ST PAUL'S PRIMARY SCHOOL

God of love, Father of all,

the darkness that covered the earth gives way to the bright dawn of your Word made flesh.

Make us a people of this light.

Make us faithful to your Word, that we may bring your life to the waiting world.

Grant this through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

As we come to the final week of the year for students and head into Christmas, we have so much to be thankful for. What a unique and interesting year it has been! I am so grateful we have been able to come together as a community and return to many of our end-of-year events.

The end of the year brings us to a point of change, with students finishing one year of schooling and looking towards moving on to the next, our Year 6 students graduating from St Paul's and moving to secondary school, some of our staff moving on and new staff about to join us. The change of moving into different grades and different schools and welcoming different people can bring about excitement for some and worry for others. It's important that, in these times, we step back and ensure we see the possibilities that lay ahead and know that so many great opportunities await. What an exciting year we have ahead!

Thank you, everyone, for each individual person's contribution to our community this year and your support of our amazing school. St Paul's is a very special place!

Please make sure you note the messages below as there are some important things coming up.

At the Annual Community Meeting, I notified the community of the staffing for next year. At that point in time, we were in the process of appointing a Physical Education teacher to replace Mr Sanders and I am pleased to let you know we have appointed Mrs Kristy Wise for next year. Kristy brings great energy and expertise and will be a great addition to our team at St Paul's. She has actually previously worked at St Paul's for a short time in 2015.

I am sad to inform you that Mrs Helen Chatzimichail will also be moving on at the end of the year. Helen has been at St Paul's for some time and will be greatly missed. We congratulate her on her new appointment and know she will be a great addition to her new school. We are currently in the process of appointing a replacement for Helen.

Last week on Friday, we celebrated our Year 6 students and their Graduation. We began with Mass at our parish church and Fr Tim, in his homily, spoke to the students about the Latin meaning of the word graduate being 'a step'. As our Year 6s climb this step to the next stage of their schooling, we send them off with our gratitude for what each individual one of them has contributed to our school.

The Year 6 students and their parents also enjoyed a very special Graduation celebration back at the Barbier Hall after Mass. What a great night it was! Our thanks go to Mrs Todaro for all of the many hours of work that went into putting all of the elements of the Graduation together and having it running so smoothly. Our immense gratitude also goes to all of the Year 5 parents who contributed to putting together such an amazing celebration and, in particular, to Carly Willcox, who coordinated the celebration. It is not everywhere that you would have such a generous community that gives so much of their time and energy to make an occasion like this so special.

It's nearly here! We are so excited to be holding our annual Christmas Concert and Edu Dance Concert on Wednesday (7 December) at 6:00pm. All students from Kindy to Year 6 are required to attend. Students need to go to their classrooms at 5:45pm so they can be assembled and brought out to their places to begin the concert on time.

The evening will involve acknowledging our families who will be leaving St Paul's at the end of the year, our Kindy to Year 6 Christmas Concert and finally, our Edu Dance Concert. Following the Christmas Concert, there will be a short break as students get ready for the Edu Dance Concert. During the break, Kindy students are to be picked up from their classroom. Following the Edu Dance Concert, Year 1-3 students will return to their classrooms and Year 4-6 students will gather in the hall. Parents must collect their children from the classroom teacher at the end of the night.

This is an event for the whole community so everyone is welcome! Students will need to sit with their class and there will be an area marked off for this. Please consider others by allowing those on blankets to be in front and those bringing chairs further back. Bring your own picnic to enjoy. We are looking forward to a great evening that is not to be missed!

Our Vinnies Christmas Appeal concluded last week and we are so grateful for the generous support of our community toward such an important appeal. We were able to donate an impressive amount of food this year! Thank you!

As noted at our Annual Community Meeting, we have exciting news regarding our school fees for the 2023 academic year, just in time to brighten Christmas!

St Paul's Primary School has been approved to keep our school fees the same, despite rising inflation which is impacting all of us. This is made possible as a result of changes to the overall funding for Catholics Schools in Western Australia.

As a result, and in consultation with Catholic Education Western Australia (CEWA), the School Advisory Council has endorsed that school fees remain the same for 2023 as per the 2023 school fees table available on our website.

CEWA provides an affordable school choice for more WA families than ever and our school remains committed to providing the high-quality, Christ-centred and child-focused education that our families have come to expect.

I hope families will welcome this news as indicative of our school's commitment to meeting your family's needs. We are strongly committed to delivering the highest quality education along side our other programs in 2023 and beyond.

Please note, 2023 term dates and proposed pupil free days can be found on our website in the General Information tab. A detailed calendar will be available as soon as possible when we have confirmed some dates. For those receiving Sacraments in 2023, the proposed dates can be found here.

I have been informed by the City of Stirling that the job of replacing the grass in the sandy section next to the hall has been scoped for over the summer, however, they have been recently hit with unexpected complications involving one of their major turfing contractors, which potentially jeopardises multiple projects for the City of Stirling. They have assured me they are working hard to keep things on track and they remain committed to the job.

Premier's Reading Challenge

Several of our students completed the Premier's Reading Challenge and will be receiving their certificates this week. Congratulations to all involved!

Piano Examination

Our congratulations go to Hope Hoe who achieved an A+ in her recent piano exam. Well done, Hope! What an impressive achievement!

Have a safe and blessed Christmas. Enjoy the holidays and time with your families!

Regards,

Pete Merry

Principal

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Email: admin@stpaulsmtl.wa.edu.au
Website: https://stpaulsmtl.wa.edu.au/
Location: 7 Learoyd Street, Mount Lawley WA, Australia
Phone: (08) 9462 6000
Facebook: facebook.com/stpaulsmtl