7th March 2024

Dear Parents and Carers,

We are currently in the third week of Lent and as we prepare ourselves through prayer and action for the upcoming events of Holy Week and Easter, I am sharing with you some "Short Lent prayers" that are an easy way to go from desiring to pray more during Lent to actually doing so. 

When we’re not at Mass, sometimes we just need simple prayers to pray in order to remain close to God during our busy days.

On the website https://hallow.com/blog/lent-prayers/ there are some easy prayers you can pray to feel connected to God during Lent this year:

• “God, may Your light guide my day, and your spirit bring me peace. Amen.”
• “God, may my sacrifice of today remind me of my dependence on You for all the blessings I enjoy. Amen.”
• "May I stand in solidarity today with all my brothers and sisters around the world who are suffering. May we be united in your love, and may I work to build your kingdom here on earth.”
• “Heavenly Father, I’m truly sorry for the moments today where I missed the mark. I ask for your forgiveness and the strength to better follow Your call tomorrow. Amen.”
• "God, I lift up (name of the person you’d like to pray for) today. I ask that you bless them abundantly today and throughout Lent. Amen.”
• “Oh Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything. Amen.”

Hallow offers “Minute Meditations” as well –short, simple prayers that can help build your Lenten prayer habit in just a few minutes each day. Why not give it a go! 

Welcome to Kinder Mass 

What a wonderful celebration we shared as a faith community last Sunday at the "Welcome to Kinder" mass. Our sincere thanks to every family who brought their children along to receive a blessing and a welcome into the Parish family. We share great connections with our Vineyards Parish and it was terrific to see so many families able to attend. I was so very proud of the students, who in such a short time, have been able to learn three songs for the mass. It was beautiful! And thanks to our dedicated staff for preparing the students and for coming along to the mass and to the Parish for assisting with the afternoon tea and fellowship afterwards.  Miss L will have some images to share later in this newsletter. 

Staff News

Mrs Heather Porter Kay will be leaving us shortly as she takes up a secondment to work as an Educator in the Diocesan Virtual Academy based at the Catholic Schools Office for the remainder of the year. Heather has brought significant skills in both her pedagogy and her determination to improve learning outcomes for students at our school. We hope you will join with us as we congratulate Heather on her new position where she will work with identified gifted students across stages 3 and 4 from across the diocese. The Virtual Academy is a supportive pathway that operates online, with students being supported by dedicated staff trained in the field of high potential and gifted education and with regular video conferences. She has been a member of our community since 2020 and has made many wonderful contributions to our school community over this time. Heather will still be at Holy Spirit in a limited capacity for a short time.  We thank Mrs Nicole Elbourne who is excited to now become the fulltime class teacher for 1W this term. 

Student Led Conferences

In 2023 we achieved one of our long term goals towards creating assessment capable learners here at Holy Spirit when we implemented our first ever Student Led Conferences. Last year we received such positive feedback from parents, teachers, and the students themselves, that we have decided to trial not one, but two Student Led Conferences across the year. We were thrilled with the number of families where both parents were able to attend this meeting led by your child. We placed the child at the centre of the conversation, and it worked very effectively.

In 2023 the Student Led Conferences each child shared with parents/carers their reflection on their efforts, their achievements, and their goals in learning. This followed the Semester One reports. This year we are going to hold Student Led Conferences, one in Term 1 and again in term 3 which provides the students an opportunity to develop their goal and work towards it; review their practice and then either set the same goal or set another one to strive for. A part of the process is identifying what steps the child will take to achieve the goal. It is vital that our students learn now that they are in control of their own learning and their own efforts to learn.

We have the expectation that every parent of students in Year 1 and 2 will make an appointment and attend the Student Led Conferences please. We want every child to feel successful and listened to together, with parents, our staff work to support your child's learning goals. The Semester One and Semester Two formal reports will be shared as they usually are via Compass and if parents would like to have a meeting with teachers after the report, this will be an option provided on a need’s basis.

Next Monday 11th March we will open via Compass some dates and times when teachers will be available for their class Student Led Conferences across the week of Monday 18th to 22nd of March. Each conference will be for 15 minutes, and your child must be in attendance.

Kindergarten students will engage in SLC in the middle of the year however teachers will be contacting every Kinder parent to share some feedback with you in the coming weeks. 

We look forward to promoting the great learning happening here at our school. 

Teacher's Learning

Our school is focused on developing expert teachers and expert learners. In recent weeks, our teachers and executive team have participated in various Professional Learning opportunities across different Key Learning Areas.  These have included:

• Training in the new RE syllabus for Early Stage One and Stage One teachers new to their role.
• Training for Religious Education Coordinators across the system regarding "Self-efficacy in Teaching RE project" for 2024
• Verbal Intervention strategies - see some take aways below from Mrs Kath Gray our LST
• Exec Training for two days with EdD Michael McDowell who is the author of a number of bestselling books and presents practical tools and resources to thousands of teachers and leaders on almost every continent around the world. He has served as a teacher, coach, principal, and central office administrator. Our learning from our workshops with Michael will underpin our forever work of creating assessment capable learners at Holy Spirit Infants School. Other staff will have the opportunity to work with Michael later this year. 
• Networking days for LST's, Pastoral Care Workers, REC's, AP's and Principals are also occurring. 

