St Ita's Primary School Drouin
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50 Victoria Street
Drouin VIC 3818
Subscribe: https://stidrouin.catholic.edu.au/subscribe

Email: admin@stidrouin.catholic.edu.au
Phone: 03 5623 7222

T2 W6 2023 Newsletter

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T2 W6 2023 Newsletter

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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. 

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    Creator of all that is, seen and unseen, of story and of song, of heartbeat and of tears, of bodies, souls, voices, and all relations: you are the God of all truth and the way of all reconciliation. Give us the courage to accept the realities of our history so that we may build a better future for our Nation.

    We pray for your strength and grace to forgive, accept and love one another, as you love us and forgive and accept us in the sacrifice of your Son. Teach us to respect all cultures. Teach us to care for our land and waters. Help us to share justly the resources of this land.

    Help us to bring about spiritual and social change to improve the quality of life for all groups in our communities, especially the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

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    THANK YOU CLUB 88

    Thank you to the ladies at Club 88, a local organisation who co-ordinate fundraising for special causes.  They recently donated $1,000 to St Itas to help support students with needs in our school. The School Improvement Team will decide how to best utilise this money to engage students in learning. Thank you Club 88 for supporting education in our school community, it is greatly appreciated.

    Club_88.jpgHOW TO TEACH KIDS COMPASSION AND KINDNESS

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    Compassion and kindness, like many things, are learned over time and through practice. When it comes to kindness and compassion, you are your child’s primary teacher. And, there are many ways you can encourage your kids to be more caring and compassionate.

    What are Compassion and Kindness?

    Although kindness and compassion go hand in hand, they are different. Since we want kids to understand both, knowing their difference is essential.

    Kindness is an action that others can see. You can see qualities of affection, warmth, and playfulness. When children are kind, they can admit wrongdoing and reconnect with others. Additionally, it models openness and humility. 

    On the other hand, compassion is an inner experience characterized by sympathy, empathy, and concern. Basically, compassion gives us the feelings to show kindness to others.

    How to Teach Compassion and Kindness

    Before your kids can be kind, you must teach them compassion, including empathy and sympathy for others. Empathy is the ability to understand another person’s feelings or put yourself in someone else’s shoes.

    1. Believe in Your Child

    First, it’s essential to believe that your child is capable of compassion and kindness. Kids are impressionable, and they believe what they hear. If you tell your child they are not kind or up to no good all the time, then that’s what they will think. On the other hand, if you believe that they are capable of compassion and kindness, your child will also think that.

    1. Walk the Talk

    If you want your child to be kind and compassionate, you can’t just tell them to be this way. Sure, your child may listen to your words, but ultimately they learn more from what you do! Your kids watch you and model your actions. So, if you want to teach them kindness and compassion, you have to model that in your efforts. When you have a chance to show kindness, do it. Here are some ideas:

    • Open the door for a senior at the grocery store. 
    • Show respect to those you are talking to, even if you disagree with what they are saying or doing. 
    • When you encounter someone who needs help, find out if you can assist them. 
    • Pay for someone’s meal behind you in the drive-thru line. 

    Show your kids that anytime is the right time to engage in acts of kindness and compassion.   

    1. Show Your Child Compassion and Kindness

    Not only is it vital to model compassion and kindness to others, but your child needs to be on the receiving end of that kindness. Allowing your child to experience empathy and compassion firsthand is even more impactful than modelling it.

    When your child is hurt, sick, or upset about something, be sure to provide an abundant amount of TLC. It may seem obvious to you, but this act of kindness is something they can feel, so they will want others to feel the same.

    1. Talk About It

    Another great way to teach kindness and compassion is to communicate their importance to your kids. For example, if you see a movie where someone is kind, you can point it out. Additionally, you can talk to your kids about people who need compassion and kindness, such as the elderly or children living in poverty.

    1. Point Out Facial Expressions

    It can be challenging for kids to feel compassion and empathy for someone else if they can’t understand how they think. To help teach compassion and empathy, make a point to coach your child to pay attention to people’s facial expressions.

    By learning to read facial expressions, kids can better understand how another person is feeling. For example, your child might think it was funny seeing someone else get splashed by a puddle of water. This is a perfect opportunity to point out that the person’s face is not laughing and looks mad or sad.

