Welcome to the WEek Newsletter,

This week, we continue to celebrate Catholic Schools Week with several different events to add to those we have already conducted. We are very much looking forward to our Whole School Mass in the hall at 10am Thursday to celebrate Pentecost and our Wellbeing celebration with the "Be your Own Superhero" day to finish off the week on Friday. 

Association of Catholic School Principals Conference 2023

Last week, I attended a gathering of over 350 Principal delegates from all corners of NSW including more than 40 from our own diocese. We heard from some amazing guest speakers from Canada, UK and Singapore as well as those in Catholic Education throughout Australia. The theme of the conference was New Hope, New Growth. A celebration of Catholic Educational Leadership. It was the first time the biannual conference has been held since Covid. The power of the speakers, the focus of the master classes and the networking with other Principals across the state have given me great confidence in knowing that we are strong as a Catholic School community, within our own gates, within our diocese and within NSW. I return with key learnings in my toolkit such as: 

1. Hope is Not a Wish - Growth does not happen on a whim. 
2. The closer we get to the ones we lead, the better do it. 
3. Relationships, Identity and Belonging Matters above all things
4. Let the obstacle become the way by which we thrive. 
5. Beacons of Hope.
6. Heads and Hearts open for the mind to see. 
7. The four elements of our schools. Fire (Vision and Values), Water (Emotion and Connection),  Earth (Grounded presence and strength), Air (breath, voice and logic). 

Obviously, it would be redundant for me to unpack this list for you given it took me a lot of listening and talking over three days to even compile it (and this is but a fraction of what was covered – just those that struck me) . However, I leave it here as acknowledgement of my time at the conference, my learnings I now bring back to school and my renewed commitment to the work we do here. I also leave it here with acknowledgement and thanks to the staff, especially the executive team who led the school so wonderfully while I was away. 

Winter Uniform - Next Week 

Next Monday, the 29th May, all students are expected to be in their FULL winter uniform. Outline of these expectations are in the attached PDF. The  increasingly cold weather necessitates that we now switch to Winter in full. 

Apart from the fact that it is a clear school expectation (just like the wearing of the summer uniform), I want to discuss the importance of this uniforma expectation.

I appreciate many students will say that they are not cold but I will attest to the unsettled movements (wriggles and squirms) that we are witnessing from students as their body adapts to the different spaces around the school that are quite chilly - especially the cola and the hall but some rooms in the mornings as well. The morning playtime continues to challenge even the most determined student to wear warmer clothes and even when they don't teachers are commenting that they are coming into the rooms unsettled as their little bodies go into coping mode when not dressed properly for the weather.

Please ensure your child is in their FULL winter uniform as of Monday 29th May (just in time for the Winter).  Teachers will focus on this and follow up with students who need reminding.

CELEBRATING PENTECOST

The feast of Pentecost will be celebrated across the world over this coming weekend. However here at St Benedict's we are starting the celebrations early with a whole school Mass in our hall this coming Thursday 25th May at 10:00am. We invite all of our school family and friends to come and join this very special celebration.

The celebration will continue this Sunday at 9.00 as we join with the parish at Holy Cross Church to celebrate the actual feast of Pentecost with our first Family Mass for the term two. I encourage all of our families to attend this special mass

So what is Pentecost and why is it so important to us in our faith Journey? 

The Feast of Pentecost draws to a close the Easter Season. Pentecost Sunday is one of the most ancient feasts of the Church. It is observed fifty days after Easter and is designated to commemorate the gift of the Holy Spirit that was given to the apostles on the day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit was a gift from God to His apostles that comforted them, and guided them to fulfill the mission He had commissioned them to do, which was to preach the Gospel message to all. The Sacrament of Confirmation is the Church’s liturgical affirmation of the Spirit in supporting us on our faith journey.  

