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NEW WEBSITE LIVE
Last Friday the new school websites went live. In our revamp of the way in which we communicate with current families and prospective families we have created our e-Newsletter, Schoolzine App and now the new Website. I thank the school boards for their input to the design and content of the webpage and we would certainly appreciate any feedback as to how we can improve it. We see the eNewsletter with all the current parent information in the sidebar for our existing families and the website as a first ‘port of call’ for new families.
The St Peter’s site is https://spbentleigheast.catholic.edu.au/
FAREWELL PLOZZA FAMILY
Last Monday was the last day of school at St Peter’s for Mitchell (4SS), William (2MW) and Elizabeth(1BD) and their parents Lynn and Jason. It was a sad day for us but an exciting one for them as they move to Rural Victoria. On behalf of everybody at St Peter’s we thank them for all they have brought to our community and wish them all the best for the future.
CANTEEN
HOT CHOCOLATE - With Hot Chocolate now available in the canteen children are encouraged to bring a keep cup to school for their hot chocolate. This is not compulsory but will have a positive impact on our commitment to our environment.
CANTEEN TO REMAIN OPEN ON WEDNESDAYS
We have been monitoring the lunch orders on a Wednesday and for the last month we have been operating at a break even point on a Wednesday. For this reason we will be continuing canteen on a Wednesday as a service to our families. We will keep an eye on turnover and if things should change substantially we will revisit operating on a Wednesday. In the meantime enjoy this service if you wish to.
LAST DAY OF TERM TWO
School will finish at 2:30pm on Friday, 28th June for the end of Term Two. The front car park will open at 2:10pm.
Congratulations to the following students on celebrating their Reconciliation: Paige Mikhael, Giulia Taranto, Keegan Dawson, Ben Leadbetter, Ethan Brady, Lucy Bondesan, Marley Silver, Max Turner
A must read!
Edward Dooley (Mission and Faith Leader)
Tend and befriend
The feast of the Visitation, the meeting between Mary of Nazareth and her cousin Elizabeth, is observed on May 31. (Artwork: The Visitation by Janet McKenzie)
On Thanksgiving Day, 2008, a popular TV morning news show featured the story of the mother of a 22-year-old soldier who had been killed in Iraq. Part of a supply convoy servicing the perimeter of Baghdad, his Humvee had been hit by an explosion-rigged vehicle. Just days after his twenty-second birthday, the young man and two of his best friends were dead, the other, permanently brain damaged. His mother, reading the diary returned in his army trunk, discovered the names of the friends who had been killed and wounded with him. Then she searched the United States until she found their mothers. In their mutual pain, these women have found both support and understanding. “There is no difference in our grief. It’s absolutely painful,” Doris said. “There is nothing in the world that is going to bring our boys back, but we have each other.” For this small bit of shared humanity, for this cocoon of emotional safety, for this personal place of support in their grief and the hope of sustenance it brought for the future, they were thankful.
It is, I think, the same story Janet McKenzie is begging the world to see in her painting, The Visitation. The faces of Mary and Elizabeth, dark and sombre, thoughtful and aware, in McKenzie’s Visitation say something far beyond either the exultation of pregnancy or the creative power of it. This is not a picture about the delirium of motherhood. There is a storm stirring in the hearts of these women–deep and different than most at such a moment as this, something epochal and eruptive.
Women scholars have for long now pointed out that at the moment of change, in the face of awesome, perhaps even terrifying awareness of her situation, Mary does not go to her fiancé, Joseph, for understanding. She does not go to her father for protection. She does not go to the priests of the Temple for vindication. No, Mary goes to another woman. Mary, the pregnant but unwed woman, travels to the hill country to be with her old cousin Elizabeth, who is also pregnant, also dealing with overwhelming change and the isolating implications of it in her life. None of it, the two women knew and the academic world realized over the centuries, made any human sense. After all, to be unmarried and pregnant in the Middle East of that time was dangerous space for a woman. She can be driven out of the family. She will certainly be forever disgraced. She can be stoned to death. So, it seems sensible to wonder, why go to another woman, an old woman, who can herself do nothing to save her, who has no power to make the social situation better?