    1. Do Kindness Activities

    Kids learn through your actions, but they can also learn through hands-on activities! Doing projects that teach kindness allows your child to practice compassion and empathy without feeling the pressure of being in a situation that requires it. Here are a few great activities you can do to teach kindness:

    Kindness Constellation Project: This craft combines science and kindness by having kids make constellations that say a kind word or show a kind picture. It encourages creativity and teaches kids different ways to show empathy. 

    Make a Hug Project: One way to show you care is to hug someone. In this project, kids make a heart hug that they can give to someone to cheer them up. 

    Heart Bookmarks: This is an easy and fun project you can do with your kids that allows them to show kindness and love in their community. Make bookmarks with kind phrases for your local library or school. 

    Self-Love Bucket: When you can say nice things about yourself, you can also say nice things about others. You want kids to be kind to others but also kind to themselves. This self-love bucket is a way for kids to think about all the amazing things about themselves. 

    1. Read Books About It

    Children’s books are a great way to provide a window into the experiences of others. There are many books that teach and show compassion, empathy, and kindness. Here are a few to get you started:

    My Secret Bully: This is an excellent book for sparking conversations about bullying and relational aggression. 

    The Invisible Boy: School can be tough for kids, and this book is perfect for inspiring empathy and compassion for others. 

    Kindness is My Superpower: Throughout this story, little superhero Lucas learns what kindness means and understands what it’s like to be kind, sensitive, caring, and generous.

    You, Me, and Empathy: In this story, Quinn helps teach kids about empathy, feelings, kindness, compassion, tolerance, and recognizing bullying behaviour. 

    Andrew Osler

    St Ita's Principal

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    IMPORTANT DATES

    Monday 12th June - King's Birthday Public Holiday

    Monday 19th June - Parent Teacher Interviews

    Thursday 22nd June  - Final Day Term 2 (finish time - 3.20pm)

    Friday 23rd June - School Closure Day

    PREP INTERVIEWS

    Enrolment interviews for Foundation students commencing in 2024 got underway this week. Our Grade 6s School Captains and Sport Captains have been involved in taking three families at a time on a tour of our school after a brief interview with a member of our leadership team.

    It is wonderful to see that approx. 30 sibling families have expressed interested in enrolling their Foundation students with us next year, this really emphasises that we are building a strong community among our St Ita’s families.

    ST ITAS COVID UPDATE

    We have had several staff, and many students away with COVID or COVID like symptoms without testing positive.

    Last Friday we sent home COVID-19 rapid test kits with the oldest child in each family. I'd like to thank all families for supporting us through this current outbreak. We really appreciate parents alerting us to any positive tests that your children have as it helps us keep everyone in our school community safe and well. 

    • If your child does test positive to Covid they are required to spend 5 days at home before returning to school.
    • If your child is displaying flu like symptoms but not testing positive to Covid please keep them at home until all symptoms have cleared.
    • The Department of Health recommends that all Victorians report their positive RAT result to the Department of Health online, or by calling 1800 675 398.

    We urge all in our school community to stay well and most importantly stay safe.

    GRADE 6 JACKETS

    Our Grade 6 jackets have finally arrived just in time for the colder weather! The jackets look great even though we know they were slow to arrive due to material shortages overseas. Rest assured we are aware that other schools in the area have also had to deal with similar delay issues. We will be reviewing our supplier options moving forward, however, we thank you for your patience ths year.

    DISABLED CAR PARK

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    We have a number of parents parking in the disabled spaces out the front of the school. Please do not use these car parks unless you have a disabled sticker on display.

    POSTPONEMENT OF GRANDPARENT’S DAY

    Unfortunately due to the current outbreak of Covid at St Ita’s, we have had to postpone the Grandparent's Day Liturgy that was planned for Wednesday 24th May.

    We apologise for the late cancellation; however I cannot place our grandparents, parents, staff and children at risk by housing them in a crowded Church and School Hall knowing that we have Covid in our school.

    We will reschedule and plan a new date towards the end of Term 3 when the warmer weather is with us, to ensure kids get to share quality time with their Grandparents where they can showcase their learning and classrooms.

    We thank you for supporting us with keeping everyone in the St Ita's community safe.

    SCHOOL FEE STATEMENTS 

    School Fee statements have been forwarded to all families via Email, if you have not received your statement please make contact with us so that we can check your details and ensure we have your correct Email details. 

    Term 1 Fees & Term 2 fees are now overdue, please make arrangements to bring your account up to date as soon as possible.

    Direct Debit and Credit Card payments can be set up at any time, please contact School Admin to assist with putting these options in place. 

