Whitefriars School

Newsletter

23rd August, 2017 Term 3, Week 5

Last Wednesday evening our Year 7 students presented a great

performance at the Entertainment Centre in Wakakirri, the Story Dance

Festival. The students displayed great skill and the colour of costumes

and makeup was a highlight. Many thanks to Jess D’Angelo for her high

quality work in preparing the students and to Danielle Lyons for her

support of this performance. (See page 5 for photos and further details.)

We look forward to our next event which is the Catholic Schools Music

Festival, also on at the Entertainment Centre, on Wednesday 20th

September.

Our “Little Friars” Playgroup is underway, providing the opportunity for the very young members of our community to participate in a session each Thursday from 9 – 10:30am. Parents (or grandparents) are welcome to bring your preschoolers to share in the activities and enjoy the companionship of other children and parents. Painting, sensory activities, construction and stories are some of the happenings which provide much interest for all.

** Please note that next week, 31st August, the playgroup session will begin by watching the Book Parade which will be in the Hall at 9.15am. Preschoolers are welcome to dress up also!

Flyers advertising our Fathers’ Day Breakfast were sent home on Monday. All Dads (or Grandfathers or other

significant males in the children’s lives) are welcome to gather for a cooked breakfast on Friday September 1st

from 7:45am. Please return the flyer by this Friday to enable us to cater for this inaugural event!

Resilience is the ability to successfully manage life and to successfully adapt to change and stressful events in

healthy and constructive ways.

These are the opening words of an article on page 6 in today’s newsletter on the concept of Resilience, a much

needed quality in today’s world. On Wednesday September 13th Elaine Reynolds, our Counsellor who works

here at school every Wednesday, will present a session for parents around Developing Resilience in Children.

“Cling to God’s love and grace.”

(St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, 1890)

For your diary…..

Term 3 Wednesday, 23rd August - 7pm School Board Meeting @ Whitefriars Saturday, 26th August - Football presentations—see Page 7 Thursday, 31st August - Book Week Parade , 9.15am Friday, 1st September -5.30pm—Mayoral Make-A–Book Presentation

Friday, 8th September - Pupil Free Day

Tuesday, 19th September - 7pm, School Board Meeting at Whitefriars Wednesday, 20th September - Catholic Schools Music Festival performance Tuesday, 26th September -Children’s University Graduation @ 6pm Friday, 29th September - Last day of Term 3, students dismissed at 12.30pm Term 4 Wednesday, 25th October - 7pm, School Board Meeting Friday, 27th October - School Disco

45 Beaufort Street, Woodville Park, 5011

Phone - 8445 1895 Fax - 8445 1876

Email address: info@whitefriars.catholic.edu.au

Our website: www.whitefriars.catholic.edu.au

Principal: Ms Mary Hemmings Deputy Principal: Mrs Barbara Ahern

APRIM: Mrs Angela Scodella

OSHC & Vacation Care Phone: 8244 4155 or 0459 988 149

Croydon Park Parish Office Phone: 8346 0944

Please take some time to read the latest edition of the

Southern Cross, our Catholic newspaper . It includes an

article about Archbishop Wilson urging Catholics to

participate respectfully in the debate on same sex marriage

and have their say in the postal vote.

A reminder that our school day begins at 8:45am and all children are expected to be in class by then. This

enables all to begin at this time, with many class activities occurring such as Basic Number Skills activities and

reading. (Children who arrive at 9:55 each day lose 50 minutes of learning each week and over 8 hours a term .)

Thank you to those Volunteers who have attended our Volunteer sessions this past week.

ALL VOLUNTEERS are expected to participate in a session, unless you have completed a Responding to

Abuse and Neglect (RAN) Session through your work or other involvement. If this is so, please bring a copy of

this certificate into the office for our records. It is a requisite of Catholic Education SA that all volunteers

participate in this session. Our next session is next Wednesday, 30th August at 7pm. We have organised an

extra session on Thursday, 31st August at 2.00pm. Please ensure that you attend one of these.

Yours sincerely

Mary Hemmings

Re

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Angela Scodella, APRIM

We will be celebrating book week with a parade in the Hall at 9:15am on Thursday 31st August. All students can come dressed up in the favourite book character and

each class will have an opportunity to parade in front of the school. Please be creative with your costumes and try to use as much recycled material as possible. We encourage children to bring along the book their character is from.

First Holy Communion at Whitefriars Last weekend the following students celebrated their

First Holy Communion: Jeff Honey-Joseph, Georgia Huppatz,

Mitchell Macdonald, Sophia Scodella, Amelia Scodella,

Sienna Zienkiewicz, Mia Ladas, Chelsea Farrington,

Tahlia Binetti, Chloe Farmer, Liam Verrilli, Alexia Benedetto,

Andy Pham, Thai-Son Vu and Daniel Marticanaj. Please

continue to pray for our Sacramental students and their families.