Yours in faith, 

Miss Michelle Collins 

(Religious Education Co-ordinator) 

Whole School Wellbeing Launch

To celebrate our launch, we will be holding a "Be Your Own Superhero" day on Friday the 26th of May. The day will incorporate an assembly to officially launch the framework, the installation of school wide and classroom based signs to support it and wellbeing activities for students to practice the skills needed to become their own superheroes. 

In terms of what to wear on this day, we open the invitation to all students to come as a superhero. Either design a costume from scratch or add on some elements of their own to a known superhero costume.  Kids, be creative! How can you adapt a design you know to become your own superhero and what traits would you need if you were going to protect your own wellbeing and that of others.

Maths Spelling Bee

Today, we held the Maths Bee finals for each stage, having conducted Spelling Bee last Tuesday (Celebrated in last week’s newsletter). I had the privilege of being the judge for each of these finals and I was so proud and impressed by the resilience, the patience, and the sense of calm from each finalist (when even I was holding my breath). The quality of the maths wasn’t too bad either! I loved watching the development of Maths skills as we progressed through the stages and was increasingly happy, I had the answers in front of me as the questions got harder and harder. Congratulations to all our finalists. You have done St Bennies proud. And to the winners of each stage? Amazing work, take a bow and all the best representing our school at the Maths Bee at St Joseph's Kilaben Bay on the 9th of June. (A separate COMPASS event will be created for those students) 

Exploring St Pauls 

To strengthen the partnership between PRIMARY SCHOOL and St Paul’s Catholic College, Booragul a program has been developed for enable students from YEARS 5 and/or 6 to undertake activities on nominated Friday afternoons throughout Terms 2 and 3.

It is anticipated students will undertake activities in the Food Technology Kitchen, Science Laboratory and Drama Room. The activities will be led by the teachers from St Paul’s. In some of these spaces the students will be required to follow safety requirements. This could include wearing safety equipment, which will be provided by St Paul’s.

Year 6 students from St Benedicts Primary School will visit St Pauls on:

• Friday 2nd June
• Friday 28th July
• Friday 1st September.
• This is in addtion to the Year 7 orientation days on 23rd August and 6th December. 

A COMPASS Event will be created for these dates and YEar 6 paretns will receive a separate notification regarding this.

We are very much looking forad to this exciting connection with pathway school, St Paul's Borragul as will give our students an emerging understanding of the wonderful things that in store for them as they transtion to their secondary school years. 

AFL Success

A huge congratulations to our AFL stars, Caleb Isaac and Hannah Gossage for their recent successes. Caleb represented Polding at the Primary Schools State Championships in Batemans Bay. His team finished 3rd overall, the highest placed finish a Polding Team has ever achieved at these titles.

Hannah represented Mid North Coast and Inland at the NSW ALL Schools Primary Girls AFL Trials at Batemans Bay. Hannah's team were outstanding, finishing first overall after winning their Final.

P&F UPDATE
Please join us on Monday 5th of June for the P&F Meeting. This will be held at 6pm in the Staff Room.

CANTEEN UPDATE
The Canteen’s regular open days are Monday, Wednesday and Fridays. If you have any spare time from 9am – 12pm on Mondays, Wednesdays or Fridays and are interested in volunteering in the Canteen please let the office and Canteen Supervisor Haley Fenwick know. It can also be a one off occasion or a couple of times a year. This will ensure the Canteen can remain open.

Please see below for the roster for the rest of the week:

Wednesday 24/05/2023       Friday 26/05/2023             Monday 29/05/2023
C. Schumacher                            L. Creek                                    N. Dimovski
H. Fenwick                                  J. Johnson                                 H. Fenwick
                                                 H. Fenwick

Volunteer Information 

Becoming a volunteer
To be able to volunteer within a diocesan school you are required to register online
https://www.mn.catholic.org.au/people/volunteer/ and complete all necessary checks, inductions and safeguarding training relevant to your volunteer role. This may mean you will be required to obtain a Working with Children Check and/or National Police Check. All paperwork and checks are to be completed and verified before you can commence in your role. Safeguarding training must occur
within six months of your commencement as a volunteer.