Term 2 Week 2

Dear Parent/Carer 

Welcome to Term 2! 

I hope the first week back has been well enjoyed by our students. The teachers at the College have noted the energy and motivation with which our students have returned.  It is hoped this attitude will be reflected in their end of Semester results. 

I thank our families for accommodating the College staff to attend our Professional Development – Spirituality Day last Monday.  It was a tremendous day that allowed the staff to hear from our Bishop and get a sense of truth, goodness and beauty as reflected in scripture and our lived experience. The conversations within our staff were very positive and enriching. 

We were fortunate to visit several regional areas last week to invite families to consider St Paul’s as an option for school in 2022.  We met with families at South West Rocks and Macksville and found both communities welcoming and excited about developing an academic relationship with the College. I spoke to Year 6 students at St Patrick’s Macksville and St Joseph’s here in Kempsey and get a sense that we will be bringing together a solid Year 7 group for 2022. I also acknowledge many families interested in our College from outside the Catholic Primary system. This interest is tremendous for us, as their contributions will be very positive. 

We celebrated Catholic Schools Week with a combined Mass together with St Joseph’s Primary.  It was a wonderful gathering, and I thank Mr Pollock (St Joseph’s) and our Mrs Shipton for co-ordinating this event, together with Fr James. The Open Day also took place this week and was a successful afternoon providing families with the opportunity to walk around the College and get a sense of the facilities. Our enrolment period commences this week, and we are looking at the significant interest of families in our Year 7 group in 2022. Please continue to spread the word! The College, its students and staff, have a lot of which to be proud. 

We are putting in continued efforts around our teaching and learning space and ask that you speak with your child/ren about what they are learning and the activities they are engaging in. Our staff are focused on high-quality teaching with an interest in ensuring academic care for all students. I encourage you that if there are concerns about what is taught and how it is taught, please contact the specific teachers as required. This open communication leads to a solid academic partnership and results in strong student academic, social and emotional growth.

Kind Regards

Mr David JOHNS   B.Ed., Cert. Gifted Ed., Grad. Cert. Adol. Health and Welfare, M.Ed. (Ed Lead), M.Ed. (Theol) 

College Principal

david.johns@lism.catholic.edu.au

New P & F Committee Keen to Start Building Community

On Wednesday, 17, the P & F conducted its Annual General Meeting to wrap up the preceding year, take stock and elect a new board to lead us to 2021.  Joined by the Mayor of the Kempsey Shire Council, Liz Campbell, the Committee listened to new College Principal, David Johns and met the new Assistant Principals, Geoff Melville and Bronwyn Shipton. 

Thank you to all the outgoing board members for their dedication and hard work supporting the College, its students and their education through fundraising and donations.  We can announce that some outgoing executive members were re-elected into their roles for the forthcoming year, with some new and welcome faces joining them.  We thank and welcome the following executive members of the team:

• President – Mrs Jodie O'Loughlin
• Vice President - Mrs Angela Bramley
• Vice President - Mrs Sarah Osborne
• Treasurer – Mrs Kylie O'Donnell
• Secretary - Mrs Deanna Peters
• Assistant Secretary - Mrs Jodene Barnett

We are committed to achieving excellent outcomes for our students and are aware of the need for a refocus. Your thoughts on how this might look are always welcome.

Jodene Barnett (Assistant Secretary), Sarah Osborne (Vice President).  Deanna Peters (Secretary), David Johns (Principal) Fr James Foster (Parish Priest), Jodie O'Loughlin (President), Kylie O'Donnell (Treasurer), Angela Bramley (Vice President) 

St Paul’s College Executive

Catholic Schools Week 

On Wednesday, we had the wonderful opportunity to celebrate two hundred years of Catholic Education in Australia with a combined Schools Mass with Joseph's Catholic Primary School. Thank you to Fr James Foster, who led the service and to Joan Clarke and Wayne Clarke from our Parish Council, who supported us with their attendance on Wednesday.  

ANZAC Day  in the Macleay and Nambucca Valley

Thank you to all students and families who participated in the ANZAC Day commemorations in many of our beautiful towns on Sunday.  Our valley indeed turned on the glorious weather to mark such a special occasion. St Paul's College students attended marches in Kempsey, Macksville, South West Rocks and Gladstone.

