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

Prayer for the End of the School Year

At the end of this school year we give thanks to God:

For all the teaching and learning that has taken place in

our school, both in and out of the classroom,

For the talents and gifts that have been

shared and the challenges that

have been faced;

For the burdens that have been

lifted and the hurts that have been healed;

For the respect and care that has been given.

We give thanks for the friendships that have just

begun and for those that have grown.

For the faith that has been lived in

our daily struggles,

For the hope that has lifted our

hearts on the dark days

And for the love that has kept us going.

We give thanks for the community

that we are, and we ask you Lord –

Bless our students, may your Spirit

inspire them with confidence and calmness

Bless our families as we take our holidays, may our

time together leave us with memories to cherish.

Pour out your love on us that we may

return renewed and refreshed to

continue our journey together.

We make this prayer through Christ

our Lord.

Amen

 Classroom Teachers 2020

Kinder 

Clare Battye

Natalie Currie (3 days) + Helen Houghton (2 days - Thursday & Friday)

Year 1

June Edwards 

Yvette Rosenfeld

Year 2

Emma Russell (3 days) + Monika Richards (2 days - Monday & Tuesday)

Sarah Corkhill (3 days) + Kirsty Price (2 days - Monday & Tuesday)

Year 3

Mira Lustica (4 days) + Cerryanne Kelly (1 day - Tuesday)

Susan Carswell (4 days) + Luke Donnelly (1 day - Thursday)

Kirsty Godschalx (3 days) + Melinda Brown (2 days - Thursday & Friday)

Year 4

Ryan Matchett (3 days) + Bob Fletcher (2 days - Tuesday & Wednesday)

Carmel Rheinberger

Year 5

Amanda Winne

Christopher Evans

Haley Stonham (3 days) + Michael McFadden (2 days - Thursday & Friday)

Year 6

Kathy Moir

Brendan Hague

Elizabeth Foster (3 days) + Miriam Hilton (2 days - Thursday & Friday)

The  2019 school magazine has been sent home today.  Enjoy reliving the year, it has been a busy year for our community. We have allocated one magazine per family, with the magazine going to the parent responsible for paying the school account. Additional copies are available from the office for $35.00 until sold out.

The position of Canteen Manager will be advertised in mid-January for three days per week. The reduction in days is due to a decline in the income stream and the increase in running costs.

Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful in being granted a School Community Grant to replace the bubblers in the kinder area. I have been in contact with Catholic Education and am hopeful they will now consider replacing the bubblers with new water fountains.  

Congratulations to the following parents whose nominations have been accepted and will be joining our Council in 2020. Evelyn David-Hoole renominated, George Lovincevic, Roslyn Emmerick, Katherine O'Sullivan and Noel Chan. Returning members are John Alston-Campbell, Fiona Steinberg and Alicia Prest.  I am looking forward to working with our new members and will provide a brief bio on each member early in the new school year. 

On behalf of the community, I would like to thank our amazing staff for their ongoing commitment and dedication. We have a great school! School resumes for all classes on Monday 3 February with children all wearing their summer uniform.

The office will be open from Thursday 30 January with emails being checked weekly during the holidays.

Our uniform shop, located in the hall, will be open on Friday 31 January between 10:00am - 11:00am. Orders and payment via Qkr1 are preferred so that orders can be filled prior. 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

May God's blessing be with you 

Carmel Maguire

Principal

Christmas Season

Christmas Eve - 24 December, Tuesday

St Michael's Church - 5.30pm, 11.00pm 

St Monica's Church - 6.00pm, 8.30pm

Christmas Day - 25 December, Wednesday

St Michael's Church - 8.00am

St Monica's Church - 10.00am

The Sacrament of Reconciliation will be available at both churches on Tuesday 24 December - 10.00am - 12.00pm.

Simbang Gabi, St Monica's Church, 15-23 December - 8.00pm

This is a nine day Novena Mass in preparation for the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ. All parishioners are invited to attend the Masses.

