In this issue

Swimming Carnival
Human Powered Vehicle
Equestrian
Warragul Junior School Band

Grammarian Issue 2, 23 February 2018

Traralgon Junior School

From the Head of Traralgon Junior School,
Mr Andy McNabb.

Dear Parents,

Well, we are fully into the swing of Term 1. We even managed to have our first ‘proper’ assembly of the term on Monday and well done to our Year 6 leaders for stepping up in their roles. This is something that over the years we may tend to take for granted but it is a wonderful opportunity for our students to grow as they learn how to present in front of an audience. I have often told the students that when I started in my role as Head of School, I would stand at the front of assembly and do all these things myself. Then we graduated to me sitting at the front with the students to help them. These days I sit in the audience and wait for my turn to speak. When it comes to advancing our students, I believe that is growth.

Having said all of that, our Year 6 students will be at The Summit next Monday for some leadership training and so our Year 5 students will step into the role on Monday. That will be great training for 2019!

We have held both our Information Evening and Welcome Night at the pool over the last two weeks. Next year we are looking at a different format for these events which we will let you know about towards the end of the year.

In connection with this, it is difficult to please everyone but we are constantly reviewing the way we contact parents regarding upcoming events and general information. Do we email, do we text, do we place information on MyStPauls and is the electronic sign helpful? Should we continue to use the physical diaries and are we frustrating parents with too much communication or do they feel they are not receiving enough?

These are questions we are constantly asking and if you have any feedback regarding this important area we would love to hear from you. The feedback can be emailed directly to the Junior School office by contacting: cjones@stpaulsags.vic.edu.au

Whilst we cannot accommodate every request, we want you to be fully informed without feeling you are drowning in too much information. Carlie sent out a group text reminding parents about uniforms for school photos this week and we did not have one child in the office on photograph morning trying to ring home for blazers or other articles of uniform. That was a fantastic improvement on previous years and appeared an effective and quick way of communicating, so let us know if you agree.

In the last fortnight we have inducted our Year 6 leaders at a special assembly where Ms Sweeney as Acting Principal helped us to wash the students’ feet. You can read the story behind this in John 13: verses 1-17, but in a nutshell, Jesus showed that as a leader he was not above washing the feet of his followers and showing them that his role was that of a servant.

Year 6 then headed down to St James Community Church on Shrove Tuesday to help serve (and eat) delicious pancakes, while the rest of the Junior School made pancakes of various sizes and thicknesses which they used to race each other. We got some great action shots of very determined racers! Year 6 then boarded a bus for Melbourne where they completed eleven activities on a whistle stop tour of Melbourne as part of their Urban Camp.

On Tuesday our swimming team headed off to the District competition to swim against eleven other local schools. Once again we triumphed, which was the sixth year in a row but what pleased Mr Reed more than anything was the attitude and behaviour of our students at the event. Now to win it for a seventh time in 2019. No pressure, Mr Reed!

Our ELC concluded the incursion/excursion process for the fortnight with a visit from a group which was called – ‘Living Safely with Dogs’. Given Kira and Remus’ presence in school, this is particularly relevant for us and Kira has already accompanied me to both of our Pre-Prep groups for Chapel in the last two weeks.

Some of the information in this edition of the Grammarian will also appear on MyStPauls and I wanted to begin the year by reminding you of our process for dealing with any concerns.

There will be occasions where I, as Head of School get involved immediately but if you have a concern and want to contact the school, it is always best to first talk with your child’s classroom teacher. If the issue cannot be resolved at that point, you can then talk with Mrs Harkins, who is primarily responsible for pastoral matters throughout the Junior School. She may choose to then involve either Mrs Hunter as Deputy Head if it is a purely pastoral matter, or Ms Steendam if it is more of an academic concern. This team of staff are highly skilled in helping students and parents with concerns and I whilst I am kept fully informed of events, my involvement is usually limited to hearing of a successful conclusion to concerns. I would never want any parent to feel that they can not talk with me but we believe this structure we have put in place works well in the vast majority of cases.

