Out of School Hours (OOSH) Care in 2020:

Only a few days left to express your interest!

Good Samaritan is currently looking at providing an OOSH service beginning in the 2020 school year. This service would be facilitated by CatholicCare with close collaboration with Good Samaritan. The service would operate based upon the systems and structures that are valued at Good Samaritan.

In order to ascertain the interest of parents in accessing such a service, the completion of a survey is required. This survey would take no longer than 5 minutes to complete and seeks to collect information including operating hours, days of operation and what parents would value in such a service.

The establishment of Out of School Hours Care in 2020 will mean that supervision by Good Samaritan staff will begin at 8:20am.

Click here to complete the survey or follow the link https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/GoodSamaritan_OOSH

The survey will close this Friday 24 May.

Tips for Talking to Your Child about Strengths and Challenges

Last week the first 5 tips of strengths and challenges were published. Here are the next 6 tips to help you strike a healthy balance and keep the lines of communication open with your children.

Tie things into family lore

Most families have things that everybody knows and makes fun of in a good-natured way. Maybe Mum can never remember phone numbers. Or maybe Grandpa’s clothes never match because he’s colour-blind. Talking about those family traits is a great way to start conversations about strengths and challenges.

Talk about skills in the context of other kids

Listen as your child talks, then follow up on the things that stand out. For example, if your child mentions that another kid got in trouble at school, ask why. It can open up a conversation about the types of things other kids find challenging. You can also ask questions that don’t put the spotlight on your child. A general question like “How was school?” will usually score a dead-end response like: “Fine.” Instead, ask questions that are more specific: “Tell me how reading group was today. What did you read? Did you enjoy it? What was your favourite part? Why?”

Don’t fear the word “lifelong”

Learning and thinking differences are lifelong. All that means is that you and your child will have to continually re-evaluate what’s working well and what’s not. It doesn’t mean your child isn’t going to make progress. In fact, the skills and strategies your child is learning now may make current challenges less of an issue down the road. Explain that there are people who can help your child get better at the things that are difficult. This acknowledges challenges while offering hope.

Keep the bar high

Don’t expect less of kids just because they may be struggling with something. Try to keep expectations realistic but not too low. And be sure to adjust goals as time moves on. Your child might not be able to take care of the dog now, for example. But he may be up for the job next year. Have ongoing conversations so you can review and adjust those goals together.

Remind kids that not everything is a conversation

Your child isn’t always going to want to talk about how things are going. That’s OK. But let your child know that sometimes you need to say what’s worrying you or what’s making you proud—without it becoming a conversation. Make sure your child knows that he can do the same at times when he just needs you to listen.

Encourage kids to find their passion

Kids may not know right away what they’re good at or what they love to do. It may take some exploration on everybody’s part to find that out. This means you may have to give up your own dream that your child will love soccer or become a great artist. But once your child finds a own passion, you’re likely to have a happier and more confident child.

Thank you

To all our parents and carers for making sure that students were sent to school in Summer uniforms on Monday for school photos. Photo day ran quite smoothly and there were lots of smiles from both students and staff alike!

To ensure consistency of processes and practices across the school community, aspects of the Parent Handbook (currently under revision) will be published in each week’s newsletter. This week the focus is on Expectations of Behaviour on School Buses.

Transport NSW has a complete set of Guidelines for managing school students behaviour on buses. These guidelines unpack the Code of Conduct responsibilities of students, parents and school principals in relation to bus behaviour. The guidelines also indicate the consequences for a breach of the Code of Conduct.

For your information, the following is taken from section 2 of the Guidelines - Student Code of Conduct.

CODE OF CONDUCT FOR SCHOOL STUDENTS ON BUSES

It is every student's responsibility to behave in a manner that ensures the safety and comfort of passengers and drivers. This includes:

Behaviour on buses:

• Use appropriate language not offensive or racist language
• No Fighting, spitting, feet on seats, throwing things in or from the bus is not permitted
• No eating or drinking (other than water) — unless for medical reasons or the bus operator gives written permission
• Offer seats to adults including people with a disability, elderly or expectant mothers
• Do not touch, push or shove other people
• Do not bully or harass other passengers or the driver. This includes photographing, making lewd or suggestive comments, acting in a manner or participating in activities that may be deemed inappropriate or of a sexual nature.
• Avoid attracting the attention of the driver except in the case of emergency
• Do not play music at such volume that it may distract the bus driver or other passengers.

Parent Action: If your child/ren  catches a bus to or from school please familiarise yourself with these guidelines and speak regularly to your child/ren about their responsibilities on the buses.

SPB4L:

Inclusion

We can do this by:

• Being a welcoming class member
• Including others in games and activities
• Accepting others’ differences and cultures

Some schools have experienced significant difficulties with interruptions to the the Year 5 NAPLAN writing task. Good Samaritan did not experience these difficulties and, therefore, the students will not be required to resit the test. 

The Resurrection by Sama, Olivia, Allegra, Georgia and Abby B.

School Practices

Each year Catholic Education, Diocese of Wollongong and wider community groups hold Gala Days for the following sports:

• Netball
• Soccer
• Basketball
• Cricket
• Touch Football (By invitation from NSW Touch)

These opportunities are for students in Years 3-6 and whilst the focus is on participation and fun, it is a requirement that the participating students have experience in the sports they are attending.

Each year students will have the opportunity to nominate themselves for these Gala Days two weeks prior to the scheduled closing date. The interested students will be required to complete their details, including their experience in the sport, on the nomination sheets provided. As each gala day has a limited number of teams each school can send, we are unable to send all nominated students and a selection process will be undertaken, with students in Years 4 and Year 6 having first priority.

All Gala Days have a small cost involved, with the exception of the Touch Gala Day.

2019 Gala Day Dates & Teams

Students in Kindergarten, Year 1 and Year 2 who are participating in the AFL Auskick program may wear their sports uniform to school on those days.