Dear St Monica’s families and friends,

Staffing news - It is with much excitement that I introduce our newsest staff member ....... Monty!! 

Monty is Cavoodle, he is currently 8 weeks old and his job title is "Education Assistant and Well-being Dog" His main role will be to provide emotional support to the students, staff and families at St Monica's. Monty's owner and handler is Mrs June Edwards and Monty will be on school grounds working for up to a maximum of 3 days per week. Scientific and Anecdotal research around having an Education Assistant dog in a school shows a range of benefits, including but not limited to: 

• Increase in school attendance; 
• Gains in confidence and increased motivation; 
• Decrease in learner anxiety behaviours, resulting in improved learning outcomes;  
• Enhanced relationships with peers and teachers due to experiencing trust and unconditional love plus many more. 

Monty will be trained to react and respond to people and their environment, under the guidance and direction of his handler. Some examples include: 

• Teaching empathy and appropriate interpersonal skills; 
• Help individuals develop social skills;  
• use as a non-confronting audience for student reading activities; and 
• genreal emotional support through animal assisted therapy which can come in many forms.  

Monty will work with multiple people within our community and he will always be supervised by an adult. Students and adults will always be asked to give permission for the support dog to be in their presence or involved in any activity with them. Our entire school community, including students, staff and families, will be kept informed about the role Monty plays. 

If you have any questions or concerns about Monty please contact our Assistant Principal Maggie Lloyd. maggie.lloyd@cg.catholic.edu.au

Welcome... we warmly welcome the Irwin family, Alexa in 2E and Danny in KB. We wish you a long and happy association with our school community.

Baby News... Congratulations to Dominic in 2L who became an uncle to baby Lorenzo this week!

Morning Assemblies - A whole school morning assembly will take place each Monday and Wednesday at 8.55am. Parents are welcome to join us for these assemblies as they take place outside. Please use COVID safe practices if you wish to attend. 

Peace and Blessings to all families,

Lisa 

Happy Birthday to the following students  celebrating a Birthday this week 

Harriett B, Ava C, Sophie C, Diing A, Flynn C, Zachary H, Ella K, Cooper R, Jake W, Caelan A, Sophie C, Marlie H, Alex H, Phoebe D

Sacrament of Confirmation - (For eligible Year 6 students) will be celebrated on 13 September 2022 in St Michael’s Church and 14 September 2022 in St Monica’s Church.

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 a priority to the Sacramental Program Coordinator at sc.belconnennorth@cg.org.au

Trybooking for the Sacrament

The Trybooking links to book which service you would like to attend with your child - 13 September in St Michael's Church or 14 September in St Monica's Church will be published on Monday 8 August on the parish website at  www.cg.org.au/belconnennorth 

Important - As we will have around 80 candidates celebrating the Sacrament - that means we can accommodate 40 candidates and their families at each service, so when you are make your booking, please only book 1 place in the candidate’s name and you will be allocated a pew for your family.

The Sacrament of Reconciliation - (For eligible Year 3 students) will be celebrated on 8, 9, and 10 November 2022 – Registrations will open on Monday 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

Story Dogs Program 

On Monday we welcomed Pen and her dog Frankie from the Story Dogs Program to St Monica’s. They will be visiting the library each Monday morning and reading with 4 students from Year 2. The Story Dog Program is run across Australia and they help 2 865 children each week.  The program makes reading fun, while helping them read through the joy of reading with a friend.  The students loved meeting Frankie a Labradoodle who loves pats and cuddles. The students thought it was a fun way to engage with their reading and a highlight was feeding her Frankie treats and shaking her hand. 

CBCA Sun Project Shadow Judging

Our Year 4 shadow judges have been very busy reading the shortlisted picture books for 2022.  The students have really enjoyed the process though they found it very challenging to select just one book as the winner and as the deadline approached for placing their vote there was intense debate and discussion about the merits of 2 of the books.  The results of the voting will be announced on Storybox on Friday 26 August.  The Book of the Year announcement will be on Friday 19 August and the students are keen to see if they selected the winner.

On Monday the students were able to work in a workshop with Emma Allen, a local author whose books include “The terrible suitcase and Digby and Claude”.  Emma took them through the process of writing a book and helped them work out their creative response to their chosen book.  One student commented that “I liked it because she showed us how she makes her books” and another said “I loved meeting her and how she showed us her books . It was amazing".

