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Welcome to the Week 4 Newsletter. It is one of my great privileges in my faith that I get to be part of a Catholic School community and this week's celebration of Catholic Schools Week is a celebration of that community and the joy of being part of it. I am often asked by friends and even family, what it is about the Catholic School that led me to and keeps me deeply involved in this Catholic community. I am not as articulate as the Bishop in his key message to Catholic schools (see RE Update below) but I have been reflecting on the “Follow Me” theme that has driven this year's celebration. Such a simple theme but really this is what we are about when we are part of a Catholic School. In the invitation to follow a life with Jesus, we engage in a journey of lived experience of faith, forgiveness, hope and love beyond just ourselves and in doing so always walk that step closer to God's kingdom here on Earth. This is what we do when we share the face of God and the actions of Jesus in our values, words and actions. We are bringing about His kingdom here, today (not some distant aspiration)!
This is the work of the Catholic School and why I consider it a great privilege to be part of SBE as together, we take up the challenge to "Follow Me". It even links in with our School Motto - Pray Together Work Together and Why? To become people of Faith, courage and examples of justice for all (God's Kindgom on Earth).
Remaining Date of Term 2
As promised, please find a list of dates below for the remainder of Term 2.
One of the dates oward the end of term is the Jump rope From Heart. This should be a great day and one that offers opportunity to rasie funds for Heart Disease - Research, Cure and Care. And the added bonus is the prizes students get for particpation AND raisning money. While all students are particpating anyway, the ones that raise funds for Heart Disease recieve a bonus prize via the fund raising page. You can still register now and share with family and friends to build up your find raising goal.
Winter Uniform Reminders
Next week, we will transition to Winter Uniform. From Monday, it will be expected that all students comply with the Winter uniform expectations. This is an opportune time to discuss the following points.
- Full transition to winter skirt/ skort. Please note that this will be the second year where more and more students (who have already transitioned to the new summer tunic/ skort) will have to make a complete change to the winter tunic/skirt/skort that was once worn all year. The summer check is not to be worn once we transition to winter.
- Essentially, no bare legs in winter. All boys are also expected to transition to long grey pants. Girls have the option to wear long charcoal pants as well or grey stockings under their winter tunic/skirt. Stage 3 girls who are into adult sizes do have the option of wearing opaque Black stocking (80+ Denier) as these are easily accessible and more comfortable for their sizing compared to the school size stockings.
- The grey school jacket is the first layer to go on when the weather cools down. We do have a middle layer of a grey sloppy joe, but this is meant for when the weather turns particularly chilly and a third layer is beneficial. The school jacket is a much nicer look AND it is easily managed by our younger students when taking on and off (zippers vs pullovers)
- No Hat No Play rule applies all year. As mentioned last week, students will be expected to continue to wear their school hat throughout the cooler months. Often students tend to think it is not necessary because the sun is not hot, but we know that skin damage happens on the coldest of days. It needs to be a life habit - if you are outside, wear a hat.
- Shoes - We remind all parents that the clear expectation for the formal academic uniform for shoes is black leather-like shoes that can be polished. There should be minimal branding visible (in the same black is ok) and certainly no contrasting white branding.
- Sports Uniform - Sports uniform remains relatively flexible in Winter in that essentially it is consistent with the summer expectations although we do ask if a student wishes to wear long pants for the sports it is either the school tracksuit pants from Lowes or plain black tracksuit pants from Best and Less OR Kmart etc. Please do not send student in exercise tights – they are not suitable for class and school wear.
Period Positivity
It is with thanks to the Period Positivity project team at the Catholic Schools Office that we are sharing some key information of this vital program in our school. The attached flyer is self-explanatory. This flyer for parents comes with some of the best supporting educational resources for teachers to unpack this project at age-appropriate levels in the classroom (this content of which is on the second page of the flyer) which the teacher have planned to deliver from Week 7 onwards. We will update parents with further details at this time. I also want to thank Hayley Bertwistle, a member of the Period Positive Team at the CSO, who spoke with parent groups this week in 2 separate Information, Question and Answer sessions. I shared at this meeting that this project is one of the best examples of Student Voice in schools that I know and one must be a source of great source joy and pride to those involved. The project began with three St Paul's Booragul students conducting a Community and Family Studies research task into Period Poverty and growing this idea into practical and positive change initially in their school, then all secondary schools and now, system wide across all Primary Schools in our diocese. We appreciate not all parents were available to be part of these meetings, but I share this flyer now and ask that all parents familiarise themselves with this project set to be implemented at SBE from Week 7 (Education) and end of term (installation of sanitary product dispensers). Please note, this is not a program just for girls, nor it is a program just for the older girls.
