Dear Families and Friends of St Paul’s,
Back at it!
It is great to be back after a five week period away from the College. During that time, I attended an EREA Principal’s conference in Brisbane, an SA Catholic Principal’s retreat in Darwin, did some school visits for research into co-education and had a bit of a break. All aspects were very beneficial – especially the 30 degree weather in Darwin!!
I would like to sincerely thank Mr Josh Foulis (Acting Principal), Mr Nick Callary (Acting Deputy) Mr John Grave (Acting Head of Student Development) and all staff who picked up extra work in that time. Our amazing support staff in Ros Ranieri and Bonnie Phillips also were of great support to the Leadership team.
While thanking staff I should also thank the hard work done by the Primary Leadership and staff teams for their work in Mrs Sayers absence. Mr Jake Stewart (Acting Head of Primary) Ms Lisa Daws (continued her great work with the Leader of Learning Primary) and Ms Sam Stokes for stepping up into the Primary Leader of Pastoral Care role. They have all been awesome too.
While all the “business as usual” activities have been ongoing, so too has been an awesome amount of work in the background with a huge ICT process that has seen our entire school database transfer to a new system. In today’s IT world this is no mean feat and the work done by our Assistant Business Manager, Mrs Anne Haywood has been nothing short of incredible. Our finance team, led by Neville Atkinson and Anne, our front office and administration staff, Marketing and Enrolment staff, ICT staff and many more have worked diligently to ensure a smooth transfer.
Building Update
In amongst all of this has been the demolition of the old change rooms and amenities block and the ripping up of the main paved area of the senior quadrangle. While the yard looks like the demolition site it is, it has created a great deal of excitement for what is to come. The boys have been wonderful, accepting the challenges that have come with all of this, knowing well how great it will be at the end of the year. There will still be lots of other challenges that may arise, but I am sure that working closely together we will get through it all.
Refugee Week
This week has also been the National Refugee Week, and its theme for this year is unity. The words of Scripture challenge us to find ways to promote harmony and unity among all peoples, especially those seeking to have a safe and productive life in our country, a place where their dignity can be honoured and their great contributions to building up our multicultural Australia can be recognised and celebrated. I believe we do this well in our very multicultural context at St Paul’s.
There is a home for all in the heart of God, and the theme of abiding in God and God abiding in us surely calls us to be outward looking and welcoming to all who seek to find a human home in our country. In a very real sense, our call as Christians, as people of faith, as a Catholic school in the Edmund Rice Tradition, is to be on earth the heart of God – not, at times, an easy task, but as people called and sustained by the love of God, the challenge is to be hospitable and welcoming to our refugee families.
Week 10
As our students finish their term at the end of this week, the staff are preparing for a very solid week’s professional development. We will be doing the following.
- Updating Risk, OHSW training and certifications
- Fostering faith formation of staff, including reflection on our Catholic Identity and charism
- Practising, encouraging, and developing further positive staff wellbeing
- Developing staff knowledge and understanding of effective and evolving educational practices, centred on a contemporary understanding of students, especially girls as we move towards co-education
A big week ahead for us all.
God Bless,
Paul Belton
Principal
Recent News
While always providing an exciting and challenge few days, camp is a significant experience and a huge contrast to the daily lifestyle we are all used to. And last week, the 2021 Year 9 Camp was no different! Despite some really challenging weather conditions (Thursday was the wettest day in five years!) everyone was pushed to engage in activities that were new and often a long way out of their comfort zone. Students had to pack and cook their own meals, sleeping conditions were challenging and the cold and wet made cycling ever eventful. Despite all of this, our students managed extremely well, demonstrating great resilience, camaraderie and joy despite being anxious and unsure at times.
We can't emphasise enough how proud we are of our Year 9 students.
Thomas Jordan,
Leader of Gleeson House
20 - 26 June 2021 is Refugee Week
Refugee Week commenced on the 20 June which was also ‘World Refugee Day’. The theme associated with Refugee Week this year is, ‘Year of Welcome’, which is all about empowering people to make positive changes to society from the grassroots. Refugee Week provides an opportunity to discover and celebrate the contributions which refugees bring to Australia, especially to our community, St Paul’s College. It is also a time when all Australians are encouraged to educate themselves about the issues that affect refugees and listen to the stories. Overall, Refugee Week helps to promote and protect the safety and rights of all refugees.
Within the St Paul’s College Community, our diversity is welcomed and acknowledged by all. The richness of our diversity is celebrated through the many stories told by our students and their families. The more stories told, the more we learn and grow in unity with one another.
Mrs Maria Girolamo-Corbo
Faith and Justice Coordinator
This year, the Year 8 students have been working towards answering the question: 'How can we use engineering and technology to create a town that is sustainable, healthy, safe, and fun to live in?'
On 24 June, they completed their projects and built a display to show staff, Middle, and Primary classes their ideas on how we can make our world a better place.
The First XVIII have imposed themselves on the Wednesday Night Competition beating Norwood Morialta 13.8 86 to 1.8 14.
With this win our team are firmly cemented into the Top four of the Northern Pool. This means we are finals bound and will play off in a knockout tournament next term with hopes of going all the way.
At the start of the year we had one goal - to create and foster a positive, winning culture in St Paul’s Football by playing for the guernsey, our mates and for fun. The boys have well and truly achieved this! Let’s keep our momentum going
Troy Kingham
Middle and Senior Years Teacher
Upcoming Events
Last Day of Term 2 - Reports Released
2022 Reception girls activity morning
See GIRLS TRANSITION DATES page for further details