Bench Seat Community Project  'Together More Than Ever' 

Kempsey Community Suicide Prevention Youth Legacy and Awareness Campaign are providing and funding opportunities for young people in our local high schools and the wider community. 

This campaign is local and a legacy for young people that will be long-lasting. It will promote awareness and help-seeking by creating recognisable, safe spaces throughout the community. 

These safe spaces will include bench seats and bus shelters in various places in the community to be re-vamped as youth-inspired, designed and completed art pieces by the students.  They promote awareness, remembrance and help-seeking for suicide and prevention in young people and the wider community. This project is based on the Buddy Bench initiative – which initially was established to encourage anti-bullying and friendship within schools. 

We could not be prouder of the completed product by our Year 9 Visual Arts students (Aiden Smith, Eric Gannell, Lynete Bridgwater, Bailey Campbell) and Mr Angus Crowley produced for our community. 

Our Shared Commitment to Consent

The role of schools in strengthening children and young people's understanding of consent and preventing and responding to sexual assault and sexual violence among young people.

A Statement of Intent was signed on Friday, 26 March 2021, by the Government,  Catholic and Independent Schools to strengthen school-aged children and young people's ability to form healthy relationships,  understand consent and harm prevention. The Statement acknowledges the key role of school staff, in partnership with families,  in supporting change.

This Statement is our system commitment, which recognises the innate dignity of the child and young person and their inherent goodness, 'to enable each to achieve the fullness of life'.  It acknowledges the key role of school staff, in partnership with families, in supporting children and young people to reach their full potential by strengthening their ability to form healthy relationships, understand consent and harm prevention. 

As a system of Catholic schools, we recognise our duties and responsibilities as educators and the growing concerns in the community in this area. We believe that each person is made in the image and likeness of God and deserves to be treated with dignity and respect regardless of race, gender, religion or ethnicity.

At St Paul's, we believe in delivering a robust curriculum across stages. Healthy relationships, understanding of consent and harm prevention is in the PDHPE units in Year 10 - Respectful Relationships.  We will supplement the curriculum by engaging the services of appropriate community-based organisations.  In 2021, Term 3, Years 7-11, will listen to Real Talk regarding consent.   All students have already engaged with their Pastoral Care teacher/s to understand the meaning and issues of consent. 

The voice of parents/carers is valuable as the first and continuing educators of their children.  We encourage families to complete a survey to support our future direction in driving cultural change around respectful relationships. 

The survey is open until Friday, 7 May.  

If you have any questions, please email the College at kmps@lism.catholic.edu.au, and a school leadership member will contact you.  

Vaping Information for Parents

Increasingly schools are provided with information that is important for students' health and well being.  Recently we have received information that young people across schools in the area are engaging in e-cigarettes, also known as VAPING.  It is important to note that VAPING is a health concern, and students and their families need to be aware. We have released an information sheet on e-cigarettes and vaping and encourage you to read and share this with your children.  Knowledge and understanding of this relatively new 'device' are critical as initial health studies identify it as a significant concern. Our College continues to have a zero-tolerance policy on the possession, use and sharing of cigarettes, including e-cigarettes and vaping.  Please contact the College if further information is required.

Mrs Bronwyn Shipton - Assistant Principal - Mission and Wellbeing

Welcome back to Term 2!   I hope you are having a most blessed Easter season as we celebrate the joy and life of the resurrection of Jesus Christ in our lives.

Year 10 Youth Ministry Class at St Patrick’s, Macksville

Earlier this week, our Year 10 Youth Ministry class helped facilitate the Year 6 Retreat day for the students of St Patrick’s Macksville and St Mary’s Bowraville.  The students had a fun-filled day, with fellowship and a sharing of faith. They had their first real opportunity to practice some of the ministry skills they had been learning over the year or so in Youth Ministry.  Our students did a fantastic job sharing personal testimonies, leading games and small groups. 

Many thanks to those staff who helped make the day possible, namely Ebaney Cook, Mikayla Greenhalgh, Kellie Jones, Leon Robinson and heath Needs.

Year 7 Transitus

Over the past two days, an enthusiastic group of Year 7 students attended the overnight Transitus.  Our Youth Ministry leaders in Year 10, as well as Mr Glen Northey, accompanied the students.  We will be sure to feature some of their stories and photos in our following newsletter.

