Key Dates for Parent Engagement  

• Monday 26th -Thursday 29th August - NAIDOC Week 
• Monday 2nd - Thursday 5th September - RACQ Streets Ahead Sessions Years 3-6
• Friday 30th August (PUPIL FREE DAY) Please organise care for your child/ren
• All Parents Invited - Tuesday 10th September - Eisteddfod Year 6, Year 4, Year 1 (Times TBA) 
• All Parents Invited - Wednesday 11th September - Eisteddfod Year 5, Year 3 (Times TBA) 
• All Parents Invited - Thursday 12th September - Eisteddfod Year 2, Prep (Times TBA) 
• All Parents Invited - Tuesday 3rd and Wednesday 4th September - Parent/Teacher Interviews 
• Friday 13th September - U10 Rugby League Blackhawks Challenge

• Week / Date	Assembly	Open Classrooms
  Week 8 - 30/08	PUPIL FREE
  Week 9 - 06/09	PB	PB, 6T
  Week 10 - 13/09	2K	2K, 6C, 5T,

 Dear Parents and Carers,

This week all Catholic Schools in Queensland celebrated Catholic Education Week.

Celebrated annually in week 3 of term 3, Catholic Education Week is an opportunity for all 309 Catholic schools in Queensland to celebrate and promote their distinctive mission and ethos.

Catholic education strives to make a difference in the lives of those in our schools and in the wider community by challenging young people to live out the message of Jesus and to reach their full potential as compassionate, contributing, life-giving members of society.

Catholic Education Week is an annual state-wide event that promotes the distinctive mission of Catholic schools throughout Queensland. The week is celebrated by all schools through a range of activities, liturgies and events. 

More information about the 2024 celebration can be found at 

www.catholiceducationweek.com.au

Challenge Games

Congratulations to all our students who represented St. Benedict’s at the Challenge Games. The focus of the Challenge Games is fun and participation for all children. The event is held annually in Townsville. It is an event where children have fun and compete against other children of the same ability level.

Thank you to Laura King, teachers, school officers and parents who supported our students at the games.

https://thechallengegames.com.au/

School Assemblies and Open Classrooms

A continuing highlight of each school week is when the whole school gathers together for our school assembly. This is held regularly on Fridays from 9:00am. Today Prep Koalas hosted the assembly and they did a wonderful job. One of the themes of the Prep Koalas assembly was the importance of all grandparents in our lives.

All our students look forward to welcoming visitors when it is their turn for open classrooms, following the Friday School Assembly. Our students take a great deal of pride in their work and love sharing what they have learnt in class.

Parents and family members are always welcome to join us at assembly time and for our scheduled open classrooms.

God in all of Life

Patrick

pdempsey2@stbenedicts.catholic.edu.au

Welcome to end of Week 3!  WE’re already well and truly into the swing of things this term!  This week has been Catholic Education Week, where we celebrate our distinct mission and ethos as a Catholic school.  Year 3 Emus lead us in assembly last Friday to celebrate the launch, and they introduced this years theme of; Communities of Love, Hope and Faith.  I also got to attend the Catholic Education Week Mass this week at the Sacred Heart Cathedral with a group of students, who represented the school beautifully.  Bishop Tim presided, and spoke to those gathered of the value and importance of Catholic education.  For those interested, I have attached his homily into this weeks newsletter.

It was Prep Koalas turn to present assembly this Friday on the Feast of Sts Joachim and Anne, the grandparents of Jesus.  It was a special prayer by our Prep students recognising the gift that grandparents are in our lives.  I know I see lots of grandparents at St Benedict’s every day, supporting with pick ups and drop offs - they are truly a valued part of our school community.  I am certainly grateful of all of I learned from my grandparents over the course of my life, and am also in constant gratitude to the grandparents of my children (my parents and parents in law), who provide love, learning and so much more for their grandchildren.  

DATE CLAIMER

Our assemblies this term will remain on a Friday at 8:45am in the Hall. Please note there has been a slight alteration to the schedule, please see the updated timetable below.

Pax,

Nick 

EcoFest

Congratulations to the Year 6 students, their teachers, Mrs Christie our eProject Coordinator, and the whole school community for another successful EcoFest. Each year I listen to and watch our students as they engage with the stalls, and I am increasingly impressed by their understanding, empathy, respect, and inquisitive nature as they learn about caring for our environment.

Science Week - Can you help?

Each year I have organised an interactive ‘Science Center’ in the library for each class to visit during Science Week. This year the theme is “Species Survival: More than Just Sustainability.” 

If you think you may be able to help, can you please email me (Aleesha) by Monday the 5th August? arockemer1@stbenedicts.catholic.edu.au 

Possible ways you might be able to help: 

• Do you have any materials or items that we could showcase or students could interact with (maybe you own them yourself, or you work for a business/ organsiation with resources?)
  For example, items might include: 

• Artefacts in relation to native animals or plants
• Information about protecting animals and plants
• Photos of bee hives, fruit/veggie gardens etc
• Anything you think the students may like looking at or interacting with (related to science or animals/plants)

• Science at home - caring for our environment
  Do you have family bee hives, chickens, fruit/veggie gardens, compost bins, or any other ways you care for your environment at home? We would love to see photos of your family with whatever it is you have (or no people in the photo if you prefer), and a blurb explaining how you use it or any interesting information! I will use the photos to create a display called ‘Science at home - caring for our environment.’
• Do you work in the area of Science?
  I would love to have a display of ‘Our Local Community Scientists’ at the Science Center!
  Can you please create a poster explaining your job and include a photo of yourself in your uniform? I am happy to help put the poster together if you send me a blurb and a photo!

Please do not hesitate to email me if you have any questions or you think you may be able to help in any way. Thank you in advance for your time and support!  

National Tree Day

Today we celebrated National Tree Day at school. Our ‘Year 5 Junior Rangers’ visited each class and discussed the importance of trees! The Townsville City Council is holding an event this Sunday at Melrose Park (see ‘What’s On Townsville’ for more information). If you are able to “Lend a hand to help the land! Spend your morning planting native plants to help protect our natural environment.”

Collecting Data to Inform our Teaching - Setting Goals 

You may notice Prep to Year 1 teachers having extra time out of the classroom over the next couple of weeks as they are conducting one-to-one interviews with students. This is part of the Townsville Catholic Education Early Years Literacy and Numeracy Project. Each year we collect data through these interviews and year 2 conducts the testing as a class. We then meet to analyse the data and evaluate our teaching and learning. This data, along with the many other data collected within the classroom, is also used to set learning goals. Each child is unique and we work extremely hard to ensure every child is able to reach their full potential.