I have already spoken about communication, so a quick heads up to look out for information on our next school visit to the wetlands, run by the experts from Landcare Australia. We will be studying everything from water, to soil and even birdlife down there. Hopefully no boots will be needed this time as our next visits are planned for 13 and 14 March, straight after Labour Day. Year 6 are also planning an overnight stay down there in the last week of term.

Now if you’ll excuse me I need to get off to the gym. I always work pretty hard there but if I am to be in the right condition to flip the size and weight of the pancake produced by 2C last week, I need to do some serious training!

WHAT’S ON IN THE JUNIOR SCHOOL

FEBRUARY
26 February Year 6 excursion to The Summit
28 February Division Swimming

MARCH
7 March Years 3 to 6 Athletics Carnival
Junior School Parent Student Teacher Interviews (PSTIs), 3:30 pm to 8:00 pm
8 March Junior School Parent Student Teacher Interviews (PSTIs), 3:30 pm to 6:00 pm
12 March LABOUR DAY PUBLIC HOLIDAY
21 March School Tours, between 10:00 am and 2:00 pm
District Athletics
27 March Possum and Koala ELC Photos
28 March Joey and Wombat ELC Photos
29 March Easter Service and FOSP Easter Egg Hunt
End of Term 1, 2:30 pm finish

SSV (School Sports Victoria) TEAM VIC TRIALS

Parents please note that the nominations for your child are open now on the School Sports Victoria website. If you are interested in nominating your child this has to be done online after talking to the PE teacher about the nomination. There is a $25 cost for each nomination. The process is explained on the website in the TEAM VIC icon.

CLASS AWARDS

Prep V
Prep V for a wonderful start to the year.
Benjamin for making such a wonderful start to St Paul’s.
Prep S
Prep S for making a fabulous start to Prep!
Siya for always showing a positive attitude.
Year 1F
Year 1F for a fabulous start to the year!
Mason for showing great courage for the beginning of the school year! Well done!
Alissa for being super organised and setting an example for everyone in Year 1! Well done!
Year 2S
Year 2S For a great start to 2018.
Vanessa for fantastic descriptive writing.
Year 2C
Bryce for making a great start at St Paul’s.
Teddy for making a great start at St Paul’s.
Phoebe for a great acrostic poem about herself.
Year 3BH
Cohen for his confident and enthusiastic start to Year 3!
Ryder for the extra effort he puts in to complete his work to a very high standard.
Year 3BD
Zachary for making a great start at St Paul’s.
Fraser for concentrating well in class and making a fine start to Year 3!
James for an excellent effort in writing and being a kind and caring friend to those in need.
Olivia for great work mapping states and capitals on her Australian map.
Year 4O
Phoebe for the way she has embraced Year 4 and all of our routines and expectations.
Heidi for persisting in all areas in the curriculum – inside and outside of the classroom.
Year 4/5W
Matthew for making a positive start to school at St Paul’s.
Axel for your starting Year 5 with ‘have a good go at everything’ attitude.
Year 5H
The whole of Year 5H for such a mature, responsible and successful start to Year 5.
Josh for being so diligent and conscientious in everything he does in class! Well done!
Max for taking on feedback from Mrs Hunter and consistently showing improvement!
Year 6R
Krsna for keeping a detailed diary of Urban Camp.
Year 6H
Nicholas for making a positive and energetic start to breakfast club.
Sam – congratulations and thank you for standing up for others and leading by example!
Jake for washing many many dishes whilst on camp. Great effort.
All Year 6 Students for outstanding behaviour whilst on camp in Melbourne.

INTERSCHOOL SHOW JUMPING
Members of the St Paul’s Equestrian team, Zoe Waller (Year 7), Ellen Thirkell (Year 8) and newcomers to the team Brooke Olsen (Year 3) and Tahlia Pursell (Year 7), competed at the first Interschool Show Jumping event held at Ayr Hill Equestrian Centre last Friday. This event is huge with well over two hundred competitors from all over the state attending.

