In this issue

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

WELCOME BACK 2018
Welcome back to school to all of our community and especially to new families.  We have started the year with lots of smiling faces and a happy buzz around the place.  It is exciting to see our new building at the end of the Prideaux Centre already in use as our new Horizon Centre and the Kitchen Garden with its new garden beds being worked in by half of our Year 4 students, with the other half enjoying cooking and eating the produce.

Our new students have been welcomed into their new classes and are reporting that they are really enjoying starting at St Paul’s.  Likewise our new staff have made a smooth transition and have all remarked on how much they are enjoying teaching our wonderful students.

The Year 6 students began their year of leadership with a thought provoking talk from Jim Asimakopoulos, which was followed by a sausage sizzle.  Tuesday 5 February saw our School Captains, Ananya and Benjamin inducted to their positions in a ceremony at the Secondary School, along with the school leaders from the Warragul Secondary School and Traralgon Campuses.

It was good to see a big turnout of parents at the Years 3 to 6 Information Evening on Monday 5 February.  As mentioned there, we hope that all families make use of MyStPauls to keep current with what is happening in their children’s year levels, as well as what is coming up throughout the Junior School.  Teachers will upload homework, projects and other useful documents, which may save some stress if they cannot be found in the school bag.  If you have lost your login details, please contact the IT department and they will be able to issue you a new one.

Last week began with all students completing sessions to orient them to processes and expectations in the Junior School. This meant that all students have a shared understanding of how things work and also allowed them to meet the teachers and ‘break the ice’ in a low key and relaxed atmosphere.

The Years 3 to 6 students completed half hour sessions in the following areas:
Diary, Rules and Uniform – Summary of use of the Junior School Diary (including filling in notes, reminders and events).  Expectations with regard to uniform, shirts in when indoors, hair and jewellery.  Reinforcement of rules, play areas, boundaries and language.
Social Skills and Courtesy – Review of the School Values and Code of Conduct (pages 13 to 15 of student diary).  Appropriate ways of joining in, including others, holding doors open, manners and greetings.  Bullying, zero tolerance, ‘tell a teacher’.  Everyone has the right to feel safe, happy and respected at St Paul’s.
Team Building – Getting to know you activities.
Music – Overview of Music in the Junior School. Choirs, Ensembles, Clubs and assembly performances.
Sustainability – Recycling, composting, no rubbish outside, water wastage, kitchen garden, lights/power off in classrooms, computer printing and paper.
PE – Quick friendly, all-involved game, talk about sports equipment/sports shed.
Cyber Safety – Orientation into the appropriate use of computers (email, Skype, Facebook) and electronic devices (mobile phones, iPods and iPads).
STEM and Horizon Centre – Overview of the role of the Horizon Centre.  Programs, competitions and other activities students may/can become involved in.  Students also heard about our STEM program and visited the new STEM Centre.
Art – Overview of Art in each year level.  Expectations in the art room.  Co-curricular opportunities.

All Prep to Year 2 students attended some shorter PE, Music, Library, Art, Dance, Drama, Japanese and RE classes where they were introduced to the programs being run in each specialist area this year.

It has also been lovely to see and hear our Storytime group with Mrs Davies and Pre-Prep and Pre-Kinder students continuing their transition sessions as they work towards attending full sessions in the coming weeks.

A highlight of the start of the year was that we were fortunate to have a very interesting guest speaker at our opening assembly, one of our parents, Mr Andre van de Beek.  The students were fascinated to hear about his passion for flying, how he followed his dream, worked hard and persisted to become a helicopter pilot, firstly in the military and now working for Ambulance Victoria, flying out of Traralgon.  A few lucky students were able to get dressed up on stage in the real equipment used when flying and completing rescues.

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.

Assembly and Chapel Times
A reminder of our assembly and Chapel times this year are:
Years 3 to 6, Monday 2:20 pm, Junior School Gymnasium, Prep to Year 2, Friday 2:45 pm, Prideaux Centre.  Parents are most welcome to join us during these times.

