Filter Content
- Weekly Happenings
- Principal's Message
- RE News - Haley Stonham
- Saint of the Week - Haley Stonham
- Parish Sacramental News - Confirmation
- Altar Servers Club
- Protective Behaviours - Luke Donnelly
- Puberty Program Year 5 and 6
- You Can Do It - Emma Russell
- Literacy - Melinda Brown
- Mathematics - Ryan Matchett
- Library News - Veronica Melville
- Sport News - Ryan Matchett
- Making Marvellous Music - Alissa Pearson
- Canteen News - Wendy Regan
- Community Council News - Evelyn David-Hoole
- Calling for Coaches- Oz Tag Gala Day Years 3-6
- Happy Birthday
- COVID-19 Updates
| Wednesday 14 July - Thursday 15 July |
Parent Teacher Interviews |
| Monday 19 July |
Parent Teacher Interviews |
| Wednesday 21 July |
Kindergarten Health Checks |
| Thursday 22 July |
Confirmation Parent Evening - 6pm - St Monica's Church |
| Friday 23 July |
Olympics Opening Ceremony |
Dear Parents
The planning is finished, the construction has started. The Oompa Loompas will no longer be homeless. The Year 1 children invite their parents to the OPENING OF OOMPA LOOMPAVILLE, next week. Due to restrictions, parents must allocate their preferred time slot to come and visit this new community, on the slip sent home with the children. Check with your child's teacher if you have missed the invitation.
Rostrum Quater Final
Best of luck to Holly F(6H) who will represent St Monica's next Thursday at the Rostrum Quater Finals being held at Mt Rogers Primay School. I know Holly will be a wonderful representative for our school.
School Check-in
Parents and visitors are now asked to check-in via our CBR Check-in app and our Compass Kiosk, both located in the school foyer. While I know it is inconvenient having to do both we need to keep our community safe and maintain our visitor register.
Just in case - readiness for remote learning
To ensure we can change over to remote learning, if needed, I encourage parents to email if your child will require the use of a school device to access MS Teams and our online programs. We are currently checking that all passwords are working to make the transition a smooth one, should it be required. Fingers crossed we don't have to go with remote learning. Whatever happens, we will be ready to assist families.
Special Prayers
Continue to stay COVID safe and may God's blessing be with everyone.
Principal
The St. Monica’s Way – The Footstep of Engagement
Welcome back to St Monica’s for Term 3! This term we are focusing on how we, as a school community, can draw on our footstep of Engagement to see a need and act on it. Engagement can be defined as; ‘the act of engaging: the state of being engaged’ (Meriam-Webster). To see a need and to be able to act on it, we all need to be engaged with myself, others, and our surroundings.
Here are some ideas to help use to the footstep of engagement throughout Term 3:
Myself – being engaged with self means to be awake, be aware – don’t wait for the season of Advent to do this! Take time to pray and talk to God and listen to what he is saying to you. Listen to your heart and your head – do what you can to reach out to those in need.
Others – to be engaged with others we must have our eyes, ears and hearts open. Don’t walk away if you see a need, take the time to listen to others and then decide on how to act. Looking to the wisdom of the saints can help to show us how to be engaged with others as Christians. We can always draw strength from God through prayer and contemplation.
Our Surroundings – Being engaged with our surroundings can mean looking after our environment. It also means looking after each other – even if those people are not within our immediate family or friend circle. It’s about being engaged with our school and parish community. Knowing what’s going on and being there for others.
The Sacrament of Confirmation
This term many of our Year 6 students will be preparing for the Sacrament of Confirmation. This is a very exciting time for them as they explore how the Holy Spirit gives them the power to live their faith confidently. All Year 6 students will be investigating how they can look to the Saints for guidance on how to live a faith-filled life. Pope Francis says,
‘The Saints, our brothers and sisters, greatly love Jesus and life. Become their friend and they will be your travel companions.’
So, let’s get to know the Saints!
