FROM THE SCHOOL LEADERSHIP

TEAM

Dear Parents, Carers and Community Members, Thank you to St Rita’s Parish for hosting an All Nations Morning Tea - Multicultural Sunday Mass last weekend. It was lovely to have our families invited to join with parishioners to celebrate the diversity we have in our community.

School Parent Network Meeting At our last School Parent Network Meeting the following items were discussed: - The P&F conference was about ‘Collaborative Success’ - all families of a school community can work together to have Family engagement Learning opportunities Social activities

Our School Parent Network members in attendance suggested

At enrolment meeting – ask parents what can they do for the school?

Generating a list of things / events that can be done by families, promote and ask for volunteers

SPN information package created for orientation and then follow-up in new year

Catholic School Parents Assoc link for staff to look at for ideas on how to engage parents

2020 Conference to be promoted

Encourage all families to do ‘Just One Thing’ where every family can nominate 'just one thing' that they will support or even coordinate for that school year.

Upcoming Events that will need volunteers for the event to occur Father’s Day breakfast Disco World Teacher’s Day – Oct 26 Prep Orientation Carol’s Night

Purchases Two Buddy Benches to be paid for by School

Parent Network, Yr 5 students investigated and submitted proposal for these

Fundraising Committee Two parents volunteered to be on a Fundraising

Committee to investigate possibilities for the major fundraising for 2019

Disco - Save the Date We are hoping to hold a school disco for students on 14 September. Please save the date – more details to follow asap.

Free Dress Day Thank you to Mia in Year 5 for her idea to have students dress as cowboys or cowgirls for the day last Friday. Mia worked with our Mini Vinnie group to promote this day. Thanks to the Mini Vinnies for their continuing efforts to promote Catholic Missions at St Rita’s.

Around Our School

Term 3 Week 7 28 August 2018

39 Benfer Road VICTORIA POINT 4165

Ph: 07 3207 6628 Fax: 07 3207 6734

Email: pvictoriapoint@bne.catholic.edu.au

Online: www.stritasvp.qld.edu.au

IMPORTANT DATES

Wed 29 Aug Year 5 Excursion Thurs 30 Aug Year 3 Incursion Year 1 Excursion Fri 31 Aug Father’s Day Liturgy Fri 31 Aug Year 4 Excursion

The fundraiser was well supported by students and their families, raising $1282 towards the drought relief appeal. Well done St Rita’s! Illnesses and Contagious Medical Conditions. At present Influenza A is present in the community. Qld Health has suggested that we provide families with the Qld Health Influenza A fact sheet. Once again we will be reminding student of good hygiene practices as part of our health lessons and provide the following for your information.

Prevention: Good hygiene is essential to protect yourself and

others: stay home when you are sick wash your hands regularly with soap and water or

use an alcohol based hand gel wash your hands prior to touching your eyes, nose

and mouth use a tissue, or the inside of your arm, when you

cough and sneeze throw tissues away immediately and wash hands don't share items such as cigarettes, cups, lipstick,

toys or anything which has come into contact with the mouth or nose

stay at least 1 metre away from people who have flu-like symptoms

clean frequently touched surfaces regularly, such as door handles, taps, tables, benches and fridge doors.

Influenza (The Flu) – Queensland Health Fact Sheet http://conditions.health.qld.gov.au/HealthCondition/condition/14/217/82/Influenza-The-Flu

Staffing Brian Mason will be on Long Service Leave for the last three weeks of this term. Nathan Mulhearn will replace Brian as Acting APA and Therese Rae will be Acting APRE for the last three weeks of this term. We wish Brian all the best for his leave and I thank Nathan and Therese for being willing to take on extra duties in their acting roles. Rhiannon Williams will replace Therese in 6T during this time. Welcome to Sarah Tate, who replaces Nathalie Holt in the library while Nat is on leave for the last four weeks of term, and Julie Watson, who replaces Sharan Rockliffe while Sharan

accesses some leave this week and next. We wish both Nat and Sharan all the best for their leave. With best wishes for the week,

