ST PAUL'S PRIMARY SCHOOL

In this Sunday’s Gospel (Matthew 25:1–13), Jesus tells the parable of the ten bridesmaids waiting for the bridegroom. Five come prepared with extra oil for their lamps, while the others are caught unprepared when he arrives. Jesus reminds us that faith is not just about good intentions; it is about being ready, making wise choices and consistently living out our faith.

A Message for Our School Community:

The Gospel reminds us that the little things we do each day matter. The kindness we show, the time we give to others, the choices we make and the way we care for those around us all help keep our faith alive. Just as the bridesmaids needed to keep their lamps burning, we are called to nurture our faith through our everyday actions, not just wait for special moments.

“The future depends on what you do today.” – Mahatma Gandhi

Dear Parents

The power of "Yet" and the importance of a growth mindset

As you know, I spend a lot of time in the playground and sitting in classes. Knowing your children is the core of my ability to help your children. In these settings it is the conversations that arise about how to learn new skills, tackle challenges and solve problems that I take notice of.

Imagine a group of students playing handball (or four square) depending on your vintage. A child is standing on the side watching, but not joining in. My first concern is that one of our students is being excluded, but this is not the case. When I ask why they are not joining in, I'm given this response.

"I don't want to play that game because I can't hit the ball well", my response was "Can you drive a car yet? Because if that's how you think, you'll never be able to drive.

After the confused look, I said that if that is what you think but you want to play, mistakes are ok and so is getting out. I suggested that if they like handball could they practice at home against a wall or with siblings. When the child said that they always get out, I asked if there was anyone playing that hadn't got out …. no, there wasn't. On this day the child was content to watch, but I walked away and hoped that I had sewn a seed that leads to the path to more of a growth mindset.

To me this is something that we encounter more and more, unfortunately it also filters into academics, social interactions and play. One of the most significant gifts that we can give our children is a growth mindset, the willingness to embrace challenge and see mistakes as a path to success rather than failure.

I was fortunate enough to spend time with our Year 5 students at the Swan Valley MJR camp this week, I was so impressed with their willingness to take on new and exciting challenges and to push themselves to become comfortable being uncomfortable while completing activities such as the high ropes courses. I was very impressed with the growth mindset that our Year 5 students demonstrated, if you are a parent of a Year 5 student you should be proud of your child.

This is not to say that other students in our school do not possess a growth mindset, in my short time here I have witnessed and worked with students who have flipped their narrative in terms of tackling challenging tasks both in and out of the class. Parents, staff and students all contribute to this.

If the concept of the growth mindset is new for you, it was brought to the spotlight by Dr Carol Dweck from Stanford University. This video summarises it well.

Excursions

Classes have been busy in school and out, some of our excursions and incursions this term include;

Edudance – Culminating in our Christmas Concert
Festa Italia
Year 5 Making Jesus Real Camp – Swan Valley
Interschool Athletics
K-PP West Oz Wildlife Incursion
Y3 Brownes Dairy Excursion
Boogie Bounce Incursion
Swimming Lessons
Keyed Up Music Recitals
Science Incursion
Year 6 Leeuwin Experience – EPIC experience
Year 6 Outback Splash

Interschool Athletics Carnival

Our Interschool Athletics team participated in our carnival yesterday, representing our school with pride and demonstrating our EPIC values. Congratulations to all involved and a special thank you to Mrs Basinski for organising our carnival and team. It was so pleasing to see our students great behaviour, sportsmanship and effort on the day.

Our school received the “Most Improved Shield” in recognition of the school with the biggest improvement over the previous year.

P&F Quiz Night and Gin Sale

What an amazing night, the St Paul’s P&F Quiz night lived up to its reputation as being one of the cornerstones of not only our fundraising but our community. A huge thanks goes out to the P&F Executive and extended support base who all pulled together to make such a memorable event come to life.

Once again a superb gin was distilled by James and Will and was rapidly purchased by our parent community.

Annual Community Report

As previously publicised, the Annual Community Meeting has now been replaced by the Annual Community Report. The report will be composed of the CSAC Chair Report, Treasurer Report, P&F Chair Report, Treasurer Report and Principal’s report.

World Teacher Day

Thank you to our P&F who very kindly decorated the staffroom and provided morning tea for our staff! It was greatly appreciated!

