Achieve - all that you can

Jesus said therefore

‘What is the Kingdom of God like?  And to what shall I compare it?  It is like the mustard seed that someone took and sowed in the garden; it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches’.    

Luke 13: 18-20

St Monica - A Model of Patience

School - Patience, Stewardship, Acceptance

It's not too late to book your tickets for the 'Tiara's, Tradies & Trivia' night tomorrow night,  Friday 2 August! Invite all your friends, family & colleagues, the more, the merrier!

Follow this TryBooking link to secure your tickets. https://www.trybooking.com/523366

A huge thank you to Ray White Canberra for their very generous financial support. Their donation has paid for our MC/Quiz Master from Complete Entertainment for the night. This means all money from ticket and auction sales will go straight to the school!

If you are thinking of selling your property, make sure you consider Ray White Canberra. Support our supporters.

Come out for a night of great fun, a great opportunity to meet some fantastic parents from our school community.

#getyournameonthebrain!

Dear Parents,

Staffing

For the last 5 weeks of this term, I will be taking leave to travel overseas with a group of Principals to walk in the footsteps of St Paul. During my absence, Luke Donnelly will be Acting Principal and Elizabeth Foster will take on the role of Acting Assistant Principal. We are in the process of finalising who will take on the role of Acting Coordinator during this time. This is a wonderful professional opportunity for members of the St Monica's staff to experience different leadership roles. 

Science Grant

St Monica's was successful in receiving a $350 Science grant to promote our Science Week activities to be held on Thursday 15 August. Congratulation to Monika Richards who submitted the grant. More information to follow once Monika returns from her leave next week.

Kinder 100 days

What an achievement for our Kindergarten children. Congratulations, they all look so grown up. 

A reminder to the community that it is time for hats to be worm again. As a SunSmart school, all children are to wear their hat when outdoors from Monday. 

God bless

Carmel Maguire 

The annual satisfaction surveys of parents, students and staff are currently being conducted in all Catholic School in our Archdiocese. The surveys are designed to gather feedback from parents, staff and students about our school and will be used to inform school improvement and the development of the St Monica's 2020 - 2022 Strategic Plan. Responses are confidential and individuals can not be identified. 

Parent surveys were launched via email on Monday 29 July using the parent email addresses supplied to the school. If you do not receive an email with a link to the survey please email the school office and we will send you a link. Children will be provided with the link to the student survey at school.

The survey closes on 9 August 2019. To date, 54 parents have responded to the survey. Your feedback is important so please make this a priority.

• Calmly tolerate a delay or confusion
• Are willing to wait for things we want
• Set goals and stick with them until they are finished
• 
  Do something now that will help in the future
• Accept things you cannot change with humour and grace
• Are tolerant when mistakes are made

Patience is a Virtue

We have all used or heard this truism, and it rolls off the tongue very easily. It is however, a rather difficult concept to practice. In our modern world of speed and instant connectivity, we become very intolerant of the need to show patience or to wait. As teachers, one of the most effective strategies we use is wait time… the time to process, to think and to generate a response. Most of us don’t like being “put on the spot”, neither do our children. Build some think time into your daily routine, take a moment if the traffic is heavy, or the lights change, or the WiFi doesn’t respond, perhaps you are safe and where you are meant to be right at that moment, maybe give thanks for the wonders of our modern world. Being patience is a skill built with much practice!

We hope your first conversation for protective behaviours at home was a great success and that many of your children have learnt the 5 My Body Safety Rules.

This week the learning intention is for students to understand that their body belongs to them. It will also be the first time you might like to discuss the allocated books for your child's class. The children will have the books read to them next term.

You can preview the books by clicking on their image below. The video is a review from Cath Hakanson, a consultant for material on protective behaviours, who provides practical advice for parents and teachers using the books.

Kinder	Years 1 - 4	Years 5 and 6

The overview of the program below includes links to resources to support you and the conversation you might like to have with your child.

We have now launched the new Home Learning Policy, which was reviewed last term. Each student has been given the attached infographic for you to see what Home Learning now looks like at St Monica's. The full updated policy can be viewed here on the website: https://www.stmonicas.act.edu.au/policies-guidelines 

Thank you to the students, staff and parents who contributed their voice to the review of the policy. Special thanks to the staff and parents who formed the committee and attended the Home Learning Workshop. 

