Embedded Files
View previous editions of St Alipius News via the homepage.
A message from Emily.
St Alipius Principal | Emily ClarkeA message from Emily.
As we reflect on the conclusion of a successful first term at St Alipius, we are filled with gratitude for the many achievements and the new growth already experienced by our students, staff, and school community. I have been so proud of each and every student taking on the challenges of a new year and a new classroom. We are well and truly 'humming' now and ready to take on the rest of the year.
This month I have been taking prospective parents on tours around our school. There has been a lot of feedback on how warm and friendly our community is and how welcome they feel after just one visit. Our students don't hesitate to say hello or hold open a door for a visitor. This is what I love about our community.
As we now approach Holy Week, a time of reflection, renewal, and spiritual significance in the Christian calendar, we are reminded of the importance of faith, compassion, and self-reflection. This sacred time provides us with an opportunity to pause, contemplate the teachings of Jesus Christ, and deepen our connection with our faith community. Through prayer, reflection, and acts of kindness, we are invited to renew our commitment to living out the values of love, forgiveness, and service in our daily lives.
As we prepare to embark on our holiday break, I encourage our students and families to take time for rest, relaxation, and rejuvenation. Whether spending time with loved ones enjoying a hot cross bun, heading down to the footy (go Bombers!), or enjoying moments of quiet reflection, may this holiday break be a time of joy, peace, and spiritual renewal for all.
We look forward to welcoming everyone back refreshed and energised for the start of the new term. Wishing you all a blessed Holy Week and a restful holiday break.
Emily
A Glimpse into Our Learning Communities.
Open to God's presence, St Alipius is a Catholic learning community of excellence, equity, and empowerment. A Glimpse into Our Learning Communities.
We see evidence of this in our community, in many ways, each and every day.
Excellence
Equity
Empowerment
As learners, we are COLLABORATIVE | REFLECTIVE | PERSISTENT | CREATIVE & INQUISITIVE.
Year 6 Leaders | Sovereign Hill Experience
Year 6 Leaders | Sovereign Hill Experience
The Year 6 Learning Community attended Sovereign Hill on March 14th and 15th for an immersive experience of life in the 1850's. Together we took on characters and behaviours of that era, and absorbed historical details of Goldfield's life and schooling. Every student showed commitment and dedication during this event and made new memories that linked with their prior knowledge of Ballarat's history. There were moments of intense focus, followed by sugar cramming on boiled lollies. Well done team!
Year 4/5 LC
Year 4/5 LC
In preparation for the the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we explored the two concepts of 'infinite love' and 'reconciliation'.
We reflected on our learning and expressed it in a creative way by learning about mosaic artworks.
Year 3 LC
Year 3 LC
In Maths, we are learning about shapes. We can explain what a net is and create different nets for a cube.
Foundation LC
Foundation LC
Last week, we had our Brave Hearts incursion. We learnt how to keep ourselves safe and 3 steps we can do when we are feeling unsafe. We also had some fun dancing and singing while we were there!
Year 3 Learning Community
Year 3 Learning Community
Last week, we learnt about St Patrick's Day. We discussed how many St Alipius families have Irish heritage and that St Patrick's Day is a day that people often celebrate that heritage.
We learnt about 'the luck of the Irish' and in response, we reflected on the things that we feel lucky to have or be.
Year 1/2 LC
Year 1/2 LC
We have been learning about Lent by focusing on the following questions: What is Lent? How long does Lent go for? Why did Jesus spend 40 days in the desert? What is the colour of Lent? When does Lent start and end?
We have made a roadmap with important dates to help us visualise our learning.
Year 4/5 LC
Year 4/5 LC
Back to basics! 📖
We get so caught up in the ease of the digital world, that sometimes we forget how we ever functioned without pre Google Chrome 🖥 👨💻
So we went 'Old School' and used a dictionary to look up the definition of the word 'flabbergast'.
It took us 2 minutes and 39 seconds to find it. We hope to improve our time in the future! ⏱️
Foundation LC
Foundation LC
Wow! That was fun!!! We had a great walk down to the Victoria St Shopping Centre and Daycare.
We asked lots of questions of the different community members (bought chocolate frogs 🤭) and had a very sllloooowwww stroll back to school.
Year 4/5 LC
Year 4/5 LC
We have been learning about "realistic" drawing in 4/5.
So far we have explored eyes, ears, hands, hair, feet and familiar faces.
Year 1/2 LC
Year 1/2 LC
To celebrate our positive behaviour choices using our school-wide behaviour matrix, we reached our whole class reward of making ice cream together. The kids were so proud of themselves and very excited.
