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 Praise

School - Forgiveness, Service & Thanksgiving

Dear Parents

Kinder Orientation

Next Tuesday, 29 October, is our Kindergarten Orientation Day. We will be welcoming 50 new children along with many new families. The children will spend time engaged in a range of activities while their parents will hear about all the wonderful opportunities open to families at St Monica's. The morning commences at 9.15am and will conclude by 12.00pm. 

Thank you to the current Kindergarten families who have kindly offered to help with setting up the hall and providing food for the Morning Tea. A great tradition to welcome families.

Families Leaving at End of 2019

As planning for 2020 has commenced please advise in writing, as soon as possible, if your child/children will not be returning next year. 

Class Groups for 2020

Much care and deliberation occurs when forming our class groups. Teachers are highly professional and have the main responsibility for placing their current students in the most appropriate class for next year. Over the next two weeks, the teachers will be observing friendships to assist with class groupings.  

While forming class groups we aim for an equal spread of both positive and challenging characteristics when forming a class group. Every care will be taken to ensure that your child is placed in the best situation to enhance learning and social development.

Class Formation for 2020

Confidential concerns should be brought to my attention in writing, by Friday 8 November, even if raised in previous years.  Please email directly to carmel.maguire@cg.catholic.edu.au. General concerns should be raised with your child's teacher. As Principal, I will make the final decision on all class placements. Late requests are very difficult to consider once groups are finalised.

End of Year Diagnostic Assessment

Over the next few weeks, the children in Years 2 to 6 will complete several online PAT diagnostic assessments including Mathematics, Reading, Spelling and Social and Emotional Wellbeing. These assessments provide valuable data on student understandings and progress when compared with results from assessments completed in February. Children in Years 3 to 6 should ensure their iPads are charged and ready for use. Teachers will engage in the assessment based on the optimal time for their class group.

World Teacher's Day

On Monday we will celebrate World's Teachers Day (official Australian date is the last Friday in October). We have amazing teachers at St Monica's, dedicated to their profession of making a difference in the lives of every student they encounter.  Help make the teachers feel valued and special. Please refer to Evelyn's suggestion from Council. See attached - A_letter_to_my_teacher.pdf  

Next Tuesday Ms Tara Cheyne MLA, Member for Ginninderra will be visiting St Monica's between 1.30pm and 3.00pm. She is keen to visit schools in the local area and learn about our community and meet the children. 

I will be away from school this afternoon and Friday. I will be attending a Principal's Retreat in Galong. Carmel Rheinberger and Liz Foster will be points of contact in my absence. 

Tonight our Year 3 students preparing to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation and their parents will be required to participate in a preparation evening at St Michael's at 6.00pm. I wish you all well on this journey.

Best of luck to our teams heading to Boorowa on Friday. Luke Donnelly, Ryan Matchett, Bob Fletcher and Michael McFadden will be providing teacher supervision during the carnival. Travel safe as it is a big day.  

May God's blessing be with you

Carmel Maguire

Principal

Children are required to wear their Sports Uniform on Monday for Sports Photo Day.  Running schedule for photos is below.

Following on from our focus on Child Safety in Term 3, we have come across an excellent resource for supporting parents with understanding their child's online presence and technology use. The National Online Safety site comes out of the UK and each Wednesday publishes a guide to focus on specific apps, games, website or behaviours that support parents in being aware of what their children may be exposed to. 

For the remainder of the term, we will be publishing one of the guides that relate to the children in our community and their current presence online. To see the full list of guides head to https://nationalonlinesafety.com/resources/wake-up-wednesday/ 

The teachers have noticed that many of the students are talking about TikTok a video app where children are filming themselves dancing and singing to songs. The eSafety Commissioners Office recently spoke at a conference and confirmed that TikTok is a particularly unregulated app that is difficult to have content removed should it be misused. If your children are using TikTok we would urge you to read the guide from National Online Safety.

Term 4 School Fees

Term 4 School Fees have been posted to families this week. Unfortunately, we are still experiencing technical issues so cannot directly email statements. Please keep an eye out for your statement in the post and contact the office if you do not receive it. A reminder to ensure your address details are up to date with the office.

Full payment of fees is due within four weeks each term, except for families on Direct Debit payment arrangements.

The school is running on an extremely tight budget, every cent of fees income is expended on students curriculum, resources and school running costs. 

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.

Book Fair

We will be holding a Redgum Book Fair during Week 5 Monday 11 November to Friday 15 November. The Book Fair will be held in the Library and will be open from 8.30am to 9.00am Monday to Friday and from 3.10pm to 4.00pm Monday to Friday.

If you are able to help with setting up, packing up, or assisting shoppers at the fair or at the checkout please letter me know.  

We've officially opened the 2020 Illustration Challenge for school-aged children! Can I Sleep Tomorrow? is waiting for some talented young illustrators to bring it to life.

