The school year is certainly moving quickly, and as we approach the final weeks of Term 3, I would like to sincerely thank all parents and carers for your ongoing support. Your efforts, particularly around drop-off and pick-up, make a real difference in keeping our school safe and well-organised.

I remind all families of the importance of following our school procedures, for example, students should only be dropped off from 8:00am onwards. By working together and following these guidelines, we can ensure the safety and wellbeing of all children in our care.

Supervision at drop off in the morning and pick up in the afternoon reminders

Parents, carers and family members are reminded that supervision at St Benedict’s commences at 8:00am in the school hall. The Mary Mackillop Outside Hours Care are licensed to use the school hall up until 8:00am.

As communicated at the start of the school year, the students are supervised from 2:50pm until 3:20pm. Parents, carers and family members are asked to please arrange for their children to be collected by 3:20pm.

Book Week

An enormous thank you to parents and carers for supporting (and organising) the Book Week costumes for their children. Last Friday’s Book Week Parade was a wonderful success. Thank you to all parents and family members who were able to attend.

Book Week is more than just dressing up as favourite characters. It’s about recognising the power of stories to inspire imagination, build knowledge, and foster a lifelong love of learning.

Reading is one of the most important skills a child can develop. Research shows that children who read regularly not only improve their vocabulary and comprehension, but also develop stronger critical thinking skills, empathy, and creativity. Books allow students to explore new worlds, encounter different perspectives, and strengthen their understanding of themselves and others.

ACU: Research shows books are best for kids’ learning

Student Code of Behaviour – Townsville Catholic Education

At St Benedict’s Catholic School, we are deeply committed to nurturing a safe, respectful, and faith-centered learning environment where every student can thrive. To support this mission, Townsville Catholic Education has introduced a new Student Code of Behaviour, adopted by all diocesan schools. This policy provides clear expectations with clarity and purpose, ensuring that all students are guided by the same values and standards across our system.

Why it matters:

• The Code reflects our Gospel values: respect, responsibility, dignity, and compassion.
  
  
• It outlines how students are called to act: toward themselves, others, and the broader school community.
  
  
• It helps students understand the impact of their actions, encourages them to take responsibility, and supports them in becoming caring, responsible citizens.
  
  

We encourage every family to access the full Code of Behaviour, to read, discuss, and reinforce these shared values at home. Together, we can help our children embody the excellence, kindness, and faith that define our community.

To find the Student Code of Behaviour please go to the section of the Townsville Catholic Education website:

https://www.tsv.catholic.edu.au/about/policies/

Peace Gathering

Throughout the school term, our students and staff come together in the hall for a Peace Gathering, where we reflect on our school’s Peace Focus. This year, we are placing a strong emphasis on our behaviour expectations, which include:

• First Time, Every Time – Listening carefully and following staff instructions straight away.
• Manners Matter – Showing courtesy, respect, and kindness to every member of our school community.

At this week’s gathering, we revisited these expectations with a focus on creating an orderly and safe environment. One of the key reminders was about The Waiting Spot, which ensures that all students can move safely to and from their play areas.

Reinforcing these expectations both at school and at home is so important. When children experience the same clear and consistent messages in both environments, they are more likely to develop positive habits that support their learning, wellbeing, and relationships with others.

God in All of Life

Patrick Dempsey

pdempsey2@stbenedicts.catholic.edu.au

Welcome to the end of Week 7!  It appears as though we are on the downhill slide until the end of Term 3, but there is still plenty of things happening to finish the term.  Some of these things include; Cricket Blast Competition (Thursday Sept 4), Pupil Free Day (Friday Sept 5), Prep Stay and Play #2 (Thurs Sept 11), Parent Teacher Interviews (Tues and Wed Week 9), Year 3 - 6 Swimming Carnival (Friday Sept 12), St Benedict's NAIDOC Celebrations (Week 10) and the U10 Blackhawks Challenge (Friday Sept 19) - phew!

Today’s assembly was led by the Year 3 Brolgas on the Assumption of Mary, the Mother of Jesus.   The Assumption of Mary is the belief that when Mary, the mother of Jesus, died, she was taken directly into heaven with both her body and her soul. It's a key teaching for Catholics, and was once a day of prayerful obligation.  The Brolgas prayed that we might be filled with strength and courage like Mary, so that we might be hope-filled and generous people.  

There was no assembly last week due to our Book Week Parade - it was wonderful to see our community come together in a colourful morning to celebrate the love of books and reading! 

Pax,

Nick

Class Planning 2026

As we move towards the process of planning and preparing classes for 2026, to support smooth transitions, we extend an invitation to parents who have genuine concerns about the placement needs of their student for 2026 to send an email through for our school Leadership team to consider.

Please note, we DO NOT accept requests for teachers.  Rather this is a time to raise concerns regarding peer connections and/or confidential matters for your child that may impact on their placement within a class in 2026.  Please send your emails to myself Mrs Baumann at rbaumann@stbenedicts.catholic.edu.au or Mr Dempsey at pdempsey2@stbenedicts.catholic.edu.au

Blessings

Ros

The P&F are for the school disco next week.  Remember you can pre-purchase entry / some food items on the Flexi-Schools App.  Please see the included map / flyer for more information.

Parent Teacher Conferences

As you are aware, optional parent teacher interviews are coming up on Tuesday 9th and Wednesday 10th September. The majority of the interviews will be held in the Hall from 3:30pm till 5:30pm each day. Due to a variety of circumstances, several classes have different dates and/or times to those listed above. Please check your own Compass Parent Portal for each of your children to confirm the dates and times. 

Key Messages: 

• Please feel welcome to use the ‘Compass Parent Portal’ to book a 10-minute time slot to attend an interview.
  
• If you are using your phone to make your interview booking, please check that you are using the latest version of the Compass App to ensure you have all the features that have recently been added. 
• If you are experiencing difficulty booking your interview, please call the office and they will assist you.
• The booking system will close at midday this Friday 5th September.  Please ensure that you have booked a session by this date.
• We look forward to discussing your child's progress.

Teacher Professional Learning and School Improvement

As we move towards the end of Term 3 and into Term 4, teachers at St Benedict’s will engage in a range of professional development and planning opportunities. Among these sessions are the two Pupil Free days, focused on our learning and teaching Annual School Improvement Goal. These activities are designed to enhance our teaching practice and ultimately enrich the learning experiences of our students.

Our 2025 Learning and Teaching School Improvement Goal: By the end of 2025 we will build teacher capacity to analyse student literacy learning data through DIBELS, and respond using appropriate and consistent Tier 1 evidence-based literacy instruction. 

Essentially, this goal means we are helping our teachers become experts at using a reading assessment called DIBELS. This is helping them better understand where each child is in their reading journey. Throughout this year, our teachers have been using this information to make sure every child gets the most effective literacy instruction right in the classroom. This means they are using proven teaching methods to help all students become strong readers and writers, so that fewer children need extra help later on. This approach ensures that all children, no matter their teacher, receive consistent and high-quality literacy instruction. Our teachers are already doing a fantastic job, and this initiative is about giving them even more tools (or different, better tools) to help every child succeed.

Yours in Learning, 

Aleesha Rockemer 

Assistant Principal Pedagogy and Learning (APPL)