TERM 2

WEEK 5

TERM 3

WEEK 2

WEEK 4

WEEK 6

WEEK 8

WEEK 10

A MESSAGE FROM THE acting PRINCIPAL

I love Lutheran schools. Even after working in Lutheran schools for almost forty years, I still get real delight and satisfaction from being part of a Lutheran school community.

For me, stepping into a Lutheran school is a bit like coming home to family. I find that there is so much that is familiar; the welcome and community feel, the Christian ethos and values that are present in everything the school does, the smiles and happiness of children, the dedication and commitment of staff, the vast variety of learning experiences, and the genuine friendliness and support of parents and friends of the school.

Although I have been part of St Paul’s for only a few days, I have already seen and felt these very familiar aspects. I hope these are the things you encounter during your association with St Paul’s Lutheran School.

What’s great about a Lutheran school? Most of all it’s the people; who they are, what they do and how they do it together.

Best wishes for the term ahead.

Peter Weier

Acting Principal

What’s Great About a Lutheran School

HAPPENINGS WITH HOLLIE

Sporting

This term we are fortunate to have two sporting opportunities for our students to participate in during weekly sport lessons. We will be having a hockey coach come in to work with our students over a 5-week period (similar to Basketball last year). On top of this, we will be having some students from SPC come and teach our 3-6 students how to play Rugby. What’s not to like about learning new skills!

Lions Club Public Speaking

Congratulations to Aiden, Faith, Eli and Harriet who competed in the Public Speaking competition on Sunday 23rd July at Henty Public School. They spoke confidently and bravely and represented our school well. It’s not an easy thing to speak in front of a large group of people and they definitely did themselves proud.

So much to look forward to this term!

Welcome to Term 3!

Here’s a snippet of what’s on this term…

Tuesday Morning Chapel Services

This term our theme for our morning Chapel services is all about being curious about God’s word. We are focusing on the parables in Matthew. Last week, I spoke about the Parable of the Hidden Treasure and this week, the 2/3/4 class shared about the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard. Next week we look forward to hearing from Pastor Darryl.

Friday Evening Gathering

After the response from our last Friday evening Chapel service, we feel it’s the right thing to hold one every term. We’re mindful that we have a lot on this term, so are trying to keep events at school spaced out as much as possible. Our next service is Friday 4th August (Week 3).

We hope you can make it. Please send an RSVP to Alison in the office if you intend on coming for catering purposes.

We will have a Sunday combined service at St Paul’s church later in the term, Sunday 10th September. We realise our families are busy with Sunday morning commitments and this may not suit you. There will be more details to follow in coming weeks.

Conferences

This week we are holding Conferences for students, parents and teachers to chat about how your child is doing. They will be sharing with you some work samples they are proud of, talk about their goals and we will also use this as an opportunity to discuss your child’s school report. These provide an opportunity for you, as parents, to hear and see what your child is doing in the classroom and we hope you find the time valuable. They encourage children to have a voice, think for themselves and own their learning journey.

School Production

Production is nearing ever closer: Friday, 25th August. The next 5 weeks will be very busy with rehearsals and inevitably will take up a fair amount of learning time. However, the benefits of students being involved in the Creative Arts – Drama space, are many… Self-confidence, cooperation, concentration, communication skills, listening articulation of words, fluency with language and let’s not forget – fun! We can’t wait!

Blessings,

Hollie

Our school is using the Perspectives: Your school in focus suite of surveys developed by AISNSW to support our school improvement endeavours. The information gathered will assist in furthering the growth and development of our school community. We will use the survey results to help inform and direct future school planning and improvement strategies.

These surveys have been specifically designed to assist schools in gaining an understanding of stakeholders’ perceptions of five important areas: School Environment, Teaching and Learning, Student Wellbeing, Leadership and Community. All staff, students, parents/guardians, leaders and board members will be invited to participate.

The surveys will be available from 7th August to 20th August and are conducted online, taking approximately 15- 20 minutes to complete. The survey link will be distributed via email to all from ‘evidence@aisnsw.edu,au’ on behalf of the school.

