Issue 2 - 18 February 2020

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,

The St Rita’s Commencement Mass and Commissioning of student leaders was celebrated in our parish church on Friday 7th February. During the mass, Father Mathew blessed the leadership badges and presented them to the 2020 school leaders. Congratulations to Kylee Hansen, School Captain, and Cooder Postic and Elijah Geary, Sports Captains. I am always so pleased to have parents, siblings and parishioners join us for this special event.

The following week, these leaders were eager to participate in the annual GRIP Student Leadership Conference held in Cairns. Classroom teacher, Mrs Vicki Jago, transported the group to and from the venue, for what was agreed to be a really valuable day for our School Captain and 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 like about the GRIP leadership program is the emphasis the presenters place on the importance of leaders “growing” with their roles. Being elected a school leader is a role of responsibility, 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. Mrs Jago was very proud of how engaged our school leaders were at the Conference this year!

The term is progressing smoothly at St Rita’s and we have commenced specialist lessons in LOTE (Japanese) and PE, Homework Club, instrumental music lessons with Mrs Jenni Marks, and netball coaching since the last newsletter. This week, we have Parent Information sessions which all parents are encouraged to attend. I appreciate families have after school commitments, so if you were unable to attend the parent information sessions for your class or classes this week, I encourage you to speak with your teacher if you have any concerns or queries regarding the parent letter that was sent home after the event.

To show your appreciation of the successes of the 2019 P & F Executive Committee, I hope you can join us for the upcoming Annual General Meeting on Monday 2nd March. 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, mostly taking 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). Aside from attending P & F meetings, you can be involved at St Rita’s in a variety of ways; participating in parent workshops, joining us for special events and school assemblies, and helping in the classroom and tuckshop. Being involved really is an enjoyable and rewarding experience for parents, and much appreciated by the whole school community.

This Thursday, our Prep, Year 1 and Year 2 students will be participating in the Bravehearts ‘Ditto’s Keep Safe Adventure’ program for children aged three to eight years. This fun and interactive personal safety program has reached hundreds of thousands of Australian children since its inception in 2006. Each student will be working through a Ditto’s Keep Safe Adventure Activity Book following the show, so you are encouraged to talk to your child about the program when the completed book is taken home.

Have a good week!

Regards and blessings,
Judy Billiau

APRE THOUGHTS

ST RITA’S OPENING MASS

Positioned in such a picturesque township, and abundantly blessed with rain and sunshine, our lush surrounds are no doubt an enviable feature to many. Gifted with the responsibility to be ‘stewards of creation’, humankind is called to care for our planet and all creation. However, all too frequently, we hear of environmental crises, indicating we may not have shown enough respect and attention to God’s gifts to us.

In honour of our beauteous land, our Commencement Mass was dedicated to the appreciation of God’s abundant gift of Creation, and through our prayer and reflection time, we were encouraged to be ready to change, and act in a manner which properly values God’s blessings. We gave thanks to the past custodians of our land who cherished it as a gift for future generations, and prayed that current guardians act wisely and continue to nurture our Mother Earth.

Our Commencement Mass was indeed a happy occasion, where we celebrated our first school Eucharist of the new decade, and commissioned our 2020 school leaders: Kylee, Cooder and Elijah. Each class was also presented with a peace lily seedling as a symbol of our commitment to take positive action to help renew our world. To date, our plants are looking vigorous and very healthy thanks to some tender care by our resident green thumbs! Let’s hope that this translates into something bigger!

Our thanks extend to parents and parishioners who were able to celebrate with St Rita’s staff and students, and to Father Mathew Kochuveettil for officiating our mass.

ST RITA’S BABINDA SACRAMENTAL PROGRAM 2020

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 4065 9580 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.

SAFER INTERNET DAY

You may recall towards the end of last year, that the Australian Catholic Bishops delivered a social justice statement entitled “Making it Real: Genuine human encounter in our digital world”. In it, they warned of the harmful elements of our digital world, and urged users to “bring the love of God to the new global neighbourhood”.

Worldwide, this past Tuesday 11th February, ‘Safer Internet Day’ was celebrated to raise awareness about online safety issues and inspire positive change. At St Rita’s too, we take online safety seriously, and explicitly teach ethical, responsible and safe use of technology and appropriate etiquette. Since the beginning of the year, teachers have presented lessons about eSafety aimed at the appropriate levels of our students, so that they can be e-safe and aware, not just on Safer Internet Day, but every day of the year!

We would encourage our school parent community to download the Online Safety Guide for parents through the following link:

Blessings,
Maureen Gau
Assistant Principal (Religious Education)

SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING

Ditto’s Keep Safe Adventure Show is aimed at children aged 3 to 8 and is delivered in early learning centres and lower primary schools to children of all abilities. This fun and interactive personal safety program has reached hundreds of thousands of Australian children since its inception in 2006.

Delivered by experienced facilitators, the show duration is 30 to 40 minutes, depending on the age group (shorter show for younger children). Independent evaluations of the Ditto Show suggest the principles of personal safety embedded in the program can help to increase resilience, and reduce the risk of child sexual assault, as well as other forms of abuse including family violence and bullying.

