Dear Parents and Guardians,
WESTERN AUSTRALIA (WA) DAY
WESTERN AUSTRALIA (WA) DAY is held on the first Monday in June each year and is a State holiday only. It commemorates the foundation of the Swan River Colony near Perth by European settlers – Captain James Stirling in 1829, although sightings and landings occurred as far back as 1616. Originally, Albany on the south coast, was to be the capital of WA, but better resources for shipping and farming were found on the Swan River and Perth became the capital.
WA Day was previously known as Foundation Day, but to recognise Aboriginal people as the original custodians of the land, the name was changed in April 2012.
WA was settled as a free colony, unlike some other parts of Australia like New South Wales and Port Arthur. It was the only British colony in Australia established with land grants to settlers. The settlers were given land in proportion to the number of people and goods they brought to the colony and were only given the full title to their land when it had been improved enough to be considered established and sustained.
CONFIRMATION THANKS AND CONGRATULATIONS
Last Saturday and Sunday our Year 6 students received the Sacrament of Confirmation in what were two very special and memorable ceremonies. The celebration was the culmination of many weeks of preparation, which involved Religious Education lessons, student retreats and parent meetings. We recognise and thank the many people who have been involved in the candidates’ preparation.
Father Isidore and Father Pius, who conducted the ceremonies on Saturday and Sunday ensuring it was meaningful to the students and their families.
Miss Kezic for preparing the children so well. This takes lots of planning and hard work to ensure both Masses ran smoothly, well done.
Mrs Allegretta, Mrs McKenna and Mr Hancock for all their hard work in ensuring that the Mass booklet, PowerPoint and Mass organisation were well organised and clear for everyone to follow.
Germaine and Mrs D’Angelo for the music and singing at both Masses.
Mrs Urbano and Mrs Reardon for printing the Mass books and communicating with the Parish.
The staff for their support at events leading up to the Confirmation and their attendance at the celebrations on Saturday evening or Sunday morning.
The parents, as prime educators of their children, who have helped them on their faith journey.
The Parish community for their involvement and assistance with the Mass. Congratulations to all involved.
Prayer for our newly Confirmation children
As the children in Year 6 continue their journey of faith we recognise and remember it is the Spirit that is alive in our hearts and lives today. The following prayer focuses on the Spirit and its many special gifts.
Spirit of love – show us how to love.
Spirit of truth – help us to be honest.
Spirit of wisdom – teach us the best thing to do.
Spirit of gentleness – make us gentle in our ways.
Spirit of God – live in our hearts.
Last Sunday, the church marked the end of the celebration of Easter, with the celebration of Pentecost. It is also the celebration of the birthday of the church. The church uses the next two Sundays to reflect on two of the most important ways God continues to share: this Sunday, who God is and Sunday week, the gift of God’s presence in his Body and Blood.
Sunday is consecrated throughout the year to the Holy Trinity because God the Father began the work of creation on the “first day,” the Son made man rise from the dead on a Sunday morning, and the Holy Spirit came down on the Apostles on Pentecost Sunday.
Last Wednesday, it was National Simultaneous Storytime. At 11 am, schools across the nation had the same story read to the students. I was very fortunate to read the book to all classes. This year’s chosen novel was ‘The Speedy Sloth’, written by Rebecca Young and illustrated by Heath McKenzie. This inspiring story celebrates all winners. I was so impressed with how our children engaged with the story and made personal connections with their own lives. Thank you, Mrs Reardon, for reading the story to the whole school. It was great to see the sloth make a special appearance too!
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE INTERSCHOOL CROSS-COUNTRY TEAM
Congratulations to all the children who competed at the Interschool Cross Country last Friday. You represented CtK with a great deal of pride. Thank you to Mrs McLinden and Miss Kezic for taking the children to the carnival.
Boy’s and girl’s teams from Years 3 – 6 competed in the Interschool Cross Country Carnival held at Tompkins Park. All our students ran well, tried their best, and finished the race, tired but on their feet. Brielle (Year 4) and Charlie (Year 5) won Bronze medals, and Dominique and Jake (both Year 5) won Silver medals. The Year 5 Boys and Girls finished up as Champion teams.
When the raw scores were tallied, Christ the King finished in 2nd place – a tremendous result for our school. Many thanks to Miss Kezic for supervising the team and her professional photos, and to all the parents who came down to cheer for their children.
RUNNING CLUB
This continues each Thursday morning from 7:50 pm on the school oval. Each lap will be recorded and as the kilometres increase, we will keep a tally so milestone distances will be acknowledged with badges being presented at the end of the year assembly.
SORRY DAY
26 May and National Reconciliation Week – 27 May to 3 June – is a time for all Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures, and achievements, and to explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia. The theme for Sorry Day and National Reconciliation Week 2023: Be A Voice for Generations. Reconciliation must live in the hearts, minds and actions of all Australians as we move forward, creating a nation strengthened by respectful relationships between the wider Australian community, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Year Three Sorry Day Activity
Congratulations Miss Zugaro and her team for making Wellbeing Week so special.