Please note a change of date for the House Athletics Carnival for Years 3 to 6 to that advised earlier, it will now be held on Monday 5 March.  Parents are encouraged to attend and cheer on their children.

After School Care
A reminder that After School Care is available each day after school and I ask parents interested in using this service to visit the Camp Australia website www.campaustralia.com.au or contact their Customer Service Team on 1300 105 343 to register your child/ren.  Camp Australia oversees all billing and accounts with regard to OHSC.  Parents should also apply for the Child Care Tax Rebate to help meet out-of-pocket child care costs.

Car Park
Just a reminder that everyone should use the pathways and cross the road at the zebra crossings when entering or leaving the ELC or Junior School to ensure we all stay safe.  Could I also please remind parents to be extra careful when reversing out of car parks.

I hope to see many families at our Family Welcome Night BBQ on Friday 23 February, beginning at 5:30 pm.

Horizon Centre under construction.

Horizon Centre complete.

WHAT’S ON IN THE JUNIOR SCHOOL

FEBRUARY
12 February  Welcome and Information Evening, Prep to Year 2, Junior School Gymnasium, 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm
13 February  Warragul Junior School Leaders’ Induction Service, Junior School Gymnasium, 2:20 pm to 3:20 pm
15 February  Years 3 to 6 Swimming Carnival, 9:30 am to 12:30 pm
21 February  District Swimming (selected students only), 11:30 am to 2:30 pm
23 February  Family Welcome Night BBQ, 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm

HUMAN POWERED VEHICLE (HPV) SEEKING DONATIONS

The HPV team, affectionately known as ‘Team Jaffa’, is currently auditing and purchasing new training equipment for the 2018 season.  Should anyone in our school community have spare cycling equipment in good condition that they are willing to donate, we would happily accept such donations.  This may include cycling gloves, helmets, clothing, shoes, cleats, or other equipment.  Please contact Chris Ambrozy  cambrozy@stpaulsags.vic.edu.au

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 will automatically validate the parent’s eligibility with Centrelink on 29 January 2018.

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

WELCOME
The start of the term has been busy as expected, it was however lovely to be reminded of how wonderful our students are upon their return.  In particular I would like to welcome our Year 7 students and other new students who have joined our school community in 2018.

Our Whole School Leaders Induction Service was held this Tuesday and it was a wonderful service.  It was quite a sight to gaze upon the entire St Paul’s community, (albeit minus some of the juniors from the Junior Schools).  Congratulations to our School Captains, Rachel Jennings and Tomas Dowler, who were presented with their badges.

Thank you to the parents and students who were able to attend our Year 7 Information Evening.  The weather was most kind and it was lovely to share a simple barbeque with our new Year 7 parents and students in a relaxed atmosphere.  I was most impressed that many of our Peer Support Leaders were prepared to show their support by attending and helping to cook the barbeque.

MyStPauls
For parents who may not have heard yet, we are still promoting the MyStPauls app.

Simply search MyStPauls in the App or Google Play store.  It is a great way to configure and manage your notifications.  Go to ‘Settings’, ‘Notification Settings’ and then choose when to ‘Receive homepage blog messages’ and ‘Receive news messages’.

‘Spirit of ANZAC’
Congratulations to Hollie Bugeja and Macy Austin!  Hollie Bugeja (Year 10) recipient of the Overseas study tour prize, a ten-day study tour exploring World War II sites in Darwin and Singapore.  Macy Austin (Year 11) recipient of the Canberra study tour prize, a three-day study tour of significant sites in Canberra, including the Australian War Memorial.

This is a wonderful opportunity for both students to learn about the service and sacrifice of our veterans.

Hollie Bugeja.

Macy Austin.

