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

Revelations - St Paul’s Fortnightly Newsletter. Issue No. 49 1

Issue No. 49 26th November 2019

It’s hard to believe that the end of the year is upon us.

Yearly reports are being completed, event organisation is in full swing and Christmas decorations are appearing. The last few weeks have also been unique as we respond to the fire events that are currently occurring in our state. As you are aware, recently the school made the unprecedented decision to close for a day due to the forecast ‘catastrophic’ fire warning issued by the RFS. Last week we also closed all playground areas due to very poor air conditions caused by smoke from fires throughout the state. We are fortunate that our dams are still quite full enabling us to keep watering our gardens and ovals. As we look towards a long, potentially hot and dry summer, we are so grateful for our emergency services and the thousands of volunteers who care for our community. Our thoughts and prayers are certainly with all those currently still threatened by nearby fires and all those involved in responding to them. We also pray that our country might receive fire-quenching rain that will rejuvenate the land and fill tanks and dams.

Last week saw the final examinations for our hardworking Year 12 students. All HSC and IB exams have now been completed and it was lovely to see the relief and sense of accomplishment evident as students put their pens down and finished their rigorous examination schedule. We wish them well as they enjoy a much-deserved break prior to commencing a new chapter in their lives as they complete their secondary school journey. Early next year we will celebrate their accomplishments at the first Principal’s Assembly of the year and hear about their plans for the future.

Our school board has approved the submission of a grant application to assist in the funding of some building developments as we endeavour to realise our master plan. The main part of the application will centre on the construction of a new double storey building, which will incorporate new Mathematics and STEM learning spaces, a new secondary school library, staff facilities, toilets, a lecture theatre and student services facilities. This is an exciting and ambitious project for our school and will provide much needed additional facilities as the school continues to grow and develop. We have already received a grant for Stage 1 of this building and

we are hopeful that we might be successful also in this new grant application as we seek to construct all stages of the building simultaneously. A development application for the building has been submitted to council and our architects are currently completing the detailed plans and documents needed for us to go out to building companies for tender. This is certainly a significant project for our school and your prayers would be much appreciated as we endeavour to move the school forward.

Over the next two weeks, there are many school events to conclude the year. I encourage you to attend as many as you are able. In particular, I would highlight the upcoming Christmas Celebration this Friday afternoon and evening. A great array of food trucks will be serving dinner from 4pm on the lawns outside the centre, so bring along some chairs and picnic blankets and enjoy the outside entertainment provided by our talented students. At 7pm, we will move into the centre to celebrate together the birth of Jesus. We are expecting quite a crowd as a large number of students are involved in this event so it is important you reserve your free seats by using trybooking. This event is special as it is a great opportunity for our whole community to come together. I am very grateful for the large number of staff involved in its organisation at such a busy time of the year.

From the Principal

CRICOS 02267A

Revelations - St Paul’s Fortnightly Newsletter. Issue No. 49 2

From the Principal Continued

The year will conclude for students on Thursday, 5th December where we celebrate our students’ wonderful achievements in all areas of school life at the Junior School Presentation Assembly and Secondary School Presentation Assembly during the day and our whole school Presentation Evening. These are a great way for us to finish the year and are important events to attend. All students from Year 5 to Year 11 are expected to attend and our Year 12 students are of course very welcome. Reports will be issued to secondary students at the conclusion of the evening Presentation Assembly.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank each of you for your support of our wonderful school community throughout the year.

I pray that over the coming Christmas break you might have time with your family and friends to reflect on the blessings we have received. It is a time to remember and acknowledge the birth of Jesus 2000 years ago in Bethlehem. This historical event is the most significant occurrence in all of human history. Because of Jesus’ birth, death and resurrection our relationship with the God who is sovereign over all can be restored. May God richly bless each of you and your families.

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6

From the Sport Academy

Attention all Netball Players!In 2020 the St Paul’s Sport Academy are looking to enter teams into the Penrith Netball Association's Saturday competition.

