Dear St. Clare’s Community,

Week 4 already!

Our final term for 2024 is moving along very quickly. The first few weeks have been filled with smiles and positive attitudes, which is a blessing to witness everyday.

I will be on Long Service Leave all of Week 4. Please contact Sharon Chappel or Chris Edwards in my absence should the need arise.

 Staff Appreciation Day

On Friday 25th October, we acknowledge and thank all the staff at St. Clare’s for always working towards providing the best possible opportunities for our students. Our teachers, school officers and support staff work extremely hard to make St. Clare’s the amazing community that it is. We will celebrate on Friday with a morning tea, made possible with contributions from our P&F, Catholic Education Services Cairns and St. Clare’s. Thank you St. Clare’s -  you are an amazing, highly dedicated and very special staff.

Year 5 & 6 Reef Trip

A huge thank you to Mrs Penny Irvine for putting together a trip to the outer Barrier Reef for our Year 5 & 6 students last week. Mrs Irvine has spent countless hours putting this together after successfully applying for a grant from the Queensland Government - Engaging Science.

While it was rough seas for us, the day was an exceptional experience for our students, and Year 5 & 6 wholeheartedly engaged in every activity offered throughout the day. Several staff on board the boat commented on how well St. Clare’s students listened and participated on the day, with respect and enthusiasm. I have also received an email from a member of the public that happened to be on board, saying that they were very impressed with our students' behaviour. It is wonderful to hear this feedback about our students from others. I can definitely say that we were all very proud of how Year 5 & 6 interacted and participated on this excursion. I would very much like to thank all the staff that took part, Mrs Irvine, Mrs Jenkins, Mrs Schoch, Mrs Marsilio and Mrs Chappel - it was a great day, made even more so by your dedication to our students. And thank you parents for allowing your children to take part in the day and getting them organised for our early departure!

Thanks to our P&F

Last week we had a vinyl sail installed out the front of the downstairs student toilets. A huge thank you to our P&F that provided the funds for this project to be completed. When the rain comes back, students will be able to move to and from the toilets without getting wet.

Health & Physical Education Lessons

As you are aware Jeb Ryan had to leave us unexpectedly at the end of Term 3. Jeb is relocating to Brisbane, so that his son can receive treatment. We continue to keep Jeb and his family in our prayers during this very difficult time. We have not been able to source a HPE teacher for Term 4.

For Term 4 the following has been put in place:

Jenny Vujcich will be teaching Health on Wednesdays to Year 6, 5, 2, 4 & 1. Rachelle Salleras has filled in on Tuesdays for the first 3 weeks of Term, taking Prep for Health & PE and Year 1 for PE. Penny Irvine has continued to take Year 3 for Health.

This week, with our Water Safety Program commencing, Cherie Jenkins will take all year levels for PE, on Monday or Tuesday and Prep for Health. This will continue until Week 7.

For Weeks 8, 9 & 10, we will come up with a plan to ensure our students engage with the HPE curriculum. We are currently recruiting to appoint a HPE teacher for 2025. I will keep you updated.

Enrolments 2025

While we do not like to see our families leave St. Clare's, we understand that circumstances change and families can relocate and move away. We currently have families on waiting lists across year levels. If your child will not be returning to St. Clare's in 2025, please contact the office as soon as possible.

Mission Beach Bus

Due to a steady decline over the past few years, in the number of students on the Mission Beach bus, we will not be running this service after the end of the 2024 school year.

Sent to the Principal’s Office

I was lucky to be entertained by Oliver, Sumer and Emmett, as they sang a catchy tune about being Resilient. Well, done! I was also able to hear some very well written weekend recounts from Jonny, Lincoln, Lincoln & Jasmine - great work! Ekam has been working on constructing compound and complex sentences. Fantastic work. Charlie and Jackson shared with me a very detailed visual representation of a life cycle. Amazing!

Best wishes for the week ahead,

Karran Burzacott

Faith Knowledge Community Respect

This Friday (October 25) will be a very busy day at St Clare’s! Students are invited to wear red (Day for Daniel) and crazy socks (Socktober) to school. Please ensure clothing is sun safe and footwear is appropriate for school activities. We will start the day with an assembly for Grandparents’ Day where we would love to see as many grandparents or special family friends join us. Our special guests will then be invited to enjoy a cuppa while the children head back to their classrooms. After a cuppa, our classrooms will be open for grandparents to pop in for a visit and a play until 10am.

In the afternoon, our annual Mini Fete kicks off around 12.40pm. The Year 6 class is currently very busy organising stalls, prizes and entertainment for this event. Children are asked to bring along a small amount of change (no more than $20), in coins if possible. For younger children, putting this money in a zip lock bag with their name on it is a great way to ensure any lost money finds its owner. Children will also need to bring in a carry bag for all of their goodies and prizes.

All profits from our Mini Fete will go to Catholic Mission. Two of our Year 6 students, Grace Chaffey and Christopher Parsons, are ambassadors for Catholic Mission and will also speak at this Sunday’s Mass about the importance of giving. The money raised from events like our Mini Fete and Project Compassion, go towards helping other countries in need to provide services that every human deserves. Some of these services include supplying fresh drinking water, supporting communities to have a school of their own or providing local areas with basic medical needs. At St Clare’s, we pride ourselves on our generosity and the ability to help those in need.

