Week 8, Term 3 2023 - 29th August 2023
Week 8 Reflection
As the mother of two boys, when I consider my parenting role and critique myself, I use this quote as my lens. For, parenting is a challenging role and often the most rewarding. The quote above signals me to ask myself… “Do I do all that is in my control to raise happy, healthy, exemplary humans?”
Fortunately, I learned early on that the best thing I could do for my children was to prepare myself by continuing to learn and by seeking support and wisdom from others who have experience and skills that are beyond my own.
I’m thankful that I took the opportunity a few years ago to attend a parent session facilitated by Luke Kennedy. His session was as powerful as the testimonials below indicate. The decision to attend that night was a wise parenting moment. We all now have the opportunity to attend Luke’s session at St Mary’s.
Luke S. Kennedy is one of Australia’s most sought after speakers for Primary Schools, High Schools, Staff PDs, Community & Parent events, Corporate sessions, and prisons. Through his unique approach, strong ability to connect with any audience, & his thrilling story – he hits home with some deep topics & creates big mindset shifts for all demographics. After most of his talks & workshops, he’s told by organisers that it’s the best presentation they’ve seen.
Participants took away many positive messages from Luke's session including:
- be yourself
- stop worrying about what others think
- free yourself from negative labels
- practice positive self-talk daily
- be careful with the words that you use (to yourself and others)
Luke’s message is relevant to parenting for any age. Luke’s talks are highly engaging and inspiring. His parent talks offer simple strategies for strengthening parent-child connections, self-care and positive mental health for parents, carers and children.
Terri Leotta
Assistant Principal: Religious Education
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CdMb-4cpsB5/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Father's Day - Sunday 3rd September
This Sunday is Father's Day - a day to celebrate and appreciate all the fathers and father figures in our lives.
May God bless all our fathers this Sunday.
From our Principal - Mr Wes Rose
Pupil Free Day – Friday 1st September
Please be advised that this Friday is a pupil free day. Staff will be involved in professional learning focusing on Christian meditation, student wellbeing and unpacking our 2023 NAPLAN results.
St Mary's Art Show
Thank you to all the staff and parents who have worked to coordinate our Art Show, held this evening from 5:30pm-8pm. This event will showcase some of the amazing artwork and photography that our students, staff and parents have created. We will have the exhibition in our school hall, as well as live music and a bar in the F Block area. Feel free to stay for a little while or longer, enjoy the artwork, live music and catch up with other parents. I really look forward to seeing you there.
Luke Kennedy – Parent Session
Next Monday, we are very excited to welcome Luke Kennedy to St Mary’s. Luke is an engaging and dynamic speaker, whose own life story sets the scene for a powerful presentation that focuses on the following;
- Resilience
- Bullying (Self-Bullying & Impact of Negative Self Talk)
- Understanding Labels & Negative Beliefs
- How to Be Yourself & Stop Worrying What people think
- Dealing with Change & Uncertainty
- Mental Health/Self-Care
- Motivation & Inspiration
- Reducing Anxiety and Stress
- Body Image
Luke will conduct a session with our Year 5/6 students in the middle session on Monday 4th September. We are also pleased to be able to offer a parent session from 6:30pm-7:30pm on 4th September in our school hall. This session will focus on;
- Mental Health - Self-Care
- Resilience
- Connecting with our kids
- How your actions and language may be impacting your child's mental health
- Bullying (Self-Bullying & Negative self talk)
- Reduce Stress & Anxiety
More information about Luke can be found on his website. https://www.lukeskennedy.com/or by viewing the video below.
This session is suitable for all parents and is free of charge. RSVP via this link (Please confirm your attendance by 12pm, Monday 4th Sept). Looking forward to seeing many of you there on Monday evening.
Quote of the Week
"Every day is a chance to be better.”
- Unknown
Father's Day Stall
There are 2 days left to buy your Dad a gift for Father's Day. Our P&F will have our Father's Day Stall set up at the St Mary's Basketball Court tomorrow and Thursday.
Wishing all our Dads a Happy Father's Day this Sunday.
Pupil Free Day
Book Club Orders
Sport News
Congratulations to Rylie Hanson, Jaylah Breayley, Harper Standish, Oliver Standish, Ava Callinan and Madison Malagueno for their fantastic efforts at the Capricornia Athletics carnival last week.
Oliver, Madison and Ava have all been selected in the Capricornia team to compete at the Queensland titles next term. Oliver competed in the 10 boys event and achieved a 1st place for his 1.31m high jump result. Madison competed in the 11 girls age group. She came 1st (and broke the record) in the 1500m, 2nd (and broke the record) in the 800m, 2nd in the 200m and 3rd in the 100m. Ava Callinan also achieved 2nd in the 11 girls high jump with her 1.20m jump.
