Issue 7 – 15 May 2019

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 weekend, the second Sunday in May, we celebrated Mother’s Day in Australia. It is a special day for showing our appreciation of mothers and mother figures. Although Australians follow the Mother’s Day traditions that stem from observances in countries such as USA and the UK, it is an Australian who is credited with having started the tradition of giving gifts on Mother's Day. Janet Heyden, a resident of Leichhardt Sydney, started a campaign in 1924 to collect gifts for lonely aged mothers.

Yesterday, St Rita’s was excited to host a very special event for all the mothers in our school community. During the afternoon, the staff assisted children in providing activities of pampering and relaxation for their mums, aunties, great-aunties and grandmothers. Children and their families enjoyed the companionship of doing craft activities, photo booth, massaging and story reading together. A delicious afternoon tea, which had been prepared in SAKG cooking class, was enjoyed by all. We do hope you had a wonderful afternoon!

Miss Donna’s outstanding photographic skills can be viewed on our school facebook page, with the gorgeous photos she took of the children and their families throughout the afternoon. I encourage you to ‘share’ these delightful facebook photos with your family and friends. You may also ask Debbie, in the Office, to email your photos if you are interested. Thank you again Miss Donna!

During the next fortnight, our Years 3 and 5 students are taking part in NAPLAN Testing. While the tests will no doubt provide a snapshot of the children’s learning; it is a fitting time to remind all parents and students that NAPLAN is just that - a snapshot. The results of these formal tests are only one of a comprehensive range of assessments which provide information on the individual’s learning and development. At St Rita’s, classroom teachers are continuously monitoring children’s learning and formulating ways to assist the progression of this learning.

During NAPLAN testing weeks, if your child is in Year 3 or 5, I would simply ask you to ensure your child is in bed early and is eating a healthy breakfast to give them every opportunity for optimal performance on the testing days. However, please do not place unnecessary stress on your child with negative conversations about NAPLAN, keeping the notion of these tests in perspective by encouraging them with positive talk about the tests so as to avoid unnecessary stress. “Do your best!” is all that should be encouraged.

With NAPLAN being the ‘big ticket’ item in Australian schools at present, it seems timely that I have been especially interested in Professor Stephen Dinham’s debate with Teacher editor, Jo Earp, on the characteristics of a ‘good school’. There is one thought that an effective school, often known as “an academic school”, is one that achieves outstanding academic results, for example in standardised tests such as NAPLAN. On the other hand, Dinham argues that a focus on student wellbeing, rather than an academic one, causes “people to have low expectations for those students”.

Dinham suggests that the best schools achieve the right balance between the academic and the personal. “They know them as learners, through assessment, but they also know them as people. So that relationship between teachers and students we know is very important in student learning, a good, healthy, professional relationship” (www.teachermagazine.com.au) . I agree with Dinham that the ‘right balance’ must be reached for young children to achieve their best results in the classroom, and a good school must also develop social-emotional skills needed for personal wellbeing in the individual student. We aim to get the balance right at St Rita’s!

This Friday morning, St Rita’s will participate in the 2019 ‘Walk Safely to School Day’. This annual, national event encourages all primary school students to walk safely, and commute actively, to school. Now in its fifteenth year, ‘Walk Safely to School’ promotes better attitudes to road safety, health, public transport and the environment.

We plan to gather at the Showgrounds from 7:50am, and leave for school promptly at 8:00am. After walking to school together, we will share a healthy breakfast of toast, fruit and milk. Parents who usually drive their children to school, are encouraged to drop them at the Showgrounds to walk with us on Friday. With the glorious weather we are having, walking to school will be a great start to the day for us all! Remember the motto, ‘Active kids are smarter kids!’

On the topic of the cooler weather, we have noticed that children may be needing to wear their jackets to school in the morning. Our school uniform includes a navy blue winter jacket for the colder season, and this should be worn in the coming months. The jacket and long pants can be purchased from Debbie in the Office. Please ‘name’ these items, as the children have a tendency to take them off in the playground! Thank you for your cooperation in following our school uniform policy.