But to a woman it makes sense. Seeking the support of another woman in the midst of struggle has made emotional sense to women for centuries. And now it makes scientific sense, as well. According to principal investigator Shelley E. Taylor of a UCLA study, Behavioural Responses to Stress, “For decades, psychological research maintained that both men and women rely on fight or flight to cope with stress–meaning that when confronted by stress, individuals either react with aggressive behaviour, such as verbal conflict and more drastic actions, or withdraw from the stressful situation.”
But, these researchers discovered, the participants in the five decades of research that consistently confirmed the “fight or flight theory” were primarily men. The UCLA study, using women rather than men for the first time in the history of the study of stress research, discovered that,“fight or flight” is not the primary or normal response of women. Instead, science now understands, women under stress “tend and befriend.” They gather with other women to construct other means of dealing with conflict and pressure, rather than aggressive ones. Women, under stress, they found, take care of one another. They take care of children. They continue to concentrate on the functioning and development of the human community. They bring stability to situations of tumult and confusion.
Now science knows what scripture and art, women and society, have known for eons. Mary and Elizabeth, Doris and the mothers of her son’s now dead soldier friends–women everywhere–calm the chaos of the world. They show us all another way to be in the midst of the daily maelstroms of life. They help us survive. They bind us together to carry each other, to carry the human community, to allow others to carry us when we cannot carry ourselves.
To look at McKenzie’s Visitation is to look at an alternative world. It is to define the role of women in a new way. It gives new dignity and meaning to the friendship of women. It gives us all reason to believe that there can be another way through conflict other than force.
—from "The Visitation," by Joan Chittister, in Holiness & the Feminine Spirit: the art of Janet McKenzie (Orbis, 2009)
Read Less
Congratulations to Gemma Roach in 3LK!
Gemma was nominated for being a kind, caring and a wonderful friend to others. What an amazing Bucket-Filler you are, Gemma!
RIDE/WALK2SCHOOL
Congratulations to the winners of the Junior and Senior School Ride/Walk2School trophies!!
2AC and 4JK
Our next Ride/Walk2School day will be held tomorrow, Wednesday, 12th June.
SPOTLIGHT ON LEARNING
Students at St Peter’s have been busy learning and practising the social and emotional skills they need to be kind, respectful and resilient members of our school community!
Year 2
For our final Friendology lesson, we made Friend-o-meters outside the Year One classrooms. I worked with Aislinn and Harrison and we had to find yellow, red, green and sort of yellowy-red leaves and also sticks to make it. It was very cool.
Jake Richardson - 2GC
PREP
It has been a busy term for the 2019 Preppies with so much happening in our classrooms, so it is super important we take time out of our day to focus on our wellbeing.
This term we have been focusing on our emotions, what makes us; happy, sad, angry, disgusted, proud and excited. We are learning that everybody has feelings, they are useful, natural and necessary. Emotions help us to become better at understanding ourselves and others. Pleasant feelings (like feeling pleased, proud and excited) help you appreciate the things that make you happy. Happy feelings also help you cope a lot better when you make a mistake. Angry feelings act as alarms to tell you that you might need to protect yourself because you are being treated badly or unfairly. Feeling scared warns you about possible danger and helps you to do something (like talk to a teacher or loved one) to make you feel safe.
Dancing along to 'if you’re happy and you know it' and using decorated paper plates (one side sad, the other happy), children have explored different scenarios identifying how it would make them feel, for instance;
- You got soaking wet on the way home from school
- You were playing your favourite game
- You were invited to a party
- Someone broke your favourite toy
- Someone pushed you over
Each student participated wonderfully and now know a little more about identifying their emotions. (Miss Brown, Pre-Service Teacher, PSH)
Wellbeing Warriors continues every Thursday lunchtime. Over 60 students attended one of the recent sessions where they joined in with guided dance moves and calming breathing exercises.