    Contact: admin@stidrouin.catholic.edu.au or (03) 5623 7222

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    ST ITAS MINI VINNIES

    Last Sunday at the 10:30 Mass in Drouin we had a few students representing our Mini Vinnies team participate in a commissioning ceremony; they are a dedicated and hard-working group, supporting those who are less fortunate than us, through fund raising efforts, awareness raising and prayer.

    Photo: Hayley Slaughter, Laylah Durand, Addison Summerhayes (absent from photo Emma De Haan, Theia & Amelia Wells)

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    WELL DONE BENTLY LEHMAN

    On the weekend Bently played in the U8s round robin at Yarragon. He filled in for Longwarry as they were short and he ended up playing 4 games. They won all of their games and Bently kicked 5 goals and 4 points.
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    Teacher: Mrs Catherine McKenna

    Email: cmckenna@stidrouin.catholic.edu.au

    National Reconciliation Week

    Reconciliation is ongoing. Reconciliation must live in the hearts, minds and actions of all Australians as we work towards a more unified and accepting society and culture. NRW is an opportunity for us to reflect on our role in the reconciliation process and take action toward building respectful and inclusive relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

    If you would like to listen to some picture story books at home to build an understanding with your children, Storybox library has many First Nations stories.

    Listen to First Nations stories on Storybox Library here

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    National Simultaneous Storytime

    Our Grade ¾ students Beau, Izzy, Ivy and Eli enjoying some activity time with this year’s book, The Speedy Sloth.

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    Published Writing

    Recent book reviews in the Geelong Advertiser. Congratulations Yvette and Tilly

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    Story Box Library

    Just a reminder to parents and new families that we have a subscription to Story Box Library. There is a link to the website below, or you can download the app. I encourage you to try it out.

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    Audiobooks

    If your child isn’t into reading, or if they haven’t found the genre that they love yet, get them listening to audio books. Also known as ear-reading, it’s a great way for our students to explore and develop a love of story. I use the app BorrowBox which is free through the Local Community Library-Myli.

    Scholastic Book Club

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    Book Club Issue 4 - CLICK HERE

    Orders close Friday 12th May for free delivery back to school. 

    You also have the home delivery option with an addition fee of $7.50

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    SPORTS NEWS

    Sports Teacher/Co-Ordinator: Hayley Roberts     

    Email:  hroberts@stidrouin.catholic.edu.au       

    WINTER SPORTS - GRADE 5/6

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    Art Teacher: Robyn Leary     

    Email:  rleary@stidrouin.catholic.edu.au

    ART EXHIBITION

    PARISH NEWS

    Tools for the Task

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    Toolboxes are probably not an image we associate with the feast of Pentecost but there is a connection!

    Whenever we are faced with a task, whether some maintenance around the house, struggling around a golf course or baking scones, our thoughts turn to the equipment we need. Already we have the desire to do the task and an idea of what the task requires. We need the right tools to complete the task.

    Following the Resurrection and Ascension, Jesus disciples are eager to get about their mission, but they are lacking the equipment. Jesus promises the disciples (John 20:19-23) that the Holy Spirit will be with them and in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 2:1-11) we read of Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit to the disciples, giving them the tools. The Gifts of the Holy Spirit are: Wisdom, Right Judgement, Courage, Knowledge, Reverence, Wonder and Awe and Understanding. Armed with those tools, the Fruits of the Holy Spirit, their Mission and ours, will proclaim Joy, Love, Peace, Goodness, Kindness, Patience, Self-Control, Trustfulness and Gentleness to the world. On the very day of Pentecost those early disciples were able to spread the Good News of the Kingdom to thousands and, in the first century, around the Mediterranean, from Jerusalem to Alexandria, Carthage, Ephesus and Antioch and even, at the heart of empire, Rome itself.

    We have the best of all messages to share about the Creator of the universe who loves us all beyond measure. If all who called themselves Christians were truly aware of their gifts; if we had all sorted carefully through our toolbox then everyone would be a Christian. There are many of us already but we have many more who have yet to hear the message. That’s our job! Pentecost brings present again our Confirmation, the day when the Holy Spirit gave us our personal toolbox for our life’s mission. What tools will I select? How am I going to spread God’s Word?

    Deacon Mark Kelly

    PARISH SACRAMENT ENQUIRIES

    Phone: (03) 5623 1642 Email: Warragul.sacraments@cdsale.org.au

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    Check out our Catholic Parishes of Warragul & Drouin Facebook presence.

    PUBLIC NOTICES

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