20 September 2018

Newsletter Articles

Gilroy on the Go

DATE CLAIMERS

Fun Run

Yr 6 Parent Information Night

Orientation Day

BRIGHT YOUNG TALENTS

Three of our talented Yr 8 students have shown that they can compete again the country’s and world’s best in their respective sports.

Bailey Brown will be jetting off to Coffs Harbour to compete against the Country’s best soccer players at the National Youth Championships. Bailey was selected in the Queensland U13 Boys Soccer Team after being chosen from a recent carnival held in Mackay. Bailey trains in Townsville multiple nights per week and his favoured position is midfield. He’ll be attending a pre-training camp before beginning the tournament on 24 September.

Deegan Mancinelli has recently arrived back to school after competing at the World Junior Motocross Championships in Victoria. Deegan was selected after attending a training school 3 weeks before the Worlds Championships, where he was one of seven riders chosen from there to attend the World Championships. After being handed some bad luck with a front suspension malfunction in his first race and a crash in his second race, Deegan finished with a terrific 32nd and 21st placings overall. Deegan competed in the Yrs 12-13 class at the Championships and has his sight set on competing overseas in the future.

Scott Lynch will be travelling to Bunbury, near Perth, this week to compete in the Nationals for cycling. This will be Scott’s second Nationals, this being his first Nationals competing in Road Racing. He’ll be competing in the U15 Age Group for all 3 races – 40km Road race, 30km Critt race and 10km Time Trial. Scott travels to Townsville every day for training and he is certainly reaping the rewards.

These achievements reflect hard work and dedication from the boys and their families. The college community is extremely proud of these 3 students and we cannot wait hear to more about their sporting journey’s.

Ashley Spina

YR 7 & 8 DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY

Yr 7 Design & Technology students recently completed their Eco lamps. Students gain knowledge in design and apply these principles to develop a desk top lamp. Students study the application of lighting throughout history and how it has changed and improved in its design and efficiency.

Yr 8 Design & Technology students recently completed their CO2 Racers. The students design and build these racers from a single block of wood (similar to balsa wood). Students produce concept drawings of different racers and apply the design process to create a final working model to be raced and tested on a track using CO2 cannisters as a power source. Some of these racers cover the length of the 20-meter track in less than one second. Students have a lot of fun and are very competitive in the building and racing of their cars. Congratulations Yr 8’s.

John Barbagallo

YR 9 SCIENCE

Some Yr 9 science students were provided with a unique opportunity to dissect one of the pitchers of a very unusual carnivorous plant called a Nepenthes Truncata X Alata. The plant traps animals such as ants, moths, bees, lizards, small birds and mice by luring them with a sweet nectar and when these animals get too close they slip and fall into the pitcher. Once trapped, the liquid in the pitcher slowly dissolves the animals much like the stomach acid in our body. The science department would like to thank the Ranger in Charge at Ripple Creek office, Qld Parks and Wildlife, Martin Schultz who lent us the plant and provided the information for our lesson and Mrs Tessieri for organising and transporting the plant from Cardwell.

Roseanne Coyle

FOODIES CLUB

This week, Mr Giliberto taught the foodies club members how to make ‘Acai Bowls’ using whole foods and healthy fruits. They tasted fantastic and is a fresh healthy dish to make and eat this upcoming summer. The students thoroughly enjoyed making them and taste testing the different flavours. The acai berry is very medicinal and has been classified as a superfood. It is an inch-long, reddish-purple fruit. It comes from the acai palm tree, which is native to Central and South America. Some studies show that acai fruit pulp is even richer in antioxidants than cranberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, or blueberries. Below are some photos and a recipe to have a try these school holidays! Thanks to Mr Giliberto.

How to make an Acai Bowl. There are many variations on the internet, so find one that suits your taste. Make sure you eat your bowl straight away as it melts quick.

Ingredients/Method

Using a blender or nutri bullet combine the following
1 handful frozen berry mix
1 sliced banana, frozen
1 pack acai puree (or 2 tsp of acai powder with 3-4 crushed ice cubes)
3-4 tbsp rolled oats (optional)
1 tbsp Raw Cacao Powder
⅔ cups almond milk / rice milk/coconut milk
1 tsp maple syrup or honey

For garnish

coconut flakes, raw cacao nibs, buckwheat nibs
chia seeds
fruits
mango
chopped nuts like almonds

Home Gardening Tip

Straight from the Kitchen

Home garden pest spray. Free from unwanted chemicals that go onto our food. Sustainable and budget friendly.