Saint of the WeekName: Venerable Carlo Acutis (first Millennial Saint)
Lived: 1991-2006
Country: Italy
Patron Saint of: Will be the Patron Saint of the Internet
Feast Day: Will be the 12 October
Bio: Carlo was a lover of Technology. He was born in London, England but grew up in Milan, Italy. His passion was programming and created websites, designed leaflets and edited films and comics. Carlo also found time to do volunteer charity work in an orphanage and with elderly people. He loved to laugh and joke, but always tried to treat others kindly and with respect. From an early age, he had a great devotion for the Eucharist and tried to attend mass every day. This surprised his parents, but then they joined him. Before or after mass he prayed in front of the tabernacle, where the sacrament of the Eucharist is preserved. He also had a great love for Mary and often prayed the rosary. In 2006, he was diagnosed with acute leukemia. He accepted his diagnosis with faith and a sense of calm. Carlo died a few days later at the age of 15.
It is reported that in 2013, he interceded from heaven to cure a Brazilian boy who was suffering from a rare pancreatic cancer.
Quote: ‘To always be close to Jesus, that’s my life plan’.
Sacrament of Confirmation
Sacrament of Confirmation will be celebrated on:
- 7 September in St Michael’s Church at 6pm
- 8 September in St Monica’s Church at 6pm
- 9 September in St Monica’s Church at 6pm
Registrations
Registrations are now open and must be made via Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish Qkr! App (NOT the school app).
Registrations will close by 9 August and no further registrations will be accepted after the closing date.
Parent/Child Information Night
This will be held at 6.00pm on Thursday 22 July in St Monica’s Church.
This meeting will be a face-to-face meeting instead of zoom and will be no longer than 1 hour.
Commitment Masses
Commitment Masses will be on the following weekends
- 24 and 25 July
- 31 July and 1 August
- 7 and 8 August
Candidates and parents must attend one of the weekend Masses at either St Monica’s Church (5.00pm Saturday or 10.00am Sunday) or St Michael’s Church (8.00am or 5.30pm Sunday) to make their commitment for the Sacrament.
There will be no additional commitment Masses beyond these dates.
Purchasing a Stole
Purchasing a stole is optional and is not compulsory. If you wish to purchase a stole please make a payment of $20 through the Qkr! App and send an email to sc.belconnennorth@cg.org.au and arrangements will be made for delivery/pickup.
Further Information – please contact the Sacramental Program Coordinator at sc.belconnennorth@cg.org.au or check the parish website for updates at www.cg.org.au/belconnennorth
Calling all children! As of the 30 July, the Parish we will be starting an altar server’s club at St Monica’s Church. The club will be held after school, every second Friday at 3:30pm.
The club will be a great opportunity for our current altar servers to have fun, play some games, get to know each other and help teach other people how to altar serve. It will also be a great opportunity to welcome new altar servers to our parish so they can learn how to do it and have lots of fun. The only requirement to become an altar server is that you have made your First Communion and are willing to come to Mass when rostered on.
If you have any questions, comments, ideas or would like to sign up please contact Katie at katiebrasnett@yahoo.com.
Child protection is essential in ensuring the safety and welfare of all of our children. This term all students will engage in the Protective behaviours unit developed using the resources from Educate2Empower.
We encourage families to engage with the content of the lessons prior to them being taught at school and to have conversations with their children about what they will learn at school. Each grade will have the same learning intention and teachers will use the appropriate book and lessons to teach their class at their level.
The first lesson is aimed at having the students understand the 5 Body Safety Rules. You might like to watch the parent information video for strategies for supporting your children. You may also like to preview the My Body Safety Rules video which will be shown in class.
Our Year 5 and 6 students will also engage in their first Flourish lesson making links between body language and the My Body Safety Rules.
This week our Year 5 and 6 families were sent the following letters through Compass regarding the puberty program to be taught in school and at home in Term Three.
Maths Questions
Please see below the Maths questions for this week. Please email your answers to ryan.matchett@cg.catholic.edu.au
K-2
You have a set of the digits from 0-9
Can you arrange these digits in the five boxes below to make two-digit numbers as close to the targets as possible? You may use each digit once only.
