St Colman's School - Home Hill eNewsletter

Acknowledgement of Country

We would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land the Birri-Gubba Juru people and pay our respects to the elders past, present and future for they hold the memories, the traditions, the culture and hopes of Indigenous Australia.

Principal & Teaching and Learning Update

Another two weeks have flown past. Lots of events are happening at St Colman's School so please ensure you keep up to date with things through the newsletter and Compass.

Swear words or inappropriate language at St Colman’s School

Unfortunately it has been noted that there has been an increase in the use of swear words or inappropriate language at St Colman’s School. This is not accepted and if a teacher hears or a child reports it to a teacher the student will experience consequences.

Swearing has become increasingly common in children's everyday language - no doubt reflecting the frequency with which they hear foul language in the media e.g. You Tube, as well as in the casual conversations of adults.

Students use swear words or talk about inapporipate things (e.g. pornagraphy, sex) for a variety of reasons. Some swear to gain the attention of their teacher or classmates. Some swear to impress their peers. Some swear to express strong emotions, such as anger, distress, or frustration. And some swear to attack someone who has hurt them.

At St Colman’s School :

Swearing / inappropriate talk will not be ignored.

Confronting the use of swearing/inappropriate talk is important because some students swear so often they might not realize that their language was inappropriate.

Our School rules RISE - Respect/ Inspire/Safe/Effort- Respect states that "We expect students in this school to talk respectfully to one another.” Students will be reminded that words can hurt others' feelings and cause classmates to avoid them.

Staff will react calmly to foul language and remind the student that this language is unacceptable and that there are more appropriate ways to get another person's attention.

Students who swear/use inappropriate language will lose time off their playtime for every incident. With younger students who need an immediate consequence, a brief time out will be given and the teacher will explain that students cannot remain with their classmates if they use inappropriate language.

If swearing persists, parents will be notified and asked to attend a meeting to address this matter with the principal where further consequences will be discussed.

CSP Meeting Monday 24th October 5.30pm - last meeting of the year - please come along and support your school. Cheese & refreshments will be available.

Class Assemblies Year 1/2 Friday 28th October

Staffing Announcement

St Colman's School is very happy to announce that Mrs Jodie Weston (Prep teacher presently from Home Hill State School) will be joining the St Colman's School community in 2023. Jodie in 2023 will teach the Prep class.

St Colman's School is also advertising for a classroom teacher position. Classing details will be announced later in the term. Classing structure will remain Prep, Year 1 & 2, Year 3 & 4 and Year 5 & 6.

Father's Day Celebrations

Don't forget to return you notes! Friday 28th October (Week 4 Term 4)

5.30pm - Pizza and drinks ($2.50 per person) & Grandads are welcome too

6.30pm - Disco (Dad can stay and chat or dance or come back to pick up the kids)

7.30pm - End of disco pick up time.

Connecting Prep Days 2022

Everyone welcome …Come to big school in Term 4 2022 …..Make new friends and get ready for school in 2023

These are sessions for the children to meet their class friends and teacher

Monday 24th October 9am – 1.30pm (Please pack Morning tea, fruit, lunch, drink and a hat)

Monday 31st October 9am – 1.30pm (Please pack Morning tea, fruit, lunch, drink and a hat)

Monday 7th November 9am – 3.00pm (Please pack Afternoon tea, fruit, lunch, drink and a hat)

Monday 14th November 9am – 3.00pm (Please pack Afternoon tea, fruit, lunch, drink and a hat)

Monday 21st November 9am – 3.00pm (Please pack Afternoon tea, fruit, lunch, drink and a hat)

Religious Education News

St Colman's Feast Day Mass - Sunday 23rd October

Don't forget our Parish feast day - everyone is welcome to attend ! Sunday 23rd October at 8am.

During the mass it would be wonderful if students could come and take a part through reading, singing or liturgical dance. Afterwards families are welcome to the morning tea and games will be held for the children. (Sack races, relays, running races etc) Please come along and make the day a wonderful community day. If possible bring a plate to share.

