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Dear Parents and Carers,
On Tuesday, we celebrated the feast of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop. We have much to thank Mary MacKillop for, most importantly, Catholic schooling in Australia. She and Fr Tenison Woods were brave pioneers. Mary, even through the adversity of excommunication remained steadfast, at that time she is to have said "I do not know how to describe the feeling, but I was intensely happy and felt nearer to God than I ever felt before. The sensation of the calm, beautiful presence of God I shall never forget."
Let us remember other living words of St Mary of the Cross;
Congratulations to the St Patrick's Junior and Senior Public Speaking Teams! You were impressive with your speech making!
Congratulations to Sofia for being awarded a Commendation in the Year 4 category for your entertaining speech on the topic of 'Sport brings us together.'
A special thanks to Ms Rees for her organisation and support of our team in their preparation and participation.
Jo
Learning Out and About
This week I have had the pleasure of visiting many classrooms for Rainbow Cards!
1/2 shared their choral responses in InitiaLit.
Year 6 and Kinder connected through buddy reading.
3/4 shared their success in STEM and their creativity in Visual Arts.
Supporting Students - Upcoming Programs
COOL KIDS - ANXIETY PROGRAM
Limited places left in the year 5/6 program beginning week 3 of term 2.
Get your application in asap.
Expressions of interest for terms 3 & 4 also being accepted for children in years 3/4 & 5/6.
Following the interest received in our pilot online Cool Kids program for term two, Catholic Care Canberra & Goulburn will be offering places in three more groups that will run during terms three & four. This is only available to students enrolled in regional Catholic Education schools and their parents. We welcome applications from students from years 3-4 and 5-6. The program will be run after school hours with the child and parent logging in from home, or another private and quiet location. One parent is required at each session, two are welcome.
About the Cool Kids Program
Cool Kids is a structured program that teaches children and their parents how to better manage a child’s anxiety. The program is based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), involves the participation of children and parents, and focuses on teaching practical skills. Topics covered in the program include:
- Learning about anxiety
- Learning to think realistically
- Parenting an anxious child
- Facing fears using stepladders and
- Learning coping skills such as relaxation or problem solving.
The Cool Kids program was developed by Macquarie University over the past 25 years, has been translated into several languages and is used in clinics, schools and hospitals around the world. The program has undergone continual scientific evaluation and development to include the latest understanding of anxiety and its treatment. Current results indicate that most young people who complete the program show significant improvement. Following treatment, there are marked increases in school attendance, confidence, number of friends and involvement in extra-curricular activities and decreases in worry, shyness, fear and family distress.
Please see Compass for further information and referral process.
Horizon's Mental Health & Wellbeing Groups
Horizons delivers clinical therapeutic mental health supports to children and young people, who are showing signs of, or are at risk of developing mental health. Horizons encompasses a holistic approach connecting clinical and non-clinical social, psychoeducational and wellbeing supports, accessible within the community. Marymead CatholicCare have received funding to run mental health and wellbeing programs for schools within the Bega Valley. For the remainder of Term 3 and Term 4 the programs of Drumbeat and Re-Navigating Anger and Guilty Emotions (RAGE) will be offered at St Pat's in small group sessions. If you would like to refer your child to participate, please email emma.grant@cg.catholic.edu.au
Big steps
This morning we celebrated our 3rd Big Steps Program, Create It!
Emma
Religious Education (Mrs Ferris)
Week 5 Chapel Mass- 3/4 Yellow (Families Welcome)
On Tuesday, we celebrated the Feast of St Mary of the Cross with a lovely Mass. This was facilitated by students in Years 5 and 6. It was wonderful to see the reverence in which our students undertook each of their roles.
On Tuesday 15th August, we will have another special celebration for The Feast of the Assumption of Mary. This will be facilitated by students in Years 3 and 4 and all families are welcome to join us for Mass, will begin at 12:35.
Mini Vinnies
Today we had our first Mini Vinnies meeting. During the meeting, we started working on a future plan for how we are going to put into action the principles of Social Justice. We also read through our Mini Vinnies pledge and began designs for a St Pat’s ‘Mini Vinnies’ Logo. Stay tuned for the final design! Thank you to all the students who gave up their recess play to come to the first meeting and make a commitment to helping others and modelling attributes of kindness and compassion. It is not too late for students to join Mini Vinnies. They can get a form from Mrs Ferris during the week.
Sudsy Challenge
It’s that time of year again! We will be joining in the Sudsy Challenge to support people experiencing homelessness. By choosing not to change clothes for three days, and talking about it with the people around us, we will be helping to change the conversation around homelessness - and the lives of those doing it tough. This is a worthwhile cause, and we would like to invite you to join with us and commit to wearing the same clothes for 3 days, talk widely about why you are doing it and raise some money to help those in need. If you would like to join the ‘St Pat’s Sudsy Challengers’, you can do so on the link below.
https://www.thesudsychallenge.com.au/fundraisers/StPatsSudsyChallengers1303
Mel
MAPPEN Learning in the Classroom
MAPPEN is a program that incorporates history, geography and science, with aspects of health and the arts. As always St Pat’s has a whole school approach to learning, this term classes from K-6 are learning about social justice (SJ) through different lens. Kindergarten are learning about SJ through the lens of fairness and friendships. They will be looking at school and family rules, as well as managing conflict and social skills through team work. Stage 1 (Years 1 & 2) are learning about SJ through the lens of exploring the different cultures and traditions of Japan, Italy and India, as well as their own cultural heritage. They will discover that we are all made equally in the image of God regardless of differences. Stage 2 (Years 3 & 4) are learning about SJ through the lens of people living with a disability, and the role of rules and laws in providing equity. They will research and present a disability. Stage 3 (Years 5 & 6) are learning about SJ through the lens of children’s rights around the world. They will explore human rights and what it means to be charitable, locally and globally. They will research an aid agency that supports the rights of children and learn about literary devices as they write and perform a spoken word poem at the Slamming Social Justice Show.