Following is an overview of the Ditto show content. (Please note that some of the content described below is omitted from the Early Years (i.e. childcare) version of the show to ensure age-appropriateness and brevity for a young audience.) Both the Early Years and lower primary school versions of the Ditto show are underpinned by the following six principles of personal safety:

• Differentiating ‘yes’ and ‘no’ feelings
• Recognising the bodies ‘warning signs’
• Body ownership
• Helping children identify language and feelings associated with secrets
• Reinforcing that there is no secret that children cannot tell someone
• What to do if you feel unsafe or unsure
• Children also learn ‘Ditto’s 3 Rules’, which are:
• We all have the right to feel safe with people.
• It’s ok to say NO if you feel unsafe or unsure.
• Nothing is so yucky that you can’t tell someone about it.

As part of the program, children are each given a Ditto’s Keep Safe Adventure Activity Booklet to take home (primary school program only). We encourage parents and/or teachers to look at the booklet with the children, using the activities to help cement the personal safety messages from the show.

SCHOOL COUNSELLOR

Welcome to our first school newsletter for 2020! My name is Larissa Juniper and I am School Counsellor at St Rita’s School, Babinda. I do hope that you and your family had a restful and enjoyable holiday break.

The purpose of the position of School Counsellor is to focus on student wellbeing and work collaboratively with school communities to promote and foster the development and mental health of all students. A counselling and referral service is provided in a school context to support student engagement with learning. This service promotes and supports the development of student life skills and resilience to deal with a rapidly changing and complex modern world.

A counselling, consulting and referral service is offered to meet the personal, social, emotional, and educational needs of students. This service is confidential within the limits required by student protection legislation and Catholic Education Services Policy.

The guidance counselling service provides the opportunity to discuss issues in a safe and confidential setting to explore unconsidered possibilities and opportunities to set goals and develop strategies for change. Issues include -

• Stress management
• Conflict resolution
• Anger Management
• Parenting skills
• Communication Skills
• Study skills
• Time management
• Decision making
• Grief and loss
• Mental health concerns such as depression and anxiety
• Excessive use of screen devices
• Any area of concern
• Referrals may be made for further assessment and support
• Community agencies provide specialist support for students and families impacted by domestic violence, trauma and abuse, divorce and separation, suicide ideation, self- harm and mental health concerns requiring clinical assessment.

I am once again looking forward to working with St Rita’s families this year. Appointments are available each Thursday during school time by contacting Debbie in the school office.

Larissa Juniper,
School Counsellor

LIBRARY LINKS

Creativity….what an amazing word!

There are so many ways for each of us to showcase our creativity. Some people are incredible painters, using beautiful brush strokes to tell their story. Others love to work with clay or marble, drawing incredible art from these lifeless mediums. Some of us prefer to express ourselves through dance or song, often moving people to tears with our performances. Wearing vibrant or unique clothing can also demonstrate inspired creativity.

However we choose to showcase our creativity and individuality, be assured that each and every one of us is creative in our own way.

This term, at the beginning of another wonderful year of possibilities, our library will be focusing on creativity; ideas, creative thinking, inspiration and the bravery it sometimes takes to share our own form of creativity.

Author Peter Reynolds, in his wonderful picture book, The Dot, knows the importance of acknowledging and nurturing creativity in our children, in whatever form it takes. To quote Peter, ‘make your mark and see where it takes you’. For the child in this story, a single dot was all it took to start her on her journey.

Cheers to a term of creativity; of making our mark and seeing where it takes us!

Lisa Calcagno
Library Assistant

AROUND THE CLASSROOMS

GRIP Leadership Day

On Monday the 10th of February, the student leadership team of St Rita's Babinda travelled to the Cairns Reef Hotel Casino for the GRIP Student Leadership Conference. It was a very informative day and we were taught a lot about becoming better school leaders.

There were many different schools there such as: Holy Cross, McDonnell Creek, Goondi, Gordonvale, Innisfail, Mother of Good Counsel, Flying Fish Point, Mirriwinni and many others. I saw many new faces and a few familiar ones from outside of school.

We were taught to know what to do, do what we know is right and show others how to do the right thing. We also learned that to be a good leader, we need to follow through with our ideas in order to make our school a better place.

I had a wonderful time and really enjoyed going to the GRIP Student Leadership Conference. Thanks to GRIP, St Rita’s will become a better school!

By Kylee Hansen
(Year 6)

DATE CLAIMERS

STUDENTS OF THE WEEK

St Rita’s School congratulates those students who were awarded ‘Student of the Week’ at Assembly on Friday 14th February 2020.

BIRTHDAY CONGRATULATIONS

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

P&F NEWS

At this meeting, the P&F President and Treasurer of the 2019 Executive Committee will present their reports on what was achieved in the past year. Also, a Committee is elected to continue supporting the school throughout 2020. Please consider the importance of attending these ‘short and sharp’ parent group meetings. You will learn so much about our school, collaborate with staff, contribute to planning of whole school events for the year, and most importantly, meet other parents.

You are warmly invited to join us for the first meeting of the St Rita’s P&F on Monday 2nd March at 3:00pm.

I hope to see you there!

Maryjane Masina
P&F Secretary

MUSIC LESSONS

Mrs Jenni Marks, an experienced instrumental and singing music teacher, will once again be teaching lessons at St Rita’s. Piano, guitar and singing are the available choices this year.

Students can be taught one-to-one or in a small group of two or three. For fee enquiries please do not hesitate to phone me on home 4067 6157 or mobile 0424 756 157.

CATHOLIC SCHOOL PARENTS QLD DIOCESE OF CAIRNS

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK

COMMUNITY NEWS

ONE TIME CLEANING