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

Carols on the Oval  -  5 December

This year our Kinder, Year 1 and 2 children will lead our Carols on the Oval. This is an evening for our families to gather for a picnic evening meal, watch the nativity story and join in carol singing. The evening will commence with families gathering from 5.30pm for dinner and the singing to commence at 6.15pm. Years 3 to 6 and the Japanese Choir will also share in the singing of Christmas Carols.

Orders for a sausage sizzle are available on Qkr!. Don't miss out as we need to close off the ordering on Wednesday to allow for supplies to be purchased. Canteen drinks and snacks will also be on sale. Volunteer help is be needed with cooking and serving from 4.15 pm. Please email the office if you can lend a hand or contact our Canteen Manager, Sam Manning. 

Your tech gift guide for the holiday season

Be smart and secure when choosing tech gifts for children and young people this year with our eSafey Gift Guide. The Guide helps inform parents and carers about what to look out for with tech gifts and provides practical advice on how to stay safe, including setting strong passwords, turning off location settings and limiting the amount of personal information shared.

Check the safety of popular tech gifts like drones, smart toys, smartphones, tablets and even wearables for pets before making your purchases this holiday season.

EXPLORE TODAY

Musicorp 2020

On Tuesday, around 30 students gathered in the Music room to hear a demonstration from Mr Stephen McAlpine from Musicorp in the hope to inspire a school band. Many thanks to Dion, Paige and Mary for sharing your talent and dedication with the students and showing them how to play a variety of brass and woodwind instruments. 

For more information please contact Alissa Pearson, our Creative Art Teacher or see the notes stand for a pamphlet to enrol. 

Holiday TLC for our school gardens 

Mango Delivery

Mango orders are arriving Monday. Collection to occur from the office between 3.30 pm - 4.00 pm on Monday or Tuesday morning from 8.30 am. Many thanks to Michelle Bowman for coordinating this delicious opportunity for families.

Bush Fire Appeal

Thank you to all the children and families who supported our Bush Fire appeal, I know your generosity will be very much appreciated.  We are just finalising our donations and will close Qkr tomorrow for any parents who may still wish to make a donation.  

May God's blessing be with you 

Carmel Maguire

Principal

We are reviewing our School-Wide approach to rewarding behaviour through the M&M's initiative. When gathering student voice, it became clear that M&M's were no longer being given consistently, resulting in angst for many children in the school. Having surveyed the staff we now want to know what you think about rewards in our school and if we should continue with M&M's, implement a new School-Wide approach to rewards or allow teachers to reward students in classrooms as they see fit. Should we move away from M&M's we will look towards a transition plan for ensuring students are still able to earn star and pride badges.

Please take 5 minutes to have your say and help us decide how we will move forward in 2020. The survey will be open until next Wednesday 4 December.

The school Community Council is an essential component of our school. Constitutional requirements for Council membership means there will be vacant positions on the Executive of the School Community Council from 2020.  

Any parent in the School community is eligible to nominate.

What does the Community Council do?

The Constitution states that the Council 'provides an opportunity for members of the community to support the mission of Catholic education in the school. Working with the Principal, Parish Priest and staff, the members of the Council and its committees provide leadership to the wider school community’

The Community Council works with the Principal, Parish Priest and staff collaboratively to ensure the smooth operation of the school. The Council takes a decision making role in areas such as developing capital and maintenance programs, promoting the school in the local community, approving school uniform, developing and monitoring school enterprises (eg hall hire) and fundraising to name a few items. The council also has an advisory role in areas such as curriculum, student welfare and educational policies for the school.  

Meetings are held twice a term and a commitment to attending these meetings is required.

How to nominate

Each nomination must be made on the Nomination Form attached and available from the Front Office (emails will not be accepted as a formal nomination).  The nomination must be seconded and agreed to by the person being nominated. All nominations are confidential.  Please send nominations addressed to Carmel Maguire in a sealed envelope labelled ‘Community Council Nomination’ by 3pm on Friday 29 November 2019.  All nominations will be placed in a sealed box in my office and will be opened by Father Loi (or a parish representative) and the Principal after this date.

Refer to documents attached for additional information and the nomination form.

LettertoParentscallingfornominationsin2020.pdf

Nomination_Form_2020.pdf

With technology developing at such a fast rate, it is easy to feel a little overwhelmed and unsure about its possibilities. This information sheet aims to help parents with the transition into the BYODD program at St Monica’s.