WHAT’S ON IN THE SECONDARY SCHOOL

FEBRUARY
14 February  Swimming Carnival, Moe Outdoor Pool
15 February  SEISA Summer Sport, Round 2
16 February  Athletics Trials
19 to 23 February  Year 7 Camp, Coonawarra

HUMAN POWERED VEHICLE (HPV) SEEKING DONATIONS

The HPV team, affectionately known as ‘Team Jaffa’, is currently auditing and purchasing new training equipment for the 2018 season.  Should anyone in our school community have spare cycling equipment in good condition that they are willing to donate, we would happily accept such donations.  This may include cycling gloves, helmets, clothing, shoes, cleats, or other equipment.  Contact Chris Ambrozy cambrozy@stpaulsags.vic.edu.au

WARRAGUL AND TRARALGON SECONDARY SCHOOLS COMBINED SWIMMING CARNIVAL

The Secondary School Swimming Carnival is being held on Wednesday 14 February and all students are expected to attend.

Students are to be at school by 8:50 am and are to go to their house areas, wearing the correct sports uniform.  Students will travel by bus; departing from school between 9:05 am and 9:20 am and will be taken by bus to the Moe Outdoor Pool.  Students are to wear full house sport uniform, this consists of the official school sports shorts, house top, school hat and sports shoes (no thongs).  If the weather is cold students may wear the school track pants and school spray jacket.  Students wishing to wear costumes in house colours must change into these clothes at the pool.

While every attempt to provide shady areas is made, it is essential that students keep their hats and tops on whilst waiting to compete or spectating.  All girls are required to wear a one piece swim suit, bikini style is not permitted and girls will be asked to wear a polo top if this is the case, even when competing.  Sunscreen must be worn and regularly reapplied during the day.  Sunscreen will be provided by the school, however students are asked to bring their own sunscreen as well.  Students are advised to make sure that they have plenty to drink during the day and a water bottle is advised.  While there will be a kiosk available, we recommend that students provide their own lunch.

Students will be returned to school by bus in time for a normal departure at 3:30 pm.  Students who wish to travel directly to the pool in the morning, must bring a note to their Mentor Teacher prior to the day.  Any student wishing to leave from the pool must bring a note from home to show their House Teacher on the morning and again when leaving the pool.

Ben Zanella
Head of Sport – Warragul Campus

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 will automatically validate the parent’s eligibility with Centrelink on 29 January 2018.

From the Head of Warragul Secondary School,
Ms Laura Butterworth.

The 2018 academic year has started extremely well and I would like to commend all of our students on the way they have returned to school and begun their studies.  Last Thursday, our first day with students, we held an assembly and formally welcomed our new Year 7 cohort.  As is tradition at St Paul’s, all students stood and clapped the entry of the Year 7 students.  On the Year 12’s last day we also stand to farewell them.  Our 2017 cohort certainly achieved impressive results and I spoke to our students about what those results mean to us as a school and what they should mean to them as individuals.  I told them that success is measured in many ways and is very individual to each person.  As a school we are proud of our strong results but I wanted them to know that the pride I speak of extends far beyond those ATARs over 90 or 80.  Excellent results also come in the form of apprenticeships and employment and success can be improving from a D grade to a C or a B to an A.  What is important to us is that they apply themselves to their studies and they endeavour to improve.  Success can occur in and out of the classroom and for some students it occurs through their involvement in performing arts, sport or another co-curricular pursuit.  We want our students to pursue their passions at St Paul’s and they will be different for every student.  Earlier this week at our Whole School Leaders Induction Service our 2017 Dux, Hannah Roberston-Sas, addressed the students and spoke of her St Paul’s journey.  It was such an honest and humble account of a student whose passion for learning did not come quickly or naturally to begin with.  Hannah is a great success story and, although she was our highest achiever, it was through sheer hard work, perseverance and sacrifice that she managed to achieve the score that she did. With her permission I have included her speech for you all to read:

Good morning,

I feel incredibly honoured to speak today as your Dux of 2017, and for my voice to represent the outstanding successes of my cohort over their time at St Paul’s.  Receiving this award has been a humbling experience and I must first take this time to give my sincere thanks to all those who played a role in the triumphs reaped in 2017.

