Term 3, Week 9 - 7th September, 2023

From the Principal

Dear families,

Child Protection Week (3-9 September)

This year during Child Protection Week we have encouraged students to think of themselves as ‘upstanders’. An upstander is a person who speaks up, or acts, when they recognise that something is wrong. Even very young children can be taught to recognise concepts such as anger, bullying and unfairness, and to tell an adult if someone is being harmed. Older children and young people may be capable of becoming more involved in advocacy if they are helped to practice this skill. As adults we play an important role in modelling these behaviours when our children are watching us manage conflict that may arise in our everyday lives.

During Child Protection Week our students engaged in a number of activities to reinforce safety messages including participating in the Daniel Morcombe Child Safety lesson online. Should any student be concerned about how they are being treated by an adult, or another child or young person, they are encouraged to speak up to a trusted staff member or one of our School Student Protection Contacts (SSPCs). All students were reminded who our SSPCs are on assembly today, and that they are depicted on the ‘Keeping Safe’ posters located around the school. Every student has received a colourable bookmark as a memento of the activities this week.

Child Protection really is everyone’s business, and we are committed to making our school a safe, secure, and protected place of learning for every student.

These are some of the main Helplines that you can call for guidance and support:

Kids Helpline: 1800 55 1800 (make sure your kids know this one)
Parentline Qld: 1300 30 1300
Lifeline: 13 11 14
13 YARN: 13 92 76 (24 hours/7 days - free and confidential service run by, and for, Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander people.)
Or: refer to the Australian parenting network - raisingchildren.net.au 

Staffing 2024

I am currently in the process of finalising staffing for 2024. As I'm sure you can understand, these decisions are based on many different factors such as student needs, staff needs, enrolment numbers, etc. - and involve a substantial amount of planning time. I will communicate class structures and staffing arrangements early in Term 4. 

Term 4 Whole School Camp Planning

A note to register interest in our Term 4 school camp has been sent home to families and was due at the end of August. Please send these notes back to the school office as soon as possible to assist us with our planning. We will be running a camp information session in Week 3 of next term (date TBA). 

Term 4 Health Lessons 

In Term 4, all students will be participating in the Relationships & Sexuality Education (RSE) program and the Daniel Morcombe Child Safety lessons as part of Health. These lessons are all age appropriate and cover important parts of the Australian Curriculum, delivered through a Catholic perspective. 

Please contact your child's classroom teacher through the Sentral Parent Portal if you have any questions about these programs. 

Attendance Matters!

It is extremely important to send your child to school as much as possible. There can be social and academic implications when students take significant periods of leave from school. I have included an excerpt from the Education Department around absentees:

Going to school every day is the single most important  part of your child’s education. Students learn new things at school every day – missing school puts them behind. 

We all want our students to get a great education, and the building blocks for a great education begin with students coming to school. If students miss school regularly, they miss out on learning the fundamental skills that will set them up for success in the later years of school. There is no safe number of days for missing school – each day a student misses puts them behind, and can affect their educational outcomes. Each missed day is associated with progressively lower achievement in numeracy, writing and reading.

It is acknowledged that from time to time a student may be absent from their educational program. To comply with their compulsory schooling obligations parents/carers are required to give a reasonable reason for each absence by letting the school know via phone, email or using the Sentral for parents app. 

In accordance with the Toowoomba Catholic Schools 'Managing student absence procedure', the following patterns of absenteeism requires formal management by the school:

• when a student is absent three or more consecutive school days without a reasonable excuse
• when a student demonstrates a pattern of problematic absenteeism as reasonably determined by the school principal
• when a student’s overall attendance falls below 85% in any given school term

Phase 1 management would include a meeting with parents to jointly problem solve solutions, and completing an attendance improvement plan.

We are setting two goals for Term 4

1. To achieve a total of zero unexplained absences for each student

2. To reach a whole school attendance average of over 90%

Please contact the school if you would like to know your child's individual attendance rate

Remember - every day counts. If your child must miss school, speak with your classroom teacher as early as possible. If you’re having attendance issues with your child, please let your classroom teacher know so we can work together to get your child to school every day. Our school is here to support you with any attendance issues you may be experiencing.

Holy Land Pilgrimage

I will be departing Australia on Friday the 15th of September and travelling for 17 days around the Holy Land, where I will experience the places and stories of the life of Jesus. As part of my faith journey I will be visiting places such as the Dead Sea, Mt Nebo, Bethany Beyond the Jordan, Petra, the Sea of Galilee, Bethlehem, Jerusalem and more.

I am excited to share my adventure with the students when I return at the end of Week 1 of Term 4. Olivia Osborne will be deputising in my absence. 

