12 June 2024 — Week 9, Term 2
Welcome from the Principal
Dear Families
If you are anything like me, and in the busyness of our daily lives, we often forget to celebrate or simply ignore that little or often unremarkable ordinary miracle that appears. Ask any staff member at the moment and of course the answer would be unanimous. The weight of reports, athletics carnival organisation coupled with the busy nature of Week 9 would no, doubt top the list. Our challenge is to recognise that ordinary miracle and identify the white noise that limits us from seeing those small miracles. These ordinary miracles have been numerous. Mrs Hentschel recounted to me the story of one of our Talgai students who received a class award in Week 8. He was so excited that he slept with the award near his pillow and asked his parents to read the blurb countless times before falling asleep. It is also the feedback from a past parent we received this week regarding the academic development of her child in Year 7. To quote her very words…"St Patrick’s provided a robust education and provided a seamless transition to secondary school without the normal country gap which is often associated with a country education”. As we always say, delivering an authentic and rigorous education should not be dictated by a postcode or where you live.
Last Friday, as we ventured to the Under 8’s Day in Clifton, Gala Day in Allora and the state final of the ‘Kids in Space’ Toowoomba, the amount of small miracles that happened on that day are truly worth celebrating. From our Talgai and Cunningham students catching a bus to Clifton, and as I always say, the wheels do go around and around, a number of children were quite anxious and nervous about visiting Clifton State School. Seeing these children arrive early and undertake every activity with enthusiasm and diligence for me, is a miracle in itself. To Gala Day, where our student numbers were down due to the ‘Kids in Space’ State Final together with the seasonal challenges of winter, proved a challenge. But those ordinary miracles appeared before our very eyes. A number of Dalrymple students stepped up to play in the senior netball teams and did so with integrity and dignity. Their support of fellow St Patrick's students who were struggling with the competition were again miracles that we need to celebrate. I am in awe of our Dalrymple students and for their willingness to stand up and take charge whether it is to support fellow students or to participate at a higher level. Their resilience and unconditional commitment are truly ordinary miracles for us all to behold.
To the ‘Kids in Space’ finalists who nervously travelled to Toowoomba to participate in the state final. Whilst there was no success in terms of moving on to the national final, our students need to be acknowledged for their willingness to support the decisions of the judging panel, and to their credit, they could identify areas for improvement in their own concept and presentation of designs.
The students are certainly looking forward to our annual interhouse athletics carnival being held in conjunction with St Francis de Sales School from Clifton. Now is the time where we look to our Glengallan students to step up and drive much of the cheering and organisation on the day. We wish them all the best as they develop their leadership skills on Friday. I would also like to acknowledge the St Patrick's P&F Association who will provide lunch for all students and staff from both schools. Our parents willingness to go above and beyond is testament to the strength of our community. The annual Glengallan, parents and staff relay and ballgames events will be hotly contested as always.
Please contact the office if you would like to volunteer on the day whether it is timekeeping, raking a long jump pit, or just participating in the modified games with our younger students. My advice to you all is don’t hold yourself back. We have an excellent school counsellor and access to one of the best physios in the state if you are injured on Friday whether physically or emotionally.
All the best for the remainder of the term and I look forward with much enthusiasm, to celebrating some more ordinary miracles this Friday at the interhouse athletics carnival.
Keith Blaikie—Principal
Keith.Blaikie@twb.catholic.edu.au
General Information
Executive Director's message - Dr Pat Coughlan
'Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.' WB Yeats
Last week I attended several National Reconciliation Week ceremonies. They were all in their own way outstanding examples of Catholic schools in dialogue with and within their respective communities about matters of real interest and importance. Reconciliation is not an easy topic. When deeply held views and diverse experiences come together progress can be slow and frustrating. You only have to look to the Middle East.
Schools are now moving away from outdated, adversarial, win/lose approaches to a new style of dialogue, and you see it practised more and more in classrooms as our Illuminate program begins to take hold. It leads to a deeper understanding of and insight into life experiences especially contentious matters. It is a superior way of engaging the spiritual dimension of the current generation of students and their parents.
It is underpinned by three principles.
- The outcome cannot be known prior to the dialogue (invited not imposed).
- The fruit of the dialogue will change both parties (encouraged not judged).
- The outcome must be discovered through the dialogue (inspired not directed).
Students are no longer thought of as empty vessels to be filled with knowledge. They arrive at school far from empty and bring a wealth of knowledge, beliefs, values and life experiences generated with and through family, friends and culture. To ignore this turns education into indoctrination.
One of TCS’s great strengths is our willingness to engage in constructive dialogue with and within our communities about important life matters. We do this through the lens of our Catholic faith. Everyone brings a different perspective, and no one has all the answers. Our faith is a living, breathing way of thinking about and acting in the world, attentive to the signs of our times.
