Dear Parents and Carers,

Behaviour at School Yesterday Mrs Perryman and I addressed the students about the expectations of being a ‘St Pat’s kid’ and what following the rules looks like. The behaviour of a minority of children has been impacting the joy and fun of their peers at playtime and sometimes in class. Thank you for iterating the messages in this explanation of some of the criteria that help students know how to follow the school rules (middle primary version).

Please remind your children of these core expectations.

The Playground is here! This week we watched in anticipation of our first play on the playground. Today the softfall bark chip will arrive and then play can begin!

   

 

  

  

 

Toilets The tenders for the toilet block building close today. We wait in anticipation of a building start date.

Blessings on your (wet?) weekend!

Jo

We are creating a culture of learning. How can you help?

Each week for the next six weeks I will share one idea from Raising Resilient Problem Solvers.

By Michael Grose.

Personal problem-solving is an under-rated skill shared by resilient children and adults. First, identified alongside independence, social connection, and optimism by early resilience-researchers in the US, the ability to solve your own problems is the basis of a child’s autonomy and self-efficacy.

When parents solve all children’s problems we not only increase their dependency on adults, we also teach kids to be afraid of making mistakes and to blame themselves for not being good enough. As I noted in my book Anxious Kids, this is fertile ground for anxiousness and depressive illness.

So how can we raise kids to be courageous problem-solvers rather than self-critical, low risk-takers?  Here are six practical ideas to get you started:

Turn requests for help into problems for kids to solve

Kids get used to bringing their problems to parents to solve.  If you keep solving them, they’ll keep bringing them.

“Mum, Sarah’s annoying me”

“Dad, can you ask my teacher to pick me for the team?”

“Hey, I can’t find my socks!”

It’s tempting if you are in a time-poor family, to simply jump in and help kids out. Alternatively, you can take a problem-solving approach, cuing them to resolve their own problems and take responsibility for their concerns.

“What can you do to make her stop annoying you?”

“What’s the best approach to take with your teacher?”

“Socks, smocks! Where might they be?”

First Eucharist

Dates for your Diary

Please note there may be sudden changes to these dates as circumstances in the school community change and advice is received from Catholic Education.

Enrolment Mass – Sunday 9^th August at 9:30am

Family Retreats – Sunday 23^rd & 30^th August 4:30-6pm 

Retreat – Wednesday 16^th September 9am-3pm

First Eucharist – Thursday 17^th September at 6pm

First Eucharist Thanksgiving Mass – Sunday 20^th September at 9:30am

Ants

A bird sang and a dog barked and a soft autumn breeze passed by.

I sat alone in the garden waiting.

Waiting for winter.

Waiting for the ants to hide and the snow to fall.

Claire Clarke

Lice At School

St Pat’s have been informed that there has been an identified a case of head-lice, which are common in school-aged children, and are the most adaptable of creatures. Whilst your child may not be affected, head lice are also extremely contagious. 

In order to ensure the problem is solved as quickly as possible, we are encouraging parents to check their child tonight and if lice are detected to carry out a head lice treatment prior to sending their child back school.

We suggest you look for the following symptoms or signs which would indicate the presence of head lice:

* Child scratching his/her head excessively;
* Fine black powder on bed linen/pillows;
* Nits, the lice eggs, cream to coffee coloured specks stuck near the hair roots; and
* Lice themselves are small white to greyish parasites about as big as a pinhead.

If you notice any of the above signs or need further advice please contact your local pharmacist.