Upcoming Term 3 & 4 dates

15th September - Last Day of Term 3

2nd October - Public Holiday

3rd October - First Day of Term 4

13th October - Pathway to Prep Transition Day 1 (8:30-11:00am)

18th October - Audiology testing

18th October - PEN Meeting (3:30pm in the Library)

Yours in education,

Casey Robinson

Principal

Do have courage. We must all willingly and with constancy suffer all that God sends for our good.

(Mary MacKillop, 1872)

APRE News - Prayer for Children

Loving God, we thank you for the care and affection of Jesus, who placed children in the very centre
of his community.

We pray for children, created in your own image and likeness, dwelling places of your Spirit, each
one called to experience the freedom of your daughters and sons.

We pray for all children – those in our family homes, those in our community of faith, those in the
wider community, those in our global village, those with plenty and those who struggle to survive.
We yearn for the day when all children may know safety and freedom and protection from violence
and abuse, when they may bask in constant love, safe from any harm, where they may flourish and
be all they can be.

God of all goodness, we hope in you. Inspire us to surround others with gentleness and love and
empower us to build a world that no longer knows abuse and violence. Grant us courage to speak
out and act when children need protection, care and shelter.

We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Student Protection Contacts (SPC)

Casey Robinson - Principal

Naomi Smith - WHS Officer & School Officer

Paul Fomiatti - School Guidance Counsellor

Student protection is everybody’s business. More information about our approach to student protection can be found on the  Toowoomba Catholic Schools website. 

Students who have student protection concerns can discuss this with any one of our student protection contacts. The poster below shows who these contacts are, and copies of this poster are on display around the school.

Parents wishing to discuss student protection concerns are invited to contact the school and speak with Casey.

Life in the Library

Book Fair - HATS OFF TO READING!

Book Fair is underway! Come in to browse the books for sale, open times are as follows; 

Friday 8th September 8.00am - 11.00pm and 2.00pm - 3.00pm 

Monday 11th September 8.00am - 11.00am 

Thank you for supporting this event. We will use the commission from sales to add new books to the student collection. 

Learning in the Library

Students have been taking a closer look at the short-listed books including ; Snap, Where the Lyrebird Lives, Dirt by Sea, Deep and A is for Australian Reefs. We have explored them to learn new things about Australian places and wildlife. Prep and Year 1 students enjoyed adding rhyming words to the list from Snap and Year 2 -4 are using maps of Australia to trace the journey undertaken by Dad and Daisy in Dirt by Sea. Year 5-6 are reading to locate information to answer unusual questions about life on our reefs and deep places, ranging from our bodies to space.

 Holiday Reading 

• Students will borrow for the holidays next week. Please encourage your students to read regularly over the break and make time in your day to share the joy of a story or fact-finding session with them. 
• Storybox Library http://storyboxlibrary.com.au Login: SMG, Password: stories offers a range of great stories read aloud and with captions. 
• Britannica School https://school.eb.com.au/ Login: mariagoretti Passcode: inglewood provides articles, images and websites on real world topics at a primary school level. 
• ClickView https://online.clickview.com.au/ Login: school username has videos, TV programs and movies for primary school students. 

Term 4 

• We will continue to enjoy the range of titles in the library as free choice home reading and read alouds during class library lessons. 
• Year 2 - 4 students will be presenting another book talk in Term 4 and they have the holidays to finish their chosen book.  
• Year 5 – 6 will be writing a short review of their chosen book to post in AccessIT for future students to read.  

Week 8 in the Library

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Anne Anderson

Teacher Librarian

Term 3 MacKillop Way Award Recipients

The MacKillop Way focus for Term 3 was “Find happiness in making others happy” (Mary MacKillop 1889).

Congratulations to our Term 3 award recipients!

P/1 - Claire Killen for always looking out for the people around her. Claire never fails to ask you how you are every day.

2/3/4 - Addyson Williams for always having a positive attitude and building other students up when they are feeling low. Addy will encourage others and help them whenever she can.

5/6 - Chiquita Kiehne for always looking for ways to spread joy and happiness. Chiquita never hesitates to put others before herself and genuinely becomes happy when she sees that her peers are happy.

Students of the Week - Week 9

Sight Word Certificates

Happy Birthday!

Jump Rope for Heart

What a wonderful morning of skipping! Congratulations to each and every student who demonstrated their new skipping skills with confidence at our Jump Off Day today.

It has been amazing to see the fundraising efforts of our students who have so far raised $1468 for the Heart Foundation! Fundraising links will remain open into next week for those still wishing to donate. The link to the school fundraising page is https://www.jumprope.org.au/fundraisers/10DC41/jump-rope-for-heart-2023

Jump Off Day

School Photo update

Parent Engagement Network

Book Fair!

Notices

Our Lady of the Southern Cross Parish - Mass Times

Saturday 9th September - 5:30pm Mass

Sunday 17th September - 9am Liturgy

Sunday 24th September - 9am Mass

Sunday 1st October - 9am Liturgy

Saturday 7th October - 5:30pm Mass