Date Claimer: Year 10 Retreat

The Year 10 Retreat has been postponed (6– 7 May), and a new date will be advised shortly.

Peace and blessings

Mr Dominic MacAndrews - Leader of School Evangelisation

dominic.macandrews@lism.catholic.edu.au

Why is Term 2 So Important at St Paul’s for Years 10, 11 and 12?

Year 12

This term presents no formal assessment period, and this can be a trap for students as they continue to work through HSC content while also preparing for the major Trial HSC exams in Term 3. There are critical HSC assessment tasks due in Term 2 with increased weightings.  Each Year 12 student must have a simple plan.  What are the dates for each of my tasks due?  How will I prepare, eg what content notes do I have?  What past HSC questions/marking criteria/marker feedback is relevant to the task?  I must be in each class to attack this task, and I must send drafts to my teacher before the task for best preparation.  Every minute counts in class this term and using each evening towards revision to better prepare for the task ahead. 

Year 11

The first term of the Preliminary course is over; great work!  Term 2 presents a more formal assessment period that requires best study habits: how are my notes organised per subject, and what assessment is due in Term 2?  Do I have an organised study plan each night to build towards the Term assessment?  If I cannot organise the points above, who do I turn to? The answer is so many talented staff at St Paul’s: your teachers, PC teacher, Mrs Green, Mrs Morrison, Mr Robinson, Mrs Shipton, Mr Melville, Mr Johns.  There is an impressive list of committed staff willing to help you. The Term 2 assessment will allow us all (student, parent, teacher) to have good conversations regarding progress in Year 11 before the HSC year beginning. 

Year 10

I have been very impressed with Year 10 this year; there is tremendous energy and support within this group.  During this term, I will be outlining the process towards selecting subjects for the HSC in November 2023; that is not too far away!  The basis of subject selection for Year 11 in 2022 will be reviewing each student’s efforts during their Years 7-10 subjects.  How did those experiences form future choices?  St Paul’s will invite each student (with their parents) discussion on their first four years here and how does that shape the next two years. The most important information will be each student’s efforts in the classroom in 2021. Again every minute counts as we prepare for the senior years of secondary school. 

I would be delighted to speak to students and their parents regarding these matters this term.  Please contact me at geoffrey.melville@lism.catholic.edu.au

Mr Geoffrey Melville - Assistant Principal - Learning and Teaching

Parental Engagement

Parental engagement is defined as activities that support children’s learning at home, school, and the community. Engagement is distinct from parental involvement, which is focused on parents attending events or volunteering (Australian Government

Department of Education and Training, 2019).  Here at St Paul’s, we encourage families to both engage and encourage promoting the necessity of lifelong learning and be involved in the life of the College.  It is very beneficial to children when their parents or carers support and help them engage with their learning.  Evidence-based research shows us that engaging parents can improve students’ learning by an average of three months (Education Endowment Foundation, 2019b).  Some ideas/suggestions to help are: 

• encourage a routine, good study habits, and planner of when tasks are due
• knowing about homework, when assessment tasks are due, revising the day's new learning
• showing interest and encouragement
• challenging them to strive for their best
• asking them to teach you what they have learnt, testing them on knowledge.

If you have any concerns/questions, need support, or want to know more about what is happening at school, please contact either the specific teacher or the pastoral coordinator.  Our email addresses can be found in the parent section on our web page https://www.kmpslism.catholic.edu.au/.   

The education of your child is a team effort.

Fantastic Achievements

Our talented College cinematographer and actor Will Butler and Jack Morgan, have recently achieved great success at the Screenwave International Film Festival (SWIFF).

This competition celebrates the creative filmmaking achievements of young regional Australians across the entire country. Will created a short film last year (with the acting support from his great mate, Jack Morgan) and was lucky enough to make the finalist list (over sixty entries from across rural Australia).

Each short film finalist was shown on ‘the big screen’ in Coffs Harbour as part of SWIFF.  William achieved the fantastic accolade of being awarded BEST EDITOR and BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY in this prestigious Australia wide competition.

William and Jack are great ambassadors for St Paul’s Catholic Secondary College.  We congratulate both boys on these outstanding achievements and wish them every success, in what we expect will be very creative futures.

