Dear Parents, Carers, Students and Staff,

I was away from school Wednesday and Thursday this week as I participated in annual meetings for Catholic school Principals in our system. I missed being here with everyone yet it was a great opportunity to share ideas with others and hear about the future direction of our schools. It was a good reminder that we are together on the same journey.

I ask you please to keep Mrs Lyn Griffiths and her family in your thoughts and prayers this week. As many of you are aware, Mrs Griffiths grandaughter Annabelle was diagnosed with DIPG (a very aggressive brain tumour) early last year and Annabelle's family have been on a very long and very challenging journey of travel and treatments to bring healing to Annabelle. While we all experience challenging, life-threatening illnesses with our loved ones, we very rarely expect to experience it with our children and grandchildren. It is particularly challenging at the moment for them all. Thank you for your kindness and consideration for Mrs Griffiths.

Congratulations to our teams who played at the Catholic Schools Netball Carnival last Saturday. While it was rained out halfway through the day, the teams all played with great enthusiasm in quite a number of games during the morning. Thank you to the parents who managed and coached the teams.

Today we have approximately 120 students at the Boorowa Netball & Touch Football Carnival who left at 6.45am and will arrive home later today at around 5.00pm (keep an eye on Skoolbag for a more exact arrival time). It is a fabulous day loved by everyone involved. Thank you to our teachers and parents for supporting this great opportunity to play together in friendly competition.

You are Mission

On Wednesday I sat with our Year 6 students who attended the Archdiocesan Mission Mass for schools, where we prayed for and celebrated the work of Catholic Mission over the past year. This term our Year 6 students are learning about many organisations that have a 'mission' focus and the excellent work they do.

At the Mission Mass, the Youth Mission Team presented a role play reminding the students that we are all mission. We are all called to give and share the best of who we are with others and when we do that we grow as well and so do those we offer ourselves to. What we each have to offer may be different: our love, our time or our resources. Regardless of what, our selflessness and generosity benefit more people than we often intend.

Have a say in our future playground spaces

Thank you to the parents who have taken the time to complete the five-minute survey to provide input to Jenni and Phil from Wellspring Environmental Arts & Design who are developing our school's Outdoor Learning Environment Masterplan. Please follow this link below to share your issues and ideas that will help shape the future opportunities our school will provide to our students. The survey closes this Monday afternoon. You are also welcome to attend the Community Council Open Forum next Wednesday, 31 October, 7.00pm to 8.00pm where Jenni and Phil will listen to the ideas of our parent community. Please follow this link to participate in the survey.

Apology for Institutional Child Sexual Abuse

On Monday Prime Minister Scott Morrison apologised to survivors of, and those impacted by, institutionalised child sexual abuse; a simply terrible and shameful time in the history of our church and many other institutions that have worked with children.

Thankfully today there are so many more measures in place to ensure that this cannot happen again and our schools and parishes are the safe and caring places they have been for many and continue to be in the future.

Fr Chris McPhee, Provincial of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart Australia and former Parish Priest here in Kippax, wrote an Open Letter to the MSC communities here in Australia in support of the apology. As the local school for St John the Apostle Parish, pastored by MSC priests, I would like the opportunity to share it with you.

Go in peace, with the love of your family, into your weekend.

Matthew Garton (Principal)

Each day we gather to spend a few moments reflecting and praying together. This week the focus has been this scripture.

Isaiah 6:8 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)⁸ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!”

 Today we were reminded of the journey we all take on our personal mission for God.  The use of shoes to symbolise how each of our paths are different was powerful.  Send me, God, send me.

Many blessings,

Stephanie Stewart (Religious Education Coordinator)

Awards are presented at the school assembly each Monday at 2:10 pm.

Happy Birthday to Fergus S, Emilia M, Teesa V, Michaela H, Sophia H, Oliver C, Samsara R, Maya H, Riley D, Nicholas A, Kelvin N, Cooper M, Andrew H, Atem D, Bhoomika P and Jay L who all celebrated a birthday during the last three weeks.

Next Thursday, 1 November, is Mini Missions day. We would appreciate it very much if all students could bring a gold coin donation to donate to the children in Myanmar.

By bringing in a gold coin donation your child can participate in lots of fun activities and wear silly socks! (Much like what Year 6 was wearing on Monday for their assembly)

This day will include many competitions that your child can participate in and hopefully win a prize. This includes guessing how many balloons are in Mrs Stewart’s car!

There are also many other games to play and enjoy. An announcement will also go out a few days before for a reminder. Thank you for your help supporting Catholic Mission and the children and families of Myanmar.

Yolanda Gill, Isabelle Wallis and the Events Group

Are you aware of how your school fees are going?

