School Newsletter Term 3, Week 8

September 8: Feast of Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Heavenly Child, lovable Mary, the Eternal Father

delights in your birth, for He beholds in your coming

into this world one of His creatures who is so perfect

that she will become the worthy Mother of His divine Son.

On Sunday, we celebrated the Feast of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This feast is one of three liturgical celebrations that commemorate a birth: Christmas, the Birth of Saint John the Baptist, and the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The Bible first introduces the Mother of God during the Annunciation, providing little detail about her birth or early life. However, an early second-century text, The Gospel of James, offers a detailed account of Mary’s conception, birth, early years, and betrothal to Saint Joseph. Though not part of the canonical Scriptures, this text has played a significant role in establishing the traditional names of the Blessed Mother’s parents, Joachim and Anne.

As we reflect on the birth of our heavenly Mother, let us also keep Mrs. Jory and her family in our thoughts and prayers as they eagerly anticipate the arrival of their precious baby girl.

Dear Parents and Carers,

Tomorrow we celebrate R U OK Day and Miss Frost has outlined the four steps of an R U OK? Conversation. This year R U OK Day coincides with our teachers wellbeing week and the workshops presented by Mrs Susanne North.

Peer Support

As our school community prepares for swimming lessons in the final two weeks of the term, Stage 3 students are also gearing up for our whole school Peer Support Program. Our school leaders will be presenting a series of lessons on the Zones of Regulation.

The Zones of Regulation is a user-friendly curriculum designed to teach students strategies for managing their emotions and sensory needs. This approach uses four colours to help students identify their current emotional state and level of alertness. It also provides guidance on strategies to support self-regulation. By learning to recognize their body's signals, identify triggers, and understand how their behaviour affects others, students develop better emotional control, sensory regulation, self-awareness, and problem-solving skills.

The Importance of Routines at Home adapted from Australian Parenting Website

Family routines set out how families organise themselves to get things done, spend time together and have fun. Routines help family members know who should do what, when, in what order and how often.

Routines also let your children know what’s important to your family. For example, family rituals are routines for special things your family does regularly. These can strengthen your shared beliefs and values and build a sense of belonging and togetherness in your family.

Why routines are good for children

Routines can be good for children for several reasons.

Safety, belonging and relationships

Routines can be part of an organised and predictable home environment, which helps children and teenagers feel safe, secure and looked after. And a predictable family life can also help children cope during development changes like puberty or life events like the birth of a new child, divorce, illness or a house move.
Also, routines built around having fun or spending time together foster a sense of belonging and strengthen family relationships. For example, your routine might include things like reading a story together before bed each night, sharing regular family meals, or having a kick with your child before soccer practice every week.

Skills and responsibility

Having chores as part of family routines helps children and teenagers develop a sense of responsibility and some basic skills like time management. These are skills children can use for life.
And when children can do their parts of the routine with less help or supervision, it also helps them become more independent.

Health and wellbeing

Routines can help younger children to learn healthy habits, like brushing their teeth, taking medicine regularly, doing physical activity, or washing their hands after using the toilet.
This means that routines can be good for children’s health. For example, children who wash their hands more regularly might be less likely to get colds and other common illnesses.
Also, routines can reduce stress, and lower stress is good for children’s immune systems.
And routines can help children feel less anxious or sad during difficult times.
Daily routines help set our body clocks too. For example, bedtime routines help children’s bodies ‘know’ when it’s time to sleep. This can be a big help when children reach adolescence and their body clocks start to change.

Why routines are good for parents

Routines take some effort to create. But once you’ve set them up, they have many benefits:

When life is busy or difficult, routines can help you feel more organised and in control, which lowers your stress and anxiety.
Regular and consistent routines can build your confidence as a parent.
Routines help your family get through your daily tasks more efficiently and free up time for other things.
Routines often mean you don’t have to sort out disputes and make decisions. For example, if Sunday night is pizza night, no-one needs to argue about what’s for dinner.
It can be easy to overschedule family life. Routines have many benefits, but it’s also good for children and parents to have free time to play, relax or be creative.

Religious Education

Aoife Geraghty, Acting Religious Education Coordinator