term 4 week 4 -...

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Term 4 — Week 4

1ST NOVEMBER

2016

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Wednesday 2nd November

NAIDOC Activity Day

Year 6 West End Oval

Sunday 6th November

Sacred Heart Parish Fete

St Pat’s School Grounds

Tuesday 8th to 11th November

Year 5 Ballarat Excursion

Thursday 11th November

Remembrance Day

School Council Meeting

Principal’s Message

Last Friday we celebrated both Grand-

parents Day and Socktober. We were

thrilled to see so many of our grandpar-

ents and parents visiting our school. The

grandparents and parents were able to

visit classrooms and then stay on to

share a picnic lunch with us. This was a

wonderful day for our whole school. We

hope that our grandparents were made

to feel very welcome. Know that you are

a valued part of the St Patrick’s community. We

see many of you helping with reading groups, drop-

ping off and picking up your grandchildren and com-

ing to celebrate achievements at assemblies.

Thanks also for the generosity shown through

Socktober. The donations made on this day go to-

wards Catholic Missions. Our school raised well over $600 this year. Fan-

tastic effort and thank you for your donations.

MATHEMATICS FOCUS

The Catholic Schools Office has made a commitment over the next 3

years to make Mathematics the focus throughout the Diocese. This focus

will concentrate on Years K-2. We will have one of our teachers appointed

to the role of Targeted Mathematics teacher who will be working in these

grades to raise our students’ capabilities in Mathematics. We are very

excited about this development.

SKOOLBAG

Don’t forget to download the Skoolbag App. By doing so you will receive all

the latest newsletters, notifications, alerts and events on your mobile de-

vice.

MUSIC & SINGING

The singing program funded by the CSO will continue this week. This pro-

gramme will culminate in a concert with St Mary’s School Yoogali here at

our school on Tuesday 6th December. Next year we will also be offering an

opportunity for our students to participate in a school band. Watch this

space early next year for details.

mailto:[email protected]


ASSESSMENTS AND REPORTING

Teachers and students are doing assessments in preparation for report writing. This is a very busy time of

the year for our school. Please ensure that where possible your children do not miss these important times.

PRINCIPAL’S MEETING

This week all Principals from our Diocese will be in Griffith for meetings. We are very honoured to be able

to host 2 meetings here- one on Wednesday for the Principal’s Reference Group and then all Principals on

Friday morning.

REMINDERS

If you are no longer returning in 2017 please let us know

New enrolments for 2017

Unpaid school fees are due

School Council nominations

Regards,



News from the REC

Unlimited Rides Arm Band!!

Arm bands are available for purchase at the front

office for $30. Bands can be collected at the infor-

mation desk at the fete. This band gives the wearer

access to unlimited show rides for the duration of the

fete. A great money saver!!

Socktober

On Friday 28th October, St Patrick’s Primary celebrated their annual ‘Crazy Sock Day’ to raise funds for those children most in

need around the world. Each year our local Catholic Primary School, supports Catholic Mission’s ‘Socktober’, a wonderful

fundraiser that specifically targets the least fortunate children in our world.

Last year St Patrick’s raised a total of $744.90. The money raised went to the children of Madagascar who desperately need

clean drinking water in their schools. Sickness and disease is part of everyday life for these children and contaminated water

is the major cause. Their contribution was enough for one clean water pump to be installed into a school.

The 2016 appeal is targeted at the children of Cambodia and will support missionaries and educational initiatives such as the

Mobile tuk-tuk education centre. With no formal education, these children will not be able to get good jobs when they grow

up and are very likely to remain living in poverty. We have all heard the term – give a man a fish, feed him for a day - teach a

man to fish, feed him for a lifetime. Education is the best way we can empower these children and feed them for genera-

tions to come. This year the school raised a total of $691.30.

It has been a worthwhile project for our school with teachers and students alike extremely satisfied knowing how their

effort will make a difference to so many children for years to come.

