Sport
Welcome to the 2025 school year. I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself as the new St Paul’s College Sports Coordinator. Within this role, I oversee the organisation of both internal sport lessons and extracurricular representative sports.
Internal Sport
At St Paul’s we have an internal timetabled sport lesson for one hour per week for all students in Years 7 -10. The sport program for Term 1 will be as follows:
Students in Year 7-10 will participate in a wide variety of different sports throughout 2025. The College will soon have access to the new Mercy Centre which will be a fantastic addition to our sporting resources and enhance sporting opportunities at St Paul’s College for our internal sports program.
We understand that at times it may not be possible for some students to physically participate in sport due to illness or injury. If this is the case, a note from the parent or caregiver is required to be written for your child’s teacher and presented at the beginning of the lesson.
As with any activity, there is an expectation that all students behave appropriately. This is especially important when we travel off-site. Failure to follow teacher directions or behave in a sensible and safe manner will result in students not being allowed off-site for their sports lessons. Students (in some circumstances) may also be required to remain at school and be excluded from participating in sport depending on the level of inappropriate behaviour.
St Paul’s College Representative Sport
In regards to extracurricular representative sports, St Paul’s College provides a range of sporting opportunities for students to participate in organised team and individual competitions locally, and at Diocesan and State levels.
All representative opportunities are communicated through the Compass App and students express their interest in trialling for a team on the App or our new SPC Sports Desk Google Classroom. The code for students to join this Google Classroom is wr4qczg. Once students have registered their interest, the coaches will run trial/training sessions to allow them to select a team, and then the team/s will be announced. Once selected for a College representative sports team students will be required to attend training sessions prior to the day of competition. Additional information about when these training sessions are occurring will be communicated through the Compass App and SPC Sports Desk.
Parents/guardians will receive permission notes for representative sports events via Compass where you can give permission and pay for the event. It is College policy that elective fees must be paid and up to date for a student to be able to attend an extracurricular event, therefore please make sure that this is the case prior to paying for any sporting events.
NSW CCC Sporting Representation
Families with students who wish to nominate to trial for a sport at the NSW Combined Catholic Colleges (NSWCCC) level should make themselves familiar with the Catholic Schools NSW (CS NSW) Sport website. Parents/carers will need to create an account to be able to register their child. Once a student has been registered on the CS NSW Sport portal it will be sent to me for College approval.
This webpage is a summary of all of the representative sports pathways that NSWCCC offers. Within the webpage click on the selected sport tab to get the pathway information for that sport. This information will also be advertised on the SPC Sports Desk. Please be prepared to travel if your child is accepted. Parents have the responsibility to ensure that their child is registered correctly on the CSNSW Sport portal.
College Swimming Carnival
Our College swimming carnival will take place on Friday 21 February at the McElhone Swimming Complex, Kempsey. Students are to come to school at the normal time dressed in sports uniform and Year 7-11 students are permitted to bring a shirt in house colours to wear at the Carnival. Year 12 students can come to the carnival in their house themed costumes. All students (Year 7-12) will be transported by bus to the pool with the whole school carnival starting at approximately 10:00am. Staff and students will return to the College in time for afternoon buses.
Our College swimming carnival’s focus is for our competitive swimmers to have the opportunity to excel in their sport and compete against each other. We also want to have a carnival that is inclusive and enjoyable for all, therefore, we have many non-competitive races and activities for students to participate in throughout the day.
Long Course Swimming
I would like to thank all students who participated in the long course part of the Swimming Carnival earlier this week.
The College Swimming Carnival is a normal school day, and the normal procedures for student absenteeism and early departure must be followed. Please keep in mind that attendance at the Swimming Carnival is noted on student reports. Students who wish to be eligible to attend our awards day at the end of the year need to attend our College community days.
If a student is required to leave early they must follow the same protocols as a normal school day: bring a note signed by their parent/carer stating their name and the time they will get picked up. Parents/carers must pick their child/ren up from the pool and sign them out with a staff member at the gate. Due to the logistics of safely organising students to return for buses in the afternoon, the latest a student can be collected from the pool is 2:00pm.
Regarding swimwear, students must wear suitable swimwear at the carnival that is modest and of an appropriate style suited to a Catholic School environment. If swimwear is deemed unsuitable the student will not be allowed to compete and they will be asked to change back into the clothing they wore to the carnival. Students need also to be mindful that the clothing they wear to the carnival is modest, appropriate and sun safe. Students still need to wear enclosed shoes to school. If a student refuses to cooperate with these expectations parents/carers will be called to come and collect their child.
Finally, swimmers who place 1st or 2nd in any championship races are eligible to compete at the Diocesan Swimming Carnival to be held on Thursday 6 March (Week 5) in Lismore. Parents will be required to make their own arrangements for their child to attend the Diocesan Swimming Carnival in Lismore. Students who then place 1st at the Diocesan Swimming Carnival will be eligible for the NSW Combined Catholic Colleges (NSWCCC) Carnival at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre, Homebush on Thursday 3 April (Week 10).
Mr Leon Robinson - Teacher and Sports Coordinator