Filter Content
Stage Four Restrictions
With the introduction of Stage Four Restrictions we have moved to all students learning via online interactions and resources. This brings new challenges for everyone and I ask that if you are finding it challenging to please contact your child’s teacher. If there are things you think we should be doing as a school please share with us via feedback@spbentleigheast.
The increased interaction between students and teachers is good for learning and for wellbeing. Louise Van Corler our Wellbeing Leader in consultation with our Student Representative Council leaders has detailed some other plans for whole school communication in this update.
The new restrictions bring pressures for everyone and our strength as a community will continue to be our support of each other during very stressful times. If you need help please reach out.
Mental Health
Following last week’s update when I asked families for any suggestions to support the mental health of adults and children during these times the following suggestions have been put forward as contact points.
Lifeline 13 11 14
Kids Helpline 1800 551 800
Mensline Australia 1300 789 978
Headspace 1800 650 890
Reachout at au.reachout.com
Care Leavers Australasia 1800 008 774
I have also attached a sheet with other contact points at the bottom of this newsletter.
Share What You Are Doing
I know there are lots of things happening in your homes to support each other. As a community it would be great to share these. They could include home based activities, games or some easy recipes. If you have anything you or your children would be willing to share please email me principal@spbentleigheast.
Communication
During normal times I send out a fortnightly newsletter. During these lock down times I will communicate every Monday via a newsletter or an update depending on the amount of information to share. My next whole school communication will be next Monday the 17th of August
Days of No Online Learning
Even while we are in this period of lockdown we are continuing our School Review process to enable us to evaluate the last four years and to plan for the next four years of our strategic plan. Staff will be working in teams online on Monday, 24th August and Friday, 11th September. There will be no online or onsite learning for students on these days. OSHClub will be offering full day programs for children of permitted workers.
School Fees
When we are clearer about when the current restrictions end and what implications this has for Term Four I will work with our School Board to look at what changes need to be made to fees and levies this year and in 2021. In the meantime if the new restrictions have added to your financial pressure and you require assistance please email fees@spbentleigheast.catholic.
School Assembly
School assemblies will be via Video and created by our Year 6 leaders. We are encouraging everyone to watch the assembly at 2:30pm on Friday afternoon. The video will be available for viewing on the 21st of August, the 4th of September and the 18th of September.
As part of Student Wellbeing we will also be handing out Class Star Awards nominated by teachers (certificates will be available for students when on-site returns).
We will also be presenting the Bucket Filler Award for any student nominated by either family members or teachers. This award recognises any student who by their kind, generous or thoughtful action fills someone else’s bucket ….. So… if you would like to nominate one or both or your children for this award please send your nomination and reason for the nomination to Louise Van Corler, Well Being Leader
lvancorler@spbentleigheast.catholic.edu.au
Student Representative Council
Our wonderful SRC group meets every second Friday. They continue to come up with amazing suggestions to move our school from good to great. We will be implementing these ideas as the weeks progress so keep an eye out for details in upcoming newsletters.
Year 5 Work
Click on the Green Tab to download the PDF, then click on the links to view Videos created by Sophie Chapman and Isabella Nasello.
The Place of Work in Life
Once upon a time, the ancients tell us, a disciple said to the rabbi, “God took six days to create the world and it is not perfect. How is that possible?” “Could you have done better?” the rabbi asked. “Yes, I think I could have,” the disciple said. “Then what are you waiting for?” the rabbi said. “Go ahead. Start working.”
The story raises three questions about the nature and place of work in life that plague humankind yet: Is work a human punishment for sin or an opportunity to grow in the spiritual life? Is work something to be avoided or something to be embraced? Is work the opposite side of the spiritual life or the ground of the spiritual life? They are important questions.
If work is meant to be a punishment, then managing to get out of it must be the ultimate sign of spiritual development and God’s blessing. If work is one of life’s unfortunate burdens, then work is to be avoided so that life can be lived well and perpetual leisure is a state of life to be strived for. If work is the enemy of the spiritual life, then people whose lives are full of children and business and the struggle to make ends meet are condemned to spiritual infancy or, at most, to the theology of good intentions: the notion that a person can be saved if they are too busy to pray. But they can never come to real holiness that way. Scripture, though, is very clear about the place of work in human life. Human beings were put into the Garden “to till it and to keep it.” Genesis is explicit: We work to complete the work of God in the world. Work, then, may be the most sanctifying thing we do.
But Western culture has not treated work kindly. We have lived in a capitalism that bred brutal competition and unequal distribution of goods as well as inventiveness. We are watching the poor get poorer even when they are working, and the rich get richer even when they aren’t. Work has been badly warped, badly misused in our society, because success has become more important than value, and efficiency has become a god that will accept the sacrifice of people for the sake of profits.
Indeed, the sanctity of work must be reclaimed if humanity is ever to be reclaimed in a world wounded and imperiled by sins against the co-creative dimension of work.
The implications of a spirituality of work are clear, it seems: Work is my gift to the world. It is my social fruitfulness. It ties me to my neighbor and binds me to the future. Work is the way I am saved from total self-centeredness. It gives me a reason to exist that is larger than myself. It gives me hope.
Work is meant to build community. When we work for others, we give ourselves and we can give alms as well. We never work, in other words, for our own good alone. Work, too, is our commitment not to live off others, not to sponge, not to shirk, not to cheat. Giving less than a day’s work for a day’s pay, shunting work off onto underlings, doing one coat of paint when we promised to do two, are not what was meant to “till the Garden and keep it.”
Work is our gift to the future. It is our sign that God goes on working in the world through us. It is the very stuff of divine ambition. And it will never be over. The philosopher wrote, “Do you want a test to know if your work in life is over? If you are still alive, it isn’t.” As the rabbi and the disciple both well knew, God needs us to complete God’s work. Now.
—from In the Heart of the Temple, by Joan Chittister (BlueBridge)
Readiness Referral
The Australian Government Department of Education conducts a school Census on the first Friday of August each year. The Census collects information on students and staff from all non-government establishments that have, as their major activity, the administration or provision of full time primary, secondary and/or special education.
The purpose of the Census is to:
- Contribute to the calculation of the annual entitlement in respect of schools receiving Australian Government Recurrent Funding in line with the Australian Education Act 2013 (the Act) and Australian Education Regulation 2013 (the Regulation)
- Form part of the National Schools Statistics Collection, the official statistical description of Schooling in Australia
- Form part of the school’s profile published by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority on the ‘My School’ website.
All schools in Australia are mandated to participate in the Census to ensure funding from the Federal Government. Please note our Standard Collection Notice be found on the Parent Portal.