St Paul's Catholic Primary School Newsletter 2022 Term 1, Week 10
Principal's Message
Good afternoon St Paul’s families,
I write as we come to the end of a very interesting term. Whilst we have been able to continue with many of our ‘usual’ events, we were off to a very cautious start for the term. We have been challenged by student and staff absences and there have been many times when we just wished COVID to ‘be gone’ so we can go back to how things used to be. We feel blessed that although COVID has touched the lives of many in our community, we have all remained relatively well without too many complications. We pray that it stays this way as we navigate our way through the next wave -whatever that looks like.
On Friday, our teachers and some of our Inclusion Support Staff gathered for professional development of the Keeping Safe: Child Protection Curriculum. It is a curriculum initially developed by child protection experts in South Australia between 2003 -2007 which has since been reviewed, revised, updated and now adopted at a national and international level.
The curriculum is designed to keep our children safe and help children develop strategies to recognise unsafe behaviour in both the physical and online worlds. It helps them develop skills to decide who they feel they can trust so they can develop a trusted network and who to tell when they or someone they know is not safe and how to keep telling until until someone listens to them and action is taken. The curriculum is developmental and age appropriate. Much of the curriculum overlaps with what we are already teaching in our teaching of MindUp, Religion and Health. Parents will also be given some resources to reinforce these messages as home. Please keep an eye on upcoming newsletters for these resources.
I pray that the Easter break is a time for rest and renewal for all of our families. Easter is a great opportunity for spiritual growth and new life. It can be a time for old, unwanted habits or thoughts to be replaced by new life-giving ways of being. I hope your lives are blessed with this opportunity. We look forward to celebrating a new beginning with you on our first day back for our Alleluia event.
If the Easter bunny visits your house, I hope she brings the ‘good’ chocolate!
May the warmth of new beginnings, fill your hearts.
Ms Megan Evans
What a great day we all had at the Swimming Carnival! A fantastic effort to all of the students involved and for the helpers and teachers who made this day possible. Thank you for the parents who gave up their time to support their kids today, much appreciated! Winner to be announced when we return after the Easter break! Have a happy and safe holiday.
Upcoming Events
St Paul's School Calendar Weblink:
APRIL SCHOOL HOLIDAYS
School Holidays: 8th of April to 18th of April
Children return for Term 2: Tuesday 19th April
See the latest blog guide of activities from Darwin Family Life for the upcoming April and Easter School Holidays.
See the link below, it is jam packed full of activities that are free or affordable all across Darwin, Palmerston and the surrounds.
General Information/News
PLEASE CHECK PREVIOUS NEWSLETTERS IN NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE ON SZAPP FOR ST PAUL'S GENERAL INFORMATION
Northern Territory Urban Sport Vouchers
- Applications for Urban Sport Vouchers for children enrolled in Transition to Year 12 are closing 24 May 2022, please register and apply for eligible children’s vouchers before this date. Registration and application can be made at grantsnt.nt.gov.au
- Issued sport vouchers for Round One, July – December 2021 and Round Two, January – May 2022, are due to expire 31 May 2022. Please have vouchers distributed to approved, registered clubs and organisations before this date.
SCHOOL FEE INVOICES
Dear St Paul’s families,
School Fee Invoices were emailed to families in week 5 of this term. We have identified a technical glitch which means some families did not receive their invoices (the email has triggered a security response to certain email accounts and therefore has not been delivered to email inboxes).
If you have not received your invoice for School Fees, please contact Finance at finance.stpauls@nt.catholic.edu.au
Thank you to all those who have already paid or have a payment plan in place.
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.
Thank you,
St Paul’s Finance Team
RE NEWS
Dear Families and Friends,
What a wonderful, busy term we’ve had. We finished off the week with years 5/6 presenting a re-enactment of the last days of Jesus’ life. The stage area was left in darkness. When we come back to school on Tuesday, 19th April, we will celebrate Christ’s resurrection ‘Alleluia Day’. The stage area will come ‘alive’ with symbols of new life.
The MJR focus for weeks 1 and 2 next term, is Be Determined. Almost every person who has achieved greatness in life, whether it is in music, dance, acting, sports, or studies has had a number of setbacks along the way. Most sporting people greats have often had a knee reconstruction, broken bones, or been suspended. It is only the determined who succeed, not those who feel sorry for themselves and give up hope. We can pray with determination, too, knowing that our Lord hears us and responds to our needs.
Many blessings for a safe and happy Easter.
Father, Thank You for the miracle of life—abundant life here, and eternal life with You in Heaven. Help me celebrate that life every day as I seek You and follow Your plan for my life. Today, I say with the Apostle Paul, “Where, O death is your victory? Where, O death is your sting?” In Jesus’ name, Amen.
— Mary Southerland
Week 9 Award Winners
Congratulations to our amazing award winners of Week 9!
Kids' News
Kids’ News # 3
By Harshika. Photographers: Pippa, Harrison. Assistant: Anha.
This term has passed so quickly. The Swimming Carnival is tomorrow and we will have to give our house leaders a lot of encouragement, this being their first leadership event. This is our last newsletter for this term and I will try to fit in a few things including: some ‘goss’ about our principal, Holy Week re-enactment (performed by the amazing 5/6’s) and the lucky snakes that visited our ELC children…yes, you heard me right. SNAKES!
