Issue 18 - 13 November 2018

Newsletter Articles

MISSION STATEMENT

St Rita’s School mission is to create a community which inspires a love of holistic, life-long learning grounded in the Catholic Christian faith. Childhood is celebrated and nurtured by caring adults. A student’s capacity for their best future is realised in the context of our small rural community. We provide a safe and supportive environment, characterised by strong, life-giving and respectful relationships with students, staff, families, parish and the wider community. The school strives to ensure we are living out the Mercy values.

PRINCIPAL’S PEN

Dear Parents and Carers,

This week we will celebrate the effort and commitment of our school’s P & F at the last monthly meeting of the year. The recently staged Christmas Cent Sale was an outstanding success, and it demonstrated just how effective our team of parents and staff is at St Rita’s. ‘Many hands make light work’ was the mantra of the days leading up to the Cent Sale, with everyone busy helping with prize donations, a wrapping bee, baking for the afternoon tea, and setting up and running the day. A fantastic effort! Thank you!

National Recycling Week is here! Celebrated nationally from 12th – 18th November, I believe schools are an ideal place to develop knowledge and skills around litter, waste and recycling in the local community. An email I received recently from David Curtin, Chief Executive Officer of Community Projects Queensland Ltd, has further convinced me that St Rita’s can, and must, participate in the National Recycling Week event. And not just for this one week of the year, but all year round!

A few quick stats and a great reason why your school/class should participate:

1. Queensland is the most littered (mainland) State of Australia. Disgusting right? It’s a reputation no Queenslander is proud of.
2. The average Australian produces 1.5 tonnes of waste each year.
3. The biggest garbage dump in the world is not on land, but out at sea. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch lies in the Pacific Ocean where rotating ocean currents and wind form a vortex or gyre where rubbish, particularly micro plastics, accumulate. It is estimated to be about the size of Queensland and to contain approximately 11 million tonnes of floating plastic.
4. Only 45% of waste is recycled in Queensland.
5. It cost local Councils $18million to clean up and dispose of illegally dumped waste.

Aren’t those ‘stats’ confronting? How could we not be aghast at knowing that each of us is responsible for producing 1.5 tonnes of waste each year! How shocking! And especially to learn that Queensland is statistically the most littered state. We must be responsible for our own waste, and make a difference by reducing waste and practising recycling at home, school and in the community.

At school, the focus of this national week will be to educate our students about the impact of living a life without recycling. At St Rita’s we have made a ‘good start’ with several initiatives already being introduced; we encourage ‘nude food’ lunchboxes, use the CRC yellow recycling bin and feed food scraps to our worm farm. Next year, we will extend these initiatives and have greater impact by participating in the Cleaner Greener Schools program in which we have registered.

To ‘round out’ a busy term, our annual Swimming Carnival will be held on Friday morning, 23rd November, beginning at 8:45am. The carnival will once again have a non-competitive focus, with the children showcasing their swimming skills in individual swims and team relay events. Families and friends are most welcome to join us at the Babinda Pool. We thank Mrs Maryjane Masina, our coach, who has prepared the morning’s program of swimming and novelty events for the children to enjoy.

This newsletter, I’d like to especially thank Mrs Jenni Ripps who has given up her Friday mornings this term to assist Mrs Masina and help our students with their lessons. Mr Daniel Masina (father of Eva in Year 3) also generously gave of his time and energy to guerney the multi-purpose court in readiness for the Cent Sale. Many thanks from St Rita’s to you both!

Mrs Jago is excited to announce that preparations are well underway for the annual Christmas Concert which will be held on the evening of Tuesday 4th December, beginning at 7:00pm. We very much enjoy showcasing the talents of our students in music, drama and public speaking. We ask that you please bring a plate to contribute to the shared supper which will follow the performance. Tea and coffee will be served, and cold soft drinks will be for sale through the tuckshop. See you there!

Please remember to reduce, reuse and recycle this week!

Regards and blessings,

Judy Billiau

MERCY SPIRIT AWARD

St Rita’s School congratulates Georgina Stone (Year 5/6) for being this month’s recipient of the ‘Mercy Spirit’ Award. She was presented the award by the Principal, Mrs Billiau, at Assembly on Thursday 9th November 2018. Georgina received the award for acting in service to our school community through regular and cheerful offers of assistance. A wonderful achievement Georgina!

The Mercy Value of ‘Service’

Service of God and of Jesus Christ through service of others is at the heart of the originating Mercy story. “It is Jesus Christ you love and serve with your whole heart,” wrote Catherine McAuley. For Catherine and for those who joined her in 19th century Dublin, living and witnessing to the mystery of the cross meant pooling their resources and seeking out the most vulnerable.

Theirs was to be a willing service: “It is God’s will that everyone called to (God’s) service should be happy.”

Veronica Lawson RSM
Mercy Education
www.mercy.edu.au

APRE THOUGHTS

Dear Parents and Carers,

REMEMBRANCE DAY LITURGY

This year, Remembrance Day is especially significant as it marks the 100th year anniversary of Armistice Day – the day that silenced the guns on the Western Front on the 11th November 1918, thereby ending the First World War. Remembrance Day is a day of commemoration where, not only do we remember those who have died and those who have served, but we also celebrate life and the gift of life. It is a day where we give thanks for the work towards reconciliation of nations, world unity, peace and justice. We remember Australians, and we remember all who were involved in armed conflict.

