Parental Guidance

Have any of you been watching the new season of Parental Guidance on Win? While I don’t love the labelling of different styles of parenting or the voting for the best parenting style at the end of each show (though it is done positively), I do love the challenges given to the families and the discussion and reflection about the different scenarios amongst the families.

They have shown scenarios with children

gaming online and their responses to other online gamers when challenged to do something they may know to be wrong and then their responses to their own parents when asked questions about their online interactions,
being challenged in a playground by a not-so nice child, especially in relation to how they protect their siblings
following a recipe to make a cake where the older sibling is not the one in charge and
getting lost in a shopping centre and knowing the expectations of the family about how to respond

There is lots of discussion about family values and expectations between the different participating parents but also in an interview style with the children. I find this type of engagement amongst families very interesting and so far, I am enjoying the positivity of recognising the difference but also the good in the various ways people approach parenting. It is one of the most challenging jobs around at times.

Road Works

Thank you all for your continued patience with the ever changing road works around our school. With the Ring Road Project and our project, there is a lot to navigate each day. Please be advised that Mendi have indicated the current lane closures on Dalrymple Rd will swap to the school side around the 20 June. This will not change the access to and from St Benedict’s as you will still come through the lights at Greater Ascot; it is just something to be aware of in the last week of school.

With our Athletics Carnival next Friday, Mendi have also offered to provide a temporary dirt carpark for the day in the area at the back of Bishop Putney Avenue (where we had our dirt cul-de-sac, just before the new entrance gate). While this will assist with the number of carparks required, please be aware that space will still be at a premium and to carpool wherever possible if you are bringing grandparents as well.

School Uniforms

As the weather has cooled, please remember that we have a gorgeous school jacket that students should be wearing and they can wear black or navy stocking or track pants as required. Please also remember to keep children home if unwell during this time as we are continuing to find getting relief staff for sick staff very challenging.

Have a fabulous week.

Cheers

Penny

Welcome to the end of Week 8! I was so impressed with our 2 Curlews who presented on the theme of Pentecost, which recognises the gift of the Holy Spirit, first shared with the disciples and acts in us each day. They helped us to consider how we can use the fruits of the Holy Spirit to help us to shine for others - and didn’t their light shine in their final song. I also loved the Curlews message on our ‘Way of Peace’, focussing on Empathy - their message of, “That’s how they feel, what could you do”, was wonderful, and particularly timely as we are getting to the time of the year when we’re starting to feel a little tired and things start becoming a little more difficult.

Athletics Carnival

ALL Students are able to participate in a Sprint, as well as field events and novelty games.The schedule of events is posted below.

9 - 12 Year Old Students will participate in ‘Pre-events’ (High Jump and 800m) on Thursday afternoon from 2:00pm. These events will act as a trial for the interschool carnival and count points towards Fridays carnival.

Parents are able to take students home early from the carnival, but will need to ensure they sign them out with a member of the office staff.

Please note, Mendi (carrying out the roadworks) will open up the dirt area in front of the carpark to allow for extra parking for the carnival. There is also the option of parking at Greater Ascot and walking down to the school from there. Please consider carpooling if multiple parents/grandparents/aunties/uncles are planning on attending the event.

Time	Age Group	EVENT
9:10am	Prep Boys/Girls	SPRINT	2014 - 2011 Field Events / Novelty throughout session
9:30am	2017 Boys/Girls	SPRINT
9:50am	2016 Boys/Girls	SPRINT	Prep Novelty Events on Low Oval (return to class on conclusion)
10:10	2015 Boys/Girls	SPRINT	Year 1 Novelty Events on Low oval (return to class on conclusion)
Morning Tea Prep and Year 1 Return to Classes for remainder of the day
11:15	2014 Boys/Girls	SPRINT	Year 2 Novelty Event on Oval (return to class on conclusion)
11:35	2013 Boys/Girls	SPRINT	2015 (Year 3) Field Events / Novelty throughout session
11:55	2012 Boys/Girls	SPRINT
12:15	2011 Boys/Girls	SPRINT
12:40	9 - 12 Year Olds	Relays / Fun Events
1:00	Carnival Conclusion

Pax,

Nick

Parish_term2wk8.pdf

Three Things Memo

Belong Believe Become

5th June 2023

Sunset over Reid River located between Charters Towers and Townsville Source: Canva

Dear Friends in Christ,

This week’s focus is parishes becoming invitational and welcoming places/people for the new and the unconnected. We have also included a short video from the Caloundra parish, Our Lady of the Rosary, on the steps they are taking to be an inviting parish that has a deep sense of belonging.

As always, we hope you find something to inspire, provoke or reflect upon in your week.

