Dear St Monica’s families and friends,

We say here at St Monica’s that there is something for everyone! We celebrate the uniqueness of all our students and encourage them to just ‘be themselves’ This mentality is just as true for the adult members of our school community as well.

Part of being yourself is having some self-compassion for yourself. Self-compassion is being kind to yourself even when things don’t go the way you expect. It’s being aware of your feelings and treating yourself with the same warmth, care and understanding you would give someone you care about. At times, you might find that you are too hard on yourself. You might compare yourself to other parents and judge yourself harshly… this is natural. Self-compassion helps you be kinder to yourself.

When you’re self-compassionate, you’re a good role model for your child.  By role-modelling kindness to yourself, you’re helping your child learn that it’s OK to make mistakes, forgive yourself and try to do better next time. This helps your child develop self-compassion too.

Sabbath Week – Woo hoo it’s Week Seven, Sabbath Week! Have you been able to take some time out of your busy schedule this week to relax, refresh and reflect? Everyone looks forward to Sabbath Week where there are no meetings and things are made low key for the week. People tell me they often feel refreshed during and after Sabbath week as it allows them to catch up on bits and pieces and to think about slowing down a little. Normally, we are so busy rushing around trying to get things done; we sometimes miss out on the wonderful things that are happening around us.

World’s Greatest Shave - Please support Laura R in 6B who is shaving her head tomorrow at 12.45pm in the Courtyard to help the Leukaemia Foundation and families facing the challenges of blood cancer. You can donate to Laura’s cause here: https://secure.leukaemiafoundation.org.au/registrant/FundraisingPage.aspx?RegistrationID=873861

Harmony Week – next week is Harmony Week, celebrated Australia wide and brings together all Australians from all different backgrounds. The week is about inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging for everyone. Next Tuesday, we will acknowledge and celebrate the diverse cultures that exist at our school. All members of our school community are encouraged to wear orange, or the National Dress from the country / culture they come from.

A very warm welcome to the following families who have joined our school community recently: Adhikari family (Aarshi 4B), Singh family (Gurnoor 2B), Todd family (Cooper 5W) and the Faisal family (Areesha 4W and Aryaan 6W).  May you have a long and happy association with St Monica’s Primary School.

Important dates for your diaries:

• NAPLAN Language Conventions – Monday 20 March
• NAPLAN Numeracy – Tuesday 21 March
• Harmony Day (wear orange) – Tuesday 21 March
• St Monica’s Fete – Saturday 1 April.

Peace and blessings always,

Happy Birthday to the following students  celebrating a Birthday this week -

Cooper D, Toby H, Eden L, Ostin D, Spencer L, Stela J, Zara C, Ivana P, Tessa S

If you have a child that has been baptised in Years 4- 6 in 2023 this may be a Sacramental year for your family.

Sacrament of First Eucharist will be celebrated on the weekend of 17 and 18 June 2023 across the four Parish Sunday Masses - 

5.00pm - 17 June at St Monica's Church, Evatt

8.00am - 18 June at St Michael;s Church, Kaleen

10.00am - 18 June at St Monica's Church, Evatt and

5.30pm - 18 June at St Michael's Church, Kaleen.

Registrations open on Monday 3 April 2023 and will close by Friday 28 April 2023. Registration for the Sacrament must be made via the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Qkr! App (not the School App). No late registrations will be accepted after the closing date.

Sacrament of Confirmation will be celebrated on 5, 6 and 7 September 2023.

Sacrament of Reconciliation will be celebrated in Term 1 in 2024.

For further Information – 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

Spotlight on Year 3

Year 3 are learning about how people build their relationship with God in communities. Some big questions they are asking are:

• What is a community? 
• How do people belong in community?  
• Why do people create communities? 
• How is faith expressed in community?  
• How does prayer support our faith life? 

Year 3 have already looked at the role respect plays in living in community and how we can walk together in faith as a community. Check out our great work so far this term.

Religious Life of the School

Whole School Prayer

You’re Invited!  Our next Whole School Prayer Time is tomorrow, Friday 17 March. Whilst it is St Patrick’s Day tomorrow, Year 2 will be leading us to reflect on our value of Respect. All families are warmly invited to join us from 9.10am in the church for this Whole School Prayer Time.

Project Compassion

Project Compassion’s theme this year is ‘Together, we can make a difference now, and For All Future Generations.’ Each classroom has a donation box where children are encouraged to help fundraise for Project Compassion during Lent. The Social Justice group are excited to be encouraging student donation to earn some rewards around the school. Our first target is $100 and the students have already achieved this and will be rewarded with 10 minutes extra lunch play time this week. Our next goal will be to raise over $400 when the students could be treated to a movie afternoon in their classes.

Congratulations to St Monica's 5/6 White for progressing on to the Finals (Phase 2) of the Netball ACT Schools Gala Day Competition to be held at Lyneham Netball Centre on 11 May 2023. We will look forward to another great day of fun and competition.