 I believe that the story I tell today – of my journey as a student at St Paul’s – is a powerful one because it advocates the inherent importance of education in shaping and enriching lives, as well as the unequivocal power of the broader community fostered at St Paul’s. I also think it’s a relatable message because it speaks out to the hordes of students who may struggle a little to find their way and shows that the path towards success is never fluid nor flawless, but that it doesn’t need to be.

My time at St Paul’s began in 2002 and the journey towards completing high school was not smooth nor perfect. Certainly, the beginning of secondary school for me was challenging, as it is for many, as you grapple with the concept of growing up and discovering what kind of person you want to become. For me, this was a time riddled with self-doubt and confusion which expressed itself through my lack of focus towards school.

Yet, it was my teachers who helped me move beyond this negative outlook. A passage in a speech given by Eddie Woo – a secondary teacher who was recently honoured for his contributions to Australian society – perfectly captures the essence of this experience for me. Talking about the role of educators, he said: ‘School is about so much more than learning facts; it’s about fashioning citizens and giving them a passion to make the world a better place. As the ancient Greek writer Plutarch put it, “education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire”.’

And in a way, not dissimilar to how Eddie Woo puts it, my teachers ignited my love for learning and inspired me to make a positive contribution to the St Paul’s learning environment. When I was at the cusp of VCE, my teachers encouraged me to choose subjects that I was personally interested in.  In doing so, I began to truly relish and appreciate my education – not only because I was liberated from the anguish of maths, but because it gave me a sense of purpose and direction. Being passionate about the content I was studying indisputably helped me write essay after essay, do practice exam after practice exam, and put in the countless number of hours necessary for success in VCE.

 And while this is a story rooted firmly within my academic pursuits, I think it stretches far beyond the classroom to champion the power of hard work and commitment, of sacrifice and of self-growth, in all of your endeavours throughout life. That’s what I love most about my journey at St Paul’s – it shows that the pathway to success is never perfect or untainted, but driven instead by a strong work ethic.

 I believe that education has the potential to radically alter the trajectory of a person’s life. I really do believe that my time at St Paul’s has greatly influenced my career aspirations to become a secondary teacher. This year I will be studying secondary education at Deakin University and am looking forward to both the challenges and rewards that this profession will bring.

Congratulations and thank you to Hannah Roberston-Sas.

2018 Leaders
It gave me great pleasure to formally induct our 2018 student leaders on Tuesday at the Whole School Leaders Induction Assembly.  I would like to introduce the school community to our 2018 School Captains, Isabel Thomas and Cameron Wong, and our 2018 Deputy School Captains, Lauren Clark and Jack Ellis.

Isabel Thomas.

Cameron Wong.

Lauren Clark.

Jack Ellis.

2018 Prefects
Our 2018 Prefects are: Lauren Brewer, Tristan Clark, Brianna Comber, James Gallagher, April Leach, Chetan Narayan, Reuben Neumair, Lucy Prideaux, Clemency Spencer and Gerard Wilkinson.

2018 House Captains
Our 2018 House Captains are: Isabella Morrish (Chisholm), Elly Radford (Franklin), Bella Fraser (Gilmour), Molly Galvin (Lalor), Emmerson Mudie (Monash) and Sarah Cunningham (Paterson).

I congratulate these students on their appointment and look forward to working with them in 2018.

SUMMER SUN
Just a reminder to parents to please ensure that your child has a wide brimmed navy school hat for the summer terms. Students are expected to either sit in the shade or have a hat on at all times in Terms 1 and 4.