Growing with Gratitude Last week the whole school came together for a presentation by the Crows

Football Club called “Growing With Gratitude”. This program aims to help

students easily develop the habits of gratitude, kindness and mindfulness that

have been identified as the stepping stones to greater happiness and success.

This fits in beautifully with our whole school focus on Social Justice; in order for

us to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, we must be living out the Gospel values of

kindness, love and compassion in all our interactions with others.

Walk A Mile in My Boots On Friday the 11th August the 5/6 Unit came together to walk a mile in the boots of a person facing homelessness in South Australia. By walking a mile students

become one of the many voices that say no one in our community should be without a safe, secure home. This was a great awareness raising activity and as a school community we also raised funds that will ensure people experiencing homelessness can access vital services that allow them to rebuild

their lives. Thank you to everyone for

your kind support and generosity.

103rd World Day of

Migrants and Refugees 21-27 August 2017

Migrants leave their homes in search of a better life and

face the difficult experience of migration in its various forms. The theme chosen

by Pope Francis for World Day of Migrants and Refugees is “Minor migrants, vulnerable and

voiceless.” As Christians, we are called to reach out to and pray for all migrants to emphasize the unity of the human family and the values of acceptance,

hospitality and love of neighbour.

In our unit, ‘In their Shoes’, we have been looking at issues experienced by

people with disabilities. We have been doing tasks to experience what it

would be like to be blind or to have a physical disability. One of those tasks

required us to use our feet to paint. We have also written some poems

describing these disabilities.

Hanh Ly “When I started painting with my feet I already felt so sorry for

those people with no hands. Within a few minutes my legs started aching so

much and it gave me an urge to give up. I imagine how independent and

persistent these people are.”

The following students celebrate their birthdays from the 23rd August to 29th August:

Eve Balic, Michael Coggins, Jade Dang, Tristan Dang, Mehansa Fernando, Elisia Kousiandas, Suzi Manzella,

Alison Nguyen, Nam Nguyen, Daniel Osorio Dos Santos, Ledio Shkreli, Guunvy Singh and Anabella Todea.

AFTER SCHOOL SPORTS NEWS & RESULTS

Sport Whitefriars Team Score Opposing Team Score

Basketball U11 Whitefriars Wildcats 30 Whitefriars Tigers 6

Football Whitefriars Year 6/7 9.11.65 Hendon PS 8.11.59

Netball U9 Whitefriars Sapphires

U11 Whitefriars Warriors

U13 Whitefriars Wildcats

15

19

25

St Joseph’s Hindmarsh

Nazareth Gold

Woodville Diamonds

1

15

9

Heating or cooling the whole house can be

expensive. Where possible, shut doors to

areas you are not using and only heat or

cool the rooms you spend the most time on.

FRIDAY, 8TH SEPTEMBER: This day occurs during Adelaide Show Week.

We ask families who are planning to take their

children to the Show to please make use of this day

for that purpose.

The YMCA OSHC service will be available from

7.30am—6pm on this day. Please phone 8244 4155

News from the Sports Desk

Cross Country Carnival Last Thursday saw the impressive Whitefriars Cross Country team compete in the annual Catholic School Carnival at East Parklands. In all, 46 students represented the school over the gruelling 2000m endurance course which included a creek crossing, a torturous hill and plenty of mud. All students who represented Whitefriars on the day did the school proud and tried their very best. A massive thankyou to Alison Knowles and Marigo Konidaris for their assistance on the checkpoint throughout the day. Also a big thanks to the parents and grandparents who came out and cheered on our athletes, we really appreciate it. Congratulations to the following students: Alysha Bubner Bianca Portaro Brianna Mastromihalis Michael Annesse Daniel Marticanaj Austin Huppatz Andy Vo Alland Vattakunnel Daniel De Ruvo India Bament-Shore Georgia Sturtzel Will Noblet Jarred Jesson Max Pilkington William Knowles Cooper Wall Joseph Jude Sophia Scodella Jaydn Haley Matthew Todd Jackson Mcdonald Pana Konidaris Nicholas Dmytriw Andy Ngo Brandan Speranza Oliver Fitzgerald Teagan Dunbar Adam Panaszek Jayden Bubner Montana Dunbar Aidan Farrington Sebastian Benedetti Nina Wall Max Noblet Mitchell Macdonald Nicholas Fotinos Georgina Salandra Isabella Gagliardi Yutha Thomasbabu Sophie Panaszek Nicholas Cuzzocrea Sevannah Galanis Caitlynn Buss William Hambidge-Hay

SAPSASA Basketball On Wednesday 9th August Whitefriars entered a boys and girls team into the State Basketball Carnival at Wayville Stadium. The boy’s team, who have played together for a few years were expertly coached by Fran Farrington who had them performing to the best of their ability all day. They ended up finishing third in a very tight and highly competitive group. Our girls’ team had the bare 5 players for their 6 games and did amazingly well despite that. They finished 2

nd

in their group, only losing their first game. Well done to all the students who represented Whitefriars. Thanks to Coach Fran, Lisa Marando and Joanne Benedetti and the parents who came to watch for their help and support throughout the day. These days can’t run without the help of our wonderful volunteers!