Year 1/2 Learning Community
Year 1/2 Learning Community
This term, Aboriginal Artist, Jenna Oldaker, visited us to help make Echidnas from clay for our Art show.
We listened to “The Echidna and the shade tree” and had some question time at the end.
2025 Enrolment
2025 Enrolment
A reminder to current families with siblings ready to start school in 2025, and all other families looking to enrol their child at St Alipius:
‘Expressions of Interest for Enrolment’ is now open. We encourage you to complete your form via the link below to register your preference to attend St Alipius in 2025.
Brave Hearts Incursion
Brave Hearts Incursion
We chatted about:
Differentiating safe and unsafe feelings.
Recognising the body’s warning signs.
Body ownership and that it is ok to say no.
Helping children name public and private parts using anatomically correct names.
Reinforcing that there is no secret that children cannot tell someone.
What to do if you feel unsafe or unsure.
Foundation LC
Foundation LC
Finding creative and engaging ways to access and experience learning is all part of the FUN of learning!
Photo 1: Recognising and creating patterns.
Photo 2: Role play, problem-solving and communication.
Specialist Classes
Specialist Classes
Science with Allana, Music & Japanese with Adam, PE / Sport with Claire
and STEAM with Kaylah.
Japanese Language & Culture
Japanese Language & Culture
Welcome to St Alipius, Kotaro Sensei!
We are so blessed to have your contribution to our learning and to our community!
We look forward to sharing all of the wonderful things available for you to experience here in Ballarat and beyond and we look forward to learning with and from you to enhance our love and understanding of Japan!
STEAM
SCIENCE | TECH. | ENGINEERING | ART and MATHSSTEAM
MUSIC
The Performing ArtsMUSIC
As a school, we had the pleasure of a drumming and dance workshop with Kofi Kunkpe to help us celebrate Harmony week.
Science
Solar Ovens - "Making Smores"Science
RE News!
Laudato Si Action Group
Laudato Si Action Group
Laudato Si students have been working hard to keep plastic waste down at St Alipius by encouraging students to bring ‘nude’ food to school. Nude food is food that comes without any packaging like fresh fruit and vegetables. Our aim is to have as little packaging as possible at our school because plastic is bad for the environment in so many ways. Did you know that;
Plastic ends up in the ocean and gets eaten by fish, turtles and other sea creatures. This causes these animals lots of damage.
Plastic can take hundreds of years to break down. Even then it just gets smaller, it never disappears. Microplastic ends up everywhere including in our bodies.
Half of the plastic ever made on Earth has been produced in just the past 13 years. We are making more plastic, not less!
Most plastic on Earth isn’t recycled, it just ends up in landfill.
Let’s all try to use less plastic!
Maths News!
Nrich Maths online
Nrich Maths online
Next term, most year levels will be developing their ability to add and subtract in maths. You can help at home by practising adding and subtracting numbers and discussing the strategies you use. No strategy is a bad strategy if it works and it makes sense to you. The great thing about maths is that there are lots of effective strategies to use so discussing them all can help us to find the one that works for us.
This link is to the Nrich website game Totality.
It is an appropriate game for the skills of mathematicians that range from 5 years old to 11 years old but can be played by anyone.
If you would like a printed copy of the game board, there are some in the front office.
Lauren
English News!
Structured Li
Structured Li
Thank you to the families who were able to join us for our Literacy afternoon last Wednesday.
It was great to feel the buzz around the school!
If you would like any additional resources about encouraging the joy of reading at home, please feel free to reach out to Kate.
kwestbrook@saballarat.catholic.edu.au
Kate
Check out some of our students BOOK REVIEWS created as part of the "Bulldogs Read" program.
Wellbeing +Peaceful Kids
Peaceful Kids
Peaceful Kids
It has been such a privilege for me to facilitate the Peaceful Parents program this term and to see parents connect while sharing common experiences of joy and challenges all while negotiating our children's varied experiences of wellbeing.
We shared many laughs and sometimes tears as we discussed, reflected and considered new information to hopefully make parent life a little less stressful.
I will be running the program again early in Term 2 from 9am to 11am once a week for 4 weeks. The specific day of the week would depend on availability and numbers.
If you are interested or would like more information please email me: ssullivan@saballarat.catholic.edu.au
Suzie
School Wide Positive Behaviour Systems
School Wide Positive Behaviour Systems
Mindfulness + Music
Mindfulness + Music
Click here to access the 'A Different Musician' YouTube channel.
