Issue 3 - 28 February 2018

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,

Last week marked the halfway point for first term and it was an extremely busy week at St Rita’s School. At the Annual General Meeting held last Tuesday, nominations and elections resulted in some positions being successfully ‘taken up’ by parents. It was heartening to see parents of children in younger year levels join us for the meeting, and show their interest in being involved in the St Rita’s P & F.

On behalf of the whole school community, I sincerely thank Shane Wiles, Loretta Musumeci, Jenni Stone and Julie Schep for being such an outstanding P & F team last year. Their level of involvement and contribution to our school was simply outstanding! It was lovely to have Shane (2017 President) and Loretta (2017 Secretary), whose children have now left St Rita’s, back for the AGM meeting. Their continued generosity and support for our school was once again shown through their offer to assist Jenni Stone and Julie Schep with our first fundraising event due to be held on ANZAC Day.

As always, the new P & F Executive Committee will need your support to be an effective working body in our school community this year. I would therefore like to take this opportunity to congratulate and introduce our new committee members for 2018:

President: Ms Honorei Bisset
Vice-President: Vacant
Secretary: Mrs Maryjane Masina
Treasurer: Vacant
Tuckshop Coordinator: Mrs Julie Schep

As you are aware, there are positions vacant at this stage, and Honorei, Maryjane and Julie would really love to have other parents joining their group. If you are interested, and are wondering what the role of Treasurer and Vice-President entails, please chat to one of the ladies or myself. I encourage you to help if you can!

Classroom teachers are also calling on your support to assist with classroom activities, and it is wonderful to see parents asking to volunteer at St Rita’s. It is an enjoyable and rewarding experience for parents, and children especially like to have you helping in their class. Please see your classroom teacher soon to register your interest!

On Wednesday and Thursday last week I began a course, ‘Leading with Integrity for Excellence: Governance in Catholic Schools’, with all principals and administrative leaders in the Cairns Diocese. Although the days were long, engaging and informative presentations were made by Professor Stephen Brown, Professor David Hall, Professor Emeritus Patrick A Duignan and Mr Paul Shogren.

The aims of the course include the critical analysis of what it means to be a Catholic leader in a modern education context, and the creation and development of ideas for sustaining the Catholic Mission through quality governance. Duignan (2018) describes “principles of practice” which emphasise “mission and purpose; collegiality; subsidiarity; openness and accountability; stewardship of resources; compliance; and safety and respect”.

A key take-home message of the workshop sessions that especially spoke to me was summed up in the words of Pope Francis. He advises each and every one of us to “jettison life’s useless baggage”. We can get bogged down in so many different things each day, especially in the busyness of a school. Instead, we should be focusing on the children, their learning, and nothing more. It sounds like an awesome idea doesn’t it?

To end a busy week, classroom teachers participated in the annual TREWTH Conference in Cairns on Saturday. Sessions we attended included Creative Takeaways, Why Would I Keep From Singing, Trauma Informed Practices for the Classroom and the School, How to Grow a Mandala, Keeping It Simple in the RE Classroom, Creating and Using a Photo-Language Kit and Made in the Image of God; A Christian Reflection on the Human Body. Thank you teachers for building your professional capacity on your precious day off.

Have a good week!

Regards & blessings,

Judy Billiau

APRE THOUGHTS

PRAY, FAST, GIVE

The word ‘Lent’ is derived from an Old English word, meaning ‘to lengthen’. It referred to the gradual lengthening of days that was experienced in northern hemisphere over the six weeks leading in to Easter.

In earlier times, Lent began as a time of preparation for adults who were to be baptised into the Catholic faith at Easter, and in an act of solidarity, the faith community observed a period of prayer and fasting before Easter too. Gradually, Lent changed to a time of penance – a sincere expression of sorrow or remorse for wrong-doings - through prayer, fasting and almsgiving as adult baptisms became less common, and still today Catholics are urged to reflect deeply upon their lives and their relationship with God to bring about a ‘conversion of heart’.

The practices of prayer, penance and almsgiving are certainly in evidence at St Rita’s where, across the school, students have been involved in liturgy, prayer and fundraising for Project Compassion.

Last Friday, Father Nathan McKay led the Prep to Year 4 classes in a Lenten Liturgy celebration. Prep students shared with us some moments that we can take time to pray and build bonds of love and friendship with those around us, for example: at Mass and at school, in classrooms, with our families or when we are alone. Prayer is so diverse! There are times that we can pray in gratitude for life’s blessings; in worship to Praise God; for forgiveness in sorrow for our sins; or for others’ sufferings. Here is a prayer you may like to reflect upon:

You are my God, so be merciful to me;
I pray to you all day long.
Make your servant glad, O Lord,
Because my prayers go up to you.

You are good to us and forgiving,
Full of constant love for all who pray to you.

Listen, Lord, to my prayer;
Hear my cries for help.
I call to you in times of trouble,
Because you answer my prayers.
Psalms (8:3-7)

Staff and students from the Year 5 and 6 classes participated in a reconciliation ceremony as well on this day, where Father Nathan spoke of the importance of sharing our goodness with others using the analogy of ‘the light within’ to shine on the world based on Luke’s gospel (11:33-36). Through Reconciliation, we can take time to examine our failings and are offered forgiveness and blessings as a reminder of God’s mercy and unceasing love for all.

Thank you to all members of our school community who have shared of their time, effort and resources to be actively involved in our Lenten initiatives. Together, we have already raised a total of $66 from Shrove Tuesday. Project Compassion collection boxes have been placed in all classrooms and in the front office for further donations, should you wish to take the opportunity.

