Principal's Message

Feast of Saints Peter and Paul

Feast_of_St_Paul.png

This year we took a slightly different approach to our liturgical and community-building activities for our annual feast day.  A liturgy was held in PC classes with teachers being able to interact with students and explain the significance of many aspects of a liturgical celebration.  Similarly, the afternoon activities involved competition within and between PC groups with lots of fun trivia and other games incorporated to ensure a nice end to the day.  Well done to Mr MacAndrews, Miss Henry and our YMOs, Darcy and Calissa, for a wonderful day of celebration and interaction. 

Professional Learning Days Cancelled

A reminder to you all that our planned days of professional learning (student-free days) have been cancelled in support of parents and families that are already doing it tough. We are doing our best to keep students in school and pressure off parents. We are looking at ways to provide staff with essential training times that are less disruptive for families. 

Cancelled days:

  • Friday, 3 July (final day Term 2)
  • Monday, 20 July (first day Term 3) 

Reports and Parent/Teacher Interviews

The next of our Parent/Teacher interview dates is set down for 10 August.  The format for this evening is yet to be determined but may involve some online Zoom interviews.  We will keep you informed as information becomes clearer around what is acceptable in the community. 

Concern.jpg

Some Issues of Concern

Uniform

Over the years, we have made a number of concessions to support students with uniform requirements.  Nevertheless, having a strong identity through uniform is one of the key aspects of St Paul’s College that separates us from other schools.  Most parents agree that uniform for students provides them with a sense of belonging and teaches us about pride in our workplace.  This is essential when moving into the workforce post-school. 

So What Have We Done Over The Years? 
  • Provided girls with a single uniform to reduce cost impacts on families of purchasing two separate uniforms for winter and summer.
  • Allowed junior boys to wear shirts untucked all year and senior boys similarly during summer terms by providing an academic shirt that is fashionable to do so.
  • Allowed the school jacket to be worn everyday instead of just with the sports uniform.  In previous years, students were required to wear the knitted jumper when wearing the academic uniform.
  • Created a jacket with an inner liner to provide warmth and a hood to protect in wet weather.
  • Reviewed our insistence on ‘school shoes’ with a heel.  A polishable shoe without a heel is now allowed, even if not preferred.
  • Created a single sock for boys and girls (unisex) which can ultimately be worn for sport and academic uniforms.
  • Provided every student a free school cap or bucket hat a number of years ago to encourage the wearing of hats while outside. 
So Why Am I Concerned?
  • In many cases, students still want to ignore uniform requirements and wear whatever is comfortable or ‘streetwise’.
  • Long sleeve shirts under blouses, hoodie jumpers under jackets (with hoods out) cause uniform to look anything but similar.
  • Socks of all varieties being worn that are clearly not compliant with uniform requirements.
  • An explosion of hats being worn that are not uniform, and being strung on the outside of bags in preparation for wearing them at any time. The excuse being “it is expensive so I do not want it getting crushed in my bag”.
  • Jewellery (boys and girls) and makeup (generally girls) becoming far too obvious, especially brightly coloured nails. 
How Do We Fix This? 
  • We cannot do this without parental support.  We are relying on our partnership with parents and carers to provide a united front in ensuring uniform is seen as important in this school.
  • Please insist your child leaves home dressed correctly.
  • If you cannot provide this guarantee, please write a note IN THE DIARY with an explanation of WHEN the issue will be rectified.
  • Do not allow foreign hats and jumpers to be worn or taken to school to reduce the temptation to wear them while here at St Paul’s.
  • Support us when sanctions (penalties and punishments) are applied by staff.

Parents Using Mobile Phones to Contact Children

Mobile_phone_cartoon.png

From time to time, it is understandable that parents want to be in contact with their child while at school.  There are many situations where it is conceivable that immediate contact is required.  But for the majority of cases, contact is not urgent and should operate through normal channels, eg the front office phone system.  In either case, however, the use of student mobile phones is a distraction and disturbance to learning that is generally avoidable and not required. 

What Happens When You Make Direct Contact With Your Child? 
  • The learning of your child and the rest of the class is potentially interrupted.
  • You are setting in place an attitude of disregard for school rules and giving permission for your child to pick and choose which ones to follow.
  • You place staff in conflict with students when they attempt to enforce rules.
  • You keep the school out of the loop and poorly informed when emergency information needs to be conveyed.
  • Allowing your child to contact you when they are in trouble for an event creates stress on your part when only ‘parts of a story’ are made known to you.

The use of the phone in school is becoming a larger and more unmanageable problem.  The staff of the College are understandably very concerned that your child’s learning, their ability to teach effectively, and relations between school and home are being impacted because of phone use.  We ask families to support us in managing what is only going to become an even bigger problem if we do not work together. 

I wish you a lovely and restful break. 

Term 3 Resumes: Monday, 20 July for all staff and students.

God Bless

Kevin Lewis BEd (Syd) MEd (ACU) GradCertRe (Uon)

College Principal

kevin.lewis@lism.catholic.edu.au