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St Ita’s Catholic Primary School acknowledges and pays respect to the past, present and future Traditional Custodians and Elders of this nation and the continuation of cultural, spiritual and educational practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
PRINCIPAL MESSAGE
5 ESSENTIAL STEPS TO HELP CHILDREN COPE WITH STRESS
Over the next 5 weeks, I will be framing a parental support newsletter piece on ways of helping children deal with stressful situations in their lives.
Recent studies and research show that children and teens are more stressed out today than ever before. The combined pressures of schoolwork, remote learning, high-stakes testing, social life, sports, or other activities, plus lots of screen time have resulted in much higher levels of anxiety and stress among young people.
We can't completely eliminate stress for our children. Plus, shielding your child from the difficulties of life won’t do them any favours. It’s far more powerful to raise a resilient child who can bounce back from hardship and challenges.
Since stress is a natural part of life, your goal is to teach your child healthy strategies for coping with stress. Based on the 5 step chart we’ll begin with Step 1 Re-framing Stress.
STEP 1. REFRAME STRESS
Help your child shift from a “stress hurts” mindset to a “stress helps” mindset. Stress can be an impetus to growth if children understand that stressful situations won’t last forever. Instead, these situations represent challenges to overcome and lessons to learn.
Cognitive neuroscientist and author Ian Robertson compares the stress response system to the immune system: It gets stronger with practice.
After a strong stress response, the brain rewires itself to remember and learn from the experience. This is how the brain prepares you to handle similarly stressful situations next time around.
“Children need to experience a certain amount of adversity so that both their body and mind become toughened and resilient.”- Dr. Ian Roberson
Stress causes the brain to secrete a chemical called noradrenaline. The brain can’t perform at its best with too much noradrenaline. But guess what? Too little noradrenaline isn’t good either.
Reasonably low-stress levels can actually build stronger brain function, which makes humans smarter and happier, according to Robertson.
Armed with the information above, you’re ready to help your child re-frame stress.
Follow the steps below to get started;
1) Adopt the “stress helps” mindset yourself. Accept that you can’t prevent stress, that some stress is actually beneficial, and that stress can be an opportunity to grow. If you don’t have this mindset, it will be almost impossible to teach it to your child. (Plus, reducing your own stress is vital—stress can be “contagious.” When your child senses your stress, it actually alters their physiology to automatically go into stress mode too.)
2) Understand the reasons behind your child’s stress, rather than dismiss it. To an adult, a child’s problems may seem trivial. But they seem big to the child, and they are causing the child genuine stress or discomfort.
3) Help your child re-frame stress by discussing the following:
- Stress is a natural part of life.
- Stress comes and goes.
- Stressful situations can be beneficial if you learn from them, take action, and seek solutions. Provide examples from your own experiences.
4) Guide your child to find areas of growth or lessons that can come from their latest challenge.
- Ask your child to think of previous stressful situations. What did they learn from those experiences?
- What strengths did they use to handle these situations?
- What strengths can they use now?
Once stress is viewed as an opportunity for growth, your child will develop a much healthier relationship with stress and find it easier to manage.
CONGRATULATIONS MRS. LEHMAN
Congratulations to Mrs Lehman who obtained her Full Time VIT Teaching Registration. The process required Kiara to construct and presented an amazing project based on using student assessment data to improve student learning. The final draft of the document was 16,000 words and the quality of the project was nothing short of outstanding. Congratulations Kiara on your amazing effort to create a project of such quality.
COVID-19 UPDATE
Now that we are back at school and remote learning has once again been placed on the back burner, we still have to operate under specific Covid -19 Guidelines as outlined by DOSCEL.
Car line drop off and pick up will continue as normal at the school admin loop and the Drouin Rec Reserve and we ask that you adhere to a 10 km speed limit.
Please do not park in these areas and walk your children onto the site. Any parents wanting to park and walk their children to the gates at the school site can park in the Church Car park and walk up the ramp to see their children through the gates.
Sibling interviews are currently on hold until we can have parents and the sibling child attend the interview.
At the moment we can not have parents on site for Whole School Assemblies due to social distance restrictions and our Grade 1 sausage sizzle is currently on hold until we can allow parents back onto our playground area within the school site. We will keep all parents posted as any changes occur.
