GETTING INVOLVED WITH THE SCHOOL

• Parents & Friends (P&F) is an informal group that organises fundraising & social events for the school, and meet once a term. With current Covid restrictions, the first meeting will need to be held via Zoom. The first meeting is today, February 10^th from 7:00pm. A Zoom link has been sent out via Compass and all members of the school community are welcome to join in. If you are unable to make the meeting but are keen to participate please email the office and will put you in the P&F email group.
• School Community Council (SCC) - The Council’s role is to oversee the school finances, enrolments, building and maintenance, uniforms and to contribute to school policies. The Council meets four times a year for about an hour and there is not a huge commitment of time involved outside meeting times. The first meeting is on Thursday February 17th at 7:00pm. This will also be via Zoom, with a link sent out on the day. If you are interested in joining the SCC please contact the office by phone or email office.sppg@cg.catholic.edu.au

THIS ARTICLE ON THE IMPORTANCE OF SLEEP FOR CHILDREN AND US ALL IS A GREAT READ!

The importance of sleep for children

Judith Locke, Clinical Psychologist, speaker, author

Sleep. Are you getting enough? More importantly – is your child getting enough? 

The holidays are often a time of relaxed rules about bedtimes, later wake-up times, and adjusted rules to do with technology in their bedrooms. But given the school term has just restarted I thought it important to remind parents of the importance of sleep and sleep routines for children.

There have been some interesting findings about the significance of sleep for children and their families’ wellbeing over the last few years. Let me detail some of them, to convince you of the importance of making slumber a priority in your house.

• Sleep helps school performance. If a child doesn’t get enough sleep, they often find it hard to stay awake in class or take in classroom instruction and be motivated to learn. Because of this, it is no surprise that children who don’t sleep enough tend to not do as well at school as their well-rested peers. Putting effort into getting them to sleep on time may be more important than getting them to do their homework.
• Poor sleep is associated with health issues. Reduced sleep puts children (and adults) at risk of adiposity, which is having more fatty tissue in the body. Adiposity is not only associated with weight gain, but also earlier onset of puberty, sleep apnoea, and joint problems. 
• Enough sleep helps reduce some ADHD symptoms. Parents of children with ADHD can have difficulty getting them to bed. This situation can be improved, via targeted behavioural interventions provided by a psychologist. Research shows that getting children a better quality and quantity of sleep improves some of their ADHD symptoms, such as improved working memory, better behaviour, and better quality of life for the children and their parents.
• Their sleep impacts your sleep. Of course, in the very young years, their ability to sleep directly affects their parents’ slumber. But the sleep quality of children up to 10 years old also impact their parents’ slumber, as well as the parent’s mental health.
• Add up their daily sleep. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine has made some watertight recommendations of how much sleep children need. Their advice is clever because the number of hours they recommend are inclusive of children’s naps through the day. This is particularly important as there has been solid evidence from QUT, that children’s daytime naps can impact their ability to fall asleep at night. This means that parents need to be mindful that the daytime reprieve of your child’s afternoon snooze might make bedtime more difficult. Hard numbers in the tips below.
• How do you get them to sleep? Keep them busy throughout the day. No surprise here, but research shows the more you let them sit around and not be active, the less likely it is that they will feel tired that night. But it can go the other way too. A night of poor sleep will mean that they are more lethargic the next day and not as likely to undertake energetic play. This inactivity makes them less likely to sleep well the next night. And so, the vicious circle keeps going.
• Break holiday habits. Try to bring their sleep back to something approximating normal, prior to the holidays ending. To help this along, make them get up earlier in the morning to do energetic activities that they are motivated to do – such as a bike ride, a trip to the beach or a theme park. This should make them a little more tired earlier the next night to break the cycle. If all else fails, the early starts of school should improve things.

