RevelationsThe fortnightly newsletter for Pre-K to Year 12 families of St Paul’s

Revelations - St Paul’s Fortnightly Newsletter. Issue No. 46 1

Issue No. 46 13th September 2019

From the Principal

Preliminary render of the Innovation learning Centre

A huge thank you and congratulations must go to our hardworking Friends of St Paul’s team who coordinated the recent Spring Trivia Night.

Over 200 people attended this memorable evening and were able to participate in a variety of activities to raise funds for our building project. Teams competed in trivia, coin tosses and paper plane flying.There was a silent auction and a live auction of some terrific items and experiences. It was great to see tables of ex-students, staff, parents and friends of the school coming together and enjoying good competition and community. Money raised from the evening will go to the building fund and in particular the building of our new Innovation Learning Centre, which will house new Mathematics and STEM classrooms and a new Secondary School Library.

I would encourage you to get involved with Friends of St Paul’s as they seek to build our community and support the school in many ways. The group meets on a Tuesday evening once a month in the Main Administration Building.

Their next major event is the upcoming Colour Fun event, occuring at the start of next term, on Saturday 19th October. This was a wonderful event last year and a great way to support the school.

Tickets for this event can be purchased at https://www.trybooking.com/BDAII.

Our thoughts continue to be with our Year 12 students who have completed their trial examinations and now are experiencing their final few weeks of formal schooling before their graduation and then their final examinations next term. We are looking forward to acknowledging their significant achievements and celebrating with them as they conclude their time at St Paul’s. Other year groups in the Secondary School are also in examination mode as the term concludes.

During the upcoming holidays, Catherine Corry and Antony Mayrhofer will join me on a visit to our sister school in Suzhou, China where a small satellite class has commenced. These students will be studying in the class for 12 months and then will transfer to St Paul’s in the middle of next year, coming into Year 10. The class is designed as an International Baccalaureate preparation course and will greatly assist the transition of these students into our school.

CRICOS 02267A

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From the Principal Continues

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.

Worship the Lord with gladness;

come before him with joyful songs.

Know that the Lord is God.

It is he who made us, and we are his;

we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Psalm 100: 1- 3

It was excellent to see part of a rehearsal of the Secondary School musical last week. There were so many students at the rehearsal that the staff had to shift to the outside courtyard to ensure there was enough space. It was great to witness our gifted staff and students in action preparing for another amazing St Paul’s musical. We are currently determining the staging of the production and would be very interested in hearing from any families that have any scaffolding or staging modules that we may be able to utilise.

I am so grateful to God for our wonderful school community. We are blessed with amazing facilities, dedicated staff, supportive families and fantastic students. God has indeed richly blessed our school over many years and as we plan for the future we can have confidence that he will continue to be faithful.

Ian Wake Principal

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From the Head of Junior School

Ian BrookerHead of Junior School

Junior School HICES Athletics Carnival

The Junior School HICES Athletics Carnival was held on Wednesday, 28th August at Sydney Olympic Park Athletic Centre. Our team did an exceptional job with many students beating their personal best times. We were very impressed with the way our students conducted themselves throughout the day. They should all be very proud.

Congratulations to all students in our HICES team:

Luke Alderson, Giorgio Avgerinos, Tiffany-Rose Burchett, Oliver Cadman, Amrah Connor, Kurt Corbett, Amelia Croft, Famke Cullan, Laura Davies, Harrison Dunn, Victoria Dunn, Benjamin Dwyer, Patrick Dwyer, Joshua Farrell, Adam Foster, Dominic Francica, Holly Goedee, Teagan Hall, Ryan Henson, Mia Jakobsson, Anna Jia, Finn Kennedy, Owen Levy, Cooper Levy, Leo Lewis, Ethan Mackie, Alexander Mackie, Ivan Mayorchak, Stella Muscat, Brylee O’Sullivan, Logan Pate-Matthew, Harrison Podesta, Abigail Simiana, Isobel Somerville-McAlester, Jason Son, Anastasia Stevanovic, Alexander Thompson, Erin Wake, Chloe Williams, Marcus Willis, Wendy Xia.

Three students progressed to the CIS Carnival, held on Thursday, 12th September.

Congratulations to Famke Cullan, Ethan Mackie and Chloe Williams. We appreciated the support of the family members and loved ones that attended the carnival.

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From the Director of Learning Services

St Paul’s is Preparing Students Well for the Future

Last week, I attended an educational leaders’ conference, entitled Re-imagining Learning. It was encouraging to hear the keynote speakers describe how schools and curricular need to change to prepare students for the future and know that many of the suggestions are already deeply embedded in learning at St Paul’s.