Crows “Growing With Attitude” Visit pics!

Big congratulations to the Year 7 students on their

brilliant performance of “The Gift of Mindfulness” at

Wakakirri last Wednesday!

What an incredible day

and night! The students

were outstanding on and

off stage and wowed the

judges with their emotion,

energy, and engagement

with the audience. We

won “Best Public

Speaking”, thanks to Elisia,

Mikayla and Georgia for

their show-stopping student rep speeches. We also

won the “Best Health and Wellbeing Story Award”.

Great efforts year 7s, I am so proud of you all.

A very big thank you to all the parents,

grandparents, staff, and students who helped make

our Wakakirri item as amazing as it was. I could not

have done it without your help and support, so

thank YOU very much!! Sincerely, Jess D’Angelo.

**If you missed your order form through the school, Wakakirri DVD’s of our show (16th August)

can be purchased via the Wakakirri website.

Kids Matter: Developing Mental Health and Well Being What is resilience? Resilience is the ability to successfully manage life and to successfully adapt to change and stressful events in healthy and constructive ways. It is our survivability and ability to bounce-back from life’s experiences, both the really advantageous ones as well as the really challenging, traumatic ones. The need to improve everyone’s understanding of resilience is essential for parents and carers of children because it will offer insights into how to protect our children from the damaging effects of the pressures of our increasingly chaotic and uncertain world. Resilience is a vital ingredient in the process of parenting all children, a process that directs our interactions as we strengthen our children’s ability to meet life’s challenges and pressures with confidence and perseverance. There are some key building blocks that strengthen the ability to be resilient, to bounce back from the bumps and bruises of life. These building blocks create vital protective factors that strengthen a person’s capacity to cope and especially to overcome adversity, and these building blocks begin at conception. The early years of a child’s life have always been important. However, it is not only the child’s physical and intellectual development that is developing rapidly in the first years of life, it is the emotional and social aspects also. Most of the important developments are invisible and difficult to measure. Often the little things are the big things.. Children still need the basics: plenty of loving interaction with significant people who care for them, enormous amounts of play and opportunities to make mistakes and learn from them. You don’t need a lot of money to raise children well.

10 Resilience Building Blocks for Children 0-12 Positive healthy pregnancy Good Nutrition Safe, nurturing care within the circle of family Plenty of play Meaningful Involvement with Positive Adults Build Life Skills Clear boundaries Absence of stress Self-Mastery Strengthen the Spirit Maggie Dent 20016

Some of the services and events contained in this newsletter are in no way connected with the school and are included

for your information only. Parents/caregivers need to make their own enquiries and assessments about the suitability

of these events and services for their needs and those of their children.

CANTEEN ROSTER - TERM 3, WEEK 6

(If you are able to help please contact Erica or Iris in the Canteen)

Mon—28 August Tues—29 August Wed—30 August Thurs—31 August Fri— 1 September

CANTEEN

CLOSED

VOLUNTEERS

PLEASE!!

VOLUNTEERS

PLEASE!!

Kylie Huppatz

Volunteer Please!!

Denise Harrison

Volunteer Please!

A REMINDER ABOUT HATS…

Spring is nearly here!

All students are required

to wear school hats when they are

outdoors from Monday, 1st September.

Remember….no hats, no play!

Ever Thought About Being A Catholic? Every year we offer an opportunity for people who would like to explore if God is calling them to be baptised or to become a member of the Catholic Church, if already baptised in another Christian Community. This journey usually concludes at Easter each year. A first meeting, which will be an introduction, for those who are interested will be Friday 8th September at 7.30pm in the parish meeting room, Parish Offices, next to St Margaret Mary’s Church. Perhaps there has been at the back of your mind this interest. Maybe the questions of your children have awakened your own curiosity. Perhaps you miss not having a faith, and you want to belong to a believing community. Perhaps coming to Mass has awakened an interest. This might be the moment of grace to take a first step and see what happens. You may know a relative or neighbour who has spoken about being Catholic or being baptised or you know someone whom you think might just be waiting to be asked. This might be the moment of grace to invite them to the meeting – a better still, bring them. More information from Fr Maurice or ring the parish office: 8346 0944 ppcroydonpark@esc.net.au

SCHOOL FEES

Thank you to the families who have paid fees for

Term 3. A gentle reminder that Term 3 fees are

due by the 1st September unless prior

arrangement has been made or you are paying by

direct debit.

If you are experiencing financial difficulties

please see either Mary or me to discuss.

Lyn Harrison, Finance Officer