36/2012

14th November 2012

Wednesday, 14th November

Valedictory Dinner

Friday, 16th November

Year 12 End of Year Mass

Monday, 19th November

Year 10 Exam Week

Indigenous Graduation at

Cherbourg

Tuesday, 27th November

Prep Orientation Day - Day 1

Friday, 30th November

Year 10 and 11 Last Day

Tuesday, 4th December

Orientation Day - New Year 8

students and Prep Day 2

Thursday, 6th December

Carols Night

Friday, 7th December

Prep - Year 11 Reports

Distributed

End of Year Mass

All Important Dates are now on our

College website: www.saintmarys.qld.edu.au

Dear Parents, Carers and Friends of Saint Mary’s,

2013 Enrolments: Please let the College know ASAP if your child will not be at the College in

2013. We currently have some classes with waiting lists for 2013.

P-6 Teachers for 2013: There will be very little change to our P-6 teachers for 2013. We are keen

to consolidate the work already done on the Australian Curriculum this year. Our 2012 focus was

English and next year will have a Mathematics focus.

School Wide Positive Behaviour Support Program (SWPBS): On Tuesday, our community

launched this new program with a special assembly presentation. The SWPBS program aims to

teach students what our Benedictine Values look like in everyday school life. The program also

aims to reward students who follow these values:

Be Responsible

Be Respectful

Be Safe

Be Just

Be Your Best

On behalf of our community, I would like to thank our SWPBS program committee for their great

work in implementing this worthwhile program. The committee is: Pam Radcliffe (Chairperson),

Sean Erwin, Graham Turnbull, Chris Cook, Jenny Foody-Versace, Jenny Mazzer and Fiona O’Kane

(Parent Representative).

Year 12 Farewell: On behalf of our community, I would like to wish our Year 12s and their

parents who are leaving our community all the best for the future. We have, and will have, a number

of events to farewell our students across the week.

Tuesday: Schoolies talk & farewell retreat.

Wednesday: Valedictory dinner.

Friday: Graduation Mass (9.15 am - All welcome), Mary Knoll Centre

It was a pleasure to spend Tuesday afternoon with our Seniors as they took the time to farewell each

other at our Farewell Retreat.

Student Leaders 2013: We have finalised most of our student leadership positions for 2013 apart

from our Student Representative Council members which will be decided in 2013.

I would like to congratulate all of the following students who have been asked to take on leadership

positions for 2013:

College Captains: Matthew Guteridge & Samantha Watson

Committee Leaders: Eline Beijsens, Brooke Davis, Brendan McCarron, Jackson Mantelow

2013 P-6 Teachers

Prep Nichole Carmody

Year 1 Claire Van Dyk

Year 2 Scott Collier

Year 3 Jennifer Foody-Versace

Year 4 Rachel McNamara

Year 5 Leesa Johnston

Year 6 Celia O’Connor (4 days) and

Shelley Weier (1 day release)

House Captains: Claire Anderson

(Polding); Jordan Gossow (Quinn),

Rachael Patroni (Rush)

2013 College Bursaries: I am also very

pleased to announce the students who will

receive College bursaries in 2013. The

bursary committees had to look through

many worthy applications, but decided to

award next year’s bursaries to:

Good Samaritan Bursary: Matthew Harch

(Yr 11) & Jack Brebner (Yr 8)

Music Bursary: Kimberley Ross (Yrs 7 –

12) and Meg Wernecke (P-6)

Yours in Christ

Mr Michael Nayler

Principal

From the Deputy

School Wide Positive Behaviour Launch

Thank you to the SWPBS committee for a

fabulous launch yesterday. Thank you to the

invited guests who attended and were well

entertained by the winners of the film and

poster competition. These were:

Poster 1st place - Meg Wernecke, Sophie

Weier

Poster 2nd place - Jenna Hopkins, Caitlin

Lang, Kaitlyn Maxwell

Poster 3rd place - Tom Kelly, Sam

McCarthy, Josh Gronbach, Riley Berends

Film 1st place - Bridget McDonald, Grace

McFarlane

Film 2nd place - Madeline Crnkovic, Emily

Ross, Carmen Sowden, Mackenzy Moller

Film 3rd place - Madison Crane, Stephanie

Arrell, Naomi Baldacchino

I would especially like to thank Ms Pam

Radcliffe for steering the committee and

making the launch such a success. In 2013

the committee will be completing the matrix

of expected behaviour with student input.

