St Benedict's Primary School - Narrabundah eNewsletter

Dear Parents and Carers,

Temperatures this week have been very cold! As we continue through these Winter months, I remind you that it is important that all jumpers are clearly labelled. Our lost property box, which is now located on the verandah near the front office doors, is often filled with jumpers and jackets. Any items labelled with student names, are returned. Items without names, often sit in the lost property for ages. If you are missing an item, please encourage your children to check the lost property box. Items not collected from lost property after a couple of weeks, will be washed and put into the Clothing Pool.

Trivia Night

Our Family Trivia Night was a fun night filled with trivia, games and community spirit. A huge thank you goes to our trivia king, James Lyra, our fundraising team, Cristal Tatterson and Mel Phillips, and the catering crew, Sally Veikkanen and Olga Morabito. Thank you also to the parents who came along and cooked on the BBQ. The team's tireless effort ensured the night was a great success! The Community Council raised approximately $3 800 from the night and these funds will go towards offering our students new resources.

Parent Teacher Interviews

Next Monday -Wednesday we will be welcoming families into the school for Parent Teacher Interviews. I encourage families to visit the Compass Parent Portal to book a time on one of these days to meet with classroom teachers. These meetings give families the opportunity to review student learning, progress and goals, celebrate successes, and discuss any concerns. We encourage all parents to take up this opportunity to work further with us to support your child/ren’s educational journey.

Enrolments for 2025
We are happy to say that enrolments for the 2025 school year are looking healthy. We have also seen enrolments across other year levels throughout the year, and still have a number of students due to commence with us before the end of the year. Our school community continues to grow, and we are excited to welcome new students and families. This growth reflects the trust you place in us to provide a high-quality education for your children and wonderful pastoral care. A number of our new families have sought out St Benedict’s, looking for a school with a greater sense of community, strong pastoral care and enhanced support for students in their educational and social/emotional journey. Our planning is underway for 2025, and so if you know that your child will be leaving St Benedict’s at the end of the year (with the exception of Year 6 students), please let the front office know.

Term 3 Survey - Tell Them From Me
Later in Term 3, we will be conducting the "Tell Them From Me" survey. Your feedback is incredibly important to us. It helps us improve our work and informs our future planning. We encourage all families to participate in this survey to ensure we capture a comprehensive understanding of your experiences and perspectives. Your voice matters, and we value your input in helping us create the best possible environment for our students. Watch out for further information.

God Bless.

Alana

Monday 22^nd July (Term 3) is a Pupil Free Day.

Staff will be undertaking professional development training on this day.

Students return to school for Term 3 on Tuesday 23rd July.

Tuck Day – Thursday Week 10

On Thursday 4^th July, we will be holding a Tuck Day (special lunch). Mr Noble will send out information soon about this special sausage sizzle lunch.

ICAS returns in Term 3

ICAS is returning to St Benedict's this year for Years 2-6. The ICAS competition challenges your child, motivates them to succeed and provides you with an objective ranking of their academic performance. The tests are fully online and sitting dates will commence in Term 3. Keep a look out for the Compass alert with enrolment information.

Safeguarding our students

The safeguarding of our students is a top priority of our school and the Catholic Education Office.

Safeguarding is a term used to describe the protection of and human rights of vulnerable people. This may be due to their age, culture or trauma background, or they may be at risk of abuse, neglect or exploitation.

At St Benedict's we are committed to complying with Child Safe Standards. Catholic Education continues to work with us, and all CE schools to meet these requirements.

Next Friday is our school's annual Winter Woollies Day to raise awareness of the social justice issue of homelessness, especially hidden homelessness as well as the working homelessness, and to engage our community in a shared formation experience of prayer with a purpose!

In the lead up to Winter Woollies Day, all classes will engage in whole school reflection and prayer activities relating to the Catholic Social Teaching Principles of human dignity and the preferential option for the poor. These experiences are focused on guiding our students to approach the issue of homelessness with a heart of compassion and with Jesus as our role model.

Students will wear non-uniform winter woollies for a donation.

Students will wear non-uniform for a gold coin donation and a donation of adult size winter woollies (winter coats, jumpers, socks (new only), sleeping bags, blankets, waterproof jackets, beanies, gloves and scarves). Please keep your donations (both monetary and clothing) safe at home until Winter Woollies Day.

All donations will be collected on Winter Woollies Day by the St Vincent de Paul Night Patrol van and will go directly to those in need served from the van.

St Benedict's Feast Day Celebrations Friday 5th July

St Benedict's Feast Day falls within our school holiday period, 11th July, so traditionally as a school we celebrate on the last day of Term 2. This year we will be celebrating how the Holy Spirit is alive in each of us and what we can do to continue to fan the flames of the Benedictine charism in our St Benedict's school community.

Students will engage in a number of activities througout the day including Mass, a school artwork collaboration, prayer writing and exploring the life and rule of St Benedict.

Numeracy Enrichment

Last Wednesday, our Year 5/6 Numeracy Enrichment students participated in their second 'Maths Games Junior' contest, facilitated by the Australasian Problem-Solving Mathematical Olympiads (APSMO) organisation.

This second paper focused on the problem-solving strategies 'working backwards' and 'making an organised list' to solve problems grounded in real-world applications.

Students continue to practice and apply their problem solving strategies during their fortnightly numeracy enrichment sessions and are to be congratulated for their wonderful efforts last Wednesday in completing their second contest challenge.

'Maths Games Junior Contest 3' will be held in early Term 3, on Wednesday 31st July.

Mrs Anne White

Numeracy Enrichment/Classroom Teacher

Trivia Night

Uniforms

Our Year 6 students are stepping into their leadership roles in style, thanks to the arrival of our brand new leadership shirts. These shirts not only signify their roles within our school community, but also reflect their commitment to leadership and responsibility. More than just a uniform piece of clothing, these shirts symbolise the leadership journey undertaken by our Year 6 students. Feedback from our Year 6 students has been overwhelmingly positive and many have expressed their excitement about wearing their new shirts.

Our Year 5 students can look foward to ordering theirs for 2025 before the end of the year.

Staff look stunning in their new hoodies too!