Academic All Stars

Last Friday our Year 5 Academic All Stars travelled to Sacred Heart, Highgate. Our students collaborated across different topics such as poetry, general knowledge, chess, art and engineering. They had a great day and enjoyed the networking between schools.

Game Changers

On Monday, students in Years 4, 5 & 6 travelled to ECU Joondalup to participate in the Game Changer STEM awards. Their STEM skills were on show as they presented a project that they had been working on at school during ASPIRE sessions. All St Paul's participants did an amazing job representing themselves and our school. The Game Changer Awards invites students from many schools across Western Australia, encouraging them to engage in play-based learning, project-based exploration, and adopt an inquiry mindset. Through their project presentation, students had the opportunity to showcase their creativity, innovation, and confidence.

Kind Regards

Mike Morris

Inter-School Sporting Results

Congratulations to all our students who represented St Paul's at our recent Inter-School Sporting Carnival! We are incredibly proud of the effort, determination and sportsmanship shown by everyone throughout the day.

Our results were:

• Girls: 2nd Place

• Boys: 6th Place

• Overall: 5th Place

• Award: Most Improved School!

While these results are certainly something to celebrate, what made us most proud was the way our students conducted themselves. They demonstrated our Making Jesus Real Values through encouragement, respect, perseverance, teamwork and kindness. Whether cheering on their teammates, congratulating competitors or giving their best effort, our students showed that being a good sport is about much more than winning.

A huge congratulations to all involved.

Mrs Karen Basinski

The 2027 Booklists are now available to order! Students from Pre-Primary to Year 6 will bring home a hard copy on Monday. You can also access the booklists here.

Order Online - Click Here

Your unique resource code: GGTW

Your order-by date: 4th December 2026

Please place your order before the order-by date above to ensure your resources are fulfilled and available for use from the first day of school.

How to order

Please see the Ordering Guide here.

Please note that stationery items can carry over from last year or be purchased elsewhere if preferred. We ask that notebooks and scrapbooks are purchased according to the specified size and line requirements.

For this term’s Wellness Day, students from Kindy to Year 6 will enjoy an energetic Boogie Bounce session! Combining music, movement and bouncing, it’s a great opportunity to get active, have fun, boost our mood and support our physical and mental wellbeing.

What to wear and bring:

Pre-Primary to Year 6: School sports uniform (blue polo).
Kindy: Comfortable clothing that allows students to move freely.
All students: Bring a water bottle. Students may wear grip socks or participate barefoot.

St Paul’s is proud to once again support the St Vincent de Paul Christmas Appeal. This year, we are bringing our school community together for a one-day Christmas Hamper Appeal!

How you can help:

Donate non-perishable food items from your class’s suggested list below.
Donate Coles, Woolworths or IGA (food-only) vouchers to help purchase additional items for the hampers.

Please ensure all donated food items are unopened, in good condition and not close to their use-by or best-before dates.

Suggested Class Donation Lists

PK-PP

Christmas cakes/puddings
Canned fruit and vegetables
Christmas napkins

Years 1&2

Fruit mince pies
Sweet and savoury biscuits
Jam, honey and Vegemite
Soft drink and cordial

Years 3&4

Tea, coffee and Milo
Dried or tinned fruit
Pasta and pasta sauce
Confectionery

Years 5&6

Chocolates
Long-life juice, milk and custard
Tinned ham/tuna
Additional pantry items

Donations can be dropped off in the designated collection boxes located in the playground on Monday 23 November.

The following day, as part of their Faith in Action Retreat, our Year 6 students will help sort and organise the donated items, ready for Vinnies to use in preparing Christmas hampers for local families who have reached out for support.

Thank you for your generosity and for helping us put our faith into action this Christmas!

It has been a huge few weeks for the P&F, with some fantastic events, incredible community support and plenty still to come before we wrap up 2026!

Disco Success!

A huge thank you to everyone who helped make our school disco such a success at the end of last term. Across three sessions, we had a fantastic turnout and, thanks to the incredible number of volunteers who stepped up to help, everything ran smoothly.

Events like these simply aren’t possible without parents giving their time, whether it is setting up, supervising, helping behind the scenes or packing away. Thank you to everyone who contributed to such a fun event for our students.

What a Quiz Night!