Ingredients:

10 to 12 large cloves of garlic
4 to 6 hot chilli peppers, dried or fresh
Generous 2 cups water
1 tablespoon liquid castile soap (like Dr. Bronner's), or any biodegradable liquid dish washing soap

The recipe is loose; it makes about 3 cups of concentrate.

Put the garlic, chillies, and water into the blender and blend until the garlic and chillies are pureed. It will make a lovely orange-pink concoction that is foamy. Let stand for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Once it settles it will separate and you will have a coral-coloured liquid with sediment in the bottom. Pour the mixture through a strainer lined with fine cheesecloth, through a coffee filter, or even a jelly bag; this takes a little while to strain. You can also use a wet paper towels, however this takes even longer to strain. The idea is to get rid of all the particles because they will stop the valve of your sprayer.

Once strained, pour the concentrate into a jar with a plastic lid (not metal), add the soap, stir, and label. The concentrate is ready to use, or it can be stored in a cool dark place for a few months to be used as needed.

Spray bottles holds about a litre, add about 2 tablespoons of the concentrate to the bottle and fill it with water. Spray the plants late in the day, so that hot sun doesn't shine on them once they are sprayed, making sure you cover both sides of the leaves. If the hot sun shines on the just-sprayed leaves it can burn them. Also, if you use too much concentrate it will also burn the leaves. If you have a serious infestation, you will need to apply the spray a few times, waiting a few days in between.

*For an extra deterrent, try adding some drops of essential oils like peppermint.

Ms Danielle Mastrippolito & Ms Roseanne Coyle

Principal

Dear Gilroy Santa Maria College Community

During these holidays members of our school community will be travelling to the Poor of Heart Mercy Mission in Naga City, The Philippines. Mrs Timms, Ms Cerqui and Mr Giliberto along with ten of our students will travel with Fr Damian to do great work for the poor and underprivileged people of the Mission. It will be a great experience for all concerned, an experience of giving to others like no other. We wish them a great time and I thank them for their commitment to a great cause. I thank everyone in our community who has supported our missionaries and given to the Mercy Mission of Naga City.

Recently, we received the results of our school NAPLAN results. NAPLAN is the National Assessment Program for Literacy and Numeracy. This is a series of tests for all Australian students in Yrs 3,5,7, and 9. I’m pleased to report that Gilroy performed very well in these tests. We were above the state average in nine out of the ten categories our Yr 7’s and 9’s were assessed in. Even more pleasing was the improvement the Yr 9’s demonstrated from their Yr 7 results two years ago. NAPLAN school data is helpful in identifying trends as well as ascertaining strengths and weaknesses in various areas. We also look at individual results to see if they align with our own school results and identify discrepancies. All parents and carers should have received a hard copy of their child’s report recently.

This Friday, we have our Fun Run at Forrest Beach. It really is a great day with games and activities and a walk/run along Forrest Beach. I ask that families don’t see this day as a chance for an early holiday and support this community and character-building event. It does take considerable effort to complete the trek along the beach, but I firmly believe the best feeling you can have is the satisfaction of completing a difficult task. Special thanks to our P&F who are sponsoring the day including transport, food and drinks for everyone.

It is amazing how quickly the year has progressed and with Term 4 only having eight weeks it will be over before we know it. There will be many important events in the coming weeks so please continue to read the newsletter, Compass and Gilroy Facebook page for updates.

A safe and happy holiday to all families, remembering that school begins on Monday 8 October. Please note Monday 22 October is a Pupil-Free Day next term.

God Bless
John Nuttall

From the Acting Assistant Principal
(Administration & Curriculum)

Hello Everyone

Term 3 is rapidly coming to a close with Yr 12 exams completed and all other students concluding exams today. I would like to congratulate students on their efforts towards their exams. Students who were absent for exams in Yrs 7-10 may need to catch up these exams next term if they haven’t already. They will need to ensure that they see their teacher at the beginning of next term. Students in Yrs 11 and 12 who missed any exams will need to ensure that they present medical certificates the next day they are at school to cover their absence and organise to reschedule their exam.

