23rd May 2025

From the Principals Desk - Mrs Stacey Mullin

Weather Changes

Thank you to our parents and the community for being flexible with the pick-up times due to the relentless rain. Our students are looking for activity as we remain in our classrooms in our breaks. The playgrounds are very waterlogged, and I don’t see us getting onto them for at least another week.

A few families have been heavily impacted by the rain, if you need any support, please reach out if we can be of help.

We postponed the disco and will look towards another date this term.

Infants Playground

Our kinder and year 1 students have loved being in their new space before the rain. The other grades have also enjoyed exploring the different parts of the playground at different times over last week.

Kinder Interviews for 2026

I have nearly completed all interviews for kindergarten 2026. Applications closed today and we will have offers out in the next couple of weeks – these will come via email.

Coming Up

Next week marks Reconciliation Week beginning with Sorry Day, this is also wellbeing week for our students and staff. Take the time at home to focus on being well in your family and what things you do to maintain your wellness at home as we look at how we maintain our wellness at school.

Calendar Dates Week 5 & 6

Student Awards Week 2 & 3

Assistant Principal - Mrs Sharna Taranto

PB4L (Positive Behaviours for Learning)

This fortnight our PB4L focus is: Choose Kindness. This focus aligns with our school value of Love and links with the SEL (Social & Emotional Learning) skill of Self-Awareness.

Did you know that our behaviour focuses are data informed? Each fortnight our PB4L team meets to review our Compass behaviour data. This informs the behavior focus that we have as a school for the following fortnight.

Whats Next?

Our next steps focus on continuing to educate our school community about the importance of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) and it’s role in PB4L. Developing SEL skills helps students build positive behaviours, which in turn supports their engagement in learning and overall wellbeing.

Learning Support

Over the last fortnight, families of students receiving additional support have been invited to attend Personal Planning (PP) and Goal Setting meetings, an integral part of our NCCD (Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability) processes.  These meetings take place each Semester and are a valuable opportunity to work in partnership to review student progress and set meaningful goals.

Below is a Fact Sheet for Families, explaining what the NCCD is and how it benefits students with disability at school.

https://www.nccd.edu.au/tools/fact-sheet-parents-guardians-and-carers

Our 2025 School Improvement Goals

Every three years, our school reviews and renews its School Improvement Plan (SIP) goals. This important process is guided by data and shaped by the evolving needs of our students to ensure we’re providing the best possible learning environment.

We’re excited to share our renewed goals for 2025, which will focus on key areas that support student spiritual growth, wellbeing, and academic success. These goals reflect our ongoing commitment to continuous improvement.

Catholic Identify & Curriculum

All in the community see the value and benefit of formation for individual and spiritual flourishing, with positive growth.

Learning

Engaged and active student participation with embedded voice and choice and consistency in pedagogy and assessment practices.

Wellbeing

Consistency in practice around Positive Behaviour for Learning and use of vocabulary.

Religious Coordinator - Mr Robert Temesvary

Family Mass – This Weekend

Each Term we invite everyone in our community to come and join our beautiful Parish for Mass on Sunday. Which is this Sunday the 25th of May. We have made this change to support our students going through their Sacramental journey. They will be presented the oils in preparation for Confirmation. I also invite our CHOIR members to come along and sing as a practice for our upcoming performance in Newcastle :). We hope to see you there!

St Vincent De Paul Winter Appeal / Pyjama Day

Next Thursday the 29th is our annual St Vincent De Paul Winter Appeal / Pyjama Day. See the flyer below for a quick overview. Please note: pyjamas must be appropriate for school and students are still required to wear enclosed shoes on the day - joggers are best. Crocs are not an enclosed shoe and are prohibited.

Sacraments of Initiation 2025

Below are the events to mark on the calendar for those completing their Sacraments of Initiation this year. For any information, please contact me through the school office.

Next up: Presentation of the Oils at Sunday Mass – see the image below for dates and centers.

GOSPEL REFLECTION

SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER YEAR C

John 14:23-29

Jesus leaves peace as his farewell.

Library News - Katrina Howard

Borrowing Days in Term 2 for each class will stay the same will stay the same.

Library Borrowing Cup

Congratulations to 4M/4W and 5W again on winning the Library Cup the past couple of weeks. The cup is presented to the class who has the highest percentage of borrowers for the week. Borrowing has significantly been down this term. Hopefully the new term planner for borrowing sent how this week, to pop on the fridge will help remind families. I understand how tricky it can be remembering which child, on which day, on which fortnight!

Premiers Reading Challenge (PRC)

3M continue to be in the lead to win the class party!

Apologies for the incorrect weblink address shared on the original PRC letter that went home at the beginning of the year. The website has been updated with the new web address link to log books read at https://online.education.nsw.gov.au/prc/studentExperience.html#/

Subscriptions

A reminder to our families they all have access to Story Box Hub (Australia’s digital literacy resource where you can discover expert storytelling videos and creative writing tutorials) and SORA (reading app from an online library for ebooks and audiobooks).

https://storyboxhub.com/

Username: Story Box Rutherford 

Password: Rutherford

https://soraapp.com/

School : ACEN (Australian Catholic Education Network)

Logins will match their personalised logins to access the school computers. If your child and unaware of their login details please be in contact via email. 