May God bless you,

Geoff & Mark

Mission Renewal Advisors

3 Quotes

Principles for Becoming an Inviting Church

“The first priciple to keep in mind when creating an invitational [parish] culture is to remind people that it is God who gives the growth (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:7). This means we are responsibile for inviting, but we are not responsible for the response to the invitations. In church circles, it usually takes five invitations to produce one yes, and in spite of the “no, thank you,” we will never know how God will work in someone’s heart even after the invitation has been turned down. When communicating about inviting others we need to be clear [in our hearts] about this.”
“The second principle is that we need to name and identify the primary factor that prevents 80% of the members of the average parish from inviting others: fear. The fear is real. Fear of rejection, fear of being considered odd, fear of creating discomfort in a relationship, fear of being considered ‘one of those’ people is what most often keeps our lips sealed…we need to identify it and bring it to the Lord in prayer. We need to hear his voice saying to us continuously, ‘Do no be afraid’.”
“The third principle is that nothing inspires people to action like a compelling vision of what can be…If even one quarter of the visitors [to the parish] were touched in some way to begin to take another step in their spiritual lives, that would be [more] people each week. If ever this started to happen our problem would no longer be about inspiring an invitational culture, but in responding to the people who have taken a step in faith to show up, and even to return again.”

Source: Fr James Mallon (2014). Divine Renovation. Becoming an inviting church (pp.190 — 192).

2 Ideas

Becoming an Invitational Parish

Construct a list of ways an unconnected person could experience a sense of belonging in your parish community so they would begin to see themselves as a fellow parish member. Share this list with all parishioners, and target one or two ideas that everyone could practise to prepare for those new and returning people to the parish.
Rehearse with other parishioners the conversation you would have to invite a friend to ‘return’ to the parish. Ask for feedback on what can be improved and what sounds good, and is natural and authentic for the conversation.

1 Video

A Mission-Focused Parish: Our Lady of The Rosary Parish, Caloundra.

Father Josh and members of his parish team share their experiences of growing a parish culture of mission on the Sunshine Coast.

Writing for a Brighter Future

Did you know that improving student writing success is a major part of our school improvement plan this year? We are using the 6+1 Traits of Writing to analyse student writing and set goals based on different elements like voice, ideas, presentation, conventions, organisation, word choice, and sentence fluency. Part of this focus includes creating a positive culture of writing within our school. To do this, we have implemented a whole school approach to teaching writing. We have taken into consideration the different stages of writing development, our classroom environments, an engaging writing center, explicitly teaching writing skills, and having students write every single day! We are excited to see our students progress and achieve their goals in such an important area of academics - writing! We also love to celebrate each student’s progress and wonderful writing. It is always a delight to the school leadership team when students come to show off their great work! Have your children been writing more at home? We don’t have homework at St Benny’s, however writing is an essential part of life and can be incorporated into many daily activities! Let’s get writing!

Here are 3 ideas for incorporating writing for your children into their daily routine:

Spend 30 minutes before bedtime reading stories together and then encourage writing/drawing about the book for the last 10 minutes.
Ask your child to help write the weekly shopping list.
Encourage writing by providing fun writing material such as colored pens and markers, personalized stationery, and journals.

Aleesha Rockemer

Learning and Teaching Adviser

In this edition of SchoolTV - MINDFULNESS

Over the last decade, mindfulness has been slowly rising in popularity with many individuals practising it on a regular basis. Evidence based research has found that there are many benefits to mindfulness which has prompted schools across the nation to implement this practice into their daily routines.

Mindfulness can be described as attention training for your brain, enabling you to focus on something without judgement and to stimulate curiosity. Mindfulness can be practised in a number of ways and is something that can be done by everyone - no matter what your age! It has been practised by many cultures around the world, but it is not exclusively affiliated to any particular philosophy or religion.

Mindfulness helps improve memory, engagement and performance. Its positive effect on the brain can improve immunity, mental wellbeing, learning ability, emotional health and even, time management. It is especially important in this era of information overload as our attention is constantly being pulled in many directions making us more distracted.

In this edition of SchoolTV, parents can learn the best way to introduce this mindfulness to their children, implementing into their daily lives to have an overall positive impact on family relationships.

We hope you take time to reflect on the information offered in this edition of SchoolTV and we always welcome your feedback. If you have any concerns about your child, please contact the school counsellor for further information or seek medical or professional help.

Here is the link to the Mindfulness edition of SchoolTV
https://stbenedicts.catholic.schooltv.me/newsletter/mindfulness

Yours in Support

Rhylie Mathiesen

Pastoral Care Coordinator

Year_4_Butterflies_Update.pdf

$5 includes a Sausage on Bread & Popper

Preorders are now available via the flexischools app.

Orders will close on Thursday 15th at midnight.

Little Athletics Qld is hosting the annual LAQ Winter Carnival on the 24^th & 25^th June at the TSP – Townsville Sports Precinct. An invitation is extended to children of all abilities aged between 5 – 16 to nominate for track and field events. Don't miss out on your chance to nominate for this fun event. For more information and the nomination form, click on this link.