Dear St Monica’s families and friends,

What a busy Term we have had! Cross Country, NAPLAN, Athletics Carnival, First Communion, Mother’s Day, School Clubs established, Gala Days for Netball, Rugby League and Rugby Union, The Book Fair, LitQuiz, Maths Olympiad and Games, the launch of our Little MonSTARS Playgroup, a Working Bee, Reports, ACT Inter Schools Chess Competition, Interviews, Dance Lessons, Rostrum, ANZAC Day, Reconciliation Sea of Hands, Our Parish Feast Day and the return of our Assemblies. We even had a visit from Constable Kenny. At all of these events, we’ve had such fantastic support from our parent community at St Monica’s. I am so pleased to have you back and active in the life of our school.

The students have had a wonderful Term 2 and have continued to be committed to their learning, whilst being supportive of each other in the classroom and on the playground. The students, and their teachers, really do deserve a good break and some down time so that they can recharge their batteries and be ready for Term 3.

Parent Teacher Interviews - The last week has been a busy one with our Parent Teacher Interviews. These conversations help us get a better understanding of your children and their learning needs, as well as their social and emotional needs. I really want to thank our dedicated teachers for their comprehensive preparation for these interviews and to you, the parents and carers for engaging in these conversations about your children.  It was wonderful to see many interviews return to face-to-face and to have our hallways filled with chatting parents.

Baby News - Congratulations to Nicole and Tristan Jenner on the safe arrival of their baby boy Charlie John, born on the 19June. What a cutie!

Kindergarten 2023 - It has been so wonderful meeting and chatting with the families of our new Kindergarten students for 2023. I find these interviews help me to ensure that our school can cater for the student’s needs and the opportunity to get to know the student beyond what can be found on an application or pre-school report. Each child has drawn me a picture, I am excited to be planning for this new wave of St Monica’s students. 

Pupil Free Days - Tomorrow, 1 July, is a Pupil Free day. This is an opportunity for our teachers and staff to work on their learning programs and learning experiences for the students but to also make up time that has been missed because of relief staffing shortages. I very much appreciate your support for our staff having this much needed time.

Director of Catholic Education, Ross Fox, has advised there will be two additional Pupil Free days in Term 3. Monday 18 July, Friday 5 August and Friday 9 September are pupil free days for all St Monica's students. SMOOSH will offer out of school care on all of these days. Enrolment for SMOOSH, for these additional days, will be communicated to families early next term. Please read the attached letter from the Director regarding the the two additional planning days for all ACT Catholic Schools.

ACT Pupil Free Days T3 2022

ACT Pupil Free Days T3 2022 155.60 KB

Collection of Census Data and Annual School Report - Please read the attached information regarding the collection of census data. The 2021 Annual School Report can now be found on the school’s webpage.

2022_Census_Privacy_Notice_for_Circulation.pdf

2022_Census_Privacy_Notice_for_Circulation _pdf 188.89 KB

Wishing you a wonderful winter break doing the things you love to do the most! 

Lisa 

Happy Birthday to the following students  celebrating a Birthday this week and throughout the school holidays

Mia K, Cameron H, Adele M, Isaac B, Noah P, Charles V, Lara Mc, Yar A, Aria K, Charlotte T, Mya L, Ruby M, Aiden Mc, Toby Mc, Archer P, Claire H, Laura R, Xavier P, Edward D, Maggie P

Pride Badges will be given out in Week 1 of Term 3

Rostrum Quarter Finals

On Tuesday evening Joel M (6JG) represented St Monica's at the district quarter-finals for Rostrum public speaking. The event was held in the library of Neville Bonner Primary School and Joel was competing against speakers from Belconnen and Gungahlin schools. 

As is always the case at these events, the standard of presentation was very high with speakers choosing from a range of topics. Joel spoke about 'Being Organised' and he held the audience's attention for 3 minutes with a mixture of humour, animated expression and family anecdotes. He was very funny and very entertaining. 

At the end of 7 different speeches, the adjudicators selected a wonderful speaker from Ngunnawal Primary School to continue onto the semi-finals. Joel was awarded a participation certificate and received positive feedback from the Rostrum representatives. He certainly did St Monica's proud.

Joel's family were in the audience and his Dad reckons there has been a big improvement in Joel's personal organisation since he started working on his speech. Good choice of topic Joel...... with an unexpected side effect.

St Vincent de Paul Winter Appeal

Thank you to everyone who has kindly brought in donations for our Vinnies Winter Appeal! We are still collecting donations right up until the end of Week 1, Term 3. You can bring your donations in to your child’s class or drop them off at the front office.

All your kind donations go directly to people in need in our community or are sold at our local Vinnies Centres to raise funds for other forms of assistance like respite programs and crisis accommodation.

As a thank you celebration for the kind donations, we will be having a ‘Winter Woolies’ Day on Thursday 21 July. Children will be able to wear their warmest winter woolie clothes instead of school uniform. Keep an eye on Compass for the notification!

Our Lady of Perpetual Help Feast Day

Last Thursday we celebrated the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Feast Day with St Michael’s. It was such a fantastic day, and we were so blessed to be able to finally come together with our friends in prayer and friendship. Our day started with a liturgy with St Michael’s followed by a prayer scavenger hunt, Christian Meditation and Visio Divina and then paper plane prayers!

Thank you for your prayers and support this term. I wish you all a safe and blessed break!

Sacrament of Confirmation (for eligible Year 6 students)

This will be celebrated on 13 September 2022 in St Michael’s Church and 14 September 2022 in St Monica’s Church.

Registration for the Sacrament of Confirmation

Registration must be made via the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Qkr! App (NOT the school app).

Registrations opened on 27 June 2022 and will close by Friday 22 July 2022.
No late registrations will be accepted after the closing date.

Parent Formation Evening – will be held on Thursday 21 July at 6pm in St Monica’s Church, Evatt.

Commitment Masses
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) on one of the dates listed below to make their commitment for the Sacrament.
Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 July
Saturday 30 and Sunday 31 July
There will be no additional commitment masses beyond these dates.

Important – If your child is eligible to celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation – please talk to your child and prior to completing the registration via Qkr! Consider the following:

• Saint’s Name for Confirmation; and
• Sponsor’s Name.

These are two of the requirements on the registration form.

The Sacrament of Reconciliation

This will be celebrated on 8, 9, & 10 November 2022 – Registrations will open on 19 September 2022.

For further Information regarding the Sacramental Program – 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

On Wednesday of Week 1 next term St Monica’s is welcoming the Torres Strait Island performance group, Wyniss, to our school hall for two performances. Wyniss will be sharing their culture with us through song, dance and storytelling.

Every student from Kindergarten to Year 6 has been preparing for Wyniss’ visit by learning a few songs and dance moves. This will explain why many excited children may have come home with a string in their pocket to share with you how they can now make a spear out of string as well as a few extra tricks the students have excitedly taught each other on the playground.

As Music is embedded in culture, our Torres Strait music exploration has included looking at the games and past times of children in the Torres Strait. Your children may come home and interview you about games you played as children. Items you might like to discuss with your children are:

Did you play string figure games?

Did you play with spinning tops?

Were there other games you played?

What skills were being practised in these games?

Did songs accompany these games?

I look forward to updating you on the performances next term!

Library Books

A huge thank you to all the families who have returned library books. There are still a number of books that need to be returned. Overdue notices have been emailed to families and it would be greatly appreciated if you could return these books after the holidays.

Sora Link

Students have access to eBooks and audio books 24/7 everyday of the year using the Sora App. If your child is looking for a book to read over the holidays Sora is the student-friendly App that links to the same Overdrive database of titles. 

Visit https://soraapp.com in your web browser or download the free Sora app from the Apple and Google Play stores on a mobile device.

When asked to search for a library, click to search by ‘Name’, not location, and then search for ‘ACEN’. 

Belconnen Athletics

Ribbons for our Athletics Carnival will be handed out at the Week 3 awards assembly in Term 3. Announcements for who has progressed to the Belconnen Carnival will be made early next term.

If there are any children who were not able to attend our school carnival and would like to be considered for inclusion at the Belconnen Carnival, please fill in the form attached and return it to me via the front office or ryan.matchett@cg.catholic.edu.au

Thank you so much to my precious volunteers for your efforts in Term 2.  I couldn’t do my job without you and you bring smiles to our lovely children.

Particular thanks go to our helpers over the last two weeks -   Jane Rabbets, Esme Rolleston, Rach Pentes, Katherine O’Sullivan, Sarah Clark, Daniela Agnello and Erin O’Leary. We also had some wonderful high school students come in last Friday and give up their down time. Thank you Claire, Jack and Alicia – I hope you had fun. 

Timetable change for school route 1068. From Term 3 the 1068 will depart at 3.23pm instead of 3.16pm.