Issue 2 – 16 February 2017

Newsletter Articles

VISION STATEMENT

St Rita’s School will be a compassionate and supportive community built on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, specifically incorporating the Mercy Values which are lived out. We will be a values-based community reaching out to and welcoming the wider community. Our strong school spirit will shine. St Rita’s will be a school in which every member is respectful of self and others

PRINCIPAL’S PEN

Dear Parents and Carers,

Classroom teachers were pleased to have excellent attendance at last week’s Parent Information Evening which enabled them to share vital information about classroom expectations, teaching programs, curriculum outlines and homework expectations with parents. The sessions were longer this year which gave teachers more time to share and discuss this valuable information. Thank you teachers for organising informative presentations and we appreciated the attendance by St Rita’s parents.

I appreciate families have after school commitments, so if you were unable to attend the parent session for your class, I encourage you to speak with your teacher if you have any concerns or queries regarding the parent letter that was sent home. Your Parent Handbook has also been distributed for your information. Communication between teachers and parents is vital in our aim to work as partners in the education of St Rita’s students.

At the end of last year, St Rita’s had to source a new uniform supplier. Williamson International is supplying us with smart new blouses and shirts for our formal uniform, and polos for sports. If you have purchased one of the new blouses, you will notice that the design is actually longer and the band sits on the hip. For your convenience, all elements of our school uniform will continue to be sold at the School Office.

To show your appreciation of the successes of the 2016 P & F Executive Committee, I hope you can join us for this afternoon’s Annual General Meeting. At this meeting, highlights of the past year’s work of this group will be acknowledged, and the election of a new Committee will be undertaken. I know many parents are reticent to attend AGMs for fear of “getting a job”, however there will no pressure for you to take on a position if you are unable commit at this stage. We also aim to keep our meetings short and sharp, with monthly meetings being only an hour or so in length.

I cannot stress enough just how important active involvement by parents is in schools. Educational research highlights this positive impact. “Good schools make a difference, but parent involvement better predicts a child’s academic performance than the qualities of the school he or she attends.”

(Federation of Parents & Friends Associations of Catholic Schools in Queensland, February 2013).

You can be involved at St Rita’s in many ways; attending P & F meetings, participating in parent workshops, joining us for special events and school assemblies, and helping in the classroom and tuckshop. Mrs Masina is thrilled to have a group of mums signed up for reading with the Prep/Year 1s this term. Welcome Jenni Ripps, Alicia McEwan and Melanie Whitling to our band of classroom helpers at St Rita’s! Being involved really is an enjoyable and rewarding experience for parents, and much appreciated by the whole school community.

Another of last week’s highlights was being able to accompany our school captains to the annual GRIP Student Leadership Conference in Cairns. What a valuable day it was for our two School Captains and four Sports Captains! They learnt more about the roles and responsibilities of being a student leader, interacted with leaders from other schools, and finished by brainstorming a plan for the year ahead. What I particularly liked was the emphasis the presenters placed on the importance of leaders “growing” with their roles.

Being elected a school leader is an awesome responsibility for a student, and one that does not end on the day of the election. Rather, we will continue to work with our student leaders throughout the year as they mature and grow as individuals and a leadership team. I was very proud of our school leaders at the Conference! Thank you very much to parents Rob, Alicia McEwan and Loretta Musumeci who provided transport to and from Cairns for the Conference.

This time next week I will be Los Angeles. As a member of a large contingent of CES staff who is attending the RE Congress, I will be absent from school from Wednesday 22nd February to Friday 3rd March. Assistant Principal Mrs Gaul will be filling my position during that time, and she will be ably assisted by Mrs Masina and Mrs Jago. I will share the experience with you in upcoming newsletters.

Have a good week!

Regards & blessings,
Judy Billiau

APRE THOUGHTS …..

Something to Celebrate

May I extend a sincere ‘thank you’ to the staff, students, parents and friends of St Rita’s, as well as Father Kerry Crowley, who joined together to celebrate our Opening School Mass with such whole-hearted enthusiasm! The ceremony felt uplifting with the spirited participation! Congratulations to our school leaders: Melina, Andy, Georgina, Leon, Roisin and Caleb, in further acknowledging their commitment to our school through the commissioning ceremony, pledging loyalty and service to fellow students at St Rita’s.

