Dear Parents,

This Sunday we celebrate Pentecost, which marks the end of the Easter Season. Pentecost is the great celebration that signifies the birth of the Christian Church by the power of the Holy Spirit. Ten days after Jesus ascended into heaven, the Apostles and Mary, together with many of Jesus’ Disciples, were indoors together when a sound like a rushing wind filled the house and tongues of fire hovered over their heads. They were filled with the Holy Spirit.

• They were able to speak about their faith with boldness and confidence and share with others what they had seen, experienced and learnt from seeing Jesus in action.
• They were able to bring healing to people who were hurting.
• They were able to work out disagreements by remembering what Jesus had taught them.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, the meek and humble, the merciful, those who hunger and thirst for what is right, those who mourn and are able to enter into the sufferings of others, those who are persecuted in the cause of what is right.

Pope Benedict told us how this event is to be understood by us on a personal basis, when he said, “Jesus is no longer to be found in any specific place, but His spirit, the Holy Spirit, emanates from Him and enters our hearts, thereby uniting us with Jesus and with the Father”.

It is to Jesus that we look to see what life and growth we should pursue, for it was Jesus who showed us how to live the gifts of the Holy Spirit in our daily lives.

This is very relevant to all of us here at Mary Immaculate, where as a community we endeavour to live our School Motto – ‘Christ Our Way and Life’.

WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY - Today our School Community celebrated World Environment Day. This year the day was hosted by China, with a theme of ‘Air Pollution’, we can't stop breathing, but we can do something about the quality of air that we breathe. Approximately 7 million people worldwide die prematurely each year from air pollution, with about 4 million of these deaths occurring in Asia-Pacific. World Environment Day 2019 will urge governments, industry, communities, and individuals to come together to explore how we can improve air quality in cities and regions across the world. 

KINDERGARTEN ENROLMENTS - Since the beginning of this Term Mrs Del Giudice and I have been conducting Kindergarten Enrolment interviews for our 2020 cohort. Conducting these interviews, especially with parents who attend for the enrolment of their first child, is a wonderful privilege. In our conversations with families one of the topics touched upon is the motivation behind choosing Mary Immaculate as the school for their child. In outlining the reasons behind their willingness to apply for enrolment at Mary immaculate, the conversation centres on the fundamental differences between the choice of a Catholic School, such as Mary Immaculate and other schools in the area. Our surrounding area is blessed with many quality schools. All strive to be places of quality learning and teaching, and all follow the common curriculum provided by the New South Wales Education Standards Authority (NESA). We are alike in so many ways. The fundamental difference however, is reflected in our Catholic identity. Our school actively promotes, teaches and celebrates our Christian faith and our Catholic traditions. Supporting this identity must be a conscious choice that is made by parents seeking a Catholic education.

Catholic Schools enroll approximately 20% of Australian students and whilst we teach the same curriculum as our government colleagues, the primary difference is on our faith being central in all that we do. We proudly and willingly identify ourselves as Catholic and we strive to bring to life the Gospel teachings of Jesus Christ in all that we do and say.

SABBATH WEEK - Next week Mary Immaculate students and staff will observe Sabbath Week. During Sabbath Week we endeavour to observe a period of rest in many different ways – no scheduled appointments, no homework, no staff meetings. Instead, we encourage staff and students to take time to focus on ourselves, and our relationship with God.

Have a great week and let Christ be our way and life.

Don Spencer

Principal

Staff Development Day – Pupil Free Day Term 2

A Staff Development Day for the staff at Mary Immaculate will be held on Friday 14 June 2019 (Friday, Week 7, Term 2). The focus of the day will be related to the teaching of STEM. Children are not required to attend school on this day.