WHAT’S ON IN THE SECONDARY SCHOOL

FEBRUARY
9 February  Class of 2017 Morning Tea, 10:30 am
Years 7 and 8 Swimming Trials
13 February  Presentation Ball Training
14 February  Warragul and Traralgon Secondary Schools Combined Swimming Carnival
15 February  SEISA Summer Sport, Senior and Intermediate, Round 2
16 February  VEIS: Interschool Show Jumping, Ayr Hill Equestrian Centre, Clyde North
19 to 23 February  Year 7 Peer Support Camp, Coonawarra
22 February  SEISA Summer Sport, Senior and Intermediate, Round 3

HUMAN POWERED VEHICLE (HPV) SEEKING DONATIONS

The HPV team, affectionately known as ‘Team Jaffa’, is currently auditing and purchasing new training equipment for the 2018 season.  Should anyone in our school community have spare cycling equipment in good condition that they are willing to donate, we would happily accept such donations.  This may include cycling gloves, helmets, clothing, shoes, cleats, or other equipment.  Please contact Chris Ambrozy  cambrozy@stpaulsags.vic.edu.au

HOLLIE AND MACY ARE PREMIER’S ‘SPIRIT OF ANZAC’ COMPETITION WINNERS!

During their studies of World War I and World War II History last year, Hollie Bugeja and Macy Austin entered the Premier’s ‘Spirit of Anzac’ Competition.  Hollie sculpted a replica trench wall from World War I complete with artefacts from soldiers “about to go over the edge.”  Macy produced a YouTube clip highlighting the impact of World War II on Australian society.  Both entries were well researched and creative and led to the students being chosen as finalists.  They then participated in an interview and group workshop day at the Shrine of Remembrance, where they were chosen as two of the forty-four winners of study tours.  Hollie will take part in a ten day study tour exploring Second World War sites in Darwin and Singapore and Macy a three day study tour of significant sites in Canberra, including the Australian War Memorial.  We are very proud of both girls and would encourage any interested Years 9 or 10 students to see their History teachers and enter the competition this year.

Hollie Bugeja.

Macy Austin.

WARRAGUL AND TRARALGON SECONDARY SCHOOLS COMBINED SWIMMING CARNIVAL

The Secondary School Swimming Carnival is being held on Wednesday 14 February and all students are expected to attend.

Students are to be at school by 8:50 am and are to go to their house areas, wearing the correct sports uniform.  Students will travel by bus; departing from school between 9:05 am and 9:20 am and will be taken by bus to the Moe Outdoor Pool.  Students are to wear full house sport uniform, this consists of the official school sports shorts, house top, school hat and sports shoes (no thongs).  If the weather is cold students may wear the school track pants and school spray jacket.  Students wishing to wear costumes in house colours must change into these clothes at the pool.

While every attempt to provide shady areas is made, it is essential that students keep their hats and tops on whilst waiting to compete or spectating.  All girls are required to wear a one piece swim suit, bikini style is not permitted and girls will be asked to wear a polo top if this is the case, even when competing.  Sunscreen must be worn and regularly reapplied during the day.  Sunscreen will be provided by the school, however students are asked to bring their own sunscreen as well.  Students are advised to make sure that they have plenty to drink during the day and a water bottle is advised.  While there will be a kiosk available, we recommend that students provide their own lunch.

Students will be returned to school by bus in time for a normal departure at 3:30 pm.  Students who wish to travel directly to the pool in the morning, must bring a note to their Mentor Teacher prior to the day.  Any student wishing to leave from the pool must bring a note from home to show their House Teacher on the morning and again when leaving the pool.

Ben Zanella
Head of Sport – Warragul Campus

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 will automatically validate the parent’s eligibility with Centrelink on 29 January 2018.

A new you?

“A new year, a new start, a new you!”  There is nothing like the start of a new year to bring out all the advertising for fitness programs, diets, fashion outlets, short courses and even financial advisors.  All promising to help you remake, reshape, retrain or reorganise you into a better person.  The strategy is generally the same for all of them.  They show us an image of the ideal – the sculpted muscles, the perfect figure, the luxurious lifestyle – then tell us how we too could be like that (the implicit message being that clearly we are woefully inadequate as we are and really need to do something about it).  And it works because it plays straight into our underlying insecurities and fears.  We all have a sense that life could be better and most of us are only too aware of our own faults and failings.  But we also know that the products cannot and will not live up to their promises.  And so we are left feeling worse than when we started and potentially somewhat poorer as well.