I look forward to seeing you around the classrooms. Have a good fortnight!

Regards,
Judy Billiau
Principal

APRE THOUGHTS

Dear Parents,

Blessing Prayer for Mothers

Holy Mystery, God eternal, we thank you for the special gift of motherhood which is an example of your own faithful love.

May mothers share such love with their children by letting them know, without doubt, how much they are loved.

We pray for mothers everywhere that you will grant them your wisdom in loving and teaching their children.

May children everywhere remember the warm caresses and whispers in the night, the tears dried, and the laughter, and the stern warning in times of danger.

Thank you for the mothers who played with their children – taught them, nurtured them, fed them, listened to them and tried to understand them.

May we remember our mother’s beauty when we were young, and her loveliness discovered as we aged.

Loving Lord, draw especially close to mothers who are alone for whatever reason, and grant them your comfort, your pleasure, your peace.

And for mothers who feel they have failed – grant your mercy and kindness.

We honour, celebrate or simply reflect on the woman who gave us birth, or who adopted us into her heart. We thank You, Lord, for life, and for mother.

With Mary, Mother of us all, and through Christ our Lord. Amen.

St Rita of Cascia: Our School Patron Saint

As a Catholic Christian school, we place particular importance on the spiritual gifts shown by our Patrons, and try to emulate their values. At St Rita’s, we are encouraged to be people of peace and forgiveness, and show tender love and compassion to those around us, particularly when we may perceive personal hurt and suffering. St Rita’s life story is a salient reminder to us all of how we can live with joy in the love of God, when we allow the grace of the Holy Spirit to be effective in us.

Our School Patron Saint, St Rita of Cascia was born ‘Margherita Lotti’ in 1381; an only child to parents Antonio and Amata Lotti, who were both well-regarded as peacemakers in their tiny village within the Umbrian Hills near Tuscany. As a child, Margherita - who became known as Rita - was drawn to religious life, though later succumbed to her parents’ wishes to marry Paolo Mancini, and bore two sons. Her unhappy marriage lasted for eighteen years.

Following in the example of her parents, Rita preached forgiveness after the murder of her husband by a rival family, and pleaded with her sons to do likewise, even though society’s expectations at the time would have been for the sons to avenge their father’s killers, so as to restore honour to their family’s name. Sadly, both sons fell ill and died from natural causes.

A widow and childless, Rita turned to her faith. She tried to enter convent life with local Augustinian nuns, but was refused entry until she brokered a peace deal between her husband’s family and their rivals. Her forgiving spirit triumphed over evil and she managed to have both parties sign a peace deal and heal the rift. She entered the Augustinian convent at the age of 36, where she remained for 40 years.

Fifteen years before her death, Rita prayed to share in Christ’s physical and spiritual burden of pain, and experienced a wound on her forehead, penetrating as a thorn from Jesus’ crown, that remained open until her death. In later years, as her health declined, she requested a rose from her family’s garden. Surprisingly, in the winter snows, a single rose was growing and it was presented to her by a relative. Rita believed this to be a beautiful sign of spring and beauty, and felt that God had delivered eternal life to her husband and sons who had all died in tragic circumstances. She too, looked forward to her eternal reward with them. St Rita died peacefully on the 22nd May 1457.

St Rita was widely known as the ‘Peacemaker of Cascia’ and is the patroness of those in need. She modelled tender, compassionate love and merciful forgiveness towards others. Next Wednesday 22nd May St Rita’s School will celebrate her extraordinary gifts of faith and love with a whole school Mass, commencing at 12:15pm in the church. Please feel welcome to join us for the occasion.

Blessings,
Maureen Gaul
Assistant Principal (Religious Education)

AROUND THE CLASSROOMS

Mums deserve pampering!

