Dear Parents and Community members, Over the past few weeks I’ve had the pleasure of meeting our new Kinder students and their families at enrol-ment interviews. We are so fortunate to have such supportive families in the school and I’m hearing wonderful feedback about our reputation in the community. St Finbarr’s continues to strive to be a school with high expec-tations focussing on quality teaching and learning and strong values. Minifins is a fantastic transition program

coordinated each Monday morning by Mrs Chantelle Cotes and our Kinder classes for next year are filling fast. Minifins resumes in the second week back next term Monday 30th July.

Students rugged up in their winter woollies yesterday to raise money for the St Vinnies Winter Appeal. Kitty Col-lins from the St Vincent de Paul Society was presented with a beautiful blanket designed by the students to rep-resent our commitment to helping those in need. We wish Mrs Kate Jones all the best as she departs for her maternity leave. Class parents prepared a special farewell morning tea yesterday and staff will have their opportunity to say goodbye and good luck to Kate with a shared lunch this Friday. Kate's calm leadership and excellent teaching will be missed by all and we look for-ward to her return to St Finbarr's in 2019.

Principal’s Message

1 Arakwal Court, Byron Bay NSW 2481 tel: 6685 6342 fax: 6685 8784 email: bbp@lism.catholic.edu.au www.bbplism.catholic.edu.au

Term 2 July 3 2018 Week 10

Stage Three Sports Day Stage Three played host to St John’s Mullumbimby last Friday for an afternoon of fun and fitness. The students chose to participate in either Soccer, Touch Football or Basketball. It was exciting to have our first official game on the new Basketball court. Thanks again to the School Forum. All games were played in a wonderful spirit with skills and teamwork improving as the day progressed. St John’s students were in awe of our sports field and are keen to come back for another day. We will be offering similar sporting opportunities to our Stage Two students next term and welcome any suggestions, feedback and support.

Last Friday we held the finals of our public speaking competition in the hall with so many outstanding presenta-tions. Selected students have now been invited to the Tweed District finals next term. Well done to all students and staff. Forum News At our last Forum meeting there was discussion on the topic of the Christmas Fair. A suggestion is to move away from the current format of the Fair and perhaps holding an Easter Fair in 2019. It is becoming more difficult to find volunteers to coordinate the Christmas Fair and there is concern regarding the pressure and expectations on those involved. Change can be a good thing and perhaps 2018 is time for a change. Already there have been healthy discussions around alternate social and fundraising options from the School Forum. We would love to hear from anyone with suggestions or offers of assistance. What makes our community so special is the willing-ness of all to put their hand up to get involved and help make St Finbarr’s school the best it can be. We also discussed the school Canteen with some ideas for alternative menus and fresh recipes. Mr Bleakley and Mrs Conte met with Kyra today and are excited about the enthusiasm of parents and willingness to be actively involved in the school canteen. More feedback will be available at the next Forum meeting on Monday 6th Au-gust. Canteen Closed

There will be no Canteen available this Friday 6th July as we have the Andrew Chinn concert and shared morn-ing tea. Parents are warmly invited to attend the concert and stay for morning tea.

Principal’s Message

NATIONALLY CONSISTENT COLLECTION OF DATA FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITY (NCCD SWD) FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What is the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (the national data collec-tion)? The national data collection is an annual collection that counts the number of school students receiving an adjustment due to their learning needs and/or disability and the level of adjustment they are receiving to access education on the same basis as other students. Each of the included students has been identified by a school team as receiving a reason-able adjustment to address their learning needs under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (the Act) - www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2017C00339.

The national data collection was progressively implemented from 2013 to 2015. All schools are now participating in the national data collection.

Why is this data being collected? Until recently there has been a lack of nationally comparable data about school students with disability. The national data collection ensures that, for the first time, information about students is transparent, consistent and reliable at a national level. A nationally consistent approach to collecting data provides evidence on:

the number of school students receiving an adjustment due to learning needs/disability

the level of adjustment they receive

their broad category of disability. Better information about school students helps parents, carers, teachers, principals, education authorities and govern-ment to gain a more complete understanding of students who are receiving adjustments because and how to best sup-port them to take part in schooling on the same basis as other students.

