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Dear St Monica’s families and friends,
"Children want the same things we want.
To laugh, to be challenged, to be entertained, and delighted"
Dr Seuss
I trust you appreciated the opportunity to meet with your child's class teacher in this week's Get to Know You Meetings. Understanding your child's interests will help us to provide them with quality learning opportunities and knowing more about them can help forge connections in the classroom.
I too have enjoyed getting to know you and your children. The informal chats I have been having on duty, in carline and as I walk the group to the Chomley Carpark have allowed me to find out the wonderful things that are happening in your child's life at the moment. I now know that....
OzTag is a favourable sport for St Monica's families, we have students who are drummers, gymnasts, dancers and singers, there are voracious readers in all year levels and some of you go to Girl Guides or Scouts. I have heard about Grandparent's milestone birthdays, family weddings and coast house visits. I look forward to finding out more and more as we journey together this year.
Baby News
Congratulations to the Scroope family - (Oscar - KSH) on the arrival of his little sister Molly.
COVID19 updates
The ACT Government has announced that check-ins and masks will continue to be worn by staff, adults and students aged 12 years or over in Primary School settings. 2x RAT kits, per week, per child will continue to be distributed to families until Week 8. From 28 March, RAT kits will be available to families upon request.
22.2.22 - Twosday Celebration!
They say that good things come in twos and on February 22nd, 2022, it's was a big day for the Year 2s at St Monica's! When written out, 22022022, the date is considered a palindrome, which means it can be read both forward and backward. The day also fell on a Tuesday which will forever be remembered as Twosday!
Lisa
Happy Birthday to the following students celebrating a Birthday this week
Ramia B, Billy B, Jack G, William Mc, Aria G, Emilia H, Jade A-C, Imogen S, Kobe B, Noah Z
Kindergarten Health Check questionnaires are due back to school by Friday 4 March 2022.
Morning Supervision - Morning Supervision starts at 8.25am, students should not be on the school grounds before this time. SMOOSH has places available for families who require before or after school care.
Toys at School -I have noticed an increasing number of toys, Pokemon cards and other precious items are being brought to school. I ask that all toys, including Pokemon cards, be kept at home please. Unfortunately, at school, toys get broken or lost and Pokemon Trades can go wrong. The school has a number of comfort items and fidget toys available for your child to have during school time, if they need it.
Uniform Shop -Thank you donating clothing items to the Uniform Shop! Please understand we are only able to accept items of wearable quality and that are the correct uniform. Lately, the school has been receiving donations of items that are either not the St Monica's school uniform and items that are torn or badly stained and need to be thrown out.
Blacktop Parking - A gentle reminder about the parking on the blacktop. When parking in the two middle rows, please try and park as close to the other cars as you can and leave a space for cars to circle around! Thanks!
The beginning of the Lenten season
Next week marks the beginning of Lent with Shrove Tuesday on Tuesday 1March and Ash Wednesday on Wednesday 2March.
Prayer and Pancakes
Shrove Tuesday is also known as ‘Pancake Tuesday’ or ‘Fat Tuesday’. But the word ‘Shrove’ is the religious connection. Shrove is the past tense of the English verb ‘Shrive’ which means to obtain absolution for one’s sins by way of confession and by doing penance. This is quite timely with the beginning of the Lenten season, a time for renewal and preparation for the journey through Holy Week leading up to the resurrection on Easter Sunday.
Shrove Tuesday dates back to 1000 AD, and not only became a day for confession and penance but a day to feast on eggs, sugar and dairy which are traditionally foods that are restricted or ‘given up’ during Lent. It was an opportunity to use up these food items before the 40 days of Lent.
Who doesn’t love pancakes! This weekend, have a look in your cupboard for the ingredients you need and make up some fluffy pancakes for Tuesday. Here is a recipe below that you may like to use.
While eating your pancakes as a family, think about the things that you can ask God for forgiveness for. You might like to write these down and scrunch them up. You could say them out loud during a family prayer. We would love to see your family eating pancakes on Tuesday morning! If you want to share your photos with our community on Facebook, please take a photo and send them to: haley.stonham@cg.catholic.edu I can’t wait – I love pancakes and prayer!
Project Compassion 2022
Next week the season of Lent begins with Ash Wednesday, which also marks the beginning of the annual Caritas Australia Project Compassion Appeal. Donations to Project Compassion allows Caritas Australia, the Catholic Agency for International Aid and Development, to work with local communities around the world to end poverty, promote justice and uphold dignity.
The theme of Project Compassion 2022 is ‘For All Future Generations’ and reminds us that the good that we do today will extend and impact the lives of generations to come. It invites us to make the world a better place by working together now and finding long-term solutions to global issues. We encourage you to put your compassion into action this Lent through your prayer, fasting and almsgiving by supporting Project Compassion.
Sacramental Program 2022
If you have a child in Years 3, 4, or 6 in 2022 this will be a Sacramental year.
This also applies if your child is in Year 5 and he/she has previously missed the Sacraments of Reconciliation and/or First Eucharist.
First Eucharist will be celebrated in Term 2, 2022.
Confirmation will be celebrated in Term 3, 2022.
Reconciliation will be celebrated in Term 4, 2022.
For 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
Book Club
Thank you to all the families who purchased books from Book Club. Your purchases have provided the library with $174.20 to spend on books for the library. The order was submitted today and will hopefully arrive next week. Issue 2 of book Club will be released in mid March.
Raising Readers with Megan Daley Event
The South Australian Branch of the Children’s Book Council of Australia are holding an event on Zoom with Megan Daley, who is a teacher library and author of the book “Raising Readers”. I have had the opportunity to hear Megan speak and she has lots of great ideas for developing children’s love of reading. We do have copies of her books in the library that parents are able to borrow.
Details of event are in attached flyer.
It has been a busy start to the year for the canteen. Thank you for all the orders.
Thank you to the following parents who have already given their valuable time - Katherine O'Sullivan, Tracy D'Ambrosio, Jane Rabbets, Sarah Clark, Esme Rolleston, Fiona Steinberg and Samantha Cox. We welcome Udayani Iiyanage as our newest volunteer. It was so wonderful to see the excitement on her child's face to have Mum in the canteen.
I would love to welcome more new volunteers into the canteen. We work hard but have a lot of fun and your children love to see you. Please join us and enjoy a cuppa, biscuit or even lunch. You just need to have a current WWVP card and show your double COVID vaccination certificate. Here is the link if you would like to select a time that works for you.
To sign up, just follow the instructions on the page. It only takes a few seconds to do. Thank you for volunteering!