SACRAMENTS and other matters

As in previous years, all classes will learn about Sacraments and rites of initiation in their Religious Education programs. For students of the Catholic faith, there will also be an opportunity to receive these Sacraments at St Vincent Palloti Catholic Church. In this case, please contact the school office to place your child’s name on the Sacrament list for 2023. The schedule for Sacraments is below:

Baptism                

Please contact Sr Julianne or Fr Vinu, at any time, regarding a date.

Reconciliation     

Year 4 children in Term 1. Date to be confirmed with Fr Vinu.

Eucharist               

Year 5 children in Term 2. Date to be confirmed with Fr Vinu.

Confirmation       

Year 6 children on 27^th August, during the pastoral visit of Bishop Michael Morrissey.

Other dates/times

• The Season of Lent commenced with Ash Wednesday on 22nd February.
  
• Each weekend, Mass is held at St Vincent Pallotti Church on Saturdays at 5.30pm and Sundays at 8.30am. On Sundays, we also have Children’s Liturgy during mass.

Please don’t hesitate to contact Sr Julianne or Miss Marion Roberts, through the school office, at any time if have queries or questions about our Religious Education program.

Sr Julianne

Sugary Drinks

Sugary drinks make it harder to learn in the classroom, so please avoid sending them to school with your child.

Problems with sweet drinks

Sweet drinks can cause a range of problems including:

• excess weight gain
• tooth erosion and decay
• small appetite
• picky eating
• change in bowel habits.

Children do not need to include any fruit juices or other sweet drinks to have a healthy diet. Intake of sweet drinks reduces the quality of your child’s diet, has links to weight gain and poor oral health, and also exposes them to the ‘habit’ of drinking sweet drinks.

The Australian Dietary Guidelines do not recommend the consumption of sugar sweetened drinks such as soft drinks, cordials, fruit drinks, vitamin-style waters, flavoured mineral waters, energy and sports drinks.

Fruit and vegetable juices contain sugars that are found naturally in fresh fruits and vegetables, but become very concentrated when made into juice. Children do not need any fruit or vegetable juice to have a balanced and healthy diet. Encouraging children to eat the whole fruit or vegetable, and drink plain tap water or milk rather than juice is the best way to establish good eating habits early.

Encourage plain milk in preference to flavoured milks as flavoured milk is higher in added sugar.

Limit Artificially Sweetened Drinks

Some soft drinks contain artificial sweeteners instead of added sugar. Artificially sweetened drinks add very little energy (kilojoules) to the diet and therefore, do not contribute directly to weight gain. However, artificially sweetened drinks still maintain the ‘habit’ of drinking sweet drinks and do not add nutritional value to a healthy diet.

The acidity of drinks, whether sweetened with sugar or artificial sweeteners, and the frequent consumption of them, may contribute to tooth erosion and decay. For good oral health encourage children to drink plain tap water throughout the day.

Suggestions for Parents

Changing your child’s diet can be a challenge, but remember that young children can only eat or drink what is given to them. Suggestions include:

• Be a role model by not keeping sweet drinks in the house or consuming sweet drinks yourself.
• If your child is already used to sweet drinks, start to reduce their intake – for example, you could offer watered-down versions for a short time and then move on to water.
• Be patient. This may take time, particularly if your child is in the habit of wanting juice or cordial whenever they are thirsty or hungry.
• Encourage your child to eat fresh fruit and vegetables instead of drinking juice.
• Limit consumption of fruit juice to ½ cup (with no added sugar) only occasionally.

From the Victorian Government Department of Health