Term 4 Week 2 - Thursday 20th October 2022
News from the Principal
Year 11 students left yesterday for their Senior Retreat. This is a highly anticipated spiritual experience for students, and they have been looking forward to it. We wish them well for the next few days.
On Tuesday evening we had our P&F Meeting for the term. As always, it was a wonderful opportunity to meet with the parents and carers of Catherine McAuley students, and to give a summary of the wonderful things occurring at Catherine McAuley. I thank the committee members for their constant support of the school and staff, and invite you to read more about the P&F in this Weekly Review.
Best wishes to you all for a great week.
Mary Refalo
Principal
News from the Assistant Principal
Year 12 Retreat
On Wednesday I drove out to Galston to visit our Year 11 students at their retreat.
Ms Banks and the entire Retreat Team have put together a wonderful set of experiences for the girls that, I am absolutely certain, they will remember forever. The girls are fully engaged in a range of reflective, spiritual, teambuilding and super fun activities. There was a real sense of respect and togetherness. This group of young people will grow stronger together as a result of these three days spend together.
Crowning the scissor, paper, rock champion at the senior retreat.
On Tuesday evening the Term 4 P&F meeting was held. During the meeting Ms Refalo discussed the range of learning activities taking place at Catherine McAuley and, listening in, it's clear that the girls have an extraordinary range of opportunities presented to them as a part of their learning. One of the items was the Year 7 Activate Program where our Year 7 students have formed groups to develop solutions to well-being issues they are facing. One of the identified issues is sleep or, more precisely, a lack of sleep. The parents in attendance all nodded accepting that their daughter could do with some improvement in this area too. Clearly, this is a significant issue for many of us.
If ‘sleep’ isn’t being discussed around your dinner table, perhaps it should be.
One of the books I have mentioned before is Dr Matthew Walker’s Why We Sleep. Some fairly hard-hitting takeaways from this book, that you might want to bring up with your daughter are;
- You probably aren’t getting the amount of sleep that you should be getting. Aim for 8-9 hours of sleep so that if you fall short, you’ll still be getting the recommended 7-9 hours.
- Sleep deprivation worsens emotional control. Dr Walker says that when you’re sleep deprived, your amygdala (the part of your brain that controls emotion) can’t function, leading to 60% more emotional reactivity.
- Being ‘under-slept’ negatively affects memory, reaction time and communication skills. Routinely getting between 6-4 hours of sleep per night has similar cognitive effects as being over the legal blood alcohol limit.
We talk a lot about learning at Catherine McAuley, as we should, but it makes it very difficult to competently undertake any learning task if you are not well rested.
How to Get Better Sleep
Dr Walker provides a number of tips on how you can start getting better, less interrupted sleep.
- Keep the same waking and sleeping time each day. Erratic sleep schedules disrupt sleep quality.
- Practice sleep hygiene - lower bedroom temperature, reduce noise, reduce light.
- Avoid screen time, caffeine, strenuous exercise or long naps before sleep.
- Get some exercise, which may increase total sleep time and increase the quality of sleep. Exercising has more of a chronic effect, meaning it helps in the long run and doesn’t take effect on a day-to-day scale - exercise on one day doesn’t necessarily lead to better sleep that night. But worse sleep on one night does lead to worse exercise the following day.
- Eat a sensible diet. Very low calorie or very high calorie diets interrupt sleep and increase night awakening.
The main message here is to openly discuss your daughter with your daughter - if you don’t think she is sleeping enough, talk about it. If you don’t think she is studying or applying herself to school enough, ask about it - but as always, go gently, optimistically, openly and, most improtanly - listen.
In all that we do, strive for higher things.
Mr Jaie Skinner
Assistant Principal
Pray With Us
Pope's October Prayer Intention: A Church That Walks Together
From The School Counsellor
Welcome Back to Term 4!
We hope you all had a good break and are ready for the last term of the year. As your daughter has settled back in at school, you have started to worry about how well your daughter is doing, how much or how little they are studying and what impact that will have on their future. They may struggle with their assessments and exams, and this can put the whole household on edge. Some signs of stress include feeling moody or overwhelmed, difficulties with decision making, a lack of motivation, muscle tension, headaches, fidgeting and avoiding school.
Here are some strategies that you can implement and keep in mind that stress is not a bad thing as it motivates us to work toward solving our problems.
- Help them to avoid study distractions
- Create a study schedule
- Ensure that your daughter is getting enough sleep.
- Know their exam and assessment timetable
- Do not forget to remain calm
Reframing thoughts to view stress as an acceptable emotion, or as a tool, has been found to reduce many negative symptoms associated with it. The goal is to manage stress, not to eliminate it.
With this in mind, I do encourage you all to continue supporting your daughters and feel free to contact Mrs Suzan Boulattouf (Mon-Fri) or Mrs Kathryn Rogers (Wed-Fri) on 9849 9100 for any questions or concerns you might have.
The Department of Communities and Justice Scholarships
The Department of Communities and Justice are offering up to 1,400 scholarships to students enrolled in education (Years 10-12) or training in 2023. To be eligible, you must be living in public housing, community housing, supported accommodation, being on the NSW Housing Register (waitlist) or receiving private rental assistance from Dept. of Communities and Justice. Each successful student will receive $1000 to help with school expenses and secondary support services.
Applications are now open for tertiary students until 5pm, Friday 3rd March 2023 to submit on dcjnsw.info/YDS2023. For new and returning high school students, applications will close Wednesday 30th November 2022 at 5:00pm.
If you require further information do not hesitate to click on this link:
https://dcj.nsw.gov.au/children-and-families/children-and-young-people/youth-development-scholarships-2023.html#Can0
Suzan Boulattouf
School Counsellor
News Articles
This Week on Social Media
Follow Catherine McAuley Westmead on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn for regular updates. One of the posts from this week is shown below:
McAuley’s Got Talent is back! Caritas, Coolock and Veritas are fundraising this term for the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS). JRS is an international Catholic organisation with the mission to accompany, serve and advocate for the rights of people seeking asylum.
As part of their fundraising efforts the McAuley’s Got Talent competition is taking place. Heats will run between weeks 2 - 4 with the final to be held on Friday, 11th November. Audience members donate a gold coin to watch the talent.
Need To Know
Upcoming Fortnight
Term 4 Week 3
- Year 11 PDHPE Excursion
- Year 7 Pastoral Care Seminar
- Year 7 Science Excursion
- Year 7 2023 Transition Interviews
Term 4 Week 4
- Year 7 Activity Day
- Staff Professional Learning Day
- Pupil Free Day - Friday, 4th November