Have a Great Week,
Jules Mulhearn
CATHOLIC SCHOOLS WEEK 2024
This week, we celebrate the contribution that Catholic schools make to the lives of students and families around Australia. Catholic schools educate over 805,000 students (one in five Australian students) and employ over 109,000 staff. For over 200 years, Catholic schools in Australia have provided a choice to Australian families for the education of their children, that reflects their own beliefs and values.
Our theme for Catholic Schools Week this year is “Follow me” (Matthew 4:19). In this story from the Gospel of Mathew, Jesus invites Simon, Peter and Andrew to place their trust and confidence in Him and to follow Him on a journey as His disciples (followers or students). For disciples, to ‘follow-me’ meant that they became like an apprentice to Jesus, to learn His ways, to love like He does, and to serve the poor and outsider like He does. To ‘be’ Good news to all the earth!
This invitation continues to this day as Catholic schools help fulfill the mission given by Jesus, to “Follow me!” Working alongside our parishes and other agencies to love and serve those in our communities. This attitude of service and caring for the whole person, flavours our Catholic schools’ approach to everything! From striving for excellence in learning, to dedicated pastoral care and wellbeing, to faith formation opportunities for every child, we work hard to help each child to flourish in life.
A Catholic Schools Week Message from our Bishop
CATHOLIC SCHOOLS WEEK MASS AND CELEBRATION
We will be celebrating Catholic Schools Week here at St Benedict's on WEDNESDAY 22ND MAY. We will start with a School Mass lead by our Year 6 Students at 9:30am in the School Hall. We will then have open classrooms followed by Morning Tea in the Hall at 11:00am. We look forward to seeing you at our celebration.
Thank you for trusting us here at St Benedict's with the care and education of your child.
Maths Bee 2024
The classes at SBE have been busy over the past few weeks completing their class Maths Bee rounds to determine which students will partipate in the finals this Thursday. We are proud to announce the following stduents from each stage that will showcase their Mental Mathematical prowess this week!
Parents of the finalists were notified last week but all parents and carers are welome to attend.
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ES1 9.30-10am |
Lexie Fenner, Riley Judge, Lacey Walker, Kaden Walker, Pranavi Jeeva, Archer Story |
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Stage 1 10.15-10.45am |
Aria Moiler, Emily Haddad Noah Jones and Evelyn (Evie) Smith Cruz Mansley, Lucas Steel Nate Toohey, Amelia Gulabovski |
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Stage 2 12:20-12.55pm
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Jack Cleveringa, Rhys Toohey Noah You, Alex Leigh Rithvi Jeeva, Foluwa Oba- Olukayode Vaida Johnson, Maya Pustovoyt |
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Stage 3 2-2:40pm
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Archer Guihot, Nixon Brock Oliver Britton, Ethan Carpenter Zak Pustovoyt, Angad Singh Joshua John, Jack Searle |
Spelling Bee
As our school Maths Bee comes to end Thursday, we are also preparing for the school Spelling Bee which will be held next week.
Due to the rescheduling of the AFL gala day, the Stage 3 Spelling Bee will be next Wednesday 29th May at 9.30am in the school hall.
Wednesday 29th May
Stage 3 at 9.30am
All other stages will be on next Thursday 30th May in the school hall at the below times.
Thursday 30th May
Early Stage 1 at 9.30am
Stage 1 at 10.15am
Stage 2 at 12.20am
Parents will be notified via Compass by Thursday afternoon if their child is a finalist for the Spelling Bee next week.
PLAY @ SBE
We are thrilled to share some exciting updates about our school's playground spaces and equipment at SBE! Thanks to the generous donation from our Parents and Friends (P & F), we have been able to enhance our school environment to provide even more fun and engaging opportunities for our students during their playtime.
Here's what's new:
Playground Games:
- 9 Square: A fast-paced and dynamic game that promotes agility, teamwork, and strategy.
- Huge Connect 4: A giant version of the classic game that encourages critical thinking and problem-solving.
- Scrabble and Jenga: Brain-teasing and balancing activities that challenge students' minds and motor skills.
- Cornhole game: Cornhole isn't just a game—it's also an opportunity for kids to practice their hand-eye coordination, counting skills, and teamwork. As they aim, toss, and score, they'll be learning valuable lessons in math, strategy, and sportsmanship.
Creative Play Areas:
- Lego and Sandpit: Imaginative play opportunities abound with our new Lego available for outdoor lunch play and sandpit areas, where students can build, create, and explore to their hearts' content.
- Fairy Garden: A magical space where children can let their imaginations soar and immerse themselves in a world of make-believe.
- Play Kitchen Toys: Encouraging role-play and social interaction, our play kitchen area sparks creativity and cooperation among students.
Enhanced Markings:
- Concrete Handball Games: With new markings on the concrete, our students can enjoy a variety of handball games, promoting physical activity, coordination, and friendly competition.
