7th March 2025

From the Principals Desk - Mrs Stacey Mullin

Opening School Mass.

What a wonderful opening Mass and badging ceremony for our school. I was extremely proud of our Yr 6 students who sat with their buddies to help them with the cues throughout the celebration. Congratulations to our school captains, they have already been active leaders without their badges for 2025 and have a lot of ideas for the improvement of our school and the legacy they wish to leave behind.

Thank you to our Year 6 team and our liturgy team for the beautiful preparation of the Mass.

Opening Mass 2025

Community Connections.

Ash Wednesday Mass was well attended by our local parishioners who love seeing our students and witness the traditions of our faith continue with the younger generation. This Sunday our Mini Vinnies students and our staff will be commissioned for their roles in 2025 by the parish community at our parish mass. The community bless the staff as we recite our pledge and promise for the work that we do for the greater good of students and our community. Our school community is welcome at this mass 8am Rutherford Parish Church.

Easter raffle

The P & F will shortly begin the collection of eggs for the Easter raffle. While the meaning of Easter lives with Christ and his sacrifice, the celebration of his resurrection is represented in the eggs that we hide and give to our families as a sign of new life.

Please send your donations to the office (we promise they are well guarded!)

More information about the raffle will be forthcoming.

CODE OF CONDUCT 2025

The Community Code of Conduct is in all new enrolments as part of the enrolment application process. This Code of Conduct continues to be part of all enrolment agreements within the school. It is an important and consistent agreement between the school and the home across the diocese.

Calendar Dates - Week 7 & 8

Student Awards Term 1 - Week 4 & 5

Assistant Principal - Ms Sharna Taranto

PB4L 

We are excited to share that our school has commenced the process of renewing our Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L) framework, with a focus on our Catholic values of Learn, Love, and Serve. This journey will help shape the way we guide and support students' behaviour across our school community. We believe that the success of this initiative is reliant on gaining input and feedback from our entire school community—especially our families. 

The PB4L Behaviour Matrix is a tool that defines the expectations for the positive behaviours that we want to see from our students in different settings around the school. It helps to create a clear and consistent approach to promoting positive behaviour, ensuring that all students understand what is expected.  

Our goal is to develop a matrix that is more aligned with our Catholic values. Your feedback will contribute to our shared language, definition and modelling of behaviours that reflect these. 

How You Can Contribute:  

We kindly ask you to take part in a short survey where you can share your thoughts and suggestions on what behaviors are most important to emphasize in the matrix.  

Thank you for being an integral part of this important process. Together, we can continue to create a loving and supportive school environment where all students thrive. 

PB4L School Values Survey. 

https://forms.office.com/r/d22sFXW5rD 

National Lunchbox Week 

National Lunchbox Week is an initiative of Nutrition Australia that aims to inspire Australian families to create enjoyable and nourishing lunchboxes.  

National Lunchbox Week helps families, schools and early childhood settings by: 

• inspiring practical lunchbox ideas and recipes  

• supporting positive lunchbox experiences for children  

• embracing the diversity of lunchboxes 

• promoting supportive, judgment-free conversations around food. 

Did you know children consume around one THIRD of their daily food intake at school?  

Lunchbox food plays a crucial role towards children's ability to concentrate, learn and play. 

Recipes 

Lunchbox Hacks 

Religious Coordinator - Mr Robert Temesvary

Opening School Mass

Our Opening School Mass was on Thursday last week. At the Mass we also had our badging ceremony for our 2025 School and House Captains. Thank you so much to all the families that came along to celebrate with us. A huge thank you to Fr Anil who presided for us, and to my amazing liturgy team for the smooth running of the day. See below for some wonderful photos of the celebration. Shoutout to Mrs West for the Photos!

Family/Commissioning Mass

This Sunday the 9^th of March we are scheduled to have our annual commissioning mass with Staff and the Mini Vinnies team. This will be at regular Sunday mass at 8am and we warmly welcome anyone from our school community that would like to come along and attend with us. This year, we are continuing the ‘Family Mass’ once a term where students and staff of St Paul’s will do all the ‘Ministry’ jobs of the Mass. We hope to see you there!

Ash Wednesday Mass

What a lovely Mass yesterday was! The weather was perfect, the Year 3 students read and lead beautifully, and we had so many members from our Parish community and families come along to begin the season on Lent together. Thank you to Fr Paul for presiding for us and AGAIN to the lovely liturgy team for smooth operations as always.

Diocesan launch of the Jubilee year

Another event shoutout! Sunday marked the Diocesan launch event for the Jubilee Year announced by Pope Francis. Members from all over the diocese in all areas gathered at 8am on the Newcastle Foreshore and walked together to Sacred Heart to celebrate Mass. Following Mass, the free food and activities were wonderful, and the event had a real community feel. Thank you so much to the families that came along to represent St Paul’s, as well as Mr Ebert (and family), Mrs Wilson and Sister Joseph.