Zoe Waller stepped up a class with her horse ‘Mobile App’ competing in the Level 6 Advanced and did very well finishing mid-field. She also rode ‘Instagram’ in the Level 5 Intermediate and finished with a third place in the two phase class.

Ellen did really well with a second place in the freshman’s two phase on ‘B.P. Ferrero’ and some really good rounds on ‘N.R. Greetings’.

Brooke held her own in the hotly contested Level 2 Encourage class. After a few mishaps on the way to the event, she held it together and did some really nice rounds. Well done Brooke.

Tahlia Pursell did extremely well at her first interschool event riding for St Paul’s. Tahlia was second in the Grand Prix class to finish third overall, a fantastic result.

There were a few of the more experienced riders out due to horse injury and studies, so hopefully the next event should be a good one for the team in the overall standings. Wonderful efforts from all.

Samantha East
Equestrian Coordinator

FROM THE FINANCE OFFICE

Annual Fee Account
Families have recently received via email an annual fee account for 2018. If you have any queries in relation to your annual fee account, please contact Mr Peter Lees on 5623 5833. As detailed on the second page of the account, payment options are:

Direct Debit:
All families are encouraged to participate in the School’s direct debit payment arrangement.
Fortnightly instalments (22 payments) commencing 9 February 2018
Monthly instalments (10 payments) commencing 15 February 2018

Should families wish to commence payment by Direct Debit, please contact Mr Peter Lees, accountsreceivable@stpaulsags.vic.edu.au

Instalments (due dates):
Instalment 1 – 9 February 2018
Instalment 2 – 6 April 2018
Instalment 3 – 8 June 2018
Instalment 4 – 17 August 2018

Payment in Full:
A discount of $300 per child, from Prep to Year 12, is offered to families if the annual invoice is paid in full by 23 February 2018.

Private Car Conveyance Allowance
Families driving students more than 4.8 kilometres to attend St Paul’s Anglican Grammar School may be eligible to receive a conveyance allowance. For further information on the eligibility criteria and application process, please refer to http://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/principals/finance/Pages/conveyance.aspx

Eligible families applying for the car conveyance allowance will have funds credited to their fee account during the year. If the fee account has been paid in full, or is on a direct debit arrangement, any allocation will show as a credit on the following year’s invoice. These forms need to be handed to the school by 28 February 2018 for claiming in Term 1.

The Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (CSEF)
The Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (CSEF) provides payments directly to the school for the benefit of the eligible student to attend camps, sports and excursions. Families holding a valid means-tested concession card or temporary foster parents are eligible to apply. $125 per year will be paid for eligible primary school students and $225 per year paid for eligible secondary school students. Payments will go directly to the school and be tied to the student. For more information and to download the application form please go to www.education.vic.gov.au/csef. Parents are encouraged to lodge the application form by 28 February 2018, so that payments can be made from March 2018. However schools can accept parent applications up until 8 June 2018 for processing in Term 2.

For parents who received CSEF at the school in 2017 (and the student/s are still enrolled in 2018), the school will ‘copy’ the application across from 2017 to 2018 on the CSEF system. The CSEF system automatically validated the parent’s eligibility with Centrelink on 29 January 2018.

Grammarian Issue 2, 23 February 2018

Traralgon Secondary School

From the Head of Traralgon Secondary School,
Mr Stephen Klemke.

TRARALGON LEADERS INDUCTION SERVICE

Congratulations to all of the students who were inducted at our recent Leaders Induction Assembly and thank you to the parents who were able to come along. I thank all our inducted leaders in advance for their year of service.

However, I made the point that all students have a role to play in leadership, by adhering to our school values of wisdom, integrity, compassion and respect, and by being a positive role model for others. At St Paul’s, what makes our students so wonderful is we have so many who set such a positive example. While our inducted leaders have additional responsibilities we have many students who act as leaders whether they wear a badge or not.

It should be noted that SRC representatives and winter sports captains will be inducted at a future assembly.

