St Raphael’s Catholic School Term 1, Week 6/B Newsletter 2 March 2015
Dear Parents, Over past weeks, I have been reflecting on the pace of life here at St Raphael’s. There have been multiple swimming carnivals, parent information nights, school masses, Project Compassion, the start of Lent, preparation for the Festival of International Understanding, student assessments, sporting trials, band workshops, assemblies and of course Learning! I know that our loving God has given us the strength to confront challenges. It is times like this, when things move so quickly, that I remind myself to pause and reflect. In these times of reflection, I am always reminded by the joy that God has brought to my life. There are so many things to be grateful for: good health, family, friends, students, colleagues, sunshine, happiness and the wonderful community that is St Raphael’s Catholic School. In the busyness of life, I encourage you to spend some time in reflection. What you will see when you take time, will take your breath away. I would like to challenge everyone to reflect at least once a day. Reflect on your day, on your life, on what you’ve been doing right, and what isn’t working. Reflect on every aspect of your life. Reflection assists in continually improving. Below are reasons to adapt a pattern of reflection: 1. It helps you learn from your mistakes. 2. It gives you great ideas. 3. It helps you help others. 4. It makes you happier. 5. It gives you perspective. On Wednesday Year 6 students, along with Miss Slaven and Mr Colemane travel to Lake Burrendong to attend Year 6 Camp. We wish everyone the best of luck as they participate in a wide range of learning experiences. The value of this experience is enormous as they live together, learn from each other and work through activities and challenges as a group. This week 38 students (20 primary and 18 secondary) will travel to Dubbo to compete at the Diocesan Swimming Carnival. We wish students the very best of luck at the carnival as they represent in various events. Thank you to parents for transporting your children. P.O. Box 7, Cowra 2794 Tel: 6342.2940
bathurstcatholicyouth.org
Next week is Catholic Schools Week. This is a fantastic opportunity to showcase the achievements of students and the opportunities that they have access to. The theme for this year is ‘Educating for today and tomorrow’. A note containing all relevant information will be sent home early this week. Have a great week. Andrew Casey Acting Principal
God of infinite love, I thank you for this reminder of your love and your call that we be more patient, gentle and compassionate with others. Here in the middle of Lent. Amen
Monday 2 Tuesday 3 Primary Diocesan Swimming Carnival in Dubbo. Wednesday 4 Secondary Diocesan Swimming Carnival in Dubbo. Thursday 5 Happy birthday to Emma Chalker, Shiloh Smith and Ethan Tindall. Friday 6 Happy birthday to Matilda Proctor and Depp Ryan-Lukasiak. Festival of International Understanding – Choir to sing at the Peace Bell Ceremony at 5:45pm. Saturday 7 Festival of International Understanding Parade at 2:30pm – Choir to sing at Ceremony. Happy birthday to Sam Myers, Ellie Thompson and th Harry Thuaux for the 8 . Email: straphaels@bth.catholic.edu.au School Website: www.straphaelscowra.catholic.edu.au
Dates for the Calendar Week 7 - Catholic Schools Week ‘Educating For Today and Tomorrow’: March 9-15 - Heritage Day Fete: Friday March 13th 1pm-2.30pm Week 10 - Holy Week
School Eucharistic Ministers for Weekend Parish Masses: th Sun 8 March: Mr and Mrs Colemane.
Sports Uniform Year 3 and 4 Year 3 and 4 will be wearing sports uniform this Wednesday for Physical Activity. They will still wear sports uniform for normal Sport on Thursday. K-10 Swimming Carnival in Dubbo Our St. Raphael's Swimming team travelled to Wellington last week to represent us at the K-10 Schools Swimming carnival. 51 students travelled to Wellington this year many on the bus, and the balance by car with the enduring support of their parents. We had some outstanding performances and we secured many age champions medals. During the day all many of our swimmers recorded quicker times then they qualified with showing that they could indeed rise to the occasion. Many of our relays teams where successful and overall we had 18 swimmers progress to the Secondary Diocese carnival to be held this week on Wednesday and 21 students progress to the Primary Diocesan carnival to be held on Tuesday. Age Champions from Central Schools Carnival are: Carter Langfield Philippa Austin Sam Kelly William Cain Samantha McCabe Cameron Trengove Madeleine Cain Riley Barron Finishing second over-all behind St. Matthew’s of nd Mudgee, a really great achievement and 2 in the Sports Masters trophy (a population adjusted result) behind Wellington. Congratulations all those students who did us proud. I would like to give a big thank you to all of the parents and staff that made the carnival a great success this year. So thank you! The Primary Diocesan Swimming Carnival is on rd Tuesday, 3 March and the Secondary Diocesan th Swimming Carnival is on Wednesday, 4 March. Good luck to all those students representing the school. Steve Thomas – Sports Co-ordinator P.O. Box 7, Cowra 2794 Tel: 6342.2940
2nd March 2015 Volume 1, Issue 3 IT SURVIVED…..SUMMER HEAT Back to school, back to business, back to the kindigarden……..and it survived! Many thanks to Errol and Miss Blazely for their care of the kindigarden during the summer holidays. The plants have thrived during the break and we have returned to find ripe cucumbers, tomatoes, and strawberries. And finally the capsicums appear to be fruiting.
