Dear Parents

It has been a big week for St Monica's with the announcement that Luke Donnelly has been appointed as Principal at St Thomas More's Primary, Campbell commencing in 2022. This is a very deserving appointment for Luke but a great loss to the St Monica's community. Since arriving three years ago, Luke embraced the life of St Monica's and was instrumental in promoting 'The St Monica's Way'. The community will miss his infectious laughter that filled the hallways and his great passion for creating exciting learning opportunities. Congratulations Luke!

After a wonderful career in education, Bob Fletcher is retiring at the end of the year. Bob has supported many children in his time at St Monica's in his roles as Chaplain/Welfare Officer. Roving the classroom with his guitar or out on the oval for a game, Bob was always ready to step in when someone needed a hand. Thank you Mr Fletcher for the love and care you have shown to all the children at St Monica's.

Realising her passion to help support the children in her care, Jamie Austin, one of our amazing St Monica's Classroom Support Assistants, has decided to pursue further study in the areas of mental health and wellbeing. While only being with us for 12 months, Jamie's enthusiasm will be missed by the children and staff. All the very best Jamie, as you follow your dreams in 2022. 

School Tuition Fees 2022

The Catholic Education Commission in the Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn has recommended a tuition fee increase for 2022.

In 2022, sibling discounts for tuition fees will begin reducing over three years to ensure fees are fair for all families. Please refer to the table below that reflected the changes over the next three years.

As always, if fees create financial concern for you, I would encourage you to make an appointment with me to discuss how we can help. It is a policy in the Archdiocese that no student should be refused enrolment, excluded or disadvantaged because their family is unable to afford fees. Any discussion on fees would be strictly confidential.

If you have any questions regarding school fees for 2022, please feel free to contact me. Please note I am still finalising our local levies with a full schedule to be released once approved by Community Council in the next two weeks. 

St Monica's Uniform Shop

Our uniform shop is now open to parents in the community to drop in on a Friday morning between 8.45am and 9.15am for essential items. Please remember you are on the school grounds and so masks are required when indoors, parents must check in at the door with the CBR app and maintain social distancing requirements. Numbers in the shop must be kept to a minimum. Qkr payments are our preferred method of payment or Eftpos. 

Our uniform shop will be open for our new families on Thursday 25 November between 3.45 and 5.00pm.  

Continue to stay COVID safe and may God's blessing be with everyone.

Principal  

T

Term 4 fees are now due. Please contact our school Finance Officer, Kirralea Thompson, should you need to discuss your account. Any families who are leaving at the end of this year must ensure their account is settled in full.

The school Community Council is an essential component of our school. Constitutional requirements for Council membership means there will be vacant positions on the Executive of the School Community Council from 2022.  

Any parent in the School community is eligible to nominate.

What does the Community Council do?

The Constitution states that the Council ‘provides opportunity for members of the community to support the mission of Catholic education in the school. Working with the Principal, Parish Priest and staff, the members of the Council and its committees provide leadership to the wider school community’

The Community Council works with the Principal, Parish Priest and staff collaboratively to ensure the smooth operation of the school. The Council takes a decision making role in areas such as developing capital and maintenance programs, promoting the school in the local community, approving school uniform, developing and monitoring school enterprises (eg hall hire) and fundraising to name a few items. The council also has an advisory role in areas such as curriculum, student welfare and educational policies for the school.  

Meetings are held twice a term and a commitment to attending these meetings is required.

How to nominate

Each nomination must be made on the Nomination Form attached and available from the Front Office (emails will not be accepted as a formal nomination).  The nomination must be seconded and agreed to by the person being nominated. All nominations are confidential.  Please send nominations addressed to Carmel Maguire in a sealed envelope labelled ‘Community Council Nomination’ by 3pm on Monday 22 November 2021.  All nominations should be placed in a sealed envelope and handed into the office to be opened by Father Loi (or a parish representative) and the Principal after this date.

Refer to the documents attached for additional information and the nomination form.

Sacrament of Confirmation

The Sacrament of Confirmation will be celebrated next week with 5 liturgies on:

Tuesday 23 November in St Michael’s Church at 12 noon and 6pm;

Wednesday 24 November in St Monica’s Church at 6pm; and

Thursday 25 November in St Monica’s Church at 12 noon and 6pm.

3^rd Rite of Reconciliation – via zoom – Monday 22 November – 6pm 

In lieu of current Covid restrictions we have been experiencing regarding Reconciliation for candidates preparing for the Sacrament of Confirmation Fr Loi will conduct the 3^rd rite of Reconciliation with the candidates and their families via zoom on Monday 22 November at 6pm.

The zoom access is     https://cgcatholic.zoom.us/j/67062838298

COVID Restrictions - due to lifting of the Covid restrictions - the people allowed in the church for each of the liturgies has been increased.

This means the number of people attending has been revised to a maximum of 9 per family (this includes the candidate). There is no requirement to book the extra tickets via Trybooking. If the sponsor is unable to attend, a parent may stand in as a proxy.

Please keep the candidates for the Sacrament of Confirmation in your prayers.

Further Information – please contact the Sacramental Program Coordinator at sc.belconnennorth@cg.org.au or sue.coll@bigpond.com or check the parish website for updates at www.cg.org.au/belconnennorth

Each year St Monica’s School supports our local needy families identified by our local St Vincent de Paul parish group. The local conference of the Society will assist with packing and distributing over 50 hampers to families in our parish just prior to Christmas. Over the years, the generosity of the St Monica’s School community has filled many hampers. our appeal is starting on Monday. St Monica’s School will collect items up until Friday 10 December. This year grades have been allocated a food group to collect to ensure we have a good balance of items. Please refer to the preferred items listed against your child's grade as identified in the attached document.

Year 6 - Meat and Fish

Year 5 - Vegetables, Gravy & sauce

Year 4 - Deserts (check use-by date is after 1 Jan 2022

Year 3 - Savory Treats

Year 2 - Sweet Treats - cakes, pies & biscuits ( use-by date after  1Jan 2022)

Year 1 - Sweet Treats - chocolate, lollies & drinks

Kinder - Vegetables, gravy  & sauces

The students enjoyed the Wellbeing Danceathon Day last Friday. There were some very creative disco outfits with sparkles and fluro seen in every classroom.

Thanks to Keir Lawless who helped source prizes for the best dressed and best dancers. We appreciate your help, and the kids loved their prizes.

Attention Parents with Children in Years 4  - 6 in 2022 - Bring Your Own Device Program (BYOD)

With technology continuing to develop at such a fast rate, it is easy to feel a little overwhelmed and unsure about its possibilities. This information aims to help parents with the transition into the BYODD program at St Monica’s.

Following a review of the current technology use at St Monica’s and changes across education, a decision has been made to move to Chromebooks in Year 4 from 2022. Many of the local primary schools have moved to Chromebooks for their BYODD program, due to cost and ease of use. Moving to a Chromebook will prepare the children as they move into high school where laptops are the preferred option.

In 2022
·       the Year 3 children will access a bank of Chromebooks available at St Monica’s. They do not need to purchase a device to bring to school. A set of iPads will also be available for specialised small groups activities including taking photos of work, Reading Eggs etc.
·       the BYODD program for Year 4 will focus on the use of Chromebooks. Please note – as we are in a transition phase any child who already has an iPad will not be required to purchase a new device to start the year. We ask that you purchase a Chromebook when replacing the iPad. Chromebooks offer access to a built-in keyboard, are cheaper and provide cloud storage for work so a child can work at school and at home with ease.
·       the Years 5 & 6 BYODD iPad program will continue. We are very conscious that many of the children in the current Year 4 group purchased new iPads so we are not asking families to purchase another new device. The children in Years 5 and 6 will have access to a bank of Chromebooks for publishing work when required.

Should the purchasing of a device place a burden on a family’s finances please speak to Carmel Maguire, as soon as possible. We do have a small bank of iPads that will be available for use by families experiencing difficulties in Years 4 to 6. Due to the limited supply of Chromebooks for use across each of the cohorts, they will not be part of our student loan program. Many children have access to a family computer at home if required.
 
Why BYOD?
With the development of the Australian National Technologies Curriculum, technology subjects have become a focus in education. Consistent with this research, industry surveys show that STEM literacy is increasingly becoming part of the core capabilities that Australian employers need. In order to carry out authentic learning tasks with technology, it is important students are equipped with the right tools. St Monica’s has a range of devices for students to access however CE has a policy that all IT hardware should be replaced every 3 years if a school wants access to technical support for school hardware. This creates a huge burden for a school budget if we want to achieve a 1:1 ratio of students to devices.

The current IT budget goes towards the purchase of school-owned devices which now includes three banks of Chromebooks, sets of iPads for use by Kinder to Year 2, specialised activities in Years 3 - 6, maintenance of classroom eboards and the ongoing purchase of other technologies including robots and STEM resources.

Technical considerations when selecting a Chromebook for use at St Monica’s for 2022?

•  11.6” Screen Size (available up to 15.6” but not required as this increases weight and space required for storage and transporting)
• 4Gb RAM (or greater)
• 32GB storage capacity (or greater)
• Built-in webcam and headphone/microphone jack

There is no preferred brand, and they all function in the same way:

• The Good Guys - Lenovo
• JB Hifi – Lenovo, HP, Asus
• Harvey Norman – Lenovo, HP, Asus

Parents can choose between a clamshell (opens and closes) or 2-in-1 (touch screen and 360-fold options).
As the device is used for school purposes, you do not need to purchase Office 365 or Google One add-ons that may be made available to them via a retailer.

The BYOD Chromebooks are not managed by the school. Parents are responsible for managing updates, breakages or technical errors.

Setting Up
The Chromebook will need to be set up with the student’s school email details for use at school. A personal or private Google account can be used for personal use at home. https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/1047362?hl=en

Due to a change in CE policy, regarding passwords, students entering Year 4 will be issued a new password in late January before school returns. The new sign-in to Google and their Chromebook will be done as part of the start of the new school year upon return to class. Passwords for students entering Year 5 & 6 will remain the same, but please note the child has 5 attempts to enter the password before accounts are locked and need to be unlocked by someone at the school.

For your information only - Specifications of the Chromebooks purchased by St Monica’s

• Dell Chromebook 3100 Touch Dell Chromebook 3100 Touch
• Intel Celeron N4020
• Camera and Microphone
•  WLAN Capable
• 4GB Non-ECC
• 32GB eMMC Storage
• 11.6" HD Touch Screen – this is optional
• Please purchase a protective cover

Benefits of the Chromebook
One of the benefits of Chromebooks is that they’re some of the easiest tech tools for both students and teachers to learn how to use. In fact, they take a lot of the intimidation out of computer learning.
A few of the many practical benefits of working (and learning) with Chromebooks.

• They can boot up and connect to the network in seconds, which means teachers and students don’t have to drum their fingers at the start of class.
• They offer plenty of cloud storage, which means even if students share a Chromebook (such as a from a Chromebook cart), they can sign in and still get a personal learning experience.
• They come with a long battery life that lasts throughout the school day, which means fewer interruptions in learning.
• They protect students from viruses and malware without requiring heavy maintenance, keeping learning safe and secure.

From basic keyboarding skills to advanced ethics in online research, Chromebooks continually allow students at almost any grade level the chance to experience and sharpen their knowledge of how technology works, and how it can be used for everything from a simple homework assignment to a semester-long group project.

Any questions please email carmel.maguire@cg.catholic.edu.au

Kinder regards

Carmel Maguire
Principal

Virtual Book Fair

We are running a  Virtual Book Fair in partnership with The Book Cow book store in Kingston. We would love to have the library full of books for families to come and view and purchase but due to restrictions at this time a virtual book fair is our best option for celebrating reading and the joy of books and building our personal library. The Book Cow has joined us for this event, and we have worked together to select books from a range of categories, such as picture books and graphic novels or you can purchase any of the books on their website. The book fair closes on Tuesday 23 November and books will be delivered to students classrooms on Friday 26 November.
 
This link https://shop.bookcow.com.au/c/st-monica-s-evatt-book-fair will take you to the book fair site which has instructions on selecting and purchasing books.  If you are purchasing for Christmas and would prefer the books not to be sent home with students, please email me to make alternative arrangements.

What is Spatial Reasoning?
Spatial thinking, or reasoning, involves understanding and remembering the location and movement of objects and ourselves, either mentally or physically, in space. There are a number of sub skills and concepts that are interrelated among each other. It also includes being able to show and communicate thinking in a variety of ways.

Visualisation is the ability to see images in your mind and to remember what you see when it is out of view (visual memory).  Spatial Visualisation involves using our imagination to rotate, change, create, organise, and retrieve mental images. Both of these concepts are important in the development of spatial reasoning.

Ways to Promote Spatial Reasoning for Students K-12
We know spatial reasoning is important and can be improved with a variety of activities across all ages. Studies have shown that improvements in one area of spatial reasoning will often transfer to other types of tasks.

