Achieve - all that you can

He 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

Thank you and congratulations to our fabulous Fete Team on the coordination of a wonderful community day that had something for everyone!  Great entertainment, prizes, food and perfect weather – what more could we of asked for to bring our community and the locals together. Thank you so much to our stall coordinators and helpers. The day would not of been possible without you.  

By now there is an expectation that all parents have made contact with their child's teacher regarding how they have settled into the year and identified specific areas for growth. This is a vital part of our communication with parents. I would like to express my thanks to the teachers for the many afternoons they gave to meeting with the children and their parents. 

Once again I need to remind parents and carers to observe the parking arrangements around the school and local streets. Several parents have raised the issue of Montagu Place and the difficulty accessing our school basketball courts, due to cars parking illegally. We have three main drop off and pick up areas - the basketball courts, at the back of the oval known as Chomley Street or in the Melba High School carpark, referred to as underpass. In the afternoon teachers provide supervision until 3.30pm in all three areas. Children should always be monitored by parents and carers when accessing a parking areas. Parking is not permitted under the trees at the front of the school near the kinder play area.  

Today I was advised that the bus stop located near our hall has not been included as a option in the new bus runs commencing in Term 2. Children will be required to use the official bus stops on Moynihan Street and Copland Drive. I cannot stress the importance for parents to look at where their child will be dropped of in the morning and picked up in the afternoons. We are looking at our options for afternoon supervision as a consequence of the bus changes and now the need for a school crossing on Deffell Street to access the bus stop. Do you have any concerns?

Following a Community Council decision last year we are installing solar panels on the roof of the school. The Catholic Education is currently carrying out maintenance work to prepare the roof for installation to commence on the 8 April. This is a major school project that will save the school considerable funds currently spent on electricity. 

God bless

Carmel Maguire

St Teresa of Calcutta lived a life of compassionate service and is a wonderful example for us in our daily lives. The following are just two of her many reflections on compassion

Holy Week and Easter Liturgies at St Monica’s School

St Monica’s will commemorate the events of Holy Week and Easter during Week 10 of Term 1.

Classes will pray the Stations of the Cross at a time selected by their teachers.

Sacramental Programs 2019

Sacrament of Eucharist

Preparation for the Sacrament of Eucharist will commence In Week 1 of Term 2.  All students who made their First Reconciliation in 2018 are eligible to enrol in the program. At St Monica’s this includes students who are in Yr 4 or above.

The Timetable for the Sacramental program is listed below.

 Enrolment Information and forms will follow.

NAPLAN Practice Test

Today our Year 3 and 5 students participated in the NAPLAN Practice Test. Unfortunately there were technical error with the NAPLAN site which meant that the test was not completed in 5W or Year 3. These students will try to sit the test again tomorrow

NAPLAN APP and Headphones

There were a number of the students who did not have the NAPLAN app loaded on to their iPad and did not have their headphones in their school bag. Please ensure you check your child's device to ensure they have the NAPLAN app and that your child has their headphones for use at school.

NAPLAN Parent Checklist

• Read the NAPLAN letter from Carmel Maguire
  Letter to parents from principal

  Letter to parents from principal 120.13 KB

• Read the parent information brochure
  NAPLAN Parent Information Brochure

  NAPLAN Parent Information Brochure 507.43 KB

• Ensure the NAP Locked down browser app is installed on your child's BYOD device. N.B. Students without their own device will be issued one by the school.
• Visit the NAPLAN Demonstration Site to familiarise your child with the online platform.
• Contact Luke Donnelly if you are considering withdrawing your child from one or all of the tests.

Next term the school will be facilitating a review of the Home Learning Policy and its implementation at St Monica's. A committee will be formed to conduct the review starting with the students and then through surveys of the school community.

Over the next few weeks there will be an article related to home learning for parents to read to inform their opinion of home learning and its future use at the school. The first article 'The benefits of homework may not be immediately apparent' was recently published in the Canberra Times.

