Issue 19 - 25 November 2015

Newsletter Articles

ST RITA’S SCHOOL PRAYER

O compassionate God, look on me today
with tenderness and give me the grace
to walk on the path of mercy and kindness.
May all I do today reflect our school values
of learning, respect, community and faith.

St Rita, pray for us.

PRINCIPAL’S PEN

Dear Parents and Carers,

I hope your family had as wonderful an evening as we did at the St Rita’s Community Fair! It was a outstanding social event for both our school and the wider community, with friends, family and visitors travelling from Innisfail, Gordonvale and Cairns. It was heartening to know that the success of the fair was due to an enormous team effort by our school staff and families. To those parents who baked, donated, planted, sewed, created, set up and worked on the day, I say an enormous thank you!

Special thanks must go to the Fair Committee who worked hard over the past few months spending endless hours completing the myriad of jobs that had to be done to make the event the success. And of course there were our parents, grandparents and friends who also contributed so much. Please pass on our gratitude to your family members, especially our wonderful group of extremely supportive grandparents, who once again contributed to the event’s success.

Last Thursday evening, 19th November, another very special school event was held at St Rita’s. Year 6 Graduation marks the completion of seven years of the educational journey for primary school students. This year we tried a new format of involving the whole school community, because after all ‘community’ is our school value and we always strive to involve the whole school community in all events. After Mass in St Rita’s Church, a ceremony and supper were enjoyed by Nicholas Blonner, his family, Father Kerry, Father Grundy, fellow students, families, staff and parishioners. The evening was sensational. It was so nice to see the children helping Nicholas celebrate this special occasion!

Last week nominated senior students presented their Student Leadership speeches to their peers and staff. The quality of the speeches this year was exceptional! I was also pleased that parents had input into their children’s nomination and speech, and for your interest we taped each child’s presentation so it could be watched at home. On behalf of the St Rita’s School community, I congratulate Nick Stone, Melina Musumeci, Andy Pham, Billie Luce, Vito Musumeci and Ariah Salvestrin on winning student leadership positions for 2016.

Mrs Bec Burns has been busy in the past weeks in her role of director of the St Rita’s Nativity Play this year. Staff and students enjoy presenting this annual event and it promises to be another entertaining evening for our school community. We ask that you please bring a plate to share, as a light supper will be served following the performance. The P & F Committee will also be drawing the Monster Raffle on the night. Tea and coffee will be served, and cold softdrinks will be on sale through the tuckshop. I hope to see you there!

Just to ‘round out’ a busy term, our annual Swimming Carnival will be held on Friday morning, 27th November beginning at 9:00am. The carnival will once again have a non-competitive focus, with the children showcasing their swimming skills in individual swims and team relay events. Families and friends are most welcome to join us at the Babinda Pool. We thank Mrs Maryjane Masina and Mrs Debbie Kurucz who have prepared the morning’s program of swimming and novelty events for the children to enjoy.

Book Lists for 2016 have been compiled and these will be sent home with Reports next Thursday, 3rd December. It probably seems like a long way off until school resumes in January, but for those parents who like to be organised early, most of your child’s requirements for next year can be purchased at your leisure. Roddo’s Newsagency has been given copies of the St Rita’s book lists if you choose to source your school supplies locally.

There will be a short end of year newsletter sent home next week. Until then, I hope to see you around the classrooms, in the tuckshop or at one of our whole school events before the last day of term.

Regards,

Judy Billiau
Principal

STUDENT LEADERS 2016

After nominations and elections were completed last week, we are excited to announce the St Rita’s school leaders for 2016:

School Captains: Nick Stone & Melina Musumeci
Palmerston Sports Captains: Andy Pham & Billie Luce
Dalrymple Sports Captains: Vito Musumeci & Ariah Salvestrin

The students and staff are looking forward to working with our new student leaders next year!

APRE THOUGHTS …..

Hello Everyone,

As I sit down to write the last newsletter article for 2016, I am filled with an amazing amount of gratitude toward all the people of the St Rita’s School Community. Beginning a new journey is never easy, and I have been made to feel welcome and appreciated by the students, staff and parents of our wonderful school. It was an absolute privilege to be a part of the Graduation Mass and Ceremony last Thursday for Nicholas Blonner. It highlighted to me the close connection our community has with not only each one of the students, but also with their families.

Thank you Raya and Nicholas for allowing us to be a part of your journey. I must also thank the children for their amazing behaviour, engagement and reverence shown throughout the Mass and ceremony. You are an absolute credit to yourselves and your families. We are a very lucky school to have students such as you all. Thanks also to the parish choir for sharing your talents to enhance our evening. Thanks again to Father Kerry and Father Grundy for all of their support throughout the year. It is in moments like these that I feel the true awe and wonder of God, present in our lives and in our world.

