Prep Enrolments

Our first round of prep offers for 2020 went out today. We are well oversubscribed and many people will be on a waiting list. We are very grateful for the continued interest in St Benedict’s and that is largely to do with our wonderful community and the word of mouth you are generating. We continue always to grow our community in ways that enhance the learning for our kids.

Excursions

Term 2 is shaping up to be a time for excursions with our 5 /6 Turtles enjoying World Turtle day at Jcu this week and then heading off next week with our Year 4’s to enjoy Ryan Catholic College’s musical performance of Pirates of Penzance. Our Year 2 & 3 students are to enjoy a performance at Riverway Arts  Centre next week too. It is always delightful talking to students about their experiences on excursions but always amusing with our younger students to hear what a highlight even the bus trip can be.

Building Project-  Stage 2

Stage 2 is taking shape with our foundations for the two new classroom blocks going down this week already. Please note the fencing for the car park blocking off the regular entrance to kindy will happen shortly as described in last week’s newsletter.

Under 8’s Day- In our Garden

Congratulations to our staff and community for the wonderful morning we have celebrated at Under 8’s day this morning. It was a wonderful opportunity to be able to open up the new play areas and have the children explore what is there. While it is not quite complete yet, it was an absolute hit with the kids and the parents. Thank you especially to Caitlin Smith for coordinating the event and to all staff involved with setting up and hosting the multitude of activities on offer

Mrs Rockemer and Mrs Bakker

This week we have farewelled a couple of staff Mrs Rockemer and Mrs Bakker. Mrs Rockemer has left us temporarily to have her new baby and wish her and her husband Chris all the best with their impending arrival. Mrs Bakker has finished up in our office to spend more time with her family and will be sadly missed for her energy and her crazy organisation- such a neat freak (that I love). Mrs Melissa Dellaway will be replacing Mrs Bakker as Office Manager and Mrs Janeen Swanson will take up more hours to cover Melissa’s role.

Have a fabulous week. I do believe we will have a few very tired Under 8’s

Cheers

Penny

Welcome to what has been an exciting Week 5!  We’ve had classes attending World Turtle Day activities, Under 8’s Day and of course all of the learning which has been taking part in our classrooms.  

Assembly

We had a lovely start to the week on Monday with Year 1 Echidnas leading us in prayer on the theme of Mary Help of Christians.  She is the Patron Saint of our Diocese and as such, we have classes participating in Buddy Meditation throughout the school today (Friday 24th) to mark this Feast Day.

Prayer

I was away at the end of last week attending a 2 Day APRE Conference on Magnetic Island.  The focus of the conference was prayer, particularly looking at our own personal prayer practice, but also looking at how we can enhance the prayer life of our school for staff and students.  The prayer life within our school certainly has a solid foundation, and I look forward to enhancing this and making it even more meaningful and relevant to our students and staff.

Sorry Day / National Reconciliation Week

This Sunday in National Sorry Day, which marks the beginning of National Reconciliation Week.  I thought I would include the logo from this years Reconciliation Week and what it means, as I believe it is something we can all learn from and take note of.  The symbol is called, ‘The Tree of Truth’. This tree is a representation of the community that we can grow into if we are able to acknowledge our history, learn from it and move forward together courageously.

The tree stems from what happens when people come together. It illustrates positive growth and is an aspirational view of what the future could be.

1. The HEARTS represent empathy, solidarity, goodwill and love. They are the feeling, emotional elements.
2. The THOUGHT POINTS represent education, growth and understanding. They are the cognitive elements of the tree.
3. The GROWTH BANDS radiate outwards from some of the branches. They represent that we are always learning and growing – pushing outwards and upwards into the future.

THE PEOPLE Members of our diverse community coming together in harmony.

THE HEART This is the connection point of the people in the graphic. When the people’s hands join, it creates an energy force which is represented by the love heart. The energy runs upwards and downwards – linking past, present and future.

Join Us

Please join us this Monday at 8:45am in ‘the Hall’ where the Year 5/6 Turtles will lead us in prayer for Sorry Day and Reconciliation Week.

Have a great week and God bless,

Nick

Click on the above link to read about St Benedict's ticking all the GREEN Boxes when it comes to the Enviroment.

We have an overflowing Lost Property Box located in the Sick Bay. If you think your child may have lost a lunch container, water bottle, hat or shoes please come into the office and have a look. A lot of the items do not have names on them, which makes it hard to find the owner. 

Recently Alannah from Year 5/6 Turtles completed at the Mackay Athletics Carnival. Alannah achieved some fantastic results, bringing home a few medals.

Well done Alannah! Congratulations on your results.

100m - 4th, 200m - 3rd, 400m - 4th, 800m - 2nd, 1500m - 2nd, 800m walk - 2nd, 60H - 4th, Long jump - 4th, High jump - 2nd, Shot put - 5th, Discus - 6th