Issue 18 – 19 November 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,

Last Monday, Mrs Kurucz and I were honoured to be part of the Babinda Remembrance Day commemorative event. We accompanied two of our student leaders, Kylee Hansen and Cooder Postic, to ANZAC Park and joined with Fr Kerry Crowley, community members and visitors to acknowledge the significance of 11th November 1918. At school also, staff and students participated in a special liturgy, organised by Assistant Principal Mrs Maureen Gaul, to mark the occasion.

St Rita’s welcomed Miss Anne Logan, as the school’s Indigenous Liaison Officer, to our staff last week. The role of the ILO is primarily one of communication and liaison between diocesan schools, Catholic Education Services and local indigenous families, communities and agencies to increase student engagement and outcomes for Indigenous students. Miss Anne, will be supported by the CES Indigenous Education Officer Ms Myree Sam, who works with the ILOs in the southern cluster of schools. Welcome Anne, we look forward to working with you!

Next week we will celebrate the effort and commitment of our school’s P & F at the last monthly meeting of the year. The St Rita’s food stall at the Harvest Festival was an outstanding success, and it demonstrated just how effective our team of parents and staff is. ‘Many hands make light work’ was the mantra of the days leading up to the Harvest Festival, with everyone involved in planning and organising beforehand as well as working on the stall on the festival day. A fantastic effort!

National Recycling Week was here! Celebrated nationally from 11th – 17th November, schools are an ideal place to develop knowledge and skills around litter, waste and recycling in our local community. In November 1996, Planet Ark founded National Recycling Week to bring a national focus to the environmental benefits of recycling. Now in its 24th year, this established and highly regarded annual campaign continues to educate and stimulate behaviour change, by:

• Promoting kerbside, industrial and community recycling initiatives
• Giving people the tools to minimise waste and manage material resources responsibly at home, work and school

Planet Ark's research for National Recycling Week 2018 titled 'From Waste War to Recycling Reboot' explored the impact of the War on Waste and China's waste policies on Australia, the opportunities and positive waste stories emerging and the tools making it easier for you to reboot recycling.

Australia has had kerbside recycling for around 30 years, starting off in Sydney with paper, glass and aluminium. It is an essential service and a point of passion for the community with 91% of people agreeing that recycling at home is the right thing to do. However, there has probably never been a more challenging time for managing Australia’s waste. China’s National Sword Policy has impacted 99% of previously imported recycling from Australia.The success of ABC’s War on Waste has also demonstrated that Australians really care.

This report draws on information and data from a range of sources including independent research commissioned by Planet Ark and conducted by Pollinate and a Planet Ark administered survey of 182 councils. It will uncover the journey of our recycling beyond the bin, whether Australians trust our systems and what would build more trust. And it’s not all doom and gloom as the report looks at some positive recycling stories, the opportunities of moving towards a circular economy and the tools making it easier to reduce waste and recycle right.

At school, the focus of this national week was to educate our students about the impact of living a life without recycling. At St Rita’s we have made a good start; we encourage ‘nude food’ lunchboxes, use the CRC yellow recycling bin and feed food scraps to our worm farm. This year for the first time, we have participated in the ‘Containers for Cash’ initiative, in which our school is not only contributing to the recycling practice, but also making cash for the P & F whilst doing so.

I encourage you to spare some time out of your busy day to be learn more about recycling in Australia, the statistics, programs and initiatives that is the social responsibility of us all. The information available on this website is comprehensive.

To ‘round out’ a busy term at St Rita’s, our annual Swimming Carnival will be held on Wednesday morning, 27th 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.

A highlight of the school year is Year 6 Graduation, and this very special event will be held next Thursday evening at St Rita’s. As ‘community’ is one of our school values, we strive to involve the whole school community in graduation. After Mass in St Rita’s Church, a light supper followed by a presentation ceremony will be enjoyed by the graduates, Father Kerry, Father Grundy, fellow students, families, staff and parishioners. I am especially looking forward to this evening!

