Dear St Monica’s families and friends,

The countdown is on until the end of the school year. There are 12 school days to go with the last day for students on Monday 16 December 2024. It is at this time of year that we say our goodbyes, we celebrate the many occasions that have brought us joy, and we give thanks to the amazing people who have journeyed with us in the Footsteps of St Monica.

On Tuesday night we held our last Community Council meeting for the year. I thank the Council Executive for their service in 2024 and in assisting the school to see some big projects come to fruition. The council, through its major fundraising efforts over the past few years, has assisted the school to land the design and plans for two significant projects -  the Kindergarten Playground Naturescape project and the sound and light projector upgrade for the School Hall. I am incredibly grateful for the $75,000 contribution from the School Community Council (of which all parents belong) to enable these two projects to happen. Next year funds raised by the Council will be going towards the purchasing of Class sets of Novels to assist with the delivery of the 3 – 6 English Curriculum and Decodable Readers for our K – 2 classrooms.

I wish to particularly thank the following outgoing members from the council executive - 

Alicia Prest – Council Chair. Alicia has served on the Council for the past 6 years, with her last 3 years as Council Chair. Alicia’s leadership has been a shining example of what it means to give back to a community. Through your tireless efforts, as former Fete Coordinator and as Chair, you have helped create a welcoming and supportive environment where parents, staff, and students have felt connected and valued. While your term as Chairperson comes to an end, we know your presence and support will continue to enrich our community in so many ways. Thank you, Alicia.

Sarah Clarke – Parent Representative. Sarah has served on the Council for the past 3 years and has assisted with the many smaller fundraising events at the school. The Mother’s and Father’s Day stalls and the 2024 pie drive were made possible through Sarah’s careful planning and commitment to making a difference in the community. Sarah remains committed to helping out around the school in various other ways. Thank you, Sarah.

Hannah Dwyer – Parent Representative. Hannah has served on the Council for the past 2 years and has provided a broad perspective, advocacy and wisdom to making parent engagement within our community stronger. Hannah has been a key driver of welcoming new families to the school and communicating the various events on the school calendar. Hannah remains committed to helping out around the school in various ways over the next few years. Thank you, Hannah.

Melinda Gowty – Parent Representative. Melinda has served on the Council for the past 2 years and was instrumental in the process of assisting the school move from a School Based Out of Hours School Care to the current external provider TeamKids. Melinda’s ability to see things from different perspectives ensured she was a voice for the wide variety of families in the school. Thank you, Melinda.

We will publicly thank these outgoing Council Members at the Community Carols on Thursday 12 December.

Last Day of Term 4 – Monday 16 December is the last day of Term 4 for all students. TeamKids OSHC is available from Tuesday 17 – Friday 21 December 2024 for any families who need this service.

End of Year activities – There is lots on for everyone! Hoping you can make it to as many of these events as you can…

Friday 6 December

• St Vincent De Paul Giving Mass – 9:30am

Monday 9 December

• Year 6 Graduation and Awards Ceremony – 9:30am

Wednesday 11 December

• Meet your 2025 Classroom Teacher/s – 9:30am
• Kinder – Year 2 Nativity – 2:00pm
• Reports home to families – 3:30pm

Thursday 12 December

• Wear Christmas clothes to school
• Community Carols Evening – 6:00pm

Friday 13 December

• Passing of the Light and Final Awards Assembly – 9:15am

Many thanks to our teachers who continue to work tirelessly preparing the Semester 2 reports for the students. This semester student reports will be supported with classroom teacher comments which will outline student success and areas for development.  

Student reports will be released via Compass on Wednesday 11 December (Week 9). It is recommended that you print your child’s report out, particularly our Year 6 students.

To access your child’s report please go to the Compass app and click on the image of your child in the top left-hand corner. Select the Reports tab in the top right-hand corner and then select 2024 - Semester Two to view their report.

Please be mindful that the A-E scale is very different to what it looked like years ago. Our Kindergarten students will receive an alternative scale to A-E as outlined below. 

Please take some time to familiarise yourself with the guidelines for assessment and reporting.  