Two of the keynote speakers commented that students coming through IB schools are much better prepared for tertiary study and a rapidly changing future world than students who do not have this learning experience. One school shared with me that they had recently introduced the IB Middle Years Programme to address their concern that they needed a framework that would develop the skills required to prepare students for the future. This school has no intention to introduce the Diploma Programme, feeling that a well delivered middle years curriculum will prepare students well for the HSC.

At St Paul’s we have found that the Primary and Middle Years Programmes have developed the skills and intellectual curiosity that have enabled our senior students to achieve their best regardless of the Year 11 and 12 curriculum they choose – HSC or IB Diploma. The HSC at St Paul’s is delivered by the same teachers with the same approach to teaching and learning as the IB Diploma, enabling all St Paul’s students to have an opportunity to maximise their potential.

Year 12 Holiday Study Camps, Drop in Centres and Courses

Each year various organisations run study camps to support Year 12 students as they prepare for their final examinations.

CRU study Camps are offering holiday revision camps specifically for HSC and IB Diploma students in Year 12. The school cannot endorse these courses, but students may be

keen to attend.

Brochures for these camps are available from the Student Office. In previous years, St Paul’s students have found these helpful, however they sell out quickly.

A study lounge for Year 12 students is being run in Emu Plains during the school holidays at Nepean High School. The Study Lounge operates from 9am – 3.30pm, Tuesday to Thursday, in both weeks of the upcoming holiday break. Supervised study is available with coffee, snacks, and lunch all provided, at no cost. Registration is not required.

La Trobe University has a series of Build Your Study Skills webinars, one of which will run on Thursday, 19th September at 6pm. Students can book here (from the link, click 'Book now' for a full list of sessions).

School Recommendation Scheme for Year 12 Students - Closing Soon

The School Recommendation Scheme (SRS) is available to all Year 12 students and allows students considering some (but not all) universities to be considered by more than their ATAR. The scheme takes into consideration if the student has been a consistent worker at school, but may not have received marks that indicate their application or ability. Some offers are conditional. Some are unconditional. In the past few years Macquarie and Western Sydney Universities have made many offers to our students through this scheme.

We strongly recommend that all students looking at university study apply using the SRS.

Any student can apply for the SRS. SRS applications can be completed online here.

The scheme closes on Monday, 30th September so students who have not applied should do so soon.

Antony MayrhoferDirector of Learning ServicesE: antony.mayrhofer@stpauls.nsw.edu.auP: +61 2 4776 4705

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From the Director of Students and Family Services

Year 12 Farewell Celebrations

With the end of Term 3 drawing near, St Paul’s is gearing up to farewell our Year 12 students. The usual host of Graduation activities will be conducted in the final week of term culminating in the whole school Graduation Assembly on Thursday, 26th September and the Valedictory Dinner the following evening. This final week is always a wonderful time of celebration and we are very much looking forward to sharing this time with our Year 12 students.

ISA Athletics Carnival

St Paul’s recently hosted the ISA Athletics Carnival at Homebush. Such an event requires an enormous amount of organisation with almost 100 student helpers required to staff positions on both the track and field. A huge congratulations to our Sports Academy Coordinator Mrs Tantalos and her administrative assistant Miss Daczko for the many hours they spent in preparing for the day. Thank you also to the staff and student helpers who gave up their time to run this massive and lengthy event.

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From the Director of Students and Family Services

Continues

The Duffy Medal

Whilst on sporting matters I would like to remind all families about the annual Duffy Medal evening, taking place next Friday night, 20th September, in the Centre.

The Duffy Medal is the occasion where all the school sporting achievements of our students are acknowledged and celebrated. Coffee will be served from 4.45pm with the Pre-K to Year 6 Presentation commencing at 5.15pm. Dinner will then be served to all students and parents from Pre-K to Year 12 at 6pm before the presentation to our Year 7 to 12 students commences at 7.00pm. The Duffy Medal is always a great event and I look forward to seeing as many of our families there as possible.

Examinations Examinations commence for all students in Years 7 to10 next Monday, 16th September. We hope that all our students do their personal best and wish them well as they prepare for and sit their exams.

Uniform Changeover Finally, I take this opportunity to remind all our families of the email that was sent home recently regarding the uniform changeover period. As evidenced by the last two weeks, St Paul’s experiences extremely changeable weather at this time of the year. Therefore, from next Monday, 16th September through until the end of this term, students are allowed to wear either their full summer or full winter uniform to school. Please note, they are not permitted to wear a mixture of the two uniforms. Once school recommences in Term 4, all students are required to be in their summer uniforms.

