Spelling Bee and Maths Bee

The Maitland-Newcastle Diocesan Spelling Bee and Maths Bee are again being conducted during 2025. Over the coming weeks, class teachers select finalists who will participate in the school finals.

Dates for St. Benedict’s finals are:

Spelling Bee – Thursday 29th May

Maths Bee – Friday 30th May

Parents of class finalists will be informed by Tuesday, 20th May. From the school finals, students per stage will be selected to represent St. Benedict’s at the Lakes Regional Finals being Friday 13th June.

CogAT

In Term 2, students in Years 2 and 4 will participate in the Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT). This test evaluates students' reasoning abilities in three key areas essential for success in school:

1. Verbal Battery: Assesses students' ability to reason with words and concepts, crucial for reading comprehension, critical thinking, writing, and verbal learning tasks.

2. Quantitative Battery: Measures students' ability to reason with quantitative symbols and concepts, which are vital for problem-solving in mathematics and other disciplines.

3. Nonverbal Battery: Evaluates students' ability to reason with geometric shapes and figures, requiring them to implement strategies for solving novel problems.

These batteries provide a comprehensive view of each student's learned reasoning abilities, identifying both strengths and areas for improvement. CogAT aims to support differentiated practice in education by helping teachers adapt instruction to meet the unique needs and abilities of each student.

It's important to note that CogAT scores are not integrated into report grades or other conventional measures of school achievement. The focus is on tailoring instruction and fostering a supportive, inclusive learning environment based on each child's ability.

If you have any concerns or questions about your child's academic progress or specific educational needs, please schedule a meeting with your child's teacher. They will discuss your child's strengths and areas for growth based on various assessments. Additionally, you can contact our Gifted Education Mentor (GEM), Mrs Leah Killen (leah.killen@mn.catholic.edu.au) or Leader of High Potential and Gifted Education, Maree Karaka (maree.karaka@mn.catholic.edu.au), for further assistance.

Thank you for your continued support in ensuring the best educational outcomes for our students.

Welcome Back to Term 2

It is amazing that we are only just in to term 2 and so much has happened or about to happen in the Faith Life of our school. On our return to school we celebrated the Resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Holy Week may have been over two weeks ago and the memories of Easter Sunday may still lurk in the back of your refrigerator in the form of an earless bunny. However, the Easter season extends until Pentecost Sunday (the Birthday of our Church). This is a very special time in the churches year as we look forward to the celebration of Pentecost.   

We then gathered as a school community on Thursday morning to commemorate ANZAC Day. For me ANZAC Day goes beyond the anniversary of the landing on Gallipoli in 1915. It is the day we remember all Australians who served and died in all

wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations. The spirit of the ANZAC, with its human qualities of courage, mateship, and sacrifice, continues to have meaning and relevance for our sense of national identity.

Many of our fellow Australians in the armed forces have given their lives for us, just as Christ gave His life for us. Therefore on ANZAC Day we honour and thank all who have served, and are serving in the Navy, Air Force & Army as we remember them let us join ourselves to them as we enjoy fullness of life which they have allowed us to enjoy.

And, then on this Friday morning we will gather together to celebrate our beautiful mothers and all those who fill this important role in our lives. 

Mothers make up a crucial part of our lives. So whether it is a Hallmark card, dinner out, hug, or a kiss on the cheek, we should show we care. It is so important to give our love to these dedicated women in our lives and don’t take them for granted. 

To all of the Mum’s within our school community I wish you a very happy Mother’s Day. May the blessings of our Lord Jesus be with you throughout this coming year.We offer this prayer to God in honour of you!

Prayer for Mother’s Day

Loving God, we pray for our mothers, who have given us life and love,
that we may show them reverence and love,
and others who show us a mother’s love.

We pray for adoptive mothers and for the women who wish to give birth
but experience challenges, that they know your care.

We pray for mothers who have lost a child through death,
that their faith may give them hope,
and their family and friends support and console them.

We pray for those who wish to serve as mothers,

but are not able to do so, that they know your comfort.

We pray for mothers who have died,
that God may bring them into the joy of his kingdom. 

Amen.

Yours in faith 

Miss Michelle Collins 

Religious Education Co-ordinator 

Have you ever stopped and thought about what happiness really is? It seems to have many different definitions, but the idea about it involving other positive emotions, accompanied with being satisfied makes sense to me. Emotions like joy, satisfaction, being content and hopeful along with gratitude and a sense of peace. It’s experiencing more positive emotions than negative ones, which increases satisfaction with our lives.

There are numerous benefits to living a (mostly) happy life, including having stronger coping skills to help manage stress, being more resilient and able to bounce back from setbacks, others wanting to spend time with us and having better overall health and longevity. Another benefit is that we have a positive state of well-being which in turn helps us make healthy choices like eating fruit and vegetables and engaging in physical excersize. Some research even says that, and probably due to the previous point, being happy may help you get sick less.

What do you do for your wellbeing that makes you happy? What people make you happy? What do you have in your life that makes you feel joy, content, satisfied and grateful? Take some time to think about these questions and if you’re worried about your answers, what can you take control of to gain more happiness.

Issue 3, 2025 out now

Orders to be placed through LOOP only - Parents GET $5 Promo Code for placing an order on Issue 3.

(See LOOP for more details)

As always, ‘thank you’ to everyone who purchases items from Book Club.

When ordering from Book Club, you are not only helping your children, but you are also helping your school—every purchase made earns Scholastic Rewards for St Benedict’s, which are used to buy educational resources.

All students received the May issue of Book Club last week.

Scholastic have an excellent on-line ordering platform that parents can use to place their child’s order. To order and pay by credit card visit scholastic.com.au/LOOP or download the LOOP app.

Orders for Issue 3 should be completed by Wednesday, 14 May, 2025. If you have an enquiry you can email me at pam.nicolaidis@mn.catholic.edu.au.

For more information about Scholastic and Book Club, visit www.scholastic.com.au

Mrs Pam Nicolaidis

Book Club Co-Ordinator and Library Assistant

Premiers Reading Challenge

The Premier’s Reading Challenge for 2025 commenced in Term 1.

Unfortunately, a technical glitch meant that reading records for students disappeared sometime during term1.

This has now been rectified and I am now able to update student’s records with their 2025 reading logs.

As always, Kindergarten and Year 1 teachers read books from the PRC list to their students.

Year 2 students need to ‘experience’ 30 books from the K-2 PRC list and record these books on their reading logs. Years 3 to 6 are required to read 20 books from their appropriate lists and record them on their reading logs.

Once the reading logs are completed students should hand them in at the Library for processing.

Due to the technical issues in Term 1 the PRC finishing date has been extended to Friday, 19 September.

Congratulations to Mrs Reid’s Year 1 class and the following group of students who have completed the Premier’s Reading Challenge for 2025.

From 2 Black: Vivaan Gandhi, Mackenzie Hall, Malia Kelly, Aria Moiler, Bonnie Novoselski, Trisha Poudel

From 3 Red: Harper Lorrie, Evie Shelley

From 4 Black: Lydia Thornton

From 4 Red: Connor Moncrieff, Noah You

From 5 Black: Alexis Chambers, Phoebe Huntriss, Vaida Johnson, Aubree Weet.

Well done, I look forward to receiving many more Reading Logs throughout Terms 2 and 3.

Mrs Nicolaidis (PRC Co-Ordinator)