We still have two special events to come in the lead up to Christmas. The first is our End of Year School Mass which will be held on Friday at 1:30pm. This will be our opportunity to reflect on our school year and also to farewell the students who will be leaving St Rita’s at the end of this year. Secondly, the annual Nativity Play will be held on Tuesday 1st December, commencing promptly at 7:00pm. All children have a role in the play and if you are unable to attend please advise me as soon as possible. This promises to be an entertaining evening and we would love to see you all there.

In closing I would like to wish you all a happy and Holy Christmas and all the best for the New Year ahead. May the joy of Christmas be with you all and I hope everyone has the opportunity to spend quality time with their family and friends.

Christmas Blessings

Bec Burns
Assistant Principal (Religious Education)

CASTING THE NET

Compassion for Christmas

Christmas is coming and the pressure is on…for us to come up with the perfect gift, meal, gesture and yes indeed, the perfect family. That’s what the ads are telling us…in your dreams, or rather your delusions. Let’s be honest, Christmas is a minefield that challenges us in so many different ways: money (or lack of), cooking skills (ditto) and let’s not get started on the difficult family members. Maybe we are even that person! So let’s step away from the false ideals and delusions and consider what Jesus came to offer us and what we and others really need: compassion. Jesus came to give us the compassion of God and as we receive it, so we are to share.

The St Vincent de Paul Society has launched their Christmas appeal, which you will hear about from your child and children and from the school. Here we are called to help those who are obviously less well off than ourselves. This is a good place to begin, and what we give will make a difference in ways we may never know.

But we don’t stop there. Give compassion to your family and friends. Nobody ‘needs’ fancy gifts or expensive food, but we all hunger for a thoughtful gesture and to be served with love. If we start our Christmas preparations with compassion, with feeling for others, we begin a revolution in how we celebrate. Out go the unreal expectations that make us feel inadequate and depressed. In comes tenderness. If God loved the world so much, in all its weakness and failure, that he gave us Jesus, maybe this Christmas we can cut ourselves a little slack and be compassionate to all…ourselves included.

Loving Father, you sent Jesus to show your compassion to all. May I know his love with me, and as I begin my Christmas preparations, may compassion be the guiding light in all that I do for my family and friends. I ask this in Jesus’ name confident that you will hear me.

Sr Kym Harris osb

COUNSELLOR’S CORNER

Dear Parents,

Dream BIG

Children will often say, “I want to be a fireman, a police man, in the army, a chef, a hairdresser, a princess, a lawyer, a millionaire”….

It is important to allow your children to have dreams, as dreams are needed to have a goal or something to work towards. When our children come out with what we may perceive as unrealistic, we should encourage them to look at how they can aspire to reach their goal.

By going through this process, we teach children to not only think about a goal, but what steps they need to take to reach their goal. Sometimes children will see that some of the things they think they can do now or in the future will require work and effort to get what they want. It teaches children that with planning and organisation, we can achieve our goals. It also teaches children that sometimes once we realise what we need to do, that we need to be committed for a period of time to achieve our success.

Children have wonderful and beautiful imaginations and we should never stop their love of dreaming, hoping and being creative. Be the parent who encourages, supports and nurtures their growth.

Yours in Counselling,

Carmel Parisi

AROUND THE CLASSROOMS

Prep/Year 1 Teddy Bear’s Picnic

On Tuesday 3rd November we bought our teddy bears to school. Mrs Burns our teacher organised a picnic for the children and our teddy bears.

We went outside and sat on a mat and we ate lots of food. We ate ice-cream, chocolate cake, donuts, strawberries, mangoes, bananas and drank lots of water. We shared our food with our hungry teddy bears. They were so happy to share our food.

After our picnic we danced with our teddies and we went on a Bear Hunt. The Teddy Bear’s Picnic was good and lots of fun. Our teddy bears were so sleepy that night from their big day at school. We hope our teddies can come to school again with us one day.

By Eva, Latoya and Timmy (Prep)

‘BRAINIACS CHALLENGE’

St Rita’s was very excited to be invited to the cluster’s ‘Brainiacs Challenge’ interschool competition recently. Bellenden Ker State School was the host school this year, so we thank the Principal and staff for organising a very successful competition.

With four Year 4 children and one Year 5, our team, the ‘Junior Einsteins’, was quite chuffed to win 2nd placing at the end of the ten rounds. The team consistently scored 8/10 for seven of the rounds. Congratulations to the 2015 winners, Aloomba State School!

