O God, you have called us in the fragment of time to lead and minister to our Christ the King School community.
Send your Spirit into our hearts and minds as we ponder and plan for the school year.
In the words of Archbishop Romero:
“We cannot do everything and there is a sense of liberation in realising that.
This enables us to do something and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.”
God of wisdom, may we be ever renewed in our faith and trust in you.
We acknowledge your presence amongst us,
just as the early believers who walked the way to Emmaus were conscious of your presence in their midst.
Help us to act in openness and sincerity as we work together to support every student,
staff member and parent within our Christ the King School community.
We ask this in Jesus’ name
Amen
Dear Parents and Guardians
Hope you and your families are doing well. I want to thank all the parents and staff for keeping it as upbeat and normal as they can. Parents have obviously done an amazing job discussing mask-wearing with their children and we have had no issues. Our teachers will continue to support our students, give them regular outdoor breaks and be a listening ear if they need to talk.
It is with a very heavy heart that I need to inform you that Peter Panizza has been diagnosed with cancer. Peter is currently in hospital and has been told his cancer is inoperable. His only form of treatment will be chemo and possibly some other therapies.
As you can imagine this has taken Peter and his family by complete surprise. We as a staff need to keep Peter and his family in our daily prayers and to provide comfort and support for Melissa as she is a member of staff at Christ the King.
Flowers and a card will be sent to Peter on behalf of the staff and school community when he returns home.
I have again spent time in classes this week and I have enjoyed seeing some of the teacher’s hard work in action.
Out on the oval our students have been gearing up for this Friday’s Interschool Cricket Carnival which will be going ahead as planned, just minus a few of our Year Six students whom we are thinking of as they continue to isolate.
It is always awesome to walk through the school and hear the sound of students enjoying their games out there. We are very lucky to have a great PE teacher to mix it up and find different sports for everyone to enjoy!
A new flag pole has been installed in the quad area as we now have the Australian and Aboriginal flags flying.
Yesterday was International Women’s Day – it is a time to acknowledge the achievements of women in our community – our partners, mothers, sisters, daughters, and friends. The theme for this year is ‘Break The Bias’.
Imagine a gender-equal world. A world free of bias, stereotypes and discrimination. A world that’s diverse, equitable, and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated. Together we can forge women’s equality. Collectively we can all #BreakTheBias.
Celebrate women’s achievements. Raise awareness against bias. Take action for equality.
I am sure you all agree there has been information overload in the past few weeks so I do apologise for this.
Merit Certificates
CONGRATULATIONS to the following students who received merit certificates this week. Photos of these children receiving their awards in the classroom will be sent home via SeeSaw. For those children not at school today, certificates will be awarded on their return.
Please note that, due to current COVID restrictions, all merit certificates were presented in classes.
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09 March 2022 |
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PP G |
Theodore Scanlan Emilie Guillemard |
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PP R |
Mateo Zlendic Chloe Alexander |
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Year 1 |
Jamie Bakowski Skye Chapman Sophie Salerno |
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Year 2 |
Caelan Lloyd Marcello Lloyd Charlotte Millett Teagan Trang |
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3G |
Bailey Read Lucas Hatfield |
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3R |
Eva Minervini Samuel Saunders |
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4G |
Arthur Redfern Cate Paratore Clancy Randell |
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4R |
Daniel De Boni Dominique Valsecchi |
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Year 5 |
Savannah Blackwood Max Geracitano Jasmine King |
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6G |
Lucas Simeone Charlie Grose Matilda Arkwright |
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6R |
Espoir Bita Alex Minervini |
What’s Been Happening this Week in Some of Our Classrooms?
Our Pre Primary Classes busy with inquiry learning. You are doing great learning Pre Primary!
Years 3 and 4 children working with Tangram puzzles in Enrichment last week. Awesome investigating!
Year 3 Red learning about ‘Litany of Saints’ as part of the Baptism unit.
The theme for 2022 is Kindness Culture. By building Kindness Culture together, we can promote inclusion, respect and community belonging for all students in schools across Australia.
The national definition of bullying for Australian schools says: Bullying is an ongoing misuse of power in relationships through repeated verbal, physical and/or social behaviour that causes physical and/or psychological harm. It can involve an individual or a group misusing their power over one or more persons. Bullying can happen in person or online, and it can be obvious or hidden. Bullying of any form or for any reason can have long-term effects on those involved, including bystanders. Isolated incidents and conflict or fights between equals, whether in person or online, are not defined as bullying.
Bullying is defined 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.
The key word here is repeated. Children often tease or fight, and this should not be confused with bullying.
Behaviours that do not constitute bullying include: • mutual arguments and disagreements (where there is no power imbalance) • not liking someone or a single act of social rejection • isolated acts of meanness or spite • isolated incidents of aggression, intimidation or violence.
Once we make our way through Covid, we will be introducing ‘Buddies’ where older year levels buddy with a younger year level building the language of friendship, support and someone they can go to in the playground if needed.
For further information go to: https://bullyingnoway.gov.au
I wish to encourage engagement from our dads at Christ the King by highlighting the ‘Fathering Project’. The Fathering Project recognises that fathers, and father figures, play a vital role in children’s lives. The evidence demonstrating fathers’ potential to positively influence their children’s health and mental health, social success and academic achievements is now robust, indisputable, and compelling. For more information, please visit the website: https://thefatheringproject.org/
The Fathering Project is an evidence-based organisation that aims to promote positive fathering behaviours and fathers’ engagement with their infants, preschool, primary school and adolescent-aged children. I am calling any dads who wish to help me setup a group so we can plan events and engage with each and our children, please contact my email andrew.kelly@cewa.edu.au to register your interest. The first gathering/introduction meeting will hopefully take place early Term Two at school (depending on Covid restrictions). More details will follow shortly. Some of the activities will be a father/child(ren) sleepover at school, bowls, guest speakers, social events etc. In the meantime, please read the first article for 2022 below:
Helping your child to identify and express their emotions
As adults, we’ve had some time to understand our emotions, what they mean and how to express them, but it can still be quite difficult. For children, it’s even harder and almost non existent as they’re still developing and not at the stage where they completely understand their emotions and how to handle them. They need to learn from us!
It’s incredibly important to help your child to identify and deal with their emotions, and provide the space and opportunity to express how they feel and let them it’s ok to do so.
We need to let our children know it’s healthy to talk about emotions and feelings, and modelling this to your child is a great start.
Ways to help your child identify and express their emotions:
- Model calm behaviour
If you’re feeling worked up, take a moment to calm yourself before responding. This will model to your child to do the same when faced with situations that are frustrating.
- Talk about how feelings can be expressed
Set a good example and let them know feelings can be expressed through communicating and talking about it. Encourage them to express themselves whenever possible and let you know how they’re feeling by using their words.
- Teach skills to nurture inner strength
This can include teaching and modelling a growth mindset and positive thinking, self belief and self discipline.
- Name the feeling
Naming each feeling is the first step to helping your child identify them. When they’re having a meltdown, calmly ask what they are currently feeling and say it out loud. Is it sadness? Anger? Embarrassment? This helps them to become more in tune with each emotion.
- Identify feelings in others
Having empathy, and understanding other people’s emotions is also important. A great way to do this is through cartoons or books. Ask questions like “How do you think they are feeling?” “How would you feel if that happened to you?”
Have a wonderful remainder of the week!
Andrew Kelly
Principal
