Who is Mary of the Cross?

• Australia’s first saint
• Otherwise known as Mary MacKillop
• A young girl who believed in her dream, dedicating her life to caring for the poor

The person she was is revealed in her words.

‘Never see a need without doing something about it.’

‘Believe in the whisperings in your own heart.’

‘Be faithful in little things.’

‘We must teach more by example than by word.’

“My name in religion is Mary of the Cross. No name could be dearer to me, so I must endeavour, not to deserve it – for I cannot – but at least I must try not to disgrace it.” (Mary to her Mother 1867)

Thank you Mrs Ryan, Mrs Mangeruca and Year 4 for leading us in our Mary of Cross Mass celebration today. It was wonderful to welcome Fr Trenton, our new Cathedral Administrator, who presided over the Mass and led us in thinking about Mary MacKillop and the impact her life had on so many.

You may like to use this prayer today in your own prayer reflections:

Ever generous God,
You inspired Saint Mary MacKillop
To live her life faithful to the Gospel of Jesus Christ
and constant in bringing hope and encouragement
to those who were disheartened, lonely or needy.
With confidence in your generous providence
and through the intercession of Saint Mary MacKillop
We ask that you grant our request
We ask that our faith and hope be fired afresh by the Holy Spirit
so that we too, like Mary MacKillop, may live with courage, trust and openness.
Ever generous God hear our prayer.
We ask this through Jesus Christ. Amen.

Next Thursday, Year 3 will lead us in celebrating the Assumption. We would like to extend a warm welcome to all our families and friends - we would love to see you there.

You Can Do It!

Our Social Justice initiative will come to a close soon. We are hoping to achieve 260 cans in total by the end of the month. If we are able to achieve this, we will have a PJ day as a reward day for the students. If you have already donated, thank you and if you still need to get to the shop there is still a couple of weeks left.

Nikki Dwyer

Religious Education Coordinator

nikki.dwyer@cg.catholic.edu.au

Book Week is fast approaching, and this year’s theme is ‘Reading is my Secret Power!’

We will be having our annual Dress up Parade on Tuesday, 20 August, straight after assembly. All children are encouraged to dress as their favourite book character and bring along the book to share on the day if possible.

We are also very excited to have Canberra author, Samantha Tidy, come and work with the students this year. She is the author of the best-selling book, The Day We Built the Bridge, and a fantastic new picture book about Canberra coming out at the start of next year called Our Bush Capital (which we might be lucky enough to see a sneak preview of!).

A Book Fair will also be held in the library on the Tuesday and Wednesday of Book Week. The Book Fair will be raising money for the school library, so bring along your money on those days. You will also be able to buy books after school on Tuesday and Wednesday.

I can’t wait to see all your fantastic costumes and to spend the week getting excited about books!

Mrs Mihalopoulos

Despite the current wintry weather, August is when UV levels increase in Canberra to a level that warrants sun protection at school. So it’s hats on again for all of us please.

There seems to be a bit of sickness around at the moment.  If your son or daughter feels unwell, it’s best to miss a day or two of school so that he/she can make a quicker recovery.  This also reduces the spread of germs and also avoids children’s anxiety when they are off-colour and not in the comfort of their home. 

It is miracle that someone has not been injured in the school carparks.  We need all our children to be safe and this requires constant care and attention from all concerned.  Almost daily drivers are doing the wrong thing and showing scant regard for the safety of other drivers and their children. Please be EXTRA VIGILANT when entering and leaving the school grounds.

Would you please note parent vehicles should NOT be entering the asphalt court areas once students are on the school premises and this includes before and after school care times.  There is obviously more of a temptation to access when wet but it is even more important not to enter then as children are more likely to be distracted and not pay attention.

Always take the time to park in the designated spots when picking up or dropping off no matter the time of day.  Please do not stop or park along the red curb or in front of the blue gate at any time.

Students must not enter or exit vehicles along the red curb or in the middle of the driveway.  For their safety, students are instructed to walk to their cars via the path along the sensory play space.

Have any of these particulars changed?

• address,
• home phone numbers,
• work phone numbers,
• mobile phone numbers,
• email address or
• emergency contacts.

It is extremely important we have the correct information on file especially in the case of an emergency as well as effective school communication.  Please email Linda on Linda.Wells@cg.catholic.edu.au if you need to update your information.

Kids benefit from a mixture of two parenting approaches. On the one hand, they benefit from an approach that provides nurturance, builds strong relationships and offers strong emotional support. They also need a style that sets behavioural boundaries, challenges them to face their fears and promotes independence from an early age.

This combination of nurturance and firmness is known as an authoritative style according to the work of researcher Diane Baumrind who studied parenting styles in Western countries.  A purely nurturant style is known as a permissive style, while a singularly firm style is known as authoritarian.

When discussing the authoritative approach, it’s easiest to use a dog and cat metaphor. If you have a dog, you’ll know it’s usually friendly and wants to show love, affection and attention. The ‘dog’ style of parenting is relational, empathetic and warm. Cats, on the other hand, are different. They are usually self-sufficient and generally able to live quite happily without you. To develop the metaphor, a ‘cat’ style of parent is more able to set limits, more likely to challenge kids and encourage them to become self-sufficient. They can separate themselves from their kids, step back and not allow emotions to rule decision-making.

Warm cat, firm dog

Which of these two styles do you identify with? If you defer to one, then you may have to work a little harder on more consciously to bring the other to the table. In reality, many parents working in a partnership with each other will share the dog-cat loads, just as they sometimes play good cop, bad cop when they are less than perfect. Sole parents need to be firm cat and nurturant dog all in one package, which is challenging as we tend to default to one style over the other.

Don’t mix the two approaches up

Get your cat and dog wrong and you’ll be ineffective. If your first approach when a child is anxious is to be distant and unapproachable, then you’re not meeting your child’s emotional needs. If you meet poor behaviour with a friendly smile or an indecisive manner, then you will not be providing your child with the guidance they require. Get your response right – meet anxiety with dog-like warmth and poor behaviour with cat-like firmness – and you are giving your kids what’s required in each situation.

Keep the approaches separate

A common mistake is the failure of adults to separate the two approaches. Imagine your son coming home from school very upset. You are not sure what’s wrong, but you keep an eye out just the same. The next minute he hurls an insult at his younger sister, causing her to come to you for support. You remonstrate with your son, then sympathetically ask what’s troubling him. Most likely you’ll get a confused response from your son, as you’ve mixed management – a cat-like behaviour – with counselling – a dog-like trait. It’s best to keep the two approaches separate.

In this example, it would be better for you to remonstrate with your son about his behaviour and perhaps send him to his room. Then, when things have calmed down, speak to him quietly about any problems or worries that he may have. This separation will ensure that the firmness of the cat is effective and then gives some time and a different space for the more dog-like approach to work its magic.

The cat-dog framework is a practical way to ensure that your child receives the type of parenting they need to suit different situations.