Term 3 Week 1 2022

From the Principal

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome back to Term 3!  I hope you and your children had a fantastic break over the past two weeks and are now ready for another term full of learning, sporting and cultural experiences.   It was great to see all the smiling faces yesterday and hear about the adventures that were had during the holidays.  

Last week you would have received the calendar for Term 3.  As you would have seen it is already jam-packed with events.  If you didn’t receive the calendar, please check your spam folder or contact the office to have a copy sent to you.  You will also find it at the end of the newsletter this week.  Please keep an eye out in the Newsletter and on our Facebook page for any updated information in regards to the calendar.

With this chilly weather, just a reminder that students may wear a plain navy blue or maroon jumper and on colder days, girls have the option of wearing navy blue tights while the boys may wear navy blue tracksuit pants.  

One of our school improvement goals for 2022 has been to redevelop our behaviour management program through Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L).  The staff have been involved in professional development and we have a team who makes up our PB4L Team.  Over the past 6 months, this team along with the teaching staff have been working to come up with a set of clearly defined expectations that can be used around our school. We would like to introduce you to:

The Good Samaritan’s PATH

Persist with learning

Act safely

Treat others with respect

Help your neighbour

Yesterday we launched The Good Samaritan’s PATH to the students and introduced them to the new Praise Notes.  Students can earn these in the classroom and on the playground for demonstrating our four rules.  Students then pop their praise note into their year-level box in the office.  Each week on Assembly we will then draw a name out from each box for a prize.  We will be continuing to develop our framework and rolling it out with the students across the rest of this year.

Prep 2023

If you have a child due to start Prep next year and you haven't yet put in your enrolment forms, please do so as soon as possible.  I will be starting interviews for Prep 2023 on the 1st of August.  If you have put in your enrolment forms, you will receive a phone call from the Office in the next week to schedule your interview time.  

School Renewal

Townsville Catholic Education has a 5-year cycle that each school within the diocese participates in for School Renewal and Improvement.  As we are in our 4th year, we will be engaging in a part of that process called Verification this year and concluding with Validation next year.  This year will involve a lot of reflection and consultation. It is very valuable for us as a school to have our parent community contribute to this process as we will always strive to meet the needs of our community and aspire to provide the best learning community we can.  We will be holding 2 parent events in Term 3 to gather feedback from families.  Firstly we will be holding a coffee morning on Wednesday 27th July at 8:45am and a wine and cheese evening on Thursday 4th August at 6pm.  I hope that you will be able to take up one of these opportunities to have your voice heard around our successes and help us identify areas for improvement as we move into our next 5-year cycle. Please RSVP to the Office for catering purposes.

We are very proud to announce Claire Horan as the St Francis 2022 Burdekin Water Festival Junior Ambassador.  Claire will be holding a couple of events this term.  Keep an eye out on Facebook, the newsletter and your email for further details.  We wish Claire all the best and look forward to following her journey.

Joe Pappalardo is representing Burdekin Football Club as their Junior Ambassador for the Water Festival.  We would like to congratulate Joe on this achievement.  You will find information about Joe's event further in the newsletter.

Each year schools produce an Annual Report.  Our Annual Report is now available on our school website for your perusal. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week.

Take care and God Bless

Amanda

Religious Life of the School

Martha and Mary lived in Bethany, a small village near Jerusalem. They were close friends of Jesus who often came to visit them when he passed that way. Jesus and his disciples had been invited to stay for a meal, but while Martha was busy preparing the meal, Mary sat at Jesus’ feet and listened to him, speak. Martha grew angry at having to do all the work, but Jesus, while grateful for what Martha had done, told her that Mary had done the right thing. He was happy that Mary had chosen to take time to listen to the word of God. (Luke 10:38-42)

Our students are all so busy with hectic lives full of activities and gatherings. It is sometimes hard to be still and make time in our lives for God. We can do this through meditation, through our careful listening for God’s presence in our lives. Each class participates in meditation a quiet time when our students can calm down and quiet their bodies and minds and focus on the quiet presence of God.

CATHOLIC EDUCATION WEEK:  Planning is underway for Founders Day on Tuesday the 26th of July. To foster the sense of belonging to the Burdekin Catholic Community, our three schools St Francis, BCHS and St Colman’s will celebrate Founders Day at Burdekin Catholic High School. It is a chance for each of our schools to share the story of the founders of the religious orders that established each school and take part in activities to celebrate our unique communities. 

The theme for Catholic Education Week is ‘Communities of Faith, Hope and Love’.

The themes of faith, hope and love were part of the mission and ministry of Jesus. Jesus explained that ‘The Greatest Commandment – love of God and love of neighbour’, was the most important part of The Law for both the Jewish and Christian communities. During this time we can ask ourselves:

What does a community of faith, hope and love look like – feel like – sound like?
Is our school a community of faith hope and love?
How can we each work together to make our school a community of faith, hope and love?

