Dear Parents

We have had a wonderful start to the 2020 school year. Despite a challenging holiday break for many, the children have returned very settled and keen to learn. Our Kinder children all appear to be loving their experience of school life due to the efforts of their teachers and support staff. I hope those who are new to the school have encountered a sense of excitement, hospitality and deep commitment found amongst the staff, parents and, of course, children of St Monica's. I extend my thanks to the staff who have prepared so well for the year ahead. While certainly hectic in these early days we can look towards a good year in our many undertakings.

In recent weeks and months, the bushfires in our Archdiocese and far beyond have affected many communities. Our thoughts and prayers are with all those affected. We will likely all know people who have lost homes, farms, businesses, and animals, or those who have been directly affected in other ways. The coming weeks and months will also be challenging. 

In our Archdiocese, there are at least twelve school communities directly affected by the fires. At this stage, no school buildings have been damaged, but a number of staff and school families have lost their homes. We continue to pray for these communities affected, pray for rain and continue to be in awe of the many volunteers who have helped others and risked their own lives to support communities.

Swimming Carnival 

Unfortunately, due to a mix up with our pool booking, we have had to change the date of our school swimming carnival to the 19 February. Our swimming carnival is for competitive swimmers and all Year 6, as part of their leadership role, to assist on the day. The move to a carnival for competitive swimmers is due to the number of children not able or interested in entering into the events for consideration for selection for ACT School Sport Competitions. All children remaining at school will participate in fun sporting activities.  

Attached is the permission note for the swimming carnival. A paper copy will be sent home tomorrow to children interested in competing at the carnival.

We have survived the first week with no canteen. All going to plan I hope to announce our new canteen manager next week, once all the paperwork is completed. This will mean the canteen will be open for operation on Wednesday 19 February at least for counter sale.

School Bus News

Late last year I was advised that our special bus stop, near our hall, will be reinstated from the beginning of Term 2. This is a big win as the current location on Moynihan is very dangerous and provided very little shelter from the elements. 

Tomatoes

Our garden is overflowing with tomato. If you would like to try our yummy ripe tomatoes, drop into the office on Friday afternoon and collect a bag. Our gardening team did a great job over the holidays.

Tennis

Our Year 6 children commenced their term of tennis lessons today held at the Melba tennis courts. They will be attending each Thursday. Year 5 will have the opportunity to learn tennis in Term 4.

Catholic Schools Youth Ministry Australia

This year St Monica's is implementing the CSYMA Junior program into our school community to foster the faith life of the children in the parish. Next Thursday 13 February the Year 6 children will participate in a special Youth Retreat Day at the school, with the opportunity of joining the CSYMA Junior program. The parish has employed a youth worker to work with the Year 6 students and our school community throughout 2020. This is a wonderful opportunity for our community.  There will be no tennis next week. 

Professional Learning 

Next week we have a number of teacher attending courses.                                  Monday - Maths Cluster Day - Liz Foster & Kathy Moir                                Wednesday & Thursday - SoundsWrite - Kathy Moir, Haley Stonham, Veronica Melville, Kelly Levi, Bec Perry, Sharon Friend.

Thank you too for your efforts in preparing your child/ren so well. It has been a very smooth start to the year.

Wishing God’s blessing on you and your families.

Carmel Maguire

Principal  

St Monica’s is a Be You School. Be You provides us as educators with knowledge, resources and strategies for helping children and young people to achieve their best possible mental health. Be You helps us to embed good social and emotional learning practices, with the aim of maximising the resilience of children and young people to reduce the risk of future mental health issues.

All staff are actively involved in professional learning in the areas of:

• creating mentally healthy communities
• family partnerships
• learning resilience
• early support
• responding together

 Be You empowers us as educators at St Monica’s to support children and families to manage life’s ups and downs and create positive, inclusive and resilient learning communities. Find out more at the following link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnA8v_HUJDQ

iPads not required in Week 1 as the children need to sign their new agreement. 

