Dear St John the Apostle Primary School Community,

Thank you to all of the parents who participated in the Annual School Survey.

We have had a significant number of responses and I look forward to reading the summarised results at the end of this month. Your feedback is very welcome and contributes to the planning for our school. If you haven't completed the survey yet please go to the following link.

First Eucharist

We continue to keep the students receiving their First Eucharist in our prayers. More students will be participating in this over the coming weekend at the vigil and Sunday morning parish masses. You will likely see their proud faces on our Facebook page.

This week it has been my turn to organise Staff Prayer each morning. We have

focused on Eucharist. The main theme has been to recognise that much of Jesus' ministry was undertaken at a shared meal with a diverse range of people, from various backgrounds and experiences and life choices. It is important that we continue to remember Eucharist as a time for coming together to 'eat with Jesus' as one people, equal in dignity in the same way he did with all during his time on Earth. Together we celebrate the Presence of God in our lives.

New Barbecues

Our school barbecues get a regular workout and while the current barbecues have been going strong for many years, they have reached the end of their life.

Thank you to the Community Council who have provided the funds to purchase two new barbecues, making our special lunches, sport carnivals, fetes, discos and many other events much easier to support with tasty food. Your children will reap the rewards.

Learning Journeys

We hope you enjoyed the Learning Journey that your child has taken you through this week. While See-Saw is a lovely way to keep up with what is happening in the classroom, nothing beats coming in and having your own child tell you about it.

The next routine opportunity to touch base with your child's teacher is at the end of the year so please feel free to email, call or organise a meeting with them if you are curious about your child's progress at school.

Kind regards,

Matthew Garton (Principal)

Happy birthday to Michael H, Miles M, Jasmine K, Catalina G, Emily T, Keanan D, Jari K, Brenda G and Nate R who all celebrated a birthday over the last week.

Understanding and Responding to Feelings and Behaviours

UR FaB

Program in Schools

Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services

Hello from the UR FaB Team,

In our last newsletter, we talked about “Together Time” and how this helps to develop a strong relationship with your child. This happens when children feel that their parents are interested in them and in what they are doing and spend time with them. Today we are going to look at descriptive commenting and specific praise, as ways of communication which continues to build and strengthen your relationship with your child.

Descriptive commenting is a way you can show interest in your child’s play by simply describing what they are doing and by providing supportive comments. As adults we have a tendency to ask children questions while they are playing: What animal is that? What are you making? This often stops children from playing and prevents them from exploring their ideas.  Descriptive commenting is a running commentary of your child’s play.  For example:  “You’re putting the bed in the dollhouse. Now baby is going to bed.”

Praise is another way to build your relationship with your child, and share a deeper intimacy. It is also a way to encourage the behaviour we want our children to do more of.  Most parents use general praise such as, “well done, good girl, clever boy, marvellous, fantastic, super, brilliant, ace or cool”.  This type of praise is called evaluative praise. Most adults will have received this kind of praise themselves as children and it is familiar to us so it is not surprising that we should use it with our own children. Research shows that descriptive praise helps children know what exactly is liked and is more encouraging for children.

Specific or descriptive praise is a different kind of praise. It is about noticing and mentioning exactly what the child has done well or what you liked about what they did. Descriptive praise improves the general atmosphere of the home. It is very effective in getting children to be more co-operative. When we point out what they’re doing right it motivates our children to do more of it. Describe the positive behaviours you see, “You remembered to bring home your reading book,” “You looked at Miss March when she was talking to you then –that was polite.” “You got on your bike again even though you fell off just now –you’re being brave.” Praise effort and improvement: “You’ve remembered to underline the title and put the date on the page.” “You kept on trying with these sums even though you didn’t find it easy.”

Specific or descriptive praise can feel hard to do. It does take time and practice. Don’t give up!

The UR FaB Team

Monday - 19 August

9.30 Featured Reader

Each teacher will select their favourite children’s book and go to a different class and read it to them.

Tuesday - 20 August

Author Study

Book Share

Students select their favourite book to share with their class. Discuss why it is their favourite, short summary and why they would recommend it to others.

Wednesday - 21 August

9.15 Book Parade

11.45 Top Secret Passport Hunt

Thursday - 22 August

9.20 Teddy Bear's Picnic

All students meet on the blacktop with their fruit break (and a little something else if wanted).  Buddies will sit together. They can bring a rug and teddies. Older students bring a book to read to their buddies and teddy.

