Well, we have come to that time of the term when we are heading into the last week ready for school holidays again. It has been another eventful term with Naidoc Week, Mulkadee, Catholic Education Week, St Benedict’s Feast Day, Benny’s Got Talent, School Validation (still waiting on the report to share with you), Interschool Athletics, A School Disco, Science Week, Book Week,  Book Week Parade, RACQ Streets Ahead Program, Year 5 /6 Camp, Festival of Sport, National Child Protection Week and we will finish next week with each class going to Eisteddfod. All this along with the regular learning that happens in a term has left most of our school community feeling well and truly ready for a break, though we can all feel incredibly proud of the opportunities and experiences we provide for our students and families.

Staff News

Mr David Roberts has tendered his resignation effective from the end of this term due to continuing ill health. Mr Roberts has been a much loved Music teacher for our students over the two years he has been here. Students have loved learning the recorder and ukulele with him and the choir has learnt so much about singing together. He has been  instrumental in building our Arts program and he is such a positive influence on our staff. He will be missed. We wish Mr Roberts all the best in his retirement from teaching music. 

Mrs Kristina Moore has also tendered her resignation effective from the end of this term as she moves town to be closer to family. Mrs Moore is one of our Foundation Team and has also been a well loved School Officer in Year 4/5/6 classrooms and more recently with Year 1’s. Mrs Moore's wry sense of humour amongst our staff and her genuine care for the students she works with has made her a hit all round. She will be well missed but we do wish her and her family well.

Miss Cienna Jewel will be getting married over the September holidays in Brisbane. We wish her and her future husband Karl a very happy and blessed day

Staffing 2023

Please note we are already in the throes of planning for 2023 in terms of recruiting staff for our growing school. We have already assigned most teachers to year levels and all staffing will be completed by mid next term.

Term 4

As we go into the final term, can I please remind everyone that children are expected to go straight to the hall upon their arrival at school. They are not to go to classrooms to put bags away even if they have a parent with them. This practice leads to students being unsupervised as they will follow along when they see others doing it. Classrooms are also places where teachers can have morning meetings with parents (generally pre-arranged) and it is important there is an opportunity for some level of privacy with this.

Next term we have much to look forward to with swimming lessons, a swimming carnival, transition to new classrooms and my favourite event, O Holy Night. I also look forward to sharing our next five year plan with you all and confirming 2023 building projects (the last of our master plan).

Please have a lovely weekend and enjoy the last week of school.

Cheers

Penny

We’re closing in rapidly on the end of another busy term!  We had the Prep Bilbies lead us in assembly today, with a very special prayer for dads and father figures on Father’s Day.  It’s alway wonderful to see our preps enthusiastically leading us in prayer!

Last weekend I took the staff up to Paluma for a Contemplative Spirituality retreat.  While up in the rainforest, our theme befittingly was, “Listen to the Voice of Creation”.  The staff were presented with a range of contemplative practices, both for their own lives, and no doubt, some of this will trickle back down into practices within the classroom.  It was a wonderful opportunity for us all to stop for a moment, take in the glory of God’s creation, and reflect, in our own ways, on what drives us throughout our life's journey.

I’m looking forward to seeing and hearing about our students performing in the Townsville Eisteddfod next week.  A reminder, parents are very welcome to attend performances at the Townsville Civic Theatre (please note, there is an entry fee).  I have attached the timetable below.

I have also attached below the timetable for classes on assembly / open classrooms for Term 4, we look forward to our parents continued support of these weekly events.

This is our last newsletter for the term, so I wish everyone a restful break, and look forward to the excitement that Term 4 is sure to bring!

Pax,

Nick

Assembly and Showcases T4 

Eisteddfod Timetable - W10

Please note these are approximate start times and may start either earlier or later

What do I do?

At times, many of us as parents have felt this way.  We all know that kids don't come with a how to manual.  This makes navigating those challenges that arise along the way even more difficult.  There are some great places we can go as parents to help us to navigate the developmental road with our children.  For our young ones, and not so little ones, Big Life Journal has some great resources (some have been shared on our parent FB page already).  For our middle years students and those heading to the end of primary school / into high school the tween and teen years can feel even more challenging as we navigate parenting in this evolving social world.  Maggie Dent (great for boys) and Rebecca Sparrow (great for girls) offer some great insights and tips to help us as parents with our kids, including when there are peer group dramas.  A fun social page to follow just for some parenting reassurance can also be a positive way of reminding ourselves that as parents, we do the best we can.

P&F News

Congratulations to all our winners of prizes in the Father’s Day Raffle.  Many

thanks to all who donated prizes to our wonderful community.  It is the strength of how we all come together that makes all the difference to the support we can offer to everyone. 

ZBW Concreting Pack - Hollett family

Makita Prize Pack from Pacific International - Snoeks Family

Signed Cowboys Jersey from Jordan and Brianna McLean - Leon Family 

BBQ pack and $200 of BCF Vouchers from Neilly Group - Mitch Dellaway

Fishing Pack from Matheisen Family - Mark Allan

Camping Lights from Rabig Electrical - Cooper Payne, Ben Campbell, Scott Kelly

Scotts Lawn Mowing Package from Scott Matthews - Janeen Swanson

Red Wine from Shah Family - Alex Miller

MS Readathon 

August is over and I am so proud of how much money our Benny’s community raised and how many books we read for our first ever Readathon!

• 21 students registered!
• $2341 out of the $1000 goal raised 
• 560 Books read so far 

Thank you to everyone who participated! 

Pupil Free Day - Reflective Practice Day

You know it as a Pupil Free Day, and our staff know it as Reflective Practice Day! Last Friday our teachers participated in professional learning and spent time reflecting on their practice to ensure we are always providing the best teaching and learning possible. Firstly, we viewed a zoom session with QCAA (the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority) as an introduction to the new version of the Australian Curriculum. For the rest of the day, we focused on writing. Rebecca (Y4) and Anne (Y2) have been involved in a 2 year writing project with me and others from Townsville Catholic Education, and Year 3 and 5 were also involved in a NAPLAN Writing Project earlier this year. During the Pupil Free Day we shared what we have learnt with the rest of the teachers, and writing will continue to be a major focus during 2023. Some of the main takeaways have been: 

• Planning for students to write more throughout the week
• A standardised way for teachers to analyse writing data and set goals (goals will be shared with students and parents too!)
• Building a positive culture of writing 
• Consistency of writing vocabulary across P-6 (eg. A good writer uses the following traits….. Voice, Conventions, Sentence Fluency, Ideas, Word Choice, Organisation)

Already this year we have heard that students are feeling more confident and eager to write in the classroom. This is certainly shown when we see smiling little faces coming into our office and showing off their wonderful creations!

Yours in Learning, 

Aleesha Rockemer

(Learning and Teaching Adviser) 

Below is the link to follow to register your teams:

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