Kindergarten Scale of Assessment 

Engagement with Learning 

Kindergarten Grade Scale  

Year 1- Year 6 Grade Scale  

Year 1 – Year 6 Achievement Scale  

When a student receives a ‘C’ grade it means they have demonstrated the quality of learning described in the Achievement Standard based on the content studied in the reporting period. If a student receives a ‘C’ in both semester 1 and 2 reports it indicates that the student has made progress and learned new knowledge and skills based on the new and more challenging material studied. 

A student’s report will list a grade for each subject studied. 

The following A-E descriptors will appear on the report: 

• A demonstrating outstanding achievement of the standard 
• B demonstrating a high achievement of the standard 
• C demonstrating achievement of the standard 
• D demonstrating partial achievement of the standard 
• E demonstrating limited achievement of the standard. 

Term 1 - Tuesday 4 February - Thursday 10 April 

Term 2 - Tuesday 29 April - Thursday 3 July

Term 3 - Tuesday 22 July - Thursday 25 September

Term 4 - Tuesday 14 October - Thursday 18 December

Please note there are 2 Pupil Free days each term next year being the first and last day of each term

Advent 

As we continue our Advent journey, we now focus on the theme of Peace. This week, we light the second candle on our Advent wreath, known as the Candle of Peace. It symbolises the calm and tranquility that we seek in our hearts and in the world around us. 

What is Peace? Peace is the absence of conflict and the presence of harmony. It is a state of being where we feel safe, calm, and connected with others. During this season, peace reminds us to find moments of quiet and to spread kindness and understanding. 

We encourage families to create peaceful moments at home. Spend time together without distractions, talk about what peace means to each of you, and think of ways you can bring more peace into your lives. This can be a wonderful way to strengthen your family bonds and create a serene environment. 

Let's embrace the spirit of peace this week and spread its calmness to everyone around us. 

Illuminate Youth Ministry Gathering 

Last Friday we took our Year 5 students to John Paul College for the Illuminate Youth Ministry Gathering. It was a day of faith, fun and food led by our Youth Minister, Ethan. We are currently preparing our Year 5 students to lead the younger students next year when they are our leaders. Here are the thoughts of some of the Year 5 students 

“Illuminate was an awesome experience and it made me more excited to continue my faith journey.” - Ruby 

“I loved making new friends, growing closer to God and learning some new things.” - Hannah 

 “I absolutely loved the Illuminate experience. I made new friends and met old ones and learnt about God.” - Zara 

 “I loved the Illuminate experience and my new friends and learnt about heaps of new things and ways to share my faith.” - Saskia 

 “I like illuminate because I got to play the game called 11 against other schools and connect through faith.” - Elsie 

Social Action and Justice 

Next week is the last week to donate items for the St Vincent de Paul Christmas appeal. Each class is invited to donate a specific item which will be combined to create a Christmas Hamper for families in our local Evatt community in need. Each classroom has a basket to place donated items into. Please see the table below for the donations your child’s class has been allocated. 

We also have a Christmas tree in our front office with a gift tag to represent each child in our local Evatt community in need of a Christmas gift. Families are invited to take a gift tag and return it attached to the outside of a wrapped gift. We thank you in advance for your generosity. 

Sacrament of Confirmation 2024

Congratulations to all the Confirmation candidates and God’s blessings to you on this special occasion.

2025 Sacramental Program – for students who are baptised and will be in Years 4-6 in 2025.

Sacrament of Reconciliation will be celebrated in Term 1, 2025. Information Evening will be held on 13 February 2025. Retreat Day and Parent Prayer Night will be held on 20 March 2025. Sacrament will be celebrated on 25, 26 and 27 March 2025.

Sacrament of First Communion will be celebrated in Term 2, 2025. Information Evening will be held on 1 May 2025. Retreat Day and Parent Prayer Night will be held on 12 June 2025. Sacrament will be celebrated on 22 June 2025 (Corpus Christi).