Staff Development Day – Pupil Free Day Term 3

The staff of May Immaculate will be attending an overnight retreat in Mittagong from Thursday evening 25 July until Friday afternoon 26 July 2019. The children will not be required to attend school on Friday 26 July (Friday Week 1 Term 3)

OPAL CARDS - A further reminder to the parents of children who commute by bus to and from school to please ensure that their child has the correct Opal card. If the cards are lost then please apply for another one by logging into your Opal Account and requesting a replacement. I have had several bus drivers who have raised the concern of children not producing their card. Thank you for your co-operation.  Please click the link below to Apply for an Opal Card if your child does not have one:

PROFESSIONAL LEARNING - At Mary Immaculate the staff has an ongoing commitment to professional learning. The staff benefit from attending inservices, in curriculum areas, that assists them in providing quality learning opportunities for the students in their class. The following staff have or will attend professional learning and hence will be away from school.

LATE ARRIVALS & EARLY DEPARTURES- It is important children arrive to school by 8.25am and leave on the dismissal bell at 2:30pm. Late arrivals and early departures are disruptive to the children and to their class. Please avoid interrupting children's learning time and where possible make appointments after school. A child who arrives 10 minutes late for two mornings a week throughout the school year would miss the equivalent of 2.5 days of schooling. Punctuality is a trait we need to model and encourage. Thank you for your support and understanding.

PARENTING IDEAS

My Child is anxious, what do I do?

If you’re the parent of an anxious child, you’re most certainly not alone. Millions of families all over the world are right there with you. Though it’s helpful to know, we understand that it doesn’t make the challenging role of parenting an anxious child any easier.  Developing and deepening your understanding of childhood anxiety and the important role you play in helping them manage it will help parenting an anxious child.

While at first parenting an anxious child can feel overwhelming and difficult, I want you to think about it differently. Take a moment to recognise that you, your anxious child and your family have been presented with an opportunity. You can’t change what is happening right in front of you. You can’t undo it. What will help your anxious child to flourish, despite their anxiety, is first and foremost someone recognising they need assistance.

What is Anxiety?

Anxiety triggers part of the brain to fire up the fight-or-flight response or, as some aptly call it, the fight, flight, freeze or freak out response, to protect us from danger. It’s an emotion, and like other emotions it has a start, a middle and an end. Except when it doesn’t. That’s the experience for an estimated half a million plus Australian kids and 117 million worldwide experiencing an anxiety disorder. That’s how far reaching and common anxiety has become.

For these kids, their experience of anxiety doesn’t pass when the threat, danger or stressful situation has passed. The anxiety they experience can disrupt their day to day life and family life in both predictable and unexpected ways. Anxiety has the potential to stand in the way of kids being kids and their ability to enjoy the quintessential elements of a happy, relaxed, carefree, playful childhood; but it doesn’t have to.

Anxious kids have a brain that works really hard to protect them from danger. A part of their brain is similar to the sentinel among meerkats who is always on their tippy-toes watchfully assessing the environment for threats. This means that anxious kids spend an inordinate amount of time with their fight or flight response in full swing.

It’s not by choice. It’s exhausting, and not just for the kids. Whether the threat is real or imagined, the brain and body react in the same way. An oversensitive brain will protect, protect, protect, even if the ‘threat’ seems innocuous to everybody else, or possibly isn’t even noticeable. Once the senses signal to the brain that danger is apparent, it’s comparable to opening the floodgates. The anxiety cascade begins as does the fallout, making a hard job more challenging for parents of an anxious child.

How to know if your child is anxious

Anxiety exists on a continuum ranging from high calmness through to low calmness, mild anxiety through to high anxiety. This is different to the traditional view where anxiety is ‘present’ or ‘absent’. Noticing if your child is moving away from a more calm and relaxed persona to feeling more stressed, along with any accompanying behavioural change, is your cue to ‘watch and wait’ over time to see if these changes in fact point to anxiety. Similarly, helping your child move in the direction of calmness helps buffer against stress.

Signs and symptoms of anxiety are grouped according to their impact on children’s emotions and physiology, behaviour and thinking.

