16 October 2025

VISION STATEMENT

St Rita’s school is a dynamic learning community strengthened by our Mercy heritage and inspired through the teachings of Jesus Christ. We are connected and compassionate to the needs of our community and are proud of our local Wanyurr-Majay culture. We engage our learners through relevant and hands-on experiences, bringing joy and confidence to learning.  

PRINCIPAL’S PEN

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

(Matthew 5:9)

Peace has been a topical subject in the world this week. While I warmly welcome the news of a peace agreement in the Middle East and pray that it can be sustained, I can’t help but think of the many other places around the world that don’t receive the same coverage as Israel—places where peace remains elusive, especially in parts of Africa where Christians are routinely killed for professing their faith.

Conflict is certainly not a new issue; it can be traced back as far as the Old Testament narrative of Cain and Abel. Yet violence is not something we should ever accept.

When I see or hear of people taking to the streets to protest an overseas war, I sometimes wonder if this should be their immediate concern—no matter how noble the cause. For instance, I struggle at times to maintain peace in my own home. If I can’t manage that, I’m surely not going to solve the crisis in the Middle East, which has seen conflict for millennia. For me, that’s far beyond my control.

But I can still contribute to world peace by focusing on what is within my immediate reach. To bring peace to the world, I need to raise my own children to be peacemakers (still a work in progress!). I need to be a peacemaker myself and model this for my family and school community. I need to encourage our students to be peacemakers—placing kindness and mercy above all other virtues. It is so important to raise our children to show love and compassion, even to those they disagree with. It’s okay to be kind to others, even if they are not kind to you. A message that is not fashionable in contemporary society.

This is how we build world peace: by promoting peace in our homes and then in our communities.

One of the most famous teachings of Jesus is the Beatitudes, delivered as part of His Sermon on the Mount. It appears in both Matthew’s and Luke’s Gospels. In this teaching, He highlighted the importance of peacemakers and how they hold a special place in God’s favour:

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. (Matthew 5:9)

Let us all strive to be peacemakers—in our homes, in our school, and in our community. Little by little, we can each do our part in achieving world peace.

100 Year Celebration

A huge milestone is coming up for our school as we celebrate our centenary in 2026. I am currently seeking expressions of interest from anyone who would like to be involved in our steering committee to help plan and organise these celebrations. Please register your interest by emailing

secretary.babinda@cns.catholic.edu.au by Friday, 24th October.

Our first planning meeting will be held on Wednesday, 29th October at 6pm at the school. We would love to see you there! 

Class Groupings / Teachers for 2026

For next year’s classes, I’ve made some adjustments to our current structure to help propel us to deliver more outstanding results in 2026.

• Sam Benvenuti will be lending her expertise to the lower end of our school, teaching Prep–Year 3. This class will have around 10 students. Sam is an outstanding educator with experience in early years education and is excited to foster our youngest generation of St Rita’s students.

• Maryjane Masina will lead the Years 4–6 cohort, which is a huge coup for our senior students. With over 20 years of classroom experience, Maryjane is known for being a kind-hearted, firm, and fair leader. Our students are very fortunate to have her. This class will have around 17 students.

• Vicki Jago will work across both grades, delivering small group instruction, intervention, and collaboration with classroom teachers to ensure all children receive curriculum targeted to their individual needs. Vicki has an outstanding reputation as a knowledgeable and dedicated educator in our school community.

I’m confident this structure will deliver excellent outcomes, and our students will continue to build strong relationships with their teachers. Our students have access to three exceptional educators who would be highly sought after at any school in the country. At St Rita’s, we pride ourselves on knowing the individual needs of each child and developing a program that allows them to truly flourish, these exceptional ladies will continue to bring this vision to life.

Pre-Prep

We were thrilled to welcome three of our 2026 Preps—Olivia, Ruby, and Stanley—to St Rita’s last Monday as part of our extensive pre-prep program. They had a fantastic day exploring the school and meeting our students. They spent time with their 2026 teacher, Ms Benvenuti, the current junior class, and Mrs Jago, before joining Miss Sunni and our playgroup in the afternoon.

We look forward to welcoming them back—and potentially other new Preps—each Monday until Week 8.

Little Connections Playgroup

Our playgroup is back on Mondays from 1:30–3:00pm at St Rita’s. We’d love to see you there—even if you don’t have a preschool-aged child. It’s a great opportunity to connect and gather as a community.

You can follow the group on Facebook: Little Connections Playgroup Babinda.

VPG Parenting Workshops

Alana from Every Family will be at our school this term to present three engaging and informative parenting workshops. I encourage anyone who can to register—these sessions are always practical, thought-provoking, and helpful.

Workshop Schedule:

• Friday, 17th October – Navigating Screen Time
• Friday, 24th October – Raising Resilient Children
• Friday, 31st October – The Digital Parent Toolkit

Time: 9:15am–10:45am
Contact: Alana – 0419 964 205 or alana@vpginc.com.au

Assembly – Term 4

This term, assemblies will be held on Monday mornings of even weeks at 8:35am. Upcoming assemblies will be in Weeks 4, 6, and 8, with an End-of-Year Assembly on the last day of school.

