Issue 15 - 12 October 2022

Newsletter Articles

VISION STATEMENT

PRINCIPAL’S PEN

Greetings Families and Friends,

We sure needed to hit the ground running last week with the Harvest Festival always creeping up on us after the September Holidays. With that out of the way, we still have a jam-packed term ahead, so I’m sure this will fly by in no time. Thanks again for your continued support as we continue to strive towards better educational outcomes for all our students.

Catholic Identity

Over the holidays I came to school for several reasons. One of my jobs was to hang some of the winning Artwork from our St Rita’s Feast Day competition. The other was to hang up our posters proclaiming our school vision and learning boulders. As I was doing this, I was thinking about what makes us a Catholic school? I certainly don’t want to get the point where we are only Catholic by name, and are in fact, no different from any other state school.

I often hear prospective parents talk about sending their children here because of our values. What makes our Catholic schools special is not just that we have values, but values that are underpinned by the Gospel message, and the life of Jesus Christ. You don’t have to be Catholic or Christian to respect this, and nobody can accuse Jesus of not walking the walk!

What attracts me to our faith is the sense of hope and redemption I get from it. Like everyone else, I have many flaws, some more obvious than others. My faith constantly challenges me to ‘repent’, to acknowledge these flaws and strive for improvement. To apologise for my short comings and to show mercy and forgiveness to all.

This, I think is what underpins our little Catholic school in Babinda. As our vision states, we are inspired by the teachings of Jesus Christ. This drives us to be the best that we can be, to show kindness, love, and empathy to all. To have hope in a brighter future, and to fight for a brighter future for all of our students.

We are not a Catholic school because of our statues, or prayers, Masses, liturgies or pictures. Nor because of our history. We are Catholic because we continue to be inspired by the teachings of Jesus Christ. I am yet to find a better role-model, some 2022 years after his death and resurrection. While we can certainly do more, we are a Catholic school because we are true to our mission, and strive to get better. Every, single day.

Long Service Leave

Just so you are aware, next year I will be taking long service leave to travel with my family. I will be away a large chunk of the year, from the 27th of February until the 2nd of June. In my absence, a replacement will be found and be acting principal at St Rita’s during this period, to ensure a smooth transition and a continuity of learning. More information on this will be forthcoming in the future weeks.

Harvest Festival Trivia

A special thanks to our staff members who ran a very successful Trivia Night at school last Wednesday. Julie Cross, did an outstanding job filling in for Debbie while she was on leave, and a special mention to Debbie who organised as much as she could prior to her leave.

Our staff catered and ran the event, with our MC extraordinaire, Vicki Jago keeping the crowd well-entertained. All our staff worked well-and-truly beyond their normal hours, and a special mention to Miss Jo who volunteered to help, and our former staff member Mrs Gaul who travelled from Cairns to lend her support. It was a great fundraiser for our school and a terrific community night.

Harvest Festival Float

What an awesome effort by our school community to put up another great float for the Harvest Festival Parade, to finish a respectable 2nd place. A huge thanks to all of our parents, staff and students who worked at getting this organised. There were several working bees leading up the event, as well as putting it together on the Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. Thanks to all those who also came and helped us dismantle after the event.

A special thanks must go to Cyndel and Reid Tanner who not only provided the truck, but organised a great deal of what went on it. Trudy for her help, and also driving the truck, and Rebekah for her organisation and dedication to the project. Lots of other parents and staff helped throughout and I want to thank them again, your efforts were certainly appreciated. The elusive first prize is in our sights next year!

Harvest Festival Display

Thanks to Mrs Masina and Ms Douglas who organised our school display on Friday. I think they did an incredible job, and I may be biased, but I think our display really stood out amongst the competitors. It was great to have something from each student showcased too, and I hope you got to see it.

World Teachers Day

World Teachers Day is being celebrated in our diocese on Friday the 28th of October. I could not ask for a more committed group of adults that educate our children each and every day. I feel extremely blessed as a parent and a principal. Our children are certainly in good hands. Over the next few weeks we will acknowledge the efforts of not only our teachers but those who support them as well. We will have a staff morning tea on the 28th of October to mark this occasion.

Clarity

Last week Ms Benvenuti and I had the pleasure of attending a conference in Cairns lead by world-renowned author and Educator, Dr Lyn Sharratt. The focus was ‘Learning, Teaching, Leading – Doing what matters most’. We both had many learnings from our days and can’t wait to implement these improvements with our school community, as we move towards becoming a truly world-class education system.

Get Set for Prep

This week we start our pre-prep program at St Rita’s. We are pleased to welcome Georgie, Danny, Charlie and Mia. We can’t wait for them to start prep with us and will have a transition program with them over the next 6 weeks.

Swimming

St Rita’s swimming program starts next week. A note has gone home explaining this process. Swimming will commence next Thursday the 20th of October.

NAIDOC Day

Miss Karen has been busy organizing NAIDOC Day for our school on Monday the 24th of October. This promises to be a fun, cultural celebration for all involved, with dance workshops, performances, a smoking ceremony, and some hands-on craft activities. Again, more information will be forthcoming in the weeks ahead.

Positive Behavior Matrix

Over the last 4 school weeks our staff have been rewarding children that show positive behavior at school.

Each week we have a new focus.

When a staff member notices this positive behavior, they write a raffle ticket for that student. At the end of each week, a winner is drawn, with that person getting to choose something to keep from the prize box.

We are currently trialing this, and hope it is a good way to acknowledge positive behavior and reward the children who do this consistently. The more they do this, the better chance they have of winning the raffle. Well done to Jessie Burrows and Maddisyn Masina who have been our winners in the first two weeks.