School fees were emailed out last Thursday 18^th October. If you did not receive your fee statement please contact the school via email; finance.sjaps@cg.catholic.edu.au.

If you are experiencing difficulties paying your school fees, please contact our Finance Officer, Debbie Milne to discuss your fees.

Please check your statement carefully. If you are paying by direct debit and your statement balance is more than a term's fees, your direct debit is not covering your fees and you will need to revisit the amount you are paying. Please see the attached fee schedule break up to see if you are covering your fees.

If your balance shows a negative amount, e.g. -$71.53, you are in credit with your fees and you may want to put your direct debit on hold until next year as no more fees will be generated for the 2018 school year.

Families of Year 6 students please ensure all your fees are paid up in full by the end of the school year.

Families make a significant contribution to running the school by payment of fees.  The Tuition Fee and Building Fund are sent to the Catholic Education Office who use these funds to pay salaries, support the school with large-scale projects and build and maintain school buildings throughout the ACT.  Operational Levies are  retained by the school to pay for student resources, office and classroom supplies, electricity, water, equipment, computers, cleaning of the school and cleaning materials, transport where required, cleaning and maintenance of the school grounds.  Without parents support through payment of fees and fundraising the school would not be unable to operate effectively for our students.

Year 5-6 'Success' Netball Team.

Every term we apply for an Australian Government Sporting Schools grant that allows us to engage expert trainers to introduce and develop skills for particular sports with our students. This term we have exposed Years 3 -6 students to a softball program. Here are our Year 6 students learning to play softball.

Developing your child's emotional intelligence

by Michael Grose

Everything old is new again.

Over 2,000 years ago Socrates reminded his Greek compatriots, “Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.” Socrates was talking about the development of what we now call emotional intelligence.

Current day muse Dr. Marc Brackett director of the Yale Centre for Emotional Intelligence is more expansive. He says, “Emotions matter as they drive learning, decision-making, creativity, relationships, and health.”

Emotions are messy. They can be loud. They can be hidden. They so often interrupt our well-organised schedules. “What do you mean you’re sad? We’re off to watch a movie. It’s a happy time!” Emotions are hard to control and difficult to see. Like slippery eels swimming in a dam, you know that they are down there somewhere but it’s hard to figure just what they are doing.

So where do we start exploring the alien landscape, the new frontier of parenting? Here are five ideas to help you explore the alien landscape of kids’ emotions, the new frontier of parenting:

1. View emotions through the pleasantness lens.

We often place value judgements on emotions by saying some emotions are good or positive (happy, motivated, energised) while some are bad or negative (sad, worried, sullen). Avoid passing judgement in such ways. Recognise that emotions are pleasant or unpleasant and that all emotions are acceptable, whereas some behaviours (such as hurting someone when you are angry) are unacceptable.

2. Set your antennae to pick up emotion.

Ever have a child come home from school and misbehave in a way that is out of character? If so, did you focus on the behaviour or did you try to detect the emotion behind the behaviour? The default mechanism for many adults is to respond to children’s behaviour rather than stand back and take notice of what may be going on beneath the surface. We respond to aggressive behaviour and sometimes fail to notice the anger seething below. Stop automatically reacting to behaviour and start noticing the emotion that may be driving the behaviour. You still need to manage poor behaviour but responding in this way may give you a valuable insight into your child’s inner world.

3. Validate kids’ emotions.

Children and teenagers who are upset or experience extreme emotions require to understanding and validation. You don’t necessarily have to necessarily fix the situation, but it is important that your child knows that understand he is upset. Convey your empathy with statements such as, “Ahh, I see your upset that your brother….” ; “ Yes, it’s understandable to be annoyed……”; and “I can see that you are angry about this….”

4. Help your kids recognise, then regulate emotions.

Kids, like adults, need to recognise their feelings before they can regulate their

emotional state. Emotional recognition is a complex process that takes practice. Learning to recognise your feelings is a continuous process that’s best started when young, before the ups and downs of adolescence becomes a reality. Cue kids to their emotions by reflecting back to them how they maybe feeling rather than shutting them down or ignoring them. E.g."It seems that pretty angry right now. Could I be right?"

5. Build your child's vocabulary of feeling words.

Emotionally smart kids generally have a wide vocabulary, which means they are better placed to shift their moods when required. Reflect back as accurately as possible how your child or young person may be feeling. The differences between emotions such as anxious, tense, nervous, worried and overwrought maybe small but they are important in terms of giving kids some wiggle room to shift their feelings.

Emotional intelligence is best learned when it becomes part of your family’s culture, or way of doing things. Impacting on family culture is the best way of creating inter-generational change. You’ll know you've had generational impact when your children as adults identify you as the person who trained them in the skills of emotional intelligence. How cool would that be!

Kinder Maroon - Cooks in the Kitchen