Since the combined lunchtime initiative began this term, we have witnessed a remarkable difference in our students' play experiences. Not only do they have access to a wider range of play options, but they are also enjoying the opportunity to socialise and interact with their peers in a dynamic outdoor environment.
We extend our heartfelt thanks to our Parents and Friends association for their generous contribution towards purchasing these resources for our school. Your support has truly made a significant difference in enriching the lives of our students and enhancing their play experience.
Thank you for your continued support and partnership in our children's education journey.
While PBL and our Wellbeing framework continue to be the driving forces to promote the safe and nurturing environment in our school, it is important that we continue to be vigilant for any bullying behaviours that can impact on another person's experience here at school. It is equally important that parents are aware of the implementation of these procedures, even if they never need them directly. It’s good to know they are in place. Much like a seatbelt in the car, they are there to protect all members of our community if things go wrong, as they occasionally do.
Over the next three weeks we would like to use the student welfare updates to unpack the bullying protections we have in place at our school. The purpose of this series of articles is to clearly set out the procedures regarding any alleged bullying behaviours. It is actually one of our biggest documents, so I want to unpack it over a number of weeks. (I will also move all three weeks of articles into a Special Edition newsletter for future Reference, should it ever be needed).
- Week 4 Newsletter - Purpose of Documentation, Recognising and Defining Bullying, Types of Bullying. Promoting Bullying Awareness
- Week 5 Newsletter - Investigating, Recording (tracking) and Confirming Bullying Behaviours. Including occasions when Bullying is not confirmed and why.
- Week 6 Newsletter - Responding to bullying, Consequences and actions, Supporting Anti Bullying strategies.
Purpose of Anti Bullying Documentation
All members of St Benedict's Edgeworth: students, teachers and parents have a right to feel safe, respected, trusted, and happy within the community.
Clear, well implemented policies and the modelling of positive behaviours and anti-bullying strategies has become a vital part of ensuring the safe and supportive environment in which learning can take place and positive wellbeing of all is paramount
Bullying behaviours are in direct conflict with these clear purposes and priorities of the Catholic school and needs explicit procedures to recognise, investigate, name and address behaviours that do not align with it.
Recognising (and Defining) Bullying
Whilst defining bullying can be problematic and hotly debatable, much of the definitions centre on repeated, deliberate hurtful behaviours that are dominated by a misuse of power. The National Safe School Framework (2011) defines bullying as:
Repeated verbal, physical, social or psychological behaviour that is harmful and involves the misuse of power by an individual or group towards one or more persons.
Types of Bullying
Some types of bullying are unpacked below. Again, the determining factor with these behaviours is the repeated target and misuse of power. One off incidents can be harmful but that alone does not confirm bullying.
Promoting Bullying Awareness
A perception of bullying can actually be three different realities.
- An incident is a one-off conflict, equally contested and no misuse of power but did cause harm. (This is the importance of the definition. It is still responded to and recorded but not confirmed as bullying)
- An incident is tracked to be an emerging pattern of potential bullying. (This is the importance of reporting and recording the one- off incidents - to find emerging patterns).
- An incident is confirmed as bullying behaviours (Very specific school procedures are enacted which will be unpacked in the coming week's articles)
We will discuss how we investigate and confirm patterns of bullying behaviours in next week's newsletter but within this initial phase of Anti Bullying education it is essential that we promote Bullying Awareness.
Age-appropriate conversations about the nature of bullying behaviours and how to respond to them is a proactive way to prevent them occurring in the first place.
Students drill down to these questions about Bullying.
- What is it (and what it is not)?
- What can students do about it if they see it?
- What will the school do if I report it?
All students are equipped with skills to spot it, stop it and report it. That way it is picked up before it even starts and most certainly responded to firmly if it has taken hold. Minimise potential, minimise risk of harm, minimise power of bullying behaviours.
Admin/ Finance Officer Suzi Di-Nardo Monday to Friday
Admin - Tiare Collins-Grayson Monday, Thursday Friday
Kinder 2025 Enrolments - Applications Closing this week
We are excepting enrolments for Kinder 2025. If you wish to secure a position for your child please complete the online application this week as we will be closing applications and sending our letters of offer mid June.
The interview process has commenced and the timeline for enrolments is as below.
School Fees
Billing Cycle and Payment Methods
School fees are billed annually in Term 1.
By now at least one payment should have been made to your fees account as per your fee agreement.
All fees must be paid in full by 30th November unless you have a prior agreement with our Principal.
Payment method can be via direct debit with the CDF; BPay using the fee statement reference number; or credit card over the counter or via phone.
- Each fee payer can tailor frequency of payments to suit individual circumstances
- Direct debit payment frequency options can be established as weekly, fortnightly or monthly
- BPay can be at your discretion and can be set up as an automated payment
Congratulations to our first group of students to complete the Premier’s Reading Challenge in Term 2, 2024.