If you are interested in being a parent member of the Home Learning Committee please email Luke Donnelly by the end of next week.

A friendly reminder to families that full payment of Term 1 school fees is due.

If you have a Direct Debit arrangement in place, please ignore this reminder, no additional payment is required.

As always, please contact the School Finance Officer should you need to discuss your school fees account.

St Monica’s Cross Country Carnival

St Monica's Cross Country Carnival is on Tuesday 9 April (Week 9) at Stromlo Running Park.  Information and Program for the day along with Permission Notes have been sent home with children yesterday.  Please return Permission Notes to school as soon as possible

 Save the date to come along and join in the fun!

In the coming months St Monica's will be joining the Active Streets Program. This is very timely due to the changes occuring with the introduction of the new bus arrangements and timetable.

​The Active Streets for Schools program is an infrastructure program – supported by educational resources – to make it safer and easier for children to walk or ride to school. Our school will be supported by the program over the next four years. Active Streets helps to make school environments safer and more accessible by providing a range of tailored solutions depending on the school and local environment. Improvements may include new or improved footpath connections, more dedicated crossings or traffic calming (e.g. speed humps) to ensure the trip is safe and easy for children to navigate.  

To commence the program, Transport Canberra and City Services (TCCS) would like to discover how children currently travel to and from school and find out where you think improvements can be made around the suburb and the school.

TCCS have set up a survey to gather this information. All the information collected will be de-identified and confidential. The final survey question asks about the type of infrastructure improvements our community would like considered through the program. To complete this question you can either:

-          Provide an explanation in the text field in the survey, or

-          Drop a pin on our Ride or Walk to School map and provide a comment

To drop a pin on the map, you will need to be signed in to a Google account, which is as simple as signing up if you don’t already have one. More information about setting up an account and dropping a pin on the map is available in these instructions.

TCCS will also welcome feedback about our Ride or Walk to School map, so please use the drop pin feature to comment on the highlighted routes. Alternatively you can print our map, write on the map and return it to TCCS.

Thanks in advance for taking the time to complete the survey. Your response will help to influence how the program is delivered to suit our school community. 

Please contact Ryan Matchett at school if you would like further information.

Last Friday night a group of lucky boys from Year 2 and Year 3 had their team chosen to play at GIO Stadium before the Raiders vs Storm game. Gus, Mitchell, Jack, Jake and Jacob did a fantastic job representing their club the Belconnen United Sharks. 

Congratulations to the following children who have been selected by their class group to be their Student Representative Council member for 2019 -

Darcy B (5F), Mary D-H (5F), Mitchell B (3L), Anneliese L (3L), Charlize S (5W), Ava R (5W), Claire H (5MF), Lilli P (5MF), Jye L (4H), Annabelle F (4F), Bastijan P (3/4C), Finn D (3/4C), Joel M (3M), Zachary H (3M), Emma S (4M) and Sam G (4M).

Best of luck to the following girls who have nominated to compete in the chess competition next Friday 29 March. 

Zarah L, Annalene L, Annalise S, Mary D-H, Sarah D-H & Charlize S. 

Thank you to Evelyn David-Hoole for coordinating this opportunity for our children.

Happy Birthday to the following students - 

Liam M, Nicholas P, Ryan W, Ariel T, Fletcher B,  Tomas G, Lucia Mc

Canteen Roster  - Term 1, Week 9

Monday - June Manning

Tuesday - Michelle Gaffey

Wednesday - Vacancy

Thursday - June Manning

Friday - Samantha Cox, June Manning, Wendy Regan, Katrina Ciampa

Samantha Manning - Canteen Manager - 62584687

Community Council Thank You

The Community Council would like to thank everyone who donated their time, their baking and the huge effort put in to make our fete a success. While many of our staff and volunteers are still recovering we are sure they agree that much fun was had, friendships formed and memories were made. Not to mention the funds for our school and a great community event.

