From the P&F Association
Dear Parents and Friends of Santa Sabina College
Welcome to Term 4. We hope that you had a restful break and are ready for a jam packed term. Only three weeks in and we have had a number of successful events, and plenty more lined up. Whilst it is only a short term, it will be a very busy one. We look forward to working with our SSC community by connecting with each other and growing stronger as a school.
Colour Fun Run
The Colour Fun Run was everything you could ask for – fun, colourful and messy! The joy on the kids’ faces running through the foam and purposely waiting to be aimed at with paint spray was priceless. We even had our own Casper join in the fun.
Thank you to our team of volunteers who helped cook our BBQ for the kids’ lunches and then all hands on deck during the run, ensuring the event ran without any issue.
Big thanks to our spectacular photographer, our own SSC Super Dad, Giovanni Portelli, who spent the afternoon taking photos from the most interesting angles capturing the kids, parents and staff who attended the colour fun run! The photos can be accessed here.
Santa Sabina College P&F Trivia Night
Last Friday, the P&F hosted the Trivia Night for 2024. It was such a fun evening, catching up with friends and meeting parents across all cohorts. The competition was fierce but highly entertaining. Even more so when you could buy your answers from our Trivia Master 😊
Miz Tutti’s pizzas were amazing, but we think the firm favourite of the night was that Nutella pizza!
Thank you to all who came and supported the P&F. We owe a great deal to our sponsors who made the night that much better. Your contribution and commitment to the P&F and our community is greatly appreciated.
A heartfelt thanks to Nice Bite Orthodontics, our major sponsor for the night and the following families for their donations with prizes for the raffle and the lucky door prizes: Lambert/Addabbo family, Hickey family, Magri family, Laing Family and the Zanon family.
Santa Sustainable Threads
Upcoming: Fra Angelico Festival – 22 November
Mark 22 November on your calendars for an evening of cultural indulgence. The Fra Angelico Festival promises to be an evening of delights with performances and artwork from students across the College. Enjoy the Champagne Lawn and our International Eat Street showcasing food stalls from Italian to Indian, Mediterranean delights (Lebanese and Greek) to Asian flavours, and of course, a Gelato stall to sweeten the experience. Highlights also include a Fashion Parade, Silent Disco, Kids’ Activities, a mesmerising light show, and much more.
P&F Annual General Meeting
A reminder that the AGM will be held at 6:30pm on Wednesday 13 November 2024.
Election of Office Holders
An election for the following positions on the P&F Executive will be held at the AGM:
- Vice President (Senior)
- Treasurer
- Gioia House Social Coordinator
- Del Monte Social Coordinator
- Parent Education
If you or someone you know would like to be nominated for one of these positions, please contact Ben Middleton for more information at president@ssc.nsw.edu.au and complete the Nomination Form found here. Nominations will be accepted up to and during the AGM.
Each parent, teacher and child plays an important role in keeping the community together and grounded. We look forward to seeing you at the AGM and our upcoming events.
Yours in friendship,
P&F Committee
Past events
Colour Fun Run
The Colour Fun Run on 18 October 2024 was a fantastic afternoon that brought joy and copious amounts of energy for all the children from Prep to Year 6! Thanks to our SSC community, we raised $15,500. This is an impressive amount raised in such a short period of time. The children enjoyed their sausage sizzles in their classrooms before moving to the Del Monte Field for a chance to get sprayed as they ran through the obstacle courses and of course who could resist that foam! A heartfelt thank you to everyone involved! However, given the feedback we may consider having a parent fun run next time around!
SCC P&F Trivia Night
The Trivia Night was a resounding success. The parents and staff had an engaging and fun filled night without children! Lots of eating, answering questions and when the Quiz master gave us some curly questions we bought our answers!
We all managed to get to the end of the night with some dignity and even the bottom team didn’t do too badly! It was great to see Ms Skerman, Ms Azizian and the leadership team join in the fun and it was a lovely way to connect with our community. Congratulations to the winning trivia team – Hockey Doodle Doo!
The Trivia Night raised $5,400! This is an amazing result. We rely on events like these to be able to contribute back to the students and the school. Thank you for your support!
UPCOMING EVENTS
Fra Angelico
The Parents & Friends’ Association will be hosting the International Eat Street and Champagne Lawn at the Fra Angelico Festival on the 22 November 2024 from 5:00pm – 9:00pm and would love if we could please get some volunteers to help us with running the food stalls or serving alcohol on the Champagne Lawn.
The International Eat Street stalls include:
- Italian Food Stall
- Mediterranean Stall (Lebanese and Greek Food)
- Asian Stall
- Indian Stall
- Gelato Stall
The Champagne Lawn will be serving alcohol and we would love any volunteers who have RSA to help serve alcohol in this area.
