Issue 3 - 9 March 2022

Newsletter Articles

VISION STATEMENT

PRINCIPAL’S PEN

Dear Families,

As I write this, I am starting my first day of isolation due to being infected with COVID-19. Thankfully my symptoms at this stage are very mild, as are the other members of my family that are currently infected. Although restrictions seem to be easing, please continue to be vigilant and remember not to send your child to school if they are showing cold or flu symptoms, regardless of test results. I understand this may be an inconvenience for families however your cooperation is appreciated. If your child comes to school with cold or flu symptoms or develops them onsite, we are required to send them home immediately due to Queensland Health directives. By doing this we hope to minimise the impact this has on our school and the wider community.

In brighter news, it has been encouraging to hear that we are now permitted to hold events and face-to-face meetings at school. We are hosting our 2022 parent information afternoon on Monday 21st of March. This will begin at 3.15pm with a gathering in our library. At 3.45pm, each classroom teacher will host a 15 minute presentation to the parents of the students in their care. Afternoon tea and refreshments will be provided. It is a great opportunity for us all to gather to hear about the fresh new direction our school is taking and ask the teachers and myself, any questions you might have about our great little school.

Our first Parents & Friends meeting and AGM will be held on Monday the 28th of March at 3:00pm. I’d encourage anyone interested in joining to attend the meeting, if you can’t make it, and would like to be involved, please leave your name with Debbie and we will make sure you’re contacted for future events and meetings. Our P&F group is a vital cog in our school community and helps us not only to fundraise but also host different school social events.

This year we are looking at different opportunities for our children to take greater ownership of their learning and create learning experiences that are interesting and relevant to them. Examples of this include the Project-based learning our students in Years 3-6 are currently working on. These projects stem from each child’s authentic interests and they are being encouraged to research in a variety of ways that might include email, letters, phone calls, excursions, and incursions. While this has initially been a daunting to our students, we are confident that in time they’ll develop some outstanding research and problem-solving skills.

Another example of this is the work I’m doing with three of our Year 6 girls in organising camp this year. As I sat down to initially plan the camp for our senior students, I thought, "why am I doing this? It’s not my camp. I don’t know what the Year 5/6 girls would like to do on camp." So, I went into the senior classroom and asked if there was anyone interested in helping me organise the senior camp. To my surprise, quite a few of the girls were interested in joining a committee to oversee the organisation and fundraising. Teelah, Rhylee and Pearle were selected as committee members and they have been meeting each Monday with me, and are given weekly tasks they need to complete during the week. I have been most impressed with their initiative, the girls secured some notebooks for their research and data collection, and have actively been seeking out suggestions from the other girls in their class. They have also been doing their own research outside of school and have presented to me some different suggestions for activities and their cost and suitability. You can imagine the learning that is involved; budgeting, logistics, negotiation, communication, timetabling, researching, comparing, planning etc…

It is great to see the girls so motivated and it has reinforced my belief that we need to continue to find ways to facilitate deep learning in an engaging and meaningful way. I will keep you all posted with their progress as it develops.

Blessings for the week ahead,

Michael Rowe
Principal

RE News

The season of Lent has officially begun and it’s that time of the year when Catholics across the world make greater efforts in fasting, prayer, and almsgiving. Each year I encourage the members of my immediate family to give something up for Lent as a sign of sacrifice and to test their self-discipline. This is to represent Christ’s sacrifice when he went into the desert to pray and fast for the 40 days leading up to his crucifixion. The answers from my children are usually predictable like giving up veggies, or giving up doing chores. Of course, those suggestions are quickly rejected and they need to come up with something else. Self-denial is rarely easy. Last year I chose to give up fizzy drinks which happen to be my vice. This year I’m taking it a step further and only drinking water for the whole Lenten season. It’s certainly been tough in this hot weather. Only time will tell if I can make it to Easter Sunday.

Shrove Tuesday was a great success and I thank those families that brought in a gold coin at short notice to contribute to our fundraising for Caritas Australia. We managed to raise $62 for the cause. A big thanks goes to Trudy, Debbie, and Donna that gave me a hand in the kitchen. By all reports, Mrs Kurucz’s pancakes were much better than mine!

For Ash Wednesday, we marked the start of Lent with a liturgy in our school library. Fr Hilary delivered some blessed ashes which were created from the 2021 Palm Sunday palms. Each child had the opportunity to receive a light sprinkling of the ashes on top of their head (in line with Covid guidelines). Apologies if you noticed any foreign objects in your child’s hair.

On the last week of term, we will hold a Holy Week Liturgy, families are welcome to join us. Please stay tuned for further details in the coming weeks.