PARENTING IDEAS by MICHAEL GROSE
Michael Grose, founder of Parenting Ideas, is one of Australia’s leading parenting educators. He’s the author of 10 parenting books including Thriving!, the best-selling Why First Borns Rule the World and Last Borns Want to Change It, and his latest release Spoonfed Generation: How to raise independent children.
Please go to the link below to view the latest article 'Encouraging Healthy Attitudes Towards Women'
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8IsZ9pU28TqR2pFbkRrbFQ2eEFwMy1NS2pmSl94RWVUZzVZ/view?usp=sharing
SAVE THE DATE
Trivia Night - Saturday, 22nd June
Sausage Sizzle: Tuesday, 25th June - An Order Form will be emailed to all families tomorrow. Please return your order to the School Office with correct money or order via Flexischools by no later than 5.00pm Wednesday, 19th June.
Biggest Morning Tea
Thank you to all those who were able to attend the Biggest Morning Tea on Friday 31st May.
Thank you to those who brought in a plate for everyone to share and donated to this very worthy cause. We raised $198.20 dollars.
Thank You to Roselyn Taranto for coordinating the morning and all her helpers including Teresa Mikhael, Trudy Fitchett and Savanna Quinell.
St Peter’s Family Cookbook
We are receiving some wonderful family food ideas from our St Peter’s school community. If you haven’t already, please remember to either complete the template or attach a copy of your recipe(s) to the form and post it to the box in the office, or alternatively email your recipe(s) to spcookbook2019@gmail.com
We look forward to creating something the school community can be proud of and celebrating the rich diversity of families and their food at St Peter’s.
Local Matters
We have been selected to participate in Local Matters at Grill’d Carnegie this June!
Local Matters is the Grill’d Community Donation Program that sees each Grill’d restaurant donate $500 back into the community every month. The donation is split between 3 local community groups $300 / $100 / $100.
HOW YOU CAN HELP?
We would love your support in receiving the highest $300 donation! Simply head to Grill’d Carnegie during June for a burger and pop your Local Matters token in our jar. The group with the most tokens at the end of the month receives the largest donation.
It’s a simple (and delicious) way to show your support!
You’ll find us on a jar at Grill’d Carnegie, 86 Koornang Road, Carnegie.
Lights, Camera, Action!
The St Peter’s P&F is rolling out the red carpet for our 2019 Trivia Night!
Bookings can still be made at the School Office. Details as follows:
$25 Per Person
Groups of 10-12 per table
Cash door prize to be won
Prizes for best dressed
Lots of games, silent auction items, lucky keys & envelopes.... and trivia!!
While the night is always lots of fun, the night is also our biggest fundraiser for the year! In 2019 the P&F plans to use the money we raise towards creating an engaging play space for our students, between the Junior School Building and the Main School Building!
Our Trivia Night Committee are still busy sourcing donations and seeking sponsors, so if you own or know of a business who would like to make a donation or become a sponsor, it’s not too late to get involved!
Please send us an email to pnf1@spbentleigheast.catholic.
Next 2 P&F Meetings – Monday, 15th July - 7.00pm - All Welcome (Meeting Room off the Breezeway)
Then Monday, 19th August
Please send us an email on the address below if you have any questions or suggestions regarding the P & F.
pnf1@spbentleigheast.catholic.edu.au
We also have a Facebook Page. Follow us on
https://www.facebook.com/St-Peters-Primary-School-Bentleigh-East-Parents-Friends-388657947987381/
Thank you
P & F Committee
It was a cold, wet, miserable day when our top Middle School Chess stars bundled into our school mini van and our trusty chaperone, Mr Schinck drove us to St. Catherine's.
We spent the day there and competed one on one with other students representing their schools. We all played about seven individual games, ranging from a quick 30 seconds to a long, mind boggling 15 minute tournament!
Our students did themselves proud and St. Peter's proud in the way they conducted themselves and tried their best against some of the top competitors in Victoria.
It was an amazing learning experience for us all.