This is an exciting new opportunity for our school and as such we need your support. Players from 7-12 years are encouraged to register their interest via the Junior School Academy my.stpauls page. Teams need a minimum of 10 players to register. Spread the word and be part of this exciting step!

Like any local netball club, we also require committee members. We are taking expressions of interest from parents to take up the role of president, umpire coordinator and committee members. Please email sport@stpauls.nsw.edu.au for more information.

Ian Wake Principal

Revelations - St Paul’s Fortnightly Newsletter. Issue No. 49 3

From the Head of Junior School

Year 4 Instrumental Programme Learning Journey

Last week it was a pleasure to be part of the Year 4 Instrumental Learning Journey. Students demonstrated their learning from across the year, showing their skills on instruments such as trumpet, flute, clarinet, saxophone, violin, ukulele and percussion. The students’ ability to play as an ensemble was impressive as were their reflections on their learning.

The concert also provided an opportunity for Year 3, who were part of the audience, to begin to think about the instrument they might want to play in 2020 as they move into Year 4. Mrs Mansley’s capacity and expertise in coordinating this new initiative has been outstanding.

Sojourn 19

Sojourn 19, the St Paul’s dance showcase, is always a highlight on the school calendar as it features curriculum and academy dances from Pre-Kindergarten to Year 12. Over two nights, the dancers dazzled the audience. As always, “The Petites” were a hit with a work based on “The Greatest Showman”. It would be remiss of me not to thank all the dance teachers and academy staff for their tutelage of the students; the Junior School staff backstage helping with supervision and costume changes; and of course Mrs Cullimore for overseeing the entire show.

Primary Camp Programmes

It is quite unusual to have three primary grades away from school at the same time, but during last week, Years 3, 4 and 5 participated in their respective camping programmes at Galston Gorge, Stanwell Tops and Lake Macquarie. The camps are an integral part of developing social skills, independence, confidence and resilience for our students. Moreover, the students have opportunity to reflect and inquire into the Christian message of hope. I am grateful for our Junior School Staff who have left their families at home to support this programme.

Christmas

As the School year draws to a close, I would like to thank all the families of the Junior School for their continued and generous support. I would also like to wish everyone a blessed and safe Christmas and I look forward to seeing everyone in the New Year.

Luke 2:10,11 “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.”

Ian Brooker Head of Junior School

Revelations - St Paul’s Fortnightly Newsletter. Issue No. 49 4

Junior School Maths Olympiad

This year, a select group of students competed in the annual Maths Games (Year 3 and 4) and Maths Olympiad (Year 5 and 6). Our talented mathematicians spent all year preparing for these competitions and worked well in teams discussing how they solved the problems. Students enjoyed comparing the different ways they work to solve mathematical equations.

We would like to congratulate the students from both teams.

Maths Games

Charles Fawcett

Jack Street

Isaac Krebs

Daniel Low

Mia Scarano

Rhys McDonough

Owen Levy

James Vicary

Maths Olympiad

Jeremy Tjiantoro

Tomomi Gu

Carlina Mileto

Julian Hastings

Mohammad Ahmed

Cooper Levy

Lachlan Kumar

Ethan Mackie

Ashton Russell

Patrick Dwyer

Bradley Maxwell

Alex Reid

Edward Ruming

Christian Vicary

Ivan Mayorchak

We are very proud of all our students for showing determination and passion for such a rigorous key learning area. These students have proven themselves to be knowledgeable thinkers.

Corinne Day Deputy Head of Junior School Curriculum and PYP Coordinator, Junior School

Special Awards

Congratulations to Jeremy Tjiantoro who achieved the highest individual score form his team and was in the top 10% of all participants

Congratulations to Julian Hastings, Carlina Mileto and Tomomi Gu who were in the top 25% of all participants.