As part of our Pastoral Care program

lessons will be taught on the five B’s and

the behaviour expected in locations around

the school.

Year 12 Valedictory

Congratulations to all Year 12s who finish

school this week. I look forward to a terrific

night at the RSL this evening when we

celebrate and acknowledge the wonderful

students we have at the college. God bless

you all and may your future be all that you

wish it to be.

God bless

Mr Sean Erwin

Deputy Principal

APRE News Graduation Mass

This Friday we will farewell our senior

students, as we always do by celebrating

Mass with them. Fr. Michael Carroll, Parish

Priest at Saint Joseph’s Murgon, will be our

celebrant as Father John is unavailable. We

start each school year with Mass and always

finish with one. What makes this different

for the Seniors of 2013 is this will be their

last school Mass. I remember well at last

year’s celebration there was much joy, fear,

relief, anxiety and quite bluntly a lot of

love, and that was just the Year 11’s saying

goodbye.

I am lucky to have taught these current

seniors in many subjects across their later

years, but what is really amazing is some

staff in the school have seen and been part

of their development from a very early age.

Being a P-12 school really makes a place

like Saint Mary’s home for many. At a

small reflection for our seniors run by Mr

Nayler yesterday, what surfaced was this

idea of our college as ‘a home’.

Surprisingly it was not just our long term

students, but also our more recent

enrolments to this graduating cohort, that

identified our place as home. True to form

this bunch showed some of the emotion

they felt as Year 11 students this time last

year. Perhaps the impatient ‘yearly

countdown to grad’ is not always what it

appears to be. I suggest it is also a period

ritual of detachment. One senior who led

this countdown all year said to me

yesterday, “I don’t really want to leave, it

all seems like an anticlimax.”

I invite all families and friends of the

College to join us at 9.15 am on Friday to

celebrate this great occasion with us and

especially with the Graduating Seniors of

our great ‘home’.

God bless

Mr Martin Perrett

APRE

Tuckshop News Friday’s extra choice menu

Morning Tea and Lunch Hot Dogs $3.50

Lunch Bag System Only Hokkien Noodle

Salad $3.50

Orders only - no orders will be accepted

after morning tea on Friday.

No more life saver ice blocks until next

year.

Kind Regards

Mrs Michelle Davis

Tuckshop Convenor

Library News Reading Programs

Thank you for completing the online

survey. There was overwhelmingly positive

feedback through the survey. The analysis

of these results will be used to help improve

the take home reader program in 2013.

Lexile Awards

Congratulations to the following students

who have received Lexile Awards!

Blue Award (3 Books) - Rahni Lucas

Red Award (5 Books) - Abby Perrett

Bronze Award (10 Books) - Ryan Maudsley,

Lachlan O’Kane, Khyla Thompson, Sammi

Rix

Silver Award (25 Books) - Caitlin Lang

Gold Award (50 Books) - Bridget

McDonald

Curriculum Corner

Year 8 Orientation Day – 4th December

An orientation day event for Year 8s in

2013 has been planned for Tuesday, 4th

December. This will include new Year 8s to

the college in 2013 as well as our present

Year 7s. The day will provide opportunities

for students to socialise and meet some of

their new teachers. Students will participate

in five activities for the day including PE,

Science, Workshop, Art and Drama in

various specialist rooms. Detailed

information via a letter was sent home last

week including a program for the day.

Year 6 and 7 Rite of Passage Ceremony

The College will host its first Rite of

Passage ceremony for our Year 6’s and 7’s

on Monday the 3rd December at 6pm-

7.30pm. This event will commemorate stu-

dents’ transition from one phase of learning

into another by celebrating an important

milestone within their schooling i.e. Year 6

moving into a new Teaching and Learning

Community (TLC) and Year 7 moving into

secondary education. An invitation has

been posted home to families today.

Kind regards,

Mrs Melanie Burr

Teacher-Librarian/7-9 Curriculum Coordinator

Counsellor News 5 tips for forgiveness: empowering children

to deal with anger

Writer Helen Splarn. Editor Dr Ramesh

Manocha.