The national data collection captures the good work occurring in schools to support students with adjustments/disability. The national data collection process is supported by an excellent range of resources to assist schools to re-flect on their practice and learn from others.

Over time, participation in the national data collection will help to embed in the everyday practice of schools, their obliga-tions under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2017C00339) and the Disability Standards for Education 2005 (www.docs.education.gov.au/node/16354).

____________________________________________________________________________________ As parents we are always very protective of our own children. As with all teachers and in my role as Prin-cipal time can be spent dealing with conflict between students and bullying. Recently we have been aware of incidents where parents are seeking to address individual students on school grounds regarding behavioural concerns. This is absolutely unacceptable. We take every situation very seriously and while at times it may feel as though things aren't being done please be assured incidents are followed up with the utmost concern and confidentiality. If you feel the situation is at the stage where you need to address indi-vidual children please contact me before an unfortunate situation occurs.

I would like to wish everyone a safe and relaxing holiday and we look forward to welcoming students back on Tuesday 24th July. Kind Regards, Tim Bleakley Principal

Principal’s Message

Confirmation Programme for 2018 This programme is now well underway. Thanks to all parents and sponsors for sup-porting your child on this spiritual journey for this special sacrament. Some im-portant dates are listed below: 28/29th July 6pm Mass Byron bay & 9.30am Bangalow: A special blessing will be bestowed upon the Candidates by Fr David in the presence of Holy Spirit Parish. Saturday 4th August: Confirmation practice at St Finbarr ’s Church 5.15pm. Monday 6th August: Sacrament of Confirmation Mass at St Finbarr ’s Church 6pm. Stage 3 Mass Thanks to those Parents and Parishioners who came to celebrate the stage 3 Mass

Andrew Chinn Concert

Friday 6th July. 9.00 - 11.00 St Finbarr’s School Hall

Parents please join us for morning tea and this wonderful concert

Kind Regards, Sheryl Hurley & Kate Jones Leader of Evangelisation Leader of Catechesis

July 2018

4 5.30pm-6.30pm Stg 3 His-tory ‘A night at the Museum’ School Hall

6 9.00am-11.30am Andrew Chinn Concert and morning tea in the School Hall Last Day of Term 2

23 Pupil Free Day Staff Development Day

24 Students return Term 3

25 9.00am—10.00am Maths Olympiad Competition

28 & 29

Blessing of the Confirma-tion Candidates

31 ICAS English

August 2018

3 6.00pm St Finbarr’s Winter Dinner Soiree at the Italian Byron Bay

4 5.15pm Confirmation Practice at St Finbarr ’s Church

66 2.30pm –3.00pm ‘Responding to Social Con-flict’ Parent assembly infor-mation session In the Multi purpose room 6.00pm Sacrament of Confirmation Mass at St Finbarr’s Church

14 ICAS MATHS

15 9.00-10.00am Maths Olympiad Competi-tion

17 2.30pm Assembly

Evangelisation

Evangelisation News

St Vincent De Paul Winter Woolies Casual Day We are proud to announce that students have raised $300 for the St Vincent De Paul

Winter Appeal. The Money will go towards helping individuals and families in need dur-ing the Winter months. Students should be very proud of their efforts.

MINIFINS I can’t believe our Minifins’ students have completed their second term of learning in our school family. They are looking more and more like our Kindergarten students every day! Mrs Cotes and Mr Bleakley have set them up in the hall with classroom furniture as they adjust to the model of what learning will be like in a classroom next year. It is wonderful to see the blossoming friendships in preparation for Kindergarten 2019. This is such a supportive educational program, socially, emotionally, spiritually and academically. A big thanks to Mrs Cotes for a great Semester of Minifins! Minfins resumes in Term 3, Week 2, on Monday 30th July.

KINDERGARTEN 2019 We are accepting 2019 Kindergarten enrolments now. Please spread the word as we would love to have two Kindergarten classes in 2019. If you have submitted your enrolment applications Mr Bleakley will contact you shortly to arrange an interview, next Term, with you and your child/ren. 1N MATHS In Mathematics the students in 1N have been looking at the concept of time. The students worked in pairs to create a clock and displayed and recorded o’clock and half past times in both analogue and digital format.