Youth Mass, St Michael's Church, 22 December - 5.30pm

This will be on the fourth Sunday, just for this month. All youth are invited to attend and to stay for fellowship afterwards. Please bring a plate of food to share. Please contact Monica on 0435 876 303 for more information.

Mrs Sarah Corkhill - I have been teaching for 16 years at Good Shepherd, Amaroo whilst raising my three young daughters. I enjoy building positive relationships in the classroom with my students and their families. I love watching the children in my care succeed and learn. I enjoy spending time in the garden, swimming and travelling with my family. 

Mrs Kirsty Price - I  have been teaching for a total of 15 years. My first 3 years were at Mount Carmel School in Yass and the last 12 years I have been at Good Shepherd in Amaroo. I am passionate about bringing out the best in each of my students and I love watching them become independent and resilient learners. I have two beautiful girls who are 2 and 4 years old and we love to go camping as a family. I am also an accredited calisthenics coach and have been a part of the Evatt Calisthenics Club for 30 years. I am looking forward to joining your wonderful school community for 2020! 

Mrs Haley Stonham - I can’t wait to come back to St Monica’s next year. You may remember me, I taught Year 6 in 2016 and 2017 before moving to Brisbane in 2018. It has been great living in Queensland. My family and I went on a 4WD and camping adventure to the tip of Australia in June/July this year! This is a photo of me and my daughter Emily at The Gabba. We were watching the Brisbane Heat, it was very hot! Wishing you all a very merry Christmas and a safe and happy New Year, ready for a fantastic year, learning together at St Monica’s in 2020!

Mrs Natalie Currie - Teaching is an absolute passion of mine! I am so excited to work with you and your child! 2020 is going to be a year full of fun, learning and lots of adventures. I have been teaching for 12 years. In previous years I have taught Year Four, Year Two, Year One and Kindergarten. I am so excited to be teaching Kindergarten next year and I am looking forward to a great year together!

Miss Clare Battye - I have been part of the St Monica’s school community for four years. Over that time, I have been lucky enough to teach some incredible Grade One and Grade Four students. A few things that you may or may not know about me. I grew up in a little town called Yass and am the only child in my family. When I’m not teaching, I love spending time with my family and friends, going for a swim or enjoying different craft activities. I can’t wait to begin this Kinder journey with the beautiful children and their families in 2020.

School Fees

The school runs 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 calendar year. 

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.

I am pleased to advise the P&F Community Council have approved the fees schedule for 2020. The schedule of fees is attached for your reference. Every effort has been made to keep the overall fee increase to 3%.

Happy Birthday to the following students and to students celebrating a Birthday throughout the holidays -

Tulli H, Talija M, Andreas K, Keir F, Mikayla T, Piero C, Kara C, Zavier T, Ethan G, Emma O, Aurelia S, Emma T, Mitchell C, Aria F, Sarah R, April A-C, Anandvir B, Ivan P, Jack R, Taylor H, Raphael S, Nellie R, Isabella M, Natalie R, Arabella A, Imogen H, Caitlin M, Bol K, Gabi W, Leila W, Nikolas H, Paddy K, Alani A, Jessamine A-C, Michael H, Joshua S, Massimo S, Mary D-H, Nicholas K, Jemima B, Isobel C, Flynn A, Giorgio P, Violet P, Gabe J, Ater A, Marianna R, Jaidah T, Adeline B, Donato A, Christian M, Maddie N-H, Gus O, Archie E, Madeline H.

This week we farewelled our Canteen Manager. Mrs Manning has been running our canteen for the last 13 years. We thank her all the lunches she made, for her help with all the community events (grandparent day, carnivals, morning tea, fetes, etc). We wish her well as she leaves a big void in our community.  We are one of a few schools who have managed to still have a canteen running and we thank the school community for continuing to support the canteen. As noted in the Principal message the position of the canteen manager will be advertised early next year.

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

Canteen News Thank You from Sam

I would like to thank all the staff and parents for their amazing support of our school canteen over the last 13 years. You have all made my time here thoroughly enjoyable and easy. I will miss everyone in the St Monica's community very much.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy 2020.

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.

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.