At this stage Parent Teacher interviews will be conducted via a phone call however if anything changes we will have these on site in the Multi-Purpose hall where we can work to the correct social distance guidelines.
SCHOOL CLOSURE - 11th JUNE
A reminder to all parents and carers that we have a Religious Education whole school closure day on Friday 11th June (this is the Friday of the Queens birthday long weekend). The school is closed for all students on this day.
Monday 14th June is the Queens Birthday public holiday and the school is also closed on this day.
Students will finish school at the normal time of 3.20pm on Thursday 10th June and return to school on Tuesday 15th June.
PARENT ACCESS MODULE (PAM)
We have developed a parent portal to access school reports, notify student absences, contain student medical history, contact details and permission notes. This portal is accessible via https://pam.stidrouin.catholic.edu.au/
To access this site parents will need to choose 'Forgot Password' and enter the email address that was used for Operoo. You will then receive an email with a change password request.
If you require any further assistance, review the user-guide on the school website or contact the school administration on admin@stidrouin.catholic.edu.au or 56237222
2022 ENROLMENTS NOW OPEN
Enrolments are now open and we are now taking bookings for enrolment interviews and school tours. (Covid-19 Dependent).
If you require an interview and school tour with your child, please contact our school Admin on 5623 7222 as soon as possible to book a time.
All parents will be required to complete a student questionnaire prior to the commencement of your interview (this takes a couple of minutes and you will receive it on arrival). You will also receive an enrolment pack with an enrolment form enclosed.
We strongly advise you to book your interview and return your application form promptly to guarantee enrolment for next year.
PARENT TEACHER INTERVIEWS
At this stage Parent Teacher interviews will be held on-site in the school’s multi-purpose hall (COVID-19 dependent, otherwise they will revert to being done via a phone call) on Monday 21st June 3:40pm until 7:00pm and Wednesday 23rd from 3:40pm until 5:00pm.
To book, please go to https://www.schoolinterviews.com.au The code is 82rxy
OLIVIA’S PLACE FUND RAISER
On Friday 25th of June will be having a plain clothes day as a fund raiser to help support Olivia’s Place.
Olivia's Place was co-founded in 2012 by Kirsten Finger and Melissa Raymond. Initially established under a national organisation, Olivia's Place is now independently governed by a local board.
The organisation is committed to supporting families through the highs and lows of pregnancy and early parenting. As Mums and Dads, the team at Olivia's Place has a great understanding of the need for support during pregnancy and the early parenting period.
The service is staffed by a fantastic team of volunteers, led by a General Manager of Operations. All staff and volunteers have access to professional training specific to their role at Olivia's Place.
Olivia's Place has the mission of offering support during any stage of pregnancy and parenting in the first year of your child's life.
We look forward to helping this great organisation.
BUS FREE DAYS
School buses will not be operating in the Drouin network on the following days in Term 2 & Term 3. All bus travellers will need to make alternative arrangements to/from school on these days.
Term 3 - Monday 16th August 2021.
SCHOOL FEES & FEE CONCESSION
Term 1 School Fees are now overdue & Term 2 School Fees are due by Friday 14th May. BPay details are available on your school fee statement. School fees are due by the 4th week of each term and must be paid in full by the end of the school year they are due, December 2021.
If any families would like to pay off their fees either weekly, fortnightly or monthly, please set up a direct debit schedule by completing a Direct Debit Form and returning to the school office at your earliest convenience. Please calculate the total fees payable by the number of weeks/payments required for your fees to be paid by December 2021. For any assistance please contact the school Admin office via email on: admin@stidrouin.catholic.edu.au
For any families that have recently received a Government means-tested Health Care Concession Card and have not already advised the school office, please forward a copy of your card to the office to check your eligibility, as a fee concession may apply. The card must be in the name of the parent/fee payer for a fee concession to apply with the student details listed on the card. A CSEF (Camp, Sport & Excursion Fund) form must also be completed. Application forms must be completed each year.
If your current Health Care Concession Card has expired, or is due to expire and your card is re-issued or any details have changed, please send a copy of your new card details to the office as soon as possible for the concession to be checked and applied to your fees.
