St Paul's Catholic Primary School Rapid Creek eNewsletter

Principal's Message

Friday 22nd October 2021

Good afternoon St Paul's families,

What a busy and wonderful start to Term 4 we have had. We have once again welcomed new families to our school and ELC, and once again, I have had wonderful feedback of the welcoming and supportive community we have here at St Paul's. Thank you to everyone for the little things you do to make our school a welcoming and inclusive place.

This morning I had the pleasure of taking our 2021 Student Leaders to the St John's Founders Day Mass. Fr John reminded us of the history St John's and St Paul's share in their founders, the MSC Preists and Brothers and the OLSH sisters. Our students heard about the dream of Fr Jules Chevalier, 'May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be everywhere loved' and we were reminded to do little things for each other with love and dignity. I was so proud of the way our leaders conducted themselves - with reverence and maturity. Congratulations for representing our school with pride.

With such a busy end of term last term and an inability to publish the final newsletter of the term, I have some delayed gratitude to express. Thank you to everyone for your flexibility with the change in arrangements to our concert due to the mid-term lockdown which then also impacted our end of term three-way interviews. The concert was a great success and thank you to Mr Derrick and the students for their hard work pulling the show together. Thank you also to Mr Josh for his audio visual expertise - the addition of the video footage really helped to bring Dua and Hawk's story to life. The messages of understanding, forgiveness and resilience were evident throughout the story and alongside the fun of the evening, the story was a great reminder for us in how we treat and care for others.

I would also like to thank all who were involved in our Term 3 Parent Evening, Care for our Common Home. Whist the attendance was lower than expected, it was a true honour for those of us who were able to attend. We were energised with stories and wisdom from members of our local community who are doing great things for our environment. Thank you to parents, Mark De Souza and Lisa Roberts for their presentations. We also thank Sr Catherine Mead rsj from Catholic Education Northern Territory for giving us a greater understanding of Laudato Si, and Dr Linda Ford from CDU for sharing her story with us. Thank you also to Phil Makundi for his support in connecting with Dr Linda Ford.

Thank you to all of our families for your support with our annual Caritas Ks bike-ride event. This year, we raised over $1300 for Caritas and had great support from our children, families and staff. This was an opportunity to once again remind our students of the hardships that others face, particularly for some of the things we take for granted, like turning on the tap and getting a glass of water or flicking a switch and having electricity for lights, fans and air conditioners. Thank you to Mrs Cois for her the organisation of such an event.

On Tuesday, November 2nd (8:30 -9:30am) an invitation is extended to St Paul's parents to attend a Zoom Parent Webinar hosted by MindUp (https://mindup.org). This is the wellbeing approach we are currently using at St Paul's. For parents who attended our Wellbeing Parent Forum in April, this may be something to follow up with. For parents who haven't heard of Mind Up this will be a great opportunity for you to find out more information about how to best support the wellbeing of your child(ren). A link for the webinar and a password will be posted on our SZapp the day before the webinar but you may want to flag this in your diary now.

We have a St Paul's school board meeting this coming Wednesday, October 27th. We have a number of our school board members leaving us at the end of the year and so we will be calling for new members at the beginning of 2022. If this is something that may interest you, please give this some thought.

On Wednesday, November 24, we will be having an end of year dinner for parents who have been members of our St Paul's School Board and our Parents and Friends. We will confirm numbers for this at our Parent and Friends meeting on Tuesday, November 2nd.

Fr John has asked me to extend this invitatin to our families. St Paul's Parish will be hosting a series of conversations on Tuesday evenings (three over the next month) to get some feedback from the community and the invitation is extended to our school families.

7:00 -8:00pm October 26 Ministry and Outreach in the Community

7:00 -8:00pm November 9th Liturgy and Prayer

7:00 - 8:00pm November 23 Formation and Education including Parish Leadership

Please keep an eye on the calendar as we have a busy term coming up and we would not want families to miss any opportunities.

May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be everywhere loved.

Ms Megan Evans

We are so proud of the students hard work and commitment to their sports!

Ayin, Harry, Jake & Oliver with their medal haul from competing in the Northern Territory Athletics Championships last term.

Last term these super star swimmers represented St Paul’s at a Darwin Inter-school Swimming Carnival.