DATE CLAIMERS
Term 4
Tuesday 24th November	Newsletter Issue 19 Homework Club 3:00 - 3:30 pm
Wednesday 25th November	‘Auskick’ AFL 1:15pm Week 8 Tuckshop orders due
Friday 27th November	Swimming Carnival 9:00am - 10:30 am End of Year Whole School Mass 1:30pm Tennis coaching Prep - Year 3: 2:55pm - 3:25 pm Year 4 - 6: 2:55pm - 3:40pm
Tuesday 1st December	No Homework Club Christmas Nativity Play 7:00pm Shared Supper 7:45pm
Wednesday 2nd December	‘Auskick’ AFL 1:15 pm No tuckshop on Friday
Thursday 3rd December	P & F Committee Meeting & Farewell 5:00pm
Friday 4th December	Whole School Assembly 9:00 am Classes finish at 12:00pm

2016 TERM DATES
TERM 1	Wednesday 27th January - Thursday 24th March 2016 9 weeks
TERM 2	Monday 11th April - Friday 24th June 2016 11 weeks
TERM 3	Monday 11th July - Friday 16th September 2016 10 weeks
TERM 4	Tuesday 4th October - Friday 2nd December 2016 9 weeks

STUDENTS OF THE WEEK

St Rita’s School congratulates those students who were awarded ‘Student of the Week’ at Assembly on Monday 23rd November 2015.

Prep/Year 1	Eva Masina	For showing amazing growth in all the keys throughout the year.
Year 2/3	Claro Fay	Demonstrating the keys of organisation and persistence in class.
Year 4/5/6	Lachlan Mellick	Being organised this term, forming new friendships and persisting to take risks and try new things.

BIRTHDAY CONGRATULATIONS

St Rita’s wishes Roisin Stager and Eva Masina all the very best for their recent birthdays. We hope you had a wonderful birthday celebration Roisin and Eva!

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK

P & F NEWS

Dear Parents,

We are almost at the end of year and we are looking forward to a relaxing Christmas break.

I would like to say a big THANK YOU to our wonderful Principal Mrs Billiau and all teachers and staff for their constant hard work, support and encouragement that they give to our children throughout the year. Thank you to all parents who have helped in many different ways, it is greatly appreciated. Thank you to Christina Forrest for organising the tuckshop so effortlessly.

I would particularly like to thank the other Committee members; Jenni Stone, Treasurer, and Loretta Musumeci, Secretary, who have both worked tirelessly this year to support the P & F endeavours.

I just want everyone to know how much we appreciated everything that was done to make St Rita’s Community Fair a success. I have said this before; the thing I love the most about St Rita’s is the way staff, parents, children and their families pull together to make something like this fair a success. A community really can come alive at a fair and I hope you have made many more friends and really feel part of this fantastic school.

To celebrate this year, we hope to see you at the Christmas Nativity Play (Break-up-party) on Tuesday 1st December. We have been busy organising the Monster Raffle and have received some exciting prizes. The raffle will be drawn after the Nativity Play and during the shared supper. Every family has received fifteen raffle tickets and we hope you might be able to sell them to your family and friends. Spare ticket books are available at the school office. Thank you.

The Monster Raffle prizes are:

1. Great Adventures – Trip to Green Island (2 people)
2. Skyrail – Return experience for 2 adults
3. Mellick Centre Innisfail – Queen quilt cover
4. Mellick Centre Innisfail - Electric pizza oven
5. Babinda Workshop - Motor vehicle service
6. Crystal Caves Atherton - Family ticket
7. Coffee Works Mareeba - Family Pass
8. Mungalli Creek Dairy & Organic Café - Voucher
9. Relaxabout Massage by Judy Van Dyke - Voucher
10. Gallo Dairyland - Voucher

Thank you to all businesses that have supported us this year, especially the Babinda Bakery who supplied their products for our tuckshop menu. The Bakery also contributed a large quantity of their delicious cream buns to our Café at the Fair!

The last monthly meeting for the year will be held on the 3rd December at 5:00pm. The final figures should be available and we can have a celebration of a job well done by all. Please join us for drinks and nibbles. We hope to see you there!

We are looking forward to another fruitful school year at St Rita’s that the P & F will support in any way it can. The AGM will be held in the first weeks of Term 1 2016. Some Committee Positions will be available, so watch out for the date in the school newsletter, and please come along and support us!

Thank you,

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

St Rita’s P & F Committee

COMMUNITY NEWS