Newsletter 67- August 26th 2022

For wonder, dreams, and hope;

For the newness of each day;

For laughter and song and a merry heart.

For compassion waiting within to be kindled;

For the forbearance of friends and the smile of a stranger;

For the arching of the earth and trees and heavens and the fruit of all three.

For the wisdom of the old;

For the courage of the young;

For the strength that comes when needed;

For this school community here today.  Amen

Children’s mental health: what it is and why it matters

Mental health is the way children think and feel about themselves and the world around them. It affects how children cope with life’s challenges and stresses.

Good mental health is an important part of healthy child development. It helps children build positive social, emotional, behaviour, thinking and communication skills. It also lays the foundation for better mental health and wellbeing later in life.

What good mental health in children looks like

Children with good mental health:

• feel happy and positive about themselves most of the time
• are kind to themselves during tough times or when things don’t go the way they expect
• enjoy life
• learn well
• get along well with family and friends
• can manage sad, worrying or angry feelings
• can bounce back from tough times
• are prepared to try new or challenging things.

Relationships and good mental health for children

A positive relationship with you directly and positively affects your child’s mental health.

Here are some ideas to promote your child’s mental health and wellbeing through a loving and supportive relationship:

• Tell your child that you love them, no matter what. You can also show love through your body language and nonverbal communication – for example, making eye contact, giving a hug or smiling at your child.
• Use a positive, constructive and consistent approach to guide your child’s behaviour. This means giving your child praiseand attention when they behave well, rather than negative consequences when they behave in challenging ways.
• Make time every day to talk and listen to your child. If your child wants to talk, try to stop what you’re doing and give them your full attention.
• Enjoy time with your child doing activities they like. This could be reading together, kicking a ball, drawing, playing board games and so on.
• Work on positive ways to solve problems and manage conflict between you and your partner, with your child and among other family members.
• Encourage your child to connect with others in the community – for example, waving and chatting to neighbours, attending local festivals or helping out at a community garden. This gives your child a stronger sense of their place in the world and helps them learn how to relate to different people.

Emotions and good mental health for children

Children experience all sorts of emotions as part of growing up – fear, disappointment, sadness, anxiety, anger, joy, hope and so on. When children cope with big emotions or calm themselves down in difficult or emotional situations, they’re likely to feel good about themselves.

Here are some ways you can help your child learn to manage emotions:

• Talk about emotions with your child, and encourage them to recognise and label their emotions. You can also let your child know that it’s natural to have all sorts of feelings. For example, ‘It looks like you’re really frustrated that your toy won’t work. I can understand that’.
• Role-model a positive outlook for your child – for example, ‘Running all the way around the oval looks hard, but I think I can do it if I take it slow and steady’, or ‘I’m disappointed that my cake didn’t cook properly, but that’s OK – I’ll try it again another time’.
• Support your child when something is bothering them. For example, if your child is having trouble with friends at school, you could give your child plenty of hugs and reassure them that you’re there for them. And you could work with the teacher on a plan to handle the situation.
• Help your child learn to manage small worries so they don’t become big problems. You can do this by gently encouraging your child to do things they’re anxious about instead of avoiding scary situations. For example, ‘Have you thought about trying out for the school choir this year? You really enjoy singing’.

Behaviour, goals, skills and good mental health for children

Here are ways to promote your child’s mental health and wellbeing through a focus on behaviour:

• Have family rules about behaviour and involve your child in developing rules and consequences. Adjust the rules and consequences as your child grows. Rules and boundaries help children of all ages feel safe and secure.
• Help your child to set realistic goals for their age and abilities and work towards achieving them – for example, riding a bike without training wheels or trying to solve a difficult maths problem for school. And praise your child’s efforts to achieve the goal, rather than the goal itself.
• Help your child learn how to solve problems so that they develop the skills to do this for themselves when they’re older. For example, you can help your child work out what the problem is, brainstorm possible solutions, and choose a solution to put into action.
• Encourage your child to try new things, take age-appropriate risks, and learn from their mistakes. This could be things like entering a competition, speaking in front of the class, climbing new equipment at the playground and so on.

