I was very pleased this week to acknowledge at assembly, a number of students across our school we have seen really going out of their way to do good things. I have seen students picking up rubbish when coming back from our oval, collecting leftover balls from play time and generally showing some commitment to what it is to be a St Benny’s student. It is very pleasing to see that sense of belonging growing and especially reassuring to see that our students are developing that value of community that we know was so important to St Benedict.

You recently received some magnets from school for your fridge that reflect the work we have been doing as a school community (staff, Board & students) to establish our expectations around behaviour especially in terms of taking responsibility for our words and our actions.

‘The Golden rule- Do for others what you want them to do for you’ Matthew 6:12

The magnets highlight the links that can happen between the Zones of Regulation (framework for emotional regulation) and the Levels of Consequences. The Zones of Regulation acknowledge that all emotions are a part of life and therefore we have times where we experience happiness, sadness, worry, silliness, anger and frustration. The Zones of Regulation help us to acknowledge the emotion we are feeling and to make a choice about what to do with that feeling. We certainly don’t want to sit in the sad (Blue) or Angry/frustrated (red) zones for too long. Using strategies from our toolbox (personalised for some individual students or as class groups or you could even have some for home) should help us get back to the happy and calm, ready-to-learn or focus (green) zone. However if we make inappropriate choices, it can lead us to the Yellow, Orange or Red Levels of Consequence where we find ourselves in trouble. That is - being angry on its own doesn’t get us in trouble but the choices we make with that emotion can which is the message we are building in our students - they always have a choice about their own words and actions.

‘All rights have to be balanced by responsibilities because we are in relationship’. Bishop Michael Putney, address to State P&F, 2016

Tomorrow we have our Athletics Carnival where the students will participate in some races and novelty events. Again, as our nominations for the Redtrack team have already gone tomorrow’s focus will be on having a fun, active day with some great encouragement on the sidelines. We look forward to seeing you on the day. Please remember to get into the spirit of the day by dressing up in your family’s house colours if you want to but try to be as sun-safe as you can.

I hope you all have a fabulous week.

Cheers

Penny

Year 1 Possums led the school beautifully in prayer on Monday morning on the theme of ‘Friendship Day’, with the take home message to, ‘love one another and be kind’.  It’s a pertinent theme in a school context, as it is here where students make a lot of their friends, who of course play such an important role in our lives. Of course, it’s not only about being kind to our “best friends” either.  It’s a great message for all of us to show love and kindness towards ALL people, although at times this can be a difficult thing to do! The message of love and kindness speaks to me as well about our school motto, ‘God in all of Life’.  If we indeed believe that God is in all of life, than we should be showing love, kindness and respect to all!

I was fortunate enough to attend NAIDOC Celebrations at Abergowrie College with the 4/5/6 Turtles last Friday.  At the event students got to watch hip-hop dancers, traditional dancers, the performers Busby Marou, as well as participate in activities which included hunting, artworks, weaving and dancing to name a few. It really was a fantastic day, where the students were immersed in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture. Furthermore, our students were tremendous role models for the school, and as always, we had plenty of comments about how wonderful our purple uniform looked!

It was great to see so many parents attend assembly on Monday, and I’d like to welcome all parents, family and friends to all of our assemblies.  We love having members of our community join us to celebrate prayer and the wonderful things which are taking place in our school.

Have a great week, and God bless,

Nick

Should I let my kids play Fortnite? 

How much screen time should they have?  

If these are questions you’ve pondered keep reading! As a mother of three primary school age children and psychologist (who works with many adolescents) I am well aware of the challenges around managing screen time. 

“Can I get this game? It’s fine, everyone’s playing it!” If you find it hard to make the decision whether a game is suitable or not my first tip​ is to follow ​The Cyber Safety Lad​y​ ​on Facebook ​ and access the eSafety iParent websit​e ​ for easy to understand and up to date information and reviews of all games and apps.

Go to this link for the Cyber Safety Lady’s​ detailed review of Fortnite: ​www.bit.ly/fortnitereview

“Can’t I just finish this game? Everyone else has more screen time than me!” - I hear this all the time in my household. If you find it challenging to sort out how much screen time your kids should have, my second tip is to consider these recommendations below. It may shock you how little is recommended! Be aware they are general and do not take into account school based educational screen time.

It is recommended (according to Australian National Physical Activity and Sedentary Guidelines 2014, American Academy of Paediatrics 2016 and Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne 2017)

• 2-5 yr olds - less than an hour screen time a day
• 5-17 yr olds - 2 hours screen time a day
• Consistent limits on​ time​ and ​type​ of media they use 

My​ third tip​ is to have a look at my ​4 W’s ​which will help guide you setting limits as recommended around screen time.

My best advice though - it’s tough, actually dementing! - but stand up as the parent and keep your boundaries firm.

Carley McGauran

Psychologist  

This term we have welcomed a Home Corner area to our classroom for further developing our imaginative play skills. Essentially imaginative play is when children role play or act out different experiences that they may have shared in or is something perhaps of interest to them. This type of play is valuable as children experiment with decision making on how to behave, and to practice social skills. Play is a child's way of engaging and making sense of the world. Although role play may appear to be a very simple activity, within it young children especialy learn practical life skills such as dressing themselves, how to cooperate, and how to share with others. We look forward to using the other Prep classroom home corner areas as we share our resources for the remainder of the year. What will we imagine next?

Dear Parents,

This week the RADII (Research Australia Development and Innovation Institute) Satisfaction surveys have been emailed to the address the school has on file for you. These surveys are a very important part of the school's feedback and planning information. Your responses enable us to plan more effectively for the future to ensure we continue to provide an excellent educational setting for your children. We would appreciate you taking the time to complete this short survey. The number of statements has been reduced and more statements added that reflect the particular needs of your school. If you do not receive one over the next week please check your spam folder as they sometimes can be filtered out. Please contact the school if you do not receive one. Thank you in anticipation as this feedback is very important to us. 

Dear Parents/Carers

This will be our first Book Week as a school.   During this week the children will be engaging in various activities; these include 2 author visits covering all grades, craft, special lunchtime activities, gameshows for the older students and of course the famous Book Week Parade.

The mention of a parade can immediately cause headaches for some of our parents.  We would like the parade to be as stress free as possible for all. If your child has spiderman pjs - wear them.  If your child has dress ups at home - use them. If you would like to get crafty and ‘build’ a costume - keep it simple.  I myself will be borrowing clothes and using electrical tape for my costume!

Leading up to this week the students and I have been looking at the shortlisted books that are in the competition for this year.  

Our parade will be held on Thursday 23rd August at 2pm in the hall.   

Students are welcome to wear costumes to school for the day so long as they can function- ie. sunsafe, easy to move around in etc, there is also ample time at second break for the children to get changed if needed. If parents of our lower primary classes could come in and help with this process, that would be wonderful.  Please let your class teacher know closer to the date if you can help out.

Any enquiries please do not hesitate to contact me.

Regards

Jacki Whalley
Library Technician