On Monday, as a whole school, we observed one minute of silence during our Remembrance Day liturgy, lest we forget the sacrifices made during war for our freedom. We brought to mind the memory of Christ’s sacrifice through his passion, death and resurrection, which offers us salvation and everlasting peace, and continued to pray for peace – peace in our own families, peace in our classrooms and schools, and peace in our communities. Peace begins with each of us. Through our own everyday peaceful actions, we each can make a difference in our world.

Thank you to all who were able to celebrate this significant community event in prayerful liturgy and song with St Rita’s staff and students. Special thanks also to Mr Ben Stone who delivered the Commemorative Address for the occasion.

ST VINCENT DE PAUL CHRISTMAS HAMPER APPEAL

Last year, through the St Vincent de Paul’s Christmas Hamper Appeal, our school community made a difference to families in need. Together, by setting our values into action, we were able to serve others through charitable giving to the annual social justice project. Once again as we approach the Christmas season, we are seeking your assistance please, by way of donations of non-perishable food items and Christmas fare to support our local Mini Vinnies organisation. Be on the lookout for diary entries in the coming weeks, with suggestions for suitable items to donate for the 2018 Christmas Hamper Appeal.

Blessings,

Maureen Gaul
Assistant Principal (Religious Education)

SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING

How children can learn to resolve conflict

Conflict is a normal part of children’s lives. Having different needs or wants, or wanting the same thing when only one is available, can easily lead children into conflict with one another. “She won’t play with me,” “He took my …….”,”Tom’s being mean!” are complaints that parents, carers and teaching staff often hear when children get into conflict and are unable to resolve it. Common ways that children respond to conflict include arguing and physical aggression, as well as more passive responses such as backing off and avoiding one another.

When conflict is poorly managed it has a negative impact on children’s relationships, on their self-esteem and on their learning. However, teaching children the skills for resolving conflict can help significantly. By learning to manage conflict effectively, children’s skills for getting along with others can be improved. Children are much happier, have better friendships and learn better at school when they know how to manage conflict well.

Different ways of responding to conflict

Since children have different needs and preferences, experiencing conflict with others is unavoidable. Many children (and adults) think of conflict as a competition that can only be decided by having a winner and a loser. The problem with thinking about conflict in this way is that it promotes win-lose behaviour: children who want to win try to dominate the other person; children who think they can’t win try to avoid conflict. This does not result in effective conflict resolution.

Stay tuned in the next newsletter for tips on conflict resolution!

CURRICULUM CORNER

ACER TESTING

Teaching and Learning programs are driven primarily by the Australian Curriculum, and influenced greatly by the demonstrated needs of learners. Schools and teachers constantly collect information about students’ learning progress through a variety of means, including informal and formal classroom-based assessments, as well as external tests.

In last week’s Newsletter, we shared our Year 3 and Year 5 students’ successes in the external NAPLAN tests. Further to this, we are pleased to report that, as a school, we have also had strong results across all classes following Progressive Achievement Tests (PAT) provided by ACER, which the children completed last week.

Once again, this is affirming to the quality of teaching and learning that is occurring in our classrooms. Great work everyone! Teachers will continue to utilise the data gained from these tests in an effort to ‘close the learning gaps’ and support students’ educational needs.

Maureen Gaul
Curriculum Support Teacher

LESSONS IN THE LIBRARY

Fun with Pre-Preps

It was exciting to have the pre-preps visit last week! After enjoying a story about starting school, the students learnt how to create and narrate their own drawing on the iPads using the Seesaw app. The pre-preps drew a picture of what they are most looking forward to about starting school and they recorded a sentence explaining their drawing. Finally, they were able to share their drawing with their family member/s by posting it through the Seesaw app. Well done pre-preps!

Lego Mindstorms

This term, the Year 5/6 class has been enjoying their learning journey with the Lego Mindstorms. This week, they built a robot and brought it to life by programming it to move, spin and steer. Students’ persistence, problem solving, critical thinking and collaborative skills were certainly put to the test as they engaged with this task!

Ozobots

Year 2/3/4 students have been extending their coding skills this term by using Ozobots, an iPad application. Ozobots are miniature robots that can be controlled using drawn paths and colour codes. The students have been learning that algorithms must be accurate, precise and correctly sequenced for a computer or robot to follow and perform the correct command.

Michelle van Dugteren
District Librarian & Resource Teacher

DATE CLAIMERS

P & F News

Dear Parents,

We were astounded by the quantity and quality of the donations we received for the recent Christmas Cent Sale. The school community wishes to acknowledge the support of the sponsors, listed below, who contributed either Cent Sale prizes or vouchers for the Starboard at the Cent Sale. Please show your appreciation of the generous donations by these businesses by supporting them in return!

St Rita’s School community acknowledges the support of the following businesses:

Kind regards,

Maryjane Masina
P & F Secretary

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK

COMMUNITY NEWS

McKillop Catholic College