Learning

1N SCIENCE DAY In Science the students have been learning about forces by observing and gathering evidence about how these forces act in air and water, and on the ground. Students will identify the effect of the pull of gravity and learn that both air and water can ‘push’. Students had the opportunity to design and make a parachute which needed to safely land an egg in order to further develop our understanding of 'forces' particularly push and pull. The stu-dents, parents, grandparents, Miss Ninness and Mr Bleakley had lots of fun testing the application of forces. Check out their photos below.

Learning

STAGE 1 HISTORY EXCURSION

In History students from Year 1 and Year 2 have been learning about the Indigenous culture and sacred sites of the Arakwal people in Byron Bay. This excursion offered them the opportunity to further build upon the knowledge and skills they have been developing this Term in their History unit entitled, ‘The Past and Present in Byron Bay’. On Friday 29th June Years 1N, Year 2P and Year 2B, their teachers and parent helpers headed off on their Histo-ry excursion to the Byron Bay Lighthouse, The Pass and then they caught a train to Sunrise. The students had a wonderful time. Many thanks to Mrs Cotes, Mrs Taitoko, Mrs Hibble, Mrs Picolli and Miss Blower for their organi-sation.

ST FINBARR’S PUBLIC SPEAKING COMPETITION FINALS

What an entertaining day we had on Friday at the public speaking competition finals. Our finalists en-gaged the audience with their highly entertaining and informative speeches. The standard of delivery across K-6 was phenomenal. It was wonderful to see so many of our students shining! A big thank you to our judges, Mrs Wilcosz and Mrs Purdie, who had the arduous job of selecting our 1st and 2nd place get-ters, along with our Highly Commended students. Students who were placed both 1st and 2nd will now head to Tweed Heads and compete in the Tweed Public Speaking Competition to be held on 10th Au-gust 2018. Congratulations to all students who participated and especially our finalists: Kindergarten: 1st – Holly Phillips - Giraffes Kindergarten: 2nd - Evelyn Berriman - Balloons Kindergarten: Highly Commended – Felix Kruse-Barnes - Halloween

Stage 1: 1st - Sasha Fligelman - Ban balloons Stage 1: 2nd – Pepper Davidson - Being the middle child

Stage 1: Highly Commended – Indigo Shearman - Reading

Stage 1: Highly Commended Year 1 - Hamish Kelly - Dinosaurs

Stage 1: Highly Commended Year 1 - Maddie Harris - Hawaii Stage 2: 1st - Amelie Knox- Bird - Michael Jackson Tribute

Stage 2: 2nd - Eamon O’Dea - Space

Stage 2: Highly Commended – Jude Blunden - To game or not to game?

Stage 2: Courage Award – Holly Crawford- Bullying impacts

Stage 3: 1st - Olive Davidson - Australia Day

Stage 3: 2nd – Jonah Taylor – 8 million reasons

Stage 3: Highly Commended – Erin Woolsey - Dumb Laws

Stage 3: Highly Commended – Mia Bridger - Selfies: society’s self obsession STAGE 3 STEM EXCURSION TO SCU

Students in Stage 3 recently attended the Science and Engineering Day at SCU.The Science and Engi-neering Discovery Day is a day long competition designed to provide Stage 3 primary school students with a posi-tive experience of Science and Engineering. 8 schools competed against each other. Students were awarded points for each activity and the school with the most cumulative points at the end of the day is declared the winner. Our students came second on the day. Well done Stage 3! Check out some of the activities they participated in:

Learning

Learning

STAGE 3 CAPA

Stage 3 students who chose to participate in the CAPA Day with Mrs Hibble experienced a very creative day. They individually tie dyed t-shirts, bags and pillowcases that were stunning. Collab-oratively, they wanted to make a difference and use their gifts and talents so they tie dyed a doona cover and pillow slips and are donating them to St Vincent De Paul to give to those in need. So proud of our students and teachers for their generosity. A big thanks to Mrs Hibble for making this such an engaging day.

Kind regards,

Lisa Conte

Leader of Pedagogy &

Acting Assistant Principal

Learning

Sports News

What a fabulous sports carnival, the weather was perfect and it was so lovely to see so many parents come along to cheer on their children.

A big thank you must go to the stage 3 leaders who demonstrated great leadership on the day. Also to Mrs Clark our Sports Coordinator who organised the carnival.

The winning house on the day was Tenison, congratulations!