Social Justice Leaders, Lexi Salvestro, Jimmy

Uoifalelahi and Aryellah Dal Broi present the

money raised on ‘Crazy Sock Day’



Kindergarten Harsahej Gahla

Anji Nafria Sophia Afridi Abigail Tagi

Brianna Bonnacorsi Dahab Abbas

Year One Maddison Tooth Om Chaudhary Jordan Kelsey Mary Dal Broi

Jagadish Kotikalapudi Xavier De Marco

Year Two Stuti Chatterji

Javier Torresan Oliver Lanza

Ben Scott Mia Sergi

Soham Ghosh Lauren Minato

Year Three Matthew Webb

Diya Liddar Milly McGregor

Sam Scott Emily Laurent

Hamish Crockett

Year Four

Oliver Crockett Lochlan Painting Ryan Puntoriero Domenico Sergi

Dante Sergi

Year Five Jhaanu Karunapalan

Samantha Tam Jorja Ridley

Year Six Breanna Restagno Jaimee Martinello

Patty Agresta Khush Patel

James Roche Bryan Flores Alice MacRae Poppy Carlon

MJR AWARDS

Congratulations to the following students who have received MJR Awards over the last 2 weeks:



From the School Wellbeing Practitioner

Helping children to sleep on their own

I have had many parents ask about certain behaviours that their child/ren are displaying or have had teachers enquire

about ‘normal’ developmental milestones. As such, I have decided to write a quick bit of information for each newsletter on

different problems some of you are, or may, be facing. This first issue is on children not sleeping in their own beds. This arti-

cle is based on the SnoozeEasy program developed by Dr David O’Grady, a psychological sleep specialist in San Francisco.

The full program can be found here: http://ogradywellbeing.com/resources/articles-and-links/child-sleep-alone-snoozeeasy

-program-scared-kids/

We want our children to feel confident and secure, able to relax knowing they are safe, able to seek help when they feel

bad, yet able to comfort themselves when bothered by minor worries. We want our children to know their own feelings,

identify anything wrong, and talk about problems. We want a balance of independence and closeness. When it comes to

sleep, we want them to feel okay about coming to parents occasionally on an anxious night, yet comfortable sleeping alone

on a regular basis.

Primary school children’s imaginations are growing which includes their capacity to visualize potential threats. Kids think

about things that can GET them. “What if” thinking develops (What if a burglar got in the house? What if kidnappers tried

to get me?). This imagining can result in increased awareness of their own vulnerability. And sleep is when they surrender

watchfulness. Sleep is when they feel vulnerable.

Why doesn’t rational discussion work? A child’s solution to this problem of vulnerability is to seek the protection of par-

ents. Given a choice, a scared child will always choose the comfort of a warm parent rather than rely on his or her own re-

sources for comfort. Rational discussion doesn’t work because your modern adult brain is speaking to a sophisticated but

very ancient threat-detection module in the child’s brain that has been fine-tuned for the past 200,000 years. Just ignore

those scary thoughts? Not a chance. For countless generations kids did sleep with (or very near) parents. Kids with this

module survived more often than those who wandered off alone. The must-not-sleep-alone alarm serves a good purpose. It

protects kids in dangerous conditions. It doesn’t matter if the alarm is wrong most of the time (i.e., it gets kids to cling to

parents when there is no real danger). It only matters if the alarm is right some of the time. If it is, nature keeps it.

Comforting oneself is a skill one learns through experience, not rationality. Here is how the child learns: If the child thinks a

scary thought but waits it out and nothing bad happens, the anxiety subsides and, with practice, the child learns that

waiting and relaxing are good strategies. If a child does not try waiting and relaxing, there is no opportunity to learn that

self-soothing works. Whether an anxious night here and there turns into a chronic pattern of dependency is determined

mainly by how you respond.

Your job is to provide the right kind and right amount of reassurance. By developing his capacity to soothe himself, your

child masters his fears. This mastery and independence will generalize to other aspects of your child’s life, adding to his

sense of confidence and strength in whatever he undertakes. Kids who can comfort themselves are more self-reliant, more

capable, more self-confident.