Source: Pyschology Today. Kidsmatter

The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness

is the attribute of the strong. Gandhi.

A lot is written about youth angst and

displays of aggression, however the tools

needed to help them deal with anger, their

own and other peoples’ is not very often

addressed. One of the most important

aspects of empowering a child to deal with

anger is to teach them to forgive and

manage their emotions. Being able to

forgive also makes a child more resilient

and helps them to balance their cognitive,

emotional and social skills as they develop

into contributing members of society.

“New studies show that there are concrete

and long-lasting benefits to forgiving,

including reduced stress, improved physical

health, and better relationships,” says

Richard Fitzgibbons, M.D., a

Philadelphia-area psychiatrist.

5 foundations of forgiveness 1. Name the transgression. Get the young

person to name the experience they are

feeling angry about and who or what they

cannot forgive. Encourage them to speak to

the person involved in a calm way and let

them know that “you need to explain and

acknowledge what has upset you so that the

other person knows it made you feel bad

and you can ask them not to do it again”.

2. Explore their Feelings. Teach children

empathy so they are able to forgive,

explain that sometimes people are

aggressive and angry because they have

suffered someone being aggressive to them

and they don’t know how to express

themselves in another way. Ask them

“What might the other person be feeling?”

Don’t let them get stuck not forgiving.

There are usually ‘two side to the coin’ so

encourage a young person to put things

into perspective and also see the reasons

behind why someone has been aggressive

to them. This helps the process of

forgiveness.

3. Ready to forgive. A child is ready to

forgive when they don’t want to experience

those feelings of anger, frustration,

resentment or guilt anymore. Help bring

them to this point by asking them “What

do you gain by holding a grudge?”

Feelings of anger keep them backward

looking, encourage them to be forward

looking and move on by forgiving the

person or themselves.

4. Let it all go. When they are ready to

forgive explain to them that it must be

genuine and heartfelt if they are to feel

better and be able to move on. It must

come from the heart and cannot be lip

service. Don’t pressure the child, give them

time to come round to feeling that they

want to accept that someone has said sorry

and they want to forgive from inside. Kids

that know how to “really forgive” are more

likely to successfully manage life’s

experiences and are able to create a

foundation of strength as well as self-love.

5. The way of the world. When young

people become more aware of the world

around them and see the struggles of others

they find it easier to forgive. Help them to

understand that there are people in the

world who experience wrongs done to

them every day. Forgiveness is an

emotional process of clearing past hurts so

you can be free to live your happiest life as

an adult or child. Forgiving helps a child to

become kind, compassionate and loving

with the ability to see things from another

person’s perspective and realise that

staying angry at someone or something is

ultimately hurtful only to themselves.

“Kids need to learn that it’s okay to be

angry,” says Dr. Fitzgibbons, “but that

staying angry for a long time can be

harmful.”

Kind regards,

Mr Graham Turnbull

Counsellor

Primary Swimming News

I would like to send a friendly reminder

that all swimming classes will resume for

Years 2 to 7 on Monday 19 November next

week and continue through Weeks 7 and 8.

Students in Prep and Year 1 will resume on

Tuesday 20 November and have an

additional make-up lesson on Wednesday

21 November. Additionally, their

scheduled Tuesday lesson on 27 November

has been changed to Wednesday 28

November due to the clash with Transition

Day on the Tuesday.

Please be advised that all students who

own swimming caps must wear these with

their sun safe shirts. This directive has

come from Brisbane Catholic Education.

From the start of 2013, it will be

compulsory for all students to wear both

swimming caps and shirts. Thank you for

your support of this program.

Kind regards

Mrs Marian Carlton

HPE teacher-Primary

P&F News

Next Meeting

Next Tuesday, 20th November the P&F

Meeting will be held at the Carrollee Hotel

for dinner from 6.30pm. An extended

invitation goes out to our community

members to attend the evening.

Kind regards,

Damo Martoo

P&F President

Christmas Appeal Year 6 is running a Christmas appeal to

give food to the needy. Please bring along

non perishable goods to the College office

and they will be collected every

Wednesday.

Thank you for your continued support,

Year 6 students.

Pauls Milk Collect-a-Cap Families that use Pauls milk, please keep the specially marked lid. The collection box is located in the College front office.