3 June 2021

From the Principal

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

Primary 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

From the APRIM

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

Year 12 Outdoor Education Kayaking Journey

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