CANTEEN ROSTER
Week Beginning Monday, 10th June
Wednesday, 12th June - Nicole Clark - 1.30pm - 2.15pm
Thursday, 13th June - Sandra Biviano - 1.30pm - 2.15pm
Friday, 14th June - Colleen Dowling & Trudy Fitchett - 9.00am - 10.30am
Karen Campbell, Heidi Sill & Katrina Dimitriu - 1.00pm - 2.15pm
_________________________________________________________
Week Beginning Monday, 17th June
Wednesday, 19th June - Michelle Monaghan & Sharon Odlum - 1.30pm - 2.15pm
Thursday, 20th June - Leanne Johnson - 1.30pm - 2.15pm
Friday, 21st June - Julie Eyles - 9.00am - 10.30am
Nicki De Lorenzo & Felicity Gallagher - 1.00pm - 2.15pm
_________________________________________________________
Week Beginning Monday, 24th June
Wednesday, 26th June - Kirsty Lentine & Irene Major - 1.30pm - 2.15pm
Thursday, 27th June - Michelle Bridges & Nicole Catania - 1.30pm - 2.15pm
Friday, 28th June - Colleen Dowling & Vanessa Lawless - 9.00am - 10.30am
Ana Vranesic, Yvonne Gower & Trudy Fitchett- 1.00pm - 2.15pm
________________________________________________________________
Please click on the link below to view the updated Canteen Price List
This is a call out to any dads at St. Peter’s who would like to be a part of the 4th “Battle of the Saints” Dad's Footy Match against St. Paul’s Bentleigh.
Last year St. Peter’s won for the second year in a row which means we are going for the 3 - Peat this year. This is a fantastic social event on the school calendar that will be played on Saturday, 31st August.
We will get together for a kick at Centenary Park on Sunday afternoons at 4:30pm starting Sunday, 16th June. All skill and fitness levels are welcome and it is an awesome opportunity to get to know a few of the great blokes in our school.
If you have any questions regarding training or about the game please feel free to call Danny Maher (Dad of Riley 6SF) on 0403196287.
Hope to see you at training on a Sunday soon!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8IsZ9pU28TqMl9PODRuWWVwc0otLTFuOTAzZUtjYXpTYnA4/view?usp=sharing
Woolworths Earn & Learn Stickers will be available from Woolworths Stores from 1st May to 25th June. A single Sticker will be given to a customer with every $10 spent in a single transaction at Woolworths Supermarkets, Woolworths Metro and Woolworths Online (www.woolworths.com.au).
ST. PETER'S FOODBANK
Thank you to all the volunteers that have cooked for us in the past few weeks.
St. Peter’s Primary School Food Bank was established in 2013 with families volunteering to cook meals for other families in the school community during a time of need. Whether there is illness, hospitalisation of a family member, bereavement, the arrival of a new baby, moving house or even if someone is in need of a little extra TLC, the Food Bank can help.
We would like to invite parents to consider becoming one of our volunteer cooks. We anticipate each volunteer would only be required to cook 2-3 times per year. Of course, you are welcome to cook more often if you like.
We also encourage you to think about your friends and classmates at the school and keep the Food Bank in mind if they are going through a tough time. It is a completely confidential service and you can access it through us or through a staff member at St. Peter’s. If you would like more information about the service or volunteering, please download our electronic brochure below.
We are looking for some new parents to sign up as volunteers to start cooking for our Food Bank. We love to have as many volunteers in our Food Bank pool as possible.
If you have not cooked for our Food Bank before, please ensure you email us prior to cooking, at sppsfoodbank@spbentleigheast.catholic.edu.au, and ask us for a Food Bank information pack.
If you become aware of someone in the school community needing a little help or TLC, please contact us. You can contact us confidentially at: sppsfoodbank@spbentleigheast.catholic.edu.au or call Karina Clement 0404 057 522 or Katrina Chapman 0488 386 088 (Program Co-ordinators) or your class teacher, school office or Michael Hanney directly.