Mrs Leon Robinson - Leader of Curriculum

Royal Easter Show

St Paul's Catholic Secondary College's honey has again won third place in the 2021 Sydney Royal National Honey Show exhibited at the Royal Easter Show.  Our third placing was for excellence in the Schools category of liquid honey.

The Sydney Royal sets the benchmark for excellence in Agriculture, underpinning agricultural performance and ensuring a prosperous and viable future for rural communities, including the Macleay Valley.  This is the second year running that St Paul's has achieved third place in this competition, highlighting our consistently high level of achievement in agriculture practices at the College.

Premier’s Reading Challenge 2021

This year as an incentive for students to participate, in addition to the certificate they receive on completion, a $50 gift card and canteen vouchers can be won as well by registered students reading just ten books in the Challenge. 

If your child is interested in participating, there is plenty of time to enter as they have until 20 August to complete the challenge of reading twenty books.  For more details on the Challenge, please visit the PRC website: https://online.det.nsw.edu.au/prc/studentExperience.html#/

If you like your child to participate, please email me (patrice.martin@lism.catholic.edu.au), and I will quickly register them so they can get started or pop into the Library. 

Pre-loved Books to Exchange

To promote reading for leisure, we are trying to start up a small book exchange corner.  If you have any pre-loved, memorable reads that you are willing to part with, it would be greatly appreciated.  Please keep in mind it needs to be suitable for Year 7s to read.  Students can leave books at the front office, or they can drop them into the Library. Thank you in anticipation. 

ANZAC Display

Cathy Whalen has again gathered some great ANZAC resources for students and staff to borrow.  Hopefully, students and staff will take the opportunity to read some of these very personal war stories, including War Girls, “a collection of short stories explores how the First World War changed and shaped the lives of women forever.”  Below is a snippet of the books on display and available to borrow.

and on a final note ……..

“A great book should leave you with many experiences and slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading.”  – William Styron

Mrs Patrice Martin and Mrs Cathy Whalen - Library Technicians

NSWCCC Swimming

This year, our College was lucky enough to send ten swimmers to NSWCCC swimming to swim for the Lismore Diocese at Homebush.  The students had little training leading up to the event due to the copious amount of rain and subsequent flooding.  However, they still punched well above their weight, competing at a high level across their events.

Two of our boys, Adam Grant and Max Farrell won Age Champion in their respective ages. They will now represent all Catholic schools from around NSW at All Schools swimming on 28 May.  This is an outstanding achievement, and both should be very proud of their efforts.  Good luck to both of these boys in their events.

Congratulations to our swimmers who represented the Lismore Diocese at this level of competition: 

• Adam Grant
• Max Farrell
• Brielle Woodger
• Cleo Schubert
• Cooper Schubert
• Liam Askew
• Harry Askew
• Matthia Rudder
• Jake Worthing
• Keely Smith 

Cross Country

With the postponement of our Annual Cross Country due to the flooding, we started Week 1 with a bang.  We intended to run it at the Francis Farm, which provides a challenge of navigation and nature; however, it was far too wet and slippery in the paddocks to run the event safely. We opted to travel to a new cross country venue, with more grass, fewer trees and minimal chance of getting lost, Kemp Street Ovals.

Although it was optional for students in Years 7-8 and 11-12, we still had around forty students take to the makeshift track and compete in their various age categories.  I want to thank the students for their behaviour and co-operation during this event, including Years 9 and 10 who made a start later that day.

Well done to the top six students in each age category eligible to attend the Diocesan Cross Country Carnival, held in Grafton on Friday, 21 May.

The Results for the Day:

Overall House Points based on placings. (12 points for first, 10 for a second, 8 for third, 6 for fourth, 4 for fifth, 2 for sixth.) 

MacKillop – 108 points
Edmund – 106 points
McAuley – 104 points
Farrelly – 98 points

This year a very close event, but MacKillop has won the Cross Country for the fourth year in a row.  Well done to MacKillop and all competitors on the day.

Year 9/10 Elective Sport

The elective sport begins in Week 3 for our Years 9/10 students.  Students have been informed to check their sport choice (on the sports notice board) and ensure they familiarise themselves with their sports protocols.

Mr Heath Needs - Sports Co-ordinator