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%.

The following fees were approved by the St Monica's Council effective from the commencement of Term 1 2020.

Before School 

Permanent  $18.00    Casual   $20.00

After School 

Permanent $30.00      Casual  $32.00

Vacation Care - $75.00

Hours of operation

7.30am – 8.45am (Before school care)
3.10pm – 6.00pm (After school care)
8.00am – 6.00pm (Vacation care)

Dancecore lessons will begin next Wednesday 12 February at lunchtime for Years 1-6. Cost for 9 week program is $90.

Kindergarten may start lessons on Wednesday 26 February. Cost will be $70 for 7 weeks.

Happy Birthday to the following students - 

Isabella H, Alaina S, Jett S, Sophia R, Xara G, Samantha S, Luca C, Daniel I

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.

WODEN VALLEY YOUTH CHOIR
Woden Valley Youth Choir has provided a music education to hundreds of students from ACT and surrounding region for over 50 years. WVYC offers a dynamic choral programme for young people aged 8 to 25 years and we are proud to provide so many positive benefits to our members: the value of learning to sing with confidence, positive self-esteem, and performance skills, which will hold them in good stead for the rest of their lives. WVYC is a not-for-profit community choir with a strong music education programme. We don’t just sing – we become musicians.

OPEN DAY AND AUDITIONS
WVYC will hold an open day on Tuesday 18 February. Auditions will follow, for those interested, on Saturday 22 February. We have vacancies in all choirs although quite limited places in our high school/university age treble voice choir. We are especially keen to audition more young men for our changing and changed voices choir, Centauri Voices. For more information on open day times and auditions please go to http://wvyc.org.au and download an application form or email info.wvyc@gmail.com or phone 1300 599 655.

Details of all school and regular services are available online for parents and students to begin planning their journeys.

School routes and services remain unchanged for 2020. Transport Canberra is here to support the safe passage of students to and from school using public transport and active travel options.

To assist in planning school bus travel, use our handy tips and checklist below.

Routes and timetables:

Check the details of services required for your child to and from school, also making sure your child is familiar with the times and stops. If your child is new to school or changing schools, please check available school services or regular bus timetables information.

Journey Planner:

The Transport Canberra Journey Planner includes school services, allowing you to plan out the most convenient mode of transport for your trip to school. Use Transport Canberra’s journey planner to plan your travel, and use NXTBUS to track your awaited service.

MyWay cards:

MyWay is the cheapest and easiest way to travel with Transport Canberra services. A student MyWay card can be purchased online, over the phone, or at a MyWay Recharge Agent. Adding travel credit is even easier with the options of B-Pay or Autoload direct debit, attracting an additional 5% discount on all fares. Students can also top up their MyWay card or purchase a single or daily ticket at Transport Canberra’s new ticket vending machines, available at selected bus stations and Light Rail stops.

When travelling on Transport Canberra services, it is important for students to carry their concession entitlement in addition to their MyWay card as Customer Service Officers regularly check concessions.

Fares:
A single trip school student MyWay fare is now $1.22 on school days and a single trip school student cash fare costs $2.50. All information about MyWay and cash fares are available online.

Public Transport Safety:
If your child is new to public transport or a regular user, don’t forget safety is a top priority. Make sure your child is familiar with the safety rules for inside and outside their chosen bus or light rail service. For further information on Transport Canberra travel safety, please visit the Etiquette and Safety and Staying Safe sections on our website.

Further information:

Pick-up and set down guidelines, tips for parents, tips for staff/volunteers, tips for students, safe driving, safety tips, safe school travel plans and travel congestion information can be found under the School Safety Tips on the Transport Canberra website.

Staying up to date:
To keep up to date with Transport Canberra news and important service information, sign up for our email alerts or follow us on our social media channels: Email Alerts  Facebook  Twitter

Further information can be found under the FAQ’s section on our website. For all other enquiries, please contact us on 13 17 10.