SWIMMING CARNIVAL AND ATHLETICS TRIALS

Since the last Grammarian we have had our Secondary Swimming Carnival and our Traralgon Secondary Athletic Trials. Unfortunately I was on medical leave and unable to attend either, however, staff have repeatedly told me how wonderful our students were. The extremely strong winds could not dampen the house spirit and enthusiasm at our swimming carnival and as one staff member remarked, there was a really lovely and happy vibe to our athletic trials. Both days were tremendous successes.

Thank you to Sandra Timmer–Arends and our Sports Trainee Thomas Northe for their work in organising both events.

CARPARK AND DROP OFF ZONES

It has come to my attention that some parents have been dropping off and picking up students on the ‘fly’ in our carpark loop. Stopping mid road/loop without parking, to pick up or drop off their child. May I remind everyone to either park or use the drop off zones when picking up or dropping off their child.

WHAT’S ON IN THE SECONDARY SCHOOL

FEBRUARY
26 February Performing Arts Scholarship Holders Concert
27 February Year 9 Camp Information Session, Student Session – 12:40 pm (lunchtime) Parent Session – 7:00 pm
28 February SEISA Swimming Training Session

MARCH
1 March SEISA Swimming Carnival
8 March SEISA Sport Years 9 and 10, Round 4
DAV Debating
9 March Traralgon Secondary and Junior School Family Photos
12 March LABOUR DAY PUBLIC HOLIDAY

INTERSCHOOL SHOW JUMPING

Members of the St Paul’s Equestrian team, Zoe Waller (Year 7), Ellen Thirkell (Year 8) and newcomers to the team Brooke Olsen (Year 3) and Tahlia Pursell (Year 7), competed at the first Interschool Show Jumping event held at Ayr Hill Equestrian Centre last Friday. This event is huge with well over two hundred competitors from all over the state attending.

Ellen did really well with a second place in the freshman’s two phase on ‘B.P. Ferrero’ and some really good rounds on ‘N.R. Greetings’.

Brooke held her own in the hotly contested Level 2 Encourage class. After a few mishaps on the way to the event, she held it together and did some really nice rounds. Well done Brooke.

Tahlia Pursell did extremely well at her first interschool event riding for St Paul’s. Tahlia was second in the Grand Prix class to finish third overall, a fantastic result.

Samantha East
Equestrian Coordinator

FROM THE FINANCE OFFICE

Should families wish to commence payment by Direct Debit, please contact Mr Peter Lees, accountsreceivable@stpaulsags.vic.edu.au

Instalments (due dates):
Instalment 1 – 9 February 2018
Instalment 2 – 6 April 2018
Instalment 3 – 8 June 2018
Instalment 4 – 17 August 2018

Payment in Full:
A discount of $300 per child, from Prep to Year 12, is offered to families if the annual invoice is paid in full by 23 February 2018.

Grammarian Issue 2, 23 February 2018

Warragul Junior School

From the Acting Head of Warragul Junior School,
Mr Phil Barkla.

ACTION IN THE JUNIOR SCHOOL!

The past weeks have seen plenty of action in the Junior School with Parent Information Nights, Leaders’ Induction Service, Years 3 to 6 House Swimming Carnival and the Prep teachers busy completing their individual assessments with children each Wednesday. The Year 2 Strings and Year 5 Brass and Woodwind Programs have started with enthusiastic participants creating some distinctive sounds! Year 6E began their visits to Amberlea, Lyrebird and Fairview Village as part of their Community Service Program.

ELC Students: A great few weeks for all of our ELC students who have been settling into Pre-Prep, Pre-Kinder, Little Learners and Storytime groups. The sessions are getting longer and next week they will be there for full sessions. I have enjoyed seeing our new group in Storytime having such a rich experience in the Library on Wednesday mornings. Another treat has been visiting the ELC, talking to our students who are so friendly, curious and very welcoming. I have been introduced to families through photos taken in different parts of the world, heard a variety of names children have for their parents and had lots of fun making music with the rhythm sticks.