Revelations - St Paul’s Fortnightly Newsletter. Issue No. 49 5

International Competitions and Assessments for Schools (ICAS) English, Science and Mathematics

Results

Each year our students (Years 3-6) are invited to participate in the International Competitions and Assessments for Schools (ICAS), in the subject areas of Science, English and Mathematics. ICAS tests are developed annually for each subject in each year level by a team of subject matter experts. The results have arrived and it is with great pleasure that I announce some of the solid results that our students have achieved.

ENGLISH

Distinction (Top 10% of participants)

Charles Fawcett (Year 3)

Ellen Whitefield (Year 3)

Isaac Krebs (Year 4)

Carlina Mileto (Year 6)

Julian Hastings (Year 6)

Credit (Next 25% of participants)

Mila Ayo (Year 3)

Daniel Low (Year 4)

Xander Scarpari (Year 4)

Jeremy Tjiantoro (Year 5)

Alexander Reid (Year 5)

Gemma Komorowski (Year 5)

Alexandra Stevanovic (Year 5)

Erin Wake (Year 6)

MATHEMATICS

High Distinction (Top 1% of participants)

Charles Fawcett (Year 3)

Jeremy Tjiantoro (Year 5)

Distinction (Top10% of participants)

Mia Scarano (Year 4)

Daniel Low (Year 4)

Cooper Levy (Year 6)

Carlina Mileto (Year 6)

Julian Hastings (Year 6)

Credit (Next 25% of participants)

Cameron Calman (Year 3)

Chloe Williams ( Year 3)

Owen Levy (Year 3)

Ellen Whitefield (Year 3)

Isaac Krebs (Year 4)

Alexander Reid (Year 5)

Bradley Maxwell (Year 5)

Alexandra Stevanovic (Year 5)

Marcus Willis (Year 5)

SCIENCE

High Distinction (Top 1% of participants)

Charles Fawcett (Year 3)

Distinction (Top 10% of participants)

Daniel Low (Year 4)

Julian Hastings (Year 6)

Credit (Next 25% of participants)

Owen Levy (Year 3)

Stella Morgan (Year 3)

Isaac Krebs (Year 4)

Mia Scarano (Year 4)

Xander Scarpari (Year 4)

Gemma Komorowski (Year 5)

Bradley Maxwell (Year 5)

Alexandra Stevanovic (Year 5)

Jeremy Tjiantoro (Year 5)

Cooper Levy (Year 6)

Congratulations to all our students who participated in the competitions and demonstrated commitment and enthusiasm in completing the exam to their very best. Of the remaining participants not listed, these students are awarded a certificate for merit or participation. All students have been presented with their certificates. It is always a great opportunity to acknowledge the academic achievements of our students.

Corinne Day Deputy Head of Junior School Curriculum and PYP Coordinator, Junior School

Revelations - St Paul’s Fortnightly Newsletter. Issue No. 49 6

From the Director of Learning Services

2020 Student Timetables and my.stpauls

The Secondary School timetable for 2020 is nearly complete. This timetable will appear shortly before school resumes at the end of January, 2020. Throughout the holiday break the 2019 timetable and my.spauls classes will remain in place when students log in. This will enable students entering Year 12 to continue to access class page information over the break.

Important Information for Year 12 Students and Families

Year 12 Results ReleaseAll Year 12 examinations have now concluded. We trust that students are enjoying a restful break after the examinations and wish them the very best for their results release.

HSC students’ results will be released at 6am on Thursday, 13th December. Students will receive text messages with these results and can log into the NESA student results site to receive full details. HSC ATARs will be available at 9am on Tuesday, 17th December on the UAC website. HSC students have personalized access details for these websites.

IB Diploma students will receive their results at midday on Friday, 3rd January from the IB candidate’s website. IB Diploma students have personalized access details for this website. IB Diploma students will have their ATAR equivalent generated by conversion of the IB result out of 45 into a rank equivalent. See here for the current conversion.

