19 Date 2020

Newsletter Articles

IMPORTANT DATES

Monday 23rd - Wednesday 25th March - Swimming Lessons
Monday 23rd - Wednesday 25th - Parent Teacher Interviews
Monday 30th March - P & F Meeting
Friday 3rd April - Last Day Term One
Monday 20th April - Term Two Commences

PRINCIPALS REPORT

Dear Parents and Carers

Amidst an engulfing amount of information surrounding the Covid 19 virus, I write to reassure you that both Townsville Catholic Education and our school community are well informed and continue to liaise with the appropriate authorities about changes in circumstances that may affect our community. In times such as this misinformation and panic are often unnecessary and unhelpful and it is important that we hear the right messages.

Schools will relay any necessary information to our communities upon the advice of our Education Office. Information will be disseminated via our usual communication channels, email, newsletters, school website and social media. It is important that you have access to these communication tools and that we have your most current information on hand at the school.

Decisions impacting on school communities will follow a clear communication pathway. Advice will be provided to Townsville Catholic Education which will, in turn, be passed on to our school communities. With circumstances changing daily, it is difficult to predict what actions will be taken and when however I am confident that our education office is prepared and ready to respond to these changes as they arise.

Most of all I would encourage patience and calm. The advice that schools have received suggests that a focus on good hygiene practices, such as correct handwashing and the usual methods to prevent the spread of colds, covering mouths and wiping down surfaces, are a great place to begin re-focussing our attention. These actions will have other benefits as well. I am grateful to all of our students, as we are a lead safety school they are all well aware how to wash hands correctly and have been doing this for a long period of time.

Again please be reassured that when advice is provided to school communities it will be passed on to our school community. I will email parents straight away with always the most up to date information.

Keep Safe, God Bless
Claudine Dank

APRE

Why is the feast of St Patrick important to our school?

St Patrick’s link to St Kieran - Legend states that when St Kieran was 30 he went to Rome to learn about the new religion, Christianity. He became a bishop there. Upon his return to Ireland 20 years later, Kieran met St. Patrick. St. Patrick gave him a bell. St. Patrick told Bishop Kieran to build a Monastery wherever the bell rang. He went on to say that the bell would ring near a river or stream called Uaran in the middle of the country. The Bell rang at Bellhill, Clareen. It was here that Kieran built his monastery and began his work of spreading the Good News of Christ.

St. Patrick of Ireland is one of the world's most popular saints. Apostle of Ireland, born at Kilpatrick, near Dumbarton, in Scotland, in the year 387; died at Saul, Downpatrick, Ireland, 17 March, 461. There are many legends and stories of St. Patrick, but this is his story.

Patrick was born around 385 in Scotland. As a boy of fourteen, he was captured during a raiding party and taken to Ireland as a slave to herd and tend sheep. Ireland at this time was a land of Druids and pagans. He learned the language and practices of the people who held him. During his captivity, he turned to God in prayer. He wrote "The love of God and his fear grew in me more and more, as did the faith, and my soul was rosed, so that, in a single day, I have said as many as a hundred prayers and in the night, nearly the same." "I prayed in the woods and on the mountain, even before dawn. I felt no hurt from the snow or ice or rain." At the age of 20 he escaped after having a dream from God in which he was told to leave Ireland by going to the coast. Sailors who took him back to Britain, where he reunited with his family. He had another dream in which the people of Ireland were calling out to him. He studied for the priesthood. Later, Patrick was ordained a bishop, and was sent to take the Gospel to Ireland. Patrick preached the Gospel throughout Ireland, converting many. He and his disciples preached and converted thousands and began building churches all over the country. Kings, their families, and entire kingdoms converted to Christianity when hearing Patrick's message.

Patrick preached and converted all of Ireland for 40 years. He worked many miracles and wrote of his love for God in Confessions. After years of living in poverty, traveling and enduring much suffering he died March 17, 461.

Why a shamrock?

Patrick used the shamrock to explain the Trinity, and has been associated with him and the Irish since that time.

