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Welcome back
Thank you to our school community for making such wonderful efforts to get our new year started so positively. Our students have all arrived at school well prepared for each day (including the wet weather) and everyone is starting to settle in. While tears at the beginning of the day for some students (and some parents :)) are a part of this transition to ‘big school’, we can assure that you all children are settled throughout the day and are having happy experiences as they develop friendships and understanding about the routines of school.
OSHC
Please note that our OSHC service has had their increased registration approved and therefore this should alleviate most of the concerns we were having. While there are some things you need to do as parents as far as re-enrolling with the new system, we expect that the transition moving forward will be much smoother.
Car parking
Thank you for your consideration with car parking and for using the Drop Off and Pick Up Zone as we have started school. The beginning of the year is always particularly busy with many parents walking students in or dropping off and picking up as opposed to using the bus as they do when everyone is back in their own routines. To continue being as positive as we can be as a community, I would like to encourage families that are using the Pick Up Zone, to wait till after 3.00pm to arrive and start the ‘pick up line’ as this line of traffic does block other cars from accessing car parks that are readily available for those wanting to park and walk in for student collection. I can assure you getting in the line at 2.30pm or 2.45pm only creates a longer wait for you as we don’t dismiss any children until 3.00pm.
I will also encourage our staff to park in these back parks to assist with freeing up other spaces that are easy to access once the line up starts. I am very pleased to see some of our very new Prep students joining the Pick up areas in the afternoon. I am very happy for any students to be picked up from here as soon as you feel they (and yourselves :)) are ready. We have staff (mostly the leadership team) on duty at the Pick Up Zone until about 3.25pm when the bus comes. The bus is generally for the last group of students as most of our 306 students are gone within the first 15 minutes..
P&F
Thank you to our Parents & Friends group for organising the coffee van, morning tea and photo wall for our first day of school. It was a wonderful way to create an opportunity to meet many of our new families. The coffee van is trialling being here each Friday morning (will be our Assembly day by Week 4) so please make good use of it if you can. Our first P&F meeting will be on Tuesday 11 February in our Staffroom (at the back of the Administration Building)
Looking forward to seeing you next week. Please remember, if the wet weather continues, we are still happy with things, crocs, gumboots and raincoats or umbrellas. As much as we need and love the rain, I would love to see the kids get outside for a proper play session too.
Cheers
Penny
A big welcome back to everyone in our St Benedict’s community! It’s been great to see everyone back this week and all of the students have started to settle in nicely to the rhythm of the year.
PEACE
This year St Benedict’s we are employing a ‘way of being’ which enables us to be the best members of our community that we can. This way of being is a ‘Way of Peace’ - Peace being an acronym for Positive, Empathetic, Accepting, Caring, Engaged.
This has been taken, not simply because we like the idea of being peaceful, but because PEACE formed the basis of the teachings of St Benedict. The Benedictine motto is quite simply the word ‘PAX’ - which in latin means peace.
The idea behind this ‘Way of Peace’ is to give a language around how we speak to students around behaviour (positive and negative) in ensuring we are being Positive, Empathetic, Accepting, Caring and Engaged. Over the next few weeks, each class will be discussing this and how this works in different contexts. There will be several initiatives run with this as the year progresses.
The Logo - Explained
PAX- This references the Benedictine motto, PAX, the latin word for Peace
Olive Branch- References the Flood story in Genesis, where Noah sends out a dove to see if the waters have receded. The second time, the dove returns with an olive leaf, so Noah could see that God’s punishment was over and peace has been restored.
Dove - As well as a sign of Peace, in Christianity the Dove also represents the Holy Spirit which works in all of us. In Luke when Jesus is baptised, ‘Heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove.’
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 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 3rd Feb (Ryan Community Centre) or Tuesday 4th 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 assemblies this year are changing to a Friday. Our Beginning Year Liturgy will take place on Friday Week 4 (21/02) at 9:00am in ‘The Hall’, led by Fr Dave our Parish Priest. We’d like to extend a warm welcome to all of our St Benedict’s community for this event.
Have a great week and God bless,
Nick
Curriculum Aimed at Increasing Student’s Emotion Regulation
The ability to regulate our emotions is something we work on continually throughout our lives. We often have events that test our capacity to ‘keep our cool’. If we are able to recognize when we are less regulated, then we are able to do something about it and manage our emotions to maximize our mental wellbeing.
The Zones of Regulation
The Zones of Regulation is an emotion regulation program that teaches individuals to categorise the way they feel into four coloured zones. The person’s feelings determine what zone they are in at any particular time. Students then learn strategies to manage their feelings depending on the zone they are in.
The Red Zone is used to describe extremely heightened states of alertness and intense emotions. A person may be elated or experiencing anger, rage, explosive behavior, devastation, or terror when in the Red Zone.
The Yellow Zone is also used to describe a heightened state of alertness and elevated emotions, however one has more control when they are in the Yellow Zone. A person may be experiencing stress, frustration, anxiety, excitement, silliness, the wiggles, or nervousness when in the Yellow Zone.
The Green Zone is used to describe a calm state of alertness. A person may be described as happy, focused, content, or ready to learn when in the Green Zone. This is the zone where optimal learning occurs.
The Blue Zone is used to describe low states of alertness and down feelings such as when one feels sad, tired, sick, or bored.
The Zones can be compared to traffic signs.
When given a green light or in the Green Zone, one is “good to go”. A yellow sign means be aware or take caution. This applies to the Yellow Zone. A red light or stop sign means stop, and when one is the Red Zone this often is the case. The Blue Zone can be compared to the rest area signs where one goes to rest or re-energize.
All of the zones are natural to human experience, but the framework focuses on teaching students how to recognize and manage their Zone based on the environment and its demands and the people around them.
For example, when playing on the playground or in an active/competitive game, students are often experiencing a heightened internal state such as silliness or excitement and are in the Yellow Zone, but it may not need to be managed. However, if the environment is changed to the library where there are different expectations than the playground, students may still be in the Yellow Zone but have to manage it differently so their behavior meets the expectations of the library setting.
At St. Benedict’s we are committed to ensuring all students at our school have the opportunity to participate in this program. Classroom teachers have been trained and will be delivering the program to their classes each week.
For further information on the program, please speak to your child’s classroom teacher.