4 August 2022

Dear Friends of St Paul’s,

Term 3 has begun with its normal hectic schedule and challenges! The world around us continues to stretch all aspects of our lives, our resilience, our patience, and our strength as we push on through the COVID pandemic. As usual however our St Paul’s community continues to work so well together to ensure the continuity of learning and our holistic approach to life continues.

Having said that, in this newsletter you will see many reports of the various amazing activities that our students experience. Also, through Mr Foulis’ article, you will read some of our on-going efforts to work with families in the education of their children in the hugely important areas like cyber-safety.

As always please contact us if you have any concerns about any aspect of our life together.  Hopefully the learning conversations that were held this week will continue to build on our commitment to positive relationships.

Take care, God Bless

Paul Belton

Dear Families,

Welcome back to Term 3 in the Primary Years!  We hope that everyone has had a relaxing break and is back refreshed and ready for a new term. We acknowledge that there have been, and still are, several students and their family members recovering from the flu or COVID and we wish everyone a speedy recovery and look forward to welcoming you back to school soon. As always it will be another incredibly busy and exciting term with a myriad of happenings taking place across the college.

We are thrilled to welcome two staff to our St Paul’s family; Mrs Ashley Bell who is our Mid-Year Reception teacher and Mrs Elise Theodoulou, back from maternity leave, who will be teaching in our 1/2 Village.  We also extend a warm welcome to our new Reception students and their families and the new students in other year levels.  They have all had a positive start and we thank and acknowledge the amazing effort of their peers and teachers in welcoming them and ensuring that they are feeling comfortable in their new surroundings.

We would like to take this opportunity to extend our congratulations to Mrs Keera Masters and her husband Sam, who have just announced that they are expecting their first child early in 2023.  The children in Year 3 are all extremely excited and we look forward to walking with Keera and Sam on their baby journey and wish them every joy and blessing at this time! 

Here at St Paul’s, we celebrate all types of learning that occur at every year level across our college and through working in respectful partnership with families, we have a shared responsibility in helping to shape the lives of and create a positive future for today’s learners. 

On Wednesday this week, the Year 3 students went on a retreat to the Living Kaurna Cultural Centre. The students participated in a welcome to country smoking ceremony, a cultural walk around the land, and they designed their own boomerang using Aboriginal storytelling.  What a wonderful learning opportunity they experienced.

On Thursday this week, some of our students were involved in the Primary North East Athletics Day. Being our first year with girls representing the College, it turned out to be a spectacular day, as we had competitors in just about all events!  Mr Chad Wood led the students and was incredibly proud, as all students represented the school extremely well, demonstrating teamwork, resilience, respect and excellence in a range of track and field events.  Congratulations to all involved!

Two of our Primary Years students, Maya S and Giordana C, were featured in the Advertiser this week for dancing.  The article spoke about the professionalism of the teachers and students at the dance school and their technical focus and drive. It is so lovely to see many of our students following their passion and thriving!

On Monday and Tuesday this week I had the privilege of attending an Edmund Rice Education Australia (EREA) conference in Melbourne, with our Deputy Principal Mr Joshua Foulis, entitled "Every Child Counts – The Social Dilemma".  We were challenged to be champions for young people in creating a safe offline culture of dignity, positive relationships and strong student voice, and to delve deep into the challenges of respectful online social media and internet use.

In previous Newsletters, I have written about the importance of developing positive relationships between parents and teachers and shared a link to an article written by Dr Michael Grose.   I have also referenced the safe use of devices and the internet by giving a link to the eSafety Commissioner website for parents.

This week I want to share a link to ySafe which is an Online Safety Hub for parents and school staff. At the conference, we were asked to “foster trust in our interactions with and education of children, young people, and their families and to expand our knowledge so that all those under our care are continued to be kept safe.”

The major message from the conference is that we are social beings, and relationships are central to our lives and have major impacts on our capacities for wellbeing and thriving. When we experience respect from others, we feel valued. 

Whether you are a parent of a Reception or Year 6 child, knowing what the future may hold for our children is important and we need to understand what is developmentally appropriate for our children.  I encourage you to look at the links again, particularly the link from ySafe, as it helps us to understand what we need to know about what the children are possibly accessing. 

As a parent of two beautiful, adult girls, I know how fast time flies! Having knowledge in this growing technological age is to have understanding. So, let’s continue to work together in partnership for the benefit of the young people in our care, your children.

Until next fortnight.

Together We Grow!

Marianne Loftus

Head of Primary Years

Every Child Counts: The Social Dilemma

Knowing that St Paul’s College is a proud member of Edmund Rice Education Australia (EREA), I was fortunate to join Mrs Marianne Loftus (Head of Primary Years) in Melbourne earlier this week for the ‘2022 EREA Safeguarding Conference’. Over two days, more than one-hundred colleagues from other EREA learning sites and Colleges worked with experts and professionals combating social media and its impact on our young people. Reflecting this, the conference theme was ‘Every Child Counts: The Social Dilemma’, where we were challenged to understand more about social media to help keep young people safe.

