St Paul's Catholic Primary School Newsletter 2022 Term 2, Week 10

Principal's Message

Good afternoon St Paul’s families,

It is with much gratitude that we come to the end of the semester. This semester has been described as one of the most difficult in education ever. Whilst we have learnt to ‘live with COVID’, we have also lived with the flu, gastro and various other things that have presented so many challenges for so many of us. So far this year, we have not had one day of 100% attendance of staff or students. And yet, we still have a welcoming school community where rich learning is taking place every day.

On Wednesday afternoon, at our final staff meeting for the term, we had a staff ‘Show and Share’, where teachers shared learning data of children in their class. It really was a wonderful showcase of all the great learning that is happening in our classrooms. I am so blessed to work with teachers who are so committed to their profession and who care so deeply about the learning and wellbeing outcomes of the children they work with.

Last evening we celebrated those staff members here at St Paul’s who have been part of Catholic Education Northern Territory for more than fifteen years. Congratulations to the following hard-working and dedicated staff members: Lil Barber, Mona Bonson, Jo Knight, Phillipa Pond and Sally Seden. How lucky we are to have these shining stars as part of our team!

Thank you to all of our families for your support and generosity with our fundraising for the end of term – the Caritas Ks bike ride, our charity donation and our St Paul’s Colour Splash fundraiser for our new playground. It was a huge end to the term but it was lots of fun and your generosity and supported is greatly appreciated. Thank you to everyone who helped make this a great success, especially Mrs Del who returned early from maternity leave to lead our Caritas Ks event.

Next semester we have a few staff changes in our school and our ELC. As you are already aware, long-term St Paul’s teacher, Mrs Margy Woods has taken twelve months leave without pay and has taken on a new role with the NT Department of Education supporting teachers in remote communities. We believe she had a lot of fun at her 4WD course in preparation of her new adventures. We also officially farewell Mrs Cois as she completes her contract as our Religious Education Coordinator (REC) but hope to see her for relief work in Semester 2. We also farewell Miss Mary-Lou who has taken the plunge and has decided to retire after a long and rewarding teaching career! And despite the Year 3/4s understanding of ‘retirement’, she is not yet moving into and aged-care retirement village! We thank Mary-Lou for her commitment and flexibility over the last couple of years here at St Paul’s. We will also officially welcome back Mrs Del-Le-Mare (Mrs Del) from Maternity Leave who will be returning to her position as REC and will also work in Room 12 on Thursdays and Room 4 on Fridays. We are thrilled to officially welcome Mrs Libby Rosewarne as our Room 12 teacher for the remainder of the year. We will also farewell Miss Anna-Lea Higgins as Assistant Director of our ELC /OSHC Services and wish her well as she pursues further studies. We also farewell and congratulate Miss Anna who has secured a full-time teaching career. Life is full of many opportunities and we thank all of these staff for their work here at St Paul’s – we are a better school because of the time you have spent with us.

We hope you enjoy the break and look forward to seeing students return on Tuesday, July 19^th. Please see notice in the newsletter regarding reduced office hours and office closure dates throughout the holidays.

With our hectic end of term and our Mass today celebrated the Sacred Heart of Jesus and also the fest of St Paul, it seems fitting that we remind ourselves of St Paul’s words: ‘Teach us to serve one another in love’ (Gal: 5:13)

Megan Evans

We have a new Violin and Viola Tutor

Sarah Ladd

further information below

Upcoming Events

St Paul's P & F

General Information/News

PLEASE CHECK PREVIOUS NEWSLETTERS IN NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE ON SZAPP FOR ST PAUL'S GENERAL INFORMATION

Class News Year 5/6

Our year 5/6 students have been studying Civics and Citizenship as part of our HASS unit. They have learnt about Parliament and the process for a bill to become a law. They have been hard at work researching a topic and writing a persuasive speech to convince others that the stance their Party has is correct.

Single use plastic should be banned by the end of 2022

Renewable energy should be the only energy source from 2030

The Great Barrier Reef should be closed to tourists; and

Transportation of oil by sea should be banned.

The work the students produced was fabulous and the questions they had about each other's topics meant some high level debates were had. Well done 5/6s, we are really proud of the resilience and effort you showed while working through this assignment. 

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

School Holiday Programs

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