Last week saw the delivery of the final two beds for the Kindigarden. A big thank you to the Cowra Men’s Shed for assisting with the delivery of these beds. The additional beds are deeper holding more soil for the plants to establish a strong root system. These additional beds will service the students a little better giving them more space for a variety of plantings and room for plenty of students to access the beds. At present the location of the kindigarden is under review so please be patient whilst it relocates. CLAIMING THE DATE— GARDEN PARTY Having witnessed the enthusiasm of so many children wanting to contribute to the Kindigarden, the opportunity is now being extended to all students in the infants and primary departments. With the assistance of funds from both the Cowra Council, NSW Environmental Trust and St Raphael's P & F we are obtaining garden beds for each year. Each year will be allocated a bed to care for. Five commercial raised beds are being manufactured by Amos Water Tanks, for years 1 through to 5 and with the assistance of the Cowra Men’s Shed, the disused water tanks kindly donated by Mr and Mrs Marsh, are being modified for Year 6. These beds will be located within the playground where the children can watch nature thrive. Email: straphaels@bth.catholic.edu.au School Website: www.straphaelscowra.catholic.edu.au
Saturday 21st March, GARDEN PARTY with a TWIST! An opportunity to contribute to this exciting transformation. Parents, children and grandparents are all welcome. 8.30am start. Be prepared to get grubby, any wheelbarrows, shovels, brooms etc are also welcome to attend. Could you please indicate your enthusiasm by emailing nargong@activ8.net.au, phoning 0263450104 Or messaging through the garden facebook page St Raphael's Productive Food Garden. MORE DETAILS TO COME SOON! Book Club Please make sure your orders are in by Friday 6 March. Please ensure you have all relevant details on the order form – name, class, payment number etc. Thank you. Canteen Update This week’s roster is as follows: Tues 3 Karen Budge
Wed 4 CLOSED
Raelene Nelligan
Thurs 5 Lisa Mallon
Fri 6 Cindy Langfield
Mon 9 Natalie Goard
Sian Tangye
Kylie Kollas
Brooke Marks
Kirsty Langfield
Please don’t forget there will be no slushies sold on Fridays until the end of term.
The St Raphael’s P & F is changing…for the better! Better at listening to and engaging with the parents and students. Better at valuing and utilising their ideas, knowledge, skills and vision. Better at making the P & F and its projects fun, social and inclusive. Better at building a sense of community at the school. We hope you’ll work with us to build a group that will not only support our students and provide important resources, but provide a wonderfully social and interactive community for us all. We’ve had lots of exciting ideas lately, and we want more! We’re talking about: Parent representatives from each class, so every class can have a voice at our meetings and input into our plans and decisions. More social nights for parents eg wine and cheese nights, game nights, outings, trips, etc. It’s even been suggested we take some of these nights off campus to local venues! Supporting parents who have great ideas for the school with P & F funds, promotions and helpers P.O. Box 7, Cowra 2794 Tel: 6342.2940
eg the growing St Raphael’s Productive Food Garden. Child-minding at the school with games and treats during P & F Meetings. Raising funds with a St Raphael’s P & F Food Stand at local events, moving away from sausage sandwiches into something a bit more exciting and different. The P & F running tea and coffee stands at various school meetings, info nights and events. Please check out our P & F website/blog. Go to the school’s website www.straphaelscowra.catholic.edu.au and you’ll see the P & F link to the right of the photos. We hope to build the P & F website/blog into a popular platform that we can all use to post ideas, comments and feedback as well as student and parent news and photos. WE REALLY WANT YOUR INPUT! While you’re there, remember to sign up to “follow” our website/blog so you receive an email update whenever we post news, photos and coming events. You’ll see the box at the top right of the page. On this page you can read the latest and previous minutes of our P & F meetings, as well any many other interesting bits and pieces that don’t always make it into the school newsletter. You can also put your email address on our mailing list to receive P & F newsletters and other information by email. Just email straphaelspnf@gmail.com or call Ona, the P & F Publicity Officer, on 0409 608 118. Thank you. Looking for new Treasurer and President and Vice President for