CBCA Book Week Events

Author Visits

On Monday 22 August students in Years 3-6 will have the opportunity to meet and work with Harry Laing, a poet, comic performer, creative writing teacher and children’s author. Harry’s books include “Rapperbee”, “Shoctopus” and “Moonfish”.  

On Tuesday local author Amelia McInerney will be visiting the Kindergarten to Year 2 class and sharing her books which include “Who Fed Zed?”, “Bad Crab”, The Chook Book”, “Mary had a little lamb what really happened”  and “My bird Bertie”

Below is information on ordering books before they visit and having them personally signed.  The orders need to be placed by Wednesday 16 August.  A wonderful reminder for students of meeting the author and the wonderful time they enjoyed.

On Thursday 25 August we will be dressing up as a book character.  The theme of the CBCA Book Week this year is “Dreaming with your eyes open”.  It would be great to see students link their character/ costume to the theme.  This is also a wonderful opportunity for students to be creative and make a costume, a time to think about what could be recycled, upcycled or repurposed to the costume.  Our CBCA Book Week dress up day will be a fundraiser for the Story Dogs Program to assist them to continue the great work they are doing. Students will be asked to bring in a gold coin donation.

Library Bags

Recently I have had to remove a number of books from the library collection as they have been returned water damaged.  We understand that accidents happen, but to minimise damage to books we ask that students have a library bag to place the books in when they are putting them in their school bags.  Polly wallets can be purchased at the front office for $10, but a plastic shopping bag will also prevent damage.  Each damaged book costs about $17.00 to replace.  If your child's library book is damaged a donation towards replacement costs through Qkr would be much appreciated.

Thank you for your support and assistance.

Scholastic Book Club

Issue 5 of Scholastic Book Club for 2022 have been handed out  and orders need to be placed by Monday 8 August.  

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.

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. 

Track and Field- Belconnen 

Congratulations to the following 50 students who have qualified for the Belconnen Region Track and Field Carnival to be held at the AIS on Thursday 18 August - 

Sian S, Talija M, Mya L, Eva A, Grace B, Polly D, Amelia H, Maddie N, Annalene L, Arabella A, Milla F, Aria F, Freya S, Aya T, Marissa D, Beatrice O, Lily H, Sienna R, Ivana P, Nellie R, Ella K, April A, Macayla W, Nicholas P, Cooper D, Charlie D, Karlin O, Nikolas H, Diing A, Ater A, Joseph J, Kobe B,  Jake W, Ruben V, Jaryd S, Patrick I, Louis T, Jett S, Sonny S, Jett T, Patrick I, Gus O, Atilio R, Vsvelod K, Alex A, Jack G, Zak D, Gabriel J, Tyler B and Dallas M. 

Please note that it is the top 2 per event who progress to this Carnival. There is no 200m for 8 and 9 year olds and for 8-10 year olds are one age group for long jump, discus and shot put. Permission notes have been sent home and are due back on Monday 8 August. Please let me know if your child is unable to attend so I can offer the spot to another student. I have also sent home a schedule of events and general rules on Compass (also attached). Once students have completed their events they can return to school or if they have an event later in the day can come to school and leave early to attend. 

As I am the convenor for this year's event, if there are any parents who are able to assist on the day please email me. You will be required to assist from 8 am-3 pm. If there were any children who missed out on our school carnival and would like to be considered for inclusion on the day, please see the form attached and fill in. Please read it carefully as there is very strict criteria for being included. 

Please contact me if you require any further information or have any questions. 

Soccer Gala Day

Thank you to the students who have nominated themselves for the Soccer Gala Day in Week 4. We have been able to enter 8 teams (4 in 3/4 and 4 in 5/6). All teams are mixed abilities and gender with the aim of the day being fun and inclusion for all. Team lists will be distributed next week. Draws are currently being developed but teams will get 4-5 games on the day. Please ensure you have read the rules that were sent home with the permission note. 

Thank you to the parents who have volunteered to coach our teams. We are still looking for some more referees if anyone is available to help.  Please contact me if you require any further information or have any questions - ryan.matchett@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.