Your input and contribution are important to the success of our continuous school improvement process as we aspire to improve the learning experience for everyone at our school.

For any enquiries about the surveys please contact the school for more details.

IMPORTANT DATES

mainly music

Mon 7 Aug

SPH SCHOOL PRODUCTION TOY STORY

Fri 25 Aug

FATHER'S DAY CHAPEL

Tues 29 Aug

YEAR 5 DISCOVERY DAY @ ST PAUL'S COLLEGE

Thurs 14 Sept

RAS ATHLETICS

Tues 1 Aug

STUDENT - PARENT - TEACHER CONFERENCES

Tues 25 - 27 July

BOOK FAIR

Mon 24 July - Fri 4 Aug

FRIDAY NIGHT GATHERING

Fri 4 Aug @ 6:00pm

Year 5 & 6 SPEECH EXAM

Thurs 7 Sept

YEAR K & 1

The K/1 class has been enjoying working on their computers in preparation for our research projects. We have been remembering how to log in, play reading games, type sentences and save a document. What tech savvy students!

The mornings have been very cold and frosty, but we have been enjoying some winter sun, as you can see from the following photos.

Next Monday, we are looking forward to our Kinder 100 day party! Stay tuned for some amazing stories and photos in the next newsletter!

Mrs Christine Biar

YEAR 2, 3 & 4

Blessings,

Hollie, Felicity & Debbie

Requests from students for PBL Projects:

The main topics we will be covering in Maths are:

+ Representing Number

+ Partitioned fractions

+ Combining and Separating/Additive relations

+ Two-dimensional spatial structure – 2D Shapes

We are experimenting with spelling this term across 3-6 based on the new syllabus. K-2 are doing InitiaLit for spelling which is working well. We are trialling a program called Sound Waves in 3-6 that aligns with the new syllabus and focuses on phonemic awareness, synthetic phonics, morphology and etymology.

Production practise is well and truly underway. We encourage you to help your child practise their lines as much as possible. Whilst production rehearsals are happening, students will be delving ‘down a rabbit hole’ to research and plan an inquiry project based on a particular country. We know that rabbit holes go in multiple directions, hence the inquiry and thinking involved needs to do the same. This is similar thinking to PBL and should be a great opportunity for students to challenge themselves by thinking creatively and curiously about a particular topic.

Hopefully, you have received your class newsletter by email on Tuesday. Please have a read to find out the key things that are happening this term in 2/3/4.

Our PBL learning has been exciting, and all students are excited and engaged in the journey. The weather has been great this week, so we enjoyed spending some time in the garden mulching, watering and filling up garden beds to prepare for more planting at some stage in the coming weeks. We hope our garden will one day look like this…

In PBL we are wanting to create a sustainable area in our garden at school reusing old stuff and turning them into pots for planting.

Our group is looking for donations of items that can be used such as old boots, old balls, tubs, an old sink, jars, metal tins, tubs, pots and pans, milk containers, etc.

If you can help, please drop your items to the school office.

Mahliq, Harriet and Bella

In PBL we are looking at sustainable practices that we can include in our garden at school.

Our group has chosen to do composting. To help us get this started, we need items that we can store our supplies, such as large plastic buckets, feed bags, large plastic bins, etc. If you have any of these items, can you please drop them to the school as soon as possible.

We will also be looking for donations to get our compost heap started such as grass clippings, leaves, sheep manure, wool scraps, horse hair, wood chips. If you have any of these items at home, can you please start a collection for us, and we will advise you when we are ready to start taking these items.

Simeon, Neve, Ryan and Adele

YEAR 5 & 6

Welcome to Term 3!

We started off the term with a collaboration challenge in the 5/6 class. The task required plastic cups to be stacked using a rubber band and students’ pulling on strings attached to the band.

Students had to work together to complete the cup stacking first. The task was impossible to complete independently and the message we discussed was that working with others can lead to success!

We also welcome Ethan Rickard this term! We are so glad you have joined our class!

