No 19. Term 4 Week 5, 4th November 2022

Principal News

Hello dear families.

I think it is safe to say that we all share a common desire to see the back of this wintery weather. None more so that our kids who have been spending more time than we would like indoors, sheltering from the wind and rain. In such cases one could be forgiven for feeling a little negative. But negative thinking is like a giant wall. It closes us in, keeps us from accomplishing goals, and blocks us from moving forward in life—whether it be learning, growing, or obtaining happiness. In the same way, negative thinking can hold our children back from his or her true potential. When such times begin to take hold, it is up to us, to keep encouraging our children to maintain their positive attitude.

Parents play a huge role in teaching their children how to think positive. The reward for doing so gives parents a front-row seat to witness the amazing transformations that happen when their children have the resilience to persist when things are challenging and simply begin to believe in themselves.

Consider these strategies to inspire a positive attitude and teach your child how to think positive:

• Be an example. Model a positive, encouraging attitude in all that you say, do and believe. Optimism is contagious. Show them how looking for the positives in any situation can change your perspective and help create a fertile environment for happiness to flourish.
• Create a positive learning space for your student. What better way to inspire optimism than ensuring that hopefulness is all around? Decorate your child’s home workspace, in some positive quotes to keep motivation high. A positive environment can do wonders for eliminating negativity and encouraging healthy thoughts as they tackle new learning challenges and opportunities.
• Help them visualize a positive outcome from every scenario. It’s important to regularly plan goals with your child and when doing so, clearly set the stage for what success looks like. How will it feel to accomplish the goal? What will the reward be? What does it mean to be successful? And why does it matter? Answering all of these questions can help build motivation and excitement about working toward the goal.
• Help your child to change negative thinking patterns. As you bring negative words and thoughts to the attention of your child, make sure you’re encouraging him or her to replace the negativity with positivity. This popular method is a form of cognitive behavioural therapy, which is designed to change people’s thinking or behavioural patterns that are linked to certain difficulties. In this case the concept is simple: when you have a negative thought or reaction, notice it and replace it with a positive one. The more this occurs, the more positive your student’s thoughts, words, and actions will be.
• Eliminate negative talk from your child’s dialogue. When you hear them say “I can’t do it,” take a step back. Bring this negative talk to their attention. Dive deeper into the meaning behind it. Ask questions. “Why can’t you do it?”; “What’s holding you back?”; “How can I help?”; “What do you need to be able to do it?” From there, lay out a plan to remove those barriers. Show your child that you are in this together, and together you can come up with a plan to turn “I can’t” into “We can."
• Play the role of your child’s biggest fan. As a parent your influence makes a big difference in your student’s levels of self-confidence. Your belief in them can help him or her learn this sense of confidence and self-acceptance. Consider trying some self-acceptance strategies to make your child aware of his or her unique strengths and weaknesses. In turn, your student can begin thinking positively, developing self-esteem and celebrating his or her identity.

So, let’s turn our thinking around about the gloomy weather and instead of saying “I am tired of all this gloominess” we can say “Every day brings us closer to warmer, sunnier times”.

Have a great weekend and God bless.

Jason Micallef

Principal

Thank you and good luck Maureen!

Next week we will say farewell to Maureen Flanagan. Maureen has been our school counsellor for four years and has left a lasting impression, having supported dozens of students, parents and staff to enhance their wellbeing and strengthen relationships. Maureen is beginning a new chapter in her career at a school closer to Geelong and will spend her last day with us on Wedensday November 9. We thank Maureen for her incredible contribution to our school and wish her well as she embarks on a new chapter in her career.

In 2023, the School Counsellor role will be filled by a new member of our team, Mrs Lorinda Eden. We look forward to introducing you all to Lorinda very soon.

2023 Prep Orientation

Today we welcomed our 2023 Preps for their first day of Orientation as they prepare to commence school in the new year. Our newest and littlest members of our school community who will make up our four Prep classes had a wonderful time in classrooms getting to know each other and participating in some fun activities, while their parents listened to an informative talk about how we teach Literacy and Numeracy.