Below are some examples of ways spatial reasoning can be promoted in the home environment:

1. Visualisation skills:
   Provide opportunities for your child to use their visualisation skills to better understand solutions to problems.  Try asking your child to explain what they are seeing in their mind or what they visualise when solving a problem.
2. Emphasise spatial language:
   Model the use of spatial words in the home environment.  For younger children, this language will include words related to location, distance, orientation and direction (i.e. left, right, over, under, above, below, parallel, tall and short).  For older children this language will include geometrical rotations (i.e. rotations, translations, and transformations)
3. Provide playful opportunities for your child to exercise their spatial reasoning. There are many activities children can engage in that require spatial reasoning.  Some examples are jigsaw puzzles, many board games, block- playing with geometric shapes.
4. Using technology:
   Digital technology allows students to manipulate and see space and spatial relationships.  Some examples include: GIS, GPS, Google Earth, and any tools that allow students to manipulate and rotate objects that is not possible with a paper and pencil.

Congratulations to the following students who placed in the top 10 in their event(s) for the ACT Primary Schools Virtual Track and Field Carnival. There were approximately 40 schools from all of the ACT who entered their school results:

• Jade W (6M) - 1st 12 years Shot Put and 4th 100m
• Sienna R (4R) - Equal 1st 10 years 100m and 2nd 8-10 800m
• Violet P (5MM) - Equal Second 10 years 800m
• Samantha S (6J) - 1st 11years 200m and 2nd 800m
• Amelia H (5EM) - 2nd 11 years 200m and 5th Discus
• Annabelle F (6H) - 1st 12 years 200m , 2nd 800m and 5th Discus
• Bella P (6J) - 2nd 12 years 200m and 4th Long Jump
• Lily H (4M) - 1st 8-10 years 800m
• Leila W (6M) - 1st 11 years 800m
• Maddison R (6M) - 1st 12 years 800m
• Antonia H (6H) - 2nd 12 years Shot Put
• Amour A (6M) - 2nd 12 years Discus
• Nicholas P (4M) - 1st 10 years 200m, 8th 100m and 3rd Long Jump
• Brock S (5MM) - 7th 11 years Shot Put and 6th Discus
• Ethan G (6M) - 3rd 12 years Shot Put
• Cooper D (4M) - 2nd 10 years 200m, 2nd 800m and 3rd Long Jump
• Bastijan P (6M) - 1st 11 years 200m and 9th 800m
• William Mc (5EM) - 1st  11 years 200m
• Jaryd S (5MM) - 5th 12 years Shot Put
• Finn D (6M) - 1st 12 years 200m and 2nd 800m
• Bailey S (6H) - 2nd 12 years 200m
• Vsevelod K (5EM) - 4th 11 years Discus
• Charlie D (4SG) - 1st 8-10 years 800m
• Aiden S (6H) - 3rd 12 years 800m
• Emmett J (4M) - 7th 8-10 years Shot Put
• Lachlan F (3CF) - 8th 8-10 years Shot Put
• Fletcher B (6J) - 5th 12 years Discus
• Jye L (6M) - 8th 12 years Discus

Family Portraits will be held on Saturday 27 November 2021! The attached flyer provides more detail, but for the bargain price of $20 per family, you are able to sit for a family portrait and obtain a 10"x13" print, as well as a wallet photo (more poses and images are also available at an additional cost). To keep it all Covid friendly, sitting for the family photos will take place at Lake Ginninderra nearish to the Learn to Ride Park. All booking are made through Try Booking (details on the flyer). If you have any further queries after reading the flyer and checking on Try Booking, please contact the photographer directly - Kieren from Lasso Studios - on 0420 233 747.

The Council of Catholic School Parents NSW/ACT (CCSP) invite parents and carers to join the eSafety Commissioner’s education and training team for a free live webinar on Monday, 22 November 2021 from 7.30pm to 8.30pm. The webinar will provide parents and carers with strategies to assist young people and their mental health when engaging in an online environment. The webinar will cover topics such as:

• What to do about accidental exposure to content about suicide, self-harm and eating disorders.
• Using games, apps and social media to support mental wellbeing.
• The pros and cons of digital mental health platforms.
• Strategies for young people to support friends online.

Interested parents and carers can register their participation online by completing a brief registration form.

Happy Birthday to the following students  celebrating a Birthday this week  

Gus O, Alex C, Rory H, Jacob O, Harleen T

If you have any ideas or concerns please email them through to our Secretary Noel Chan at council.stmonicas@cg.catholic.edu.au 

Reminder all families: 

Catholic Education COVID-19 Website - Click to open web updates