Takeaway for parents 

How much sleep is needed? The total sleep time, including naps, is:

• Infants 4-12 months need 12 to 16 hours
• 1 to 2-year-olds need 11 to 14 hours
• 3 to 5-year-olds need 10 – 13 hours
• 6- to 12-year-olds need 9 to 12 hours 
• Teens up to 18 years old need 8 – 10 hours
• Adults need anywhere between 7 and 9 hours of sleep 
• Over 65? You might need an hour less.

Worried you aren’t getting there each night? An hour or so less than the above is not an issue but try not to make a habit of it. 

If you or someone you know of wishes to enrol a child in Kindergarten for 2023 please do so online as soon as possible, as our places tend to fill fast and we have already received a number of enrolments.

Even if your child has siblings attending the school please also complete an online enrolment as soon as possible.

Please call the office if you have any questions about enrolments.

There have been two important forms sent home either today or Friday with each child for parents and carers to review, complete and return to the school.

The first is the Student Information Checklist. Please carefully review this information and if you need to make any changes please write them on the page and return it to school. 

The second is the Consent Form for Local Excursions. This is a blanket form which gives the school consent to take your child on an excursion within the Goulburn area. It is vital that we hold a copy of this consent for each child. A copy of the form is attached below if yours has been misplaced, or contact the office.

Please return both forms by Friday 18 February (week 4).

On Tuesday morning we were lucky enough to have our Opening School Mass and our Leaders Badges blessed by Father Dermid. 

While we were unable to attend Mass at the Cathedral, we were thankful that Father allowed us to have it at school, and in doing so we were able to have Years 3 to 6 attend. During Mass, we officially welcomed our 2022 school leaders, prayed for them and blessed their school badges. 

Prayers for our school community, new leaders and their families:

• We pray for our school community. Help us to make it a place filled with faith, hope and love so that we may all know you are with us.
• We pray for our newly chosen leaders. May God bless, guide and protect each of them and help us to offer them our full support and encouragement.
• We pray for our families. May our family homes be places of faith, love and hope. 

 Congratulations again to our 2022 leaders. 

Later on Tuesday afternoon, we had a small ceremony for our 2022 leaders to receive their school badges. We'd like to thank our leaders, parents as well as Mr Brown and Mrs Harris for a lovely afternoon. 

SACRAMENTAL ENROLMENT 2022

• Reconciliation (1st Confession) - Yr 3 +
• First Holy Communion – Yr 4+
• Confirmation- Yr 6 &7 +

Download and complete the enrolment form from the parish webpage or the link below: http://bit.do/fTm9f

Please bring the form along to the enrolment night to register your child.

The Sacramental program is a parish based program, all details are on our web page cg.org.au/Goulburn/home.aspx or phone the parish office.

Sacramental email - mqa.sacramental@gmail.com

Canberra and Goulburn Archdiocese Individual Sport Trials for 2022 

Individual Sport trials for Canberra and Goulburn Archdiocesan teams are open to suitable Year 5 & 6 students.

Registration via the CSNSW Website www.csnsw.sport MUST be completed for your child to be considered to trial for an Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn Representative team. The online registration additionally provides your permission and replaces the old Medical Forms. The trial payment levy is to be made at the time of registration. No online nomination and no payment means no trial.

If you have NOT previously had an account you will be required to set one up to be enabled to register your child for both Canberra Goulburn AND NSWCCC/CPS sporting events and trials.

1. Type in the website address www.csnsw.sport

2. Click on Register which is located in the blue box on the top right-hand side of the page

3. Click on Setup Parent Account

4. Complete all of the fields and click on Create Account. You will receive a confirmation email.

REGISTER FOR A SPORT

1. Once logged in scroll to your child’s Profile

2. Click on 'Register for a Sport'

3. Select the Sport you are registering for from ‘Available Sport Registration’ - This will be the registration process for Canberra Goulburn Trials/Championships/Carnivals

4. Click Next

5. Review your child’s details and if they are correct tick the ‘Acknowledgement’ box then click Next

6. Sport Specific Details—These will display the Diocesan events your child has previously attended. Click Next

7. Consent to Participate—Complete all fields and click on 'Finish'. Once these steps are completed an email will be generated and sent to your school Sports Coordinator for approval.

