Congratulations to our students who participated in the Inter-school athletics carnival on Monday. We were very proud of not only their athletic achievements with most students receiving places on the day but also with the students school spirit. It is always so great to hear how well our students support each other at these events.

Litter free Lunch

With our visitors from the Queensland Catholic Education Dioceses this week, it was a timely reminder about the application of our Greenstar values across the school. It was wonderful to see the pride our kids took in ensuring the school was presented in a clean and tidy manner. The senior students wanted to remind everyone of their Litter free Lunch Campaign last year where they encouraged us all to reduce the amount of rubbish we were producing each day by buying lunch items in bulk and putting daily portions into containers instead of using multi packs and plastic wrap. Rather than having a specific day each week that is designated as Litter free, the senior students opted to campaign for an ‘everyday’ approach so it becomes embedded in our way of doing things, rather than just a tokenistic attempt. They considered all stakeholders who would benefit from this campaign, including you guys as the parents and carers, saving some money by buying in bulk but also identifying the ‘big picture’ benefits to the environment.

Please check out this Litter free Lunch Campaign video from our 2018 class- 10 minutes feels like a long video but the information is fantastic. We look forward to taking the next step with a tuckshop litter review.

With Plastic free July coming up next month, it seems like a good time to renew our commitment to Litter free lunches at St Benedict’s.

1-2-3 Magic Parenting

Amanda Holden will be presenting the 1-2-3 Magic Parenting course at St Clare’s over Saturdays 15th and 22nd June from 9.00am - 12.20pm. There is a fee of $11 to cover the cost of the workbook and you would need to RSVP by Wednesday 12 June to aholden@tsv.catholic.edu.au

123 Magic & Emotion Coaching is based on two underlying perspectives on parenting: first, that children can be taught to respond more flexibly when they are frustrated or upset and second, that parents and carers can be taught easy-to-use skills they can use at particular parenting moments.

Already, a number of parents at St Benedict’s are engaging with this program with success. If you would like to know more, check out some information at https://www.parentshop.com.au/123-magic-and-emotion-coaching/

Congratulations to our very own Mrs Rockemer and her husband Chris who have welcomed Alice Jane to their family this week. Big brother Coen, is delighted.
We wish them many blessed years ahead.

Have a fabulous week.

Cheers

Penny

We’ve reached the end of another great week at St Benny’s!  Prep Platypus started the week off with our assembly. Unfortunately I was unable to attend, however, I hear there was great attendance from parents, friends and other guests.  As always, parents, friends and relatives and ALWAYS welcome to assembly which takes part at 8:45am every Monday in ‘the Hall’. On Monday, Year 4 Dragonflies are presenting their assembly on the Pentecost - I look forward to seeing what they will present!

Save the Dates

With the end of term rapidly approaching, I thought it would be worthwhile to share information about some upcoming events which you may wish to attend:

• Whole School Meditation - Monday June 24 @ 8:45am

If you’ve ever wanted to know what Christian meditation is about or how it runs, we will be hosting a whole school Christian Meditation session in ‘the Hall’.  It will only be a short session, but you are very welcome to share in this time with us.

• NAIDOC Week Celebrations - Friday June 28 - starting at 8:45am

As NAIDOC Week falls during the holidays, we will be having our NAIDOC celebrations on the last week of this term.  We will begin with a short liturgy on Friday morning at 8:45am, followed by a performance from the Marian School Indigenous Dance Troupe.  This will then be followed by a range of activities offered to ALL of our students happening throughout the school, mainly surrounding the Early Years Precinct, including ‘Storytime’ in the yarning circle with Uncle Russel Buttler, which I am very much looking forward to!

• St Benedict’s Feast Day - Friday July 19 - starting at 9:00am

This year our Feast Day will be held on Friday Term 3, Week 1.  It will begin with a Whole School Mass, celebrated by Fr Dave Lancini, followed by rotational activities for ALL the students and our 2nd Annual ‘St Benny’s Got Talent’ from 1:50pm.  We would love all parents, friends and families to attend the Mass and St Benny’s Got Talent.

Interschool Athletics

On Monday, I travelled with our Interschool Athletics team to the Townsville Sports Reserve (Red Track) to complete in the ‘E Schools’ Interschool Athletics Carnival.  Although as a school we didn’t take home any trophies, we had some wonderful individual results which include:

Mia - 2nd Girls 11yr Shotput

Alannah - 2nd Girls 10 yr Long Jump and High Jump AND 3rd Girls 10 yr 100m and 800m

Liam - 2nd Boys 7rs 60m

William - 1st Boys 8yrs 80m

These students, along with the rest of the squad are to be congratulated on a great days effort!

Quest for Knowledge / Readers Cup

Next week we have teams selected in both ‘Quest for Knowledge’ and ‘Readers Cup’.

The Quest for Knowledge event will be taking place on Tuesday at Holy Spirit School.  If you would like to watch out team, they will be competing at 8:45am, 10:45am and 2:00pm at the following web link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO-ulqE0w7U  

On Wednesday night, our Readers Cup team will be participating at St Anthony’s.  The team have been busily reading their set texts as they will be quizzed against other schools to test them on their knowledge of these books.

We wish both these teams the best of luck and look forward to hearing about your results!

Have a great week and God bless,

Nick

Exploring Tools

Students will be learning about what tools they can use to calm themselves when they are feeling scared (yellow zone), or angry (red zone), as well as what tools they can use to wake themselves up if they are feeling sleepy or unmotivated (blue zone).

Students explore a number of different tools including: use of fidget tools and stress balls, playing with playdough, deep breathing exercises, using noise-cancelling headphones, blowing bubbles and even doing push-ups and star jumps.

The students will get to learn what makes them feel calmer and what they can use to feel more energized.

The school Dental Van will be available during the school holidays on Wednesday 3rd July, Thursday 4th July, Friday 5th July, Monday 8th July and Tuesday 9th July