Principal’s Conference

Last week I was away for a few days in Mission Beach (yes, tough, I know) with principals from our Townsville diocese. On the first day, we had the privilege of working with two members of our Diocesan Indigenous Education Team, to explore concepts around relationships and understanding how different people can have  different perspectives and experiences on similar issues. As leaders in schools, we experience this multiple times a day sometimes and understanding the importance of listening to understand without just listening to respond is always an important skill in building relationships and understanding perspectives. 

On the second day, we had this inspirational speaker, Rachel Robertson speak to us about her leadership experiences in being a team leader on an Antarctic expedition. She had so many great ideas to share about managing people, building respect amongst a team and about setting expectations and boundaries as well as lots of funny stories about her experiences. 

Book Week Parade

Thank you to all our families who were able to assist with preparing students with costumes for our Book Week Parade and also to those who were able to come along. It is always such a fun morning. 

Pupil Free Day

Please note that we have a student free day next week on Friday 2 September which is a day used for Reflective Practice across our diocese. We are looking forward to collaborating with each other about planning for and assessing student progress. 

School Officer Appreciation Week

Next week we will celebrate all the amazing School Officers we have in our school community. Our School Officers (Teacher Aides) provide so much support for students and teachers and the relationships they build are essential in assisting students to access learning in the same way their peers can. Please feel free to acknowledge the School Officers in your students' classes next week.

Please have a lovely weekend.

Cheers

Penny

It’s the end of Week 7, only 3 weeks to go in the term!  Did you know that each fortnight, 2 of our classes participate in “Buddy Class Mass”, seen over by one of our parish priests, either Fr Clement or Fr Joseph.  This has been a wonderful experience for our classes and nearly all classes have now had a turn at participating.  The Catholic Mass is seen as being the most important ceremony and form of worship in the Catholic Church where we listen to the divine word and (for those who have undertaken the sacrament of First Holy Communion), receive the Eucharist (the body and blood of Christ).  We are then encouraged at the end of mass to go and live the gospel.  

Our priests have done a wonderful job of breaking down the different parts of the mass and explaining it to our children and bringing it alive for them.  They’ve also given the students time at the end of the mass to ask any questions they might have about the mass, or about religion in general (very brave of them!), and students have seemed to enjoy asking some of these questions, with (most) of them being able to be answered.  We look forward to continuing this at St Benedict’s and allowing our students to become more familiar with this form of prayer and worship.

We wish our 5/6 Campers heading off to Mungalli Falls at the Tablelands all the best as they depart on Monday morning, ready to return on Wednesday - camp is such a valuable experience and I’m sure they’ll have a wonderful time!  

Pax,

Nick

MS Readathon (Last week to donate!)

The stats so far are:

• 21 students registered!
• $2041 out of the $1000 goal raised (we doubled it)!
• 522 Books read so far (wow!)

RACQ Streets Ahead Road Safety Program

As a proactive strategy to keep our kids safe we have organised the RACQ Streets Ahead road safety program to be delivered to our Prep to Year 6 students. The road safety program focuses on pedestrian, passenger and riding safety. 

A message from the RACQ Education Team: 

Dear Parents and Carers,

The RACQ Community and Education Team will be delivering the Streets Ahead road safety program to Prep to Year 6 students starting Monday 5 September.

If you would like to reinforce and extend your child’s learning of pedestrian, passenger and riding safety, you can access Resource Packs with different age-appropriate activities for Prep to Year 6 in each. In addition to these packs, there are also four educational videos demonstrating the strategies taught for Prep – Year Two students. These resources will assist you to continue teaching road safety, implementing the strategies your children will learn, and applying them to your everyday lives.

https://www.racq.com.au/streetsahead

Kind regards,

RACQ Education Team

Indigenous Literacy Day

Indigenous Literacy Day is coming up next week. This day is about celebrating stories, cultures, and languages. Townsville City Library, and our school library, have many indigenous books to read with your children. They are wonderful to read to your children today, and many days throughout the year. 

ACER PAT Testing for Mathematics and Reading

Over the next 2 weeks our students in years 2-6 will sit 2 online assessments, one for reading and one for mathematics. The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) is globally renowned for its work in assessment and educational research. All schools in Catholic Education Townsville Diocese, and many other schools around Australia, will sit these 2 tests. Our teachers at St Benedict’s will use this data to measure the students knowledge, skills and understanding, and help pinpoint where they are in their learning journey – and what they need to progress. Our teachers use data continuously to help our students learn, and this is one more assessment tool that assists in doing so. Assessment is integrated into the learning and teaching at school and should not be anything for the students to be worried about. Like every day, coming to school with a good night's sleep, a nutritious breakfast, and a good routine, will help them try their very best and engage in their work. It’s not about being ‘the’ best, it’s about each student doing ‘their best’ and ensuring every student progresses in their learning. I am very proud of the teachers at St Benedict’s for always striving to help our students succeed. 

Yours in Learning, 

Aleesha Rockemer 

(Learning and Teaching Adviser)

Parent/Teacher Interviews 

We will be holding optional parent/teacher interviews on Wednesday 7th September from 3:30pm - 5:30pm, and Thursday 8th September from 3:30pm - 5:30pm in the Hall. If you would like to book an interview, you were able to book a 10-minute time slot using the ‘Compass Parent Portal’ from last week Friday the 19th August. If you are having trouble accessing the Parent Portal please contact the office for any assistance. We look forward to discussing your child’ progress. 

Below is the link to follow to register your teams:

https://www.townsvillehockey.com/competition-draw/summer-hockey/