From the Deputy Principal

Accessing School Reports

When Progress Reports are made available later this term, they can be accessed via the school portal on our website or the school app. The app also gives easy access to parents to advise absences, receive communication, view the school calendar and access the quick links on mobile devices. Click on My Portal to access absences, notifications and a link to the newsletter etc .

When you have logged onto St Paul Lutheran parent portal there a number of areas you can access information. on Student Information to obtain information about your child/ren. This includes Documents – student reports. Absences – list of all absences for current year. Caregiver/s and Address/es – Emergency – list of emergency contacts. Medical – medical information (eg doctors name etc). 

The app has been an issue for some families recently and this has been resolved. The app will hopefully be available to all families again from the beginning of next week.

Nature Play

The nature play area continues to be a popular spot for children even as the weather becomes colder.

Nature play has become an important part of life at St Paul. Like the natural environments that teachers create utilising aspects of the Reggio Emilia philosophy in the classroom, nature play spaces allow students to interact with physical spaces in a creative and stimulating way. 

Researchers at the University of Western Australia, have found that natural playgrounds provide children ‘…with more opportunities than typical pre-formed playgrounds to develop gross-motor skills, cognitive function, increased creativity, improved interaction with adults, reduced attention deficit hyperactivity disorder symptoms and reduced rates of aggression.’

As our children engage in nature play, they move in different ways to other types of play. These spaces also develop student appreciation of the natural environment and encourage students to see the world around them in different ways.

When a child is at play, they are in in a continuous exchange of ideas either with themselves and others. Children involved in play make meaning of the world around them via "inner speech". As they wonder out loud to themselves children explore new concepts and situations and cultivate their imagination and creativity. 

Play and Reggio Emilia influenced practices, provide a great foundation for inquiry learning at St Paul. If you would like to learn more or see what this looks like in our classrooms, feel free to contact me to have a chat.

Jason Fay | Deputy Principal