Philip Heath Director of Students and Family Services

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From the Coordinator of Middle Years Programmes

Middle Years Examinations

During the week of 16th to 20th September, students in NESA Years 7 to 10 / MYP Years 2 to 5 will sit examinations in many of their subjects and complete other valuable learning experiences. The schedule is published on my.stpauls here. There are also notes regarding when PE uniform may be worn instead of summer or winter uniform.

In the same section of my.stpauls, there is also a document regarding procedures which should be read by all Middle Years students. It includes information about bringing black pens, a ruler, highlighters, pencils and a sharpener in a clear zip-lock bag or equivalent but not in a pencil case. Any water bottles should also be clear.

We are allowing study time before most examinations. Therefore, mobile phones should remain locked in lockers and programmable watches, music players and electronic dictionaries should be left at home. We are allowing paper study materials and laptops to be brought into the examination rooms, as long as they are placed onto the floor before examinations commence. Laptops are only to be used for academic reasons and will likely be confiscated if they are being used to play games or to do anything not directly related to the current session.

If students are unwell, please keep them home and seek medical attention. There will be the opportunity to complete make-up examinations during the final week of this term. As usual, please inform the school about absences by emailing absence@stpauls.nsw.edu.au as soon as possible. Medical certificates can be scanned and emailed to this address.

Teachers need time in which to mark examinations and give detailed feedback to students, so that these assessment tasks can enhance future learning and not merely generate grades. Therefore, it may be as late as Week 3 of Term 4 before all papers are returned to students. In Term 4, with the pressure of examinations behind them, students will continue to develop skills, cover content and complete other forms of assessment tasks. Reports will not be distributed until Presentation Evening on the last day of term.

Mary Robyn Coordinator of Middle Years Programmes

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From the Dance Academy

Independent Schools Dance Festival

On Friday, 6th September, dancers from our St Paul’s dance companies were invited to attend the Independent Schools Dance Festival, hosted by Inaburra School, Bangor. This festival celebrates excellence in Dance in Independent Schools. This year, the festival was at its largest, with 12 schools participating from across the greater Sydney region.

Throughout the day, students attended workshops with a professional choreographer, collaborated through movement with other schools, and practised their works in a technical rehearsal.

During the evening, students performed with dancers from various independent schools in a showcase. Students in the Jazz and Contemporary companies showcased their talent and delighted audiences with their technical works.

Year 9 student, Ilaria Sinka, reflected on her experience in the workshop:

“We were able to take part in a workshop and it was a great experience as a dancer. We were taught by Kira Nelson who is a Senior REDed Instructor. We learnt a Lyrical/Contemporary phrase. The phrase was fluid and contrasted with sharp movements. The first fragment of the work was performed on our own and then throughout the dance, we connected with a partner and performed movement together. The partner work was challenging as we had to go with someone from another school. The performance was really beautiful and fun to perform. Overall, I really enjoyed the workshop and enjoyed learning from Kira Nelson.”

Miriam Bennett

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Ensembles Programme

Congratulations to the students from the Music Academy Ensembles Programme who performed for the AHISA NSW Chapter Meeting on Sunday, 18th August. The 7-12 String Ensemble; the 7-12 Choir and selected dancers; and The Céili Band represented St Paul’s superbly at the event. Thank you to the students and staff for their contribution to the event.

HICES Music Festival

Congratulations to Arabella Logan (Year 7) and Gemma Komorowski (Year 5) who represented St Paul’s Grammar School at the recent HICES Music Festival held at Stanwell Tops. The Festival concluded with a dynamic concert featuring students from HICES Schools at Sydney Town Hall on Wednesday, 21st August.

From the Music Academy

Curriculum MusicCongratulations to Year 11 and Year 12 Music students who performed at the senior music recital, Circa III on Thursday, 22nd August and Friday, 23rd August in PA1 from 7pm.

The following students performed beautifully for a warm and enthusiastic audience:

Arabella Logan (left) and Gemma Komorowski (right)

Massed choir and orchestra rehearsing at the HICES Music Festival

YEAR 12

Thomas Gardiner

Elan Gock

Adem Harnett

Ella Lock

Kaitlyn McCarthy

William O’Rourke

Imogen Taylor

Nixi Zhang

YEAR 11

Aadila Abdul

Nathan Dillen

Thomas Keane

Marilyn Oxlade

Luke Zoglmeyer

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From the Music Academy Continues

Circa III Gallery

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Church School News

EMU PLAINSSTUDYLOUNGE