Regards,
Michael

DEPUTY PRINCIPAL

Parents and Carers,

Thank you everyone for ensuring that readers are signed each night. I am certain children are transferring these critical reading skills at home. For students in Prep-Year 2 a sight word booklet has now been sent home. These words are taught in class and are useful when reinforced at home. Sight words are very important for children to master because believe it or not, “sight words account for up to 75% of the words used in beginning children’s printed material’. The recognition and fluency of these sight words builds upon the other, meaning that once your child learns these sight words in Prep, they will be expected to still recognize those words in first grade, and so forth. When children master a sight word, they no longer have to pause to blend its letter-sounds together.

Benefits of sight words:

• Sight words promote confidence. Because the first 100 sight words represent over 50% of English text, a child who has mastered the list of sight words can already recognize at least half of a sentence. If your child begins to read a book and can already recognize the words, chances are he/she won’t feel discouraged and put the book down, rather they will have more confidence to read it all the way through. And, choose another!

• Sight words help promote reading comprehension. When your child opens their book for the first time, instead of trying to decipher what ALL of the words mean, they can shift their attention to focus on those words they are not familiar with. They will already know at least half of the words, so focusing on the other half helps strengthen their understanding of the text.

• Sight words provide clues to the context of the text. If your child is familiar with the sight words, they may be able to decode the meaning of the paragraph or sentence by reading the sight words. And, if a picture accompanies the text, your child may be able to determine what the story is about and come away with a few new words under their belt.

Kind regards,
Samantha Benvenuti
Deputy Principal – Leader of Learning and Teaching

COUNSELLOR CORNER

Nature v’s Nurture in the Digital Era

Research is clear that excessive screen time can lead to poor health and developmental outcomes (Australian Institute of Family Studies, 2021). Australian parents report that excessive screen time is the top health concern for their children, which has only been exacerbated in the last 2 years, due to COVID-19 lock downs and changes in the way we use technology to function and connect.

For generations the debate has ensued about Nature verses Nurture in the development of our children. How much of children’s behaviour is influenced by their genetics “She is just like her mother/father” or how it is influenced by their environment “where did they learn that from?”. Recent advances in research have shifted the focus to recognising that each part (nature and nurture) contribute to the overall development of our children (Department of Health Australia, 2022)

In this current digital age of raising children, it is important to think about what media/online platforms our children have access to, what friendship groups they keep, what groups are they a part of and what do they represent?

‘It Takes a Whole Community to Raise a Child’ is a familiar saying, so let’s make sure we are understanding of all environments our children enter (physically or virtually). Current Australian guidelines recommend no more than two hours of sedentary recreational screen time per day for children between 5-17 years (Australian Government 2021). Research tells us that negative effects of excessive screen time on our children are:

• Deficiencies in motor and cognitive development
• Struggles in social and psychological wellbeing
• Increases in behavioural problems, anxiety, hyperactivity, attention, self-esteem, and psychosocial health (Australian Institute of Family Studies, 2021)

To nurture a healthier balance of influences in children’s development, take a moment to reflect: -

• What values do we encourage in our family?
• Who are the adult role models for the children in the household?
• What part does respect of self and for others play in our home and community (physical and online)?

For the current world of parenting in an online era:

• What are our expectations, time limits, and content allowances? How are we role modelling our own screen / phone use?
• How are we balancing our child’s day with other activities, such as physical activity and play to support their physical, social and emotional health?
• How are we nurturing connection and relationships? Are there opportunities to co-participate – where parents and children take part in screen time together and engage in conversations, spontaneous learning opportunities, practice language skills and the mediating of their online content.

In our children’s primary years, parents have an optimal timeframe of influence to promote wellness, healthy habits and nurture positive behaviours that will follow children to their adult hood.

For further information to navigate screen time and help ourselves and children self-regulate their online participation please consult Australian Institute of Family Studies or eSafety Commissioner website.

Warm regards,
Miss Jo
School Counsellor

DATE CLAIMERS

STUDENTS OF THE WEEK

St Rita’s School congratulates those students who were awarded ‘Student of the Week’ at Assembly on Friday 25th February 2022.

BIRTHDAY CONGRATULATIONS

St Rita’s wished Ayden Lock, Leo Nelson, Ebony Geary, Daniel Logan, Izaac Shaw and Jessie Clumpoint, all the best for their birthdays celebrated before school commenced this year.

Hayley Geary and Latoya Ambrum celebrated their birthdays in February.

We hope you all had wonderful birthday celebrations Ayden, Leo, Ebony, Daniel, Izaac, Jessie, Hayley and Latoya!

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK

MUNRO THEATRE

BABINDA STATE SCHOOL OSHC PROGRAM