Resilience Project

Last week Ray Thompson, a former Cowboy came and spoke to students, teachers and parents about the Resilience project which St Colman's School will start in 2023.

The School Partnership Program aims to INSPIRE and ENGAGE the whole school community – students, staff, parents & carers – through the evidence-based GEM (Gratitude, Empathy & Mindfulness) principles. We embed GEM through a combination of accessible resources, engaging lesson plans and inspiring digital presentations. The program will work in combination with our RISE - Respect/ Inspire/Safe/Effort behaviour management strategy and our Religious Education curriculum. The program also covers major content of the Australia Curriculum in the area of Health.

Thank you to the CSP who will be helping fund this excellent program. Please have a look at the excellent website to find out what your child will be engaging with next year - The Resilience Project

Outreach to the Community Year 5/6 Class

As part of the outreach to the community, the 5/6 class created a display for the Regis Aged care home in Home Hill. This activity was for the month of September as the Aged Care were celebrating all things sport related to all the grand finals held in that month. Some of the residents even took the craft into their rooms to display. The month of October is World Food Day, where the aged care facility celebrates food from different cultures. As part of Mini Vinnies Art Club this term, the students created a display which incorporated different foods from different cultures and a globe with pasta. The Regis Aged Care Facility is very grateful to all the students for their displays and the students are equally excited to see their actions helping the greater community.

Mini Vinnies Sleepout

Last Friday night 20 students and three brave staff members (Mrs Keys, Mrs Anderson and Mrs Horan) slept ‘rough’ in the school hall to gain insight into the lives of people experiencing homelessness in our country. Each night over 116,000 Australians are unable to say they have a home to call their own and alarmingly 14% of these are children under the age of 12. The children learnt of the seriousness of the homelessness situation and the correct language to use when speaking of people experiencing homelessness. They also questioned their knowledge on what it means to be homeless and the different situations that can potentially result in a person or families becoming homeless. The children were most alarmed to learn that residents of the Charters Towers, Ingham and Burdekin regions are in the top 20 areas in Australia experiencing homelessness.

The children enjoyed an evening of simple foods, a soup kitchen style dinner, games, prayer and mindfulness activities and even had a surprise visit from Father Manoj during the evening. By far the favourite activity of the night was constructing shelters out of cardboard for the students to sleep in. The least favourite was no doubt the rough night sleep everyone had on the cold, hard floor. The children gained understanding and compassion for the disadvantaged and are launching the St Vincent de Paul Christmas Appeal within our community in the coming weeks.

WE thank Mrs Horan for all her work in the preparation and presentation of the night.

Sports News

Swimming Carnival Thursday 10th November 2022.

Our annual Interhouse Swimming Carnival is fast approaching. It is being held Thursday 10th November 2022. Here is a brief overview and some reminders for the day.

Students born in 2014 (8Yrs) to 2009 (13yrs) need to be dropped off to the Home Hill Pool by 8.45am. The carnival will begin at 9am.

Students in Prep, Year 1 and Year 2 will begin their day as normal, at school. These students will then walk down to the pool to join the carnival at approximately 10.45am.
All students will need a packed lunch and water bottle for the day.
We will break for lunch at approximately 10.45am.
Once the carnival concludes, all students are able to leave school for the day. Students needing to stay at school until 3pm will walk back to school, with a teacher after the carnival.
Parent helpers will be required to help with timing races
All parents and family members are welcome to attend the carnival.

Water Awareness Fun

Thank you to all the amazing parents who are helping at the Water Awareness lessons every Friday. It is so wonderful that you can give up your time to assist with this valuable skill. We are already seeing great improvement.

Year 5/6 Notes

Presently Year 5 & 6 are receiving various notes about events that are happening in Term 4. Please ensure that you have received them and returned them to school ASAP.

Year 6

End of Year Excursion Year 6

Year 6 Graduation Note

Year 5

Senior Shirt - Year 6

Graduation Night - Year 5 Helpers Required