To assist parents with the teaching of reading we are offering the following workshop at St Monica's on Wednesday 21 August between 9.15am - 11.00am.

The workshop will be presented by James Lyra. James is a registered early childhood teacher and a paediatric occupational therapist. He has held roles as a classroom teacher, an occupational therapist and literacy specialist.

Overview

• How does our English writing system work?
  
  • What are the sounds (phonemes)? 
    
  • What are the spellings (graphemes)?
• ​​What is Sounds-Write and how does it fit within our literacy teaching?
• Walkthrough of the Sounds-Write lessons and parent practice
  • ​Lesson 1 - Word Building
  • Lesson 2 - Symbol Search
  • Lesson 4 - Word Reading
• ​Reading with children at home
  
  • ​Selecting books to read with/to your child
  • How can parents help when their child reads a take-home reader?

Click the link to register

https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/sounds-write-kinder-and-year-1-parent-workshop-tickets-66799313545

Safe Parking Bahaviour

Unsafe driving and parking behaviours increase the potential road safety risk for children around schools. Road safety is a shared responsibility, it is important the road rules are followed near our school to ensure the entire school community feels safe.

Please remember children are more at risk than adults around schools because they are smaller and less visible to drivers. They are also less predictable and less experienced, which makes them more likely to make errors of judgement.

Failing to follow simple road rules like parking on the verge, in no stopping zones, in bus stops, near children’s crossings, on footpaths or across driveways increases the risk to children around schools. Please do the right thing to create a safe environment around our school.

Enforcement Around Schools

Parking Operations use a Licence Plate Recognition vehicle (or electronic chalking), which regularly patrols school environments to increase safety for children. Motorists that commit an offence will receive their infringement notice in the mail (rather than on their windscreen) 5-7 days after the offence.

While the school can become congested during the peak times, illegal parking should be avoided at all times as it creates an unsafe environment for children and local residents. Parents are welcome to park on side streets around the school, but please remember to park legally. Infringements for parking on nature strips, footpaths, verges, street corners and near children’s crossings start from $114.

More information is available on the Transport Canberra website to promote safe behaviours around schools. Please help to make our school community safe.

Dress Up as a Book Character Day

Dress up as a Book Character Day will be held on Thursday 22 August. The theme of Book Week this year is Reading is my Secret Power.  This theme lends itself to students thinking about books and characters that have inspired them, challenged them or taught them a lesson that has changed them for the better.  In the next few weeks spend time talking and reflecting with your children on characters that have had a positive impact on them. Choose one of these characters rather than a superhero such as Spiderman.  There will be a parade in the school hall at 9.30am.  Prizes will be awarded for the best dressed in each year level.

Chief Minister’s Reading Challenge Ambassador Visit

This year St Monica’s is participating in the Chief Minister’s Challenge.  The challenge involves students reading 30 books before 21September.  Information about the challenge can be found at this link The Chief Minister's Reading Challenge. The students have received their Individual Student Reading Record.  When the students finish a book, it must be initialled by their parents or teacher.

On Friday 16 August the Chief Minister Challenge Ambassador, Jack Heath, will be visiting St Monica’s to share a story and his experiences as a writer and reader. It would be great for students to have their updated reading record ready to show Jack.

Term 3 School Fees Due: Friday 30 August

Fees are being invoiced this week. Full payment of fees is due within four weeks each term, except for families on Direct Debit payment arrangements.

We have over $90,000 outstanding in past fees. Please settle your account as a matter of urgency.

A reminder to families that

Enrolment of children at a Catholic diocesan school in the Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn carries with it the undertaking by parents/guardians to accept the obligation to pay all school fees. It is, however, a matter of Catholic Education Commission policy that inability (not unwillingness) to pay school fees should never exclude any child from a Catholic school.

Please contact the School Finance Officer, or Principal should you be experiencing genuine hardship and will not be able to pay your fees in full by the due date.