When teachers are at a professional learning course, a casual teacher is employed to teach their class. This may mean your child's day may be slightly different and procedures and routines may change a bit. This is life and adapting to change is something every human being has to learn during their life. Students generally cope well but if they come home having had a not so good day, it may indicate to you that a different teacher taught the class that day. Ongoing learning for our teachers and support staff is a vital commitment and part of this profession.  We are committed to be the best teachers for your children! 

Learning Support Teacher Tips: (Kath Gray)

On Monday, a number of staff attended Professional Learning around verbal intervention. A key component of this training focussed on Communication Skills and managing how we, as adults, communicate to children who are experiencing a moment of crisis. During this time, when our own emotions are high, our words and body language can impact a situation, maintaining relationships and preventing further escalation, or they may have the opposite effect. 

During these moments, the only thing we can control, is how we respond to the situation.  

Key Takeaways: 

1. Keep messages respectful and positively phrased. Instead of “pack up this mess”, replace with “It looks like you’ve been busy. Let’s tidy this up so you can find it again tomorrow.” 

1. Consider how you say things – use a supportive tone and appropriate volume.  

1. Body language and touch communicate messages – maintain an open, non-threatening stance and supportive touch. 

Listen to your child. All behaviour is communicating a message.  

Have you investigated School TV yet? 

A reminder to all parents about a fantastic wellbeing resource that is available to you all just by clicking on our school website. The School TV platform has a huge array of videos, articles and podcasts that are specifically targeted to you, as parents!

"Because parenting doesn’t come with instructions, School TV is a wellbeing resource that can support you in the challenges relating to modern-day parenting.

This award-winning resource helps build relationships, foster connections, enable understanding and break down barriers to navigate a pathway towards better mental health and wellbeing for young people. It can assist in starting conversations on topics that are sometimes awkward or difficult to tackle."

School Tv does have articles related to older children as well. We encourage you to please check out this wonderful resource! 

Period Positive Diocesan Project 

Period poverty is the lack of access to sanitary products, menstrual hygiene education and inadequate toilet facilities. It is also the stigma and feelings of shame and embarrassment of a normal bodily function, and subsequent impacts on mental health.

In 2022 students from St Paul’s Catholic College Booragul advocated for female hygiene products to be made available in school toilets to provide access, equity and dignity to students who menstruate. A Diocese-wide working group was formed to investigate the impact of period poverty in our schools and lead the way in addressing the issues by exploring the feasibility of:

1. Installing free period products in dispensing machines in our schools, aligned with the placement of the sanitary bins.
2. Developing an awareness education program for schools in conjunction with the syllabus.
3. Developing a policy that will help reinforce the promotion of dignity, gender equality and reproductive health.

The working group soon developed an initiative called Period Positivity. The initiative is about making periods normal. From free period care products to more informative discussions, the initiative aims to promote greater accessibility, equity, and dignity for all.

In Term 4, 2022 a pilot program was conducted at St Paul’s Booragul, trialling the installation of sanitary dispensing machines with the provision of free sanitary products at the school. Due to the success of the trial, dispensers are being rolled out across all Secondary Schools in the Catholic Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle, with the Period Positivity initiative to commence at all Primary Schools as well in 2024.

• Sanitary products will be available to students for free, via dispensers in the toilet blocks.
• If students find themselves needing pads, they will be available from the dispensers.
• Students will still be able to use their own products, but there will be the option to use the free products provided in the female toilets for those who need them.

 Whilst this does not directly affect our student population at Holy Spirit Infants at present, I felt it is important that all parents are aware of this initiative being rolled out across every Catholic school. 

The product roll-out will be complemented by an educational awareness program that will be deployed to students. Professional Learning resources will enable teachers to be competent and confident to deliver the educational materials such as Menstrual health; information about periods and anatomy, dispelling myths, products, accessibility, gender equity and promoting dignity. The project aims to make menstruation normal. 

For more information, please visit https://www.mn.catholic.edu.au/students/period-positivity/.

Family and Community Engagement

All parents, grandparents and carers are warmly invited to attend our first FACE meeting for the year. This will be held at Holy Spirit Infants Abermain at 6pm Tuesday 11th March 2024.  Each school will present their School Improvement Plans and focus for the coming year ahead and given our focus on Wellbeing, we would like to introduce you to our Pastoral Care Workers at our schools. Please come along and share with us your ideas/questions/initiatives for future meetings and for ways to connect our families!

We are wanting parents/grandparents who plan to attend to please contact the school office either Abermain or Kurri via email or phone to let us know you’re coming along. If you need to bring your children along, let us know so we can arrange for their supervision. We unfortunately cannot proceed if we have less than eight parents in attendance - this is a wonderful opportunity to have a voice in your school community.  Please join us! 

New Play Equipment

We have had our new Musical Play Equipment installed in the past fortnight and it is very popular! The equipment was funded partly by a grant from the Government following an application to improve our playground space and partly by our school. The idea is that providing a sensory component to "play" options for the children so that their creativity and musicality can be explored through play. I even saw some of the teachers having a go! Parents feel free to come on in and have a go at making music! (The new installation is not available to students at OOSH however due to neighbour noise complaints, however as our school is surrounded by households, we do all we can to co-exist respectfully). May God bless you and keep you safe!

Warm Regards Diane Murphy