Hail, Guardian of the Redeemer,
Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
To you God entrusted his only Son;
in you Mary placed her trust;
with you Christ became man.
Blessed Joseph, to us too,
show yourself a father
and guide us in the path of life.
Obtain for us grace, mercy and courage,
and defend us from every evil. Amen.

(Pope Francis, Patris Corde)

Dear parents and carers,

This week was the Feast of St Joseph. Through his example, and the dedicated founding work of the Sisters of St Joseph, our school continues the tradition of being of service to others and to build a community of faith. Happy St Joseph Feast Day to all in our community.

Office Admin

With NAPLAN recently taking place and our sacramental programs starting in the coming weeks, it is timely to remind parents that often there is a need to provide NAPLAN results and copies of sacrament certificates when enrolling into high schools. Parents are asked to ensure they keep these important records when they are received, rather than relying on the school to source and provide copies. While we do retain NAPLAN results, we do not keep copies of Reconciliation, First Eucharist, or Confirmation certificates.

Transitions through our school

Getting to school on time

I remind parents of the importance of having children at school by 8.50am at the latest. The impact of missing the first 5 or 10 minutes of school not only adds up to days of missed learning each year, but it means they miss important opportunities to form social connections for the day and to feel settled. Unfortunately, we have children who are late for school almost every day, interrupting not only their own learning, but the learning and teaching within their classrooms. If your child is experiencing any concerns about coming to school, it is important to let their teacher or me know, so we can offer support. Thank you for your attention to this very important matter.

Emotional Regulation

I suspect that I will not be sharing anything that many parents won’t be well aware of, but over recent years we have seen an increase in the way in which more children are unable to regulate their emotions. It is not uncommon for teachers to lose valuable teaching and learning time, supporting students who either arrive at school in some degree of distress, experience challenges on the playground, or simply are overwhelmed by what might be happening at the time. As teachers and support staff, we take every care to know our students well and to put in place necessary and positive adjustments and supports to assist students to feel safe, heard, and valued. As a school, we are giving a lot of time and thought to how we can further build professional capacity, provide alternate play opportunities and seek open communication with parents. A key trigger, as it is at all schools, is the playground and often an over-competitiveness. Often the actual games go fine, but in the transitions back to the classrooms, we see the inability to realise it is only a game and what were little niggles, become more significant flashpoints.

One idea we are introducing is around ‘buttons’ and how we all have buttons that others push to get a reaction. I am speaking to the children about how big they allow their buttons to be, and how they can actually control how well they manage them themselves. At the same time, I am telling them that they need to be aware of others’ buttons and to resist ‘pushing’ them to see what happens.

I would really appreciate all parents taking up this discussion about emotional regulation with your children. We have a beautiful school, but sometimes not nice things are said and done, which is not ok… but how we regulate our emotions impacts what happens next.

In the coming months, I will be seeking to organise some faciliated parent information opportunities for us all to learn more about supporting children to manage their emotional regulation. 

Have a great end to the week.

Yours in Christ,

Cameron Tarrant

cameron.tarrant@cg.catholic.edu.au