Sacrament of Confirmation will be celebrated in Term 3, 2025. Information Evening will be held on 31 July 2025. Retreat Day and Parent Prayer Night will be held on 4 September 2025. Sacrament will be celebrated on 10 and 11 September 2025.

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

Thank you 

A huge thank you to everyone who visited our Book Fair last week and bought or donated a book to the library. We have a wonderful selection of new books to add to the collection and we are looking forward to purchasing lots of new releases for the library. Thank you to The Book Cow at Kingston for supplying our book fair. 

End of Year Book Returns 

The end of the year is fast approaching and we will be doing a stocktake of the library collection. To assist with this we need to gather all library books back on the shelves by Thursday 5 December. There will be no borrowing of books from Friday 29 November onwards. All books are due back on Friday 29 November.  I will email overdue notices on Friday 6 December. Thank you for your support in ensuring the library is ready for 2025. 

Student Movement Register requirements for all students leaving ACT schools (including Year 6 and Year 12)

Under the ACT Education Act schools are required to obtain details of all departing students for the ACT Education Directorate’s Student Movement Register.

For Year 6 students schools must obtain details of the student’s future school from parents or carers.

Parents or carers of students in other years who are departing an ACT school must also provide details of the student’s future school. This includes families who are moving interstate.

The St Monica’s annual school Fete is the school’s biggest fundraiser of the year. Next year’s Fete will be held on Saturday 5 April 2025 from 11.00am until  3.00pm. There will be lots of new and exciting attractions so keep an eye out in the Newsletter, Compass and Facebook for announcements.

2024 Fete Tally

It has taken us a while to make this announcement but we are very happy to finally announce that the approximate total profit received from this year’s Fete was $26,982.00!!! – not bad despite the weather. This money has gone towards the upgrade of sound and lighting in the school hall. Funds from the 2025 Fete will be used to purchase class sets of novels for the Years 3 – 6 classrooms and decodable Readers for the Kindergarten – Year 2 classrooms. These valuable resources will complement the K – 6 English Curriculum being implemented at the school. The Fete Team would once again like to thank all our stall co-ordinators, volunteers and sponsors, the school and wider community for making the 2024 Fete a huge success despite the weather we had to compete with. Thank you also to the teachers and staff who took it in their stride and pitched in to help rearrange the well-planned map to make it work and helped turn the school back into a clean learning space in no time at all ready for the students to return on Monday.

2025 Sponsorship

If you have a business or know of one that would like to support the school on Fete day by sponsoring a stall, making a donation, or contributing a prize to our Chocolate Wheel, silent auction or raffles, please email stmfete@gmail.com. The success of our fete largely relies on the very generous support of our sponsors.

Market Stalls

Market Stalls will also be a feature. If you have a small market business - for example selling handmade clothes or craft, children’s clothing and so forth and would be interested in bringing your stall to the fete we would love to hear from you. Please contact us via email and if you could please put “market stall’ in the subject field. We are limited to the number of stalls we can include, and if we get more than one person selling the same items it will be first in best dressed, so get in quick!

Site fees will be $60.00 (you must have your own insurance) and we also ask for a small item to be donated to our chocolate wheel or raffles. For our young entrepreneurs who attend the school the fee will be $30.00 and their insurance will be covered by the school.

Pick a Duck

We have started collecting soft toys for this popular stall already. They can be dropped off to the front office anytime. We ask that the toys are in good clean condition and delivered in a garbage bag to keep them dust free.

The 2025 Fete will be a celebration of Autumn and enjoying the beautiful season before the colder days arrive. We look forward to working with the school community to make this our biggest and best fete yet!

Volunteers

If you would like to assist with one of our many fabulous stalls please email stmfete@gmail.com and also keep a look out for announcements about our new online volunteer booking system coming soon.

Please don’t forget that all volunteers including parents, grandparents and friends will need to have a current Working with Vulnerable People (WwVP) card. Please get in early and apply online through Access Canberra to ensure it is processed in time. Add it to your pre-Christmas to-do list.

2025 Fete Team Contacts 

Kim – 0432 010 523, Kirra – 6258 5105, email - stmfete@gmail.com