Emotionally and physically

It’s common for anxiety symptoms to be physical given the changes that happen in the body when the fight or flight response is triggered. These include chest pain or discomfort, nausea, sleeplessness, tiredness, regularly crying over small problems, rapid heart rate and often appearing nervous.

Behaviour

It’s hard for anxious kids to concentrate when they’re feeling worried. It’s equally challenging to concentrate when their body feels revved up like a race car that is stuck in the pits. It’s no wonder anxiety shows in behaviours such as excessive fear of making mistakes, perfectionism, avoidance of activities that they feel worried or scared about, refusing to attend sleepovers and many other behaviours.

Thinking

As the minds of anxious children are often on the lookout for threats and danger, they’re thinking all the time: reflecting on events of the past, analysing situations and reactions from every angle, wondering what’s going to happen next and worrying. If there was a ‘Worrying Olympics’, anxious kids would be gold medallists. Worrying and overthinking is a sign of anxiety.

How to help

There is so much you can do as a parent or teacher to assist your child to better manage their anxiousness. Start with the following three approaches:

1. Learn how anxiety works - A thorough understanding of the physiology and psychology of anxiety, the events that trigger anxiety in your child and how your child typically responds is the most important step you can take. This knowledge will increase your confidence which, in itself, will be a considerable source of calm for your a child.
2. Give your child the tools to self-regulate - Anxiety won’t disappear on it’s own. Children and young people need tools to recognise and regulate their emotions so they are able to function when anxious moments appear. Self-management tools such exercise, deep breathing and mindfulness will reduce their dependence on you, allowing them to manage their anxious states. These lifelong skills are invaluable for anyone who worries or who has a tendency towards anxiety.
3. Develop a lifestyle that minimises anxiety - A child’s lifestyle also impacts massively on their anxiety. Anxiety management tools will never be totally effective until it’s supported by a lifestyle that promotes a healthy mind and body. These seven lifestyle factors in their own way decrease the likelihood of a child experiencing anxiety: sleep, nutrition and gut health, play and movement, green time, knowing their values, volunteering and fostering healthy relationships.

While parenting an anxious child is an emotional rollercoaster, try to see each day as an opportunity to build greater awareness and resilience in your child.

Each day is peppered with pockets of time in which you can extend your child’s understanding of anxiety, where it comes from and why, as well as guiding them to practise the skills that show their amygdala they’re safe, calm their nervous system and restore their thinking brain back into action.

Author – Michael Grose (Parenting Ideas)

Happy Birthday to the following children who will be celebrating a birthday this week:

Jason D, Bonnie-Lee M, Annointing P, Ashton M, Zahra M, Mayom D and Leila C

Congratulations to the following children who have won a Morning Tea with the Principal:

Sienna D K Gold, Jaimie S 1 Green, Jilliane C 5 Gold

Congratulations to the three classes who earned a Gold Star last week, K Green, 3 Green and 6 Blue.  Now there are only two classes waiting to get their first Gold Star for the year, maybe next week!

Scholastic Book Club - The brochures have been sent home this week for Issue Four, ordering is available online as indicated on the brochures.  Orders and money are NOT accepted at school, Book Club must be ordered online ONLY.  If you have any problems, please don’t hesitate to contact us in the Library before or after School.  Orders close for this issue, Issue Four, on Monday 17 June.  Thank you for your support of this program, it is a great way to buy books for your children.

National Simultaneous Storytime - National Simultaneous Storytime is an annual campaign that aims to encourage more young Australians to read and enjoy books. Now in its 19th successful year, it is a colourful, vibrant, fun event that aims to promote the value of reading and literacy, using an Australian children's book that explores age-appropriate themes, and addresses key learning areas of the National Curriculum for Foundation to Year 6. Every year a picture book, written and illustrated by an Australian Author and Illustrator is read simultaneously in libraries, schools, pre-schools, childcare centres, family homes, bookshops and many other places around the country. Many of our classes participated in this project last week, reading the fun book 'Alpacas with Maracas' written and illustrated by Matt Cosgrove.