Good physical health and mental health for children

Good physical health is important for mental health. That’s because being active helps your child stay healthy, have more energy, feel confident, manage stress and sleep well.

Here are some ways to help your child stay physically fit and well:

• Offer healthy food and encourage healthy eating habits in your family.
• Encourage your child to try plenty of different physical activities and sports. Trying different activities is good for fitness and energy levels. It can also help children feel good about themselves as they develop new skills.

Make sure your child gets the sleep they need. Quality sleep will help your child to manage stress and a busy life.

Save the date:        

STEAM expo - Wednesday 7th & Thursday 8th September, 2022.

St Patrick’s Primary School Hall 

Parents and community members are invited to attend the Expo to view a variety of creative projects completed by our students this year.   

Time to be advised. 

Indigenous Book Swap

Wow, what a success!

Thankyou so much for your support, without our community's support we would not have had the books that we have been able to sell and donate forward.  We will update you on the total amount of money raised once social justice have counted it. 

Please see the photos below of some happy shoppers

Thankyou

It is such a busy term for staff and students. A special thank you to our team at St Patrick’s who have been busy planning learning for students  to ensure that we are able to hold our community events. 

Assembly:

It is fantastic to once again have our Friday school assemblies happening. Assembly starts at 2:50pm every Friday afternoon in the hall. All family and community members welcome. 

Assembly roster for term 2:

Week 7 Middle B

Week 8 Senior F

Week 9 Junior H

Week 10 Foundation - Earlier time 1:50pm

Professional Development:

At St Patrick’s Primary School we are committed to Professional Development of our team.  At various times staff members will be working off site which may result in classroom teachers being out of the classroom.

Week 8.

31/08/2022 Mr Chris McAloon       Principals Retreat            Lucy Scott in for junior sport. 

This week we have been very busy engaging in our wonderful Book Week Activities.

We have read a book each day and completed an activity.

On Monday, we read ‘The Boy and The Elephant’. We tried to recreate the illustrations from the book. We used sticks and crayons and Miss Bonney taught us how to blend colours.

On Tuesday, we read ‘Iceberg’. This book was about the life cycle of an iceberg and what we could see happening above and below the iceberg. 

On Wednesday, we read the book ‘Jetty Jumping’, which was about a girl who was scared to jump off the jetty. We created a jetty picture using a paper plate, pastels, crayons and lots of colourful additions.

On Thursday, we read ‘Walk of the Whales’ which was about whales who came on land because their oceans had been polluted with rubbish by humans.

On Friday we will be reading ‘Blue Flower'.

All the students have really enjoyed listening to the books and participating in the activities. 

Here’s what some of the students had to say.

Ally - I loved ‘Iceberg’ because of all the sea creatures in the illustrations.

Beverly - My favourite was ‘Jetty Jumping’. The illustrations were very detailed.

Ethan - I liked ‘Walk of the Whales’ because it tells you to not pollute the ocean

Zarli - I loved ‘Jetty Jumping’. The illustrations were pretty and I really liked doing the activity with the paper plate and all the sequins, stickers and stuff.

Logan -I liked ‘The Boy and the elephant’ Book. The activity we did after reading was fun. I liked  blending the colours for my tree animals.

We can’t wait for the Book Week Parade on Friday!

This week we have also been exploring the water cycle. We have been learning the water cycle song and in Science we created a rain cloud in a jar. This experiment demonstrated the stage of precipitation in the water cycle.

Annual Fathers day/special persons Celebrations:

Our annual Fathers day/special persons celebrations will take place on Friday 2nd September, 2022. While Fathers Day is a celebration of fatherhood, it's a time for us to honour, celebrate and to be thankful for all of the men, father figures and male role models in our lives.  We recognise the very important role you have in the lives of children. 

We will have an evening bbq and games starting at 5:30pm where we invite all fathers and special male figures in our children's lives to come and celebrate as a community.  More details to come.

*Please return your RSVP by Wednesday so we can cater appropriately for you all.

Annual Fathers Day Stall:   

The children take such pride and excitement in carefully selecting their gifts for their Father/special person in their life. 

Could children please bring along a small amount of money gifts range from $1 -$5 if they would like to purchase a gift from the stall on Thursday 1st September, 2022 from 9am in the hall.

