St Agatha’s Primary School Family Prayer enriches Family Life

Newsletter

February 5th, 2015

Issue 5

P.O. Box 35

3 Scott Street, Cranbourne, Vic. 3977

www.stacbourne.catholic.edu.au

info@stacbourne.catholic.edu.au

Follow us @StAgathasPS

5996 2724

5996 8510

FROM THE PRINCIPAL IMPORTANT DATES

Friday 6 March

Term 1 Closure Day -

No School for Students

Monday 9 March

Labour Day Holiday

Tuesday 10 March

Preps Swimming Program starts

Friday 13 March

Preps Swimming Program starts

Year 4 Mass at 9:30am

Tuesday 17 March

Reconciliation Parent /Child Workshop

at 5pm OR

Reconciliation Parent /Child Workshop

at 7:30pm OR

Wednesday 18 March

Reconciliation Parent /Child Workshop

at 7:30pm

Education Board Meeting at 7:30pm

Thursday 19 March

Free Dress Day—donation of Easter

egg for Raffle

Friday 20th March

Harmony Day at school

Year 3 Mass at 9:30am

Wednesday 25th March

Easter Raffle wrapping—help needed

Thursday 26 March

Easter Raffle drawn

Last Day of Term for Students

Friday 27 March

Staff working on School Renewal

Dear Families,

Last week St Agatha’s staff and

student leaders attended the

ordination and installation of our

new Diocesan Bishop Patrick

O’Regan. The ceremony was held in

the school hall of Catholic College

Sale to ensure seating for the large

crowd. Our staff and student

representatives travelled, by bus

with St Agatha’s parishioners. It was

also gratifying to see families from

our school in attendance. St Agatha’s

was also fortunate to have the

Vechoorettu family present the

Bishop with his official ring during

the ceremony. What a memorable

occasion! Bishop O’Regan spoke very

well and I believe we will all know

soon, just how blessed we are to

have him as our Shepherd. The Year 6 students who attended,

represented our school with reverence and pride in our school.

Thank you to parents and students who attended our family

conferences this week. This is an important event for communicating

to parents about student learning and the support planned for their

child. The positive and constructive feedback from parents is much

appreciated.

Keeping your children outfitted in shoes can be a costly business. I

know it is very difficult, if not impossible to find runners/sneakers that

are all white, but I ask parents when buying them for school wear to

opt for shoes that have as little colour as possible. The full fluoro

coloured runners that are fashionable take away from the smart look

of our uniform.

Page 2 St . Agatha ’s Pr imary Schoo l

SCHOOL CLOSURES

Parents are reminded that tomorrow, Friday

6th March is a school closure day for students.

All staff will be working on our School Renewal

and Catholic School Identity Report, compiled

by theologians in Belgium from the data

collected from parents, students and staff last

year.

Monday 9th March is a public holiday for

Labour Day.

The last day of Term 1, 27th March is also a

school closure day for School Renewal. We will

begin to collate all information together on

this day and set St Agatha's future direction

and goals for the next five years.

PREP ATTENDANCE

Preps will attend school full time from next

week, including Wednesday.

STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT

AWARDS

Emily Lenne (PB) - Organisation

Harvey Johnson (PC) -

Confidence

Hudson Vogrig (PF) -

Organisation

Alexia Marchidan (PF) - Organisation

Lincoln Barrett (1P) - Resilience

Alex Virga (1S) - Getting Along

Nathan Beadel (4C) - Organisation & Confidence

Deandra D’Penha (6M) - Confidence

Isaac Bruitzman (6H) - Confidence

Congratulations to these students who will be

presented with their certificates at next Monday’s

assembly.

EDUCATION BOARD

St Agatha's School Board consists of Fr

Denis, staff and parents who have

volunteered to serve the school to advise

on matters to do with operating the school.

Advice is sought from the Board on many

issues such as the swimming program,

school fees, Naplan data etc. This year the

Board will advise on our planned

refurbishments of the junior and senior

buildings to ensure we have good quality

learning spaces and enough space for

future growth. The Education Board AGM

was previously held in March, in line with

financial year, but as schools do not

operate on this system we have changed

the AGM until November to bring it in to line

with the school year.

Parents may approach the Principal or write

to the Education Board if there are

important matters they would like the

school to address.

Our 2015 Education Board members are:

Fr Denis O' Bryan- Parish Priest (ex officio)

Mrs Anne Hassall- Principal (ex officio)

Mr Paul Sharp- Deputy Principal (ex officio)

Ms Masha Van Cuylenburg- Deputy

Principal (ex officio)

Mr Tim Cortese - Parent (Chairperson)

Mrs Robyn Boag-Martineli - Parent

(Secretary)

Mr Jason Hopp - Parent

Mrs Benadette Barrett - Parent

Mrs Lisa Thompson - Parent (P&F

representative)

Mrs Caroline Lazzara - Parent

Mr John Duiker - Parent

Page 3 St . Agatha ’s Pr imary Schoo l

Can Fish Oil Supplements help my child?