Premiers' Reading Challenge: We now have quite a few students who have already completed the challenge, and many more who have logged in and registered their books read so far. Keep up the great work! It is not too late to start – we have till August. Remember if you are having difficulties logging in to register the books just come in to the Library at Lunch 2 for help. The website has the list of books as well as the login access for each student:

https://products.schools.nsw.edu.au/prc/booklist/home.html

Our Oliver Library catalogue will let you know what books from the lists are available in our library. Go to oliver.dow.catholic.edu.au/miev and type ‘premier’ in the search box. Then select the level required and the search results will indicate available titles.

"I have a passion for teaching kids to become readers. To become comfortable with a book, not daunted. Books shouldn't be daunting, they should be funny, exciting and wonderful; and learning to be a reader gives a terrific advantage."

Roald Dahl

Happy reading!

Mrs Sue Bryant, Teacher Librarian

BUILDING RESILIENCE IN AN ONLINE WORLD

Today we live in a world where the youngest generation is connecting faster than ever to technology. It can become hard to keep up with how children are using technology and the impacts it can have on them.

Most children have access and use a variety of online platforms to stay connected with friends and engage in making new friends online. Online gaming platforms like Roblox, Fortnite and Minecraft all have chat programs associated with them. Social media apps like House Party, Instagram, Snapchat, and Messenger all allow for children to send instant message, group chats and video content.   Navigating this can be difficult for children especially if they have negative experience online.

While connecting online is certainly not going to go away it is important as parents that we help our children develop a healthy relationship with technology and how they use it. Setting healthy boundaries and having conversations with your children about technology is a great way to do this.

Be clear about how much screen time your child is allowed. Australian Department of Health recommendations advise that for children aged between 5-12 have a maximum of 2 hours screen time a day.

Talk to your children about what apps and programs they are using online, are they age appropriate?

Remind children that they don’t have to connect to everyone, a good rule to follow is - if your child would not want to have that person in their home to play with them then don’t connect with them online.

Talk to them about who they share information with. Teach your children not to share private information. Use devices in open areas of the home so you can help your child if they are experiencing any challenges.

Encourage your child to let you know if they have had negative experiences online. These can be used as a learning tool.  Help them explore the emotions that come up for them in a non judgmental way. Help your child identify positive experiences online as well.  

Teach your children how to block people so that they don’t continue to message them and causes your child distress. In some case it will be important to also report users and their actions. The e-safety commission has information on how to do this.

Help build resilience by keeping things in perspective, help then understand that difficult times are apart of life and this includes things we may experience online. Encourage them to think of positive ways to handle situations. Take a break from social media or gaming, connect with family, do physical activities.  Teach them that asking for help is ok, and that if something online makes them feel uncomfortable speak to a trusted adult about it right away.

By setting up healthy communication and boundaries with technology your children will be able to navigate the online world with more confidence and resilience.

Rita Maher

School Counsellor

CatholicCARE Wollongong

25-27 Auburn St (PO Box 1174) Wollongong 2500

ritam@catholiccare.dow.org.au

www.catholiccare.dow.org.au

ALL UNIFORM IN THE 2ND HAND UNIFORM WILL BE ON SALE 50% DISCOUNT

MONDAY 17 JUNE 2019 FROM 8:30 A.M. TILL 9:30 A.M. AND 2:00 P.M. TILL 3:00 P.M

IN THE SCHOOL HALL

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This winter, thousands of people face crisis and are forced to do whatever they can to make it through the cold, (and often lonely), months of winter. To assist such people, the St Vincent de Paul Society is holding their Annual Winter Appeal.

 To support this worthy cause, the Mini Vinnies Team has decided that they would like to hold a ‘Sweet Treats Stall’. The stall will be held at Lunch One on Thursday 13 June. The Mini Vinnies children will be providing delicious treats. All proceeds from the stall will go towards The Winter Appeal.

Treats will cost between 50c and $2.

 Thank you for your support!

 Jasmine, Emma and William (MiniVinniesTeam)