Dear St Monica’s families and friends,

There is rarely a week at school that isn’t full of activity! That’s what being part of a school community is all about. In recent weeks we have had visiting authors, Fathers’ Day celebrations, Confirmation, Class excursions, Music & Drama Incursions, Feast Day, Walk-a-thon. We have much to celebrate and in the midst of all these additional extras our regular teaching and learning program continues.

Confirmation 2023 – Congratulations to all of our 2023 confirmation candidates, who this week received the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. It is an incredibly special journey for these young people, as they enter and they embark on a journey to look at our Catholic faith in a more adult way.

Catholic Education Catalyst Podcasts

“Learning about Catalyst” We are so blessed to have Maggie’s passion and expertise, for the Science of Learning and Science of Reading, front and centre here at St Monica’s. Click on the link to access the podcast: Learning about Catalyst – Maggie Lloyd

School visits – we have been inundated with requests from visiting practitioners from other schools, dioceses, educational departments and organisations to see the teaching and learning that is occurring at St Monica’s. Thank you to our Classroom Teachers for opening and welcoming outsiders into your classrooms. Our visitors are in awe of your professionalism and your students, who are always so engaged in their learning.

Celebrating our wonderful School Support Staff - Everyone at our school works hard but I thought I’d sing the praises of the wonderful support staff we have at St Monica’s. Last week it was 'Australian Teacher's Aide Week'

Anna, Carmel, Emily C, Emily H, Emily P, Esme, Kirralea, Lauren, Lily, Maria, Natalie, Sharon, Steph, Unnati, Wendy and Youngmin for all that you do and all with a smile! I witness these ladies in action daily and it is lovely to watch them do amazing things with and give so much of themselves to our students! You are described in this article as Superheroes, you certainly are in our eyes! ‘Why teacher’s aides deserve our appreciation every single day’

Welcome to the newest member of the St Monica's School Community. Congratulations to Vincent - (K Blue) and his family on the birth of baby Dominic.  

Dates for your diary…

• Tomorrow! 3M will lead us in Whole School Prayer – Global Schools Partnerships
• Monday 11 September: St Monica’s Chess Tournament
• Tuesday 19 September: Campbell Sloane, CECG Compass school support officer, will be here to answer questions and to fix any glitches parents may have associated with the Compass portal.

Confirmation

Candidates last night received the Sacrament of Confirmation in a simple but beautiful liturgy. Tonight the second half of our candidates will be blessed with the Holy Spirit. We keep all candidates and newly confirmed in our hearts and prayers at this special time.

Whole School Prayer

Our next whole school prayer time will be tomorrow Friday 8 September with 3Maroon leading us in prayer focusing on our Global School Partners school, Founder’s Academy. We are fortunate to have Simon Carroll from Global School Partners visiting to speak to us during the Whole School Prayer and then join classes later in the day sharing more specific details about life in the day of a young child from Founder’s Academy. You are all invited to join us in prayerful reflection on how we can reach out to others in need at this whole school prayer time from 9.10am in St Monica’s Church.

Sacrament of Confirmation

Congratulations to the 62 candidates who are celebrating the Sacrament of Confirmation this week in our parish.

Please keep these young people in your prayers.

2024 Sacramental Program – for students who are baptised and in Years 4-6 in 2024.

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

Sacrament of First Communion will be celebrated in Term 2, 2024.

Sacrament of Confirmation will be celebrated in Term 3, 2024.

For further Information – please contact the Sacramental Program Coordinator at sc.belconnennorth@cg.org.au or check the parish website at www.cg.org.au/belconnennorth

On Monday students in Year 2 to Year 5 had a fantastic time with visiting author Nat Amoore. The students' reflections reflect the fun time they had with Nat. 

Nuhamin - "Nat makes awesome books with pranks and they are really funny." 

Dom - "Nat's visit was amazing, cool and funny." 

Charlie - "Nat was really funny. She loves kids more than adults and she is really happy that she writes books for kids."

Sophie -  " I found Nat really interesting because of all her adventurous stories and she was so entertaining." 

Ciresa -  "Nat made the time fun and adventurous and took us into a new world."

Ruben - "Nat shared her enthusiasm for books and enjoys writing for kids more than adults. She has been dreaming of people wanting her autograph since she was 6 years old and has never given up on that dream."

Yar -  "Nat was funny and told logical stories."

If you would like to learn more about how we are engaging our children and their learning we will be running a parent session in our school library on Tuesday 12 September from 3.30pm-4.30pm.   

This session will be facilitated by Toni Hatten-Roberts who has been supporting our school over the past three years with our Catalyst journey.