Thank you to all the families who were able to join us for our Beginning of Year Liturgy this morning. It was particularly great to have Fr Dave visiting us and engaging the children with his magic tricks and talking about how great our school can be when we all commit to being kind and thoughtful. We launched our Way of PEACE initiative where we are planning to build a language culture and a way of being around the words used to make up the PEACE acronym- Positive, Empathy, Accepting, Caring and Engaged.  We certainly believe that by incorporating this language into our daily interactions and building an awareness of the value of these actions, we will be able to deepen our community expectations.

Life Ed

Please note that a few of our classes missed their lesson with Healthy Harold this week due to the Life Education teacher being unwell. These lessons will be made up in March. From all reports of the students who did get to visit the van, thoroughly enjoyed their lesson and were inspired by Healthy Harold.

Supportive Parent Community

I had to speak with a number of parents this week about some children who were demonstrating some challenging and / or unacceptable behaviours. I have to express how grateful we are for the supportive parent community we have at St Benedict’s and for the partnerships we are generating in creating the best environment for our kids. Your support with establishing shared expectations assists so much in making positive changes for our students, your children. We will always advocate for the children in our school and will always work towards positive solutions as issues arise and your support has been much appreciated.

Thank you to those families who responded to our text early in the week reminding everyone that there is no supervision provided at school until 8.00am unless children are going to our Outside of School Hours Care Service. We appreciate your vigilance in keeping children safe and not leaving them unattended.

Please also note that we have many Prep and Year 1 students heading to the playground after school which is causing distress when they are not the designated pick up zone for parents to collect them. Please remind students that they are to head straight to the pre-arranged pick up area as the Playground is not an option after school. I certainly do appreciate how attractive it is to stop off for a quick play before heading home but this draws in students who are not being supervised and are expected elsewhere.

Mad Food Scientist

Science has proven there is a direct link between our food and sleep choices, and the effects of those choices on our behaviour, mood and ability to perform both academically and physically. This program provides a way of partnering with the school to help your children learn and thrive, both in and out of the classroom.

Next week we have the Mad Food Scientist coming to engage our community in learning about the importance of certain foods in our diet. The children will attend a session with their class on either Wednesday or Thursday and parents are also invited for their own session on Thursday at 3.15pm in our Red Block classrooms. I would love to see as many parents as possible come along as this is the first time this program is being run in Townsville. Please see their website more information.- https://therootcause.com.au/childrens-health-program/#

Cheers

Penny