Tomorrow we have the Annual School Fun Run. Students will assemble under S block to commence the day before being transported to Forrest Beach for their walk and activities for the rest of the day. Students will arrive back at school by 3:00pm for buses. This has traditionally been a great day, enjoyed by all our students and I hope to see everyone. It is an excellent way to end the term with friends at the beach!

As we look towards Term 4, we still have quite a bit to accomplish before the end of the year. Below is a table of some key events occurring in the first three weeks back at school next term.

I hope that everyone has a safe and enjoyable break.

God Bless
Joan Devietti

From the Assistant Principal
(Religious Education)

It is amazing how fast this term has gone by. It has been so busy and I know everyone is looking forward to a well-earned break.

As you are reading this students and adults involved in the mission trip will be making last minute preparations. We have done the work in readiness for the trip and now are ready to do God’s work. Father Damian will be celebrating a Commissioning Mass on Friday at 7:00am. Everyone is welcome to join us and see us off on our journey. Please continue to pray for us while we are over in the Philippines and follow us on our blog:

God who calls us and who sends us,
as our young missionaries prepare for their journey,
we ask that you protect and guide them.
May their minds be open to the new cultures they encounter.
May their hands be helpful and humble in service.
May their eyes see your presence in everyone they meet.
Help them to grow in love for You and one another
not only on each day of this journey,
but every day until the end of days.
This we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen

I wish everyone a safe and restful holiday and look forward to seeing you all next term.

God Bless
Christine Timms

Assistant Principal
(Pastoral Care)

Throughout this year I have become increasing aware of an unintended overuse of the term “Bullying”. While Bullying does exist and is a very real problem within any school, I have recently been realigning some of my thinking towards Bullying with the idea of “kids being mean”. I first heard this term at the Positive school’s conference in Brisbane earlier this year. The keynote speaker highlighted that many times, kids were very prone to saying mean and hurtful things to others and then were never pulled up by the victim, thereby giving the “mean child” power to continue their attack. The strategy that she constantly used was to empower children to use “quick comebacks” that told the protagonist in no uncertain terms that what they had said was hurtful. She suggested comments like, “WOW, not Cool and that is very hurtful” were important in shutting the negative comments down. The key was to respond quickly and to move away from this person to send a clear message of how you were affected. Later on, there needed to be a restorative meeting between the two parties to ensure that they could understand, apologise, forgive and move on. I have been imparting this strategy since May and I have seen many positive outcomes. As a major part of my final newsletter article for Term 3, I would like to share with you an article that came to my attention this week about Bullying. It was very interesting reading and confirmed a lot of what goes on in schools on an everyday basis.

Not Every Act of Meanness is Bullying

by Michael Hawton | Sep 10, 2018 | Adolescent, Children

Not Every Act of Meanness is Bullying

One of our jobs is to help children and young people to interpret events proportionally. However, in recent times, I have seen a shift involving the wrong application of words like trauma, depression and bullying. When these very meaningful words are misused, their misuse can result in unwanted consequences. What might be the ‘unkind’ behaviour of another may, in fact, not be ‘bullying’. In this article we discuss the differences between unkindness and bullying – and how defining the two correctly can teach kids resilience and how to cope with conflict.

Anyone who spends a great deal of time with children or simply remembers their own childhood or schoolyard days, would know that children can be downright mean. An experiment by Debra Pepler at York University brought together children from Yrs 1 to 6 who were identified by their teachers as particularly aggressive or particularly non-aggressive. What the study found was that the aggressive children were mean to others on average every two minutes and more revealingly, the non-aggressive children also displayed mean behaviour but on average every three minutes.

Conflict is unfortunately a part of life that we all deal with, no matter what age. Bullying is however, way more than that and can have serious and sometimes tragic consequences. Yet the term ‘bullying’ seems to be readily bandied around these days for all forms of ‘mean behaviour’. According to ‘Bullying No Way’, the National Australian definition of bullying is:

“an ongoing misuse of power in relationships through repeated verbal, physical and/or social behaviour that causes physical and/or psychological harm. It can involve an individual or a group misusing their power over one or more persons. Bullying can happen in person or online, and it can be obvious (overt) or hidden (covert)… Single incidents and conflict or fights between equals, whether in person or online, are not defined as bullying”.

The key terms in the definition of bullying is ‘misuse of power’ and ‘repeated’. The key terms in the definition of what is not bullying is ‘between equals’ and while conflicts or mean and hurtful behaviour may upset a child tremendously, by labelling the mean behaviour ‘bullying’ we may be disempowering children.