Let’s start with Ms Evans. Here at St Paul’s we are so privileged to have such a kind, caring Principal. You have to acknowledge how much she gives to our school community. As well as running our school with all its great responsibilities, she also teaches Indonesian to transitions! So let's cheer for Ms Evans. Hip hip hooray! Thank you, Ms Evans for everything you do for all of us at St Paul’s.
The 5/6’s performed, for the whole school, the story of the last days of Jesus’ life ( ‘Yeshua’ in Hebrew): Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday (the last supper), and Good Friday; the Crucifixion. Zavier played Jesus and he did an amazing job. Palm Sunday is the first day of Holy week and on the Sunday before Easter. It is remembered because of Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem where people honoured him as king and all shouted, ‘Hosanna’. The Last Supper was the last meal Jesus had with his disciples on the night before his crucifixion. The Crucifixion is the day Jesus was nailed to the Cross to die.
Our stage area was left in darkness to resemble Jesus in the tomb.
On the first day back, we will be celebrating ‘Alleluia Day’ and the stage area will be transformed to signify New Life which is what Easter is all about. This is the day when Jesus was resurrected.
Finally, we have our lucky snakes story. Ms Sonja and her daughter brought in four snakes to visit the Transitions on the 29th March. How lucky those snakes were to have met our Transitions.
Here are some snake facts you might find interesting:
- They smell with their tongues.
- They don’t have eyelids (creepy…)
- Snakes have flexible jaws so the can eat things bigger than their heads
- Over 500,000 households have a pet snake. Are you planning on getting one? Ever?
Why shouldn’t you tell an Easter egg a joke?
It might crack up!
Wishing you all a safe and happy Easter.
OSHC & ELC
OSHC BOOKINGS, CANCELLATIONS, CHARGES & CHANGES
- Cancellations must be made before 8:00am the day off booking for no charges to apply.
- For regular ongoing bookings $25 fee is charged
- $30 casual fee is charged for casual days or for any extra days booked regardless if you already had other days booked that week.
- Vacation Care enrolment forms received after the submission date will incur an additional cost of $50 per child (please note that enrolments may be rejected if submitted after the submission date).
- Vacation Care requires 24 hour in advance written notification for cancellations.
- All bookings and cancellations must be in writing and made through the front office/ operoo /website or the app. Email accepted, please email: admin.stpauls@nt.catholic.edu.au or anna-lea.higgins@nt.catholic.edu.au
- A $2.50 per minute per child will apply if your child is collected after 5:30pm.
- As per the Terms and Conditions on the OSHC enrolment form, public holidays will be charged if the front office has not received a cancellation of booking for that date.
- Students who have not been collected by 3:00pm will be sent to OSHC to ensure supervision. Once a child is signed in at OSHC the casual rate will be charged.
- Emergency contacts and people approved for collection of children must show identification when collecting students from OSHC and be of at least 18 years of age.
ELC & OSHC INVOICES
Please note, if you do not see a payment you have made in the past week on your invoice, please do not worry. There is a data entry delay, we receive our transaction report for the previous week’s payments each Monday where payments get assigned to accounts (we manually record payments in the system). This means that your payments will appear behind but in actual fact it is simply the data entry delay. Please also take note that if you pay on a weekend we don’t receive the monies until the Monday so your payments may appear 2 weeks behind.
If you have any issues with your Child Care Subsidy please call:
CCS Helpdesk
1300 667 276
St Paul's Parents and Friends
School Counselling Program
Hi, my name is Sarah and I am the School Counsellor from CatholicCare NT. I am located St Paul’s Catholic Primary School one day a week on Wednesdays and I'm here to provide students with support and emotional well-being. Through the School Counselling Program during a counselling session I conduct Child Centred Play Therapy modality which is a developmentally appropriate, evidenced based, therapeutic intervention for school aged children from 3-11 years old. This approach is based on the belief that "play is therapy" for children, like when adults talk through their problems to solve them, here children play through their problems to solve them.
What is Play Therapy?
Play therapy builds on the child’s inner resources and strengths, which are supported by the therapeutic relationship to bring about growth, development and healing in the child. Play therapy helps children develop confidence and positive self-esteem, find healthier ways of communicating and can promote resilience and coping, in ways that are appropriate to their developmental stage.
Here are some of the following referral reasons that your child may be struggling with and that Play Therapy can be an effective therapeutic approach by referring to the School Counselling Program; divorce & separation of parents, anxiety & depression, low self-esteem & self-confidence, social difficulties, angry & aggressive behaviour, trauma & abuse, grief & loss, autism spectrum disorder, attachment issues… and more…
Play therapy is a gentle intervention that provides a safe and secure space for children to process their thoughts, feelings, and experiences through their first and most natural language; play!
Referrals can be made through completing the form which is avalaible on request at: admin.stpauls@nt.catholic.edu.au
Community Flyers
Over the next few weeks,
parents of 2-10 year old children with eczema are able to access Healthy Living Triple P FREE OF CHARGE
as part of a research project through the Queensland Children’s Hospital, Griffith University, and the University of Queensland. For more information, please visit us at https://exp.psy.uq.edu.au/eczema/, contact Dr Amy Mitchell on 0401 512 035, or email healthyliving@uq.edu.au.