Issue 11 – 27 August 2020

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,

The term is progressing smoothly with all students returning to school and settling back into their classrooms.

This week we held a very exciting Science Fun Day to celebrate the annual event of National Science Week.

On Tuesday, the whole school participated in a full day of activities and experiments which were centred on this year’s theme of ‘Deep Blue: Innovations for the future of our oceans’. I especially thank Mrs Masina, our senior class teacher, who was supported by staff to organise such a successful whole school event.

We were pleased to share the morning with pre-school aged children in the community who joined us to explore the Deep Blue theme. With the Prep to Year 2s, our visitors participated in water activities such as floating and sinking, created ‘under the sea’ dioramas in craft activity, collaged and painted a variety of sea creatures, and learned to use an augmented reality app on their iPads. After showcasing their scientific skills in the ’60 Second Science Show’, the senior classes made compasses, constructed sea creatures from recyclable pieces, and expanded their knowledge of the enormous problem we have with pollution of our oceans.

Altogether we had an awesome day of experiencing, experimenting and expanding our knowledge in National Science Week this year!

Our next whole school event is scheduled to take place next Thursday, 3rd September. Following a series of dance lessons taught by ‘Step it Up Crew’, our teacher Ms Sian Stormont will be presenting a short showcase of dance skills for our school community to enjoy. All parents and families are invited to join us on the multi-purpose court for this showcase beginning at 12:30pm next Thursday. Once again, I would like to thank the St Rita’s P & F for financially supporting our Term 3 Dance program this year.

This Friday, 28th August, marks the conclusion of the Queensland Premier’s Reading Challenge. During the past six weeks, children had to log their reading of either ten or fifteen books to be eligible to receive a reading certificate. By participating in the Challenge each year, St Rita’s aims to promote literacy and encourage our young students to read for pleasure and learning at home. I cannot emphasise enough just how important reading is for young children, and I will take this opportunity to ‘bang on’ about it once again!

The research study, ‘Reading to Young Children: A Head-Start in Life’, undertaken by the Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development shows that there is an important role for parents in the development and educational performance of their children. Parental reading to children increases the child’s reading and other cognitive skills at least up to the age of 10–11. This is an early-life intervention that seems to be beneficial for the rest of their lives.

The results indicate a direct causal effect from reading to children at a young age and their future schooling outcomes regardless of parental income, education level or cultural background. Although many studies have shown an association between reading and schooling outcomes, actual causality has been much more difficult to prove.

Each week at St Rita’s, your child visits our well-resourced school library to access leisure reading texts, both fiction and non-fiction, and sufficient levelled readers to read with parents through the Home Reading program. Reading for pleasure and interest will help your child to develop a love of reading and an opportunity to practise reading skills in a meaningful way. The additional support parents can provide by ensuring your child’s ‘home readers’ are read each evening will also contribute to the further development of reading skills at home.

In the concluding weeks of this term, St Rita’s will be finalising plans for our annual ‘Get Set for Prep’ program. In this program, prep children who are enrolled in school for next year attend school each Monday during Term 4. Parents also participate in this school readiness program, with information workshops presented by parent educators, Catholic Education Services specialist and support staff, such as speech therapist and guidance counsellor, and Education Officers in Learning & Teaching. All pre-Prep children eligible for our ‘Get Set for Prep’ program are encouraged to participate in this valuable school readiness program.

As parents, the education of our children is one of our most important responsibilities, and for this reason our choice of school has to be given considerable priority. At time of enrolment, Prep parents explain why that it is for the value-added education that they wish to enrol at a Catholic school. As a Catholic primary school we offer “a quality education that is more than academic, but also nurtures the spiritual, social, emotional and physical development of individuals. Our schools offer a caring, safe and respectful environment that is faith based”.

Have a good week and I hope to see you around the classrooms.

HOW TO PROMOTE YOUR CHILD’S LEARNING

St Rita’s School Babinda recognises that every day of attendance in the classroom contributes to maximising student learning outcomes for children. I will continue to emphasise the extreme importance of your child coming to school each day, and this is not simply that we have a legal responsibility, in the Education (General Provisions) Act 2006, to record student attendance. St Rita’s wants all students to achieve his or her maximum potential and being present in the classroom is the first way we can achieve this goal.

