Issue 3 – 28th February 2023

Newsletter Articles

VISION STATEMENT

PRINCIPAL’S PEN

Hello Family and Friends,

WOW! What a lovely welcome to St Rita’s I had on my first day. I have been blessed to be given this opportunity of joining your community for a short time. I am thoroughly looking forward to my time here and hoping that I can contribute to your wonderful school community. A very big thank you to Michael for the handover last Wednesday and thank you for entrusting me with his role and responsibilities.

A little bit about me…

I call Ipswich home although I have no family living there now, it was a place that played a big part of who I am today – I am passionate about sport.

I am married to my gorgeous wife Sharyn, and we have two BIG kids, Lachlan 22, and Imogen 19. Lachlan is completing a carpentry apprenticeship and Imogen is in her third year of a Law degree.

As a family we have moved around a fair bit for Sharyn’s work, while our kids were at school we have lived in Wagga, Ingham, Gold Coast, Thursday Island and now Cairns. This has given us an opportunity to be a part of several communities something that we feel very lucky to have experienced.

This week I am at school Monday and Tuesday and heading to Innisfail on Wednesday for the Sporting Gala Day with Years 3 – 6. Unfortunately, I will be in Cairns on Thursday and Friday for a conference, I am always contactable on my phone and via email.

If you see me when you are dropping or picking up your children, please come and say hi. I am looking forward to getting to know the students and their families – don’t be a stranger. I have included a photo of my everything – my family.

Sports Spectacular

The School Sports Spectacular is in Innisfail on Wednesday the 1st of March at Callendar Park. This is a tremendous opportunity for our children as they will be exposed to a range of sports throughout the day. These include basketball, hockey, AFL, league, union, tennis, netball, cricket, soccer, athletics, and touch football. Sports uniform is to be worn on this day; we are still waiting on some returned permission slips. A big thank you to the staff who attended and supported our students – very much appreciated.

Last week I was fortunate enough to have been present at St Rita’s for Ash Wednesday, this was the first day of Lent. This will last now until Easter, we use this time to be conscious that we are not perfect and can try to be better. We are invited to reflect on our relationship with God and with others, we do this through; prayer, fasting, almsgiving and good works. Thank you to the students, staff and families that attended our Liturgy.

Prayer for the Start of Lent

Loving God, in this Lenten season, we come to you with open hearts and humble spirits. We offer our sacrifices and practices as acts of devotion, drawing us closer to you and purifying our hearts and minds.

We gather with our communities of faith, supporting and lifting each other up in prayer. May this season be a time of personal reflection and renewal, transforming us through your love and grace.

Guide us as we seek your forgiveness, and lead us in our spiritual growth. We ask for your blessings during this season, and may we be ever drawn closer to your holy presence. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.

Many thanks

God Bless

Brendon Napier
Acting Principal

DEPUTY PRINCIPAL

Dear Parents and carers,

Over the past few weeks our teachers have conferenced with our students 1:1 to discuss SEL data and where they need to improve to become “commendable”. Using this criteria, students are able to visually see where they are currently sitting and implement self awareness strategies in order to improve. Whilst all students have their own personal goal based on their own data, a whole school focus this week will look at improving our students abilities to be organized, as this has been identified through whole school Social and Emotional Learning data as an area of need.

We are looking for gold stars this week and will send out happy mail to parents and carers. Congratulations to Charlie, Tia and Yazmin who were our very first ever recipients of happy mail. I believe our new Principal Mr Napier will also be on the look out! These are the following expectations we wish to see:

1. Use polite language and manners
2. Follow the bell quickly and wait for the teacher
3. Greet others politely when spoken to
4. Raise your hand to speak if that's the teachers’ expectation
5. Be prepared for all lessons and complete set tasks

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

Counsellor’s Corner

Dear parents and carers,

The role of self-control in emotional intelligence

Teaching our children self-control and respect for themselves are key factors to their success at school, in friendships, relationships and as healthy contributing members of our community.