On Monday 13th May, the students at St Rita’s Babinda invited their mums, grandmas, nannas and aunties to come to school for an afternoon of pampering activities. Younger siblings could come too. Since I am new to the school, I did not know what we would be doing. The staff had organised fun activities for us to do with our mums.

Firstly, my group did some silly dress up photos and then some normal photos. After that we went to the school library and made heart craft and read books together. I really enjoyed reading “Me and My Mum”.

Next, our group did bowl making with air-dry clay. This was fun! It was my favourite activity because I got to make it together with my mum. Then, we went to afternoon tea. Mum had a lovely cup of coffee and some chocolate coconut slice that Clovel and Isabella made in SAKG class. I had an ANZAC biscuit. It was yummy and crunchy!

When time was up, the whole school gathered in my classroom to do a presentation to the Mums. The staff had put together a slideshow from the Prep/1 class for their mums, the 2/3/4 class showed a video made from photo images our parents had emailed into school and the Year 5/6s presented prayers for mothers.

It was a good afternoon. It got all the mums out of the house and let them have special time with their kids. All mums got a lovely present. I really enjoyed the Pampering Afternoon with my mum. It was special as I shared it with my siblings Clovel, Isabella and Phoenix.

By Edith Polzin
Year 4

WOOLWORTHS ‘EARN & LEARN’ PROMOTION

St Rita’s School will once again participate in the Woolworths Earn & Learn program. Through this program we will be able to order new educational resources for our school, and all we need you to do is shop for your groceries at any Woolworths supermarket. If your extended family and friends do not have a school to support, we encourage you to ask them to collect for St Rita’s too!

We will be collecting the Woolworths Earn & Learn Stickers from Wednesday 1st May to Tuesday 25th June this year. You will get one Woolworths Earn & Learn Sticker for every $10 spent (excluding liquor, tobacco and gift cards). If you have a Sticker Sheet, place the Woolworths Earn & Learn Stickers onto it and return to the school office when full. You are welcome also to simply bring in the stickers without doing so!

At the end of the promotion, the school is able to order new equipment and resources from an extensive range of Maths, English, Science, Arts & Craft and P.E. equipment. As a small school on a tight budget, St Rita’s really does benefit from being able to purchase additional teaching resources from the Earn & Learn program.

Thank you for your support!
St Rita’s Students

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 May 2019.

BIRTHDAY CONGRATULATIONS

St Rita’s wishes Ethan Hansen and Emily Shaw all the very best for their recently celebrated birthdays. We hope you had wonderful birthday celebrations Ethan and Emily!

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK

COMMUNITY NEWS

CATHOLIC EDUCATION WEEK

RELAY FOR LIFE LUNCHEON & MINI CENT SALE

HARVEST BLESSING MASS

As we prepare for the sugar cane season we ask God’s blessing for the farmers and workers for a bountiful harvest of our local farm produce.

Sunday 19 May at 9.00am
Mother of Good Counsel Church
90 Rankin Street, Innisfail

Welcome everyone for Morning Tea following our Harvest/Blessing Mass.

Please bring a plate to share.

ST MICHEAL’S CENTENARY 2023

St Michael's school, Gordonvale will be 100 years old in 2023; just under 5 years' time! The school is interested in hearing from you if you would like to share your knowledge about your connection with the school and the roots in which it was founded. The school will begin meetings at St Michael's School hall on the third week of each month, starting on 18 June, from 9.50 to 10.50am. Snacks and drinks will be provided and all are welcome. For further information, contact Justine at St Michael's on secretary.gordonvale@cns.catholic.edu.au

ST AUGUSTINE’S COLLEGE

Well Women’s Clinic – Babinda Hospital

(This clinic is available to Medicare eligible clients)

Tuesday 4th June and Tuesday 25th June 2019
All services are provided by a specially-trained Women’s Health Nurse.
For appointments phone 4067 8200

CENT SALE FOR DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN