Principal's Message
Dear Parent/Carer
‘Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in a day? If one walks during the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if one walks at night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” ‘
John 11: 1-45
As we approach the last few weeks of Term, I would like to acknowledge the tremendous work that continues across the College. We have had a deliberate focus on continuing standards around uniform, use of mobile phones and strong engagement in the classroom and this has had pleasing outcomes across all year groups.
We observed our Year 7 and Year 9 students engage in NAPLAN last week and I commend them on their attitude and focus across this national testing period. This week our Year 12 students have been involved in an Assessment Block that they prepared well for and I trust that the results received reflect the consistent efforts across the Term. Next week our Year 11 students will have their Assessment Block and I also look forward to tracking their performance.
Last week I was involved in a School Review of Newman Technical College, Port Macquarie. This was a useful exercise as St Paul’s will be experiencing this process early in Term 3, 2023. The review itself was insightful and a celebration of the excellent work from the staff and students at Newman. For me it provided opportunity to consider what St Paul’s does well and what could be done better. The process that uses the National School Improvement Tool (NSIT) developed by ACER is thorough and objective in its analysis and will provide excellent feedback on how we can continue to improve all we do at the College.
Our work in raising money for CARITAS (Project Compassion) across this LENTEN period continues to be pleasing. The creativity of activities and the involvement of our whole school community has been particularly pleasing. We have had a number of students involved in a variety of Liturgical and Spiritual experiences across the last few weeks and this has been tremendous. The work of Mr Matthew Mitchell, Mrs Barica Rafton and our Youth Ministry Officer, Max Winn, together with the Youth Ministry Team has been exceptional and has set a tone across the College of the value we have for what it is to be a Catholic School.
The build is making strong progress with the roof being completed on our new hall. This means that the internal work can continue regardless of weather conditions, which is wonderful. The technology in our ‘old hall’ will be installed across the next few weeks and we expect to have this amazing facility handed over to us at the end of the Term. It will be an excellent resource for the whole community upon its completion.
Finally, I would like to inform you that we have had some staffing changes across the last few weeks. Mrs Kristy Carney, who is currently on leave and had the role of Leader of Inclusion and Diversity has resigned from her position. This is currently held in an acting capacity by Ms Kate Anderson and will be advertised toward the end of the year. Ms Magenta Kerr our Leader of Science is taking leave across the remainder of this semester and will be replaced by Ms Rayleigh Keith. We also will be saying farewell to Mr Dane Smith who has accepted a teaching position in Coffs Harbour. Dane will be leaving us at the end of the Term and we are currently advertising for a replacement. The College thanks Kristy and Dane for their contributions across their years of service to the St Paul’s community and we wish them every success as they continue their stellar professional journey.
Kind regards
Mr David JOHNS B.Ed., Cert. Gifted Ed., Grad. Cert. Adol. Health and Welfare, M.Ed. (Ed Lead), M.Ed. (Theol)
Principal