Social Media Resource – Helping parents with an enormous task!

Arguably the highlight of the conference was Tasmin London, Executive Director of ySafe. Yasmin and ySafe were especially impressive in their diverse approach to the complex issue of online safety.

Their website is an ‘Online Safety Hub’ and unlike so many other websites that address online safety, it provides clear and concise information:

“Children today are growing up in an increasingly online world and it's essential that we are doing all that we can to support and guide their digital journey. The Online Safety Hub supports the school community by providing practical insights and advice directly from internationally-renowned Online Safety & Digital Wellness Experts.” – ySafe Website.

The website can be accessed HERE and I urge all member of our community to explore this amazing resource, particularly:

• The guides and practical suggestions for any parent wanting to help their child be safe online: Click here for ySafe parents' guide
• The review of online applications/programs, which clearly explains many popular programs that young people use and their risks, alongside helpful information about who and why they are used:  Click here for ySafe app-reviews

Knowing that families and schools can’t assist young people with online safety unless we know about what and how they are engaging online, here is one example of the ‘known risks’ for an applications/programs available on the ySafe website – this example is for TikTok.

As we work hard to support our young people, let’s also use the valuable resources available to us. I urge you to visit the ySafe Website and discuss it with your family/child. Above all, let’s keep working together for the safety of our young people, including online safety.

Josh Foulis
Deputy Principal

Congratulations to our Semester 1 Academic Award recipients:

St Paul’s College celebrated NAIDOC week in the last week of term 2. The students participated in several activities in classes that helped widen their knowledge about the culture, and then the week concluded by hosting Aboriginal artists who conducted several sessions around the school.

The weaving workshop was run by Sonya and Sarah Smith

The Dance workshop was run by Caleena Sansbury and Kirsty Williams 

The Dance workshop was run by Caleena Sansbury and Kirsty Williams 

The students showed a very high level of engagement in all the activities.

Year 9 Students are invited to attend the Student & Parent Workshop and Careers Expo Click for more information

Year 7 and 8 Students are invited to attend our Careers and Subject Expo, click for more information

Congratulations to our girls soccer team who had their first win of the season! They played so well, with heart and pride and with one girl down! St Paul's college 3 Loreto 0. They have come a long way the past few months and we are so proud of their achievements.

Congratulations to the Year 9 Debating team on winning their debate last night against Glenunga International by 2 points, as the negative team on the topic: "That the use of facial recognition technology in a retail setting is going too far".
Jean H (pictured centre) was awarded debater of the round.
 

Game 7 vs St Peters - 30 July 2022

7 WINS IN A ROW – A BIG GUTSY EFFORT FROM OUR 15 PLAYERS.

At the beginning of the week we had 24 players, due to illness, injury, unavailability we started the game with 15 players.

Nonetheless, we started well, Blake J got us forward, Dante B scored our first goal immediately. The boys, through Tarkyn G, Max S, Kaedon B, Trent R and Jackson R maintained our forward entry consistency enabling us tio pepper the goals, inaccuracy saw us add 4 points before the opposition went forward. Our backline players, Toby O, Seb G, Kayron TW, Jackson R, Kaedon B, Max S and Tarkyn G kept them scoreless. Late in the first term Jack N added another major and we went to the break 16 points up.

All the parents, friends of St Paul's and the coaches were extremely proud of the efforts displayed by the boys, their courage, playing through injuries, against taller and greater opposition numbers made it a most memorable win and... they really belted out their victory song with great enthusiasm.

FINAL SCORES St Paul's : 8 – 7   St Ignatius  : 6 - 9

Best Players (players votes) : Trent R, Blake J, Jackson R, Kaedon B, Max S, Toby O, Tarkyn G, Jack N 
BUT A GREAT EFFORT FROM ALL!

We will be running our Father's Day Stall again this year on Thursday 1st September.  There will be lots of gifts available to be purchased for the wonderful men in our students lives.  Prices start at $1 and range up to $10.

Do you have a younger child you are wishing to send to St Paul's College in 2024 or beyond?

 A reminder that a completed enrolment application form is required for each younger sibling a minimum of 18 months prior to commencment. Failure to to so may result in your child being waitlisted. 
You can access an enrolment application form on the College website at: stpauls.sa.edu.au/enrol or please don't hesitate to contact Tania Stone, Enrolments Officer with any questions: enrolments@stpauls.sa.edu.au
 

Click for more information on the latest Scholastic Book Club Offers

Thank you to our College Community for supporting the Winter Appeal.  Please click to read the thank you letter received from St Vincent de Paul Society outlining the charities that our generosity has helped supoort.

Click to view information