CARITAS LEADERSHIP DAY

Next week, students from the senior classes will be asked to consider ministering through St Rita’s Community Carers Group. Involvement in this group requires an occasional meeting during lunch breaks to discuss how we can make a difference to our local community, with the support of teaching staff. Children who opt in to the Community Carers Groups will be invited to various outings throughout the year, the first of which is to attend a Caritas ‘Just Leadership Day’. This is to be held at Good Counsel College, Innisfail on Tuesday 6th March, and emphasises the importance of building a better, more just world. If your child expresses an interest in this community outreach group, further details regarding Community Carer’s ventures will follow.

Blessings,

Maureen Gaul
Assistant Principal (Religious Education)

PARISH SACRAMENTAL PROGRAM 2018

Looking ahead, in Term 2 St Rita’s will commence our Sacramental Program, which prepares candidates to receive the Sacraments of Reconciliation, Confirmation and Eucharist. If your child is in Year 4 or above, is baptised (or is to be baptised) and you would like them to participate in the program, please contact the school office on 40671467 to organise an enrolment form. Once enrolments have been finalised, an information session will occur, with further details regarding the sessions along with significant dates. Should you be aware of others in our community who would benefit from this information, we would be grateful if you would kindly refer them to contact our school.

Maureen Gaul,
St Rita’s Parish Sacramental Coordinator

SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING

COLES ‘SPORTS FOR SCHOOLS’ PROGRAM

This year the ‘Sports for Schools’ program starts on 7th February 2018 and ends on 15th June 2018. You will be able to start collecting Coles Sports for School vouchers from all Coles stores and Coles Express stores nationally. You can also collect electronic Coles Sports for Schools vouchers when you shop at Coles Online.

Every voucher received will go towards St Rita’s tally which enables us to order sports equipment for our school. You may send your vouchers into school any time as you collect them.

Thank you to all the families who have been bringing their dockets into the Office.

LESSONS IN THE LIBRARY

Chromville app

Bring characters and stories to life! The students in Prep and Year 1 have been developing their creative writing skills this week with an augmented reality app called Chromville. Using printed templates, the students let their imaginations run wild as they created their own unique story characters.

Using the free Chromville App, the students were then able to bring their characters to life. They watched as their creations popped out of their pages and proceeded to move and dance in 3D. Chromville is a free app and colouring pages/templates can be downloaded and printed at the link below.

All students at St Rita’s now have access to a range of eBooks and audio books through the St Rita’s eBook library. Students can log in to the free ePlatform app using their school computer username and password. They can then browse and borrow an ebook or audio book to read or listen to on their device.

Accessing this service at home is easy by following these 3 steps:

1. Search for and download the ePlatform app from your app store
2. Find our school library (St Rita’s School, Babinda) and log in using your school computer username and password
3. Browse and borrow an eBook to read on your device.

Michelle van Dugteren
District Teacher Librarian

CURRICULUM CORNER

AROUND THE CLASSROOMS

The Year 5/6 class has been expanding their general knowledge and vocabulary during Morning Routine session. Each week we learn new facts about a different topic and are given a writing prompt as a basis for generating adjectives and then writing descriptive sentences. This week we learned about the Tudors and life in the Middle Ages. Here are some samples of the descriptive sentences we have been writing.

The cold, secure prison had top of the line defences with inescapable cells and turrets shaped like onions. Prisoners had no chance of escape since the walls were barricaded and surrounded by trees and the river Thames.

By Georgina Stone

The secure, hostile prison was defended by guards, but is uninhabited today except for the tourists who visit the Tower of London.

By Harrison Stone

The old prison castle just waits for a new ghost. The ghosts now living there wait in the halls for a new generation.

By Jamie Brose

Queen Elizabeth was a serious woman. She had bright orange hair and she was adorned in frilly lace, make up and shiny jewellery. She ruled over England and was a strong and powerful ruler.

By Hallie Lansdown

LIBRARY LINKS

Continuing with our Term One theme of Creativity, our primary library display board shows Vashti (The Dot by Peter H Reynolds) splashing beautiful colour to help brighten her world. She is eager to ‘make her mark and see where it takes her’.

A St Rita’s favourite, Stephen Michael King, is an author continually making his mark in the literary world. Our library is fortunate to have a wide selection of books either written or illustrated by Stephen. His love of all things whimsical and childlike, make for gorgeous, creative stories all ages can enjoy. Stephen speaks of time spent creating in his studio as time “where any hint of adult logic stops and my trusted intuition takes over”.

When asked at what age he started drawing, Stephen answered, “My mum, who loves books, has a story about me. She says that she brought a book home for me when I was about seven or eight years old. I didn’t like the pictures at all, so I spent a rainy weekend redrawing the whole book. She laughs when she tells that story”.

Leaf, Mutt Dog, One Blue Sock, Patricia and Henry and Amy are just some of our titles showcasing Stephen’s imaginative work. Stephen Michael King is our current Author in the Spotlight and his books will be on display in the library over the next fortnight. You are very welcome to pop in and ‘check them out’.

Lisa Calcagno,
Library Assistant

DATE CLAIMERS

STUDENTS OF THE WEEK

St Rita’s School congratulates those students who were awarded ‘Student of the Week’ at Assembly on Friday 23rd February 2018.

BIRTHDAY CONGRATULATIONS

St Rita’s wishes Layota Ambrum and Timmy Pham all the very best for their recent birthdays. We hope you had wonderful birthday celebrations. Congratulations Latoya and Timmy!

ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

We congratulate Hannah Lansdown who successfully contributed to the Cairns Post ‘Inspire’ feature on Tuesday 13th February 2018 with her article titled ‘Just Out of This World’. After working with Mrs Van in the library, Hannah described different experiences using the green screen and her iPad.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK

COMMUNITY NEWS

COME & TRY BASEBALL

AFL TRIALS

BASEBALL TRIALS MULGRAVE

CAIRNS DIOCESE P&F COUNCIL MEETING