Issue 2 - 17 February 2021

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 Families,

It was a pleasure to see many of our families attend our Information session on Monday afternoon. This is an example of our school community working with our parent community so that we can both be on the same page in regards to the learning and wellbeing of our children. Research clearly demonstrates the significant influence of parents over their children’s engagement with learning, and over their children’s educational achievements. We hope to partner with families throughout the year, please don’t hesitate to make an appointment with our teachers or myself if any issues arise or you wish to discuss your child’s learning.

We are currently in the process of reviewing our homework policy. We understand homework can be a contentious issue for families and often the cause of conflict in families. It can also prove to be valuable, when it takes into account the child’s personal needs. If you would like your say on homework, please email me directly principal.babinda@cns.catholic.edu.au with any feedback or suggestions you might have. We will inform you of any changes we make in the future.

Last Thursday I was lucky enough to travel to Cairns with Mrs Masina and our 5/6 students to attend Mass at St Monica’s Cathedral to celebrate 200 years of Catholic Education in Australia. The Mass was led by Bishop James Foley and was attended by students, staff and parents from right across the Cairns Diocese. Our students have been learning about the rich history of Catholic schools in Australia. Our own school, St Rita’s has been educating children since 1926. Our students also visited the Art Gallery, Cairns City Library and the Fig Tree Playground, making it a most worthwhile, cultural experience.

Students enjoyed delicious pancakes on Shrove Tuesday courtesy of Miss Jenni and her helpers. Shrove Tuesday is the traditional feast day before the start of Lent and is observed by many Christians throughout the world.

Ash Wednesday is officially the start of Lent and our students marked this occasion by attending an Advent Liturgy at our school. In our Catholic tradition, Lent is a season of reflection and preparation before the celebrations of Easter. By observing the 40 days of Lent, Christians replicate Jesus Christ's sacrifice and withdrawal into the desert for 40 days. The three traditional practices to be taken up with renewed vigour during Lent are prayer (justice towards God), fasting (justice towards self), and almsgiving (justice towards neighbours). I personally will be giving up my vice of fizzy drinks this lent. Wish me luck!

Regards and blessings,

Michael Rowe
Principal

APRE THOUGHTS

COMMENCEMENT MASS THANK YOU

Last week, we welcomed in the new school year with a mass celebration of our St Rita’s community. St Rita’s is a place built on strong foundations, where we strive to live the life that God wants us to. Honesty, forgiveness, peace, justice, and love are the building blocks of a good and faithful life, and together we are encouraged to follow these ways, as modelled by Jesus. As we commence our 2021 school year, I wish to congratulate our fine school leaders, Eva, Elijah and Latoya, and extend sincere thanks to all staff, parents/carers and students in anticipation of continued efforts to build our Catholic Christian community. Thanks also go to Father Kerry for leading our mass celebration.

ASH WEDNESDAY and LENT

The period of time from Ash Wednesday to the First Sunday of Lent is somewhat of an ‘invitation’ for us to enter into the season of Lent. Perhaps the most well-known and familiar of all the church’s seasons, Lent is a serious time of reflection, where Catholics are called to reflect upon what the gospel means to us, and to examine how well we are living up to God’s law of love and our baptismal promises.

In the Bible, the number ‘forty’ is significant and is mentioned many times: the Hebrew people lived in the desert for ‘40’ years before entering the promised land after their escape from slavery by the Egyptians; the rain fell for ‘40’ days and nights in the story of Noah and his ark; our Lord spent ‘40’ days in the wilderness and was tempted by Satan before He began preaching. The number ‘forty’ represents a ‘fullness of time’; it signifies a period of testing, strengthening and awakening to hear God’s word. Hence Lent precedes Easter by 40 days, as a time for us to come to understand God’s word more clearly, and to live by that word more generously.

On Ash Wednesday, St Rita’s School held a prayer liturgy @ 2:15pm at school. At this service, we were sprinkled with ashes - a symbol of humility, purification and sorrow – as a sign that we are willing to turn away from sin and come to closer relationship with God. 

Merciful God,
You called us forth from the dust of the earth.
You claimed us for Christ in the waters of baptism.
Look upon us as we enter these forty days bearing the mark of ashes.
Bless our journey through the desert of Lent to the font of rebirth.
May our fasting be a hunger for justice; our alms, a making of peace; our prayer, the chant of humble and grateful hearts.
All that we do and pray is in the name of Jesus now and for ever.
Amen.
(Adapted from “Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers)

PROJECT COMPASSION

The season of Lent also marks the beginning of the annual Caritas Australia Project Compassion Appeal. Donations to Project Compassion allows Caritas Australia - the Catholic Agency for International Aid and Development - to work with local communities around the world to alleviate poverty, hunger, oppression and injustice.

Through the generous donations of many to Project Compassion, we can change people’s lives, as these stories show:

Jamila, 22, a Rohingya woman, living in the world’s largest refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, fled armed conflict in Myanmar to save herself, her elderly mother and eight-month-old baby. With the support of Caritas Australia, Jamila was able to access emergency food and shelter. She also received counselling, emotional support and learnt sewing skills, to help her earn an income.

Oliva, a 22-year-old woman from Tanzania, did not have the opportunity to go to school. As an adult, her business was losing money because she couldn’t add up her money and give the right change to customers. Then Oliva enrolled in Caritas Australia’s literacy and numeracy classes. She also set up a home classroom to teach her neighbours, for free, because they were too shy to attend larger classes. Now her kiosk is thriving and she is helping her children with their homework. She aims to become a pastor and run for leadership in the next local election - to help her community to ‘Be More.’