Carolyn

FROM APA St Rita’s Safety Alerts – So far we have published two of these one-page St Rita’s Safety Alert documents, one relating to supervision, duty-of-Care and use of school facilities outside of school hours and one relating to traffic safety in and Around our school. I am happy to say that we are very appreciative of the generally supportive response of parents and carers with regard to the issues identified and directives presented in these documents. Thank you. A third Safety Alert, this time relating to animals, bikes, scooters and skateboards etc in school grounds will go out this week and all three will be uploaded to the Parent Portal. BCE Listens Parent and Student Surveys - Our sincere thanks to all those families who participated in the BCE Listens parent and student (Yrs 4-6) surveys. The survey response window has now closed and we will hear later in the year the results of the surveys from across our BCE system. P-2 Start of Class Procedure - The feedback from the trial adjustment to the P-2 start-of-day procedure has generally been quite positive and any concerns raised have been considered. As a result, this process will continue for the rest of the year. Students here at school before 8:10am are required to sit (no playing) on the white benches between the Tuckshop and the Deck. Between 8:10-8:30, Yrs 3-6 students move up under staff supervision to the Multi-court area. All students P-2 must either wait in the covered area near the Tuckshop or play in the deck & shade-cover area under direct staff supervision. When the 8:30am bell goes, parents are asked to say their farewells and the P-2 students collect their bags and move around to line up outside their own classrooms, where their teachers will be waiting for them. Congratulations – Congrats to Jo Rossi, Nat Holt and all those involved in our Book Week celebrations and Book Fair last week. Our Book Week Character Dress-

up Day was both colourful and exciting and the Book Fair was a huge success. Thanks to all who supported these. Congrats also to our Mini Vinnies crew on a successful day last Friday in support of our farmers and drought-affected regions. Long Service Leave – As Carolyn mentioned, I will be taking some welcome Long Service Leave during the last three weeks of this term, leading into the September holidays. My wife, Janice and I will be doing some “grey nomad training”, travelling to the NT to visit Katherine, Litchfield National Park, Darwin and Kakadu. Who knows, you might even see me on an episode of Russell Coight’s All Aussie Adventures! Have a great week. See you in Term 4. Brian

FROM APRE Father’s Day Sunday 2 September. We will celebrate Father’s Day with a special liturgy at 7.45am this Friday. Below is a special prayer and blessing for all our fathers. Father's Day Prayer Ritual Dear Significant Men in the lives of children. Keep on doing whatever those “big” things are that you do to show your kids you love them, but don’t overlook the “little” things that show your love for them. After all, the little things ARE the big things.Prayers for Fathers. For our fathers, who have given us life and love, that we may show them respect and love, we pray to the Lord. All: Lord, hear our prayer. For fathers who have lost a child through death, that their faith may give them hope, and their family and friends support and console them, we pray to the Lord. All: Lord, hear our prayer. For fathers who have died, that God may bring them into the joy of his kingdom, we pray to the Lord. All: Lord, hear our prayer. Blessing God, our Father Bless these men, that they may find strength as fathers. Let the example of their faith and love shine forth.

Grant that we, their sons and daughters, may honour them always with a spirit of profound respect. Amen

FROM PLL Mem Fox’s Ten Read-Aloud

Commandments

1. Spend at least ten wildly happy minutes every single day reading aloud. From birth!

2. Read at least three stories a day: it may be the

same story three times. Children need to hear a thousand stories before they can begin to learn to read. Or the same story a thousand times.

3. Read aloud with animation. Listen to your own

voice and don’t be dull, or flat, or boring. Hang loose and be loud, have fun and laugh a lot!

4. Read with joy and enjoyment: real enjoyment for

yourself and great joy for the listeners.

5. Read the stories that your child loves, over and over, and over again, and always read in the same ‘tune’ for each book: i.e. with the same

intonations and volume and speed, on each page, each time.