On the eMinerva school administration system that we use in Cairns Catholic Education, student attendance is recorded twice daily, at 9:00am and 2:00pm, and absences are recorded as either ‘Explained’ or ‘Unexplained’. We ask that parents notify the School Office of instances, such as professional appointments, that impact on your ability to bring your child to school. If we don’t have notification of an absence, the teacher will record the absence as being ‘Unexplained’.

Similarly, to most primary schools in the diocese, St Rita’s Attendance Records could be improved. This year, Cairns Catholic Education is targeting 95% student attendance as being the goal for all schools, both primary and secondary, in the diocese. It doesn’t sound too difficult does it? However, 5% of a twenty-week semester equates to a child missing ONE WEEK of school each semester of the academic year. It puts the ‘occasional day off’ into perspective doesn’t it!

Judy Billiau
Principal

APRE THOUGHTS

Reconciliation Action Plan Icon

Last Friday, the Year 5/6 students were visited by Mrs Antoinette Cole, Catholic Education Services’ (CES) First Nations Consultant, to develop the St Rita’s design brief for the CES Reconciliation Action Plan. Students shared their ideas about what ‘reconciliation’ meant to them, and how collectively we can continue the journey of reconciliation in our Cairns Catholic Education Community.

Mrs Cole commented on the students’ impressive knowledge of St Rita’s school symbols, and our founding Mercy Education values. From this workshop, the students have collaboratively designed an icon, based on their understanding of our school context, and specific to our school, which will be stylised by a graphic designer and published soon. Many thanks to these children for collectively sharing their ideas to contribute to this initiative.

Confirmation Evening

Congratulations to Eva Masina who received the Sacrament of Confirmation on Tuesday evening at Mother of Good Counsel Church. Confirmation is viewed as a completion of Baptism and signifies a deepening of Christian identify.

During the Rite of Confirmation, the bishop (or priest) performs symbolic gestures of the ‘laying on of hands’ and anointing the candidates with the Holy Oil of Chrism. It is the Holy Spirit that strengthens and inspires those who are confirmed to live more authentically in witness to Jesus Christ, through the agency of the bishop. The Holy Spirit is invoked to ‘pour out’ the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and awe and wonder of the Lord, and through these gifts, those confirmed are able to bear the ‘Fruits of the Spirit’. Thus, each time we show love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, Catholics believe that the Holy Spirit is at work in us.

Our grateful thanks go to Father Kerry for officiating at our biennial Confirmation Liturgy, and for the support offered by Eva’s family members, staff from St Rita’s, and the Innisfail parish community.

Virtual Journey Under Marine Waters

With Science Week’s focus on the future health of our oceans, you may like to take a virtual journey through marine ecosystems under threat, using the United Nations Environment Project site “Wild for Life: Take a Journey”. This site allows the user to ‘step inside’ the role of a tourist, fisher person and a sea turtle to see how human development is impacting the world’s oceans. Start up one of the online journeys to see stunning underwater photographs, and learn how we can protect our oceans by following this link:

Indigenous Literacy Week

On Wednesday 2nd September, at 12:30pm, Indigenous Literacy Day will premiere a 45-minute live celebration on YouTube. It promises to be a ‘fast-paced, highly visual celebration’ designed for children 3-11 years of age. The event aims to engage the nation in the value of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ first languages, while fundraising for the purchase of books and learning resources for children in remote communities. Typically, this is a ticketed event, held annually at the Sydney Opera House, but due to Covid-19, it is open to all. Don’t worry if you miss the time advertised, as the event will stay on YouTube for you to view at your convenience. Further information can be viewed at:

Blessings,
Maureen Gaul
Assistant Principal (Religious Education)

SCHOOL COUNSELLOR

What is emotional literacy?