Austin represented the NT in Queensland in the U12 NT Touch team and the NT Warriors Indigenous Rugby Team.

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Upcoming Events

School Term Dates

Religious Education News

Dear St Paul's families,

Staff and students have all settled in well to tackle the busyness of term 4, after a restful break.

“Taking the Good with the Bad”.

Our MJR topic is providing us with strategies to help us to ‘Take the Good with the Bad’. This also helps students to further develop resilience (the ability to bounce back quickly after a disappointment), independence, emotional growth and a positive attitude to life. This refers to incidents and experiences that are not serious, but occur in our everyday lives. At times, it is good to think, ‘I’ll build a bridge and get over it’. Students are reminded to share daily, with their families, at least one good news story that happened at school.

During Monday assembly, Maddie (yr 6) shared her personal experience of when she took the good with the bad during a game of basketball. Well done, Maddie, this is a wonderful life-skill.

October is traditionally known as World Mission Month. It is a time when Catholics all over the world join together, in a variety of ways, to support and celebrate global missionary work. Mission is to carry out and continue the work of Jesus Christ on Earth. Our goal for Mission Month is to raise an awareness of the plight of others, and to offer daily prayers for those in need. Next Friday, 29^th October, Room 13 will be leading Mission Month Mass at 8:30am. All are welcome to attend.

Pope Francis’ Mission Prayer

Heavenly Father,

when your only begotten Son Jesus Christ rose from the dead,

he commissioned his followers to “go and make disciples of all nations”

and you remind us that through our Baptism we are made sharers in the mission of the Church.

Empower us by the gifts of the Holy Spirit to be courageous and zealous in bearing witness to the Gospel, so that the mission entrusted to the Church, which is still very far from completion, may find new and efficacious expressions that bring life and light to the world.

Help us make it possible for all peoples to experience the saving love and mercy of Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

One God, forever and ever. Amen

Weekly Awards

General Information/News

OFFICE HOURS: The school office is open 7:50am to 3:30pm Monday to Friday during term time.

LOST PROPERTY: Please check the names on your children's hats and other property as we have discovered that children are accidentally taking other children's belongings home.

SCHOOL UNIFORMS: A huge thank you for your patience to all families who are still waiting on their formal shirt and culottes orders. We will have a good supply of uniforms once they arrive so can swap your order for larger sizes if required. Unless you are waiting on the larger sizes of shorts, sports polos and green polos, you should have these now. If not, please check at reception. If you have a child in year 6 awaiting an order, please email admin.stpauls@nt.catholic.edu.au to request a refund or have your refund go towards school fees or school camp fees. We currently have a good supply of sports polos, hats, shorts and green polos available for purchase.

SCHOOL FEES: When paying fees please ensure you include a reference for what the payment is for, either 'School Fees', 'OSHC Fees' or 'ELC fees' in the name.

SIBLING DISCOUNT: If you have more than 1 child studying at a Catholic School in the NT, you will be eligible for a sibling discount. Please contact finance.stpauls@nt.catholic.edu.au to inform our finance team of which schools your other children attend.

PARENT CONTACT DETAILS: Please advise the office of any changes to your contact details. This includes phone numbers, address details and emails. It is vitally important that we have the correct contact number in view of any emergency. Thank you for your assistance in this area.

SCHOOL START TIMES: Please do not drop your children at school before 7:45am (when the school gate open) as they are unsupervised until this time. We request that families drop their children off at school as close to 8am as possible. Should you arrive prior to this time please wait with your child until the school gates open.

PICKING UP CHILDREN at the end of the school day: School finishes at 2.45pm and children must be picked up from steps within the school ground or at the express carpark lane which is supervised by a teacher. Any students not picked up by 3.00pm will be sent to our Outside of School Hours Care (OSHC) located on the school grounds and families will be charged. Our OSHC operates from 2.45pm to 5.30pm every day. We ask that all parents/carers who will be picking up their child from school please wait in the area outside the office and staffroom.

CARPARK PICK-UP: In an effort to move the traffic along more quickly and freely we ask that parents safely follow the appropriate procedures. Should you need to get out and buckle your child in—we ask that you use the car spaces available to do so and not the pick up area.