University OffersCongratulations to students who have begun receiving early offers of places! Around a third of the outgoing Year 12 students have already received offers from universities as a result of completing the School Recommendation Scheme (SRS) or other early applications.

All Year 12 students who are keen to study at university are

encouraged to accept early offers and then change their university preferences to remove the offer place from their list to enable new offers to be made if this is something they wish to pursue. This assumes that students will wish to have a choice of courses to enroll in. In recent years, students who follow this process find that they may have a multitude of choices. Some students wish to study at university but have a ‘gap’ year. For students who wish to do this we recommend they accept an offer and then ‘defer’ the place until the following year. This ensures peace of mind. It also guards against future changes in offer requirements effecting the place. Further information regarding university offers may be found on the UAC website.

The upcoming UAC offer rounds of greatest significance to St Paul’s students are:

A full list of UAC key dates may be found here.

Educational Access Scheme (EAS)Year 12 students could be eligible to apply for the Educational Access Scheme (EAS) if something has disrupted their schooling over a significant part of Year 11 and/or 12 (3 months or more). EAS applications are submitted to UAC who usually find that universities give leeway on ATAR requirements due to disrupted schooling. Further information about EAS may be found here.

EAS applications close on 29 November

Antony Mayrhofer

Director of Learning Services

E: antony.mayrhofer@stpauls.nsw.edu.au

Thursday, 28th November: November offer round 2

Thursday, 12th December: December round 1 offers

Monday, 23rd December: December round 2 offers based on HSC ATARs and SRS second round offers

Friday, 10th January: January round 1 offers based on IB results and HSC ATARs

Thursday, 23rd January: January round 2 offers based on IB results and HSC ATARs

Revelations - St Paul’s Fortnightly Newsletter. Issue No. 49 7

Year 7 OrientationAs mentioned in the previous edition of Revelations, it has been the time of year for our Middle Years prefects to take centre stage at the Year 7 2020 Orientation days that were held last week.

I am very pleased to report that our prefects did an amazing job over the course of the two days. Many staff approached me to let me know just how enthusiastically involved the prefects were, especially in the way they provided hands-on assistance in the teaching of lessons. In addition to this, they engaged cheerfully in chatting to the Year 6 students about Secondary School, all whilst making sure that no one got lost as they navigated the campus. Our Middle Years Captains and Vice-Captains even showed their skills on the barbecue helping me cook for the almost 90 future Year 7 students.

On the Wednesday evening, our Captains, Emerick and Jasmine, performed hosting duties as the orientation programme concluded with an information evening for parents and students in the Junior School Hall. Jasmine and Emerick did an awesome job of sitting behind their desks ‘Panel Style’ and conducted interviews with several of the school’s executive, as well as sharing their own experiences of starting Secondary School.

Middle Years PrefectsOf course with the school year being almost over it is all but time for our Middle Years prefects to relinquish their roles.

As they prepare to do so, I would like to take this opportunity to thank them for a wonderful year’s work in their service to the school. The passionate way in which they threw themselves into the orientation very much typifies the attitude they have shown over the last twelve months. This year has been a particularly active one for our Middle Years prefects with the inaugural ‘Walk the Talk’ program being conducted

From the Director of Students and Family Services

at St Paul’s. This programme culminates this week in an awards ceremony for selected students from the participating schools being held at the headquarters of the Western Sydney Giants. St Paul’s will be represented by five students on the evening.

Our Middle Years prefects are not the only members of the prefect team to finish up at the end of this year. Miss Amanda Sharpe who has coordinated the Middle Years prefects for the past five years is also leaving St Paul’s at the end of the year. Miss Sharpe has done an amazing job with our prefects throughout this time. In more recent times, she has done similarly great work assisting with our senior prefects. She is universally respected by all the prefects for her willingness to get alongside them and encourage them whatever task they are undertaking. Miss Sharpe’s organisational ability is second to none and I want to say a massive thank you for the wonderful job she has done with our prefects. She will be sorely missed.