It is important for children to understand the difference between someone being insensitive or mean and what constitutes bullying behaviour because being able to successfully resolve and navigate these situations is a huge step in their emotional growth and maturity. If the situation is deemed to be simply mean or hurtful behaviour it is important not to over-play this through misleading terminology (ie bullying) and offer ways for the child to address and resolve this themselves.

Teacher and writer Braden Bell spoke in his article for the Washington Post about his own personal experience when hearing about one of his children experiencing negative and disparaging remarks from a co-worker. His initial fury led him to a biased judgement, defining the perpetrator as a bully but when he eventually calmed down, he realised it did not fit the definition (it was offensive behaviour but not bullying) and so he talked with his wife and then child to find a viable coping solution, which worked out in the end. A way parents can assist with this is by first acknowledging the mean behaviour, for eg ‘that was mean/rude/unkind of her/him’ and then, as Bell suggests, prompting the child to seek some form of resolution or solution by asking ‘“What are your choices?” And, as a follow-up, “What are the likely outcomes of those choices?”. This may not be easy because of heightened emotions and the initial responses may not be great.

Parents who react too defensively for their child at every negative encounter with their child’s peers may be doing more harm than good. In later years the child may not have the necessary tools to independently handle conflict and may feel ‘victimised’ in situations that don’t go their way, potentially causing social engagement and relationship difficulties in later life. Further in her article in Psychology Today, Eileen Kennedy-Moore, wrote: … calling every act of meanness bullying sends an unhealthy message: It says to kids, ‘You’re fragile. You can’t handle it if anyone is even slightly unkind to you.’ As these children grow older, they demonstrate less resilience, sometimes publicly. The kids got more easily and deeply upset about perceived offenses, including situations that were unpleasant, but weren’t really bullying. Beyond stunting their emotional maturity, their heightened reactions had negative social consequences, as peers responded by disengaging from them.

By defining the behaviour correctly, we are encouraging our kids to assess and respond in a way that with long term practice, creates resiliency and emotional maturity.

Blessings
Peter Groundwater

From the Business Manager

Office hours over the School Holidays.

The office will still be open over the school holidays please see adjusted hours below.

Monday – Wednesday 8.00am to 4.00pm Closed for lunch 1.00pm - 2.00pm
Thursday & Friday 8.00am to 3.30pm. Closed for lunch 1.00pm – 2.00pm

Thank you to all who have paid fees to date. If you have not paid recently please do so ASAP. As always, if for any reason you are finding it difficult to pay school fees. Please contact the Principal or myself to discuss the matter.

BANK DETAILS are as follows:

WESTPAC Ingham
BSB - 034-187
Account Number – 145 925
Name – Gilroy Santa Maria College

Ros Giuliano

Academic Support

Indigenous Homework Support

TUCKSHOP

VOLUNTEERS ARE ALWAYS NEEDED!!

Tuckshop Volunteers are only needed to work from 8:30am to 12:00pm.

Please note: The lunch times are as follows:

1st Lunch – 11:15am – 11:40am
2nd Lunch – 1:20pm finish 2:05pm

If there is any query regarding this roster or you are unavailable to attend, please contact Sandra Benedetto Home [4776 5321] Jodie Lino Home [4776 5718]

What’s Happening in the Parish

Upcoming Events

• Mission Trip Commissioning Mass—Friday 21 September 7:00am
• Public Square Rosary, Rotary Park— Saturday 13 October
• Mission Trip Report Night— 20 October
• Bishop Tim’s Parish Visits for Ingham, Halifax and Abergowrie— 10 & 11 November
• Sr Nina’s Mega Monster Diamond Jubilee Extravaganza— Saturday 8 December

Father Damian McGrath
Parish Priest
Ingham Region Catholic Parishes

District News

TYTO School Holidays Event Programme

Maraka Try-Athlon

Advertising with Schoolzine

Would you like to advertise in our new Schoolzine eNewsletter? Currently, Schoolzine is working diligently to source family friendly advertising sponsors and will then rebate quarterly 20% of revenue back to the school.

If you are interested in advertising either contact the school office or feel free to email Schoolzine any questions, suggestions or advertising enquiries.

Email: advertising@schoolzine.com.au
Phone: 07 5414 2361