MOTHER'S DAY

We would like to wish all of our Mothers and mother figures a wonderful day on Sunday to celebrate in whichever way makes you happy. While this is a special day once a year to recognise the amazing women in our lives, we acknowledge the small and large things you do every day of the year in our lives. We also pray and think about those for whom this day is difficult due to loneliness, loss or separation. Thank you to those who attended our events today to mark the start of the weekend, we hope that you enjoyed time with your children and feel our appreciation. We thank Mrs Cameron and Mrs Thomas for preparing such a beautiful day, Mrs Lawrence and Mrs Packer for preparing songs with our choirs and all staff for welcoming families into their rooms.

MOTHER'S DAY STALL

Thank you to Kate Perkins and Kaylie Davis for organising our Mother's Day Stall this week, along with their helpers Jodie McGuigan, Kate Roods and Mia Perkins, we hope the children enjoyed going shopping for their mums, nans or mother figures.

KINDERGARTEN 2025 ENROLMENTS

I am sure, like me, you are thinking there must be a mistake this week, as it’s only May and we are talking about enrolments for 2025! It’s true, it’s time to get in enrolment forms for Kindergarten 2025 and planning is underway for the parent information session and school tours. There is already very high demand for places in our Parish Schools for 2025 and we don’t want any of our current families with siblings to miss out on a place. We also encourage you to remind new families that you may be aware would like to be considered to complete forms as soon as possible to ensure they are known to us. Important dates to be aware of:

• Saturday 18th May @ 9:30am - Information session
• Saturday 1st June @ 2pm - School tour
• Friday 14th June - Round 1 of applications closes for Parish Principal consideration
• Mid July to mid August - Interviews for placement in 2025

STUDENT SCHOOL LEADERS

It was my great pleasure to join the Year 6 team early this week for their Peer Support Training day and spend some time with our students on activities that prepare them for this great opportunity to lead in our school. With pride, I heard of their well developed skills in communicating and respecting their role and supporting them to continue refining them. Serving their very welcomed hot chip sandwiches showed their natural respect and manners for others, with no one needing to be reminded to be thankful. 

GET TO KNOW OUR STUDENT SCHOOL LEADERS

Beginning next week, we will be adding profiles of our student leaders to the newsletter so that you can get to know a little about them and see why they are already making their mark at school. We are very proud of them and continue to enjoy seeing them grow in leadership.

MISSION

PARISH CONNECTION

This week, Year 6 Blue walked to St Francis of Assisi Chapel to attend Mass with the parishioners. During Mass, the rain started pouring down, and Mrs Ryan wondered how she would get her class back to school dry and warm!

Lucky for us, we have a very generous St Peter’s community. Once Mrs Cameron put the request out to our students and teachers, a mountain of umbrellas were hand-delivered to the office just in time for her to drive them across to the chapel!

Year 6 Blue sent out the following message:

“A big thank you to everyone that donated an umbrella to 6 Blue this morning! A very exciting walk home in the rain!”

SACRAMENT OF FIRST HOLY COMMUNION NARRATED MASS

A number of St Peter’s students are preparing to celebrate the Sacrament of First Holy Communion with children from across the Parish. As part of this preparation, these children and their families attended a Narrated Mass this week. A Narrated Mass is an opportunity for us to learn more about the parts of the mass and helps us understand the rich symbol and tradition of the Catholic faith. The Sacrament of First Holy Communion will be held later this month. Please remember these children in your prayers as they journey towards becoming full members of the church.

YEAR 4 CELEBRATION OF THE WORD

FRIDAY 17TH MAY

TELL THEM FROM ME SURVEY OPEN

Over the next three weeks we invite our parents and carers to complete the Tell Them From Me (TTFM) Partners in Learning survey.

Tell Them From Me Survey - Link

We have already had 30 families complete the survey! Well done!

The survey will be anonymous and will take approximately 20 minutes to complete. Our school goal is to have over 100 families to complete the survey.

Each survey entry will receive a coffee voucher and go into the draw to win some fabulous prizes. You can enter your name into the prize draw by writing your name on the clipboard in the office or email pmacp@lism.catholic.edu.au to enter your name and receive your coffee voucher (it’s an honesty based system). 

Leary’s Lane will be open Thursday mornings from 8.00am with some ipads if you would prefer to complete the survey after school drop off. 

PARENT COMMUNITY GROUP

THURSDAY 16TH MAY

The second Parent Community Group will be held on Thursday the 16th of May during the Year 6 Fundraising school disco. The focus will be on completing the ‘Tell them from me Survey’ which provides valuable information to the school for future planning. A complimentary boutique wine drink and some nibbles will be on offer. Ipads will also be available to complete the survey on. 

During the Primary disco a brief presentation on ‘Speaking with your child about puberty’ will be facilitated by Janita Thompson from the Lismore Catholic Schools Office. Please RSVP to amanda.thomas@lism.catholic.edu.au if you would like to attend the puberty talk. 

ST PETER'S MUMS NIGHT OUT

SATURDAY 18TH MAY

PARENT ASSEMBLY CONFERENCE

YEAR 6 PEER SUPPORT TRAINING DAY

Year 6 students attended the Youth Hub on Monday to participate in Peer Support activities. These activities helped students develop their skills in communication, facilitation, cooperation and teamwork. In the coming weeks the Year 6 students will be delivering specific Anti-Bullying lessons to small groups of students, Kindergarten to Year 5. Here are some student testimonials from the Peer Support Training Day:

ANTI-BULLYING

At the heart of Catholic Education lies a commitment to the wellbeing and safety of every student. There will be an article each week this term in our Newsletter highlighting the Diocese of Lismore Catholic Schools Student Anti-Bullying Prevention and Response Procedures. 

What is Bullying?

Bullying refers to the unwanted, repeated and intentional use of words or actions against a student or a group of students to cause distress and risk to their wellbeing.

Watch this Youtube with your children...

Bullying means behaviour that has three (3) key features:

1. It involves the intentional misuse of power in a relationship;

2. It is ongoing and repeated; 

3. It involves behaviours that can cause harm.

A student can acquire power through advantage, such as social status, popularity, an advantage in size and strength, number of allies, age, skill, or membership in a socially defined dominant group, which could be based, for example, on wealth or gender. 

Behaviours that do not constitute bullying include:

1. Mutual arguments and disagreements;

2. Not liking someone or a single act of social rejection;

3. A single episode of hurtful words or actions;

4. Isolated incidents of aggression, intimidation and/or violence.

Indirect bullying (also known as covert bullying) is not always immediately observable and acknowledged as bullying. Indirect bullying can be discreet and anonymous, and the person experiencing the bullying behaviour may not realise it until after it has occurred.

Examples of indirect bullying include:

Spreading rumours:

• Sharing false or harmful information about someone to tarnish their reputation. 
• Gossiping: Engaging in negative discussions about a person without their knowledge. 
• Social manipulation: Encouraging others to exclude or reject a person from social groups.
• Cyberbullying: Using digital platforms to harass, intimidate, or spread harmful content about a person.
• Stealing: Discreetly and repeatedly stealing personal belongings

KINDERGARTEN BUS SAFETY

Yesterday, Kindergarten had a special visitor from Busways come and share with them how to be safe in and around buses. Students engaged with scenarios on safety and also how to be a safe passenger on a bus. 

At the end, all Kindergarten students and staff took a bus ride around our local area, which was a first for many of our students.

My favourite thing about the bus was:

YEAR 1

YEAR 3