Overdue Notices

The third and final overdue notices were sent home again this week for unreturned books. If received, please log onto the Qkr! app and pay the $15 fee. Thank you to the families that have already paid.

Overdue Notices

Book Club 

Orders for Book Club Issue 3 2025 are now closed, and orders have been placed. Books are due to arrive in the next fortnight. I appreciate the ongoing support of this allowing a small percentage of money raised to be put back into new books for our library collection.

National Simultaneous Storytime

NSS was again enjoyed on Wednesday by all the students and staff at St Paul’s along with millions of others across the country. Promoting the value of reading is my true passion. The Truck Cat opened opportunities for students to connect with the themes homes lost and found, immigration, identity and love for pets past and present. It was great to see the variety of hats worn on the day.

Please don’t hesitate to contact the library staff for any issues or enquiries via email at

Katrina.howard@mn.catholic.edu.au

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Sport News - Jessica Stefanish-Smith & Melinda Walls

2025 Athletics Carnival

On Monday 28^th April the 2025 Athletics Carnival was held. Whilst it was touch and go for the days leading up and the 95mm of rain the Regional Centre had received the previous day, we were a little nervous. Upon meeting Maitland City Council staff at the grounds early and the sun trying to break through, the decision was made to continue with our day.

It was unfortunate that we needed to make the hard decision for Kinder and Year 1 to remain at school as their activities were to be held in the middle of the grounds and they would have still gotten a little wet. Mrs S and Mrs Walls are busy planning a special carnival for them and their families, stay tuned!

Our day commenced with students arriving super early at the Centre to compete in the 1500m. Congratulations to those students for challenging themselves. At school, departing on buses were our remaining students. Once they all arrived, we had our morning prayer at the grounds. We then raced off with the 200m events for all age groups. An overwhelming number of students took part in this event. It was wonderful to see so many students challenge themselves, stepping outside of their comfort zones and running with smiles all the way to the finish line.

All students completed a variety of events through rotation during the day including the 100m, shot, put and long jump.

A special thanks to Mrs Purdon, her family and Stella Mullin for running the canteen for the day and taking our Kinder and Year 1 orders back to thema t school.

To our parents that assisted out on the grounds throughout the day, we truly thank you for you and hope you had a fabulous day with us.

To our ex-students that returned for the day to assist where they could. This shows the true spirit and serve of St. Paul’s students.

Thank you to all our students who attended on the day for your love of being involved, giving your best and always cheering your friends on.

Congratulations to our age champions for 2025

2025 Junior Girls Athletics

Age Champion - Ivy Sotiropoulos

Age Champion -Aria McMahon

Age Champion - Lexi Haynes

Runner Up - Maycie Miller

2025 11 Years Girls Athletics

Age Champion - Isabella Scott

Runner Up - Adelaide Hardman

2025 Senior Girls Athletics

Age Champion - Scarlett Bernate

Runner Up - Ivy McMahon

2025 Junior Boys Athletics

Age Champion - Flynn Beard

Runner Up - Eaden Eldho

2025 11 Years Boys Athletics

Age Champion - Nate Braun

Runner up - Sonny Richards

2025 Senior Boys Athletics

Age Champion - Miller James

Runner Up - Xavier Gore

Regional Athletics will be held in Week 10. Those students who have qualified will receive information and parents will be asked to complete payment and consent for the day via Compass.

Hunter Schools Mountain Biking – Round 2 Awaba

Sonny Richards and Charlie O’Connor have been participating in the events this year and in previous years. The latest event was hosted by Hunter Valley Mountain Bike Club at Awaba. Both boys were supported on the day by their families and had a fantastic day racing the trails with outstanding results in their age division.  Congratulations boys and keep staying upright!

Later this year we are looking at field some teams at the Hunter Schools Mountain Biking Team Challege to be held at Singleton. Families will be responsible for transportation of their students, bikes and equipment for the day. Further information will be shared in the coming months. Stay tuned.

If your student is interested in these events, please contact Mrs Davies or Mrs Walls for further information.

DIO Cross Country

Unfortunately, we are not having much luck in this area. The weather has been hindering the running of the event with the second postponed of the event.

The new rescheduled dates are:

Tuesday 27 May with a backup date of Friday 30 May 2025.

Please keep your fingers crossed for our students, 

2025 Age Champions

Runners Up

Sporting Schools AFL

This term St. Paul’s have received a Sporting Schools grant and were able to secure Hunter/Central Coast AFL to run an AFL program for 6 weeks. The whole school on Wednesday completes the program commencing with ball skills working through to kicking skills and finishing with a modified game. Students have been thoroughly enjoying the aligned activities, with the weather not damping the program.

We are now 3 weeks in, and students are often observed on the playground using their new skills in their games and bringing equipment for their games.

Sporting Equipment

We love it when students bring their own equipment to school. Please make sure this is clearly labelled, and markings are refreshed periodically.