Many blessings,

Miss Katie Ridley

EMPATHY

What a great (albeit busy) term we have had with our students here at St Paul’s. It has been a privilege to watch their social and emotional development this term and I feel we are starting to see some growth around empathy. It can be quite a difficult topic for the younger ones to understand, however the students across all grades have really embraced teamwork and helping one another. Being able to act with love, compassion and kindness builds a sense of happiness and we can see that through the participation in the Clubs (football, gardening, tennis and gymnastics) that the children have been participating in during their break sessions. It is beautiful to see the older students guiding the younger children and giving them advice on some of the challenges they have met.

Research supports the view that empathy contributes to prosocial behaviour and lays the foundation for supportive community minded members. Even though our empathic responses will change over time and evolve with development, we understand that our children will become better at distinguishing their own thoughts and feelings (through our zones of regulation) and how they differ from others, so they can begin to experience genuine empathy; ‘walking in someone else’s shoes’. It is through this experience that people are motivated to make moral choices and acts of kindness.

As we venture into the winter holidays, I have made a short list of activities you may like to try (especially if it is rainy and cold) at home with your families that help build kindness and empathy.

I have also provided some links for additional information if you are interested.

https://biglifejournal.com/blogs/blog/key-strategies-teach-children-empathy

https://www.melbournechildpsychology.com.au/blog/why-we-need-empathy-and-how-we-teach-it-to-children

Sara Durning

Wellbeing Coordinator

Play cooperative board games as a family
Sign up for drama/acting classes
Discuss current events in the news or community
Volunteer work in the holidays
Visit an aged care home
A game of charades with emotions

AWARDS & CHAPEL

Week 2:

TERM 3 CHAPEL

TUESDAY @ 9:15am - Service Concludes with Weekly Awards

Week 2: 25th July Year 2/3/4 - The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard

Week 3: 1st August Pastor Darryl Shoesmith

Week 4: 8th August K/1 Class -The Parable of the Lost Sheep

Week 5: 15th August Hollie Kinning

Week 6: 22nd August Pastor Darryl Shoesmith

Week 7: 29th August Father’s Day Service - Brad Moss

Week 8: 5th September Pastor John Borchert

Week 9: 12th September Sports Captains and Hollie Kinning Service concluded with end of term 'St Paul's Spirit Awards'

SPECIAL SERVICES

4th August @ 6:00pm Friday Night Gathering

St Paul's School Hall

10th September@ 10:30am Family Service

St Paul's Lutheran Church

ATHLETICS CARNIVAL

Despite the passing showers, a great day of competition and sportsmanship was enjoyed by all.

Well done to all students on their efforts throughout the day, and congratulations to Mundawadra on being House Champions for 2023.

Congratulations to our Age Champions

Junior Girls – Harriet

Junior Boys – Simeon

Senior Boys - Aiden

We also had a number of students break records on the day, including:

Michael (7 years boys) – 200m

Annabel (7 years girls) – 200m and 400m

Harriet (8 years girls) – 200m, 800m and long jump

Simeon (9 years boys) – high jump (equalled the record)

Mahliq (9 years boys) – discus

Aiden (12/13 years boys) – discus

A massive thankyou to St Paul’s College for once again providing and preparing us a venue for our carnival, and the amazing students who helped run events throughout the day.

PAUL KELLY CUP

Congratulations!! We are proud of you all!

Paul Kelly Cup Highlights!

‘It was fun to play with my friends and play well together’

Aiden

‘Getting two choccy milks for being best on’

Blake

‘My highlight was that we made it to the grand final’

John

‘It was a good experience to be under the stadium lights with all your mates’

Micah

‘We got to play with our friends and I had fun playing Paul Kelly Cup for the first time this year’

Mitch

‘My highlight is when we were in a group huddle and were supporting each other’

Simeon

‘It felt like we were professional football players when we played at the big stadium under the lights’

TUESDAY CONFERENCES

On Tuesday evening, while people were engaged in serious discussions about education and learning, St Paul's welcomed a spikey friend, passing through the oval.