What a fabulous time we have had seeing all the students back at school and getting to know all our new students and families! It has been quite a disrupted start but we have been incredibly proud of our students, settling into classroom routines with wonderful positivity and energy. It is wonderful seeing them enjoying their time with friends and also having the opportunity to make new friends with so many new students across the school.

While we are  grateful for the blessings rain brings to our community, the amount we have had has certainly created challenges, even devastation across our wider community and so we continue to keep people in our prayers throughout this time. Please keep an eye out for your neighbours and make sure you stay safe.

Thank you to our P & F group who arranged for the ‘Feel Good Foodie’ van to be here last Tuesday for our first day and for organising the shared morning tea for our families. It was a lovely opportunity to meet some new families (and quite a lot of new babies). I hope we can see a few more families involved with the Parents & Friends group as it is an easy way to build our community especially with some of the social events they organise. Our students and staff were very appreciative of the sausage sizzle we came back to school with this week as well. It’s hard to beat a warm bbq sausage on a rainy day.

Please note that our P&F Meetings for this year are scheduled for 7.00pm on the second Tuesday of each month. They will be held in our staffroom which is at the back of our Administration Block. All parents and/or friends of our school are welcome to participate. We welcome your input.

Wed 13 February (only this date)    Tues 13 August

Tues 12 March                                   Tues 10 September

Tues 14 May                                      Tues 8 October

Tues 11 June                                    Tues 5 November

Car parking

I would like to sincerely thank all of our community for your patience and pre-planning with the car parking issues,  exacerbated by the torrential rain. I can certainly appreciate your frustration with the lack of parkings spots available and a lack of off street parking either. Unfortunately due to our location, we do not have surrounding streets to spill into like other schools in established areas which puts added pressure on our carpark. Please be assured we do not dismiss your concerns lightly and will continue working with our architect, our Catholic Education office and the council to consider further improvements moving forward. We do have an extension being built this year in both directions from the current car park but that will not be complete until the end of this year.  I’m sure you can appreciate that the way funding works for schools is generally in stages and therefore things are developed in parts accordingly. All schools do however, experience difficulties with car parking especially during the beginning of the year and even more specifically in weather like we have had this fortnight.

As we do move forward over the next few weeks, I do expect the car park will become more accessible as more parents return to their routine of dropping and picking up in our drop off zone. Please remember that this area is for dropping off and picking up only and is our best support in keeping the traffic flowing safely. Please do not park here to walk your children in. Please also note that once we do dry out a bit and we can return to using the dirt areas off Dalrymple Rd and Bishop Putney Avenue to please park back from intersection so we don’t block the view of oncoming traffic. At all times, safety is of utmost importance and patience, consideration and flexibility is key to building and maintaining our positive school community.

Always be mindful that children can be a bit wayward with their thinking and are not always reliable for making good choices around traffic, so let’s watch our speed and keep an eye out at all times.

Sacramental Program- Good Shepherd Parish with Fr Dave

Children  from Years 3 - 6 are invited to participate in the Parish Sacramental Program due to begin very soon. The Parish Sacramental Program guides children through the learning required to celebrate the Sacrament of Penance (Reconciliation), Eucharist (First Holy Communion) and Communion which are the next steps in their catholic faith journey after Baptism. For those families wanting to be a part of the Parish Sacramental Program, you must attend one of the Information and enrolment nights- either Monday 11 February at Ryan Community Centre at 7.00pm or on Tuesday 12 February at the Good Shepherd Centre at 7.00pm. Our APRE, Mr Nick Christie will also assist with any of your enquiries.

Looking forward to a fabulous dry week ahead (fingers crossed).

Cheers

Penny

Firstly I would like to welcome all of our St Benedict’s community back to school for what I’m sure will be a very exciting 2019!  It’s been a slightly interrupted start, but our students have shown great patience, understanding and adaptability during our wet start.   

SCHOOL VALUES

Towards the end of last year, our School Board decided on 4 key ‘Values’ for our school, and posters have been developed on these which have been put up in each of our classrooms.  Students will be made familiar with these throughout the year to develop a greater understanding of who we are here at St Benedict’s.

These 4 Values have been based upon the Hallmarks of Benedictine Education.  They are;

LOVE, COMMUNITY, LEARNING and STEWARDSHIP.  

We’ve already seen these in action during our first year as a school, and will continue to underpin all that we do at St Benedict’s as we continue to grow.  I have placed a copy of these posters below for you to see.

SACRAMENTAL PROGRAM

As you may be aware, we are part of the Good Shepherd Catholic Parish, led by Fr Dave Lancini.  Each year, the Parish run a Sacramental Program for students to prepare for the sacraments of Reconciliation, Confirmation and the First Holy Communion.  If your child is in Year 3 or above and would like to participate in the Sacramental Program, you will be required to attend an information evening either next Monday 11th Feb (Ryan Community Centre) or Tuesday 12th Feb (Good Shepherd Community Centre) at 7:00pm.  If you require any further information, don’t hesitate to either contact myself at school or the Parish Office on 47239844. A note about the program will be in the newsletter.

DATE CLAIMER

Our first assembly will be on Monday Week 4 (18/02) at 8:45am in ‘The Hall’, led by Year 5/6 Turtles.  All members of our community are welcome to attend.

Our Beginning Year Liturgy will take place on Monday Week 5 (25/02) at 9:00am in ‘The Hall’, led by Fr Dave Lancini, our Parish Priest.  Again, we’d like to extend a welcome to all of our St Benedict’s community for this event.

WEATHER

I thought I’d also pass on a message from Pope Francis to Bishop Tim Harris in regards to the continuing weather event in Townsville.  We certainly join him in praying for all people and communities affected the the continuing weather event. We should also count our blessings, as this event has brought about such amazing community spirit and unity during difficult times.

Have a great week, stay dry and God bless,

Nick