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Dear Parent and Carers,
This week at St Benedict’s we have been talking with the children about Respect – Respect for Self, Respect for Others, Respect for Our Belongings and Respect for our Surroundings.
Respect comes from the Latin word “respectus” that means attention, regard to consideration. The first thing to realise as humans is that the word “respect” is about more than behaviour. Respect is the feeling of admiration toward someone because of who they are or what they have accomplished. Respect is not the same as good manners, although displaying good manners can be a sign of respect. Rather, respect is an inner feeling about a person that is displayed through kind words and actions on a regular basis.
Respect is one of the most important virtues a child can have. Teaching children how to respect others will ensure they develop positive relationships with their family, friends, and teachers throughout their life. Respect can be taught in many ways, but ultimately, it’s about ensuring children lead a happy life and treat other people kindly.
Below are some of the most important traits a child can gain from learning the virtue of respect.
Good manners
Teaching children good manners might seem difficult, especially at a young age. However, good manners stem from respect. Saying a simple “please” and “thank you” can go a long way and, with practice, these gestures can become natural to a child. By practicing manners, a child will learn that all relationships benefit from give and take.
Tolerance
A child is bound to face conflict throughout their life. While they might not always agree or understand what’s being said or done, teaching them respect will ensure they do their best to address conflict in a productive way. Teaching a child respect will allow them to communicate in a way that is effective and also will encourage them to take responsibility for their own mistakes, and better tolerate the mistakes of others.
Listening
Listening is an important part of having a productive or positive conversation. Learning how to communicate effectively means knowing how to listen, and this can be taught by understanding the importance of respect. We need to show a child how to listen intently, not interrupt and take their turn in order to help them better engage conversationally with others. This will also help the child to better understand rules and avoid conflicts.
Open-minded
Teaching children respect ensures they will get to know a person before making a snap judgement. This behaviour will help them throughout their entire life, and ensures they treat everyone with kindness. As well, for some children, diversity is a hard concept to understand. However, teaching children respect at an early age ensures they accept everyone for who they are.
For all children, learning respect takes time, but it’s never too early to start practicing this essential life skill. Ultimately, teaching children respect will help them to create more positive relationships with their family and friends.
It is also vital that we teach children respect for their belongings and surroundings. So often at the end of a session, end of break or end of a day we find the children’s personal belongings scattered around the classroom and playground. Many have the expectation that someone will pick it up and return it to them. Likewise, they will leave rubbish behind for someone else to take care of. We must work with our students to value their belongings and surroundings, by teaching them to be independent, responsible, and respectful of their belongings and environment.
Thank you for your ongoing care and partnership in your child’s learning.
Stay safe and healthy.
God bless.
Rachel Smith
Principal
Thank you to the Parents & Friends Committee
Last week the Parents & Friends Committee held their last meeting for the year. I would like to offer my thanks once again for the commitment of time and energy to the school by the Parents & Friends Committee for 2021. It has been a challenging year that has been constricting for both the P&F and the school community. I thank the Committee for the support they have shown our school community, particularly our staff. As a committee they have strived to face the challenges in their path and come up with solutions to ensure that we continue to be a welcoming and caring community.
P&F Virtual Disco Party
Don’t forget tomorrow Thursday 18th November is the P&F Virtual Disco Party. Log in details will sent home to every family today and can be accessed by SZapp and Compass.
Library Stocktake
A reminder that all library books must be returned at the end of the year. Please ensure your child’s library books are returned next week for the upcoming Library stock take.
Safety in Our School Car Park
We all want our children to arrive to school safely and enjoy their day. Some of us are also busy running between home, work, and other commitments before and after school. Sometimes in our own rush and hurry we can take shortcuts. I understand this temptation.
However, it is often rushing and shortcuts that create the most risk and when children, vehicles and peak hours are concerned those risks become much higher and can have terrible consequences. No one plans to have an accident. They are unintentional, often avoidable, and always regrettable. Please ensure when using our school carpark, you park in the designated carparks and follow the correct direction of the traffic. Please be aware of all those around you and proceed cautiously when moving through the carpark at a pickup time.