We encourage you to put your compassion into action this Lent through your prayer, fasting and almsgiving by supporting Project Compassion. Saint Oscar Romero is the inspiration for Project Compassion 2021, so in his words let’s “Aspire not to have more, but to be more.”

Our first fundraiser for Project Compassion was held this week on Shrove Tuesday, with all monies raised from pancake orders to be donated. Our thanks extend to Mrs Jenni Stone and to the senior students for preparing the delicious pancakes through the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden program and to staff and families for generously supporting this fundraiser.

Blessings,
Maureen Gaul

COUNSELLOR

Student wellbeing is a shared responsibility between our school, student’s family or carers, and the community. Please communicate with your child’s teacher regarding any changes at home, so that we can provide targeted short or long term support to your child as needed. Changes might include a parent being away from home, an illness or death of a family member/friend or pet, a newly developed fear, parent relationship problems or separation. Sometimes even small things like the loss of a treasured toy, can affect a child’s ability to self-manage at school. By contacting your child’s teacher, you provide us with important information that enables us to connect with your child and meet his or her individual wellbeing needs.

St Rita’s School not only prioritises a learning and faith community, but we also understand that if a child is not feeling well mentally or emotionally, they are not able to learn effectively. To support wellbeing in the school environment, St Rita’s focuses on social and emotional learning (SEL) as a key learning area. SEL aims to achieve some of the below skill development:

• To identify and express emotions so that we are understood and can understand others,
• To recognise what our body feels like when we are experiencing different emotions,
• Coping strategies for when we are feeling tired, sad, frustrated or angry,
• Building friendship skills and practicing them.

At St Rita’s we implement the ‘Second Steps’ program, an evidence based social and emotional learning program that explicitly teaches four specific categories: skills for learning, empathy, emotion management, and problem solving. If you are interested to learn more about our St Rita’s School SEL program check out

And remember, if you have anything you wish to discuss in relation to your child at St Rita’s school please feel free to contact us and speak with your child’s teacher, myself or our Principal.

Larissa Juniper
School Counsellor

AROUND THE CLASSROOMS

Year 5/6 Excursion to Cairns

To view a collection of artworks in real life is a very intriguing experience, stretching your eye of imagination in admiration, or just plain “weird” were the words of some of the Year 5/6 students. “Look, she is wearing a chicken on her head!”

There is nothing compared to the senior bonding time from your first excursion for the year. Excitement gathered as the 5/6 students divided into Mr Rowe and Mrs Masina’s car, Year 6 students with Mrs Masina and the Year 5 students with Mr Rowe.

We arrived at our first destination of the morning, the Cairns Regional Arts Gallery. Senior students were kept engaged by their ‘Find the Art’ scavenger hunt. We were surprised at how large some of these artworks really were and the techniques used. Ben Quility’s entangled landscape was a grand 241 x 520cm in size. Interestingly, he used acrylic paint smudged and smeared onto the canvas, which is pressed together like you would when you sandwich paint between folded paper to make a symmetrical painted butterfly. The Rorschach method involves sandwiching one side of a painting onto another to produce an almost-mirror image.

The Cairns City Library is not only architecturally stunning, the range of books, magazine, digital audio books, cultural collections and reference areas for the public is a wonderful public place to escape the busyness of the city. A place to relax, sit and read, the brightly coloured space in the junior fiction area is inviting to any young reader.

Honouring 200 years of Catholic Education, the senior students participated in the St Monica’s Mass. This was truly a very special occasion for our students. They may not have realised at the time the importance of such an event but to be part of Bishop James Foley Mass reminded our students of our Catholic history in educating millions of Australian children. The Bicentenary of Catholic Education in Australia celebrates our faith in the future. After mass, the senior students were treated to an elaborate array of refreshments.

To end ‘the best day ever’, we could not leave Cairns without a visit at the Fig Tree Playground on the Esplanade. The heavy downpour of rain did not phase our students as they ran across the field to see who would get there first. Maybe next time we can stretch the day and take a boardwalk stroll to grab an icecream on the way home.

By Maryjane Masina,
Year 5/6 Teacher

DATE CLAIMERS

BIRTHDAY CONGRATULATIONS

St Rita’s wished Jack Clarke, Jessie Clumpoint, Hayley Geary and Kalea Leedie all the very best for their recently celebrated birthdays before school commenced this year.

We hope you all had wonderful birthday celebrations Jack, Jessie, Hayley and Kalea!

Turn Your Trash into Cash!

The P & F is contributing to the St Rita’s sustainability initiative by organising the collection of recyclable containers that earn 10c upon return to Cash 4 Containers FNQ. The school is keen for parents to begin collecting at home, and bring them into the recycle bins at school.

Please view the poster in this newsletter to show which specific containers will incur the 10c refund. Although it seems like an insignificant amount paid for each container, it ‘all adds up’ if all families start collecting and sending in their containers. We thank you for your interest and support of this fundraising activity!

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK

MUNRO THEATRE

MUSIC TUITION

Mrs Jenny Marks has recommenced her keyboard, guitar and singing lessons on Wednesday 10th February 2021. You can phone Jenny on 4067 6157 or mobile 0424 756 157 for all enquiries and information regarding your child’s participation in this Music program which is held in school hours.

OUTSIDE SCHOOL HOURS CARE

Outside School Hours Care is available to children at the Babinda State School. A bus is available to pick up children from St Rita’s in the afternoons and transport them to the State School. Please see Debbie in the office for any enquiries.

Well Women’s Clinic – Babinda Hospital

(This clinic is available to Medicare eligible clients)

Wednesday 9th March 2021.
All services are provided by a specially trained Women’s Health Nurse.
For appointments phone 4067 8200

CASSOWARY COAST ATHLETICS