Loughlin - 1635
Dally - 1553
Dear Parents/Caregivers
NAPLAN ONLINE 2021 Tuesday 11 May – 21 May
The National Assessment Program for Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) tests will commence for all Year 3, 5, 7 and 9 students from Tuesday 11 May. NAPLAN testing is now undertaken online (with the exception of the Year 3 writing test). Due to the online format, the testing period has been extended to give schools more flexibility in scheduling each test and concludes on Friday 21 May 2021
Early Term 2 a copy of the test times will become available on SEQTA and placed on student ‘Notices’. There will also be times allocated for catch-up tests for students who are unable to complete all components of the test throughout the testing period due to unforeseen events.
The assessment provides parents and schools with an understanding of how individual students are performing at the time of the tests. NAPLAN is just one aspect of a school’s assessment and reporting process – it does not replace ongoing assessments made by teachers about student performance. NAPLAN also provides schools, education authorities and governments with information about how education programs are working and whether young Australians are achieving important educational outcomes in literacy and numeracy
NAPLAN tests provide information useful to schools in identifying particular student needs and areas for development within the curriculum, and information to parent/caregivers on the educational achievement of their children relative to other students. While it is important that all students take these tests seriously, all teachers will support individual students to ensure students are not overwhelmed by the experience. Results will be made available to parents in due course.
The Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) have a wealth of resources available on their website https://www.nap.edu.au/naplan/school-support and specifically an information brochure for parents and caregivers https://nap.edu.au/docs/default-source/resources/naplan-online-information-brochure-for-parents-and-carers.pdf
If you have further questions or concerns about the testing process please feel free to contact Ms Emily Sayer – Head of Primary at esayer@stpauls.sa.edu.au or Michael White - Head of Teaching and Learning at mwhite@stpauls.sa.edu.au) or contact the College on 8334 8317.
Upcoming Events
Year 7-12 homegroup teacher meetings
Year 7-12 Meet the homegroup teacher meetings 3.30pm - 7pm