St Raphael’s P & F We are looking for a new Treasurer, President and Vice President for our school P & F as the positions become vacant in March this year. The St Raphael’s P & F has a proud tradition and close involvement with our school including: • Providing a forum where the views of parents may be heard • Promoting community through social activities; • Assisting the school with many practical initiatives including fund raising. All the roles are straightforward and can easily be handled by someone with no experience as the outgoing committee plan to help and assist the incoming people with their roles. Please consider taking on one of these roles. If you have any queries, please respond to this email or call Nicholette Savage on 0417 423 219 or Casey Proctor on 0429 110 072
Email: straphaels@bth.catholic.edu.au School Website: www.straphaelscowra.catholic.edu.au
WELL DONE Congratulations to the following students who have achieved the next level on the Behaviour Management Programme. Level 5 Talieka Burns Lucas McKenzie Anabelle Sturgiss Philippa Elwin Elizabeth Heilman Alaska Marold
3 Green 3 Green 3 Green 4 Green 4 Gold 6 Green
Carter Langfield Orlando Perry Imogen Chambers Natalie Mallon Inka Wilson
3 Green 3 Green 4 Green 4 Green 4 Gold
Your Teachers are very Proud of You!
Sevens Rugby It is not too late to register for the remaining 4 weeks! All players are welcome. No previous experience of rugby or sevens is required. There are teams in five age groups, under 7’s, 9’s, 11’s, 13’s and 15’s. The under 7’s will play touch rugby while the older age groups will play tackle. Mouthguards are compulsory for all and players will need to bring shorts, socks, boots & water bottle with headgear optional. Game jerseys will be supplied by the club. Girls are welcome to sign up to compete in the 7, 9 and 11 age groups while the under 13’s and 15’s age groups will be boys only. The registration fee is only $10 for the tournament to cover insurance for all players. Kick off will be at 6 pm sharp and the games will finish at 7pm. Bring the family and stay for the games. A full canteen will be available with a sausage sandwich or a hotdog and a popper for the kids at $4. For further information and registration please email cowrajunioreagles@gmail.com or register at the Cowra Eagles Rugby Club in Hartley Street from 5pm on 6 March.
Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome- Irlen Dyslexia Did you notice the article “What colour is this dress?” that was shown on the news and in social media over the weekend. It was asking people which choice colour is the dress for them individually ~ Black/Blue or White /Gold. This has become quite a talking point. It has created a great opportunity to make society become more aware of our individual visual perception of the world, especially in our learning. Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome- Irlen Dyslexia is A form of perceptual strain and stress Sensitivity to certain frequencies of spectral light A timing imbalance in the processing of the visual message A genetic mid-brain dysfunction When a person may have SSS A perceptual overload occurs The contrast is too great White background overpowers the black print Symptoms that may occur – Rapid fatigue when reading Slow down after a few lines Lose place Skip words and lines Re-read the same line Print distortions Narrow visual span Reverse or transpose letters or words Confuse little words eg. was/saw, on/no Headaches / nausea o Reading o Computer screens o Outside glare Poor depth perception o Judgement o Clumsiness o Poor ball skills Impact on learner – Student feels dumb, stupid Lack of success Loss of confidence Loss of self esteem Inappropriate behaviour Substance misuse Reduced employment options Crime Remembering – Irlen Syndrome is not an intellectual disability. It is a ‘hidden learning difficulty’ These kids can learn well if taught the correct way and in the correct environment. They respond to patience, persistence and understanding. What can we do to assist in the learning opportunities: Note the exhibiting symptoms Arrange for an Irlen screening A blue survey sheet has been sent home with each secondary student. It is for you as parents/guardians to read through the questions with your child and discuss each of the questions with them (not all need to have an answer). It is to see how your child perceives their visual environment in which they are learning. If they are completed out and you have any queries, please don’t hesitate to contact Mr Lette or Mrs MacCabe for further discussion.
P.O. Box 7, Cowra 2794 Tel: 6342.2940
Email: straphaels@bth.catholic.edu.au School Website: www.straphaelscowra.catholic.edu.au