Attendance

At the end of each term, we acknowledge those who have been at school for large periods of the term. Congratulations to the following students;

Over 90%- Daniel, Madeline, Abel, Jessie, Jude and Brayden.
Over 95%- Flynn, Samuel, Tia, Timothy and Jax.
100%- Hannah, Evie & Latoya.

Attendance is very important, please remember to let the office know if your child can’t make it on a particular day. We aim to get all of our children at or above 90% attendance, but we certainly appreciate sometimes there are illnesses which cannot be helped.

Michael Rowe
Principal

DEPUTY PRINCIPAL

Dear parents and carers,

This week children in year three and five will go home with their 2022 NAPLAN results. If you require additional help interpreting these results, please feel free to arrange a time to meet with me. There are two important elements as to how these results are reported.

Scales

NAPLAN results are measured at a student level against an assessment scale in each of the areas tested. The scales span all the year levels from Year 3 to Year 9, and are divided into 10 bands. Not all bands are reported for each year level.

NAP sample assessment results are measured against a proficiency scale for each domain. The proficiency scales are grouped into a number of different levels.

More information about the scales used for NAPLAN and NAP sample assessments can be found at Scales.

Standards

For NAPLAN results, a national minimum standard is defined and located on the assessment scale for each year level. Band 2 is the minimum standard for Year 3, band 4 is the minimum standard for Year 5, band 5 is the minimum standard for Year 7 and band 6 is the minimum standard for Year 9. These standards represent increasingly challenging skills and require increasingly higher scores on the NAPLAN scale.

For NAPLAN sample assessments, proficient standards represent a 'challenging but reasonable' level of performance where students need to demonstrate more than the minimal skills expected at that year level.

More information about the performance standards defined for NAPLAN and NAP sample assessments can be found at Standards .

NAPLAN

The national minimum standards and common scales for NAPLAN results across all year levels are illustrated in the picture below:

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

Counsellor’s Corner

Dear parents and carers,

Welcome back to School for Term 4. We kick off the term with the annual awareness of Queensland Mental Health Week (QMHW). An opportunity to check in with ourselves and have a conversation with a friend or family member about the importance of our Mental Health.

QMHW is an annual awareness initiative that aims to promote individual and community mental health and wellbeing, boost awareness of mental illness, reduce stigma and discrimination, and celebrate the contribution of the mental health and community sectors. The theme for 2022 if 'Awareness, Belonging, Connection', reflecting the important factors that help people maintain positive mental health and wellbeing. It is all about connecting with the people in our lives and creating space for conversations about mental health and wellbeing.

Mental health promotion is all about creating environments that promote and sustain positive mental health for everyone. Good mental health affects every aspect of our lives. It is widely accepted that there is no health without mental health. Good mental health not only enables individuals to enjoy meaningful and productive lives, but it also benefits communities and the economy. The benefits are felt across generations.

“Childhood and adolescence are critical stages of life for mental health. This is a time when rapid growth and development take place in the brain. Children and adolescents acquire cognitive and social-emotional skills that shape their future mental health and are important for assuming adult roles in society.” – WHO

Imagine if all children were taught about mental health from a young age – how to cope with big emotions, what helps make us feel good and the importance of taking time to engage in these activities, and what to do when times are tough.

BUILDING BLOCKS OF WELLBEING

Research shows there are six actions we can take to improve our moods, build resilience, and boost our mental wellbeing. The below building blocks of wellbeing are from the Queensland Government’s Dear Mind initiative, and you can find examples of self-care activities from the link below.

• Get healthy— being active and eating well is good for your mind and body
• Keep learning — learning new things can be fun and boost confidence
• Show kindness — practising small acts of kindness, volunteering time, or simply helping a friend in need can help you feel more satisfied with life
• Connect — spending time with other people is important to everyone’s mental wellbeing and can be done while carefully observing social distancing
• Take notice — paying more attention to the present and the world around you can help you relieve stress and enjoy the moment
• Embrace nature — connecting with the outdoors and taking care of the planet is the best recipe for world wellbeing

FOR 24/7 COUNSELLING AND SUPPORT

Lifeline – 13 11 14
Suicide Call Back Service – 1300 659 467
Kids Help Line – 1800 55 1800
Alcohol & Drug Info Services (ADIS) – 1800 177 833
Queensland Health — 13 HEALTH (13 43 25 84)
These numbers are either free or the cost of a local call.
For any further information welcome to contact the school and speak with your School Counsellor.

Warm regards,
Miss Jo
School Counsellor

Poetry

I am

I am a Japan lover
I wonder what it will be like to walk under the blossom trees
I hear the Japanese words flowing gently through the trees
I see cherry blossoms blooming
I want to travel to Japan
I am A Japan lover

I pretend to see the twinkling lights in Tokyo
I feel the shimmering waters
I touch the purple wisteria
I worry when I am lost
I cry it all ends
I am A Japan lover

I understand when it's hard to interact
I say it could happen
I dream that I will go to Japan
I try to understand the language
I hope my dream will never fail
I am a Japan Lover

By Teelah Geary
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 16th September 2022 (last day of Term 3)

BIRTHDAY CONGRATULATIONS

St Rita’s wished Jude Rowe who celebrated his birthday in the school holidays. We hope you had a wonderful birthday celebration Jude.

P & F NEWS

Turn Your Trash into Cash for our school

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 bin at school.

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! Last term’s credit for the cans and poppers raised $39.00.

Thank you
P&F Committee

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK

MUNRO THEATRE

PRE PREP PROGRAM