*A huge thankyou to all the ladies who have volunteered their time to help sort, wrap and sell the gifts,  the response has been amazing. Libby or Rhian will touch base to schedule the days. Thankyou again to our wonderful community.

SAVE THE DATE...

ANDREW CHINN is back  

WHOLE SCHOOL EVENING CONCERT & PICNIC

WEDNESDAY 19th OCTOBER, 2022     6.00pm

St Vincent de Paul Winter food appeal:  Social Justice are keeping very busy this term as we will also be running our annual winter food appeal over the next four weeks of the Term.  

As a Catholic school we hope to support the work of Vinnies and Stawell's Interchurch council by assisting these organisations with their efforts to help those in our community who are facing difficulties at this time.  We are asking if families are able to donate any non-perishable items to the appeal (Items can range from tin food, toiletries, paper products etc.)

At the end of the Term these items will be donated to St Vincents to distribute to those in need in our community.  

Each class will have a donation box where donations can be left.  No matter how small or big the donation is, we always strive to teach our students at St Patrick’s how important giving to those in need is. 

Thankyou for your support. 

Congratulations to these students having their birthday this week:

Charles Carter

Edwina Crouch

Kora Allen

Georgia Aird-For the sensational work you’re putting into your reading. Keep up the awesome learning Georgia!

Ethan Dunn-For all the hard work you’re putting into remembering your tricky words. Keep it up Ethan!

Jack Driscoll-For being a wonderful role model to your peers and supporting others in their learning. You are a superstar!

Lucas Papadopoulos-For the excellent work you have been doing in reading and representing two-digit numbers as tens and ones. Keep up the hard work!

Akech Kur-For working so hard in all areas and achieving excellent results. Keep it up Akech!

Bailey Matthews-For working so well with arrays and beginning concepts of multiplication. Well done Bailey

Lilly-Rose St Clair-For the great progress you have made with your reading comprehension skills. Well done!

Zarli Nicholson-For the wonderful efforts and enthusiasm you have displayed towards all our activities during Book Week. Well done!

Liam Cameron -For showing pride in your artwork for the different Book Week activities this week.  You have created some wonderful pieces.  Keep showing the attributes of a wonderful learner. 

Serena Daniel- For your great number busting skills in your Maths warm ups.  Also, for your great responses when completing water cycle activities during Writing.  Well done!

Thomas Jess -  For the independent way you have been tackling your learning tasks and your positive mindset.

Liam Nicholson -For the way you have been seeking assistance when work has been challenging and for completing task with your best efforts.

Archie Ross -For your perfect score on your maths check- up and for always sharing your knowledge with the class.

Lulu Kane - For the fantastic work you have been doing during maths with accepting challenges and asking for help when needed.           

 Maternal Child and Health

Dad’s Group
Positive Parenting for Men
Are you a new Dad?
Would you like to share some parenting knowledge and tips?
Are you looking for ideas on how to be a great parent?
Would you like to find out some great ideas on how to support your partner?

Get together with other great Dads like you!

Join us at our new Dad’s Support Group Introductory Session
Share a meal and enjoy our panel of Dad’s and others for an informative discussion
and Q&A session.

When: Monday 29th August, 2022
6.30-8.00pm
Where: Stawell Sports and Leisure Centre
Houston St, Stawell
All Dads and Grandads welcome
Light Tea Provided

RSVP by 22nd August, 2022
Email: mch@ngshire.vic.gov.au
Phone: 5358 9060

Northern Grampians Shire Council are currently recruiting Swim Teachers and we are taking a different approach to recruitment. 

We will be recruiting up to 3 new teachers one in St Arnaud and two in Stawell on their attributes not their qualifications, we will cover the costs for successful applicants to gain their first aid and Austswim qualifications and also pay them to undertake their supervision hours. 

We are hoping to attract parents returning to the workforce and semi-retired community members, this is why I thought your newsletter would be a great place to advertise the role. 

Please see attached Flyer or contact Sam Winter at the Stawell Sports and aquatic centre for further information.

Email: samantha.winter@ngshire.vic.gov.au