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the 2026 St Paul’s P&F Quiz Night. It was a huge success! We’ll share the final fundraising figure at next week’s P&F meeting, but a little preview... the numbers are brilliant!

A massive thank you to our class reps for helping source the incredible prizes and auction items. Together, our prize and auction pool was worth more than $10,000.

We were very fortunate to receive support from Frank Paolino, SpexDesign, Husband and Knife, Alexander Park Tennis Club, Rhubi Aperitif, Optus Stadium, the Fremantle Dockers, Padmanabham family and West Coast Eagles, La Belle Peau, Perth Glory and MD Aesthetics, among many, many others. A massive thank you to the businesses and organisations that so generously support our school community.

Of course, we cannot forget the highly coveted prime seating at the St Paul’s Christmas Concert, secured in the auction by the Ireland family for a steal at $300! Please make sure to let them through when they arrive to claim those front-row seats!

Our biggest thanks must go to the P&F’s James Young, our brilliant Quiz Master, who writes and hosts the quiz every year and makes the evening one to remember. We are INCREDIBLY lucky to have him.

A huge thank you also to Mel Young for her fair and accurate scoring and Liz and Will Miles, who put an enormous amount of work into making the night happen, from securing the hall booking months in advance to even getting nanna running around Perth in search of different types of right raffle tickets! There is so much work behind the scenes, and we are incredibly grateful.

Celebrating Our Year 6s

A big thank you also to our Year 5 Parent Reps, who are busy supporting Mrs Duffy and admin with the organisation of the Year 6 Graduation Dinner. It is shaping up to be a wonderful evening and a very special way for our Year 6 students and their families to celebrate the end of their primary school journey together.

The celebrations don’t stop there! Towards the end of term, our Year 6 students will also head off on an epic P&F-funded adventure, setting sail on the Leeuwin for the day. What an incredible experience to share with their classmates as they finish their time at St Paul’s, making memories that will hopefully last a lifetime.

A huge thank you to everyone who supports our P&F events and fundraising throughout the year. It is moments and opportunities like these that your support helps make possible for our students.

World Teachers’ Day

We also recently celebrated World Teachers’ Day, with the P&F providing morning tea and coffee for our wonderful school staff on behalf of all our families.

It was a small way for us to say a very big thank you to our teachers and staff for everything they do for our children and our school community throughout the year. We are incredibly grateful for the care, energy and hard work they give every day.

A special thank you to Madeline from Petal and Polly and the staff at Porterfilter Coffee for catering the morning tea and helping us make the celebration extra special.

We Need a P&F Secretary and would welcome a new Executive Member

As we look towards 2027, we have an important role to fill on the P&F committee: Secretary.

At present, our Treasurer, Elliot, is generously covering both roles, which is simply too much for one person to carry. I also need some additional support with P&F emails, meeting minutes and general coordination.

We are also seeking nominations from any parents who would like to join the P&F Executive Committee.

If you are organised and would like to become more involved in the P&F, please consider putting your hand up. There will be plenty of support and a proper handover, so you certainly won’t be thrown in at the deep end!

Keep an eye out next week for the nomination form to join the P&F or CSAC, we’d love to have more hands on deck and it is a great way to find out how events such as the Quiz Night operate, to have input and to see what is ahead for the P&F.

Parent Reps for 2027

We are also on the hunt for our 2027 Parent Reps!

We already have Pre-Kindy, Kindy and Pre-Primary locked in. Thank you! We now need parents from Years 1 to 6 to join us!

Being a Parent Rep is a great way to connect with other families, help strengthen our school community and support P&F initiatives throughout the year. If you have been thinking about getting involved, 2027 could be your year!

P&F Meeting Next Tuesday

Our next P&F meeting is next Tuesday at 5:15pm.

An Annual Community Report will be released later this year, this replaces the Annual Community Meeting (ACM), which is no longer mandated by CEWA. This report will outline the P&F’s activities for the year.

Save the Date: P&F Dads Day Out

Finally, save the date for the 2026 P&F Dads’ Day Out!

📅 Saturday, 5 December 2026
📍 Big Don’s BBQ

It is already promising to be an evening to remember, so make sure it is in the calendar. More details to come!

Thank you, as always, to everyone who volunteers, attends our events, donates, helps behind the scenes or simply supports what we do. The P&F is only possible because of our wonderful school community.

Jess Abbott
P&F President