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Dear St Monica's families and friends,
Grandparents have always been important. Today, they're even more important. In busy, two-career and single-parent families, an involved grandparent goes a long way to filling a void for children. A teacher friend of mine had her grade four student’s talk about their heroes one day in class. One girl said her grandmother was her hero. When the teacher asked why, the girl explained, "Because she's the only one in the whole world who can boss my parents around!"
The special kind of love you get from a grandparent is a love you can't get anywhere else. It is an important kind of love – in fact, a very important kind of love. Parents have to worry about who children will become in the future; their role is to be providers and disciplinarians. Grandparents can just enjoy children for who they are in the moment. The love of a grandparent is often freer, more unconditional, and far less psychologically complex than a parent's love. The love of a parent and the love of a grandparent are different, and both are necessary. One study of school-aged children found that if they were in charge of family holidays, their first choice would be to go to... grandma/grandpa's house – "because it's fun."
Extract by Susan V. Bosak from How to Build the Grandma Connection
Grandparent's Day - We are looking forward to welcoming Grandparents and Special visitors to our school tomorrow. The meeting point will be in the courtyard at 9.30am. The eldest children of each family will come and meet their visitor and show them around the school. Following classroom visits we will be providing a Devonshire Tea and entertainment from our school choir. We're so excited to welcome visitors back to our school.
School Staff Appreciation and World Teacher's Day - Tomorrow we celebrate the wonderful staff of St Monica's Primary School. Thank you to the parent community who have provided a special Morning Tea and Lunch for all staff in recognition of the dedication they give all our students each and every day.
Calendar Updates
Please note that the last day of Term 4 (Friday, 16 December 2022) is a pupil free day.
School Fees - Fees were emailed out on Thursday 13 October and they are due on Friday 11 November unless paying by direct debit. If you are paying by direct debit please ensure that your fees are paid in full by the end of the school year. If you are experiencing financial hardship and you need to discuss your fees please contact Kirralea Thompson or book an appointment to come and see me.
If you are leaving St Monica’s at the end of the year please ensure your fees are paid in full. The signature/s that appears on the enrolment form is the person who is legally responsible for the payment of fees. This is the person/s that we will be seeking payment from.
If you are leaving the school at the end of 2022 and the fees are not paid in full, we kindly request that you contact Kirralea to discuss an arrangement for payment of fees from 2023.
Peace and blessings to all families,
Happy Birthday to the following students celebrating a Birthday this week
Emma N, Aaliyah S
Grandparent's and Grandfriend's Day - Tomorrow is Grandparent's and Grandfriend's Day! We can't wait to welcome you all back into our school to visit in classrooms and then to share a cuppa and a scone!
National Teacher's and Educator's Day - Tomorrow is also National Teacher's and Educator's Day. Make sure you thank your wonderful teachers and educators for all that they do to make each day a wonderful day at St Monica's!
Sacrament of Reconciliation for eligible Year 3 students (and students in Years 4, 5 and 6 who have not yet celebrated the Sacrament) will be celebrated on:
- 8 November in St Michael’s Church – Kaleen from 3.30pm to 5pm.
- 9 November in St Monica’s Church – Evatt from 3.30pm to 6pm.
Trybooking for the Sacrament
The Trybooking for you to book which Church you would like to attend with your child ie: 8 November in St Michael’s Church or 9 November in St Monica’s Church, opens on Monday 31 October and closes by Friday 4 November. Please feel free to book either church for this Sacrament. You will be required to book a 5 minute timeslot 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
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
| Class | Student | Focus |
| KB | Lyndon H | Myself |
| KB | Abigail P | Myself |
| KRD | Archer P | Myself |
| KRD | Annabelle W | Myself |
| KSH | Jack R | Myself |
| KSH | Ethan S | Myself |
| 1BC | Hugh B | Myself |
| 1RC | Ella C | Myself |
| 1RC | Ryan W | Myself |
| 2E | Quinn A | Myself |
| 2E | Molly O | Others |
| 2L | Dominic G | Myself |
| 2L | Charlotte T | Myself |
| 2MD | Clementine A-C | Myself |
| 2MD | Alex H | Myself |
| 3CG | Mason Mc | Myself |
| 3CG | Nicholas M | Myself |
| 3R | Alec F | Myself |
| 4C | Zander R | Myself |
| 4C | Elyse S | Others |
| 4LG | Alexis B | Myself |
| 4LG | Maggie P | Myself |
| 5FM | Joseph J | Myself |
| 5FM | Joshua S | Myself |
| 5H | Lachlan J | Myself |
| 5H | Tessa S | Myself |
| 5M | Matthew M | Myself |
| 5M | Sienna R | Others |
| 6J | Mya L | Myself |
| 6J | Jack P | Myself |
| 6M | Vsevolod K | Myself |
| 6M | Christian M | Myself |
Just over a week to go till the return of the St Monica's Trivia Night! It has been a long time between quizzes and we are currently dusting off the "Brains Trust" Trophy ready for the victorious team of 2022! The silent auction will also make a comeback with some lovely prizes donated by GPG Lawyers, Canberra Indoor Rock Climbing, Belconnen Bunnings, Chatime Belconnen, Exquisite Jewellers Kippax, Dendy, Belconnen Labor Club, Birdsnest, Inflatable World Kambah, Palace Cinema, Questacon, Florey Hair Design and Canberra Raiders just to name a few!
So be sure to pull out your best rockstar gear, jump on Qkr to grab a ticket and sort yourself into tables of up to 10 (or just come along and jump onto a table on the night). Remember BYO drinks, food and your "night off from the kids".
A gentle reminder about the parking on the blacktop. When parking in the two middle rows please try and park as close to the other cars as you can and leave a space for cars to circle around.
Writing Workshop with Children’s Author Cate Whittle
On Monday the winners of our Grandparents Poetry Writing Competition had a fantastic morning working with local author Cate Whittle writing and editing stories using photos as inspiration. They were buzzing after the workshop. Below the students shared one word to describe the workshop. The visit was partly funded by an ACT Children’s Week grant.
Thanks to last weeks super volunteers - Sarah Clark, Tracy D’Ambrosio, Jane Rabbets, Katarina Pilatic, Katrina Ciampa and Rach Pentes. Despite having Year 5 and 6 away on camp we still had heaps of lunch orders and my wonderful volunteers did a fantastic job as always.
Speaking of wonderful volunteers I really missed my Year 6 helpers last week as they assist in many ways but especially with the speedy delivery of orders to classes at recess and lunch. I asked Year 4 to step up into the role and they did a fabulous job. See the gorgeous photo of 4C waiting patiently and excitedly to do their delivery run. It is one of the highlights of my job working with the amazing children at St Monica’s school.
This Friday is Grandparent’s Day and Crazy Sock Day. The canteen will be joining in the celebration with some fun foods on offer such as the ever popular lolly bags. These will be available both on Qkr! and for cash sales.
Woolworths currently has a reward offer for their customers. I noticed they have cutlery sets on offer. If anyone is not utilising their award entitlement the canteen would love donations of cutlery sets. We could utilise a set for special events (such as the Year 6 farewell) and the tea spoons and forks are always required for lunch orders and morning teas.