In 2020, the BYODD program will continue being implemented in Years 4-6.

Should the purchasing of an iPad place a burden on a family’s finances please speak to Carmel Maguire, as soon as possible. We do have a small bank of iPads available for use by families experiencing difficulties in Years 4 to 6.

Year 3 students will have access to a bank of iPads to be shared throughout the week. As we did this year the students in Year 3 will have an option to bring their own device if they wish however this will not be required until early Term 1 following a parent information session. Students in the multi-age will be given the opportunity to access an iPad regularly to complement the class program, should they opt not to bring their own device. Parents will need to discuss this option once the class lists are published.

Why BYODD?

With the National School STEM Education Strategy (2015) and the development of the Australian National Technologies Curriculum, technology subjects have become a focus in education. Consistent with this research, industry surveys show that STEM literacy is increasingly becoming part of the core capabilities that Australian employers need. In order to carry out authentic learning tasks with technology, it is important students are equipped with the right tools. The school has iPads available to students however the CE has a policy that all IT hardware be replaced every 5 years if we want access to technical support for hardware. This creates a big cost to the school and still does not provide the ideal 1:1 ratio of students to devices. Our school IT budget is also going towards apps for school owned devices, new laptops, Wi-Fi and other technologies like robots and STEM resources. By implementing the BYODD program, students have the tools they need to engage in individualised learning and having access to school work at home. We will also be reporting on Technology outcomes from the Australian Curriculum in our school reports in 2020.

What apps will my child need for school?

The school does not provide apps for BYODD devices. Parents will need to download school required apps at home. This will mean the app is licenced to the child and not the school. The list below outlines the current apps that we use regularly at school. Please note this list will change as more apps are added throughout the year. Students are also permitted to use apps outside of this list if they assist with completing educational tasks. We try to use only free apps. At this point the teachers have only identified three apps that will need to be purchased.

Each year we invite any businesses amongst our school community to place an advertisement in our school magazine. It is a great opportunity to advertise at a very competitive rate and also provide sponsorship to assist us in the cost of producing the publication. We do apologise for giving you such late notice to get organised.

Please see the attached letter for pricing details and further information.

Term 4 School Fees

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. 

All fees must be settled by the end of the term. 

Families experiencing genuine financial hardship are invited to apply for fee concession for the 2020 school year. Fee matters are treated in the strictest of confidence.

Application forms have been sent home to families currently on a concession. Forms are available from the Finance Officer if required. 

Forms and all supporting information need to be submitted by Friday 6 December, please. Applications will be reviewed and processed in time to commence the new school year.

The Principal and Finance Officer are available should you need assistance completing the forms.

Carols BBQ

The Community Council is looking for any volunteers (cooking and serving) to assist with the Carols BBQ next Thursday.  If you’re able to help please let Evelyn David-Hoole know on 0411 062 160.  

 Community Council

The Community Council farewells 2 of its members this year -  Lis O’Daly and Craig Simpson.  We thank them both for their time, advice, professional expertise, for querying the status quo and assisting us to grow. 

There are vacancies on the Council for next year and we welcome new nominations! If required please feel free to query current council members (Alicia Prest, Fiona Steinberg, John Alston-Campbell and Evelyn David-Hoole) before you nominate.  Nomination forms are available from the office of via this newsletter.

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

Our SMOOSH care has released their enrolment details for the January Vacation Care program. All families need to ensure that accounts are brought up to date by Friday 13 December to secure their care enrolment for the 2020 school year. Any concerns please direct to Molly, our SMOOSH Director, or raise with Carmel Maguire.  

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 -

Emanuel S, Bailey G, Antonia H, Daniel H, Jesse S

Canteen Roster - Term 4, Week 8

Monday - Vacancy

Tuesday - Evelyn David-Hoole

Wednesday - Alyson Barnes, Rachele Pentes

Thursday - June Manning, Wilma Hird, Wendy Regan

Friday - Tracy D'Ambrosio, Wilma Hird, Jenny Fulivai, June Manning, Katrina Ciampa, Evelyn David-Hoole

Canteen News

The Canteen will be closed on Monday 9 December.

Week 9 is last week for Lunch Orders. Week 10 is counter sales only.

In Week 10 there will be a Special Lunch. Information to follow soon.

Samantha Manning - Canteen Manager - 6258 4687