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 Creed in all Mass centres – Saturday the 15^th and Sunday the 16^th.

GOSPEL REFLECTION

FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT YEAR C

Luke 4:1-13

Jesus is tempted in the desert.

Shrove Tuesday Pancakes

Library News - Katrina Howard

Borrowing Days 2025 

Tuesday Odd Weeks - Kinder, Year 1 

Tuesday Even Weeks – Kinder, Year 2  

Wednesday Odd Weeks - Year 3M, Year 5 

Wednesday Even Weeks – Year 3W, Year 6 

Thursday Even Weeks – Year 4 

 Library Borrowing Cup

Congratulations to 1M and 3W 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.

Premiers Reading Challenge (PRC) 

The PRC has begun, so time to start recording books being read! The PRC is a statewide Challenge that encourages students to develop a love of reading for leisure and pleasure in students and enables them to experience quality literature. It is not a competition, but a challenge to encourage each student to read, to read more, and to read more widely.   

This fortnight PRC booklets and login notes will be sent home on library days. Keep an eye out for these coming home in library bags. These notes have all the information needed to participate in the challenge. It is the student/parent responsibility to record the books being read. The paper booklet may be used for recording though the books will then need to be submitted online. The challenge finishes at the end of book week in Term 3.  Happy Reading! 

Overdue Notices 

Overdue notices will be sent out at the end of every term (4 times a year) as a reminder to return overdue borrowed books. A second overdue notice will be sent out at the beginning of the following term if books were not found and returned after the holiday break. A third notice will then be given as notice for payment. Unfortunately, the past few years we have had an excessive number of books not being returned to the library. This year a $15 fee will be charged payable via Qkr! for unreturned books. Our aim is to teach respect and responsibility when borrowing while encouraging regularly reading for enjoyment.  

Book Club  

All orders for issue 1 of Book Club were sent home last week. Thank you to those families who ordered, every cent counts towards reward points for our school. Issue 2 will be sent home soon so stay tuned.  

Library Bags 

A reminder to not to forget own library bags on borrowing days. We have loaned nearly 100 library bags in the first 2 weeks, so students didn’t miss out on borrowing. Please return the school library bags if borrowed the following fortnight. Thank you! 

Library Bages on Borrowing Days

Please don’t hesitate to contact the library staff via email at 

Katrina.howard@mn.catholic.edu.au 

Penny.sneddon@mn.catholic.edu.au   

Primary Coordinator & Gifted Educator Mentor - Mrs Amanda King

Safeguarding

The safety, well-being and inclusion of every student is a top priority at St Paul’s. Safeguarding is about more than just protection; it’s about creating a supportive environment, building positive relationships and ensuring every child feels heard, valued and respected. Our commitment to safeguarding is reflected in the Our Commitment document, written in clear, child-friendly language to help children understand their rights and responsibilities. This resource is a valuable tool for families to discuss with their children, reinforcing that their safety and well-being are always our top priority.

Sport News - Jessica Stefanish-Smith & Melinda Walls

Congratulations to Ivy, Lylah, Adelaide and Lottie on their trial in the regional Netball team. All four students played well and were amazing representatives of St Paul’s

Uniform Shop 2025

Openning Times

Tuesday Afternoons                                  2:30pm – 3:00pm

Wednesday Afternoons                             8:30am – 9:00am

Thursday Afternoons                                 2:30am – 3:00pm

When ordering Uniforms via QKR, don’t change the order date.
Orders will be sent to the classrooms the days the uniform shop is opened.
If for some reason you need to exchange sizes, please ensure that the tags are still on the garment and the garment is in the original packing.

Christa Molan
Uniform Shop Coordinator

Canteen

Have you updated your child's class on QKR????

Order via the QKR App, by 8.55am ON THE DAY.
Lunch orders will be sent to the classrooms in the class lunch tubs.

(IMPORTANT WHEN ORDERING LUNCHES – CHECK THE DATE OF ORDER)
In the past students haven’t received lunch due to the wrong order date entered.

Please discuss with your child if this happens, ask them to come to the office to see Mrs West or Mrs Mac, we will organise lunch for them through the canteen.  Only sandwiches will be on offer.

RECESS:           10:30am – 11:10am

LUNCH:            12:40pm – 1:20pm

Term Dates 2025

Term 1 Friday 31st January - Friday 11th April

Term 2 Monday 28th April - Friday 4th July

Term 3 Monday 21st July - Friday 26th September

Term 4 Monday 13th October - Friday 19th December