Harmony Week 15th-21st of March 2020 - EVERYONE BELONGS

The theme for Harmony Week this year is “Everyone Belongs”. Harmony week celebrates Australia’s cultural diversity. It’s about inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging for everyone.

EASTER

For Project Compassion we will be having our EASTER Raffle. All of the money raised goes towards this. IF you can please donate an egg towards this that would be fantastic. Tickets go on sale next week. 20cents a ticket. Max of $3.00

PARISH INFOMATION

Welcome

A very warm welcome to Fr Emene Kelemete on his return to Mount Isa after being ordained as a priest.

Religious Education in State Primary Schools

Volunteers are required for this Ministry. Lessons are for half an hour, once a week. Please contact Lorna, 0402934489

Confirmation Communion preparation

If you wish your child to be enrolled in the preparation this year please sign up ASAP as we have already begun preparation. Family groups began last week as well.

Healthy Yarning

Like it abd follow Healthy Families Yarn It even sends out messages to make us think. YARNING in all forms is good abd prepares us to remember families in May when we also remember DV month too. Shows us how to yarn too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXFO3LBJss

DIOCESAN INFORMATION

CURRICULUM

NAPLAN Practice Test

This year we will once again complete the NAPLAN tests online. To prepare our supervising teachers and students for the test format we will be having a practice test next week on Thursday 26th of March. Both the Yr 3 and 5 classes will complete an Omnibus test which is a combination of reading comprehension, spelling, numeracy and grammar and punctuation. Yr 5 will complete a practice writing test online on the same day. Yr 3 students will not be required to write online this year and will complete the NAPLAN Writing Test in May on paper.

Executive Functioning

Executive functions consist of several brain based skills that help the brain organize, act on information, initiate, and perform tasks.

These skills enable people to plan, organize, remember things, prioritize, pay attention and get started on tasks. They also help people use information and experiences from the past to solve current problems.

You can help build Executive Functioning Skills at home by:

• Using check lists - The steps necessary for completing a task often aren’t obvious to kids with executive dysfunction, and defining them clearly ahead of time makes a task less daunting and more achievable. Following a checklist of steps also minimizes the mental and emotional strain many kids with executive dysfunction experience while trying to make decisions. Some parents say posting a checklist of the morning routine can be a sanity saver: make your bed, brush your teeth, get dressed, have breakfast, grab your lunch, get your backpack.
• Set time Limits - When making a checklist, many educational therapists also recommend assigning a time limit for each step.
• Spell out Rationale - While a child is learning new skills, it is essential that he understand the rationale behind them, or things like planning might feel like a waste of time or needless energy drain.

ESMART (CYBER SAFETY)

How to build digital intelligence

Promote respectful communication

• Encourage your child to use the same positive manners and behaviour they would use offline, understanding that others may have different cultures, backgrounds or points of view. If it is not OK to say or do something face to face, it is not OK online.
• Remind them to avoid responding to negative messages and to tell you or another trusted adult if they receive them. Tell them it is OK to report others who are not being nice.
• Emphasise the positives. For example, ‘I know what a kind and respectful person you are, and it makes me so proud to see you acting the same way when you're online. You are such a great friend — I can see how much everyone looks up to you at school.’

Encourage empathy

• Help your child to imagine being in someone else’s shoes, so they can relate to diverse opinions and understand what might make people behave in different ways.
• For example, you might say something like: ‘I noticed that Sam seemed a bit sad when she came over yesterday. Have you noticed anything? What do you think is wrong? Would that make you sad? What can we do to help?’

Teach them to question

• Encourage your child to think critically about what they see online. Teach them to ask questions so they can identify content or messages that may be misleading or exploitative.
• Talk to them about ‘fake news’, or false information that is designed to look like a trustworthy news report, and how quickly it can spread on social media. Teach them to fact check news sources and do their own independent searches on issues, so they can see the variety of opinions on a particular issue and make up their own mind.
• Remind them to be careful when making new friends online as people may not be who they say they are. We are increasingly seeing ‘Finstas’ (fake Instagram accounts) and other impersonation accounts. So it is important to question whether what they are seeing online from their friends is real or not. If it seems out of character, it could be from a fake account.
• Alert your child to the dangers of meeting someone in person that they have been talking to online. Advise them to never arrange to meet an online friend unless a trusted adult is with them and it is during the day in a public space.
• Refer to our advice on avoiding unwanted contact and grooming.