Parents are always welcome to attend.

Warm regards,
Michael Rowe
Principal

DEPUTY PRINCIPAL

Dear Parents and Carers,

At our school, we are committed to supporting every student’s learning journey. One of the tools we use to help us do this is the Progressive Achievement Tests (PAT) developed by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). You may have heard your child mention PAT M or PAT R: here’s what they are and why they matter. Over the next couple of weeks, our students will be completing their end of year PAT testing. Please ensure they receive adequate sleep prior to testing day. 

What Are PAT Tests?

PAT tests are standardised assessments designed to measure students’ skills and understanding in key learning areas. The two most commonly used are:

• PAT M (Mathematics) – assesses mathematical understanding, including number knowledge, algebra, geometry, measurement, and statistics.
• PAT R (Reading) – assesses reading comprehension, vocabulary knowledge, and the ability to interpret and understand different types of texts.

These tests do not pass/fail. Instead, they help teachers understand where each student is in their learning and how we can best support their progress.

What Do the Results Show?

PAT tests provide a scale score, which places your child on a learning continuum. This score is more than just a raw mark—it reflects both the difficulty of the questions and your child’s level of understanding. This allows us to:

• Track your child’s growth over time
• Identify strengths and areas for improvement
• Group students for targeted teaching
• Inform our planning and support strategies

Why Do We Use PAT?

• Monitor Progress: PAT helps us see how your child is progressing from year to year.
• Personalise Learning: Results guide us in tailoring lessons to meet students’ individual needs.

Support Equity: By identifying learning gaps early, we can provide timely support to ensure every

Reading fluency is a vital part of your child’s literacy development. It refers to the ability to read smoothly, accurately, and with expression. Fluent readers can focus on understanding the meaning of the text rather than decoding each word. Our staff have been currently looking at how we can embed best practise in regards to fluency, and this has informed our professional development. Early this term, we will be incorporating Fluency into our literacy blocks everyday - please encourage these skills at home with your child. 

Why Fluency Matters

Fluency bridges the gap between word recognition and comprehension. When children read fluently, they:

• Understand what they read more easily
• Enjoy reading more
• Build confidence in their learning

How You Can Support Fluency at Home

Here are some fun and effective ways to build fluency at home:

1. Read Aloud Together
Model fluent reading by reading aloud to your child. Use expression, vary your tone, and pause for punctuation. Then, let your child try reading the same passage.

2. Try Choral Reading
Read a passage together at the same time. This helps children hear fluent reading and match your pace and tone.

 Choral Reading Explained

3. Use the “One-Minute Read”
Time your child reading a short passage for one minute. Track how many words they read correctly and celebrate improvements! You could expose them to the same passage each night - encouraging growth and instilling confidence.

4. Play Word Games
Games like rhyming, riddles, and tongue twisters build phonemic awareness and fluency.

5. Explore Online Reading Games
Websites like ABCya, Starfall, and Storyline Online offer free, interactive reading games and read-alouds. These might be useful to do over the holidays with your children.

• student has the opportunity to succeed.

Let’s Keep the Conversation Going

We believe that parents are partners in learning. If you have any questions about PAT testing or your child’s results, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Together, we can ensure your child continues to grow and thrive.

Warm regards,
Sam Benvenuti
Deputy Principal

COUNSELLORS CORNER

HEALTHY FAMILIES by BeYou

Family members feel safe and connected to one another. Sometimes these relationships involve conflict, which is a normal part of family life. Conflict can occur between adults, children and young people. In healthy relationships, these conflicts are dealt with in a safe and respectful way. For example, listening, showing understanding, and finding solutions together.

Healthy family relationships mean that positive interactions outweigh the difficult times.

Adults experiencing difficult life situations can provide learning opportunities in teaching and modelling coping strategies – children and young people shouldn’t be burdened with stress, but it can be helpful for them to see families successfully managing it with positive coping strategies.

The key qualities of a strong family unit identified by Australians in the Family Strengths Research Project were:

• Communication – listening to each other and communicating with openness and honesty
• Togetherness – sharing similar values and beliefs that create a sense of belonging and bonding
• Sharing activities – spending time together doing things they enjoy (for example, sports, reading, camping or playing games)
• Affection – showing affection and care regularly through words, hugs, kisses, kindness and thoughtfulness
• Support – offering and asking for support, with family members knowing they will receive help, encouragement and reassurance from one another
• Acceptance – understanding, respecting and appreciating each family member’s unique qualities
• Commitment – seeing family wellbeing as a priority and acting accordingly with commitment and loyalty
• Resilience – being able to tolerate difficulties and adapt to changing situations in positive ways.

The biggest challenges in family relationships are often communication breakdown, parenting issues and difficult relationship dynamics.

(For more information visit beyou.edu.au)

Yours in Counselling,  
Kind regards,
Carmel

DATE CLAIMERS

STUDENTS OF THE WEEK

BIRTHDAY WISHES

Congratulations to Danny and Abel who recently celebrated their birthdays. St Rita’s hopes you had wonderful birthday celebrations.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK

MUNRO THEATRE