Filter Content
Dear Parents and Carers
Welcome back to Term 4.
A big St Patrick's welcome to all these new students who have started this term!
Russell - Year 5
Josie - Year 3
Nathalie - Year 3
Jasper - Year 2
Ryder - Year 1
Ethan - Year 1
Connecting with Families Mrs Grant and I enjoyed speaking with many of our families in the term break. We took the opportunity to speak with a parent of every family that we hadn't had contact, with in the weeks toward the end of term 3. Thank you for the strong and positive feedback about your child's life and learning at St Pat's and presenting any wonderings and new information to us.
If we were only able to leave a message for you we are reallly looking forward to a conversation, to ensure that Term 4 is a great term of learning and engagement for your children. Please email Emma or myself and we'll book a time for a phone chat.
Staff Learning On Monday our staff gathered at Pambula surf club for their annual spirituality day. We were blessed to have Prof Br. David Hall, from Australian Catholic University, present to us. The focus and reflection was on Jesus a Pilgrimage, a book written by James Martin. As Catholic educators we take time each year to reflect on our calling, our vocation, to teach in Catholic schools.
CrossFit In Term 4 we have engaged Romy from CrossFit Sapphire to facilitate a CrossFit program for our Year 6 boys and girls. Wednesday was the first session. This is certainly a way to get the heart rate up! I was impressed with the engagement of our senior students in the program.
We are looking forward to continuing the great learning for all students in Term 4.
Kind regards,
Jo
Term 4 at St Pat's
Term 4 is always a busy term! Here are invitations to a few of our upcoming events:
Junior Primary (K-2) will be attending Lumen Christi's Shrek performance (Compass event to come):
Upcoming Assessments of Learning
This term we focus on assessments and data that inform reporting for Semester 2.
DIBELS
DIBELS ® (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) is a set of procedures and measures for assessing the acquisition of literacy skills.
PAT Maths Adaptive
This assesses mathematical literacy and understanding across three strands and four proficiencies with test content personalised to each student.
Beachathon
Here a few Happy snaps from our beachathon today, further updates to come next week.
Bushfire preparedness
A difficult time of year for our community has already arrived. The bushfire season is likely to increase anxiety, stress and fear in many.
For this newsletter I have taken the information directly from an Emerging Minds article entitled ’10 ways to support your child during bushfire season’ available at this link:
https://emergingminds.com.au/resources/10-ways-to-support-your-child-during-the-bushfire-season/ :
Children look to parents and caregivers to guide them in how to behave when distressing or overwhelming events, such as bushfires and heavy smoke haze occur.
As a parent or caregiver, the best support you can give your child is to be calm, positive, loving and reassuring. Maintaining routines, making time for your child, responding to their questions, and keeping them connected with their friends and family will all help to maintain their sense of safety.
You may be struggling with your own feelings of distress, grief and loss and it is important that you look after yourself. The fires and smoke may bring back distressing feelings and images from other traumatic events you have witnessed. Recognise that you are doing the best you can under these challenging circumstances, and don’t forget to draw on support from family, friends and community to help you care for and support your children.
Here are 10 tips to help you to support your child during this time:
- Talk to your child and reassure them that they are safe. Be as honest as possible and don’t make promises which you may not be able to keep.
- Avoid unnecessary separation from your child.
- If possible, remove your child from distressing sights, sounds, smells and circumstances of the fires.
- Remove your child from the company of people who are distressed, or who are having conversations about their experience. Limit their exposure to media reporting of the fires as much as possible.
- Make time to give your child lots of comfort. Singing lullabies, cuddling, holding and stroking them, holding hands and sitting together having a quiet conversation can help to reassure them that they will be OK.
- Accept your child’s feelings and responses to these events. Don’t tell them to ‘be good’, to ‘stop being silly’, or to ‘be brave’.
- Be patient if there are changes in your child’s behaviour (a return to wetting the bed, being unsettled or taking longer to settle for sleep, acting out or becoming withdrawn). Reassure them that you are looking after them and keeping them safe.
- Answer any questions your child has calmly, clearly and concisely. Be honest but avoid any unnecessary detail. If you don’t have all the information it’s OK to say so.
- Don’t be afraid to be a little creative Some children may not want (or have the words) to talk about their thoughts, feelings or fears. Activities like drawing, playing with toys or writing stories can help them to express themselves in different ways.
- Keep your child connected with their family and friends and return to their normal routines as soon as possible. The more familiar the routine, the more settled children will be.
Recovery
Each child responds differently to distressing and overwhelming events depending on their age, personality and family environment. With love and support from parents and caregivers, most children will recover from traumatic events.
However, if you have concerns that your child’s reactions to these events are persisting or are worsening, it is a good idea to visit your GP.
The emerging minds website has other resources and links to supports related to the topic of bushfires. If you have any concerns about how your child is coping or would like to seek some advice please feel free to reach out to your school counsellor (Samantha.hutchence@mccg.org.au)
Thanks for reading, Sam – school counsellor
If you are interested in helping on the Christmas Festival Committee please contact Tam Prime on email: dtprime@bigpond.com.au or phone 0429 599 941
KIDS WOODWORK AFTERSCHOOL CLASSES BOOKING NOW
Come and build some awesome projects with Two Sheds Workshop, Bega.
After School classes for kids 7yrs+, no experience needed. Spots available in our
Tuesday and Thursday 3.30 – 5.00 class or our Late Starting Wednesday class 4.00 -5.30
Creative Kids Vouchers accepted.
Check out the range here: https://enrolmy.com/two-sheds-workshop#