Encourage safe and responsible behaviour

• Work on achieving a healthy balance in your child’s online and offline activities and set boundaries for digital device use in your home. Find out how in time online.
• Remind your child of the importance of safeguarding personal information that can be used to identify or locate them.
• Explain why they should be suspicious of unsolicited messages and emails, and avoid clicking on pop-up ads on websites. Some pop-ups that seem safe can lead to inappropriate sites or ask for personal or financial information. Find out more in taming the technology.
• Help them configure the strongest privacy settings on all the social media apps and sites they use. It is best that only their circle of friends can view their information, tag them in a photo or share posts. And get them to check their settings regularly as updates can sometimes change them back to the default. Read more about privacy settings in The eSafety Guide.
• Ensure your child uses strong passwords on devices and accounts, and explain the importance of not sharing passwords, even with friends. See protect your personal information for advice on setting strong passwords.
• Find more advice in privacy and your child.

Help them build resilience

• Keep your cool if your child experiences a negative experience online. Remember, the choices they make as they navigate difficult situations can help them learn. Our 2017 ‘State of Play’ research shows round six in ten young people were able to identify some positive impacts from a negative online experience.
• Remind your child that they can screen who they accept as online ‘friends’.
• Make sure they know how to block and report users or pages on the sites they use.
• If they have a negative online experience, find out how they are feeling about it, offer support and encourage them to keep things in perspective at the same time.
• For example, you might say: ‘What that person has done is not OK. They must be feeling pretty bad about themselves to treat you like this. How are you feeling? Let's block them to stop their messages coming through.’
• Build your child’s confidence and encourage positive ways of thinking — looking on the bright side, thinking rationally, and understanding that difficult times are a part of life but there is help and support available.

LIBRARY

At home Reading Tip: Read with your child every day especially if they are in Prep-2. At bedtime makes a great end to the day. Children in years 3-6 also benefit from being read to. They may enjoy reading a chapter book together with you. Lots of learning can still happen as children can enjoy listening to a harder book then they can read.

Ask questions that encourage your children to talk about what they have read. Questions such as: What do you think will happen next? What do you like about the characters? Do you have anything in common or different with the characters? What was your favourite part?

HPE

INDIGENOUS EDUCATION

YOU CAN DO IT

P&F News - Fete

As you are all aware of the amount of information surrounding the COVID - 19 virus. It has now affected our Annual School Fete. It was decided by the Board on Monday 16th March that it will not be proceeding.

With this in mind, we are still going to be doing the money raffle so please keep selling your tickets. We currently have Prep in lead and the winning family so far is Hoskings. Remember the winning family who sells the most tickets will get a movie / dinner pass.

There will still be a coloured clothes day this Friday for Mother’s Day Baskets. So please donate. These baskets will be made over the holidays and made available to our parents at the beginning of Term 2. Then we will sell the left-over ones on the community page of Facebook.

We have already had donations made to us and this morning I have rang all the companies and it was nice that they have allowed us to keep the donations (some of them were money). With this we may do another raffle later in the year.

The Parent Group have been thinking of other ideas for us to fundraise and you may never know we may have a smaller style Fete just for the students in Term 3.

PLAYGROUP

Welcome to another year of fun at Little K’s! Playgroup will run every Monday from 8:30am-10am.

Little K’s Playgroup Term 1, 2020

TUCKSHOP

Tuckshop - Meal Deals

Week 8- Thursday 19th March - Chicken curry with rice, popper, brownie and yoghurt bar.
Week 9 - Thursday 26th March - Shepherds pie, popper, popcorn and watermelon.
Week 10 - Thursday 2nd April - Hot dog, popper, cupcake and zooper dooper.

Meal Deals cost $9.00 and covers both first and second breaks.

Did you know the tuckshop can make cupcakes for your child’s birthday? $1.00 each, please enquire at the office. Phone orders can also be made.

COMMUNITY NOTICES