APRE News

….experiencing FAITH in the Mercy Tradition

Dear families

I hope this finds you all well and warm.

You are all invited to our School/Parish Mass this Sunday 18^th August 9am St Patrick’s Cathedral. The purpose of these particular Masses is to strengthen the ties between the Cathedral and our school, take part in sharing our faith during Mass and take the opportunity for parishioners and school families to meet and enjoy morning tea together afterwards. Thanks to Fr Michael for his support and organization.

I’ve got a change in job title! Earlier this term, in consultation with a number of stakeholders, it was decided that the job title of APRE (Assistant Principal Religious Education) didn’t clearly reflect the duties, responsibilities and role description so it has been changed to Assistant Principal – Mission & Identity. ‘Mission’ referring to teaching the mission that Jesus showed us and ‘Identity’ being the way we do things at SSP and bringing to life the Catholic Identity of our school.

With the bugs and ills of the winter season well and truly infiltrating a number of our families, it’s important to take the time to focus on our own wellbeing so that we can look after others, “You can’t pour from an empty cup.” So, my question is, what are you doing to look after your own health and wellbeing? And how are you showing compassion to yourself?

I’ve been fortunate to take the opportunities to spend a few days at Professional development around Restorative Conversations and Mental Health. We often spend much of our time focusing on teaching children about their own well-being that we might neglect our own.

The main aim of the restorative conversations we hold with our students are about staying curious, asking questions and listening to their thinking to see how they’re feeling. A good lesson, I think for both children and adults, is that we acknowledge our own behaviour and the role we play within the interactions we have with others and if we’ve hurt another person, we do something through word or action to repair any relationships that might have been damaged as a result. In our mission to be like Jesus, this is called reconciliation, saying sorry and working hard to be the best person we can be. When the relationship is repaired or at least we’re working on repairing it, it feels good, we feel positive, and we know we’re moving in the right direction to being our best selves.

If we don’t look after our own wellbeing, those around us can be affected. The way we feel impacts our behaviour and language. There is a ripple effect. I encourage you to start a new habit to ensure that you are being your best self (our school value of Excellence) and being kind to yourself (our school value of Compassion) by doing something for yourself or someone else (our school value of Service). It can be as simple as spending time in a library reading something of interest to you, doing a 10 minute meditation (check out the Apps called Insight Timer or Headspace), visit our parish church, St Patrick’s Cathedral, for some quiet time, or go for a walk in nature (check out the Toowoomba Regional Council website for lots of free recommendations).

Tap into what you need to refill your cup. We know from scripture, that when Jesus found the ‘noise’ around him too much or he was afraid and overwhelmed, he moved himself to a quiet space under a tree away from crowds and prayed, meditated, breathed and looked after his wellbeing.

The image below is helpful. It comes from the Toowoomba Catholic Schools Staff wellbeing framework. Focusing on the whole person, and how they feel and function, promotes life-giving work practices, healthy lifestyle choices and spiritual experiences. The wellbeing of our SSPS staff and students is paramount. We all want to feel good and function well as a whole; to live a full and flourishing life in our mental, physical and spiritual health.