What a steamy week it has been with rising temperatures and humidity. We implemented some hot weather play processes this week where we reduced the outdoor play options and increased the indoor play options and we also cancelled our scheduled Friday afternoon sport. We have continued our morning Run Club so far and the children have been great with pacing themselves in a way that they don’t overdo it and they have done less laps then they might usually do, staying hydrated throughout and afterwards seems to be the key. With the heat, we certainly see a few children becoming more irritated as their bodies try to regulate their temperature,  meaning they get particularly tired as well.

School uniform

Please note that we have seen quite a few new shoes getting around that do not meet our school expectations. Please ensure school shoes are all black with no other colours ie. not white soles or coloured laces. Consistent expectations with uniform helps us build a sense of community so please rectify this as soon as possible please.

Car Parking

I have again had a number of complaints about poor community behaviour when using the car park. Please be particularly mindful in the mornings when using drop off. Your urgency to get out quickly or to get to work is not worth the risk of hurting a child. Children are unpredictable and this is a school. Always take care. Please also note that parking on Bishop Putney Avenue is not allowed unless you are on the dirt side about three metres back from the roadside. This is not a school condition, it is a council requirement with how the road was built. I get that this street should have included parking but for now it doesn’t. This may change as development happens across the road but until then we must abide by the rules. There is not enough room on the school side of Bishop Putney Avenue to park and safely get in and out of your car, especially so at peak drop off and pick up times.

Litter Free Lunch

There was some great discussion on our Parent Facebook page this week about how our school promotes waste reduction by aiming for Litter Free Lunches. Parents were discussing the various techniques they use to work towards this with many parents creating completely litter free lunches for their children. It is certainly great to get the kids involved in this too and the best part is that it can lead to less expense in the long run as you tend to buy in bulk instead of the multi-packaged versions of snacks etc. We would be very happy to hear of some ideas families are using to work towards this and pictures are always appreciated. Please share to our Parent Facebook page or email to our enquiries email address.

P&F Executive

At our AGM for the P&F this week, we elected a mostly new Executive Committee with many of our current committee stepping down due to personal and work commitments. Thank you to our outgoing executive members - Angela, Simon and Jacinta; you have done a great job establishing a P&F and setting the direction for the future. Congratulations to President- Renee Reid, Vice-President- Renee Neville, Treasurer- Jules Kocsis and Secretary- Ros Baumann who were elected as our new P&F Executive. We look forward to your leadership helping to build our school community throughout the year. 

Prep 2021

I realise it is incredibly early to be thinking about enrolment for Prep 2021 especially since most of these children have just started Kindergarten. The enrolment process does generally go from February to May and is a common process at all catholic schools. We process applications into our system as they come in and then in mid March, we’ll start making appointments for interviews in May. All first round offers will be sent out via email on May 21 from all catholic schools. While I like to prioritise (this is not a guarantee) enrolment offers for students who are siblings of students in our school, or from the Kindergarten or are baptised catholics, I can only do this in the first round, therefore please ensure all enrolment applications are submitted before May 20. Please note that interviews for students who are siblings are welcome but not required. It can be important to discuss any particular needs your new student may have. 

Happy Valentine’s Day to all, I hope you tell your loved ones how special they are to you today. Have a fabulous weekend, we are having a new puppy join our family this afternoon so can’t wait. 

Cheers

Penny

Week 3 is behind us and it’s been a hot one!

This week I’ve been able to visit some classrooms to lead and join in on meditation in some classrooms.  Thanks to 5/6 Crocodiles, 1 Possums and 1 Echidnas for having me this week. It’s wonderful to see our students settling into this routine.  It is a great practice to slow down, be present and be with God. This probably sounds countercultural in our modern times but is something that shapes who we are as a school and something which we can be proud of building into our school community.  I’m looking forward to visiting other classes as the term continues.

I’ve also received some invitations to join classes for morning prayer this week, which has been lovely!  Prayer plays an important part within our school. Every morning we start as a whole school saying our school prayer.  This is followed in some classes with a morning prayer as well. Classes also say grace before lunctimes and before leaving at the end of the day.  These are community building moments where we join together to be thankful as a group for the things we have.

DATE CLAIMER

Our Beginning Year Liturgy will take place on Friday Week 4 (21/02) at 9:00am in ‘The Hall’, led by by Fr Dave Lancini, our Parish Priest.  We’d like to extend a warm welcome to all of our St Benedict’s community for this event.  Here we will be launching our ‘Way of PEACE’ initiative - stay tuned in the coming weeks for more information about this!

Have a great week and God bless,

Nick 

PREP OPEN DAY

We invite all potential Prep families to St Benedict’s in 2021 to attend our Prep Open Day on Thursday 19th March from 9:00-10:00am.  We invite you to attend with your child starting Prep in 2021 and have a tour of our school led by our senior teachers.  You will also be encouraged to book your Prep enrollment interview for 2021 at this time. If you are unable to attend this day, our Principal will be running tours on the following times:

Monday 23rd & 30th March, 9:00-10:00am AND 

Thursday 25 March and 2nd April, 4:30-5:30pm.

Zones of Regulation - Social & Emotional Learning

What Zone Am I In?

In Zones of Regulation lessons, the students will be learning how to tell when they themselves or someone else is in a specific zone – what does the yellow zone look like for example. Specifically, we want the students to be able to pick when they heading into particular zones so they can start to learn to manage their own emotions and behaviours.

The students  may watch short segments from familiar children's movies or listen to various stories that provide a context where they are able to pick what zone each character is in, based on how they are behaving and the way they look.

Students will then have the opportunity to think about how certain situations may put them into certain zones.

For example, when asked “Who likes storms?” – some students may love them and find them exciting (yellow zone), and others may find them scary and become upset during them (blue zone). Students will learn that everyone has different feelings about the same event and that this is okay.

The year 1 Wallabies have been reviewing their numbers and carrying out simple addition using counting strategies.