Mrs Jago is excited to announce that preparations are underway for the annual Christmas Concert which will be held on the evening of Wednesday 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 softdrinks will be for sale through the tuckshop. See you there!

Until next newsletter, keep cool and enjoy the last few weeks of term. I hope to see you at one of the upcoming school events!

Regards and blessings,
Judy Billiau

ASSESSMENT AND REPORTING

Over the past weeks, teachers have been extremely busy preparing Semester Two Reports for the students at St Rita’s School. From Wednesday 4th December, these formal written reports will be available for viewing and downloading on the Parent Portal. I encourage you to review your child’s Report thoroughly and to contact your classroom teacher for an interview if you have any concerns or queries.

For your information, I am including an excerpt from the Cairns Catholic Education Services Guideline on Student Reporting document, which provides instruction to schools for complying with Australian Government and Diocesan requirements for reporting student achievement:

Rationale and expectations:

In Catholic schools, student achievement is recognised and celebrated in many ways throughout the school year; at informal meetings, through awards at school assembly, parent/student/teacher interviews, through class work that is sent home, through class oral presentations and through written reports.

Reporting communicates information that has been obtained from a variety of assessment processes and involves a professional judgment made on a body of evidence about a student’s progress and achievement against a set of clearly articulated standards. In Catholic schools in the Diocese of Cairns the key principles of reporting are:

• Teacher professional judgment is at the heart of reporting student achievement.
• Teachers’ knowledge and observation of the students’ progress contributes to this professional judgment.
• Teacher professional judgment is informed by assessment data and referenced to the curriculum framework.
• The teacher develops assessment tasks and identifies the criteria which inform judgments about the child’s achievement.
• Teachers utilise the evidence from a body of work to make a judgment against standards at a point in time.
• Teachers should keep a folio of the evidence of a student’s work.

When reading your child’s Report and reviewing their Student Work Folio, please keep in mind that these are only two sources of feedback about student progress. Throughout the year there are opportunities for parent-teacher interviews to provide parents with comprehensive feedback on individual student progress. This includes feedback on your child’s behaviour in class and discussion of potential learning goals that the teacher has targeted for the individual student.

APRE THOUGHTS

ST VINCENT DE PAUL’S CHRISTMAS HAMPER APPEAL

St Rita’s supports the St Vincent de Paul Christmas Appeal each year to help people in need. For the remainder of term, families will be invited to donate goods, such as non-perishable food items and Christmas fare, and spread some Christmas cheer to members of our local community who may be experiencing difficulties. Suitable items to donate include tinned goods, pantry staples, bottled items, drinks, and/or treat foods. All items may be placed in the specially marked collection boxes in the front office. A detailed list of suggestions will be sent home in the coming days to assist with decision-making for the appeal. Many thanks in anticipation of your support of your valued contribution.

PRESENTATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

According to an ancient tradition, when Mary was a child, her parents, Joachim and Anne, brought her to the Temple in Jerusalem and ‘presented’ her to God, so that she might be raised by the holy women who lived there. This feast, on 21st November each year, reminds us that God prepared Mary in every way. She was conceived without sin. Her first years were spent in an environment that kept the fullness of grace safe and prepared her immaculate heart to receive the angel’s message and to embrace God’s will.

In 1997 Saint John Paul II asked that this day be set aside to thank God for the gift of cloistered and monastic life in the Church and to pray for and support those called to that vocation.

O Mary, Mother of Jesus and my Mother, as you were presented the Temple, so was I presented to God at my Baptism. May I now be completely open to God’s will for me, just as you were completely open to God’s will at every moment of your life. I offer myself – every thought, word, and action of this day – to God through you, Mary. Amen.

Source: James Kubicki (2016) S.J. “A Year of Daily Offerings” Ave Maria Press. Indiana.