PROGRESSION TO NEXT LEVEL

If your child is selected to Represent Canberra Goulburn at the MacKillop or CCC level the Diocesan Sports Coordinator, Sherree Bush will progress them to the next level. There is no need to re-register

1. You will receive and email to confirm their selection in the Canberra Goulburn team as will your school Principal to approve them for the next level of competition.

2. Login to your CNSWCS Account

3. Scroll to your child’s profile where there will be a box in red, ‘Confirm Selection’. Click on the box.

4. Review your child’s details and if they are correct tick the ‘Acknowledgement’ box and click 'next'.

5. Sport Specific Details—Review all of the information for the MacKillop or CCC event and click 'next'.

6. Consent to Participate—Complete all fields and click on 'finish'.

7. Add to Cart: Levy and uniform will be displayed (if applicable). Follow the prompts and click on 'Checkout'.

8. This will take you to the payment options. Complete payment.

CONGRATULATIONS!

Well done to Lara and Lexie for making the C&G Archdiocese Basketball team, Tyler for making the C&G Archdiocese Touch team and Mason for making the possibles/probables selection for touch also.

Tyler and Mason

Canberra Region Rugby League

‘Screens were advertising the real world, certain things were pixels and the world was a game!’ Oscar Martin

‘She was watching leaves fall, studying the patterns they made as they whirled in the icy wind.’ Dakota Wilson

‘But…plot twist! He had the chicken pox!’ Alexis Challenger

‘He decimated them and then put them in animatronic bodies.’ Dallas Kerslake

‘With a voice like an angel sliding down a rainbow eating fairy floss.’ Lexie Maple-Brown

‘Ilana, being 15, thought it would be safe to go and take a closer look at what was outside her gate.’ Sophie Stephenson

‘She waited in suspense … but no one came.’ Denise Quiboloy

‘Where the wind blows and the snow falls, there's a mountain that is as tall as the clouds.’ Alina Peaty 

‘Eventually Cash thought they threw their phones in the deep and sandy ocean at a deadly beach that no-one could survive’. Tyler Toparis

‘The trees were waving in the wind, then suddenly crack; a tree had fallen!!!’ Charlie Boniface

‘The next morning the doctor came to the school with stained yellow teeth, hands as blue as the ocean and eyes as red as blood.’ Billy Mawdsley

‘The door creaked open like a squealing motor.’ Audrey Maxwell

‘A creepy old and abandoned house was positioned in the middle of nowhere.’ Ty McMahon

‘So, I conducted my plan, and this is where it got me … out of the game.’ Will Curvey

‘Like a statue, my dog froze and stared deeply into the brown snake’s soul.’ Rihanna Butler

‘My body froze, my reflection was staring at me with a creepy glare.’ Lachlan Ashley-Jones

‘The fountain came alive with colours, indigo rising all over, violet spiralling into the air like the sun, she saw beautiful aqua shoot up; as soothing as the sea itself Mirah thought in admiration.’ Isabelle Howard

Hi, my name is Mark and I am pleased to be working with the students, staff and families at Ss Peter and Paul’s. I am here to provide therapeutic counselling to students and families and working alongside school staff regarding student welfare and classroom issues.

When will I be at the school: I will be at the school every Monday.

How can you can refer your child to the student and Family Counsellor: Please speak with your child’s classroom teacher about your concerns first. You are also welcome to complete a referral online by going to this link: https://catholiccare.force.com/housing/s/school-referral-form

You are able to contact me via my email mark.holberton@catholiccare.cg.org.au if you are unsure about whether to make a referral or have any questions or concerns about your child’s wellbeing.  

I look forward to meeting you and working with you.