Belconnen Athletics

Congratulations to the following 44 students who have qualified to attend the Belconnen Athletics Carnival on Monday 19 August - Alani A, Fletcher B, Ben B, Daniel B, Emma B, William C, Isabella C, Samuel C, Remy D, Zak D, Archie E, Annabelle F, Bethanie G, Sam G, Riley H, Conner H, Imogen H, Josephine H, Lily H, Brian H, Joseph J, Ryan K, Isabella M, James Mc, Alicia Mc, Bastijan P, Lucija P, Bella P, Nicholas P, Layla R, Laura R, Katie R, Adrian S, Aiden S, Olivia S, Isabella S, Samantha S, Dita S, Luca S, Brock S, Archie S, Princess U, Jade W and Leila W.

The St Monica’s staff are organising our Neighbourhood Walkathon for Friday 13 September. Parents, carers and grandparents are invited to join the teachers and students on a walk around Evatt and Melba. The Neighbourhood Walkathon is an annual fundraising venture for our school and we ask students to obtain sponsorship for their walk. Information including Permission notes and Pledge Card have been sent home with children today.

St Monica's Chess Annual Chess Tournament - LAST chance to enter

Our Annual Chess Tournament is on again tomorrow.  This tournament is free for anyone who would like to enter and is open to ALL students who can play chess from Years 1-6.  Refer to the entry form for further details.  Entries have to be returned to the office by tomorrow morning!

Happy Birthday to the following students - 

Harriett B, Ava C, Sophie C, Makenna M, Ruby S, Diing A, Zachary H, Brian H, Maeve J, Cooper R, Princess U, Jake W

Canteen Roster - Term 3, Week 3

Monday - Vacancy

Tuesday - June Manning

Wednesday - Vacancy

Thursday - June Manning

Friday - Tracy D'Ambrosio, Samantha Cox, Jane Rabbets, Wendy Regan, Katrina Ciampa, Evelyn David-Hoole

Has your child tried the canteen made Hot Roast Beef Rolls on a Tuesday. The beef is slow cooked and served on a roll with either handmade gravy or tomato sauce. Great for a cold winters day.

Samantha Manning - Canteen Manager - 62584687

Community Council Open Meeting 

Trivia Night
St Monica's Annual Trivia Night is on again tomorrow night.  We encourage you to come along, get a table together and ready yourself for some laughs and swags of bargains to be purchased at our silent auction.  If you don't have enough for a table - never fear our awesome organisers can accommodate.  It promises to be a great night and a great opportunity for parents to get together and have some fun! 

Community Council Open Meeting 
Our next meeting is at 6:30pm next Wednesday evening, 7 August,  and will be an open meeting.  All parents/community members are invited to come along. Drinks and nibbles will be available on the night.

If you have any ideas or concerns please email them through to our Secretary Fiona Steinberg at Council.StMonicas@cg.catholic.edu.au  

  Friday 9 August - Movie & PJ Night - Instant Family (PG)

Year 5 & 6 only -  6:00pm – 8:30pm

WODEN VALLEY YOUTH CHOIR
Woden Valley Youth Choir is an exciting and dynamic not-for-profit community choir for young people, with a strong emphasis on Music Education. We don’t just sing – we become musicians. WVYC will have vacancies in all of its choirs for children entering Year 3 next year through to young adults aged up to 25. 
Rehearsals are held at Charles Weston School in Coombs on Tuesday evenings but the choir is open to people from all over the Canberra/Queanbeyan area.

AUDITIONS
Auditions for choristers wishing to commence in September 2019 will be held on Saturday 10 August. For more information about the choir and the audition process and to download an application form go to wvyc.org.au

ROTARY CLUB OF HALL INDIGENOUS SCHOLARSHIP
WVYC welcomes enquiries from indigenous young people for the Rotary Club of Hall Indigenous Scholarship. Applicants should contact the administrator on info.wvyc@gmail.com to request the guidelines for applying for a scholarship.

WVYC 50TH ANNIVERSARY CONCERT

If you’d like to see the choir in action, come to the Woden Valley Youth Choir 50th Anniversary Concert onSaturday 24 August in Llewellyn Hall.  Tickets available through Ticketek.