GRADUATION

As we approach the end of the 2019 school year, it is timely to reflect upon the numerous experiences that have presented thus far within our school community and celebrate the successes and achievements of our students. We acknowledge with sincere thanks the support provided by parents as we journey together to encourage and enhance the personal growth of the precious children within our care.

Our attentions are turning to preparations for the end-of-year formalities concerning Graduation, and in an effort to assist families with planning for this occasion, we wish to share preliminary details available. The Graduation Mass will be celebrated at St Rita’s Parish Church on Thursday 28th November at 6:00pm. Following this, the Graduation Evening will be held on the school basketball court.

The evening will feature our prayer celebration, shared supper, student speeches, awarding of Graduation Certificates and a special slide presentation of the students’ journey through St Rita’s Primary School. This is a wonderful opportunity for the whole school community to celebrate this important milestone in the students’ learning journey and to give thanks for the year that has been. All families of St Rita’s students are warmly invited to attend.

Blessings,
Maureen Gaul
Assistant Principal (Religious Education)

CASTING THE NET

Practise what you preach

I was recently sounding off about people who take drugs. My niece’s boyfriend quietly brought me down to earth with a simple observation on the type of families that some of these people come from. Without attacking me or condoning drug use, he challenged me to be more understanding and realistic. He didn’t preach, but he sure did practise compassion.

In last Sunday’s Gospel, which contained a number of challenging sayings, Jesus said ‘Call no-one on earth your Teacher as you have only one teacher, the Christ’. (I wonder how ‘teachers’ felt about that!) It made me think about the way I had been taught by the young man above. It was so subtle I could have missed it, but obviously God thought the time was ripe and was able to get through my thick skin.

We so often are ‘giving out’ our views on many things. Every time we criticise we make value judgements on others and ourselves. But are we right? Isn’t life more complex and messier than we realise? What we can be certain of is that God is waiting in the wings trying to teach us, trying to crack open the shell of our certainty. What we need to do is be ready to listen to the lessons that will most likely come from the most unlikely people and situations.

Loving God, let me listen to what I say and see if it aligns with what I do.
Let me be open to the many situations in which you are trying to teach me to be compassionate and wise as you are.
I ask this in Jesus’ name, confident that you will hear me.

Sr Kym Harris osb

LIBRARY LINKS

End of Year Collection of Library Books

Last week was the final week of official library borrowing for 2019. Would all families please check at home to ensure all library books borrowed by your children, have either been returned or will be returned within the next week. Any books still showing as outstanding at that time, will be listed on a letter sent home for your attention. Many thanks for your assistance with having all library books safely back into the library over the Christmas break.

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 15th November 2019.

THE CAIRNS POST ‘INSPIRE’ AWARD

St Rita’s congratulates Timothy Logan (Year 1) and Izaac Shaw (Prep) on their article published in the Cairns Post ‘Inspire’ on Tuesday 5th November 2019. Timothy and Izaac wrote about how much they enjoyed having their nana Christine and nana Kasey at the recent Grandparents’ Day celebration at St Rita’s School. Congratulations Timothy and Izaac!

P & F News

Dear Parents,

The next monthly meeting of the P & F will be on Monday, 25th November beginning at 3:00pm in the school library. We will be sharing information about the proceeds raised by the Harvest Festival canteen and how this will be spent on supporting the school needs.

The Committee keeps these meetings to one hour, so we urge you to join us for this final gathering for the year and be an active part of our parent community.

Maryjane Masina
P&F Secretary

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK

COMMUNITY NEWS

ONE TIME CLEANING

Mc Donnell Creek State School Fundraiser

Well Women’s Clinic – Babinda Hospital

(This clinic is available to Medicare eligible clients)

Tuesday 3rd December 2019

All services are provided by a specially-trained Women’s Health Nurse.

For appointments phone 4067 8200

INNISFAIL WATER SAFETY INFORMATION DAY