As of this week, our newsletter will be available on the school website

www.clifton.catholic.edu.au. If you do not receive an emailed copy of our newsletter next week please

contact us. Please provide us with the email address you want the school newsletter sent to.

KidsMatter is an Australian mental health and wellbeing initiative set in primary schools and in early childhood

education and care services. It’s not a program, but a framework that helps take care of the mental health needs of

children. It focuses on:

creating positive school and early childhood communities

teaching children skills for good social and emotional development

working together with families

recognising and getting help for children with mental health problems.

KidsMatter is funded by the Australian Government and beyondblue, and is a partnership between education and

health sectors. It was developed by experts - mental health professionals and education and childcare staff.

KidsMatter is the first of its kind in Australia, and has the mental health of children as its top priority. I would

encourage you to have a look at the website as you will discover an amazing range of videos, discussion forums,

fact sheets, links to other resources, etc. I am sure you will find it a handy resource to help you and your child

through their educational journey. For further information, try the following link:

www.kidsmatter.edu.au

From the Principal - Brendan O’Reilly

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

I would like to extend our many thanks to those people who helped out at the polocrosse fundraiser over the

weekend and those who supported this event by donating food and their cooking skills. Special thanks to Simone

and Troy Gillam and their children for giving up so much of their own time to support our school. All our won-

derful volunteers are always greatly appreciated. Thank you.

At our P&F meeting on Wednesday night, we reviewed the financial position of the P&F and voted on investing

some funds into various school projects. This was an exciting conversation to be a part of. With the assistance of

the P&F committee, I look forward to enriching the opportunities and facilities we can provide for the students.

The Making Jesus Real program, or MJR for short, fosters many valuable attitudes and values that are already

reinforced every day in our classrooms. This program makes explicit the behaviours, values and attitudes we want

to ‘see’ in our students. Over the next few weeks I will be teaching the students the acronym WEST and what it

represents; Welcome, Encourage, Sorry and Thanks. I have informed the students that I will be focussing on their

ability to welcome others, encourage others, say sorry when they should and be thankful for what they have, and

say thanks! I am looking forward to presenting the principal award to a student who consistently tries to display

these behaviours.

Our full time teachers are all attending two professional development days in Brisbane over the weekend. Our

commitment to improving our professional practice is highlighted when our teachers give up their weekends to

engage in professional development. I thank our teachers for this commitment and I look forward to building our

professional capacity at these seminars.

Peace and Best Wishes,

Brendan

12th May 2016

Dates To Remember May 2016

Gala Days-Friday 20th May and

Friday 27th May

Friday 27th May is under 8’s Day.

Sept Thursday 8th - School play dress rehearsal

God Bless

Brendan O’Reilly

Principal

This Week’s Mass Roster Saturday 14th May 7.00pm Welcoming: M Cranitch POF/OH: G. Imhoff Readers: T. O’Leary & B. Lack Offertory: R & L Murphy Eucharistic Ministers: K. Flynn and L. Murphy

School Camp Update A second instalment of $250 for camp was due by

Friday the 29th April .The third instalment of $250

is due on Friday the 27th May. Thankyou for as-

sisting us to honour financial deadlines with the

school Camp.

Camp Dates: Sunday 19th June to 23rd June

Save the Date

Angela Ehmer (literacy consultant) visit

on 25th and 26th of August

The UNIFORM SHOP will be opened on

MONDAY from 8.30am –9.30am

If you have any questions or need to place an or-

der please contact Jenny Gillam on 0408198538.

Representative Sport Dates for Term Two Gala Days in Allora for Netball, Rugby League and

Soccer;

Friday 20th May and Friday 27th May

SFDS Athletics Days– 13th and 15th July

P & F N E W S

BULL CAMP – P&F FUNDRAISER The Bull Camp roster was sent home on Wednesday and

is also available on our Facebook Page along with direc-

tions on how to get there. We have been busy cooking

meals and preparing food ready to cater for this event

which commences on Thursday. We are catering for 50

people. Thursday we are providing lunch, afternoon tea

and dinner. Friday we are providing breakfast, morning

tea, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner. Saturday we are

providing breakfast, morning tea and lunch – then pack-

ing up….and SLEEPING!!! What a massive couple of

weeks! Once again, thank you to all families who have

contributed to these two events. Your help, baking and

donations has been very much appreciated.

TUCKSHOP

Friday 20/5 – open (no meal deals)Closed on Friday 27/5 for gala

day & u8’s day

“SFDS FAMILIES”

PREP ENROLMENTS 2017: Applications for Prep 2017 are now being taken. We already have a promising enrolment for Prep in 2017. Current families who are yet to submit their application for Prep 2017 are en-couraged to complete an application and submit it to the school. Interviews will take place in week 2 of Term 3 (starting on the 18th July).