Congestion at drop off and pick up times: It is taking some time for everyone to get used to pick up and drop off after the holidays and it has been challenging to find a park at times, especially in the morning as parents take the opportunity to catch up with their child’s new teacher. I am confident that this will improve as everyone gets into full swing for the year. Could I encourage parents to use the drop off lane if they do not need to walk in to school in the morning. A reminder that with lots of traffic, both pedestrian and vehicles, everyone needs to be particularly vigilant. Please avoid the temptation to be on your phone at these times and to keep your speed down to walking pace. It only takes a second, whether backing out, parking, arriving or departing for an accident to occur, so please keep our community safe on the school roads.

Junior School Captains inducted: We were pleased to welcome our Acting Principal Ms Sweeney, who gave a thought provoking Principal’s address at our recent Junior School Leaders’ Induction Service in the Junior School Gymnasium. With minimal rehearsal our Year 6 students conducted themselves with aplomb and the service ran very well. My thanks to everyone involved. The students were excited to be presented with their badges and we are looking forward to seeing their leadership in action for the year. I was very proud of our Years 2 to 5 students who respectfully sat through the service and promised their support to the newly inducted leaders.

We are looking forward to welcoming back our much loved office manager, Karen, who has been absent from her usual role over the past couple of weeks. In her absence the office has been ably manned by Cathy, Kath and Luisa who have done a marvellous job which has been much appreciated by all.

Years 3 to 6 House Swimming Carnival: Our Swimming Carnival ran very smoothly with students from Years 3 to 6 enthusiastically participating to the best of their ability. Students swam in Freestyle, Backstroke, Breaststroke, Butterfly and Relay events, while those less confident in the water participated in novelty races. Our Year 6 leaders excelled in helping the younger students to be ready for marshalling and made sure that they stayed in their house areas, cheering on their team mates. Thanks to Mr B, staff, all of the parent helpers and parents who attended to support their children. Emerald House won the carnival and Seth Cannon from Year 6 took out the fastest swimmer race for the second year in a row, closely followed by Mia Nippers. Congratulations to Emerald House, Seth and all of the students who progressed through to the next level.

Our new Preps have made a smooth transition to the Junior School and are learning to find their way around the school. They have experienced assemblies and their first chapel service, in which they participated with much enthusiasm. They have enjoyed playing on the Prep playground and learning the new classroom routines, as well as all of the specialist classes.

Hopefully the Year 6 parents are enjoying some ‘home service’ from their children who have started their Service Awards. I have seen children already helping teachers to complete a variety of jobs, working towards the School Service component of their award.

Mrs Leighton has continued and expanded on the good work done in past years in the Kitchen Garden. The new netting is on some of the fruit trees which are still bearing fruit, such as the apples, pears, persimmon and fig and the students have been busy feeding the new worms in the worm farms with vegetable waste collected from the classrooms. They have enjoyed comparing the taste of freshly picked fruit with that bought in a shop. The kitchen group recipes have included very tasty muffins and bruschetta, which have contained produce picked from the garden. I am looking forward to trying some of the food produced from the new fruit dehydrator which has recently been purchased.

I look forward to reporting back on the Junior School barbeque in the next publication of the Grammarian. I have had a visit from Lauren, representing the Year 12 Prefects and they have planned some fun activities for the evening. I am particularly looking forward to sitting in the fire truck and maybe spraying some water like a real fireman. There are excursions and more sporting activities planned in coming weeks. Lots to look forward to across the school.

FAMILY WELCOME NIGHT BBQ

We are looking forward to the ‘Family Welcome Night BBQ’ on Friday 23 February, with all the fun events, such as our Prep Grand Prix, 100 metre Gift and the Year 12 Prefects running activities for the Junior School students. Families are welcome to BYO Picnic or you might like a sausage in bread off the barbeque (cooked near the Kitchen Garden). These are compliments of the Junior School and our Junior School SRC will be selling cold drinks. You can visit your child’s new classroom, or specialist areas, meet staff or play some games with your children on the multi-purpose courts or oval. Families are welcome to drop in for a quick visit or stay for the duration. We see this as an opportunity for families to visit us in a relaxed and informal setting, catch up with each other and for new families to make some new friends.