Principal’s Report – Issue 16

Dear Parents

Confirmation: When we start to speak for ourselves

Catholics have no recollection of Baptism whatsoever. This is because our Baptism occurred a few weeks after our birth and we were incapable of knowing what was going on or of expressing an opinion on what was about to happen to us. It was our Parents and Godparents who answered when the Priest asked, “Will you be responsible for nurturing this child in the faith and the life of the Catholic church?” When the time came to receive Confirmation, the time also arrived for us to begin speaking on our own behalf.

Before the Holy Spirit came to the apostles for the first time, they were gathered together in the upper room of a house. They were slowly recovering from the events of Good Friday; they were frightened and nervous about Jesus’ promise to them, “You will receive power when the spirit has come upon you”. They did not realise that Jesus had prepared them well for what was about to happen to them. The Spirit arrived with a great wind and with tongues of fire and their hearts were filled with the power of the Spirit and as the saying goes “A burning heart will soon find for itself a flaming tongue.”

They were able to speak about their faith with boldness and confidence and shared 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.

This weekend, when a new group of young people is about to formally receive the power of the Holy Spirit in Confirmation and begin speaking for themselves, we might cast a timely glance over our own lives to see how well we have spoken for ourselves. What are our reactions as the power of the Spirit continues to be revealed in our lives; are the two greatest commandments (Love of God; Love of our neighbour) alive and active? How “blessed” are we in living the inspiring words of Jesus about being humble and merciful, in contributing to the welfare of the disadvantaged, in standing up for Christian values?

If, as the most significant people in the lives of our children, we are making a real effort to exercise the power of the Spirit within us, then, our children will really begin to “answer for themselves” and follow our example to reveal Jesus to others by engaging in Christian thinking and action.

May the Spirit of Our Lord, Jesus Christ

Be with you always

And may we go in peace

To love and serve the Lord.

Amen

Confirmation Mass Details

This year Fr Peter Whitely will be conferring the Sacrament of Confirmation on our students. Fr Whitely met with the students today to discuss with them their preparation and readiness to receive this Sacrament. There will be two Confirmation Masses this weekend, both on Saturday afternoon.

Confirmation Mass 12noon – Students are asked to be at the Parish Centre by 11am

Confirmation Mass 3.00pm – Students are asked to be at the Parish Centre by 2.00pm

We thank Fr Greg and our teachers, Mrs Edwards, Mrs White and Mrs Tassone. We are also grateful for the support of Mr Colangelo and Ms Moffat, as well as all the teachers who have been involved with the group of students in some way over the past eight or nine years and shared in this cohort’s faith development.

The Confirmation program itself involves commitment from staff as it includes attending meetings, a retreat and daily lessons at school. We acknowledge and thank the Parish Sacramental Team, led by Mrs Faith Rico for their efforts and support in preparing the students for this wonderful Sacrament and celebration. We wish all our Year Six students and their families many blessings as they celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation this Saturday.

Positive Feedback

As parents are aware, we are currently conducting the kindergarten interviews for places at Infant Jesus School in 2018. We have had numerous applications for our sixty Kindergarten places in 2019, which is very encouraging. The feedback from parents with whom we are interviewing, particularly those new to the school, is very positive. Parents look at all possible alternatives for the education of their child, not just the convenience of the closest. I think parents are much more discerning these days and do speak to other Mums and Dads of children already enrolled in the school. I believe that parents who send their children to this school are the greatest advertisement we have. To receive this positive feedback about the school, the staff, the students and the community from new parents is fantastic!

There are so many ‘good things’ happening in our school due to the efforts of so many different groups of people. Our teachers and ancillary staff; our School Board and P&F Committee, our parent helpers – all contribute to make this school ‘a good place to be!’ It is through the endeavours of many that we are able to provide the students with the best opportunities to achieve success. Keep spreading the ‘Good News!’

Nine Key Drivers ~ Life-Long Learners

At Infant Jesus School, we believe in the development of the whole child and that our children must be equipped for the future. We understand that the children of today do not live in the world of yesterday and as such believe in an innovative, curiosity driven education based upon traditional and new pedagogy and understanding.