Forum News

Forum Social Committee News

Boys and social interactions: Children frequently travel in groups, although girls will often pair off with close friends within larger circles. Boys, in contrast, have less intense interactions, but demonstrate increased loyalty to the group as a whole. Type of play will often transition through from cops and robbers, to elaborate fantasy (maybe acted out in the sandpit), to more sports based play; handball, game, soccer. The challenge with these groups is that you are either in or out. And it’s the being out of a group that can result in feeling isolat-ed, excluded or even bullied. Here are six important social competencies you can foster in your child. 1. How to play well with others Play is a powerful catalyst for development in the early years. By playing with others, children learn to negotiate, problem solve, take turns, share and experiment. You can help your child build these skills by making time for free play with other chil-dren and also with yourself. By engaging in imaginative play with them, you can see how they manage problem solving and turn taking, and you can use these opportunities to coach them. Potentially they are very passive in the play and need support to offer ideas, or perhaps they are very controlling and need to work on collaboration and experimenting with different ideas. 2. How to problem-solve It is easy as adults to solve the problem for the child, we can delegate who goes first, how long they have a toy, when the game is to finish. But ultimately we want them to have a set of tools they can implement when a social dilemma arises. So the next time your child has a problem, invite them to take part in that problem-solving process. Ask your child to describe what's going on, brainstorm solutions and try one out. You're still an active player, supporting your child through the process, but rather than doing all the solving yourself, let your child own the problem by asking, "What do you think you could do about that?" Teaching a child to be a problem solver also means that we teach them how to fail and try again. When we ask children how their solution is working out, we give them an opportunity to evaluate their experience and make improvements when neces-sary. We're teaching them that mistakes help us learn and move forward. 3. How to label and recognise feelings Children who are perceptive to the emotions around them are also better able to get along well with others. You can foster this skill by calling attention to emotional cues and naming emotions. You can do this not only in your home ("I'm looking at your brother's face right now, and I don't think he's having fun." "You looked so happy when you won, you had the biggest smile!") but by also talking about the emotions in stories as well. ("How do you think he felt when that happened?") 4. How to be helpful Being helpful to others requires children to look beyond themselves and recognise the needs of others. By noticing and compli-menting your child when you notice helpful behaviours, you encourage them to continue. 5. How to control their impulses Impulse control is a part of the executive functions directed by the prefrontal cortex of the brain. This area doesn't completely develop until well into early adulthood, but some of the most rapid development happens in the early childhood years. That's why children need opportunities to practice this growing skill. Movement games that require a child to stop and go like Dance and Freeze, and Simon Says give kids practice quickly shifting gears and controlling their impulses to move. Pretend play is also a great way to build these skills. By taking on a new character and an imaginative storyline, children have to plan before acting, take turns and make rules to follow. They also practice thinking outside of their own perspective and act as they think another would, rather than simply following their own impulses. 6. Being an honourable sportsperson There is no doubt that the sports bases games are consumed with conflict. Whilst this is a good opportunity for problem solving and conflict resolution, it can also be excessive. A competitive nature can have many positive outcomes. However learning to balance this is a social environment can be helpful. Often distinguishing for children the difference between a game or a com-petition can help them to adapt their social skills accordingly. A competition being an event that has placings or trophies, and a game having no outcome, other than to have a fun time with peers.

Drum Lessons at Finnies 2018

Drum lessons will be resuming at St Finbarr’s School as soon as we have enough enrolments to make it viable for our tutor Peter Jaggle to recommence, lessons will hopefully be starting in the first week of term 3.

Parents interested in enrolling their child please contact the office and fill out an enrolment form to start next term.

Here are some small excerpts from Peter’s formidable resume.

Peter holds a degree in music composition from UNE and has written five rhythm based tutorial books including a mammoth encyclopaedia of rhythm notation, he has conducted workshops all over Australasia and internationally and performed with Top line Australian and International Art-ists.

He is also the founder / conductor / tutor of the Young Drums School of Percussion and Perfor-mance and the Young Drums Percussion Orchestra both of which he directed for one and a half decades. The orchestra (average age 13 yrs) represented Australia at more than ten inter-national events performing to over a quarter of a million people live at various major venues and events and to more than 200 million viewers on live international television.