Community News!
Library News!
Library News!
May is National Family Reading Month —Let’s Read More in May!
National Family Reading Month is the year’s biggest celebration of reading.
Schools can get involved by participating in the Read More in May Challenge, where we encourage students to read every day in May with their families.
For more information visit the Scholastic website.
Fundraising for a Cause
Fundraising for a Cause
Great job St Alipius!
Our ‘Touch of Red’ day for the CFA raised over $400, along with some extra treats for our amazing local members.
We are so appreciative of the Ballarat Fire Brigade CFA and thank them for their hard work this past Summer. It was great to have you come visit us so we could pass on our donations.
Ballarat Begonia Festival
Ballarat Begonia Festival
It is wonderful to see our St Alipius community shining in the many aspects of the community life.
Well done to our students who were involved in this year's Begonia Festival parade.
We are fortunate to have many wonderful events right at our doorstep!
Sporting News!
TERM ONE SPORTS ROUND UP
DIVISIONAL SWIMMING
DIVISIONAL SWIMMING
Asha, Harper and Rafi all represented St Alipius in divisional swimming competition held at Eureka swimming pool on 1st March.
Harper (Y4): I definitely got quite nervous but I got over my nerves and really enjoyed it. I did freestyle and breaststroke. I enjoyed using diving blocks for the first time!
Asha (Y5): I enjoyed diving off the block and going as fast as I could. I did freestyle and did really well in it. I came 16th out of 35.
Rafi (Y5): I won in my heat but I didn’t win overall. I did freestyle and did a good job at it. I got a bit nervous but I still enjoyed it.
They all did a fantastic job at being the best swimmers they could be at that time.
Written by Harper Ewing , Rafi Mckenzie and Asha Romein.
RIDE TO SCHOOL DAY
On Friday 8th March, the students from St Alipius were spotted riding their bicycles and scooting on their scooters as part of the annual "Ride Your Bike to School Day" event.
“Ride To School Day encourages everyone to choose a more eco-friendly way of getting to school while also promoting a healthier lifestyle.
Grade Six students organised a series of activities for all grade levels so that they could practise being safe on our roads and footpaths.
Parents and teachers were thrilled to see so many students take part in the event, with some saying that it's a great way to teach children about the importance of sustainability. Overall, the day was a great success, and the Grade Five students are already looking forward to planning next year's event.
By Daniel Vermont
LAWN BOWLS
LAWN BOWLS
We had lots of fun learning to bowl and improving our skills at lawn bowls. The Victoria St Bowls Club provided us with some excellent coaching that included lots of fun games
About 24 students participated in bowls for 4 weeks, walking or riding up the the bowls club with our super doopers was fun and kept us cool! We can’t wait for our competition in term 3!
Thank all the volunteers at the Victoria bowls club who welcomed us and taught us lots about lawn bowls.
Congratulations to
Lauren and Charlotte Morris
First Year Pennant Season 2023/2024 bowlers and premiership players.
Western Bulldogs visit
Western Bulldogs visit
The Western Bulldogs visited us today as part of their Ballarat Community Camp and the kids were super excited! Going by these photos, the teachers might have been even more thrilled!
Marcus Bontempelli, Riley Sanders and Kristy-Lee Weston-Turner (who was the no.1 draft pick!), joined in clinics with our 1/2 students and answered some awesome questions from the students such as ‘do you get nerves before a game?’, ‘what do you eat before you play?’ and other hard hitting questions from our 1/2s, such as ‘hey Marcus, are you married?’
A fantastic opportunity for our junior students!
St John’s First Aid
St John’s First Aid
St John’s first aid visited all the classes at St Alipius. St Johns teaches primary school students the importance of First Aid and what to do in an event of an emergency. Students learnt about calling 000 and performing CPR through hands on experiences as well as interactive games, Storytime and Action Plan scenarios.
The knowledge and skills gained in our First Aid in Schools Program helps develop First Aid awareness and contributes to building a more resilient community.
On Friday the 26th of march, The five sixes from Saint James Parish school came to St Alipius for the afternoon to participate in inter-school sports. We participated in 4 different sports netball, basketball, soccer and indoor games such as dodgeball. It was all about including everyone and having a go at things they had never played. Overall everyone had a lovely time and can’t wait until next term.
- Clementine Croucher, Joey Slee
We look forward to seeing you again in Term 2 for the next edition of SAPS News.
We look forward to seeing you again in Term 2 for the next edition of SAPS News.
Page updated
Report abuse