There are more than six million mothers in Australia and between one and two billion mothers around the world caring for children and other people every day of the year.

Hopefully they feel appreciated every day, but Mother’s Day is a good annual reminder to say thanks to the mums and other special carers who help us be our best.

Celebrating mothers isn’t a modern idea. Here is a snapshot of the history of honouring and thanking mothers across Australia and around the world.

MOTHERS IN ANCIENT CULTURES

A mother is the most important being or character in traditional stories of many ancient cultures around the world over thousands of years.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians have a strong storytelling tradition to record and share information about how to behave, survive and look after the land. Many of these stories explain the belief that the Earth is a mother or the mother of everything and everyone, to be respected, listened to and looked after.

Ancient Greek and Roman cultures celebrated a powerful mother figure called many different names that generally meant something like Great Mother of the Gods. She was regarded as the giver of life to gods, human beings and animals. She was sometimes called Cybele or Cybebe and there were festivals, usually in spring, to pay respects to her.

Many ancient or traditional cultures celebrated a special woman, or believe that Earth is a mother or that a mother was a giver of life to the world.

FIRST MOTHER’S DAYS

Christians across Europe once celebrated a religious festival known as Mothering Sunday. It was on the fourth Sunday of Lent and was a time for people to return to their home towns to go to special services at the church they went to as children — called their mother church.

Over the centuries Mothering Sunday became more widely celebrated outside the Christian religion. Children would give their mothers flowers and small gifts on Mothering Sunday.

In 1870 one of a group of US anti-war campaigners and women’s rights activists named Julia Ward Howe wrote the “Mother’s Day Proclamation,” a call to action that asked mothers to unite in promoting world peace after years of wars including the American Civil War (1861-1865).

In the US, the first modern Mother’s Day was in 1908 and was the idea of Anna Jarvis, the daughter of one of the earlier anti-war campaigners. The white carnation — often regarded as the floral symbol of Mother’s Day — was the favourite flower of Ms Jarvis’s mother, Ann Jarvis, who had nursed soldiers in the Civil War.

MOTHER’S DAY IN AUSTRALIA

Australia first officially celebrated Mother’s Day in 1924. Sydney woman Janet Heyden, began the tradition because she wanted to help the lonely, elderly mothers at a hospital she visited. Ms. Heyden asked schools and businesses to donate gifts to the women at the hospital, many of whom had lost their husbands and sons in World War I or had never been wives or mothers because of the war.

Mother’s Day in Australia is the second Sunday of May. It’s not an official holiday but many families have their own traditions of visiting or calling their mothers, giving gifts or going out for breakfast, lunch or dinner together.

This Sunday, let’s take the time to make sure we show all our Mums, how much they mean to us. Let’s thank them for their love, their warmth, their protection, their care and their guidance. From everyone in the St Ita’s Community we wish you a very happy love filled Mother’s Day.

MOTHER’S DAY ASSEMBLY

At this stage we had planned to have our Mother’s Day assembly this Friday afternoon however the weather looks absolutely terrible with cold temperature and rain destined.

Unfortunately we can not have students and Parents in our hall just yet as we still have to have to adhere to DOSCELs COVID safety measures (I will contact DOSCEL to explore if we have any movement in this space and will let all parents know what our options are prior to the assembly.)

MOTHER’S DAY STALL

Our Mother’s day stall will be on this Friday and children can order a gift for mum through flexi schools. Students will be taken down in family groups and single students will go with classes on the day. Please see attached notice on the newsletter.

CHURCH CAR PARK ON MASS TIMES TUESDAY AND THURSDAYS

A reminder to parents and teachers to limit parking in the top tier of the Church car park on Tuesdays and Thursdays when Mass is on between 9.30am and 10.30am. Please park on the bottom tier car park on these days.

NAPLAN ONLINE NEXT WEEK!

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) will take place on line this year between Tuesday 11th May and Friday 21st May 2021.

Students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 participate in the annual NAPLAN tests in reading, writing, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy.

The assessment provides parents and schools with an understanding of how individual students are performing at the time of the tests.

NAPLAN is just one aspect of a school’s assessment and reporting process – it does not replace ongoing assessments made by teachers about student performance.

NAPLAN also provides schools, education authorities and governments with information about how education programs are working and whether young Australians are achieving important educational outcomes in literacy and numeracy.

NAPLAN assesses literacy and numeracy skills that students are learning through their regular school curriculum. All government and non-government education authorities have contributed to the development of NAPLAN materials. Students are assessed on the same literacy and numeracy curriculum content, regardless of whether they complete the tests online or on paper. Results for both formats can be reported on the same NAPLAN assessment scale.

All students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 are expected to participate in the annual NAPLAN assessment. Students with disability may qualify for adjustments that reflect the support normally provided for classroom assessments. You should discuss the use of any adjustments for your child with your child’s teacher.

A student with a disability that severely limits their capacity to participate in the assessment, or a student who has recently arrived in Australia and has a non-English speaking background, may be granted a formal exemption. Your school principal and your local test administration authority can give you more information on special provisions or the process required to gain a formal exemption.

If a child is absent, schools may arrange for individual students to complete missed tests at another time during the school’s test schedule but not outside of it.

NAPLAN TIMETABLE