If you know of anyone who is looking to enrol at St Francis de Sales in 2017, please encourage them to come and get an application package

Next P&F Meeting: 6pm – Wednesday, 8th June 2016

Please email your agenda items to: Clif-

ton.PandF@twb.catholic.edu.au

Everyone is Welcome to Attend

TUCKSHOP ROSTER

Friday 13/5 Leanne Harrigan & Gale Ansett

Baking – Leanne Harrigan

Friday 20/5 Angela Parry & Anna Marks

PENTECOST PEOPLE

Come, Holy Spirit, and make us Pentecost people

Let your wisdom and right judgement guide our decisions and temper our

impulses.

Let knowledge and understanding increase our capacity for empathy and

compassion.

Let reverence and awe fill us with gratitude and respect for all creation.

Give us the courage to witness to our faith in word and deed.

Through and with and in Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.

MINI VINNIES – This week, the Year 5 and 6 students ran their own

Mini Vinnies meeting with the help of Mr Wigan and myself. The fol-

lowing students are taking on Mini Vinnies leadership responsibilities for

the remainder of this term:

Chairperson – Lachie Peardon

Secretary – Sophie Willett

Treasurer – Liam Ruhle

Spiritual Advisor – Kate McCarthy

Thank you to these children for agreeing to take on these roles. A further election will take

place for Term 3 at the end of this term.

PARISH FAMILY MASS – Invitations for all families have been sent home earlier this week.

We encourage as many families as possible to come along and celebrate Mass together at

5pm on Sunday 22 May. Could children please bring back their invitation re-

sponse by Monday 16 May in order to arrange those who will help out with read-

ings at Mass.

SCHOOL CENTENARY COMMITTEE MEETING – Following the Parish Family Mass

next Sunday 22 May, there will be a committee meeting in the Presbytery to continue planning

for our school centenary which will be celebrated in Marcy 2017. Any parents or community

members are welcome to attend.

UPCOMING DATES

22 May at 5.00pm – Parish Family Mass

PRAYER PLEASE Many of our families have difficult times particularly when they lose a family member or are

dealing with serious illness. In recent times, members from our community have lost loved ones,

are fighting cancer and are recovering from surgery. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.

From the APRE - Kathy Doherty

Athletics 2016 During physical education lessons this term the children will be taking part in sever-

al athletics events. This is in the lead up to the school athletics carnival early next

term.

Gala Day Sport Our Gala Days will be held in Allora on the Friday 20th and Friday 27th May. We

will provide a bus for the students on these days. If you are transporting your own

child either to or from Soccer, Rugby League or Netball, please make sure you in-

form us. The staff attending these days will be busy organising teams and refereeing

games. If you are attending any of these sports, we would appreciate any extra su-

pervision you may be able to provide on the sidelines. Thank you in advance for

your support.

Horse Sports St Joseph’s Primary School in Millmerran is hosting a School Horse Sports Day on

Friday 24 June at the Millmerran Showgrounds. Children may nominate individually

if they like, however they must be a current financial Pony Club member. Categories

vary and children must be between 6-16 years old. If anyone would like a nomina-

tion form, please see Mr O’Reilly.

Sport News

The Wise Donkey

Here’s a little story about a donkey and at the end you will understand why the story is titled,

“The Wise Donkey”. “One day a farmer’s donkey fell into a well. The animal cried miserably for

hours as the farmer tried to work out what to do. Finally, the farmer decided that the donkey was

old and the well had to be filled in anyway; it just wasn’t worth the effort to retrieve the old don-

key. The farmer invited his neighbours to come over and help him. Each grabbed a shovel and

began to shovel dirt into the well. When the donkey realised what was happening, it cried horri-

bly, then, to everyone’s amazement it quietened down. When the farmer looked into the well, he

was astonished to see the donkey shake each shovel of dirt off its back and take a step upwards.

This sequence continued until the donkey began to appear. Before long, it stepped over the edge

of the well and trotted off.” Author unknown.

And the moral? Well, use each of your problems as stepping stones. We will never get out of

our “deepest wells” by doing nothing. We need to shake off our negative attitudes and keep only

the positive ones. Additionally, acting in a positive way does not mean that we ignore life’s less

pleasant situations but that we approach the unpleasantness in a more positive and productive

way. What a Wise Donkey!

Christians realise that optimistic, positive thinking needs to be tempered with realism, which is

not the same as being negative. A favourite saying is to “Act as if everything depended on you,

pray as if everything depended on God.” In other words we should not use faith in God as a sub-

stitute for living in positive ways that will improve our chances of having positive outcomes; the

two go hand in hand. St. Paul said: “There is no limit to the blessings which God can send you;

He will make sure that you will always have all you need for yourselves in every possible cir-

cumstance and still have something to spare for all sorts of good work.” 2 Cor. 9:8.

You Can Do It Awards Award Winners from Prep and Year One

Congratulations Bailey for trying to solve a problem on your own before you

asked for help.