For me, the Christian story offers a much greater promise of new life.  The ideal God puts before us is not some superficial image but a picture of real hope.  “God will make his home among his people.  He will wipe all tears from their eyes, and there will be no more death, suffering, crying, or pain.  These things of the past are gone forever”. (Revelation 21:3-4)  At the same time, there is no sugar-coating our failings, “All of us have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory”. (Romans 3:23)  But rather than demanding unattainable perfection from us in our own efforts, God makes His home amongst us in the midst of our failings and invites us to let Him do the work of changing and renewing us.  Our worth is not dependent on our successes or even our efforts.  We already have great worth as persons made in the image of God.  Our calling is not to strive vainly to meet the impossible standards we see on our screens.  Our calling is to join with God in the work of restoring a broken world.

This is surely good news for all of us as we start a new year of school.  We can try new things, confident in the knowledge that our success or failure does not determine our worth.  We can accept our faults humbly, reassured in the knowledge that no one is perfect.  We can strive to be a better person, secure in the knowledge that it is not our own efforts but God’s work in us that will ultimately make a difference.

Welcome to a new school year.  May it be one of great joy, growth and renewal for each of you.

Reverend Daniel Lowe
Senior Chaplain

Welcome

It is with pleasure that I welcome all of our St Paul’s community to the first Grammarian of 2018.  It is wonderful to see the students back from the break looking refreshed and ready for another big year.  We have also very much enjoyed the opportunity to meet and share important information with our school families at the Welcome Evenings scheduled across the school in the last week.

On Tuesday we had the pleasure of bringing together our whole school community from Years 3 to 12 for the Welcome Assembly.  At this assembly, we inducted our new whole school leaders into their roles and our highest VCE ATAR achievers (ATARs over 95) into the Academic Honours’ Society of St Paul’s.

These students, in alphabetical order, were:

• Madeleine Bensley
• Matthew Bikaako
• Stephen Charles
• Jack Downes
• Damon Guy
• Hanru (Eddie) Huang
• Sunni Kenny
• Hannah Robertson-Sas (Dux)

We could not be more delighted for these students.  Their hard work was duly rewarded and they should be proud of their efforts.  The Class of 2017, as a whole were notable for their diligence and they should all be pleased with their results.  I know they all have exciting future plans and many new journeys and opportunities await them.

A highlight of the assembly was hearing from our Dux, Hannah Robertson-Sas, who inspired us all with her reflections on learning.  One of my favourite lines from Hannah’s speech (which is contained in full in the Warragul Secondary Section of the Grammarian) was ‘…what I love most about my journey at St Paul’s – [is that] it shows that the pathway to success is never perfect or untainted, but driven instead by a strong work ethic’.  This was a valuable reminder to us all about the sustained effort required to achieve any and every goal we set for ourselves.

Whole School Aims 2018

Every year we work from an extensive list of goals in all of the areas of our new Strategic Plan.  As the list is so extensive we also chose a small number of goals for our annual focus for staff.  This year those goals are as follows:

• MyStPauls and enhanced feedback for learning
• The ongoing use of data to monitor student progress
• Knowing the whole child.

We firmly believe that the combination of these goals will allow our staff across the school to further enhance every student’s learning and, importantly, meet them at their point of need.  We look forward to reporting to you on our progress as the year unfolds.

Code Red

Every family should have received an email from Acting Deputy Principal, Mr Rowan van Raay, in regard to the School’s implementation of a Bushfire Code Red Day Policy. If a Code Red is called by our Emergency Services on a school day then St Paul’s will, for the safety of all of our travelling students and staff, notify families of a school closure day.  The notification will go out to all families via text, email and on Facebook by 1:00 pm on the day prior.

Contact Details

As most school communication is via phone, text message and email it is very important that all family contact details are up to date on our system.  Please call your relevant campus if you need to change a contact number, email or address.

Donna Sweeney
Acting Principal