Dear St Monica’s families and friends,

Thanks to all members of the St Monica’s community; parents, staff, students and  parish for your support. However, special thanks and recognition needs to go out to Kirralea Thompson and her extraordinary committee for their pragmatic and exemplary organisation of the 2023 Fete.

We cannot wait to see everyone on Saturday! Invite your family, friends, neighbours, work mates, sports mates to come along. If you live close by, we strongly recommend walking down to the school. It is going to be a beautiful day and parking will be limited. The staff carpark will be reserved for fete committee members, staff and stall holders.

Year 5 Camp: Good luck to our Year 5 students, and their teachers, who will be attending Camp Borambola next Monday – Wednesday. They have a jam packed itinerary and we can’t wait to hear the stories upon their return.

COVID and General Illness: As we enter the cooler months, it is inevitable more staff and students will be afflicted with coughs, colds, flu, COVID and other ailments. If your child is unwell, please keep them at home. Although ACT Health has stated there are no requirements to quarantine where a person tests positive to COVID-19 it is requested that persons who are COVID positive do not attend school when they are unwell, just as they would, if they had flu like symptoms. Families can still access rapid antigen tests (RATs) for their children from the Front Office, should these be required.

FYI....

The Uniform Shop will be open next Thursday morning as it is last day of term. This will give parents the opportunity for families to purchase winter uniform for Term 2.

Don’t forget that Daylight Saving ends on Sunday morning! Clocks go back 1 hour.

Peace and blessings always,

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

Ryan W, Lewis M, Elizabeth D-H, Sam N, Lucas O 

Spotlight on Year 2

Year 2 have been busy learning about relationships with ‘myself, my friends and God’. They have discussed what makes a good friend and how to talk with God. Year 2 put their learning into action with leading the Whole School in prayer focusing on our value of Respect.

Religious Life of the School

Whole School Prayer

You’re Invited!  Our next Whole School Prayer Times are in Holy Week next week, Week 10. All of our prayer times will be held in the Hall. See below for each event:

Monday 3rd April – 9.15am Palm Sunday WSPT Kindergarten

Tuesday 4th April - 9.15am Washing of the Feet (hands) (Year 3)

Wednesday 5th April - 9.15am Last Supper / Agape Meal (Year 4)

Thursday 6th April - 9.15am Stations of the Cross (Year 6)

All families are warmly invited to join us in the Hall for each of these special reflections on Jesus’ Passion. Year 5 will have their own prayer reflections on camp each evening.

Project Compassion

A huge thank you to everyone for your generous support of Project Compassion. Each classroom money box is continually filled each week. Next Thursday will be our final collection day so we can send the money to Caritas to continue their important work supporting those in need. We will let you know in Term 2 how much we managed to raise as a community.

Easter Lessons

Father Mick is visiting the Years 4-6 students this week and sharing with them the Easter Story. It was with great excitement that 5B greeted Father Mick yesterday and investigated the symbols within the special eggs he brought. The students have all been given a special empty egg for opening on Easter Sunday. They have written their own Easter messages inside. 

K-2 students are investigating these 'Resurrection Eggs' in each of their classes with their teachers. 

Thank you Father Mick for your giving of your time and knowledge to help our students come to know better the Easter Story.

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

Sacrament of First Eucharist - will be celebrated across the four Parish Sunday Masses:

5pm - 17 June at St Monica’s Church – Evatt

8am - 18 June at St Michael’s Church – Kaleen

10am – 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).
If you are registering more than 1 child you will need to fully complete and pay for each separate registration.

No late registrations will be accepted after the closing date.

Commitment Masses

Students and parents must attend one of the weekend Masses at either St Monica’s Church (5pm Saturday or 10am Sunday) or St Michael’s Church (8am or 5.30pm Sunday) on one of the dates listed below to make their commitment for the Sacrament.
Saturday 29 April and Sunday 30 April
Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 May
There will be no additional commitment masses beyond these dates.

Purchasing a Stole for First Eucharist

Purchasing a stole is optional and is not compulsory (you can borrow one on the day). If you wish to purchase a stole please make a payment of $20 through the Qkr! with the registration and the stole will be delivered to the schools and the School of Religion (SOR).

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

Sacrament of Reconciliation will be celebrated in Term 1, 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

Pride Badges will be given out at Assembly on Thursday 6 April 2023 at 9.10am in the School Hall

Blacktop Parking: When parking up on the Blacktop, we can fit 4 rows of cars. Please park as close to the fence as you can when parked in the front row, leave enough space for cars to get around when parked in the middle rows and, where possible, reverse park into the back rows.

Chomley Pick-up & Parking: We received a notice from the Body Corporate of the Copland Drive apartment complex to say, “residents have advised that parents of children attending St Monica’s, frequently park within the complex while picking up their children. We have also had reports of parents speeding through the driveway to get to the carpark out the back. Please note the complex is private property and parents must not be parking in the driveways or speeding through the complex, as this creates unnecessary risks to children and residents who live in the complex.” We kindly ask parents to use the Chomley Court entrances to access this carpark. Many thanks for your support and understanding of this.

League and Touch ACT Rep Teams

Please see below details for how to register for League and Touch ACT rep teams.

SSACT State Team Selection Trials Open – Rugby League

12&U Rugby League

https://schoolsportact.org.au/sports/rugby-league/

It is important to register prior to the first trial so Team Officials are best prepared.

SSACT State Team Selection Trials Open – Touch Football

12&U Boys Touch Football

15&U Boys Touch Football

12&U Girls Touch Football

15&U Girls Touch Football

https://schoolsportact.org.au/sports/touch-football/

It is important to register prior to the first trial so Team Officials are best prepared.

Cybersafety Webinar

On Tuesday students from Years 3-6 participated in an online webinar titled, Be an eSafe kid: Connect, Reflect, Protect through the Safety Commissioner. Students focused on identifying the different ways we connect online, reflecting on how connections, posts and comments can affect themselves and others and developing ways to protect themselves using help-seeking and reporting strategies. I encourage you to have a conversation with your child about the key messages from this webinar. 

Save the Date

Cross Country Term 2 – Thursday 4 May

Parent helpers will be invited to assist on the course at checkpoints. Further information to come.

FREE LESSONS AVAILABLE!!

Instrumental Music is off to a great start this year. We are eager to increase the numbers in the school band and are offering students who choose a band instrument a free term of lessons and instrument use. The places available are

6x clarinets, 3x trumpets, 4 x saxophones and 3 flutes.

After the term students will be given the opportunity to enrol in a paid lesson spot, or, if not wishing to continue, they can simply return the instrument.

Lessons are currently held during school time on a Monday. If you would like to take advantage of this term offer or for more information regarding the program, you can contact Musicorp on 1300 858 911 or complete our expression of interest directly at https://rent.musicorp.com.au/tuition_online_eoi/ 

Steve McAlpine - Instrumental Music Tutor