Lenten Preparation

Knowing about events in advance can help us to prepare fully for them! Looking forward in the Church’s calendar, the season of Lent is fast approaching, with Ash Wednesday falling on the 1st March this year. A most significant Christian event, Lent is a time of preparation for the Easter season and recurs annually in the Church Liturgical Cycle.

Lent is a forty day period, which begins on Ash Wednesday and concludes with the Easter Vigil Mass; it does not include the six Sundays that occur during Lent. You may have noticed that the number forty has much spiritual significance in the Christian Church: during the Great Flood, it rained for ‘forty days and nights’ in Noah’s time; Moses spent ‘forty days’ on Mount Sinai awaiting God’s commandments and ‘forty years’ wandering the desert with the Israelites before they came to the Promised Land; and Jesus himself spent ‘forty days’ in the desert, resisting the temptation of the devil through prayer and penance. For the Jews, the number forty represents a time of purification, remembering how God’s People learnt to be faithful to God and trust in God. For us too, the forty days of Lent is a time for growth and reflection, where we can become spiritually stronger through prayer, repentance and almsgiving.

Shrove Tuesday (or Pancake Tuesday as it is more commonly known as) will take place on the 28th February. Freshly cooked pancakes will be available for purchase on this day and ordering information will be sent home next week. Many thanks to Mrs Jenni Stone who will be coordinating this event through the ‘Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden’ program with the Year 5 and 6 students.

Reference: “Understanding Faith” site

Maureen Gaul
Assistant Principal (Religious Education)

SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING

Did you know that over 70% of children’s lives are spent with their family and the wider community? Thus, the home and community are significant learning environments for our children, and parents play a central role in enhancing the education their child receives. Parents provide the enduring, sometimes life-long learning environment for their child, and usually offer the confidence and motivation to succeed by offering continued encouragement to develop understanding through exploration.

Schools too share in the responsibility for children’s learning and are concerned with building self-esteem and a positive disposition for learning, alongside parents. Studies have shown that when parents and teachers work together, levels of student achievement and well-being increase, so achieving the best outcomes for the children entrusted in our care involves building strong relationships between schools, parents and students.

Research on effective parental participation offers some insight into ways that parents may positively impact on their child’s learning. Here are some strategies for your consideration:

• Provide a good parenting balance of love and warmth with clear boundaries;
• Become involved in school events, by assisting and volunteering with fundraising, tuckshop, classroom reading or by working in the library where possible;
• Be engaged in your child’s learning by having a clear focus on learning and its value in the home;
• Show your child what a lifelong learner looks like – be a motivated, interested and successful learner yourself;
• Encourage positive attitudes towards learning and build upon children’s skills to develop capacity;
• Build belief in your child that they can be successful in their learning;
• Communicate high aspirations and expectations towards fulfilling careers and hobbies;
• Stay informed and engage in meaningful 2-way communication with schools and teachers.

Parents and schools, working together in an atmosphere of mutual respect contributes towards higher success in student achievement levels, student well-being and confidence for lifelong learning.

Reference: “Personalised Learning for All – Are Parents the Missing Key to closing the Gaps?” Cathy Quinn.

Parents are the ‘constant’ in the life of a child and are pivotal in making a difference as we know parenting is a lifelong commitment!

Maureen Gaul
Assistant Principal (Religious Education)

CASTING THE NET

‘I try to take one day at a time….’

‘…but sometimes several days attack me all at once’, said Ashleigh Brilliant. That was my experience earlier this week. I was overwhelmed by what needed to be done in the rest of the day so much so I was getting a little frantic. I stopped, sat down, tried to make myself calm…and then spent a few minutes counting my blessings and thanking God for them. What a difference it made. I got up, worked steadily through the rest of the day, got most of the work done and then didn’t worry about the rest. Civilization wouldn’t end because I hadn’t ‘succeeded’ in my tasks.

In counting my blessings, I changed my perspective. When we are very busy, we can begin to feel put upon: ‘Why is this happening to me? It is so unfair. Nobody appreciates all I do.’ You catch my drift. We each have our own ‘poor me’ script that can spoil even a good day. But by focussing on what is good in our lives, we open our vision to reality. We choose the big, good picture of life.

