Issue 7 - 17 May 2016

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPAL'S PEN

Dear Parents and Carers,

Once again, St Rita's celebrated Mother's Day with great gusto, with the annual Mother's Day Pampering Afternoon being such a successful event. It was heartening to see the children excitedly "pampering" their precious mothers, grandmothers, aunties, older sisters and special friends. To all our special guests, thank you for coming along and being part of our Pampering Afternoon. It is one of my favourites of the school calendar!

This Friday, 20th May, St Rita's will participate in the national 'Walk Safely to School' event. For those students who are able, we would like to form a group and walk to school together for Walk Safely to School Day. Staff will be waiting at the showgrounds from 7:50am to meet the children, and we will set out for school at 8:00am sharp. Parents are most welcome to join us for this walk to school!

National Volunteer Week (NVW) was celebrated throughout Australia from 9th - 15th May. This annual celebration acknowledges the generous contribution of our nation's volunteers. With the theme, 'Give Happy, Live Happy', introduced in 2015, we continue in 2016 to celebrate and explore the research that shows volunteers live happier and healthier lives.

Volunteering Australia has compiled the following facts about volunteering and happiness:

• Volunteers are happier, healthier and sleep better than those who don't volunteer – doctors should recommend it.
• 96% of volunteers say that it "makes people happier."
• 95% of volunteers say that volunteering is related to feelings of wellbeing.
• Volunteering results in a "helper's high," a powerful physical and emotional feeling experienced when directly helping others.
• Just a few hours of volunteer work makes a difference in happiness and mood.
• Sustained volunteering is associated with better mental health.
• Altruistic emotions and behaviours are associated with greater well-being, health, and longevity.
• A strong correlation exists between the well-being, happiness, health, and longevity of people who are emotionally kind and compassionate in their charitable helping activities.
• The experience of helping others provides meaning, a sense of self-worth, a social role and health enhancement.
• Volunteering is highly associated with greater health and happiness.

At St Rita's we especially appreciate that parent volunteers "power" our school community. Especially during NVW each year, we recognise the valuable contribution made by parents who give so generously of their time, skills and enthusiasm. Parents have helped with a range of classroom activities, transported and supervised students at camp, attended P & F meetings, and tended the grounds and gardens. We really could not do it without you!

Next week we have two significant school events that we wish to share with you. On Monday, St Rita's Feast Day will be celebrated with a whole school Mass and fun activities in the afternoon. Later in the week, our Prep - Year 3 students will join other young children from the Babinda district to celebrate Under 8s' Day 2016. I invite all families to join us for these special occasions and enjoy being part of our school community.

Have a happy week!

Kind regards,

Judy Billiau

UNDER EIGHTS' WEEK 2016

The Queensland Branch of Early Childhood Australia proudly initiates the annual Under Eights' Week national event each year. It has been running for sixty years across all areas of Queensland. This year's theme, 'Early Learning, Everyone Benefits', will be the highlight of a week's celebrations from 21st - 28th May 2016.

To coincide with the launch of this year's celebration, the campaign has released a new report, 'The State of Early Learning in Australia Report 2016', which contains new data showing low investment and participation rates of young children in early learning. "The first five years of every child's life can unleash a lifetime of potential," said campaign spokesman Samantha Page, CEO of Early Childhood Australia. "However, Australia is lagging behind other developed countries in terms of the number of children participating in quality early learning."

Next week, our Prep - Year 3s will participate in the local celebration of Under 8s' Day at Babinda State School. St Rita's will join other primary schools, the kindy, day care centre and playgroup for a morning of fun-filled events for children under eight years of age. Parents are welcome to join us for this morning, so please leave your name at the office if you are interested in being part of the St Rita's group on Thursday 26th May.

APRE THOUGHTS …..

We have had a wonderful couple of weeks in the St Rita's community. The Mother's Day Liturgy and the pampering day were two opportunities for us to express our gratitude and love for our mothers. I was even lucky enough to have my own mother present and I guess you are never too old to want to spend time with your mum.

Last weekend, whilst many of us celebrated Mother's Day, three children in our community also celebrated their Baptism, the first of the initiation Sacraments. We would like to offer congratulations to Harrison, Georgina and Nicholas Stone. They are now continuing on the initiation journey, preparing for the Sacraments of Confirmation and First Eucharist.

This week is the end of the Easter Season and sees the celebration of Pentecost. The below link is a short two minute presentation about Pentecost and certainly worth a look for some background knowledge on this important event in the Christian Calendar. It is significant for the children who are currently preparing for the Sacrament of Confirmation, as we look at the way the Holy Spirit is a part of all of us and acknowledging the gifts of the spirits that if used wisely can make our world a much better place.

An excellent article, outlining the true meaning of Pentecost and its relation to the 21st Century, can be found at the below link. Written by Sr. Michelle Lesher, the writing provides a worthwhile perspective on the Holy Spirit in our lives.

St Rita's Feast Day

On May 22nd we celebrate the Feast Day of St Rita. St Rita is obviously important to us because it is the name sake of our school. However, St Rita has a lot of values and beliefs that we can relate to our lives now. St Rita of Cascia (see map) did not have an easy life. Her husband did not treat her well and was tragically murdered. Her sons both died of a terrible illness and Rita had to fight hard to be accepted into the convent. The skills of persistence and devotion to God were displayed throughout her life. More than this, St Rita was committed to peace. She forgave her husband's murderer and worked tirelessly to dissolve the conflict that had existed between the two families for many years.

How wonderful our world could be if we all worked toward peace and forgiveness, following the example of St Rita. My challenge during this month of May is to focus on forgiveness and letting go of any old resentment. The simple truth is, this does not add value to my life in any way and distracts me from living in the present. Being able to forgive (and I mean forgiving myself as well) I hope will enable more time to be spent concentrating on listening to the spirit (as discussed above) which hopefully will lead to more peace in my life and also in the lives of those around me.

An interesting article of St Rita can be found at

Finally, could I ask everyone to please keep Sister Pat in our prayers. She has been unwell and is currently in Atherton Hospital. We pray God watches over her and leads her to a speedy recovery.

Bec Burns
Assistant Principal (Religious Education)

NAPLAN TESTING

St Rita's congratulates the Year 3 and 5 students who completed NAPLAN Testing last week. We were so pleased that everyone sat the tests happily and confidently. Special thanks to Mrs Bern Anthony, Mrs Maryjane Masina and Mrs Vicki Jago who prepared and organised the sessions for the children this year.

On Friday, we celebrated the end of NAPLAN with an iceblock!

STEPHANIE ALEXANDER KITCHEN GARDEN

The beautiful weather in the past fortnight has been perfect for Mrs Stone to begin the term's gardening program with the SAKG children. This term, preparing the garden beds and planting the crops of vegetables and herbs are the highlight of our Stephanie Alexander program. A variety of seeds were planted last Tuesday, strawberry, cucumber, tomato, capsicum, eggplant, carrot and lettuce, and these have already sprouted. Seedlings, which have been generously donated by Roger Castlehouse, will be planted by our young gardeners this week. We can expect a bumper crop this year!

CASTING THE NET

Becoming People of Spirit

Many prominent people inspire us, so many we can readily name names: perhaps Nelson Mandela or Rosie Batty come to mind. We are impressed by the way they deal with hardships and difficulties with such spirit and courage that their awful challenging situation was turned into a positive force for their society. But there are also other people we should admire, if we noticed them. These are the people who have terrible personal liabilities, those who deal with their addictions like alcohol, drugs or gambling. Each day, every day, they have to humbly face the crack that runs across their heart just to maintain normalcy. We do not see how heroic their lives are for when they are successful they seem so….well, normal.

We are inspired by these people, because we too want to be people of spirit. No matter how ordinary we are, something in our hearts desires greatness. And this is what God wants for us too. We weren't created in God's image and likeness just to be ordinary. We are to be works of divine art. For most us, this art lies within our family relationships. These long-term relationships can humble us but they can also be our glory. To love and to be loved, deeply and humbly, is the greatest human achievement: it is the work of God in our lives. Each day, every day, we can be open to God's Spirit who desires passionately to help us, offering grace, so that we can love as God loves.

Loving God, as we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Spirit, may we become people of the Spirit allowing his passion to transform our loving. Day by day, may we offer faithful love that inspires our families. We ask this in Jesus name, confident that you will hear us.