We look forward to welcoming our future Preps and families for Day 2, next Friday morning.

School Advisory Committee

The St. Kevin's School Advisory Committee is an essential component of governing and operating our school. It provides a forum for consultation and participation for our parish and school community. Meeting roughly twice per term, the committee discusses important aspects of school operation such as policies and curriculum design and helps the Principal to consider the perspectives of parents, staff, students and the parish when making important decisions about the directions of the school.

At about this time each year, we invite expressions of interest from the school community for new members to consider joining this important team. This year we have openings for two new parent members. There are no qualifications required other than to work in the spirit of collaboration and cooperation and be willing to attend meetings which usually occur on a Wednesday evening at the school.

New parents are welcome! Please contact Mr. Micallef for more information either by calling the school during school hours or by email. principal@skhamptonpark.catholic.edu.au

News from the Canteen

A change to class configuration in 2023

Next year, we plan to implement an adjustment to how we organise class groups for students in year 1 and 2. In the following video, Mr Micallef explains the adjustement and why we have made this decision.

School Performance Videos

It was with great pleasure that we can at last share with you the links to access the professionally videoed recordings of our recent 2022 School Performance: Around the World in a Night.

There is a separate link for each night and the password to access both recordings is smcstudios. 

Wednesday September 7

https://vimeo.com/smcstudio/stkevinconcert-7-9-22

Thursday September 8

https://vimeo.com/smcstudio/stkevinconcert-8-9-22

We hope you enjoy this keepsake and find many opportunities to relive the pride and joy of seeing your children shine on stage with your families.

Junior Indonesian

This term the 1/2s have been using the Polyglot Apps to help them learn action verbs.

In the app, there is a clip of Indonesian children playing a game of “Gobak Sodor” which is a traditional game that children play especially in the Java region. It is essentially a game of tag or tiggy in teams but the people who are tagging are limited to running only on lines while their opponents try to run from one end of the field to the other.

The children had a lot of fun and were able to make connections to their learning in PE.

Our juniors step back in time

The Grade 1 / 2 students have been learning about going to school in the olden days. This week the students took part in the 'Mrs Sargood Goes to School' incursion. Mrs Marian “Australia” Sargood was a real character from the late 19th Century and lived at Rippon Lea mansion in Elsternwick.

It was wonderful to see all the children dressed up as girls and boys from the 19th century! The students had the opportunity to write with pens and ink. We learnt a lot about what school was like in the olden days. We thought the sound of the cane would have been scary for kids in the olden days! 

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St Vincent de Paul Fundraiser

Our Sustainability Leaders have decided to support the people impacted by the devastating floods. St Vincent de Paul have requested MONEY and GiFT VOUCHERS as the easiest type of support at this time. At school each class will have their own little box for students to bring money or gift vouchers. St Kevins School will share these with St Vincent de Paul to pass onto those most impacted and in need.

Please bring your donations to your child's classroom this week and next week. THANK YOU in advance for your continued support. 

https://donate.vinnies.org.au/appeals-vic/vinnies-vic-flood-appeal-2022

Kind regards, 

Mrs Brobyn and the Sustainability Leaders. 

Catholic Mission Fundraiser

Our fundraiser for Catholic Mission was an incredible success. The Social Justice Leaders organised a CRAZY SOCK DAY and raffle with prizes on the day.

With your support, we raised over $600.00. As always, an epic achievement by our school community. CONGRATULATIONS!

Congratulations to the following raffle winners:

• 1st Prize - Joshua, PEA
• 2nd Prize - Anaiya, PMG
• 3rd Prize - Jordan, 5/6 CR
• 4th Prize - Angeline, 1/2 DM
• 5th Prize - Arielle, PEA
• 6th Prize - Delwin, 5/6 BU
• 7th Prize - Gabriella, 3/4 SB
• 8th Prize - Huvindu, 5/6 CR

Thank you to the children for getting in the spirit and wearing CRAZY SOCKS and supporting Catholic Mission with their gold coin donations. 

https://www.catholicmission.org.au/

Kind regards, 

Mrs Brobyn and the Social Justice Leaders.

Beleza Uniform Sale