By thanking God, we acknowledge that we really aren’t in control of our lives and that God is looking after us. To remember and realise this, we need to constantly ‘refresh our browser’. It is so easy for our hearts and minds to slip into negativity, especially when we are overworked or when things aren’t going our way. Counting our blessings and thanking God isn’t being Pollyannaish and ignoring the challenges we face. Rather it is looking at reality the way it is: me, with all my gifts and talents, the situation with its good and bad and God, alongside me, on my side.

Loving God, when know what happens to me when life overwhelms me.
Give me the wide wisdom of your Spirit to open my heart and mind to see clearly and peacefully how I can serve those I love.

I ask this in Jesus’ name confident that you will hear me.

Sr Kym Harris osb

SMART CHOICES - HEALTHY EATING

What is Smart Choices?

Smart Choices—the Healthy Food and Drink Supply Strategy for Queensland Schools is all about offering healthy food and drink choices to students in Queensland schools.

Why healthy choices?

The earlier children are encouraged to eat healthy foods, the more likely they are to continue healthy eating habits into adulthood. Healthy food and drinks give children and young people all the nutrients they need to:

• grow and develop
• concentrate and learn well at school
• stay healthy throughout childhood and in adult life.

The school setting is a key location for influencing the healthy eating behaviours of children and young people.

Smart Choices in the school environment

Smart Choices applies to all situations where food and drinks are supplied in the school environment. This includes tuckshops, vending machines, school excursions, school camps, fundraising, classroom rewards, school events such as sport days, and food used in curriculum activities.

When applying the strategy to the whole of school environment, schools should be guided by the following principles:

• profit should not come before student health and wellbeing
• focus of the strategy is on foods and drinks supplied to students rather than the wider community
• take all opportunities to eliminate the promotion and supply of RED foods and drinks
• take all opportunities to promote and model consistent messages about healthy eating practices.

For the latest information on Smart Choices including frequently asked questions view the link below.

COUNSELLOR’S CORNER

Hello, my name is Nicole Wannenburg and I am the new School Counsellor at St Rita’s. I will be working at the school every Tuesday during school hours. I have come from working with the Royal Flying Doctors Service, where I was providing psychological services within certain schools in Cape York.

I am very pleased to join the team at Catholic Education Services where Social and Emotional Learning is highly regarded. As we have entered the first term for 2017, it is common for students to experience social and emotional difficulties when adjusting to the school environment. If you have any concerns, or would like information on supporting you child’s social and emotional development, you can contact me here at the school.

Yours in counselling,
Nicole Wannenburg

AROUND THE CLASSROOMS

THE AMAZING, WONDERFUL FISH TANK!

Iggy is a magnificent gold-fish. He glides through the crystal-clear water like a superb Flamenco dancer from Spain. Iggy is a highlight of the fish tank in the 2-3-4 classroom at my school, St Rita’s Babinda!

All of my classmates brought something along to restore the tank to its former glory. Jack brought some colourful gravel to sit along the bottom lining of the tank, and then Rhya and Kaelan added some small orange and grey guppies.

My teacher Mrs Jago, contributed four miniature, spotty grey catfish to eat the slime off the glass and shells. I took two big orange guppies, some shells and two golden-shelled snails.

Everybody who enters our classroom loves watching the fish swish their tails and swash their fins.

By Saffron Ripps
Year 4

DATE CLAIMERS

STUDENTS OF THE WEEK

St Rita’s School congratulates those students who were awarded ‘Student of the Week’ at Assembly on Friday 10th February 2017.

BIRTHDAY CONGRATULATIONS

St Rita’s wishes Teelah Geary, Harper Wiles, Jack Clarke, Cooder Postic and Hayley Geary all the very best for their recent birthdays. We hope you had wonderful birthday celebrations. Congratulations Teelah, Harper, Jack, Cooder and Hayley!

St Rita’s also wishes Hallie Lansdown, Jamie Brose, Nathaniel McEwan, Harrison Stone, Kaelan Maxwell and Andy Pham who celebrated their birthdays after school finished last year. Belated congratulations Hallie, Jamie, Nathaniel, Harrison, Kaelan and Andy!

MUSIC TUITION

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK

BABINDA COMMUNITY KINDERGARTEN

COMMUNITY NEWS

BABINDA TASKFORCE

Please note that the next General meeting of the Babinda Taskforce will be held at their offices on Wednesday 15th February at 5.30pm. All are welcome to attend.