Congratulations to Tommy Louw who placed 14th in the Queensland school boys tennis titles on the Sunshine Coast recently.
Simone Sibley
HPE Teacher
Spelling Bee 2023
This term students in Years 3 – 6 competed in the school round of The Prime Minister’s Spelling Bee. This was an online competition where students had to correctly spell words within a given time. We had some outstanding students who advanced to the state finals. These students competed today against the top students in Queensland. Congratulations to our state finalists:
Year 3: Nathan S
Year 4: Charlotte H, Ollie D, Max B, Reniel Z, Raj Q, Lexie M, Jayce L
Year 5: Georgie D.
We will wait to see if any of our spelling stars will advance to the national level. Well done to all students who competed in the competition.
Val Paul
Spelling Bee Coordinator
Year 6 Camp
Last Wednesday-Friday, our Year 6 students travelled to the Capricorn Coast for their camp, enjoying Great Keppel Island, The Capricorn Caves, Cooberrie Park wildlife centre and the Dreamtime Cultural Centre. Our students were a great group to take away, with all of our tour guides remarking on their great behaviour and ‘have a go’ attitude.
Sincere thanks to Mrs van Lint, Mrs Battaia, Mr Townsend, Mrs McGovern and Mr McNamara for supervising the students on camp.
Student of the Week
Week 7, Term 3 Student Award Winners
| Prep P | Helena | For the amazing work with your writing. You are writing sentences independently and are challenging yourself to sound out tricky words. You should be very proud of the writer you are becoming. Thank you Helena! |
| Prep P | Charlie | For your wonderful work during maths rotations this week. You are a counting and patterning star! Thank you for working so hard Charlie! |
| Prep R | Ivor | For the effort and improvements you are making when reading and independent writing is fantastic. Keep up the wonderful effort. |
| Prep R | Gianna | For the dedication you always show when working independently. You are trying so hard in everything you do. You are a star worker! |
| 1B | Conan | For being so compassionate and empathetic when classmates need you. Your caring attitude means so much to your friends. |
| 1B | Harper | For always trying your best in your BOOST sessions and your retelling is amazing! |
| 1K | Porsha | For outstanding effort in class, towards her work. Significant improvement in handwriting and the ability to write independently. For choosing to do extra work in your animal report. You are amazing! |
| 1K | Halle | For always bringing joy to the classroom. This week, you have demonstrated determination with your handwriting practice. I admire you for asking questions and sharing the most brilliant ideas. For mastering recorder playing wonderfully! You are a creatively brilliant! |
| 2A | Annabelle | For taking pride in everything you do. The quality of your work and its presentation is outstanding! |
| 2A | Hunter | For approaching all learning with enthusiasm and cheerfulness. You are an MJR star! |
| 2L | Paulo | Paulo you have been very persistent in your learning this week, especially when completing your spelling work in Soundwaves lessons. You should be very proud of your efforts!! |
| 2L | Ellie | Ellie you showed great enthusiasm for your learning, and kindness, care and compassion to your classmates this week! You are a star! |
| 3B | Cooper | For the thoughtful contributions you have made to our BOOST reading and HASS discussions this week. Great work Cooper! |
| 3P | Ava | For excellent use of emotive language features when writing about refugees. |
| 3P | Henare | For amazing improvements when writing descriptively in English. |
| 3P | Sonny | For being a great upstander and being a positive role mode. Well done Sonny! |
| 4A | Gab | For having the confidence to get up in front of your peers and the school during the Andrew Chinn workshop and concert. We can see your confidence growing as the year progresses. Well done! |
| 4A | Violet | For the positive influence you have in the classroom each and every day. You actively put your hand up to participate in classroom discussions and we love it! |
| 5SA | William | William, for the kindness and respect you constantly show to all those around you (including teachers, classmates and all creatures great and small), as well as the efforts you put into thinking deeply, posing interesting questions and bringing a wonderful attitude to all you do. Thank you! |
| 5T | Daniel | For being proactive and commencing all learning tasks promptly this term. You consistently apply 100% effort which has been very pleasing to see. Keep it up Daniel! |
| 5T | Justin | For being a Soundwaves wiz! You are lightning fast and accurate. |
Community News
RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) INQUIRY NIGHT
An inquiry session will be held on Wednesday 20th September at 7.00pm, at St Mary’s Parish Office, Morley St, South Mackay for those interested in learning, without any pressure or commitment, about Jesus Christ, the teachings of His Church and the meaning that only He can give. Inquiry is for adults who: want to know the basics about Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church, have never been baptized, or have been baptized but have not been Confirmed in the Catholic Church. Please contact the Cluster Office on 49574807 or email cluster@smky.catholics.org.au to register your interest.
