St Benedict's Catholic School Shaw eNewsletter

I was blessed to visit my first Assembly at St. Benedict’s last Friday, expertly led by the Year 1 Echidnas. They were so well organised and committed to creating a great assembly. A big thanks to their teachers, Mrs Favalli, Mrs Torrens and Miss Candice for helping the students to create the assembly. I can’t wait to be part of the next one.

This year for World Mission Month, Catholic Mission has announced the theme as "Hearts on Fire, Feet on the Move" to raise awareness of the life-giving work of lay and religious missionaries around the world. During October, students are encouraged to engage in both a physical and spiritual journey, to share the message of love and hope not only through their words, but also through their actions. Our students and staff wore crazy socks today to raise funds and awareness for Catholic Mission.

Our Prep students enjoyed an excursion to the Sacred Heart Cathedral this week. Father Joseph and Father Clement showed them the special features of the Cathedral including the Stations of the Cross, baptismal font, tabernacle, altar, paschal candle, the beautiful stained glass windows, statues and sculptures depicting Jesus and other saints and special people. They certainly learned a great deal and had the inspiration to share their leanings in their writing when they returned to school. We are very grateful to Father Joseph and Father Clement for their generosity - the Prep students loved visiting the Cathedral.

Hat’s off to our teachers on World Teachers’ Day next Friday.

Let’s celebrate the amazing work of our teachers at St Benedict’s for educating, inspiring and supporting our students. We recognise them for the work that they do each and every day. Thank you teachers for:

the inspiration you bring to your classroom everyday
caring for your students and their families
caring for your colleagues
making a real difference in the future
opening students to the pathway to realise their potential
being a leader, safe haven, mentor and guide for our young people

We are so blessed to have such wonderful teachers in our Benny’s community.

Blessings.

We’ve reached the end of Week 3! Last Week, Our Year 1 Echidnas presented assembly on the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. October is known in the Catholic Church as the month of the Rosary. Many of us may have heard of the Rosary, which is a very special prayer, using a set of beads. Many of us have a special pair of Rosary Beads from our grandparents (or even further back). It is a very traditional prayer, although a prayer that has great value today. The Echidnas reminded us that during this special prayer, we remember Mary’s devotion, as well as the events of Jesus’ life, and that we can use this special prayer as a way of reflecting about how His message brings light into our worlds. Some of you may wish to pray a Decade of the Rosary at home as a family, and I have included a YouTube link of how to pray the Rosary with children below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6luelJ_GGas

Mission Month - Crazy Sock Day

October is also known as ‘Mission Month’. Today, 2 Kingfishers presented assembly on Catholic Mission as it is also the day that as a school we celebrated “Crazy Socks Day” and encouraged students to bring in a Gold Coin Donation. As part of Religious Education Lessons this week, students have learned about the work that Catholic Mission Australia does around the world. Each year, the focus is on one country, this year being Timor Leste. In learning about some of this work, and the impact on these communities, our students can gain a better understanding of where their Gold Coin Donation will go towards. The link below is a video about some of the work the Catholic Mission does if you want some further information.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHsbGm-ZkJU&t=193s

Swimming Carnival Update

Please note, that we have had to make an amendment to our plans for the Interhouse Swimming Carnival coming up on Friday November 17. We have checked in with Townsville School Sports, and we will now be participating in the ‘C Schools’ Interschool Carnival in 2024. Because of this change, Year 2 students will now be participating in our school carnival, as students in these age groups are able to represent the school at the Interschool Carnival next year. Further information in regards to race times, etc will be shared closer to the date of the carnival. We are looking forward to another wonderful event! Prep and Year 1 students will be attending Swimming Lessons on this day, and we are currently organising their “Wet play Day”, with more information about this coming out soon!

Other Save the Dates

This week, I thought it would also be beneficial to put out some ‘Save the Dates’ for some of our end of year events that I know people look forward to.

