Pastoral and Wellbeing at Gioia House

Action Girls

We encourage all our Gioia House students to be girls of action in all aspects of their lives. Through our pastoral programs we provide the students with opportunities to learn about building positive and respectful relationships and look for opportunities to make a difference beyond the classroom. Last week at our Gioia House assembly, we awarded our first Gioia House Action Girls for the term. The students received their awards for their positive attitude, perseverance in learning, courage and ability to embrace change. Our Action Girls received an Award and we also introduced the new Action Girl badges which the girls wore with pride. 

Congratulations to the following Action Girls:

Year 5 Action Girls:
Maria Khoury
Ola Kochman 
Scarlett Matheson
Natalie Muratore

Year 6 Action Girls:
Charlotte Don
Annamarie El Hachem
Amelia Jabbour
Madison Taouk

Caritas fundraising

Lent is a time when we endeavour to become closer to God. It is a time when we FAST – PRAY – GIVE ALMS. This term the Gioia House students will be invited to take part in fundraising to raise money for Caritas who provide support and resources for communities and people who are less fortunate than ourselves.

We have asked the students to use some of their saved money, or canteen allowance etc. to donate to some of our Caritas fundraising initiatives. 

  • Egg jar guessing competition: 50c per guess and the winner will win the jar of chocolate easter eggs
  • Bake Sale 21 March 2023: If possible, students are encouraged to bring in some cupcakes or treat bags to sell (please only package the cupcakes/treats in disposable packaging).

Easter Hampers: We ask all families to bring in one easter egg/easter craft/bowl etc. to create hampers which will be part of our end-of-term raffle. Raffle tickets will be sold for $1 each or six tickets for $5.

Safe on socials

The use of technology, text messaging and social media apps can be a difficult thing to teach and navigate with our children. There are many useful websites for parents which provide tips to support their children during the ‘tween’ stage. The students also take part in an eSafety program at school to provide opportunities for students to be aware of their own digital citizenship responsibilities and how to be safe online. This term the Gioia House students will discuss and learn more about their digital footprint, being a safe online community member, cyberbullying and how to deal with online issues which may arise.

As a parent, it is highly recommended to regularly check your children’s devices, what messages they are sending, what replies they are receiving, who have they befriended in different online games etc. It is important to be proactive and guide our children during this online learning phase and maintain positive open communication, especially if your child experiences something they need to report or share with an adult.

The eSafety Commissioner regularly provides free online webinars to give parents information and strategies that can help us guide our children when using online platforms. Go to this website to register: https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/webinars

Year 5 Interaction Day

We are looking forward to having our Year 5 Interaction Day on Friday 10 March. The Year 5 students will be taking part in a variety of team-building activities, team sports and be provided with opportunities to connect with new students and form new friendships. The Year 5 students are to come to school in their school sports uniform/hat and all activities will take part within the regular school day.

Marisa Maks
Assistant Head of Gioia House