Catholic Mission

Well done, St Bede’s, we have raised $647 for Catholic Mission. A big thank you to the Social Justice Committee for baking cakes and attending the Mission Mass. Mrs Ryan said that the children represented the school proudly and came back to school feeling spirit filled and ready for mission. 

All Saints Mass

Tomorrow, November 1, at 2pm we will meet in the hall to celebrate All Saints Mass. A range of children across all grades will be involved.

We love parents and friends to join us when they can, so please come along.

Prayers Please

Please keep Julie and Michael Douglas in your prayers after the recent passing of Michael’s father. 

Nikki Dwyer

Religious Education Coordinator

All parents are invited to attend the Mulit-age Forum this Monday, 4 November at 6.30pm in the Library. This is an opportunity to discuss the new class arrangements and structure for our two mulit-age Year 5/6 classes in 2020. We will also provide the research and decisions behind multi-age classes and coeducation.  Whilst you may not have a child in these year levels next year, you may require information for the future in order to make informed decisions about the education of your child.

Please read the National Online Safety Guide for information about the popular TikTok app which was sent via parent email last Monday.  The subscription age is 13+ years old yet we are having increased incidents at school regarding student accounts and chat groups which occur out of school hours.  There are some major safety risks and alerts that we would like you to be aware of.    

TikTok is a global video community where users create, share and discover ‘funny and memorable moments’ via short video clips.  Videos can then be edited with special effects, filters, stickers, music and sound clips.  Currently one of the world’s most popular apps, TikTok was formerly known as Musical.ly, before it was rebranded by a Chinese company in 2017.  If your child previously had a Musical.ly account, all of their videos and personal settings will have automatically been moved to TikTok. 

 www.nationalonlinesafety.com

Thank you to the families who have informed us if they are leaving our community at the end of the year. If you are not returning to St Bede’s in 2021 and have not let us know officially, would you please advise Julie or Breen as soon as possible. Although we hate to see any of our families departing, it is important for our planning for 2021 that we have this information.

Please come along to the last P&F meeting of the year on Tuesday, 12 November.  Everyone is most welcome.

Remember to also save the date for the annual P&F School Disco - Friday, 8 November with a 'Hip Hop' theme.

Don't forget to order by this Monday, 4 November and book orders will be delivered to school by 22 November.

Our P&F volunteer uniform guru is stepping down from the end of the year.  The uniform shop is run by parent volunteers and it's a great way to be involved in the school community.  Experience is not necessary and on-the-job training will be willingly supplied! If you can help, even in a small way, drop in and see us on Friday mornings from 8.40.

All profits from sales go directly to the St Bede’s P&F so it's a great way to support our school.  

Term 1             3 February – 9 April               

Term 2            28 April – 3 July                      

Term 3            20 July – 25 September

Term 4            12 October – 18 December

Ms Kerry Watson is a private piano teacher who has conducted classes at St Bede’s for many years.  Lessons are on an individual basis during the school day.  If you have a child from Year 2 onwards who would like to learn piano, please email Kerry on lynehampianostudio@iinet.net.au

Humans are social by nature. We are happiest and most productive when we’re in groups. The family we are born into stays together rather than disbands as can happen in the animal world. This togetherness ensures a sense of belonging. Parental acceptance and forgiveness confirms that a child belongs unconditionally to their family providing a deep sense of security and safety.

As they grow older their social world expands to include broader family, friends and others within our community. The ties that bind are a little more tenuous at the outer edges of their social circle. Unlike in a family acceptance a child’s or teen’s acceptance by peers is conditional and, as such, friendships can quickly change. Differing interests, unresolved grievances and changing personalities can lead to peer relationship breakdowns, resulting in feelings of loss and sadness for a child.

The flip side of acceptance is loss, when valued relationships flounder. This is normal. It can be heartbreaking for a parent to watch their child or teen deal with the feelings of sadness, but that’s when parents need to be supportive and emotionally present.

Worse still for children and young people is when a relationship breakdown with friends leads to ostracism, or being left out of the usual group activities. Sadness due to friendship loss is a normal part of life. Feeling devastated by being left out of a group, is not acceptable, and shouldn’t be shrugged off as normal.

Ostracism hits at the very heart of being human – the need to belong. It hits at a young person’s sense of security and safety. Continued ostracism generally leads to feelings of helplessness in a child or young person, the worst possible emotion they can experience.

Teaching kids about relationships

Psychologist and author Collett Smart maintains that parents should proactively teach kids about how relationships work. She was referring to parents of girls in particular, but boys too can benefit from learning about the nature of friendships. This relationship work can be both incidental and intentional. Smart maintains that we need to be continuously talking to kids about what makes a good friend; that not all friendships last; how they can break up kindly with friends and how they can assertively and respectfully stand up for themselves rather than be dominated by others.

Learning how to argue well

Smart maintains that learning how to argue is a normal part of healthy relationships. She says, “We haven’t taught girls how to be assertive. They learn to be assertive at home. Give girls opportunities to disagree with us as parents so that they can be brave enough for them to do so outside of home with their friends.” Parents need to give kids healthy ways to express their emotions and frustrations about friendships so that they can learn to resolve conflict without taunting, being abusive or giving someone the ‘permanent cold shoulder’.

Above all, we need to let kids know that ostracism of a former friend or of another child is not acceptable under any circumstances. The conversation that parents have with children about ostracism carries a great deal of weight and needs to happen from a very young age before these relationships patterns emerge and become entrenched in adolescence.