Happy Birthday to the following students  celebrating a Birthday this week 

Isabella A, Saskia H, Hamish C, Ethan, S, Lucas C, Nicola B, Bailey D-C, Joshua H, Lucas S, Aya T, Flynn P, Grace R, Lorenzo S, Sonny S

Thank you to all  the students who entered our school Poetry Competition. We had some wonderful responses that reflect how treasured our grandparents really are. These students will be participating in a writing workshop next week with Cate Whittle (Upper primary) or Mrs Brown (Lower primary).

Congratulations Gracie H, Lucy D, Faustina A, Eden T, Liam N, Charlotte T, Angelo R, Jamie L, Alexa I, Xavier P, Mitchell C, Luci G, Lucas Carr, Josh R, Natalia S, Felix R, Kushi R, April A-C, Sian S, Emma N, Esther L, Isabella H, Sienna, Emma O.

 Grandparents are very sweet,

They’re people you’d like to meet.

Biscuits dipped in tea,

A warm hug for me.

Come and they’ll offer you a seat.

Isabella H 5H

Writers Workshop Competition

On Monday 24 October local children's author Cate Whittle will be visiting  St Monica's. Cate is a teacher and has published 8 books. She will be running two-hour writing workshops with the winners of our Grandparents Poetry Competition.  Cate will take them through the process of writing and editing a story. This is a fabulous opportunity for our budding writers to develop their skills. Cate's visit has been partly funded by an ACT Children's Week grant.   

Gardeners needed! 

It’s spring and our garden is growing like crazy! Our sustainability team is keen to get their hands dirty but we need some help! 

St Monica’s is looking for parent volunteers to be involved in a Gardening committee. In the past, we had a small group of parents who looked after our vegie patch, provided advice and assistance with weeding and planting, organised working bees and a roster for watering over the summer. As their children have all moved on, we are looking for new volunteers to get involved. If you are interested, please email Kathy Moir (Year 6 teacher) at katherine.moir@cg.catholic.edu.au

Catholic Mission Month

‘You Will Be My Witnesses’

• Pope Francis

Every year, St Monica’s supports Catholic Mission during Catholic Mission Month in October. This year, Catholic Mission is raising much needed awareness and funds for communities in Ethiopia. Pope Francis is calling on us all to be His witnesses, meaning we are the arms and legs, the ears and eyes and the hands of Jesus.

Last week, our Catholic Mission Challenge was to understand our responsibility for Creation. During Library, each class read ‘Dear Earth’, by Isabel Otter, and then wrote their own letters to Earth, making promises to look after her. The letters will be bound and on display in the foyer next week, so please have a look and a read of them!

This week, our Catholic Mission Challenge is to act with great sportsmanship! Sport is a unifying way to connect with people, no matter our backgrounds or language we speak. Classes will be making a ‘Sockball’ from materials from the classroom or home and use it to play a game of soccer. KSH did this on Tuesday and we had so much fun playing with it. When I asked the children if the type of ball mattered, they all exclaimed ‘No! we had so much fun!’

If your family would like to make a sockball this clip will show you how to do it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPLnuvW7XFo

Revised Dates for the Sacrament of Reconciliation

For eligible Year 3 students (and students in Years 4, 5 & 6 who have not yet celebrated the Sacrament) will be celebrated on:

- 8 November in St Michael’s Church - Kaleen
- 9 November in St Monica’s Church - Evatt

Registrations

Registrations are now closed and no late registrations can be accepted.

Commitment Masses

This weekend 22 and 23 October is your LAST opportunity to attend a Commitment Mass. Candidates and parents must attend one of the weekend Masses at either St Monica’s Church (6pm Saturday or 10am Sunday) or St Michael’s Church (8am or 5.30pm Sunday) to make their commitment for the Sacrament. There will be no additional commitment Masses beyond this weekend.

Trybooking for the Sacrament

The Trybooking for you to book which Church you would like to attend with your child ie November 8 in St Michael’s Church or November 9 in St Monica’s Church will open on Monday 31 October and close by Friday 4 November. You will be required to book a 5 minute timeslot between 3.30pm and 6pm for your child to celebrate the Sacrament with Fr Loi.

The Trybooking links will be listed on the parish website at www.cg.org.au/belconnennorth

Purchased Stoles

Will be delivered to the schools this week for students to take home.

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

Maths Olympiad Opportunity

The International Maths Olympiad Challenge presents the Online Simulated Maths Olympiad (OSMO). The OSMO presents a unique opportunity for certain selected schools to test the calibre of their students against other schools around the world, all in just one round of the Olympiad.

This Simulated Olympiad is entirely free for special Schools (popularly called Selected Schools) nominated for the Simulated Olympiad. The OSMO will be conducted online on 19 - 20 November 2022. (The student can take the online test any time during this 48 hour window). More information can be found on this link- https://www.international-maths-olympiad.com/selected-schools/

If your child is in Years 1-6 and would be interested in participating, please contact Ryan Matchett- ryan.matchett@cg.catholic.edu.au (by Fri 21 October) and I will register your child and send you further information and instructions. 

Readers Cup

On Wednesday 19 October the CBCA ACT Readers Cup was held at Radford College. 27 teams from across Canberra had spent the last six weeks reading 5 novels and had to answer 10 quiz questions on each book. Our Team comprised of Kobe, Zander, Ciresa and Cooper D. They have had a great time over the last few weeks reading the books and quizzing one another about the books. They demonstrated fantastic teamwork in the lead up to the quiz and at the quiz and can be very proud of their achievements.

On Thursday 13 October Sarah, Annalene, Sian, Timofei and Zarah represented St Monica’s at the 2022 ACT Primary School Open Final. They won 15 games out of 28 games and were 2 points behind the third placed team. Congratulations Team!

It has been a looooong time between Trivia Nights and it is a bit exciting that we can get together as a community....finally....to celebrate and reflect on the past few crazy years! We hope to see both the old as well as lots and lots of new faces on Friday 4 November 2022. The theme is Rockstars - because that is what we are as parents - so come just as you or feel free to drag out the pre-kid cool gear. There will be trivia, a silent auction, silly games and just a fabulous chance to reconnect and see each other outside school hours! Tickets can be purchased through Qkr and we ask that you organise yourselves into tables of up to or close to 10 on the night. Looking forward to seeing you all there!

Thank you to my volunteers for last week. We hit Term 4 running and it was fabulous to have such a great crew -  Sharon Friend, Sarah Clark, Esme Rolleston, Angalea Turnbull and Tim Porter.  If you want to join in the fun please just sign up using the attached volunteer link.

volunteersignup.org/3RPFL

We continue to have quite a few lunches coming back for children who are not at school or have gone home sick.  Once the food has been cooked, it goes to waste, therefore we have to charge for this.  If you know that your child will not be at school and it is prior to the Qkr! cut-off 8.45am you can actually cancel your order and get a credit note. Alternatively you can give the school a call and advise us, the message will be passed to me and your order will be kept for the next week.  If you are picking up your sick child we might even have the lunch ready and they can take it home with them, just let the front office know and they will check with me. Thank you for your assistance with this as eliminating waste helps to keep our prices down.

Playgroup Schedule for Term 4!