Dear St Monica’s families and friends,

God of all blessings, you revealed in Mary MacKillop a sensitivity to the rights and dignity of every person, regardless of race or creed. May we learn from her to overcome the obstacles of prejudice and fear. Help us to value the goodness of each person and all the blessings of unity in diversity.
We ask this through the depth and unity of you, our bountiful God, who holds all things in being. Amen

Mary MacKillop Feast Day 

Mary MacKillop Feast Day was celebrated on Monday 8 August. On this day we honoured Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop.  Saint Mary of the Cross was the first Saint of Australia, her influence in the country has spread far and wide. She is recognised for her commitment to the poor, helping those most in need in any way she could. 

We thank the Year 4 Students and their teachers for their beautiful and reverent liturgy celebrating this amazing Saint.  

Our Learning Support Dog

Little Monty has started his in-school-training and has been well received from the St Monica’s community. We want to thank Flynn, Jacob and Joseph, students from Year 5, who wrote a very persuasive text on reasons why our school should receive a Learning Support Dog.

Monty is still just a puppy and the whole St Monica’s family is supporting him with learning how to be an effective learning support dog. We are teaching him different tricks, giving him cuddles, and setting expectations for his behaviour. Monty has already made a lot of our students very happy and provided emotional support and comfort when students were experiencing negative emotions. 

Uniform reminders-

Hats- The beginning of August is 'Hats On’ for primary schools as ultraviolet (UV) levels begin to rise above 3.  Please ensure that your child has their hat, as we will begin enforcing this in the coming weeks.

A reminder that all children must be in the full school winter uniform. We have noticed a few trends creeping in such as footwear, socks and hats.  Please ensure all items of clothing are labelled clearly with your children’s name, so if misplaced, they can be easily returned.

School Registration

Lisa Harris has joined Holy Spirit at Nicholls as part of their school’s registration panel. Our school will be up for registration next year. The reregistration process takes place every five years and includes a panel of representatives who work on reviewing documentation and our school’s facilities. This is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the wonderful learning community and hard working staff we have here at St Monica’s.

Peace and Blessings to all families,

Maggie Lloyd

Happy Birthday to the following students  celebrating a Birthday this week 

Alexa I, Alex A, Emerson P, Olivia B, Paige K, Adriano M, Quinn A, Nathan M, Liam W

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

URGENT - If you did not provide this information in your registration form, please provide this information now to the Sacramental Program Coordinator at sc.belconnennorth@cg.org.au

Trybooking for the Sacrament
The Trybooking for you to book which service you would like to attend with your child ie 13 September in St Michael’s Church or 14 September in St Monica’s Church.

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 (your child) and you will be allocated a pew for your family.

The Trybooking is open and the links are listed on the parish website at www.cg.org.au/belconnennorth

The Trybooking closes this Friday 12 August 2022.

The Sacrament of Reconciliation (For eligible Year 3 students will be celebrated on 8, 9, & 10 November 2022 – Registrations 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

For those in our community who do not know me, I am Ryan Matchett and I have been at St Monica's since the beginning of 2019 as a teacher and coordinator. This year I am teaching Year 2 with Mrs Dawe and I am also a member of our school Leadership team, supporting Mrs Harris and Mrs Lloyd. In my role as a Coordinator, I have taken on many responsibilities over the last 3.5 years and taught in Year 4 and Year 5. This year I am responsible for leading Mathematics in the school, PDHPE (Sport) and supporting all of the teachers in Years 1 and 2. I have been very fortunate to work with wonderful families, leaders and staff in our school, and I really love the community here at St Monica's. 

I have been in education for 12 years and have worked in both NSW and the ACT. Before St Monica's I taught at St John Vianney's Waramanga, St Gregory's Queanbeyan and St Edmund's College Griffith. I am very passionate about education and the amazing things teachers, students and parents can achieve together in partnership. I see teaching not just as a job but also as a vocation where I get to live out my passion each day and work with great students, staff and parents. While I love teaching all areas of the curriculum, I am very passionate about Maths, Religion, Science and PE. 

On a personal level, I am married and have one son Elijah who turned 3 in June. My wife is also a teacher and we met while teaching at another school together. We currently live in Queanbeyan and are active members of our parish community. We also enjoy cooking, baking, exploring new parks with Elijah and spending as much time together as possible. We also travel a fair bit as our families live on the South Coast and Newcastle. As many students would know I am a long-suffering St George Illawarra supporter, and I love watching League, Basketball, Cricket and Tennis. 

I look forward to getting to know many more students and families in our community in the coming years. Please come and say hello if you see me around the school and I am always available for a chat. I am so grateful that I get to work in such a fantastic community at St Monica's, where everyone supports each other to follow in the footsteps of St Monica.

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.

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.