6. Let children hear lots of language by talking to

them constantly about the pictures, or anything else connected to the book; or sing any old song

that you can remember; or say nursery rhymes in a bouncy way; or be noisy together doing

clapping games.

7. Look for rhyme, rhythm or repetition in books for young children, and make sure the books are

really short.

8. Play games with the things that you and the child can see on the page, such as letting kids finish rhymes, and finding the letters that start the

child’s name and yours, remembering that it’s never work, it’s always a fabulous game.

9. Never ever teach reading, or get tense around books.

10. Please read aloud every day because you just adore being with your child, not because it’s the

right thing to do.

STUDENT ABSENCE

Please remember it is a parent obligation to notify the school of a student absence. The preferred option is via the Parent Portal – Student Absence. Alternatively, please use the absentee line (3207 6628, option 3) to leave messages regarding students not attending school. Please leave the following information by 9.00am on the day of absence:

Date Your name Your child’s name and class And reason for absence.

On the school phone there are also options for school fees and enrolments.

Please ensure if you need to get a message to your child that it is done before 1.00pm as often classes are out of their rooms in the afternoon session. As we communicate with the classroom via an internal phone we cannot guarantee messages will be received in a timely manner.

HIGH SCHOOL 2019

If your child is attending Victoria Point High School next year, in 2019, or you are considering this option, please see us at the office to pass on some information regarding the orientation day on Thursday 18 October, 2018.

SPORTS NEWS

Quote of the week ‘Sports do not build character. They

reveal it.’ Heywood Broun

District Athletics Congratulations to all our athletes who competed in the Bayside District Athletics back in early August. St Rita’s was well represented across a multitude of events and all competitors did very well. A further congratulations goes to our athletes who were selected to represent the Bayside District at the Regional Athletics carnival based on their outstanding results at districts and wish them all the best for later this term. William F (Y5) – 100m, 200m, 800m and 1500m Keeley W (Y5) – High Jump Audrey S (Y6) – Long Jump Tamsyn W (Y6) – High Jump Combined Catholic Schools Athletics Congratulations to all our athletes who competed in the Annual Combined Catholic Schools Athletics Carnival on August 16 at St Mary Mackillop Birkdale. St Rita’s performed extremely well across all events and displayed outstanding school spirit encouraging and cheering others throughout the day. St Rita’s finished 2nd in overall points and 4th based on percentage points. A fantastic result for the day and a great way to finish off the School Athletics Season. HPE Lessons Students from Year 3-6 are reminded - this week we start our unit on Tennis. Students who own a tennis racquet may wish to bring them to lessons (student’s responsibility). This is completely optional, and students are reminded that racquets are not to appear during school break times and used for play. Representative Singlets Students are asked to return any representative singlets to Mr Kenyon that they have been lent during this term. Please return washed, in a bag, and clearly marked with your name.

ASSEMBLY AWARDS

CLASS STUDENT

2L Chloe M

3K Corban M

3T Alistair T

3J Charlotte W

5K Ben M

5L Sarah M

SCHOOL BANKING

Congratulations to Baxter D (4L) you are the lucky winner of a bonus $2 deposited into your account today. Don’t forget to start saving with BOQ for Semester 2. All

those who bank 14 weeks or more will receive a $10 voucher to spend at Cineplex Cinemas just in time for Christmas Holidays. For any further information about school banking you can email us victoria.point@boq.com.au or call us direct 3207 6133. We would also love you to come and see us, we are located at Victoria Point Shopping Centre (Food Court end) opening hours as follows: Mon to Thurs 9.30am – 4.30pm Fri9.30am – 5pm Saturday 9.00am – 12pm Have a great week and happy saving from BOQ Victoria Point!

UNIFORM SHOP

HOURS

Thursday 8.00 to 10.00am Friday CLOSED

TUCKSHOP NEWS

Thursday 30 August ???????? Lisa Austin 2ND Break Tania Digby Lisa Austin Friday 31 August Elaine Wilson Anna Brooks .????? 2ND Break Anna Brooks

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