This is now the fourth Illustration Challenge we've run here, giving children the chance to be published illustrators. Previous winners have brought you the wonderful works of Zoo Ball, Yay! It's Library Day and coming out in early 2020, Around Australia in 30 Places. We can't wait to see the illustration spreads for Can I Sleep Tomorrow?

Hop on to the website for more information, or join the Facebook group for regular updates. Entries close November 2020. So there is plenty of time to make your art a masterpiece. Good luck!

Catholic Schools Netball

Congratulations to our 48 students who participated in the Catholic Schools Netball Carnival on Saturday. On a very windy spring day, all 5 of our teams demonstrated great teamwork, skill and sportsmanship. Special thanks to our coaches and umpires, Jo and Tamika Stephens, Nusi Lomu, Charlotte Johnston, Sue and Jasmine French, Valentina Santosuosso, Alison McNamara, Esther Bogaart and Amy Roberts for looking after our teams on the day and families who came along to cheer and support our students. Please see below a summary from our coaches about how teams went on the day. 

 Year 2 Team

Year 2 Comets Aqua team had a great day!  We had a  few players not having played netball before but all the players did an amazing job at supporting each other throughout the day. In the end, the team only lost two games, tied two and won two which was a fantastic result.  Thank you to Tamika Stephens for umpiring but also helping to coach the girls on the day - Jo Stephens

 Year 3 Team

I’m not too sure if there was any team that could describe Team Spirit more than the St Monica’s Year 3 Cougar team. A group of kids that on the odd occasion played netball would get on the court with high spirits, a belly full of passion to learn and determination to give it their best.

 The first game we drew with the rest of the day comprising of 2 losses and 4 wins. For me, as Coach, it really wasn’t about the win, loss or draw for this team but pride in giving it a go and representing the school. A team chant the kids created and struggled to remember prior to each game (the big hype up) but would nail it during breaks (maybe too hyped up in break). A lot of high fives and fist pumps of joy shared during the day.  Congratulations St Monica’s Year 3 Cougars! - Nusi Lomu

Year 3/4 Team

I had the pleasure of coaching and managing the Year 3/4 netball team at the Catholic Schools Netball Carnival on Saturday.  I am very proud of how well behaved and polite my entire team were throughout the day. They played really well together as a team, which made every game exciting to watch. Every single member of this team was warmed up, ready and enthusiastic to play each game. It was great to hear them helping and encouraging each other throughout the day. This team showed awesome team spirit!  On the day we had a few wins, some draws and a couple of losses.  But regardless of the score, they came off smiling and were keen to know what positions they would play the next game.  Thank you to my team, thank you to all the parents and teachers for your support, and thank you to Jasmine for umpiring and assisting with coaching!! - Sue French

 Year 5 Team

The team all came together for the day and played well and supported each other throughout the whole day. They even got a team photo and as part of team bonding practised and developed a dance and team chant as they encouraged each other. They did manage to score a few goals - Valentina Santosuosso

Teacher's Day

The St Monica's Community are celebrating Teacher's Day on Monday 28 October.  We are encouraging the community and especially students to put pen/crayon/pencil to paper and thank their teachers.  We will be presenting these notes of thanks to teachers.  Please take the opportunity to thank our teachers for the fantastic job they do each and every day. Please check the school App for further details.

Community Council Meeting

Our next meeting is on Wednesday 30 October.

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

All parents volunteering at our school must have a current WWVP card.  When your card is due for renewal please ensure you have your updated card copied at the Front Office.

Happy Birthday to the following students -

Torren F, Aya T, Giuseppe C, Grace R, Isabella S, Lorenzo S

Canteen Roster - Term 4, Week 3

Monday - Vacancy

Tuesday - June Manning

Wednesday - Vacancy

Thursday - June Manning

Friday - Samantha Cox, Tracy D'Ambrosio, Katrina Ciampa, Wendy Regan

Samantha Manning - Canteen Manager - 6258 4687

Every few years we offer our beautiful St Monica's Community the opportunity to have a professional family portrait taken as a school fundraiser (see attached flyer).  

This year the sittings will be held at the School Hall on SUNDAY 3 NOVEMBER 2019. Bookings can be made through the following link 

www.trybooking.com/558649  

For the nominal fee of $20 you can receive a 10"x13" gorgeous professional family portrait (other portraits can be purchased at exceptionally good prices). 

All funds raised will go back to the school and be put towards Robots and Materials for the Information and Communications Technologies Unit. After the resounding success of our team at the Robocup ACT Rescue Competition, this will be a terrific investment for our children.

Book early to get your preferred sitting time and feel free to pass this email onto other members of your families and the community.

 Any queries in relation to this event, please contact Emma Howlett on 0413 660 585 or emmahowlett73@gmail.com