Emotional literacy (often referred to as emotional intelligence) is our ability to recognise, understand and appropriately express our emotions. It is also the ability to recognise the emotions of others and to respond to them appropriately. Emotional literacy is a key component of both self-awareness and social awareness

Emotional literacy is a key skill which underpins:

• Self-awareness – Being able to identify and recognise your emotions
• Self-management – Being able to exert self-control and manage stress and challenge
• Social awareness – Being aware of others’ needs and having empathy for others
• Relationship skills – Being able to communicate and relate well with others
• Responsible decision-making – Being able to problem-solve and accept responsibility

Families have an essential role to play in supporting children and young people’s emotional literacy. Children and young people experience a range of positive and negative emotions. This is normal and healthy. Each person will feel and express these emotions differently.

You can support your child through:

• Role modelling - how you express and manage emotions influences how they learn to express and manage their own emotions
• Helping them name their positive emotions (such as proud, interested, excited, relieved) and negative emotions (such as angry, lonely, afraid, disappointed).
• Recognising and naming your own feelings and emotions
• Creating spaces for regular communication
• Validating your child or young person’s feelings
• Guiding them towards appropriate expressions of emotions
• Setting consistent, clear and supportive boundaries for the expression of emotions

Useful links:

• The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) http://www.casel.org/
• KidsMatter http://www.kidsmatter.edu.au/families/role-families

Larissa Juniper
Guidance Counsellor

AROUND THE CLASSROOMS

Science Day!

Ding, dong! The school bell rang. It’s time for Science Fun Day and I can’t wait to see the senior class’s experiments today, and also do exciting activities. It was Tuesday 25th August and my school was celebrating National Science Week. Now I will tell you what happened.

Firstly, we went to Mrs Masina’s classroom for the morning session and we watched clips of ‘Deep Blue: Innovations for the future of our oceans’. We learned how we need to save our oceans as there is so much plastic and rubbish that has been thrown in the ocean. We saw images of dead animals which had died because of the rubbish that was in their habitat.

Next, we went to see what activities we would be doing outside the classroom and one of them was making a bird out of plastic. Mrs Masina showed us how we would be making the bird in pairs. Then we heard the bell, so all of us went to get our hands washed and we ate our lunch. We had some free time and played handball.

Finally we got to see experiments done by the senior class! There was Elephant's Toothpaste and another was sucking a boiled egg into a bottle without breaking it. It was amazing seeing all the explosions. Then we did the activities and I was partnered with Hayley. First, we made the plastic bird. It was hard at first but then I got the hang of it. When I made my compass, I used a magnet which showed north, and when I turned it any way, it would turn to north again.

The day was incredible. All I want to say now is, “I can’t wait till next year!”

by Hannah Lansdown
Year 3

DATE CLAIMERS

STUDENTS OF THE WEEK

St Rita’s School congratulates those students who were awarded ‘Student of the Week’ at Assembly on Monday 24th August 2020.

BIRTHDAY CONGRATULATIONS

St Rita’s wishes Edith Polzin, Hannah Landsdown and Hunter Bell all the very best for their recently celebrated birthdays.

We hope you had wonderful birthday celebrations Edith, Hannah and Hunter!

P & F News

Dear Parents,

You are warmly invited to join us for the first meeting of the St Rita’s P&F since Covid19 restrictions. The meeting will be in the Library on Monday 31st August at 3:00pm to 4:00pm. I hope to see you there!

As Father’s Day is fast approaching, the P&F have organised a small fundraising event to assist families with this celebration. We have purchased a small range of gifts for fathers and other significant males, such as monogrammed caps, toiletries, coolers, coffee mugs and picture frames. The Year 5/6 class students, together with available parents, will run the stall on Wednesday 2nd September.

The gifts will range in price at $3, $5 and $7. It will be a wonderful opportunity for the children to purchase a special gift for Father’s Day on Sunday 6th September. A card and wrapping paper will be made by the students in art lessons to compliment the chosen gifts. Also we have made a basket of men’s goodies for a raffle, tickets are 50 cents.

I’m looking forward to celebrating this special event with you and I hope you will support this simple fundraiser for this term.

Thank you.

Maryjane Masina
P&F Secretary

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK

MUNRO THEATRE