Our Year 5 class will participate in a Leadership Day this Thursday. This day is hosted by a member of Identity & Outreach where the students spend the day exploring what it is to be a successful leader and how they can use their own personal strengths to become leaders.

With Blessings,

Sharon Chappel

Term 4 Assemblies

 

Week 4	Year 2 (followed by Grandparents’ Day morning tea)
Week 5	No assembly All Saints Mass 9am
Week 6	Prep
Week 7	Year 1
Week 8	Swimming Carnival
Week 9	Year 6
Week 10	End of Year Mass 11am

After an extremely successful year of implementing The Resilience Project at St Clare’s, we have decided to continue with the program in 2025. The school will cover the cost of the program, whilst families will pay $20 per student for the Resilience Journals to accompany lessons. This amount will be added to school fees each term at $5 per term.

MINDFULNESS

Did you know …

We spend 49% of our waking hours thinking about something other than what we’re doing!

Regular mindfulness practice can improve our:

• Immune system.
• Energy levels.
• Sleep quality.
• Awareness.
• Memory.
• Productivity.

Why don’t you give it a go. Find a mindfulness activity that suits you and that you enjoy, everyone is different. Below are some suggestions:

Handling sibling fights constructively: tips

These tips can make it easier to cool things down when sibling fights break out:

• Treat all children fairly. But remember that fair treatment isn’t necessarily the same treatment. For example, you can have different expectations of a 6-year-old and a 3-year-old.
• Avoid negative comparisons. Saying something like, ‘You should have known better because you’re older’ or ‘You’re the troublemaker’ can make a child feel even more hurt or resentful.
• Identify the cause of fighting. This helps you work out the best thing to do. For example, if a child has pushed a sibling and taken their toy, you need to step in. If you don’t, the child learns that fighting is a way to get what you want. Keeping an eye on your children is the secret to knowing the reason for the fighting and deciding on the right way to deal with it.
• Use family rules to make expectations about behaviour clear. For example, ‘We speak kindly’. You can remind your children of the relevant family rule and follow through consistently with consequences.
• Have a plan. This means thinking about how you’ll handle small disagreements as well as big fights. For example, you can help children work out small disagreements together, but you might decide to use consequences for fights involving physical violence or fights that happen after you’ve all agreed on a solution to a problem.
  
  

Kind regards,
Sharon Scouller

School Fees due tomorrow 23/10/2024

Thank you to those families who have made their payment for this term.

Please contact the school office if you did not receive your invoice so we can check your email address, or if you require a hardcopy of fees to make payment.

                  Please check your junk or spam mail.

Families have the option of paying weekly or fortnightly. Internet banking, or direct debit can be arranged with your bank. 

Please note:-

There is NO EFTPOS available at the school office. 

• Preferrably no cash but if paying in cash, we appreciate that correct money be given as we do not carry any change in the school office.
• If paying by Bpay or EFT direct debit or internet banking, please use the school bank account details shown on the term one statement.
• IMPORTANT: Please use your Ref: 966000….....(under Biller Code). This number is to be used when paying by Bpay, or EFT -direct debit, internet banking.
• Remittance slip at the bottom of the school account to be returned to the school office with ALL payments. (cash, cheque, direct debit or internet banking).

Thank you.

P and F Meeting next Monday 27th October at 5:30 pm.   All welcome.

Friday  25/10/2024

Coordinator: M Vipiana  Helpers: L Robertson    J Kachel

Bakers: R Lund  R Paton (Cupcakes)

Friday  1/11/2024

Coordinator: M Vipiana  Helpers: K Waters   K Kampe  

Bakers:   R Di Mauro     R Bilic  (Cupcakes)

Book Fair will be operating every day next week in the school library.
Commencing Monday 28^th October to Friday November 1^st 2024
from 8am to 3.30 pm daily.

 Scholastic Book Fair is the perfect place for children
to discover a love of books and ignite a lifelong
passion for reading. 
Come into the library and browse with your
your child to select some possible choices.
Have fun choosing books together!

 You are invited to purchase and donate a book
which will make a welcome addition to the
School library, a commemorative bookplate will
be placed inside the book with your family or
child’s name.

 When you buy a book/s your child will go into a draw for a free
book of their choice from the book fair.
Every book sold receives a free ticket, drawn after
the Book Fair closes.
It is also a great time to buy for Christmas gift giving.

You can make a pre-payment online then
present your pre filled form with the receipt number to the cashier
at the bookfair.
You will then receive your books from the fair.

Online payments can be made while at the bookfair.

Cash payments also are accepted on the day you visit
the bookfair.

A flyer has been sent home with more information about the Book Fair and payment options.

 Hope to see you at the Book Fair

It seems very early to be discussing enrolments for 2026 BUT if you have a child born between 1/7/2020 and 30/6/2021, your child is eligible to start Prep in 2026. Please go to our website to complete an online enrolment - https://www.stclares.qld.edu.au/enrolling/enrolment-application/. We already have a number of students registered for 2026 and do not want to see any of our existing families miss out.