SUPER “SUPERHERO” WRITING
Congratulations to Malachi French in Grade 1 Gleeson who produced a fantastic piece of writing about Super Heros. He was so proud to come and share his work with Mrs. Lewry and myself. He is to be commended on the quality, fluency and punctuation of his written work. Well done on presenting such an outstanding piece of writing Malachi!
PARISH NEWS
THE KINGDOM OF GOD WITHIN
God’s Kingdom is the focal point of Jesus’ mission. He speaks of it 162 times in the gospels so we can comprehend his vision. Jewish tradition anticipated a political kingdom of power crushing the Roman Empire and other kingdoms and bringing victory to the nation. The sooner the better! But Jesus’ reveals a very different kingdom, proclaiming, not some future external event but the Kingdom here, now, among us. (Luke 17:21).
If we grasp his message, this parable of the Mustard Seed (Mark 4:26-34) he moves us forward. He proclaims a quiet, sturdily growing Kingdom of infinite tenderness to be found in the lives and experiences of those we live with: silent, growing inside, hidden in the holiness of everyday life. God is not remote and removed from us in some distant sphere but in our midst, active in our daily lives, offering us gifts of freedom and fullness of life.
And there is more! Pope Francis teaches, “The Kingdom of God is within us.” (Pope Francis 13th Nov 2014). Indeed, “we need to look at cities with a mystical gaze, a contemplative gaze of faith and imagination, seeing God dwelling in their streets and squares.” (EG p274). Irish theologian Fr Brian Grogan breaks open Pope Francis’ reflection: “Christian belief is that Jesus comes from God: he is divine; God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God. With that firmly in place we can explore the statement that Jesus comes from within creation as the Pope writes: ‘He comes from within, that we might find him in this world of ours’ (LS 236). This is the mystery woven into creation: Jesus carried its hope from the very beginning. The flower that burst into bloom 2000 years ago was always there, and remains forever. (Grogan, BL. Mysticism 9 – Jesus Comes From Within)
Deacon Mark Kelly
Unfortunately this new development has meant we need to restrict numbers for the actual First Communion Masses. We will need to keep numbers to immediate family: Parents, siblings, Grandparents and Godparents. At present, we are waiting on the Victorian Government’s direction.
Take care and please know your families are in our prayers.
For any inquiries please contact Thérèse on 0499 116 428
Our 2nd Rite of Reconciliation will be held tonight:
St Ita’s Church, Drouin: Wednesday 9th June, 7pm
St Joseph’s Warragul: Thursday 10th June 7pm
We ask all our school families to please keep our First Communion Candidates and their families in your prayers as they continue their faith journey.
For any enquiries please contact Thérèse on Mobile: 0499 116 428 or by email at Warragul.sacraments@cdsale.org.au
AN INITIATION OF ADULTS
- Who want to find out more about the Catholic faith
- What Catholics believe and why
- Considering possibly becoming a Catholic
- An Adult Catholic who has not received First Communion or Confirmation.
If you know of someone that may be interested please bring them along to this session.
For more information you can contact:
Fr. Peter Slater: 56231642
Joan Robertson at St. Joseph’s Parish Office, Warragul: 56231642
Deacon Mark Kelly at Marist Sion College: 56235944 or 0427748646.
WOMEN AT THE WELL (Women’s Spirituality group)
If anyone is interested in coming along and finding out more you are invited to a Meet and Greet session on Thursday 17th June 10.30 am Marian Room at St. Joseph’s Church Warragul. In a supportive and encouraging setting we pray and reflect on the Sunday Gospel and listen to each other’s unique encounters with Christ. Mums are welcome to bring their children.
Contact: Joan Robertson at the Parish Office: 56231642 or
Michelle Blackwood: 0427 290 683 for more information or just come along.
PUBLIC NOTICES
DOLLY’S DREAM PARENT HUB
Many parents feel teaching their kids about online safety is important, but they don’t quite know how to go about it.
To help make your life a little easier, Dolly's Dream have completed the research and pulled together the most trusted information from around the internet about online safety and bullying. This can be accessed following the link below
https://parenthub.dollysdream.org.au/
SOCCER SKILLS PROGRAM