2022 School and Term Dates
Please be aware the term dates will be as follows for next year.
- Term One 31 January - 8 April
- Term Two 27 April - 1 July
- Term Three 19 July - 23 September
- Term Four 10 October - 16 December
2022 Term One Dates
- Tuesday, 25 January Staff Planning Day
- Thursday, 27 January Staff Planning Day
- Friday, 28 January Staff Planning Day
- Monday, 31 January Students Return
- Wednesday, 2 February Kinder Rest Day
- Wednesday, 9 February Kinder Rest Day
- Wednesday, 2 March Ash Wednesday
- Monday, 14 March Canberra Day Public Holiday
- Friday, 8 April End of Term 1
- Thursday, 14 April Holy Thursday
- Friday, 15 April Good Friday
- Sunday, 17 April East Sunday
Remembrance Day Liturgy
Thank you to Fr Rem, Miss Maple, Mrs de Salis and the Defence Club students for leading the Remembrance Day liturgy and activities. We were very blessed to also have guests from the Australian Army, Major William Bell and Captain Andrew Stark, join us in commemoration. Captain Andrew Stark shared the Commemorative Address, reminding us all of the significance and power of nurturing life-long friendships and being compassionate towards one another.
St Vincent de Paul Christmas Food Donations
Each year our St Benedict’s school community donates non-perishable food to our parish St Vincent de Paul Conference. This food is then made into Christmas hampers that are distributed to people in our local community who are experiencing hardship. Parents are encouraged to talk with their children about the joy of giving without the expectation of receiving something in return. A note went home last week with a list of items that are needed to make up these special hampers.
Mini Vinnies Book of Gratitude
Christmas is a time for hope and joy. It’s a reminder to reflect on all the good things that have happened this year, as well as the hope we can bring to others. This year, Vinnies invites YOU, to become the authors and illustrators of our very own Mini Vinnies Book Of Gratitude! This is open to all students to submit an entry. Please see the attached flyer.
A Prayer Moment with Your Child
Let’s pray to God, the source of all love and compassion:
God of judgment and mercy, thank you for your love,
which continually calls me to come closer to you.
Help me to see you in all people I meet
and to recognise how to serve you by helping others,
especially those in need.
Amen
Important dates to note for this term are:
23rd November - Kindergarten Health Checks
3rd December - Reports Available after 3.30pm
- Mini Vinnies Giving Mass 10.00am -11.00am
6th December - Optional Parent/Teacher Interview (Online)
- School Board (virtual) 6.00pm-7.00pm
10th December - Ways of Being Awards Assembly 2.15pm-3.10pm
15th December - End of Year and Graduation Mass - Year 5/6Blue & 5/6 Gold 10.00am-11.00am
16th December - Year 6 Graduation 6.00pm-9.00pm
17th December - Last Day of Term 4
All relevant communication and information have been sent via Compass and SZapp.
Please log into the relevant Portal or App to view them.
The following notes have been sent home this week
Helping Kids to identify and express their feelings
Sometimes children have big feelings and it is difficult to know how to respond as parents. Big feelings are often expressed as behaviour that can be best described as challenging! As a parent you have an important role to play in developing your child’s emotional skills and helping them to learn healthy ways to express their feelings. We know that children who learn to cope with and express their feelings are more likely to have good mental health and wellbeing, be more resilient and able to cope with change and setbacks, display less behavioural problems and be more confident and have a positive sense of self. So the earlier we can build a child’s ability to identify their feelings and implement healthy coping strategies the better!
Here are some great tips from the Kids Helpline that can help your child to learn about expressing their feelings:
- Tune into cues - Sometimes feelings can be hard to identify. Tune into your child’s feelings by looking at their body language, listening to what they’re saying and observing their behaviour. Figuring out what they feel and why means you can help them identify, express and manage those feelings better.
- Behind every behaviour is a feeling - Try to understand the meaning and feeling behind your child’s behaviour. You can help your child find other ways to express that feeling once you know what is driving the behaviour.
- Name the feeling - Help your child name their feelings by giving them a label. Naming feelings is the first step in helping kids learn to identify them. It allows your child to develop an emotional vocabulary so they can talk about their feelings.