Our Middle Years prefects may be about to finish their time as leaders but they and the senior counterparts will be hard at work helping at all of our upcoming end of year celebration events which culminate in our speech night. I am looking forward to seeing many of you at these events. As this is the final edition of Revelations for 2019, I would like to take this chance to thank all our families for their ongoing support throughout the year.

Philip Heath Director of Students and Family Services

In closing, I would like wish you all a happy and holy Christmas season and a relaxing and restful break for those of you having a holiday.

Revelations - St Paul’s Fortnightly Newsletter. Issue No. 49 8

From the Dance Academy

"On Thursday 14th and Friday 15th November, Pre-K to Year 11 performed the biggest dance showcase of the year – Sojourn!

We have all worked hard for these past two terms to get this show on the road and for the first time perform two nights of shows. The day starts with a technical rehearsal. This is an important part of the day as it helps the dancers get a sense of what the performance would be like with the different lights. Once the dress rehearsal is complete it is time to finish our hair and make-up while the Junior School students have their turn to practise on the stage. Then it is time for the show!

Backstage was buzzing with excitement all throughout the show as all performers were eagerly waiting to go on stage. A highlight for me would be helping in the Junior School Finale. I had the opportunity to help Kindy students on stage to do their bows and be applauded by a wonderful audience.

Sojourn is a great experience for students as it provides them with an opportunity to perform and share what they have learnt."

Sienna Driver - Year 9 Dance student

Sojourn is a great opportunity for all dancers to see what the other classes and dance academy classes have been working on throughout the year. Being able to watch each other is very encouraging as we are able to see how hard everyone has worked, and how much everyone has improved over the course of 12 months. I like to watch all the other dancers at Sojourn each year, witnessing the growth, makes me so proud of all my friends. The high school finale is the most exciting part of the night, as we get to celebrate our performance all together and party as a group. As this is my last Sojourn, I was so blessed to be able to dance alongside the other Year 11 students, and spend the day helping with the other dancers, and the Junior School. A huge thanks has to go out to Mrs Cullimore and Mrs Bennett, as well as all the other staff throughout the day as without their hard work, a show as incredible as Sojourn would not be able to happen.

Zali-Ane Humphreys - Year 11 Student

St Paul's extremely proud of all the students who performed in Sojourn 19. It is fantastic to see so many students involved in the dance program. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the SPGS Staff and Dance Academy staff who give up their time to support the students and the dance program. Without the support of these staff this event would not be possible. We would also like to say a special thank you to Keaton Daniels (Year 12 Student and School Captain). Keaton volunteered his time to not only host Sojourn 19 but also photographed the event. We appreciate the professional and mature manner in which he conducted himself over the two-day event.

Sojourn 19

Revelations - St Paul’s Fortnightly Newsletter. Issue No. 49 9

From the Dance AcademyContinued

2020 Registration SPGS Dance Academy registration for 2020 is now open and places are filling fast! Please be aware that your place in the class is not guaranteed until you receive confirmation from a Dance Academy staff member. Places in classes are limited and fill up quickly. If you have registered for a class that is already full then you will be placed on a waiting list.

Register for the St Paul's Grammar School Dance Academy here.

A draft timetable for 2020 can be located on the Dance Academy mystpauls page. If you have any questions regarding the registration process please contact Mrs Lauren Cullimore, Coordinator of Dance lauren.cullimore@stpauls.nsw.edu.au

Lauren Cullimore Coordinator or Dance

Co-Curricular Dance Success

Olivia Garton in 1R recently completed her Glen Wood Tap exam achieving a High Distinction! Olivia is passionate about her dancing and this is reflected in her excellent results.

Congratulations to Olivia!

Revelations - St Paul’s Fortnightly Newsletter. Issue No. 49 10

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