If you have any questions please feel free to reach out to Alex Cantali at vpsecondary@ssc.nsw.edu.au or on 0414582876.
The success of this event would not be possible without the generosity and support of our wonderful parent volunteers. Please contact Alex if you would like to join our amazing team and volunteer for this fantastic community event.
Year Group Catch Ups
Year 4 Farewell Dinner
It is with great excitement that we invite Year 4 students and their parent/s to attend the Year 4 Farewell Dinner, a special night facilitated by the Year 4 parents. Please join us on this memorable evening, to farewell our boys and usher our girls on their way to Gioia House. This will be a night Year 4 will remember forever!
Details:
Date: Friday 8 November 2024
Time: 6:30pm – 9:30pm
Location: Canada Bay Club
Tickets: $50 per child | $120 per adult
What’s Included:
For the adults: Share cheese and antipasto platters, pizza, pasta, meat skewers & dessert.
For the children: Pizza, chicken schnitzel and churros!
Year 6 Dinner Dance
Join us for an unforgettable evening as we celebrate our Year 6 students and their journey through primary school at the stunning new function room at The Concord Club.
Details:
Date: Friday 29 November 2024
Time: 6:00pm to 9:30pm
Location: The Concord Club – Function Room
Tickets: $45 per child I $75 per adult
Your ticket includes:
- three course dinner (entrée, main and celebration cake)
- DJ entertainment.
This evening is set to be a memorable occasion for both parents and students as we come together to celebrate this significant milestone.
PARENT EDUCATION with Debra Brodowski
Book Review and Recommendation
The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt (2024)
I’ve not yet shared a book recommendation on this forum. I feel that recommending a book to someone is deeply personal; my taste may be different to yours, you might not like what I recommend.
I find that when I am recommended a book though, it feels like a gift to treasure, not only is the other person forming a sense of connection with me by suggesting a book that I might like, but it also allows us to deepen our connection whereby even if I read the book and have a different experience of it, I can share my thoughts and feelings, which is yet another experience to treasure. My most wonderful friendships have a foundation of speaking about books.
Indeed, this book was recommended to me by a friend, and I am truly grateful to them.
So here I go, launching myself into forming a connection with you.
The Anxious Generation by Psychologist Jonathan Haidt had a huge impact on me. He writes about how the advent of the smart phone in 2007 has changed how our children experience childhood and the impact this has had on their wellbeing. He speaks of the pre-smart phone era (with its associated lack of social media, limited gaming, and limited access to online content) as the ‘play based childhood’. In contrast, Haidt describes the smart-phone era as the ‘phone-based childhood’.
The rise of the ‘phone-based childhood’ has meant that our children have less time for a ‘play based childhood’, one that involves unsupervised play, opportunities for outdoor exploration, and chances to extend and grow through taking risks (I reflect on my childhood where I spent my afternoons at the park, at the creek, only returning for dinner). Screen time use does not allow our young people develop the essential life skills of interacting with others, overcoming disagreements, problem solving, having ‘adventures’. These cannot be learned through a ‘phone-based childhood’.
There have been extensive studies on the impacts of social media, screen time, and gaming on the wellbeing of our young people; I have written about it in previous articles. Indeed, whilst technology has had benefits to our lives, there is clear evidence that connects the rise of anxiety, depression, and other mental health challenges with the unregulated use of screen time by our young people. Monitoring access and time spent on screens is essential to mitigate this.
With this in mind, Haidt’s book, which I highly recommend, has some key takeaways for our parenting of our young people:
- The phone-based childhood means that our young people have less opportunity to try, and even fail. By overprotecting our young people from discomfort or challenges, this does not allow them to foster a sense of resilience and emotional strength.
- Haidt introduces the concept of ‘safetyism’, defined as creating a culture of prioritising safety above all else leading to the perception that the world is more dangerous than it actually is. This can increase anxiety and make your young people more sensitive to perceived threats. The book talks about how we can support our young people to work through challenges to reduce anxiety and thereby build resilience. I reflect on the opportunities that our young people are exposed to when they visit Tallong, giving them an opportunity to stretch their comfort zone, explore, and build resilience.
- In shifting attention away from the overuse of smart phones/social media/gaming/social technology, we are able to help encourage our young people to foster autonomy, independence, and a growth mindset; working through challenges with ‘I can’t do this yet’ and then experiencing true pride when they can proudly declare ‘I did it!’ after achieving something that they have worked hard at.
There are so many more wonderful ideas in Haidt’s book, more than I am able to share with you here. I do encourage you to take a look, and consider some of the ideas he shares.