Supporting your child’s self-esteem and confidence (TCSO)
Self-esteem is the opinion we have of ourselves. Good self-esteem helps children to believe in themselves and their ability to try new things and face challenges. It impacts on every aspect of our lives, from how we communicate, to what friendships we choose. Parents are pivotal to a child feeling accepted and nurtured. This feeling of acceptance ultimately enables a child to develop their own individuality and self-expression, which supports the development of a healthy self-esteem. A few ways that parents can support their child to develop a positive self-esteem are listed below:
Focus on strengths, while working on weaknesses:
- Model good self-esteem and ways of effectively coping with difficult situations
- Provide emotional support when mistakes are made and encourage them to keep trying
- Provide encouragement for effort made in learning new skills and trying new things
- Teach your child how to handle negative comments and harsh criticism
- Teach new skills (e.g. gardening) and demonstrate how to show persistence
- Encourage positive thinking and having a positive attitude.
Teaching and Learning
Kids in Space - an update from the State Final
On Friday 7 June, Mrs Kirkland together with 9 students from Dalrymple and Glengallan ventured to St Mary's College in Toowoomba as part of the state final of Kids in Space. They were pitted against a number of schools throughout the Darling Downs region. From all accounts, our students represented St Patrick's with integrity. Whilst the students were unsuccessful in their bid to reach the national finals in Adelaide, the St Patrick's students could see why Maryvale State School were chosen as the eventual winners. Please read the insightful reflections and highlights of the experience provided by our students:
- Edward - "There were different activities to do while we waited for the judges".
- Grace - "I liked looking at other students' ideas".
- Poppy - "I enjoyed speaking to the judges".
- Dimity - "I enjoyed working together as a group".
- Toby - "We needed more concept development rather than the design".
- Katelyn - "We needed a lot more creativity in the presentation of our ideas".
- Priseis - "Showing my ideas to people and providing feedback".
- Mahailia - "Working in groups and sharing ideas and feedback to other groups".
- Max - "Pollution is becoming a very big problem".
News from the Library - Mrs Tindall
To access these, use this link to our Accessit - St Patrick's Allora (accessit.online)
Please bookmark this page (please see the image below) if you wish to use it regularly.
To log in, students will need to enter their username@twb.catholic.edu.au, and then their school password, which will log them into their Microsoft 365 account. Their username is the same one they use to log in at school, and is then followed by the rest of the email address. At school, this will happen through Single Sign On (SSO).
After logging in, students will see the Olympic Games dashboard. This has some wonderful links to news of the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympic Games, as well as Australia’s history at the Games. Did you know we are one of only 5 countries to have participated in every modern Olympics? This and other trivia can be found in the links!
By clicking on the Dashboard tab, users can access other dashboards of interest, from Mathematics to National Simultaneous Storytime. There are interactive games to play and puzzles to complete. Safe fun for the nearly-here-holidays!
I hope students make use of this wonderful resource!
Please contact Mrs Tindall in the library if you have any difficulties.
Religious Life of the School
Our Implicit Catholic Identity
Our Implicit Catholic Identity:
In an ever-changing world, our Catholic Identity is now becoming a major focus in educational circles. I realise that I have talked about this subject in previous articles but I would like to share with you another point of view. In essence: What makes St Patrick’s different from other schools? Our daily prayer, Prayer Celebrations and Eucharistic Celebrations provide an explicit link to our Catholic Identity. But the question that often resonates with me is how does our implicit Catholic Identity appear to our community. “A school’s implicit Catholic identity can be described in terms of being everything that they do – as human dignity, a whole approach, relationships, work and drive, and academic excellence”. These key points hopefully set us apart from other schools. Our ability to nurture and respect the dignity of each individual is of paramount importance. The ability to build positive relationships with all members of our community and to promote a sense of academic rigour are cornerstones of St Patrick's. We will always continue to be ‘an inclusive community committed to high levels of learning for all.'
Whilst the Catholic story always has historical importance; it is not simply to be remembered, not simply to be known about, but lived. Catholic education must be marked by bringing people to know the story of the tradition, to understand it, to personally and critically appraise it, and to come to their own life decisions in response to it. Our Catholic faith is one of invitation and our Christian story should not give us an identity which is exclusive but rather an identity which is totally inclusive.
Being part of a community goes hand in hand with being human. It is that sense of comradery, the ability to come together to achieve a set of goals or to take responsibility for the welfare of all community members which are traits synonymous with a community like St Patrick’s School Allora. Being distinctively Catholic boils down to how we treat people and each other. If we are truly distinctive then all students, staff and parents feel a sense that they belong, are valued and are successful.
Upcoming events - June/ July
- Wednesday 12 June - P&F Meeting from 6:00pm in the library or via ZOOM
- Friday 14 June - Combined Interhouse Athletics Carnival with St Francis de Sale in Allora
- Tuesday 18 June - NAIDOC Week Mass and whole school activities (Talgai showcase)
- Thursday 20 June - School Advisory Council (Board) Meeting at 6:00pm in the library
- Friday 21 June - Term 2 concludes at 2:55pm
- Monday 8 July - PUPIL FREE DAY
- Tuesday 9 July - Term 3 commences at 8:40am
- Wednesday 10 July - Playgroup 9am-10:30am at the sandpit
- Wednesday 10 July - Newsletter
See the Sentral calendar for more information.
Reminders
Uniform Days
Sports
Wednesday, Friday
Formal
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday
Please remember that we are a...
‘Nut Aware’ School.
Times for Mass at St Patrick's Church are as follows:
1st Sunday - 9am 2nd and 3rd Sunday – 5.30pm
4th & 5th Sunday Liturgy of the Word with Communion - 9am