LUNCHES: Lunch boxes are taken to the coolroom each morning between 8.15 and 8.30am. It is important to be at school on time for the smooth running of this program and it is important that all recess and lunch boxes are labelled with your child’s name and Room No.

CANTEEN NEWS:

The Canteen will provide recess and lunch through quickcliq.com.au (account set up required). It seems that some children are choosing not to eat food brought from home and are instead requesting snacks and food from the canteen. Please note that families will be invoiced for this so please ensure your child is aware of what food is packed for them each day and that all food is labelled clearly (including packets of snack foods as it is confusing when children have the same snacks).

Quickcliq

OSHC NEWS:

Public Holidays: As per prescribed policies and procedures, if a child’s booked day falls on a Public Holiday (when the centre is closed), families will still be charged as per normal for this day. This allows businesses to pay staff whom are scheduled to work on public holidays as is required by Fair Work.

Absences: OSHC absences require written notice to admin.stpauls@nt.catholic.edu.au by at least 8:30am on the day of absence, if this written notification is not received by 8:30am the daily fee will still be charged. This also aligns with the procedures of other schools and services in the area. If a child goes home sick from school during the day, families will still be charged their regular daily fee for that child. This is to accommodate the pressures associated with staffing, resource and catering arrangements. The government entitles each child to 42 allowable absences per year (inclusive of public holidays) before it affects the Child Care Subsidy (CCS). These days can be used as holidays, sick days or just days off.Please also note that written notification is also required at least 2 weeks in advance of the last day of care prior to a planned absence of 3 days or more. We ask this as it is required to assist with staffing, resource and catering arrangements. When no notice has been given, parents will be charged. For this reason we would also like to remind families that as per our policy, payment of all accounts should be maintained two weeks in advance.

Late Fee: Please be reminded that a late fee of $2.50/min for each minute that a child is picked up after 5:30pm.

Fee Payment Reference: When paying fees please ensure you include a reference for what the payment is for, e.g. 'OSHC Fees' so we can promptly assign your payment to your OSHC account.Please do not hesitate to contact us should you have any questions or concerns.

Rm 4 Transition - Miss Jo & Sr Hilde - SPORT DAY: Tuesday LIBRARY DAY: Friday

Rm 1 Yr 1-2 - Miss Mona - SPORT DAY: Tuesday LIBRARY DAY: Thursday

Rm 2 Yr 1-2 - Mr C - SPORT DAY: Wednesday LIBRARY DAY: Friday

Rm 8 Yr 3-4 - Miss Mandy & Sr Hilde - SPORT DAY: Wednesday LIBRARY DAY: Monday

Rm 9 Yr 3-4 - Miss Alex - SPORT DAY: Tuesday LIBRARY DAY: Thursday

Rm 12 Yr 5-6 - Mrs Del & Miss Margy - SPORT DAY: Tuesday LIBRARY DAY: Tuesday

Rm 13 Yr 5-6 - Miss Lauren & Miss Jess - SPORT DAY: Wednesday LIBRARY DAY: Wednesday

Rm 14 Yr 5-6 - Mrs Pond - SPORT DAY: Wednesday LIBRARY DAY: TBA

INSTRUMENTAL LESSONS: Instrumental lessons will take place again this year with Andrew Arthur, Violin lessons with Kirsty McCullum and Woodwind lessons with Eliza Tobin. Instrumental lessons will take place each Friday and Violin lessons each Wednesday during school hours. Contact details for Andrew are – dapa@live.com.au 0428153355 and Kirsty McCullum- kirstymac@bigpond.com and Eliza Tobin for Woodwind lessons - elizatobin@hotmail.com.

BOOK CLUB ORDERS: Book Club orders are sent out from Scholastic through the school twice per term. We use the “LOOP” system which means online ordering only. For more information on how to do this please see the link below www.scholastic.com.au/LOOP

Please remember to use your child’s classroom number when ordering.

SCHOOL DENTIST: St Paul’s does not have on onsite dental clinic, however you can use the Dental Clinic at Nightcliff Primary school. Parents are asked to contact the clinic on 89226466 to arrange an appointment. Parents are to accompany their child to the appointment. There is no charge for this service and it is highly recommended that children’s teeth should be regularly checked. This also includes pre-school children.