Sr Kym Harris osb

COUNSELLOR'S CORNER

EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT: SUGGESTIONS FOR FAMILIES

Helpful ways of supporting children's emotional development

Listen and validate the child's emotional experience

Listen to what children say and acknowledge their feelings. This helps children to identify emotions and understand how they work. Being supported in this way helps children work out how to manage their emotions. You might say, "You look worried. Is something on your mind?" or "It sounds like you're really angry. Let's talk about it."

View emotions as an opportunity for connecting and teaching

Children's emotional reactions provide 'teachable moments' for helping them understand emotions and learn effective ways to manage them. You might say, "I can see you're really frustrated about having to wait for what you want. Why don't we read a story while we're waiting?"

Encourage problem-solving to manage emotions

Help children develop their skills for managing emotions by helping them think of different ways they could respond. You might say, "What would help you feel brave?" or "How else could you look at this?"

Set limits in a supportive way

Set limits on inappropriate behaviour so that children understand that having feelings is okay, but acting inappropriately is not. You might say, "I know you're upset that your friend couldn't make it over, but that does not make it okay to yell at me."

Yours in counselling,

Natalie McKenzie

SCHOOL PHOTOS

Class and individual student photos will be taken by NQ Photography this Thursday 18th May. If you wish your children to have a family photo, specific order packs are available at the Office.

On photo day, we ask that students arrive at school before the bell for the photographers to commence shooting photos soon after. Please ensure your child is wearing their best dress uniform on photo day.

Thanks!

QUEENSLAND PREMIER'S READING CHALLENGE

The Premier's Reading Challenge is an annual statewide initiative for state and non-state schools and home-educated students up to Year 9, as well as children (aged up to five years) enrolled in an early childhood centre, and individual home readers. The reading period for Prep - Year 9 students is 16th May - 26th August 2016.

The Premier's Reading Challenge is not a competition, but aims to improve literacy and encourage children to engage in reading for pleasure and learning. This year, the Premier has challenged students from Prep - Year 4 to read or experience 20 books, and Year 5 to read 15 books. Experiencing books can include shared reading, listening to stories or reading picture books.

St Rita's School is once again registered to participate in the Challenge, and we encourage all students to be part of this initiative through our regular Home Reading and library borrowing programs. Every student who participates will receive a Certificate of Achievement signed by the Premier. Parents are encouraged to play a part in improving children's literacy by assisting their children in the Premier's Reading Challenge 2016.

Let's get reading now!

DATE CLAIMERS

STUDENTS OF THE WEEK

St Rita's School congratulates those students who were awarded 'Student of the Week' at Assembly on Friday 13th May 2016.

BIRTHDAY CONGRATULATIONS

St Rita's wishes Rhya Maxwell and Steele Day all the very best for their recent birthdays. We hope you had a wonderful birthday celebration Rhya and Steele!

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK

ST RITA'S P & F NEWS

Dear Parents,

We were overwhelmed by the number of parents and teachers (a total of 20 over 2 days) who showed up with baking, or prepared and served food for our successful ANZAC Day catering event. This showed a real testament to the big heartedness and willingness to help out within our beautiful St Rita's Community. Just look at these gorgeous happy faces - we even enjoyed ourselves!

We had a sneak preview at the latest P&F meeting of the newest collections of high quality books that have arrived at our school library. Go in and have a look a d feel proud that your P&F has contributed to this outstanding literature that will be arriving many more times throughout the year.

A huge thank you to Mrs Billiau for winning a grant on our behalf, for a high quality marquee with "St Rita's School" printed on it. This will definitely come in handy during our school sporting events! Thanks also to the Queensland Cancer Council.

At the most recent P&F meeting, a motion was passed to subsidise camp costs by $50 for each student attending camp. This is yet another way that the input by parents at P&F meetings can make a difference to our children at St Rita's School.

Regards,

Loretta Musumeci & Jenni Stone

GUITAR TUITION

Jenni Marks, who currently teaches keyboard at school, is very keen to start guitar lessons for our students. If you are interested in knowing more about guitar tuition, please phone Jenni on 4067 6157.

COMMUNITY NEWS

STUDENT TRAVEL REBATES

BABINDA MPHS and the BABINDA COMMUNITY ADVISORY NETWORK COMMITTEE