Infant Jesus School offers so many exciting opportunities and I encourage students and parents to attend relevant events and to be as involved as possible in the life of the school. Our aspiration, at Infant Jesus School, is to provide a world-class Catholic school where students and staff flourish. As A LEADing Learning School, the following nine key drivers support our beliefs and approach to developing successful learners.

Our students and staff are very much aware of these nine key drivers. You will see them in classrooms and on banners around the school. I thought I would share the thinking behind each of these over the course of the year. The third driver I would like to share is Life-Long Learners

At Infant Jesus School, we celebrate parents as the first and most influential educators and recognize that strong collaborative partnerships between the parents and the school are essential. The staff of the school work collaboratively with parents to foster children’s spiritual, cognitive, physical and social and emotional learning and growth.

Students are taught to become life-long learners by focusing on information literacy skills, inquiry and research processes. Students are encouraged to identify, locate, evaluate, organize and effectively create, use and communicate information to address issues or problems at hand. We give children opportunities to construct their knowledge in a positive relationship with others and for each child to be open to different ways of learning.

At Infant Jesus School, we believe in:

Implementing a pedagogy that is purposeful, meaningful and relevant.
Challenging the intellectual, imaginative and spiritual capacities of all learners.
The importance of developing problem solving and thinking strategies.
Developing skills of collaboration, communication and creativity.
Planning the environment so that young children can experience the world.
Encouraging children to take risks and persist with their learning.
Engaging children in meaningful and purposeful tasks.
Allowing children to be active in the learning process.
Challenging children to aspire to #ExpectGreatThings.

Faction Cross Country Carnival

Just a reminder to all parent that the Infant Jesus School Faction Cross Country Carnival will be held next Friday, 15 June at Lightning Park in Noranda. Currently the children are preparing for the Carnival during Physical Education and our Running Club. Running Club is held every Wednesday and Friday morning, with the last day being Wednesday 13 June. Long distance running is an integral part of the Physical Education Curriculum and all children in Year 1 – Year 6 are encouraged to participate. The aim of the carnival is participation, so all children are encouraged to give it a go. Please see further information in the ‘Sport News’ section of the Veritas. This carnival will begin at 9.00am with our Year 6 students running 2000m.

From My Readings

Below is the interesting article by Michael Grose outlining the friendship skills children require titled “12 Friendship Skills Every Child Needs”.

Friendship skills are generally developmental. That is, kids grow into these skills given exposure to different situations and with adult help. Kids can be picky about who they play and mix with. Popularity should not be confused with sociability. A number of studies in recent decades have shown that appearance, personality type and ability impact on a child’s popularity at school. Good-looking, easy-going, talented kids usually win peer popularity polls but that doesn’t necessarily guarantee they will have friends.

Those children and young people who develop strong friendships have a definite set of skills that help make them easy to like, easy to relate to and easy to play with.

In past generations ‘exposure to different situations’ meant opportunities to play with each other, with siblings and with older and younger friends. Children were reminded by parents about how they should act around others. They were also ‘taught’ from a very young age.

Here are twelve essential skills that have been identified as being important for making and keeping friends:

Ability to share possessions and space
Keeping confidences and secrets
Offering to help
Accepting other’s mistakes
Being positive and enthusiastic
Starting a conversation
Winning and losing well
Listening to others
Starting and maintaining a conversation
Ignoring someone who is annoying you
Cooperating with others
Giving and receiving compliments

Arrested Development

The NEW CHILD grows up with fewer siblings, fewer opportunities for unstructured play and less freedom to explore friendships than children of even ten years ago. A parenting style that promotes a high sense of individual entitlement, rather than the notion of fitting in, appears to be popular at the moment.

These factors can lead to delayed or arrested development in these essential friendship skills, resulting in very unhappy, self-centred children. Here are some ideas if you think your child experiences developmental delay in any of these essential skills or just needs some help to acquire them:

Encourage or insist that kids play and work with each other: Allowing kids the freedom to be kids is part of the message here, but parents have to be cunning with the NEW CHILD and construct situations where kids have to get on with each other. For some kids “go outside and play” is a good place to start.

