Thank you to our P&F for providing our school community with pancakes on Tuesday for Shrove Tuesday. This is always a lovely time of year when we really get to think about what it means to be in a catholic school and with Ash Wednesday marking the beginning of Lent, it is now an especially good time to reflect on the things we can each do better. Many people use Lent as a time to make sacrifices eg. giving up specific foods or drinks that may lead to better health or just as a reminder to make better choices. Some people use Lent as a time to be more prayerful and consider their faith formation. Our students will be learning about Lent across the next few weeks until Easter.

School routine

As we are now at the time of term where most children have settled into the routine of school, we can see how important all routines are to our students. The school environment is full of many expectations that can be quite different to home and different from year to year as our students grow. School is a place with many challenges for children to navigate- learning, socialising, playing, collaborating, communicating and building independence. While we support students throughout these challenges, it also helps if they are getting enough sleep and are eating healthy meals. Do you have expectations around routines in your house? Bedtime routines? Technology expectations? Please also think about the appropriate choices for lunch boxes as the energy required throughout the day to manage all the expectations of school can cause a child to become quite dysregulated if they don’t have the right sustenance. Hangry is a thing!

Our Parent Facebook page is a great place to discuss ideas for establishing routines and healthy lunch boxes. We have an amazing group of parents in our community who are very happy to support each other. 

Enhancing Catholic School Identity

This week you were sent an email with a link to complete a survey about our Catholic School Identity. This is the first piece of feedback we’ll be looking for this year in terms of preparing our reports for Verification. Verification is a time for us to reflect on where we are as a school, to identify our success and to identify areas we still want to improve. Your contribution and time is highly valued as a part of this process, so please take the time to complete the survey if you can.

Have a fabulous weekend. See you all next week.

Cheers

Penny Collins

This week has been a very busy week in the life of the Catholic Church.  Tuesday was Shrove Tuesday, colloquially known as pancake day.  This is the day before Lent starts and came about with the custom of using up all of the fattening ingredients people had in their house before Lent.   A very big thank you to our P&F who cooked and delivered pancakes to all classes to help to celebrate this event.

Wednesday was Ash Wednesday which marks the first day of Lent.  We marked this occasion with a short liturgy where the students were sprinkled with ashes.  Lent is often a time where people strive to ‘give up’ something, for children this is often lollies or chocolate.  We have encouraged our students to also use this time as a time to reflect on what they do and to think about actions they might be able to perform and sacrifices they can make which might improve the lives of others.

Beginning Year Liturgy

We had our Beginning Year Liturgy on Monday.  It was great to see some parents able to attend this special celebration.  It was with joy that we met and welcomed Fr Joseph and Fr Clement to our school community, and look forward to working with them and the parish further.  It was with sadness that we farewelled Fr Dave, but in true style, he ensured it was a memorable farewell, signing off by squirting the entire school community with a water pistol.  He will be missed, but we wish him all the best in retirement.

Assemblies

Next week marks our first whole school assembly which will be led by the 4/5/6 Turtles.  A reminder that our assemblies will take place every Friday from 8:45am in the Hall, all are welcome.  I have attached a schedule of which classes will be presenting each week below

Assembly Roster - Term 1

Week 5 - 4/5/6 Turtles

Week 6 - 3 Brolgas

Week 7 - 2 Kingfishers

Week 8 - 1 Echidnas 

Week 9 - 4/5/6 Stingrays

Week 10 - No Assembly - Good Friday

Sacramental Program

Our Parish Sacramental Program started this week, with students commencing lessons about the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  We wish those students all the best on their Sacramental journey and hope these experiences help to enrich their faith.

Pax

Nick 

Morning school routines

It has been wonderful to see so many children settling into the routine of drop off in the mornings and afternoon.  There are clear expectations for these times, with most children managing to quietly sit.  It has been noted that some children are bringing cards to school to play with their friends in the morning and this has been a mostly positive experience.  It is strongly encouraged however, for cards of importance or value to remain at home and children can become very upset when cards go missing.  These cards are not to be brought out during school or break times and trading is strictly not allowed.

Random acts of kindness week

February 14 - 20 is Random Acts of Kindness Week.  It’s a great time 

to think about our actions towards others and reflect on what Jesus 

called us to do.   I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. John 13: 34

Hangry?

As adults, we all know that feeling!  When our belly is empty, we are irritable and our focus is off.  This is amplified for children.  Being hangry is caused by a biochemical reaction in the brain.  When we don’t eat, our blood sugar levels drop, causing our brains ability to regulate impulses and emotions to also drop.  This combines with the release of cortisol - our stress hormone and adrenaline that increases our fight or flight responses. This combination can often result in children struggling to manage the classroom environment.  

Thankfully, a good breakfast and sufficient healthy lunch options can help us contain the hangry monster inside!

This week the Year 3 Emus got to begin working with our E-project ‘Grow and Go’. With the help of the wonderful Mrs Trigg, we began weeding and turning the soil of our veggie gardens. We are preparing our gardens for when we start planting vegetables towards the end of term. Emus are very excited to begin the planting process and later in the year, cook with all the delicious vegetables that we grow. 

Stingrays have enjoyed coming together in the first couple of weeks of school to create a prayer mat. This mat and prayer stones will be a feature of our contemplative spirituality and meditative prayer practices. We practice meditation each day using prayer, songs and moments of silence and stillness to calm our body and grow our connection with God.  We have also been learning how to locate Biblical passages in the Bible using the name of the Gospel writer, chapters and verse numbers. Reading these passages help us to understand God’s love for us.