Catholic Education Week

This week we celebrated Catholic Education Week.  On Monday, Mr Christie and I attended mass at the Cathedral with some of our Year 3 students who had completed their sacraments earlier in the year.  It introduced the theme for this year of, ‘A spirited tomorrow’.  We have many things to be grateful for in Catholic Education, and we are especially blessed here at St Benedict’s to join into what is a 200 Year journey of Catholic Education in Australia.  The theme rings true for us as we certainly look forward to ‘a spirited tomorrow’ as we see our school and community continue to grow.  

We finished off Catholic Education Week by holding our annual St Benedict’s Feast Day.  It started with a whole school mass, celebrated by Fr Clement.  The students did a beautiful job in participating where they could in what to some is a foreign concept.  The middle session saw our students participating in activities about St Benedict and the values we have learnt from him.  Some of the activities students participated in included Tree Planting (for national tree day), contemplative activities, and being introduced to games without any rules, followed by rules, as St Benedict is famous for creating rules to live in monastery and community.  We finished with our annual ‘St Benny’s Got Talent’ - which was a wonderful way of finishing the day and Catholic Education Week - we truly have a spirited tomorrow to look forward to!  

Effective Pedagogy at St Benedict’s

At our Board Meeting this week, one of the things we discussed was the way we create the learning experiences at our school and the expectations we have for a very specific way of teaching. As I am sure you are aware, St Benedict’s is an inclusive learning community where we aim to support all students with their learning. Some of the ways we do this is by having flexible seating in our classrooms. Not all children engage in learning the same way and certain activities are best done in ways that are different to traditional classroom spaces where all children sit as desks for the majority of their learning. 

We believe that when children have the opportunity to move around throughout their day, they can better engage in learning as those short transitions can be just the physical and mental break a student needs to be able to re-engage for the next activity. We can all appreciate how tiresome it is to sit in the same space all day. I know as an adult, I would certainly find that challenging and I can’t understand why we ever thought that was an effective practice in schools. 

Working with flexible learning spaces also means that we do very little whole class teaching and focus instead on small group sessions where students can learn alongside their peers in lessons explicitly with a teacher, or by consolidating learnt concepts with a school officer or working independently to practice or implement what has been learnt. This approach to learning means our teachers can identify the specific needs of all students; where they need support and where they may need challenging. 

Through this approach to learning, not only do our students get to engage with the appropriate curriculum experiences for their year level or ability but they also get opportunities to develop a number of other important skills and capabilities like how to work collaboratively and how to work independently. Students learn how to be persistent and have a go or to draw on a number of strategies that can assist them. Students also learn to think about what they know and what they can do so they can make some decisions around their next steps in learning. We create opportunities for students to be curious, to make connections between different areas of learning and to see themselves as learners capable of success, even when it is challenging.

I’d love to share more about leaning at St Benedict’s over the next few weeks so if you have any particular areas of interest, please let me know.\

Townsville Ring Road Stage 5 Project

Last week we had a visit from a representative from Main Roads and from Georgiou AECOM consortium who has won the tender for this project. They are very keen to work with the community to address any concerns that may arise. If you would like to receive electronic project updates please email townsvilleringroad5@tmr.qld.gov.au and provide your name and contact details.

If you have any questions or concerns you can contact the project team directly at 1800956678.

Have a fabulous week. Hope to see lots of families and Burgers by the Billabong. Don’t forget your picnic rug and some cash.

Cheers

Penny Collins

Spirit of St Benedict

Today we enjoyed our celebration of the Feast of St Benedict.  It was lovely to come together as a community and celebrate with Mass led by Fr Clement.  As I looked around at our school community, I was struck by the sense of pride beaming out of our student’s smiles.  Our school values of Love, Community, Learning and Stewardship clearly shine on days such as this.  As students engaged in the activities during the middle session with their peers the engagement and support between the students was evident.  The inaugural St Benny’s Got Talent show was a definite highlight, with laughter and enjoyment shared by all.  As we reflect on the spirit of St Benedict, our patron, PEACE was clearly alive in us all today.

Blessings

Ros

P&F - Burgers by the Billabong

We are looking forward to seeing lots of our community come together for our community event.  Bring along a picnic rug or chairs and your cash for the Burgers and the Cake Stall.  There will also be lots of fun activities to engage the young and the young at heart.

Listen to Stories Online with StoryBox

We currently have a 2 month trial with Story Box Library and our families are welcome to use it at home. Story Box is a wonderful site that has many rich books read beautifully by a variety of people including authors, storytellers, musicians, actors, and everyday people and students. Please spend some time browsing the site with your child/children and open the door to a world full of books. There are also a variety of activities to go with each book. As we know, reading is one of the most important things you can do for and with your children. We encourage you to bookmark the following website and enjoy being read to! 

Go to https://storyboxlibrary.com.au/login

Username: bennies

Password: bennies2021

All orders for this issue will close next 

Friday 6th August.  

Ordering and payment for Book Club orders are to be completed online through LOOP, the online ordering and payment platform for parents. (Please note our school may come up as GARBUTT - this is our

 delivery address which we cannot alter at this stage. )

 PLEASE NOTE ALL ORDERS MUST BE PLACED VIA LOOP.  WE DO NOT ACCEPT CASH OR CHEQUES FOR BOOK CLUB PAYMENTS.  If you have any queries please contact the school office or the school library.