Peters teaching methods have been endorsed and supported by some of percussion’s biggest names, Dom Famularo (Billed as the World’s #1 Percussion Educator and Motivator) and

international companies, Zildjian Cymbals USA, PREMiER Percussion of the UK, SABIAN Cym-bal Makers of Canada, MEINL Percussion of Germany, Mapex drums of Japan, TOCA per-cussion of USA and ECODRUMS of Australia among others.

More recently he created his Percussion Garden concept that includes original shows, ‘Music from the Percussion Garden,’ ‘Shaman’ ‘The Rhythm of Everything’ and ‘Elements’, using up to 75 Singers and musicians with scores composed by himself with Choral arrangements by Pro-fessor Michael Hannan.

However, the Percussion Garden is much more than just shows, it is a Company with aims to nurture, grow and promote the percussive arts in the Northern area of the State to the widest de-mographic including, Children of all ages, Older people, Disabled, (Peter worked at Multitask run-ning a Drum Circle with a severely disabled class), Indigenous and Ethnic Communities, Women and people of all backgrounds.

As an aspect of this project he has developed an exciting new Japanese Taiko program for schools, working with children from Pre-school through to High School, the program is already being strongly booked and is receiving much acclaim from Principals, Teachers and students alike.

Peter was presented with the inaugural NCEIA “Contributions to the Entertainment Industry Award” and an Australia Award for Cultural Arts achievement.

Currently he is also working as a music teacher traveling all over the Northern part of the state working for various private and public schools. Two of his local regional students have achieved top 5 places in the 2012 and 2013 National “Up and Coming Drummers Competition” and one a winner in the Drum solo competition! He has former students performing all over the world with major orchestras and bands and one with a Grammy Award to his credit!

School Banking News Term 2 is near an end which means new rewards added for term 3; Mighty Boom Handball and Heat Reactor Pencils, along with Twister Power Handball, Sparkle Glitter Pens and Glow Lights from the first half of the year. Thank you to all our regular bankers, you have till the end of term 3 to make 15 deposits. This will ensure you go into the draw to win a family trip to Hawaii. Sadly I am no longer able to do School Banking and ask for volunteers to take my place. The job requires about 2 hours a week to collect, process and bank school deposits. Please see Rita in the Office if you are interested in filling this position. I've enjoyed contributing to the school thru this program and thank the families who are in-volved. Susan Cheers, Susan

Hi Families, Please send all bookings and enquiries for our vacation care program to stfinbarrsoshc@gmail.com NOT SCHOOL EMAIL ADDRESS Enjoy your holiday and get bookings in ASAP. For enrollment form go to our website thefunhouse.com.au print out and bring on first day of child's booking.

SCHOOL FEES

Term 2 Fees are now overdue, please fi-nalise payment ASAP.

Please contact Alison Mason immediately if you are experiencing financial difficulty

in meeting this obligation.

Payments can be made by cash, cheque, credit card or forwarded direct to: Bank account BSB 062-514 A/C No. 00900371. Please quote account number or child’s name as details. BPAY facilities are also available using biller code & reference number from statement.

Please contact Alison Mason immediately, amason@lism.catholic.edu.au, if you are experi-encing financial difficulty. Thank you to all those families who pay their

fees on time, it’s greatly appreciated.

Spanish Lessons Would you like your child to have the opportunity to

learn Spanish?

Esther Perez is a Qualified Teacher (Early Years and Primary) and is holding lessons at St Finbarr’s before school each Tuesday morning. The price is $15 per lesson and will be held in the Multi-purpose room. Recommended ages are from Year 1 to Year 4, however there may be an opportunity for Stage Three children if there is enough interest. Please contact Esther at byron.spanishfun@gmail.com

or on 0416 263 216.

Plans for Byron Bay Skatepark

Council is seeking grant funding to build an all-abilities skatepark in Byron Bay. We’ve identified the Sandhills Estate (behind the Li-brary and Youth Activities Centre) as our preferred lo-cation. It’s our vision to turn this under-utilised area into a well-designed, family-friendly recreation precinct featuring a competition-level skate facility, BBQs, picnic spaces, toilets, and a playground. For more info see our website www.byron.nsw.gov.au. We want to know what you think about this idea. Go to www.yoursaybyronshire and do our survey.