We’ve reached the end of week 9, and I’m sure many people have started the countdown until the Easter School Holidays - only 5 more school days.

The start of this week saw our Parent Teacher Interviews take place on Monday and Tuesday evening.  There are many positives to come out of parent teacher interviews, which can include (but certainly not limited to) some of the following:

• involve the parents in the educational process 
• document the student’s progress for the parents 
• reflect on learning outcomes and goals  
• give parents the opportunity to express feelings, questions and concerns, and; 
• establish ongoing communication networks between the teacher, parents and student.

As a school we certainly value the importance of the relationship between parents and teachers in the education of our students.  This is reflected in the statement found in our school Value of Learning, where;

“We are called to openly listen to one another, engaging all members of the community in the pursuit of growing wisdom.  We celebrate learning as a result of hard work, discipline and resilience.”

If you have been unable to meet with your child’s teacher yet (which we understand - life can be very busy), I would highly recommend that you make contact with your child’s teacher to try and organise a time to meet, if not before the end of this term, then to begin Term 2.

On another note, next week see’s our annual school Fun Run on Friday morning.  Some students have already been on the course with Mr P, with more being shown during PE next week to prepare them for Friday.  Of course, we value the fun of the event, but know some students take the race very seriously, and there will be a number of placegetters from the event who will be invited to represent our school in the Townsville School Sports Interschool Cross Country later in the year.  Students are welcome to wear their house colour shirts for the fun run.

Pax

Nick

Save the Date

We would like to invite our St Benedict’s community to attend the Opening and Blessing of Stage 3 of the St Benedict’s Building Project (Library, Orange Block and Administration Block Extension).  This liturgy will be celebrated by Bishop Tim Harris, with other special guests in attendance, and most importantly, our students!  This event will be taking place on Tuesday 26 April at 12:00pm. 

A note from the Parish

The parish are seeking expressions of interest from students (girls and boys) who have completed the sacramental program (either this year or previously) who might be interested in becoming an Altar Server during weekend masses within our parish.  If this is something you and your child would be interested in, please let me know (via email) and I can pass this information onto the Parish who can then organise the next steps.  

Project Compassion

Each week, Project Compassion has a video to show how they are supporting people and communities around the world.  Please see the link below to see one of the many projects around the world and to see where your donations might be spent.  This week's story takes us to the Democratic Republic of Congo and is about a woman named Rosalie.  If any of these stories inspire you to give any monetary funds to Caritas, we have collection boxes within classrooms and in the school office.

https://www.caritas.org.au/project-compassion/rosalie-story/#

Pax,

Nick

PEACE

You may have noted that we have had a renewed focus on wearing our school hats.  Wearing our uniform with Pride falls under our Accountability initiative.  Please check with your student if they have their hat.  Names written in hats can get sweaty and rub off.  We do have a large number of hats in our lost property box.  

Please remember that we are a No Hat No Play school.

End of Term Tiredness

As we come to the end of term, it is noticeable how many students there are at present.  This is the time of the term that students, teachers and parents alike all feel the weight of the term.  Patience becomes a little thinner, small things feel a little bigger and our capacity to cope with these is often reduced.  

Hold on tight, the end is in sight.  It is normal for these feelings to pop up at this time of the term. Be gentle with each other and remember to breathe.

As Penny mentioned in a previous newsletter, we are focusing on writing in our School Improvement Plan. Have you thought about how you can support your children with writing at home? The best way to help your children is to encourage them to write more! Please do not try and make it a chore though, try to make it purposeful and fun! For example, they could: 

• help you write the shopping list for the week
• write a letter/email to a friend or family member
• write a story and publish it into a book
• write in any birthday cards throughout the year
• write in a journal or diary
• write on the computer or on your phone

Did you know there are stages of writing development and children will go through all stages until they can write fluently? It is important to let children write independently and feel success, whether they are at the stage of drawing pictures, writing scribbles on a page, or writing fluently with conventional spelling. If your children are putting pencil to paper (or finger to keyboard), then they deserve lots of praise and encouragement to keep on writing! 

Yours in Learning, 

Aleesha Rockemer

(Learning and Teaching Adviser) 

In Prep we have been learning about pollinators, living things and what they need to survive. We have been observing the life cycle of a Monarch butterfly and the Prep Koala's were very excited to see a Monarch butterfly appear from its chrysalis yesterday. We are looking forward to releasing them in the next few weeks so they can pollinate our flowers. 

Information about Compass Kiosk in the Office for parents.

If your child is LATE, after 8.30am it is a requirement that a parent or guardian must sign the child in via the Compass Kiosk, which is located at the front counter of the Administration Office.  A late slip will be issued to the student to take to the teacher.

EARLY DEPARTURE If you are signing your child out early a parent or guardian will need to sign the student out via the Compass Kiosk.