St Philomena's School Newsletter Week 6 Term 3 2025

Principal Message - Ms Rosie Harrison

The tricky balance of praising our children and nurturing success

This week our St Phil’s students take centre stage participating in the local Bathurst Eisteddfod verse speaking competition. As educators and parents, we can be so proud of the manner in which our children stand on stage under the spotlights and give their very best effort and performance. In striving for our personal best at St Phil’s we often refer to this as “giving it a red hot go!”

In our School TV archive Dr Michael Carr-Gregg speaks of confidence and motivation are two critical ingredients for young people's success. Supporting your child to help nurture these qualities allows them to believe in their abilities and navigate life's challenges with resilience and a positive outlook.                     

Building confidence and motivation in young people is essential for their development and overall wellbeing. Supporting these traits means encouraging your child to set realistic goals, celebrate their achievements, and learn from setbacks. Confidence allows young people to believe in their abilities, face challenges with resilience, and feel empowered in their decisions. Meanwhile, motivation drives them to pursue interests, strive for personal growth, and stay engaged in school and other activities. By fostering a supportive environment at home, parents can help nurture these qualities, providing their children with the tools they need to navigate life's ups and downs and maintain a positive, proactive mindset.

Why rewarding children might be holding them back

Wilson McCaskill is the director and founder of Play is the Way - a program implemented in many schools in Australia (including St Phil’s) and New Zealand to help solve behavioural problems in children and develop self-directed, more independent and emotionally resilient children. Wilson takes this concept success a bit further in the video link below. He talks about when we should praise our children and why. He advocates that "praise should be specific, detailed, focussed and lets them know what they've done and why it works. Children shouldn't starve from praise - nor should they get obese from too much praise"

Practical parenting tip - Should we praise our children?

Assistant Principal - Mrs Clancy Dowling

Eisteddfod

This week our students will attend BMEC for the Annual Bathurst Eisteddfod. Classes have been practising each day and are sounding great! Good luck to all classes. Please see Seesaw from classroom teachers for performance and section times.

ATSI Dance & Cultural Activities

Our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students took part in cultural activities each Thursday for the past four weeks. Students enjoyed activities like dance, painting and games. A big thank you to Miss Smith for organising this before going on leave.

Viv 

Last week our stage 3 girls were able to attend the theatrical performance of Viv, starring our very own Elsie! It was wonderful to be able to support children and young people with disabilities. Students enjoyed the digital landscapes, puppetry and choreography along with the music that was played live throughout the show. A big thank you to Arts Out West and Carenne Support Ltd  for making this possible for our students. Also a big thank you to BMEC for having us on the day!

Book Week 

Next week is our Annual Book Week celebration. Ms Bowman has been working very hard to ensure all students are aware of this year's theme of “Book an Adventure” and to ensure they have an enjoyable day next Thursday 4th September. The parade will be held in the gym at 9:15am with competitions throughout the day. Parents are welcome to attend!

Play is the Way

This week we begin to focus on the yellow life raft - It takes great strength to be sensible.

Students will be learning that this involves speaking and acting in a way which gives people a feeling of being appreciated, valued and respected but is also using our words and actions of good manners with sincerity.

Parking reminder

A reminder to please use the drop off and pick up zones of a morning and afternoon. If you prefer to collect your child in person at the end of the day,  please park in the street or adjoining streets in parking areas. The staff car park is not to be used by parents for drop off and pick up purposes, particularly the Disabled Parking. Many of our staff leave at 3pm and it is a very busy time. It has been reported that parents and children have been in the staff car park, which is dangerous and not permitted. Please encourage your child to use the pedestrian crossing where appropriate. If you would like signage for top pick up please see our friendly office staff to assist you. Thank you for your help in keeping our kids safe.

Religious Education Coordintor - Mrs Rebecca Rizzo

Christmas Art Competition

Our Year 5 and 6 students have all been working very hard on their artworks for this year’s Diocesan Christmas Story art competition. We would like to thank Mrs Galloway-Smith, Mrs Dwyer and Miss Flynn for all their wonderful work in assisting the students with their artworks. The students have completed their artworks which were displayed in the gym last week for judging, and the finalists have now been entered into the CEDB. We wish them the best of luck, we are very proud of all of your beautiful creations.

Father’s Day

We would like to wish all the Fathers, Grandfathers, Uncles and significant role models in the lives of our students, a very happy day next Sunday 7^th September. We hope that you can all join us for a yummy breakfast next Friday morning (5^{th  S}eptember) from 6.30am – 8.30am and then join us for our special Fathers’ Day liturgy at 9.15am in the school gym. If you could please RSVP with family name, number and any dietaries via the attached Google Form below.

A Blessing for Fathers

Heavenly Father,
Today we ask You to bless our earthly fathers
for the many times they reflected the love, strength, generosity, wisdom and mercy that You exemplify in Your relationship with us, Your children.

We honour our fathers for putting our needs above their own convenience and comfort;
for teaching us to show courage and determination in the face of adversity;
for challenging us to move beyond self-limiting boundaries;
for modelling the qualities that would turn us into responsible, principled, caring adults.

We ask your blessing on those men who served
as father figures in our lives
when our biological fathers weren't able to do so.
May the love and selflessness they showed us
be returned to them in all their relationships,
and help them to know that their influence
has changed us for the better.

Give new and future fathers the guidance they need
to raise happy and holy children,
grounded in a love for God and other people.

We pray that our fathers who have passed into the next life
have been welcomed into Your loving embrace,
and that our family will one day be reunited in your heavenly kingdom.

In union with St. Joseph,
whom you entrusted with Your Son,
we ask Your generous blessings today and every day.

Amen.

Library News.....

Sports Update - Mr Jacob Parslow

SPORTS Wrap - Term 3 Week 6

What an amazing term of sport it has been so far with students competing in both Athletics Eastern Region/Diocesan carnivals (School Sports Australia Pathways) and Interschools Equestrian competitions (Non School Sports Australia Pathways).

Following the great success of the 50 students who represented St Phil's at our Easter Region carnival, 8 students progressed to Dubbo on Friday to represent the Eastern Region. These students represented the school with pride and sportsmanship with great results coming on the day. A lot of students were very close to making it to the next level and should be proud of their achievements.

Congratulations to Lailah who has made it to the Polding carnival for discus. Good luck Lailah! A huge shout out to Mrs Locke and the Grenfell family for their assistance in the day in St Philomena’s assigned job .

Our fantastic equestrian’s have been busy representing the school in a number of events over the past few weeks. Oliver had a very successful NSW State Interschools, coming away with many places, competing against students from years K-6. Oliver will now progress to the next stage of the competition, the National Interschool Equestrian Championships in September. Koa and Aria had a very successful day also competing at the Arndell Anglican College Equestrian Carnival, both picking up some beautiful ribbons for their amazing results! The St Phil’s team was supported by the team strapper Chantelle, ensuring everyone's tails were smooth and shiny! Well done to all of our riders and parents.

Sports Superstars

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