St Paul's Catholic Primary School Rapid Creek eNewsletter

Principal's Message

Good afternoon St Paul’s families,

We are all learners and we all have our own path to travel. Some of us do this more directly than others. Each one of our children is very different and each one progresses at a different rate. This week I wanted to share with you the pride our teachers and students are feeling with recent assessments and evaluation of progress for many of our students.

Last week, our Year 3 and 5 students received their 2021 NAPLAN results. Overall, we are thrilled with the achievements of our students. Our data shows that our Year 3 students have performed above the national average across all domains. Our Year 5 students have performed above the national average for Reading, Writing and Spelling, and close to the Australian norm for Numeracy. This data reaffirms that the consistent, structured and explicit approach that St Paul’s has adopted towards Teaching and Learning is having a positive impact on our students.

After completing some recent assessment tasks, one of our teachers shared with me her excitement that a child in her class is ‘at the expected level’ with her reading after beginning the year significantly below the expected standard. This is the result of hard work from the teaching team, the student and the family who have all worked together on reading goals.

Last week, our Year 5/6 Team second guessed the results from a recent reading assessment because the growth they have seen for some of our children has been exceptional, exceeding everyone’s expectations. After diving a little more deeply into the results and triangulating them with other data, they were reassured that the growth is ‘real’ and are delighted with the progress the children have made. This is once again a reflection of hard work, effort and commitment to our goals.

Our Term 4 Think-a-thon always brings a smile to my face. I love the way our children (and their families) think about and work through solutions for the various challenges that are put forward. There is so much great learning through these opportunities- the ‘6 C’s of Education’ (Fullan) are well and truly the focus of these tasks: critical thinking, collaboration, communication, creativity, citizenship, connectivity.

We are committed to meeting each child at their point of need and working in partnership with families to bring success and progress for their children.

With our recent lockout, we hope that all of our families continue to stay safe. We will continue to keep you updated as we are made aware of any changed so please keep your eye on our communication channels – Operoo email, Class Dojo and SZapp.

We pray that everyone stays safe and healthy in these unpredictable times.

Ms Megan Evans

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Upcoming Events

School Term Dates

Please note that on Friday December 17th, our ELC and OSHC Services will be closed.

On this day, our whole staff will gather together. This is a rare occasion but one that is very important for staff wellbeing and has been supported by our school board and Catholic Education Northern Territory. Families will not be invoiced for this day and therefore this will not be counted as 'allowable absence' for CCS purposes.

Our ELC and Vacation Care will be open as per usual hours from December 20 -22. Services will be closed from December 23 - January 10.

We have endeavoured to give families enough notice of this closure so that alternative care arrangements can be made on this day.

Religious Education News

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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.