Wellbeing is the state of being comfortable, healthy and happy. If we have good well-being, we have high life satisfaction, the ability to manage stress and a sense of purpose in life. Our overall well-being incorporates physical, mental and emotional health. It’s important to look after our well-being in order to live a healthy life. We all need a healthy base from which to live our lives and caring for ourselves is the first step to achieve this. Once we have a strong sense of well-being within ourselves, we can explore the world around us with confidence and reach our potential while enjoying our lives. We can be strong in ourselves, have positive self-esteem and thrive in our lives by looking after our well-being. Wellbeing Week was an opportunity to take time to reflect on how we are looking after ourselves, what areas we are doing well in caring for ourselves and what more we can do to further look after our well-being.
Jesus had numerous sabbaticals. He went away to be re-energised through prayer, quiet meditation and to spend personal time with close friends. Jesus, like many of us, was either unable or unwilling to spend large amounts of time away from His responsibilities. So, He maintained a wise rhythm in the midst of His busy life. There are many times we read in the Gospels of Jesus taking time. I hope you found some time in your week to give some time to yourself. In filling our own cup, we are then able to fill the cup of others. This is now our journey moving forward.
This week at CtK the children enjoyed the Wellbeing Incursion, Pyjama Day, Stress Ball Making with Buddies, Workout Morning, and tomorrow is the extended lunchtime surprise.
FROM MY READINGS
Below is the interesting article by Michael Grose outlining the friendship skills children require titled “12 Friendship Skills Every Child Needs”.
Friendship skills are generally developmental. That is, kids grow into these skills given exposure to different situations and with adult help. Kids can be picky about who they play and mix with. Popularity should not be confused with sociability. A number of studies in recent decades have shown that appearance, personality type and ability impact on a child’s popularity at school. Good-looking, easy-going, talented kids usually win peer popularity polls but that doesn’t necessarily guarantee they will have friends.
Those children and young people who develop strong friendships have a definite set of skills that help make them easy to like, easy to relate to and easy to play with.
In past generations ‘exposure to different situations’ meant opportunities to play with each other, with siblings and with older and younger friends. Children were reminded by parents about how they should act around others. They were also ‘taught’ from a very young age.
Here are twelve essential skills that have been identified as being important for making and keeping friends:
- Ability to share possessions and space
- Keeping confidences and secrets
- Offering to help
- Accepting other’s mistakes
- Being positive and enthusiastic
- Starting a conversation
- Winning and losing well
- Listening to others
- Starting and maintaining a conversation
- Ignoring someone who is annoying you
- Cooperating with others
- Giving and receiving compliments
ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT
The NEW CHILD grows up with fewer siblings, fewer opportunities for unstructured play and less freedom to explore friendships than children of even ten years ago. A parenting style that promotes a high sense of individual entitlement, rather than the notion of fitting in, appears to be popular at the moment.
These factors can lead to delayed or arrested development in these essential friendship skills, resulting in very unhappy, self-centred children. Here are some ideas if you think your child experiences developmental delay in any of these essential skills or just needs some help to acquire them:
Encourage or insist that kids play and work with each other: Allowing kids the freedom to be kids is part of the message here, but parents have to be cunning with the NEW CHILD and construct situations where kids have to get on with each other. For some kids “go outside and play” is a good place to start.
Play with your kids: Interact with your kids through games and other means so you can help kids learn directly from you how to get on with others.
Talk about these skills: If you notice your kids need to develop some of these skills then talk about them, point out when they show them and give them some implementation ideas.
Kids are quite ego-centric and need to develop a sense of ‘other’ so they can successfully negotiate the many social situations that they find themselves in. As parents, we often focus on the development of children’s academic skills and can quite easily neglect the development of these vitally important social skills, which contribute so much to children’s happiness and well-being.
Just a friendly reminder, 3-Year-Old Kindy Places and 4-Year-Old Kindy Places for 2024 is filling up fast. Please make sure you have completed an enrolment form for 3-Year-Old Kindy or 4-Year-Old Kindy and return this to the office ASAP. Due to the high demand for places at Christ the King, we will be having a second 4-Year-Old Kindy class in 2024.
GOD MOMENTS
- Being present for the Year Six students receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation.
- Seeing children keeping our school clean and tidy by picking up rubbish that wasn’t theirs.
- Patch celebrated her 1st Birthday last Friday with students and staff.
DID YOU KNOW?
- The koala is not a bear, but a marsupial, related to the kangaroo and the wombat.
- Babies are born without kneecaps.
- There are no words in the dictionary that rhyme with orange, purple or silver.
There are ‘great things’ happening in our school due to the efforts of so many people; seek to be one of those people in the coming week!
Keep smiling and let’s do great things together!
Have a wonderful, relaxing long weekend with family and friends.
Andrew Kelly
Principal
Premier’s Reading Challenge:
