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Dear St Monica’s families and friends,
Special Prayers
It is with sadness I share the news that Kirralea Thompson's mother Jackie has passed away. Please keep Kirra, Scott, Charlotte, Huxley and Frankie in your prayers.
"Eternal rest grant unto Jackie, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon her. May she rest in peace" Amen
COVID19 update - As many of you are aware the COVID situation is impacting on all sectors, including education. With new variants as well as the standard flu circulating, staffing is becoming a challenge in many workplaces. We were very fortunate last term as we were able to manage staffing so that continuity of your child’s learning continued. We were blessed to not have to close year groups or the school, due to staff illness. Whilst we hope we will have the same luck this term, circumstances may require the necessity to close all or part of the school. If this does need to occur, it is at the discretion of Catholic Education and we will notify families via COMPASS.
Due to the prevalence of COVID and lots of other illnesses circulating including; cold & flu and RSV and the potential impact this has on staffing, I ask you to assist us to keep the school operating as normal, by keeping your children home if they are sick.
Some of the most frequently asked questions the school has received, is around parents entering the school and the advice around household contacts:
- Essential visitors and volunteers, including parents, are allowed into the school building at the discretion of the Principal.
- Parents can enter the Front Office to sign their child in and out of the Compass portal. I kindly ask that parent do not go past the airlock doors, without prior arrangement with the Principal.
- Parents are very welcome to join us for the outside Morning Assembly on Monday and Wednesday. COVID safe practices such as mask wearing, hand sanitising and social distancing is strongly encouraged.
- Unfortunately, parents are not able to attend the Friday awards assembly or Whole School Prayer Assemblies until further notice.
- Please contact the school if your child is a household contact. Where possible, we encourage your child to study from home until the household is free of COVID. If it is not practical to study from home, students must undertake COVID-19 testing and return a negative result in the 24 hours prior to returning to school and then every 48 hours if ongoing attendance is required. Remote Learning lessons and resources are available from your child’s Classroom Teacher.
RAT kits continue to be available to families, as required, this term. Please contact the Front Office to request these.
Please find attached the letter and a video link from the Chief Health Officer with important information from ACT Chief Health Officer regarding COVID19.
A message from the ACT Chief Health Officer - Important information about COVID-19 on Vimeo
Staffing News
We have been privileged to have Qin Bao, work as a Senior Education Assistant with SMOOSH for the past 3 years. Qin very recently submitted her resignation from SMOOSH. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, Qin was not able to physically come in and say goodbye to the children. However, she passes on her best wishes to all the SMOOSH families and children she has worked with. She thoroughly enjoyed her time with St Monica’s and we in return wish Qin all the very best in her new endeavours. We are currently in the process of recruiting a new Senior Education Assistant for SMOOSH.
Compass Parent Portal Update
The use of the Compass Parent Portal, is our main source of communication between school and home and most parents are able to use the portal in a variety of ways. It is also the way parents are encouraged to send explanations of absences, give permission for their child to attend a school event (like an excursion or camp), send their child’s teacher an email, book parent/teacher interviews, volunteer to help at school events (such as the athletics carnival), receive notes and messages from school.
Most parents have embraced this communications system and are fully engaged. I strongly encourage you to check in with the dashboard regularly and allow notifications to come through on your phone or device so that you don’t miss any important information from the school.
If you are unable to access the Compass Portal, you have forgotten your login details, your password needs to be re-set or you are having glitches. Please contact the Front Office and we can assist you to rectify your issues.
Lisa
Happy Birthday to the following students celebrating a Birthday this week
Dylan A, Bonnie C, Brock S and Sophie B
For those of you who I haven’t had a chance to meet me yet, I am Maggie and I am your Assistant Principal here at St Monica’s. I actually cannot believe I have been at St Monica’s now for just over 6 months. Time certainly flies when you are having fun! I am honoured to be working with such enthusiastic and polite students, an extremely dedicated staff and an incredibly supportive school community.
I thought I might highlight a few of my typical duties and whilst no two days are the same for me a typical week includes:
There are also the miscellaneous special projects (I feel like there are too many to name) but my main priority is to support students, teachers and of course Mrs Harris. |
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I am incredibly grateful and excited to work in the St Monica’s community and I am loving working in partnership with Mrs Harris, the staff and our students. I am an advocate for providing all students and families with an educational experience where values and diversity are celebrated. I am interested in The Science of Reading and Learning. I am working on ways to improve my own knowledge and understanding with cognitive processes that are essential for reading proficiency as well as embedding learning into the long-term memory.
On a more personal note, my husband, Bryce, and my children Campbell and Milla keep me busy. I love spending time exploring different walking trails with my dog Stella, watching footy (all codes but I do love league and union), watching netball, heading to the coast (whenever there is no weekend sport), reading a good book, catching up with friends and spending time with my large family.
I am committed to working alongside Mrs Harris so that we can continue to provide leadership and build a structure of collaborative relationships in this amazing school community. We aim to provide ALL students with a variety of opportunities to succeed! The best thing about my role is contributing to the growth of our students, even if it is one tiny drop, that drop can make a difference.
I look forward to meeting all families throughout the school year! My door is always open, and I welcome input. Please feel free to call, email or pop in for a cuppa, I am always here to discuss and support in any way I can. Thank you for welcoming me into this amazing community.
Saint of the Week
This term our Year 6 Confirmation candidates will be deepening their understanding of how the Holy Spirit is active in their lives. One way they will be exploring the amazing gifts the Holy Spirit has on offer, is by investigating saints. Through their investigation, they will be able to choose a saint whom they feel inspires the gifts of the Holy Spirit they want to enact as a confirmed adult in the Catholic Church.
Each week, I will be showcasing a ‘Saint of the Week’, to help families have a conversation about the important role the saint will have in their child’s life. The first saint is Saint Angela Merici.
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 are now closed. Unfortunatley, No late registrations will be accepted.
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.
Saint’s Name for Confirmation and Sponsor’s Name
If you did not provide this information in your registration form, please provide this information as soon as possible to the Sacramental Program Coordinator at sc.belconnennorth@cg.org.au
Purchasing a Stole
Purchasing a stole is optional - it is not compulsory (you can borrow one on the day).
If you wish to purchase a stole please make a payment of $20 through the Qkr! App when you are registering your child for the Sacrament.
The stoles that are purchased will be delivered to the schools and the School of Religion in the first two weeks of August.
Trybooking for the Sacrament
The Trybooking for you to book which service you would like to attend with your child to celebrate the Sacrament will open on 8 August 2022.
The links to book will be published on the parish website at www.cg.org.au/belconnennorth
The Sacrament of Reconciliation 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
Scholastic Book Club News - GROW YOUR HOME LIBRARY WITH THE FREE BOOK OFFER!
Issue 5 of Scholastic Book Club for 2022 will be handed out today and orders need to be placed by Monday 8 August. Every child deserves access to quality and affordable books, and Scholastic Book Club offers great prices with Value Books as low as $3 on every issue of Book Club. Best of all, if you order on Issue 5 you can select FREE BOOKS!
Place your Issue 5 order on LOOP to select up to 3 FREE BOOKS. To qualify all you have to do is spend over $30 and you can select 1 FREE book, or spend over $50 and you can select 2 FREE books or over $70 and you can select 3 FREE titles from a special online list. The list will display after you create your order and head to the checkout.
It is easy to order. All orders are placed using Book Club LOOP platform which allows parents to pay by credit card. Your child’s order is submitted directly to school safe and sound and the books will be delivered to class. You can place your child’s order at scholastic.com.au/LOOP or using the LOOP app, which can be downloaded from the App Store or Google Play.
Did you know that 20% of your Book Club order goes back to our school in Scholastic Rewards? These Rewards are redeemed on Books and Educational Resources which helps stretch our budget further.
Chief Minister’s Reading Challenge
The Chief Minister’s Reading Challenge finishes on 19 August. Students are required to give their completed reading records to Veronica Melville by Friday 19 August for verification. Students who are still completing the reading requirements are encouraged to speak to their teacher or school librarian for assistance and book recommendations.
Still looking for great reads? Check out the recent work of some of our CMRC Ambassadors.
10 Minutes of Danger is a book by Jack Heath. The book is a collection of short stories about asteroids, volcanoes, funnel web spiders and killer robots.
Tania McCartney has just finished writing the third book in the Plume picture book series. It is about a little penguin who travels the world – it’s called Plume: Festival Seeker. It will be out this November. Tania is also working on a massive Wildlife Compendium of the World book—She knows kids will love it! It’s out around May 2023.
Stephanie Owen Reeder’s latest narrative nonfiction picture book Swifty: The Super-fast Parrot, illustrated by Astred Hicks and published by CSIRO Publishing, is ready to take flight on 1 October.
We are fortunate to have several pickup points, after school, for our families. I know that your children are very excited to see you at the end of the day and often it is the highlight of your own day. Here are some gentle reminders, for all families, regarding afternoon pick-up:
Blacktop
- All children are to wait under the cover, outside of the Japanese Room, until the Front of School Duty teacher arrives to cross them over the crossing.
- Children are not to cross the crossing unless they can see their parent waiting for them at the gate.
- We walk across the crossing, to the Blacktop or Church Carpark.
Drive-through
- Children are to wait at the Front of the School along the wall of the South Block classroom.
- Please ensure your child is able to put their seat-belt on independently. Parents hopping out of cars to assist with this, interrupts the smooth flow of the carline.
- Children are to access their car between the two crossings and It is preferred that all children access the car from the curb side, so that they are not entering the road.
- Please move forward when the car in front of you exits the car line.
Chomley Carpark
- All children must wait, for the duty teacher to arrive at the East Playground before making their way to the Chomley Carpark.
- Children are to wait on the grassed area, behind the coppers logs, with the duty teacher, until their car arrives for pick-up.
Copland College Carpark
- All children must wait, for the duty teacher to arrive at the West Playground before making their way to the Copland College Carpark.
- All children are to use the underpass to access this carpark. Under no circumstances, is any child to cross Copland Drive.
Thanks to the following dedicated volunteers who ensured a great start to the term in the canteen; Katherine O'Sullivan, Sam Cox, Jane Rabbets, Tim Porter and Katrina Ciampa.
I would love to have some help this Friday if you have some time, please sign in on our volunteer sign-up sheet.
Due to the pupil free day next Friday, the canteen will only be open on Thursday.
Many thanks!
Wendy
wendy.regan@cg.catholic.edu.au
Realm DrillDance Senior and Junior teams are now recruiting for the upcoming 2022-2023 season.
We are looking forward to another fantastic season! Training will commence in August at Hall ACT.
Please email drilldanceact@gmail.com for more information.