3-6
Please follow the link- https://www.transum.org/software/SW/Starter_of_the_day/starter_June18.asp
Games/Activities for Home
Love Maths is a collection of games originally started as a way of helping students, teachers and families who were grappling with the quick transition to remote learning in 2020. Over time, it has evolved to be a quality resource that many schools have come to rely on, for both remote learning and face-to-face classroom work. All of the games have been selected because they are fun, filled with rich learning opportunities, do not require very much in terms of resources and are easy to play. Enjoy!
https://www.lovemaths.me/games
Today Issue 5 of Scholastic Book Club for 2021 was sent home with the eldest member of each family. Orders need to be place by Monday 2 August. The books can only be ordered through the Loop at www.scholastic.com.au/LOOP. The orders will be delivered to classes on arrival. This is a fantastic way to grow your child’s love of reading. If you have any questions please contact me.
Author Visit Shelly Unwin - Incursion
In Week 4 local children's author, Shelly Unwin, will be visiting St Monica's on Monday and Tuesday to share her stories with the students and talk to them about where she gets her inspiration and the writing process including the rewriting and editing stage. Students can pre-order a copy of her books that she will sign. Follow the link for details.
The cost of this incursion is covered by the Curriculum Levy.
Belconnen Athletics
We have 53 students who have qualified for the Belconnen Carnival. Permission notes, schedule of events and rules and regulations were sent home with students yesterday. If your child is unable to participate, please let me know asap so that I can offer the spot to another student. Notes are due back to me by 6 August.
Belconnen Athletics Assistance
As mentioned last term, St Monica's are responsible for convening the upcoming Belconnen Athletics regional carnival. I will be undertaking the lead in this role with the support of staff. However, we require as many parent helpers as possible to make the day successful. We have Athletics ACT filling many of the technical roles but if you are able to offer assistance with field events, marshalling and general admin duties could you please get in touch with me via email- ryan.matchett@cg.catholic.edu.au. The carnival is on Friday 20 August (Week 6).
Did you know that music can be made from every day objects? This semester, students at St Monica’s will be exploring percussion using traditional instruments as well as every day objects. If you have any sturdy 15L or 20L buckets, like the one pictured below, Mrs Pearson would love to incorporate these in her music lessons. Students from Kindergarten - Year 6 will begin learning how to make amazing music with the buckets in anticipation of our very exciting incursion from Kaboom Percussion later in term 3.
Thank you so much to all the wonderful volunteers who have helped in the canteen so far in 2021. The last few weeks of term were very busy and I could not do my job without my wonderful team of giving people.
Whilst we are busy in the canteen, it is a lot of fun too, with a wonderful crew of people who are a great support to each other. I would love to welcome back all my regulars but also invite anyone who would like to volunteer to come and have a try. All you need is a current WWVP card.
Please click on the following web link (or copy it into your web browser if clicking doesn't work) to go to the signup sheet:
To sign up, just follow the instructions on the page. It only takes a few seconds to do. I am sure that my volunteers will continue to look after the safety of our school community by signing in at the front office utilising COMPASS, and the check in app. Please let me know via email if you cannot make it due to illness - your thoughtfulness for our community is appreciated.
Thank you for volunteering!
School Tuition Fees
The St Monica's Community Council would like to invite you to a public meeting to discuss school tuition fees on Monday 19 July 2021 in the school library commencing at 7.00pm.
If you have any ideas or concerns please email them through to our Secretary Noel Chan at council.stmonicas@cg.catholic.edu.au
As a school we are seeking expressions of interest from parents regarding participation in Oz Tag Gala Days. Earlier in the year we received enough interest to field 4 boys teams and 3 girls teams across Years 3-6. We now require parents or carers to coach these teams. We will only be able to enter teams if we receive enough parent support. A teacher is required to attend on the day to assist with supervision.
Grades: 3-6
Dates: 11 August Boys and 12 August Girls
Venue: Dickson Playing Fields
Time: 8:30-3:00pm approx
We are calling for parents in Years 3-6 to provide expressions of interest for these days. Parents interested in participating MUST have a WWVP card if they are coaching a team.
Please fill in the slip attached and return to the front office by the end of Week 1, Term 3 (Friday 16 July). Once I have received these forms back, I will be able to send out permission forms to children who were interested with further information about the day.
Happy Birthday to the following students celebrating a Birthday this week
Claire H, Laura R, Xavier P, Maggie P, Cooper A, Bailey S