Rewards for compliance will help motivate your child, get your child’s attention and reinforce effort. Certainly you should

reward your child with praise. “I am so proud of you. I see you are really trying. It makes me feel so good to see you so confi-

dent!” Best to keep rewards small.

Punishments don’t work very well for this problem. One reason is that when kids are in the grip of fear, they are willing to

pay almost any price to get relief. Don’t make threats. But you definitely should show disapproval if your child breaks the

rules. Aim to be brief and pointed: “I am definitely not happy about this.”

Are you part of the problem? You want the best for your child, but are your own emotional needs or marital dynamics

getting in the way?

Trying to calm a scared child can make parents feel pretty helpless and frustrated. Remember, your attitude, manner and

tone of voice are what is most important. Stay relaxed, patient and confident.

Sympathize. I know it’s scary, honey. I’m sorry. I wish you could feel better. Accept your child’s feelings as they are. Keep

your tone warm and soothing. Give a hug and a kiss. Be brief.


http://ogradywellbeing.com/resources/articles-and-links/child-sleep-alone-snoozeeasy-program-scared-kids/

http://ogradywellbeing.com/resources/articles-and-links/child-sleep-alone-snoozeeasy-program-scared-kids/


Redirect attention to something else. Don’t tell her to think about something else–get her to think about something else.

Prattle on about the details of your family world. You are redirecting her attention subtly, naturally.

Your child might feel that he must sleep and may just get more tense and frustrated the longer sleep eludes him. When you

give your child permission to remain quietly wakeful, you end the battle, thus helping him relax. It’s okay if you don’t sleep

right now, honey. It’s restful to just lie quietly in your bed. You can let your mind drift and think about anything you want.

Use humor. Make up a story that exaggerates the feared object and transforms it into something silly and funny. That scary

robber with the chainsaw you keep thinking about–what if you threw water balloons at him and he slipped and fell on his

butt and he landed in thick, gooey mud and he got so mad his face turned bright red and a bull saw it and started charging

at him and that silly old robber had to run and run and run.

Expectations: There may be some initial protest and anxiety, but if you remind kids of the rules, stick to the rules yourself,

help kids take ownership of the problem, and act with a positive attitude, you will probably achieve success within a few

nights. Relapses will occur. Do not be worried or discouraged. Simply stick to the program and its rules and good sleep be-

havior will resume. Don’t backslide into old habits.

If you follow the SnoozeEasy Program, your child will learn to sleep alone, relying partly on comfort from you and partly on

self-soothing. Here are the steps you will follow:

Develop a healthy bedtime routine.

Hold a family meeting to discuss the problem and how you’ll solve it together.

Start the SnoozeEasy program and follow the rules (can be found on the website).

Enjoy your success.

Zuzana Crook, School Well-being Practitioner



Dear Parents

School Board Members are elected for a two year period. Current members are eligible to stand for re-election at the completion of their term however.

The call is now made for interested parents to nominate, re-nominate or nominate someone else for board positions.

The School board is the Policy making and Financial control body for the School. The Board is responsi-ble for the financial administration, maintenance, forward planning, and overseeing the general run-ning of the School. As such, it is vital component of St Patrick's School. Members attend a meeting, currently every second Thursday evening of each month at 7.30pm. No more than 10 meetings per year.

The Board is composed of: The Parish Priest, Principal, Assistant Principal, representatives from the

P & F, Staff and up to eight parent representatives.

I urge you to consider a board position or to nominate someone you consider would work in the best interests of all members of St Patrick's Community.

Sandra Campbell

Principal

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

School Board Nomination for St Patrick's Griffith.

I, Mr or Mrs ___________________________________ Phone No. ___________________

wish to nominate ____________________________________________________________

for a position on the St Patrick's School Board.

Signed: Mr/Mrs ________________________________ Date ________________________


term 4 week 4 -...

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