Play with your kids: Interact with your kids through games and other means so you can help kids learn directly from you how to get on with others.

Talk about these skills: If you notice your kids need to develop some of these skills then talk about them, point out when they show them and give them some implementation ideas.

Kids are quite ego-centric and need to develop a sense of ‘other’ so they can successfully negotiate the many social situations that they find themselves in. As parents we often focus on the development of children’s academic skills and can quite easily neglect the development of these vitally important social skills, which contribute so much to children’s happiness and well-being.

Parent Presentation: Cyber-Safety

A reminder about the Cyber-Safety presentation by Mr Paul Litherland, renowned cyber-safety speaker and owner of Surf Online Safe. He will be presenting two workshops, one for parents and one for our Year Five and Six students. The parent workshop will be held on the 20 June at 6.30pm in the School Hall. Please register for this event using the ‘Form’. https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=Iy-FxTM2KU-zhlHaU-NeI2_eQieF-KhGs26VsZBufqFUOU1XRDFBQThTUkE3RTA4QTY4N01ITFlHSS4u

Paul will share his experience as a WA Police Officer in the Technology Crime Investigation Unit and speak about the need for students and parents to remember the impact of their digital footprint, maintain levels of privacy when using apps and apply methods to remain safe in an online environment.

Mobile App – Connected

Parents are strongly encouraged to download the School Mobile App – Connected. Important and relevant information is shared via this App. Next term, it will become a more integral communication tool as we move to the Veritas being posted potentially only once a fortnight!

Our new Integrated Mobile App (CONNECTED App for Infant Jesus School) will simplify communication no matter what the information:

Announcements – Messages/Push Notifications to the entire community or to specific classes/groups.
Important Dates – Conveniently displayed calendar events.
Newsletter – Latest Newsletter and link directly to newsletter archive page.
Absentee – Electronic absentee notice emailed directly to the school and a copy to the parent. Parents even sign their name before submitting the form.
E-Forms – Electronic Excursion/Incursion Permission Forms emailed directly to the school and a copy to the parent. Parents even sign their name before submitting the form.
Contact Details – List of School Contacts to allow direct access via email or phone call.
Other Links – Direct links to our current website and other helpful services.

Once the App has been correctly installed it will ask for a password (ijs1954). This will only need to be added in once. To nominate which feeds (classes, etc) that you would like to subscribe to, please go into settings and select your children’s classes, P&F and any others required.

Three-Year-Old Program 2019

The Three-Year-Old Kindergarten at Infant Jesus School is an educational program for Pre-Kindergarten children. The program at the school is very much play-based and helps the children develop independence and creativity by offering interesting and fun activities, that are developmentally appropriate, in a semi-structured form. The program follows a routine similar to Kindergarten where the children are in the care of a teacher and a teacher assistant for the duration of the session, but parent help is encouraged.

Who May Attend the Program?

The 2019 program is offered to children who will have turned THREE by 30 June 2019 and plan to continue attending Infant Jesus School in 2019 and beyond. Regulations prevent us from taking children until they have turned three years of age. Please note that enrolment at the Infant Jesus School Three-Year-Old program does not guarantee a place in the Four-Year-Old Kindergarten Program. Interviews will be conducted for both places.

Interested parents are asked to contact Mrs Cheryl Macpherson at the school office for enrolment forms for 2019 Three-Year-Old program.

Prayer for the Week

Father we ask you to send the Holy Spirit into our lives.

Open our ears to hear what you are saying to us in the things that happen to us, and in the people we meet.

Open our eyes to see the needs of the people around us.

Open our hands to do our work well and to help when help is needed.

Open our mouths to tell others the Good News about Jesus, and bring comfort, happiness and laughter to other people.

Open our minds to discover new truth about you and the world.

Open our hearts to love you and all people as you have loved us in Jesus.

Amen

Did you know?

The koala is not a bear, but a marsupial, related to the kangaroo and the wombat.
Babies are born without kneecaps.
There are no words in the dictionary that rhyme with orange, purple or silver.

Thought for the Week

A gentle word, a kind look, a good-natured smile can work wonders and accomplish miracles.

Kind regards