Friday - 23 August

Storybook Online

2.10pm Staff Play

Book Week Parade 2019

Wednesday 21 August 2019, from 9.15am

The Book Week Parade is always one of the highlights of the school year, with students and teachers getting creative and dressing up as their favourite book character.  Alternatively, students may wish to come as different character in keeping with the “Reading is My Secret Power” theme.

Students are encouraged to enjoy the process of creating something fun from a book that they enjoy.

Scholastic Book Fair 2019

Our annual Book Fair will be running in Week 5, during Book Week.

Monday 19 August – Friday 23 August 2019

Open every day:

Before School:                    8.30am – 8.50am

Lunch time:                          1.30pm – 2.00pm

After school:                        3.00pm – 3.30pm

We look forward to seeing you and your family at our Book Fair! Remember, all purchases benefit our school.

Happy reading!

Mrs Georgina Jaram (Teacher/Librarian)

Mrs Vanessa Hallaj (Library Assistant)

School fee statements were emailed last week. If you have not received your fee statement please contact Debbie Milne our finance officer via email finance.sjaps@cg.catholic.edu.au

Fees are due Friday 25^th August unless paying by direct debit. If you are paying your fees by direct debit the fees for the year need to be paid in full by the end of the school year.

The tuckshop is in great need of volunteer helpers on a Wednesday and/or Thursday.  If you would like to help out, even for a short amount of time, it would be greatly appreciated.  Please contact the office so we can pass on details to the tuckshop. Thank you.

The loss of healthy rites of passage

by Dr. Arne Rubinstein

Rites of Passage have always been a significant part of community life, until now. Each stage of a person's life was marked and celebrated including the significant step of moving into adulthood.

The shift from childhood to adulthood has always been marked by a rite of passage, which represents entry to the adult world and the rights that go with it. This new set of rights is also accompanied by a responsibility to serve and contribute to the community.

The loss of healthy rites of passage
For many young people Schoolies Week, the annual Year 12 endless party, is the only rite of passage they have. The loss of meaningful rites of passage is having disastrous consequences on young people.

Too often we see young men in their twenties and beyond acting like boys in constant need of acknowledgement from their peers, dodging responsibility and still seeking approval from their mother. Many young women are stuck in perpetual adolescence, more worried about how they look than how they can contribute to their communities.

Adults have a role to play
It's the role of adults to recognise and bring out children's strengths and natural gifts so they can contribute fully to their communities as adults. One of the most significant roles of the elderly is to care for and pass on wisdom to the young. Not surprisingly in the past it has been the elders who were responsible for overseeing the Rites of Passage and their timely delivery.

Rites of Passage are not supposed to be done in isolation. As a child becomes a young adult parents also need to take a step and move to the next stage in their lives.  Each new stage of development for a child or young person represents a new beginning for parents as well.

Unfortunately, elderhood is not highly coveted or respected in these modern times and there is a global marketing campaign telling us that youth is the desirable and only really acceptable life stage. When adulthood is not fully appreciated or understood, then it's little wonder that many young people are hanging on to their adolescence well into their twenties. Some never make the leap into adulthood.

Families and communities can rediscover the notion of rites of passage and begin to invent their own pathways to adulthood, complete with markers and appropriate recognition. They can put their own celebrations in place that mark significant ages, and the all-important transition to adulthood. These celebrations should include a bringing together of significant adults and a passing on of wisdom and stories from past generations to a young person. These rites of passage can be creative, must be inclusive and need to be appropriate to each family or community situation.

As our school has a membership with Parenting Ideas, you can attend the Creating 21st century rites of passage webinar - at no cost!

About the webinar
Join Dr Arne Rubinstein as he discusses the importance of rites of passage in the 21st century. In this webinar you’ll develop clear guidelines and learn impactful strategies to support you to build strong healthy relationships with your children, bolster their independence and support them in their use of technology in these rapidly changing times.

When
Wednesday 28 August 2019 8:00pm AEST.

Price
This webinar is $37 per person to attend, and is free of charge to families at schools that have a membership.

How parents can redeem the voucher
1. Click this link: https://www.parentingideas.com.au/parent-resources/parent-webinars/webinar-creating-21st-century-rites-of-passage
2. Click ‘Add to cart’
3. Click ‘View cart’
4. Enter the voucher code RITES and click ‘Apply Coupon’ (valid until 28 September 2019). Your discount of $37 will be applied.
5. Click ‘Proceed to checkout’
6. Fill in your account details. These details are used to login to your account and access your parenting material
7. Click ‘Place Order’