Fri 27 Oct - Day for Daniel + World Teachers Day

Oct 30 - Nov 3 - - Year 4, 5 & 6 Swimming Lessons

Nov 6 - 10 - Year 2 & 3 Swimming Lessons

Nov 13 - 17 - Prep & Year 1 Swimming Lessons

Fri 24 Nov - End of Year Mass @ 9:00am - ALL WELCOME

Mon 27 Nov - Year 6 Rite of Passage - 6:00pm - Year 6 Students and families

Tues 28 Nov - Step Up Orientation. 9:00 - 10:30am - ALL 2024 students

Fri 1 Dec - Last Day of School - Finish at 12:00pm

Pax,

Nick

Parish_News_wk3term4.pdf

PAX - PEACE - Progress, Achievement & Excellence in Learning

Did you know the Benedictine motto is quite simply the word ‘PAX’ - which in latin means peace? Along with our PEACE acronym of Persistence, Empathy, Accountability, Care for Community, and Engagement, we also use PAX as an acronym in relation to Progress, Achievement and Excellence in learning.

At St Benedict’s we celebrate every child for their unique abilities, strengths and talents. Each and every day teachers focus on their learners, and select the best teaching strategies, to help them PROGRESS in their learning, ACHIEVE their goals, and show EXCELLENCE.

Brett from year 3 came to the office this week to proudly show the leadership team how he had progressed in his learning of contractions in only 2 weeks. We are so proud of Brett and all the teachers and students at St Benedict’s for the tremendous efforts put into teaching and learning every day.

Yours in Learning,

Aleesha Rockemer

Learning and Teaching Adviser

Australia’s largest child safety education and awareness day

DAY FOR DANIEL

Friday 27 October, 2023

Held annually on the last Friday of October, Day for Daniel honours the memory of Daniel Morcombe. We ask all Australians on this very special day to Wear Red, Educate and Donate.

Parents, carers, and educators are encouraged to start a conversation with children and young people about personal safety. Schools and early learning centres conduct child safety education activities. Businesses and community come together to raise awareness of child safety issues. We are developing a new video resource that will be available for Day for Daniel education.

Day for Daniel here at St Benedict’s is a day of awareness, students CAN wear a red t-shirt and their school sports shorts to show support. Classes will participate in learning moments that teach how to stay safe.

The Boomer Challenge Parent & carer guide has been provided for you to support safer online interactions, normalises risk assessments and empowers online decision-making.

BoomerChallenge_Parent_Carer_Guide.pdf

Yours in Support
Rhylie Mathiesen
Pastoral Care Coordinator

T4_W3_YEAR_1_Newsletter.pdf

Items will be on sale from Monday 6 November - Thursday 9 November from 8am - 8.30am. CASH ONLY

Price_List_for_Remembrance_Day.pdf

Free two hour presentation on Friday the 27 October 2023 09am -11 am. UnitingCare Under 6 NDIS Service – Evolve Friday Escape Series

Please forward to interested parties.

Presenters: Stacey Frossling (Early Childhood Coordinator – Community Capacity Building)

UnitingCare is the NDIS early childhood partner in Townsville, which also includes Ingham, Burdekin and Charters Towers. Early childhood partners deliver the NDIS early childhood approach for children younger than 6 with developmental delay or children younger than 9 with disability, and their families, to access the right support when they need it.

The UnitingCare early childhood partner is a team of professionals with experience and clinical expertise in working with young children with developmental delay or disability and their families and have specialist skills in early childhood intervention. We focus on delivering family-centred supports using a best-practice model. Children younger than 6 do not need a diagnosis to get support through the NDIS early childhood approach.”

For online attendee’s it will be will be streamed via Microsoft Teams. Click here to join the meeting

or follow this link : https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_MDgyYWE3ZWUtYjU2NC00NGMwLTg1MjMtMjdhZmEyZmZlNjI5%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%220b65b008-95d7-4abc-bafc-3ffc20c039c0%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%2266a63ba2-22e8-48bd-bd83-f646ecfd9ad8%22%7d

To attend in person please join us at the Kirwan Health Campus - Conference Room prior to the start time of 9am.

If you would like to subscribe to be directly notified of this series and other free Evolve training events please email TSV-MH-EVOLVE-PDC@health.qld.gov.au and choose which list you would like to go on: “Townsville in person and Online subscribers list”; “Mackay in person and Online subscribers list”; “Online only subscribers list” or “All”. If you wished to be removed from the subscribers list just email TSV-MH-EVOLVE-PDC@health.qld.gov.au with unsubscribe in the subject line.

Please note these presentations are not currently able to be recorded and copies of slides are not able to be provided.