God of Love,

We thank you for the gift of Faith, may it grow in us each day.

Help us to use your gifts of Hope and Love so that we may

serve others in your name.

We ask this through Jesus, your Son.

Amen.

(from CEW-Primary-Liturgy-of-the-Word)

God Bless

Mary

Aiming for Excellence

Ready Set Write! 

This semester all children will be participating in daily writing for 10 minutes. Children are provided with a stimulus for writing, and teachers provide verbal feedback on a skill that is the week's focus. This week the focus is punctuation.

Many thanks to the parents who have provided feedback during the Learning Breakfasts on their child’s improvement in writing after viewing their Ready Set Write books.

Are You Neurotypical or Neurodivergent?

Neurodiversity Judy Singer, a sociologist on the autism spectrum, began using the term in the 1990s. Singer rejected the idea that people with autism are disabled. Her view was that their brains just work differently from others.

Amanda Morin, a speaker, author, podcast host, former classroom teacher and early intervention specialist who is considered an expert in neurodiversity, describes neurodiversity as:

• A viewpoint that brain differences are normal rather than deficits.

AND 

• Neurodivergent people experience, interact with and interpret the world in unique ways.

It is believed that one in seven people are neurodivergent while six in seven people are neurotypical in that their way of thinking is similar.

What are the experiences and challenges of neurodivergent children and adults? The students or adults diagnosed with Autism, Dyspraxia, Dyslexia, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Dyscalculia, Autistic Spectrum, Tourette Syndrome, and others. Even if they have not been diagnosed, their challenges of being neurodivergent still exist and are evident in the classroom. As educators, we are called to work with the challenges these students face and build on their strengths. Students who can be described as neurodivergent have strengths valued in society and make considerable contributions in many areas. Examples of neurodivergent adults are Richard Branston, Bill Gates, Jamie Oliver, Whoopi Goldberg and Steve Jobs, to name a few.

The changing attitude to neurodivergent students is not to make them neurotypical but to work with their strengths to overcome the challenges in the classroom. We must help our students see their differences as strengths and accept their challenges.

Research into different programs to overcome the differences has confirmed that success depends heavily on motivation. The greatest challenge, therefore, is not overcoming differences but being motivated to learn regardless of the learning challenges that they face.

SCIENCE EVENT:

 August 13 - 21st is NATIONAL SCIENCE WEEK. - with the theme, GLASS- More than meets the eye.

 As part of the celebration of Science Week we will be hosting a Science  Brain Break Quiz on Friday, August 19 at 9.00am. Last year this was an enjoyable activity for all who participated or watched.

We are looking for teams of four parents to compete against students and teachers. To nominate please contact the office.

ICAS

ICAS is a competition designed to recognise and reward academic excellence. 

Students in Years 2-6 are invited to participate in the online ICAS assessments for English, Science and Mathematics. The cost for each assessment is $19.25 with the school subsidising $9.25 per test. Final day for registration is Wednesday, July 27, 2022.

If your child is interested in participating complete the registration form below and return with payment to the office by Wednesday, July 27, 2022.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to call me on 47832877.

Rita Cranitch

Leaning and Teaching Adviser

Inclusive Practices Teacher

From the Guidance Counsellor

A SPECIAL REPORT: Building Resilience Post Pandemic

Unfortunately, the mental health of young people has been significantly impacted by the pandemic. As many families settle back into pre-COVID routines, there seems to be a pervasive sense of optimism about what lies ahead.

Unfortunately, children and teens are not immune to what is now being termed the “psychological pandemic”. Young people are at risk of not achieving the primary demands of developmental tasks such as procuring independence, identity formation, as well as obtaining and maintaining peer relationships. What kids need most in the current environment is support, understanding, empathy and encouragement from caring adults. They live up or down to the expectations we set for them.

If there is a panacea to the adversity caused by the pandemic, then it is the building of resilience. Resilience is the capacity to face, overcome, be strengthened and transformed by adversity. Never before, have parents needed the skills, the knowledge and the strategies to build resilience in their children as much as they do now. There are 7 integral and interrelated components that make up being resilient that can help young people thrive and develop healthy coping strategies.

This Special Report explores the “7 C’s of Resilience” and includes suggested strategies on how adult carers can best facilitate them.

We hope you take time to reflect on the information offered in this Special Report, and as always, we welcome your feedback.

If you do have any concerns about the wellbeing of your child, please contact the school for further information or seek medical or professional help.

Here is the link to your special report:
https://sfatsv.catholic.schooltv.me/wellbeing_news/special-report-building-resilience-post-pandemic

Birthdays

Sports

Athletics Carnival

Please see below for Athletics Carnival details.  Student bag orders for tuckshop would be appreciated by Tuesday 12 July.  Please  note your child's House on the bag order.  Food will be available for parents to purchase over the counter on the day. 

Athletics Carnival Themes

Community

Joe Pappalardo - Water Festival Event