Self-control is about being able to manage behaviours and emotions to get to a longer-term goal. This means delaying gratification, controlling impulses, pushing through frustration, persevering with a challenge, waiting patiently for their turn, and controlling emotional outbursts. Developmentally most children can master self-control by the time they are ten years old.

Self-control (one part of emotional intelligence) is particularly import in predicting achievement and success. A landmark longitude study conducted over four decades (Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study, New Zealand 2013), has found that the level of self-control in children, is one of the greatest predictors of their success as adults; not one’s IQ level as previously believed. Those children with high self-control, were healthier, made more money, had long term well-functioning relationships and were less likely to have criminal records or trouble with alcohol and drugs as adults. Knowing how to increase self-control in children can help them on a path that sees them thrive.

The first piece of emotional intelligence in harnessing self-control is awareness and understanding of emotions. Basically, children need the experience of feeling these emotions and practice in tolerating them to develop self-control and emotional intelligence. By understanding and accepting these feelings we can learn control and how to express ourselves appropriately. Emotions are not an inconvenience, but rather a piece of human evolution that serves a purpose. Core emotions such as happiness, sadness, anger, fear, and shame have evolved to serve distinct purposes, which motives our behaviour and impacts our relationships. Have a think of these core emotions.

• How were you taught to express and manage them?
• How do you want to teach your children how to express themselves so they can develop confidence and resilience with their self-control?

The Australian Childhood Foundation outline a five step approach to helping children manage strong feelings:

1. Listen to the child’s feelings with your whole body
   a. Stop what you’re doing
   b. Get down to their level
   c. Look at the child (their focus is on the expression on your face)
   d. Speak using a calm voice (their focus is on the tone of your voice)

2. Put your child’s feelings into words
   a. E.g. “It looks like you’re pretty angry/sad/scared/embarrassed etc. about that,” “you sound pretty cross,” “I hear your voice is happy”

3. Help them notice what is happening to their body
   a. E.g. “How does that feel in your tummy/head?,” “I see your fists are clenched, your arms look stiff and tight,” “I see your face is red and your eyes have tears in them”

4. Empathise (we have all been there!)
   a. e.g. “it’s tough when…”
   b. “I can understand that you might feel annoyed when… “
   c. “If my friend did that, I’d feel angry too… “

5. After a breather to calm down re-approach with help to solve their own problem
   a. e.g. “What could you do about that?”
   b. “what could you do next time that happens?”

All children will get frustrated and impulsive from time to time. This is all part of them growing up and finding their place in the world. Self-control is built over time, and there’s no hurry for them to become experts. It is a quality that can be strengthened, whatever their age. Building small humans into healthy, capable, bigger ones takes time. The important thing is to provide the opportunities that will nurture them and guide them to be the remarkable humans they are all capable of being (Karen Young, Hey Sigmund, 2016).

For further tips on teaching children self-control, please contact your School Counsellor Miss Jo or visit the Australian Childhood foundation for further information

Warm regards,
Miss Jo

DATE CLAIMERS

STUDENTS OF THE WEEK

St Rita’s School congratulates those students who were awarded ‘Student of the Week’ at Assembly on Friday 24th February 2023.

BIRTHDAY CONGRATULATIONS

St Rita’s wished Hayley Geary and Luca Archer-Sexton who celebrated their birthdays recently at Assembly on Friday 24th February. We hope you all had wonderful birthday celebrations Hayley and Luca!

P&F NEWS

At this meeting, the P&F President and Treasurer of the 2022 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 2023. 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 13th March at 3:00pm.

I hope to see you there!

Maryjane Masina
P&F Secretary

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK

MUNRO THEATRE

Circle of security Workshop

MUSIC LESSONS WITH JENNI

PIANO LESSONS AND THEORY OF MUSIC

Expressions of interest and enquiries for piano lessons and Theory of Music on Saturday’s
Please phone :- Bernadette Anthony on 0499 180 022
Or email :- bernanthony19@gmail.com

Well Women’s Clinic – Babinda Hospital

(This clinic is available to Medicare eligible clients)

Tuesday 21st March 2023
All services are provided by a specially trained Women’s Health Nurse.
For appointments phone 4067 8200