I’m not sure if it’s just me but I absolutely love watching our building and the road projects taking place. I love it, not just from a position of anticipation about the final outcome but I thoroughly enjoy the staging of each of these projects and strategic planning required to re-direct and manage traffic flow, for the engineers, architects and all the different trades to coordinate each component so everything comes together in a timely manner. It affirms for me why our school engages in the Design Thinking Process as part of our pedagogy (way of teaching). I can identify many real life applications of this process and our students will be all the better for learning how to think critically, learning how to not only solve a given problem but also to identify potential problems in any given scenario as well as how to work with others. 

This week we have had a number of school events or activities that have additional support from our staff. I am always so grateful for the efforts of our team in stepping up to provide these opportunities for our students and our school community. Thank you to Nick Christie and Cecilia Robertson for supporting our students at Mulkadee. Thank you to Lizzy Christie and her mum Gwen Laffin for organising and supporting our staff, students and community with NAIDOC Week activities and experiences that have enriched our appreciation and understanding of our Indigenous cultures. Thank you to Aleesha Rockemer, our Learning and Teaching Advisor and Tegan Golding our Speech Pathologist for presenting a Parent Information session about our St Benedict’s approach to teaching reading and finally thank you to Gabby Torrens, our Spanish teacher for taking a number of students to participate in the JCU Young Language Ambassador Program today. 

Please note that according to weather reports, we are expecting a bit of a cold snap next week so just wanted to remind everyone about our school jacket that is part of our school uniform. It has been designed to be lightweight so we can get some good use out of it across the year. If the weather is cool enough for this not to be warm enough, students are also able to wear navy blue or black tracksuit pants (or navy tights for the girls). 

I’d also like to remind families that we have a Personal Devices Policy on our school website that aligns with the recent expectations from the Queensland Government regarding mobile phones and smartwatches in school. Can you please ensure you know the expectations and follow through with these with your children. 

Next week, we look forward to celebrating Catholic Education Week where the theme is Communities of Faith, Love and Hope. We will be taking a few of the students who completed their Sacrament of First Holy Communion and Confirmation this year to the Sacred Heart Cathedral for a combined school’s mass, Mrs Rockemer will be presented with her Spirit of Catholic Education Week Award (will tell you more about that next week ) and we also have our St Benedict’s Feast Day and Benny’s Got Talent. What an awesome week ahead!

Hope I see a few of you at Mulkadee tonight.

Cheers

Penny