They are:
From 2 BLACK: Paige Fenner, Kobie Fraser, Indi Garven, Mackenzie Hunter, Cruz Mansley, Ryder Marriott,
Evie Shelley, Ronan Somai
From 3 BLACK: Jack Cleveringa, Bentley Francis, Eden Haynes, Dylan Judge, Madelyn Kilian, Hunter Marriott, Willow Moore, Thomas Smith, Lydia Thornton
From 3 RED: Noah Bertwistle, Harrison Cochrane, Heidi Fenwick, Willow Harris, Lennox Heard, Miles Jones, Madeline Richards, Claire Tickner, Noah You
From 4 RED: Abel White
From 5 BLACK: Anliya Liza Linson
From 5 RED: Olivia Price
Well done.
I look forward to receiving many more completed PRC sheets over the next weeks.
Mrs Nicolaidis (PRC Co-Ordinator)
Canteen update:
- Monday 20th May - T.Dunnill
- Tuesday 21st May- H.Fenwick
- Wednesday 22nd May- M. Eisel
- Thursday 23rd May - Closed
- Friday 24th May - N.Tickner
- Monday 27th May- Fran
- Tuesday 28th May - H. Fenwick
- Wednesday 29th May- C. Schumacher
- Thursday 30th May- J.L Boyle
- Friday 31st May - closed - Athletics carnival
Along with our canteen supervisor Haley Fenwick.
Congratulations to the following students who achieved their PBL milestone over the last 3 week cycle.
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PBL Certificate 50 |
Awards Spirit of Jesus Awards |
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KB |
Archie Taylor, Lenny Grainger, Zahli Bashford, Lexie Fenner |
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KR |
Jaydan Hammond, Christopher Simon, Cruz Bird, Pria Lanai Mitchell |
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1B |
Kyah-Jade Walker, Mason Smith, Delta Fenwick, Ella Creek, Kierley Chapple, Chloe Anderson, Benny Steele, Seraya Wallace-Taylor |
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1R |
Sezal Banjara, Indi Eisel, Maci Mannix, Charlotte Price, Archie Snell, Noah Jones, Ruby Allen, Aubree Guest, Mace Davies, Hamish O'Donnell, Ashlyn Ireland-Swan, Wyatt Bobeth, Vivaan Gandhi , Alexia Bertwistle, Georgia Lovett |
Evie Smith |
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2B |
Pippa Groeneveld, Jacob Lovett, Priscilla Joice, Ava Isbester, Adithya Alackal Sudheesh, Arham Bhutta, Harper Lorrie, Nate Peachman, Kobie Googe, |
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2R |
Paige Ferguson, Nate Toohey, Massie Huntriss, Amelia Gulabovski, Jonty Guihot, Everlee Grainger, Charlie Brock, Giselle Arnold, Xavier Manusiu, Chelsea Hunter |
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3B |
Theodore Cotton-Young , Max Fry, Noah Giblin, Juan Jerin, Christo Mathew, Jackson Smith, Rhys Toohey, Ayda Bevan, Prisha Ghimire, Willow Moore, Charlotte Nymoen, Grayce Musgrave |
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3R |
Lennox Heard, Miles Jones, Sofia Golovodovski, Noah you, Dylan Tinawin, Harrison Cochrane, Claire Tickner, Henry Johnson, Macey Searle, Noah Bertwistle, Heidi Fenwick, Hudson Bailey, Alexander Leigh |
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4B |
Baily Reeves, Foluwa Oba-Olukayode, Scarlett Hunter, Roman Gulabovski, Ovi Rana, Rithvi Jeeva, Hamish Platt, Alexis Chambers, Sophie Atkins, Lyla Bashford, Rupert Miller |
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4R |
Maya Pustovoyt, Vaida Johnson, Connor Fitzhenry, Evana Biyas, Abel White, Gracie Reis, Phoebe Huntriss, Mila Manthey |
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5B |
Isaac Richards, Archer Guihot, Aavanika Kadariya, Anliya Liza Linson, Lexi Schumacher, Payton Kinnaird, Alanah Georgalis, Reeva Tamang, Lily Cassel-Denmeade, Hope Fenwick, Nixon Brock. |
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5R |
Lyndsie Kilian, Daryl Makanyire, Oliver Britton, Jack Fry, Tayla Rosetti, Layla Creek, Ethan Mukondo |
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6B |
Xavier Lovett, Ethan Smith, Zac Skardon, Edith Watson, Aditya Modi, Finn Sharwood, Zak Pustovoyt |
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6R |
Miller Burgess, Jayce Manthey, Scarlett Rose, Jack Searle, Bosco Thomas, Joshua John |
Billy Johnson |