We see it advertised the benefits of fish oil for

adults. Fish oil is an ideal dietary supplement as it

provides health benefits and is regarded as

‘wonder food’, but what about our children?

Omega-3 fatty acids are important for our eyes

and for parts of the brain used for memory,

learning and reasoning. If we do not eat enough

omega-3, these functions may be impaired. Omega-3 is an Essential Fatty Acid, found in fish

and seafood. Many people don't eat much seafood as many fish are contaminated by the

toxic metal mercury - which can result in developmental delays and learning disabilities in

children. By contrast, many fish oil supplements have been independently tested to ensure

purity, so they can be a great way to get omega-3s without risking exposure to toxin:

(www.deliciouslivingmag.com)

Research released a few months ago on giving fish oil

supplements to children with learning difficulties is creating

enormous interest. Two separate studies one carried out in

Adelaide and the other in Oxford in the UK has come up with

some remarkable results.

Research update-

Regular doses of fish oil’s dramatically boost children’s

performance at school. A study found that nearly three quarters of children, who were of

mixed academic ability, showed improvements in numeracy, reading and writing after taking

fish oil supplements for nine months. (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health)

Any child can benefit from fish oil supplements, which support cognitive development and

immune function and lower the risk of diabetes

Fish oil supplements have been shown in studies to help children with asthma, eczema,

allergies, ADHD, behavioral and learning difficulties, and inflammatory bowel disease.

Children with learning difficulties are more likely to show symptoms of low omega-3 levels

(eg. dry skin, dry hair, excessive thirst) and have lower levels of omega-3 in their blood

There is some evidence that increasing omega-3 levels reduces the severity of hyper- activity

type behaviour, such as inattention, in some children.

Fish oil supplements vary a lot in their content and some appear to provide more benefit than

others. (www.kidshealthinfo).

If parents are interested in putting their child on fish oil and children want to benefit from the

Omega 3 fatty acids in the supplement, it’s important that a pharmaceutical grade fish oil

supplement be used. Perhaps the best supplements for kids are the children’s range of fish oils,

available in fruit flavors that taste surprisingly unfishy. There are chewable tables, capsules and

liquid form. While fish oil and children can safely go together hand-in-hand, it’s important to

discuss adding fish oil to your child’s diet with their paediatrician or G.P.

iPad Parent Session There will be a short parent session focused on the basics of the iPad. Come and learn how to: Set Restrictions, Download Apps, Manage Apps and Manage Location Services. We will also show you how we manage the school Apple ID's.

Thursday 12th March, at 3:10pm, in the Discovery Centre. Parents who can't make it, there will be some notes available post meeting on our Website. Open to all parents.

We’re on the web! www.stacbourne.catholic.edu.au Page 4 St . Agatha ’s Pr imary Schoo l

Canteen Roster Mon 9/3 LABOUR DAY HOLIDAY

Wed 11/3 9am-12.15pm Julia Bracci

Wed 11/3 12.15-2pm Julia Bracci

Frid 13/3 9am-12.15pm Seenz Robinson

Frid 13/3 12.15-2pm Kirsty Cortese

LIBRARY NEWS Author Visit - Thursday 19th March

We have been lucky enough to be able to book a special guest, author, Tristan Bancks. He will be giving a guest talk to our

years 3 to 6 students. He will be here on the 19th March from 9am to 10am. Lamont Books have generously sponsored Tristan's visit. We have order forms for Tristan's books available, so come and see Miss Allyssa in the Library

if students would like to purchase one of his books and bring it along on the day and have it personally autographed. Allyssa Butera (Library Technichan)

HARMONY DAY - PARENT INVOLVEMENT

A flyer was sent home on Monday, asking parents

if they would like to come and share something about their country of origin and it's traditions, with one of our classrooms on Harmony Day.

There will be a meeting for those interested on Thursday 12th March at 9am. Please return the flyer to school, if you would like

to be involved.

MARRIAGE ENCOUNTER WEEKEND

Invest in your most precious asset......Your Marriage! Forget life’s tensions and interruptions and rekindle the closeness, intimacy, love and romance that brought you together. Recharge your relationship batteries and explore the precious nature of your marriage, allowing you both to share your feelings, hopes and dreams with each other in ways that normal, daily living tends to inhibit. There is no group sharing. Couples and a priest present the weekend. It is based around Catholic values but couples of all faiths are welcome.

2015 Melbourne weekend dates : 17-19 Apr, 19-21 June, 21-23 August and 23-25 Oct

Starts 7pm on Friday. Ends 5pm Sunday. Accommodation and all meals provided. Information/Bookings: PH: Marianne & Marcel (03) 9733 0997 Email:

vicbookings@wwme.org.au www.wwme.org.au

MINI VINNIES On behalf of the Mini Vinnies Leadership team,

we'd like to remind you about the Caritas Project

Compassion Campaign for 2015. You may find us

on the entry and exit gates with the boxes, but

remember that all classes also have a Project

Compassion box. The theme is Food For Life. The

goal is to assist developing countries improve

farming practices so that food will always be in

plentiful supply. Please donate a little!