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- Weekly Happenings
- Principal's Message
- Community Council News - Evelyn David-Hoole
- RE News - Haley Stonham
- Saint of the Week - Haley Stonham
- Parish Sacramental News - Confirmation
- Loss and Grief from Beyond Blue - Emma Russell
- Protective Behaviours - Luke Donnelly
- Mathematics - Ryan Matchett
- Library News - Veronica Melville
- Sport News - Ryan Matchett
- Star Awards for Week 3
- Remote Learning Readiness - Letter to Parents
- School Fees - Term 3
- Canteen News - Wendy Regan
- Happy Birthday
- COVID-19 Updates
| Wednesday 28 July |
6.30pm Open Council Meeting and Fee Tuition |
| Thursday 29 July |
Year 6 Vinnies "Sleep Out" at school 5.30pm - 8.30pm |
| Friday 30 July |
St Monica's Winter Onesie Day or Warm Winter Casual Clothes |
| Friday 30 July |
Star Awards - presented in Courtyard/Library - 2.30pm |
| Monday 2 August |
Kindergarten 100 Days Celebration - Dress-up day |
| Mon 2 and Tues 3 August |
Author Visit - Shelly Unwin |
| Friday 6 August |
Wellbeing Day - Olympic Closing Ceremony School Prayer - Year 5 - 2.30pm |
Dear Parents
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.
School Check-in
Continue to stay COVID safe and may God's blessing be with everyone.
Principal
Open Council Meeting & School Tuition Fees
The St Monica's Community Council would like to invite you to a public meeting to discuss school tuition fees tonight in the school library commencing at 6.30pm.
If you have any ideas or concerns please email them through to our Secretary Noel Chan at council.stmonicas@cg.catholic.edu.au
Vinnies Winter Appeal – Last week to collect donations!
Thank you to all of our families who have continued to bring in winter warming clothes for our Vinnies Winter Appeal! This is the last week that the Year 6 Social Justice Team will be collecting donations of new beanies, jumpers, gloves, socks, jackets, scarves – all sizes! We are so very grateful for the donations that have come in and know that there are families in our community who will benefit ?
St Monica's Mini School Sleep Out
Tomorrow evening our Year 6 students will be participating in our first St Monica’s Mini School Sleep Out. We will be joined by Matthew from St Vinnies who will lead us all in some activities and discussions to deepen our awareness of homelessness within our community.
Winter Warmer Onesie/ Warm Clothes day – This Friday 30 July!
This Friday is the Winter Warmer Onesie/ Warm Clothes Free dress day. Dust off your Onesies!! This day is a day to thank our families for their wonderful donations and to create awareness about homelessness and how our donations will make a difference for local families.
Did you know…?
- In the ACT, 1 596 people are experiencing homelessness each night
- On Census night (in 2016) 183 children under 12 were counted as homeless
- 18% of people who were experiencing homelessness are under the age of 18
This is where St Vinnies can help. The St Vincent de Paul Society Canberra/ Goulburn works with people experiencing homelessness, assisting them in a number of ways and giving them a hand-up (not a hand-out) to make life changing decisions. Some of these hand-up’s include:
- Family and Youth Homelessness Services: provide accommodation and support to more than 650 people at risk of homelessness each year
- Vinnies Conferences: provide emergency assistance (eg. Food, rent assistance, service referrals) to anyone in need to prevent them from falling into situations of homelessness
- Night Patrol Van: visits the streets of Canberra almost every night of the year, providing social connection, material items and light refreshments to anyone in need
- Blue Door: is a drop-in centre based in Ainslie Village which provides 51 000 meals and light case management to 240 people each year.
This term some of the St Monica’s staff will be trained as Night Van Volunteers. This will allow us to give outreach to our wider community and support the good works of St Vinnies. We are excited to be able to do this and to live and model Jesus’ greatest commandment – ‘Love one another, as I have loved you’.
Name: St Paul the Apostle
Lived: 5 – 67
Country: Born in Tarsus
Patron Saint of: Missions; Theologians; Gentile Christians; Shipwrecks, Evangelists; Writers; Journalists; Authors; Public Workers; Rope and Saddle Makers; Tent Makers
Feast Day: June 29
Bio: Saint Paul is one of the most important and influential of all the saints. Many of his writings are found in the New Testament and have influenced the growth and development of the Church since the first century.
St Paul was originally known as Saul. He was a Roman citizen and a Pharisee who oversaw the persecution of the early Christians. While travelling on the road to Damascus, Saul experienced a most powerful vision that was so bright that he lost his vision!
After his vision, Saul had been truly shown the path to a better way and was soon baptised as a Christian after this experience. As part of his conversion, Saul took the name Paul. Paul began to travel the world and ventured out, proclaiming the Good News of Jesus. He visited St Peter, the first Pope to pay homage to him.
During his four journey’s Paul would preach and encourage those who wanted to convert from Judaism to Christianity. Many of his letters found in the Acts of the Apostles, outline how to live as a community of Christian believers.
Paul was called by Barnabus to come to Antioch. After Paul spent a year in Antioch, a great famine hit Jerusalem and Paul and Barnabus returned to offer alms. The pair went on missions together to Cypress and throughout Asia Minor. During this time, they established many churches and remained in communication with the communities, supporting them and encouraging them to live as Christians.
Paul was preparing for a journey to Spain when he was imprisoned in Caesarea by the Jews for 2 Years. After this, he travelled again and was shipwrecked in Malta, and was imprisoned for another 2 years for preaching in Rome. Despite these imprisonments, Paul continued to preach!
Quote: ‘So, then, let us purse the things making for peace and the things that are uplifting to one another.’ #peace #StPaul
Sacrament of Confirmation for eligible Year 6 students
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 - are now open
Registrations 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.
Commitment Masses – the last two weekends will be:
- 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 (5pm Saturday or 10am Sunday) or St Michael’s Church (8am 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
Losing someone or something we’re close to can be a painful experience at any age. It can sometimes feel like life without that person or thing is impossible, and grieving takes time.
And while we can’t always control what happens to our families and the challenges we face, there are lots of positive things that you can do to help kids cope with loss, change, grief, and stress.
Children need lots of reassurance and support from caring adults to help them come to terms with what has happened. While grief is a normal reaction to loss, feelings of anxiety or sadness may be intense and long-lasting – especially following the death of a close family member, or when families are dealing with traumatic circumstances.
Other losses may include:
- the death of a family member, friend, or pet
- separation of parents and family break-up
- change of schools or moving to a new house
- loss of a friendship
- relocating to a new community, city, or country
- having a disability or medical condition
- the end of a young person’s relationship
- having a family member in hospital for a long time.
Common grief reactions can include:
- crying
- being anxious
- having bad dreams
- clinging to parents or guardians
- anger
- irritability
- unsettled
- losing motivation for school and other activities.
- Sometimes kids show their distress by behaving in ways you would expect from a younger child. For example, they might start wetting the bed at night, sucking their thumb, or using baby talk.
- Remember that children might not always be able to articulate their emotions. By observing their behaviour and gently inquiring about it, you can often get a clearer picture of how they’re feeling.
Visit Beyond Blue Healthy Families here to explore tips to help your child if they are experiencing loss and grief.
We continue to engage in our protective behaviours learning each week this term.
This week the learning intention is for students to identify their safety network. You might like to trace your child's hand and ask them to identify 5 people in their safety network. Make sure they select people from a range of places like home, school and extended family members.
You can preview the books used in the program by clicking on their image below. The video is a review from Cath Hakanson, a consultant for material on protective behaviours, who provides practical advice for parents and teachers using the books.
| Kinder | Years 1 - 4 | Years 5 and 6 |
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The overview of the program below includes links to resources to support you and the conversation you might like to have with your child.
Times Tables- Why are they important to learn?
The ability to rehearse and understand multiplications up to and including 12 by the final year of primary school will enable your child to confidently and skillfully tackle the more complex mathematical subjects. The ability to fully understand multiplication and have fluency and instant recall will boost your child’s confidence in other areas of Mathematics. Many of the tasks they are required to do both at school, and in the home requires this basic skill. Generally, division and long multiplication are introduced into a child’s curriculum following basic multiplication. Without this primary knowledge, the following stages would be much more challenging to understand and process.
To help your child with improving their times table skills please use the website below for some tips.
https://www.transum.org/Tables/Times_Tables.asp
Maths Question
Here are this weeks Maths questions. Please submit your answers to ryan.matchett@cg.catholic.edu.au.
K-2
Traffic Jams
Cars can be lined up in traffic jams in different ways. For example two cars could be ordered - red car, blue car or blue car, red car.
How many ways can three cars be lined up? How many ways can four cars be lined up?
3-6
Chief Minister’s Reading Challenge
The Chief Minister’s Reading Challenge finishes on 6 August. Students are required to give their completed reading records to Veronica Melville for verification. The students reading records have been kept in the library or classroom. Some students have taken their sheets home. If your child has their record at home, they need to return it by Monday 9August for verification. It has been great to see so many students recording the books they have read and their pleasure and satisfaction in finishing the challenge.
Book Club
Issue 5 of Scholastic Book Club for 2021 was sent home. Orders need to be placed 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.
Library Bags
I have several library bags that students in Kindergarten to Year 2 use if they have forgotten their library bag. Unfortunately, these bags have not been returned to the library. If your child has a library bag that belongs to the library can you please return it.
Oz Tag Gala Days
Please see attached the permission note for the Oz Tag Gala Days in Week 5. Permission notes are due by Friday 30 July (Week 3). Unfortunately, due to the Confirmation Retreat Day happening on the 12 August, Year 6 girls who will be completing the sacrament will not be able to attend the Gala Day. We have plenty of boys coaches across Years 3-6 but will require a few more volunteers to coach girls teams across Years 3-6, otherwise we will be unable to submit the teams.
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 in Week 1. 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).
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Thanks once again to my hard-working volunteers for all your help last week, it was certainly a bumper week with the chilly weather! Thanks to Katherine O'Sullivan, Sarah Clarke, Esme Rolleston, Kaye Solari, Stephen Solari, Katrina Ciampa, Michelle Bowman, Nellie Bowman and Evelyn David-Hoole for your wonderful canteen assistance.
Volunteer opportunities for "Canteen Volunteers - Term 3 2021" are available - especially on our busy Friday.
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.
Thank you for volunteering!
Happy Birthday to the following students celebrating a Birthday this week
Ezra R, Bonnie C, Brock S, Jasper T, Sophie B, Liam K, Harriett B, Ava C, Sophie C, Makenna M