- Identify feelings in others – Provide lots of opportunities to identify feelings in others. You might ask your child to reflect on what someone else may be feeling. Cartoons or picture books are a great way discuss feelings and helps kids learn how to recognise other people’s feelings through facial expressions.
- Be a role model - Kids learn about feelings and how to express them appropriately by watching others. Show your child how you’re feeling about different situations and how you deal with those feelings.
- Encourage with praise - Praise your child when they talk about their feelings or express them in an appropriate way. Not only does it show that feelings are normal and it’s ok to talk about them, it reinforces the behaviour so they are likely to repeat it.
- Listen to your child’s feelings - Stay present and resist the urge to make your child’s bad feelings go away. Support your child to identify and express their feelings so they are heard. When feelings are minimised or dismissed, they will often be expressed in unhealthy ways.
For more information please visit Kids Helpline website for additional resources or contact Olivia, your school counsellor if you have concerns about your child’s ability to express their emotions or you need support to develop healthy coping strategies.
https://kidshelpline.com.au/parents/issues/helping-kids-identify-and-express-feelings
In their Conceptual Inquiry unit, Year 5/6 have been investigating the concepts of beliefs, justice, rights, and responsibility. As part of this, they have considered issues of social injustice, Catholic Social Teaching and human rights in both historical and current contexts.
In response to their learning, students have developed a creative personal response to support their in-depth consideration of and beliefs about one issue of social injustice that exists.
HOMELESSNESS IS NOT INEVITABLE
BUT IT CAN BE SOLVED
IF YOU HAVE
SOME SPARE CASH, PUT IT IN
A HOMELESS GUY'S STASH
SO HE CAN AFFORD A SAFE PLACE TO
SLEEP, EAT AND HAVE FUN
AND HOPEFULLY NEVER ENDS UP ON THE STREETS AGAIN
SO LET'S DONATE SOME CASH TO HIS
STASH
By Alec
Happy Birthday to the following children who celebrate their special day this week: Henry McH, Payton B, George P, Joanna D'S, Joshua L, Tyler A and Vivienne K.
Year 1/2G: Emma D and Reuben W
Year 1/2G: Nyx H
Stuck on You
Dear Families,
We are raising funds for our St Benedict’s Primary School community through Stuck
on You. There are many lovely things to purchase at the Stuck on You website including Christmas gifts, name labels, drink bottles, bag tags, lunch bags and shoe labels.
Please use our school code: STB when you make a purchase.
- Create your own account and place your order online
- Enter our fundraising name (STB) at the checkout to transfer points to our fundraiser
When you order from Stuck on You, St Benedict’s P&F earn up to 20 per cent commission on all orders received with our school code. The P&F are awarded points for every order made. These points are then converted to money for our school. It is important to create your own account, if you order as a guest your points will not transfer to our fundraiser. Family and friends can also use our code to help fundraise for us.
Please use the below link to go directly to our fundraising page.
https://www.stuckonyou.com.au/affiliate/fundraiser/STB
If you require uniform items please email the school:
office.stbenedicts@cg.catholic.edu.au
with attention Mrs Hemphill or Mrs Cox with the list of items required. Please include either your telephone number or email address.
We will endeavour to fill your order and reply to you as soon as possilble.
The tuckshop is open and will continue operating each Tuesday and Thursday.
Cash sales at recess and all other orders online via QKR App.
St Benedict's Parish
Office Hours: Tuesday to Friday 9am to 12noon
Phone: 62957879
Email: narrabundah@cg.org.au
Web: website: http://cg.org.au/narrabundah/Home.aspx
Parish Team:
Fr Rembert Fernando MGL
Fr Baiju Thomas MGL
Onela Iruthayaraj (Parish Secretary)
Masses have recommenced at the usual times. 170 people are able to attend each Mass in person. Please follow social distancing and sanitise before entry. Face mask are no longer mandatory, but encouraged for those 12 years and above. Parishioners are not required to produce evidence of vaccination. Upon entry please sign in using the CBR app, if you are unable to do so please use the sign in sheets that are available. If you are unwell due to immunity issues it is better to stay home.