Next Community Council meeting will be Wednesday 3 April. If anyone has any issues/ideas they would like to discuss please email Fiona Steinberg - Council.StMonicas@cg.catholic.edu.au 

Our School Banking Coordinator Robyn Jolly has handed over the role to Samantha Cox. We would like to thank Robyn for all the time she has given to the banking. School banking day will now be on a Friday each week commencing Friday 5 April.

Fete Raffle Winners 2019

1st prize - $1,000 Cash - Ivan Peric

2nd prize - Narooma Escape - Maddie Betts

3rd prize - Playstation 4 - Bev Clark

Classroom Raffle Basket Winners

Winners of our various classroom basket raffles are 

T. Norgate, Christa, Helen Watson, Anne Hodgkin and Natalie.

Guess How Many Lollies Competition

The winner of the Guess How Many Lollies Competition is Clancy P (5MF).

Cupcake Decorating

Winners in each grade -

Kinder - Under the sea by Harriett B (KRC)

Year 1-2 - Mitchell C (2D)

Year 3-4 - Thorn Bush by Sophie S (3/4C)

Year 5-6 - Playful Pigs - Archie E (5W)

Peoples Choice - Baa Baa Pink Sheep by Lucas W (KRC)

Cupcake Colouring In Competition

Kinder - Saskia H (KGH)

Year 1-2 - Nicholas K (1E)

Year 3-4 - Maeve J (4H)

Year 5-6 - Sarah R (5W)

Peoples Choice - Lachlan F (1E)

Canberra’s entire public transport network has undergone a major overhaul which means extensive changes and improvements to the way students travel to school using dedicated public transport services in 2019. Transport Canberra will release detailed school and general bus timetables and route information in early 2019 before the new bus network starts in 2019.

The school services planned as part of the New Bus Network have been designed based on a new School Bus Services Policy(PDF 318KB).

The majority of students in Canberra travel to school by car. This means that many students are missing out on the health benefits of active travel and the opportunity to become proficient in public transport use. It also means many schools are congested with traffic around bell times. These new school services will ensure all students will be at their school destination prior to bell times.

The new public transport network includes 222 dedicated school bus services every school day. This is a similar number to today’s network, and 78 more dedicated school services than were included in the consultation network released in June. These services are simpler and easier for students, with most services running both morning and afternoon and using the same route number.

In the new network, the way Transport Canberra runs school buses will change. School bus services will generally be shorter to reduce the time it takes students to get to school, and they will provide more opportunities for students to connect to local and Rapid services. Additionally, local and Rapid services have been designed to provide good access to as many schools as possible across our city, so that more students at more schools can get to school by public transport.

Refer to the website

New School Bus Routes From Term 2

https://www.transport.act.gov.au/getting-around/new-network/schools

Capital Football ALDI MiniRoos Holiday Clinics
We believe the best way to learn football is by playing football and our curriculum is designed to cater to all skill levels. Our qualified coaches are there to guide players through fun and football relevant activities and games, which are stimulating and challenging for all involved.
Ages: 4 – 11 year olds
Dates: 15th-17th April
Times: 9am – 12pm
Venue: Southwell Park, Lyneham ACT 2602
Cost: $150
For further information and to register please visit https://capitalfootball.com.au/game-development/holiday-clinics/

Death Cap mushrooms are one of the world’s deadliest mushrooms and can currently be found across the Canberra region. Since 2002, there have been four deaths and several poisonings in the ACT due to Death Cap mushrooms.

In Canberra, Death Cap mushrooms often grow near established oak trees in mild, moist weather. Death Cap mushrooms have previously been found growing on school grounds in the ACT.

Parents and teachers are asked to remind children not to touch, pick or eat any wild mushrooms. As the Death Cap mushroom can easily be confused with edible varieties people are also strongly advised not to touch, pick or eat any wild mushrooms. It is difficult, even for experienced collectors, to tell the difference between the Death Cap mushroom and edible wild mushrooms. All parts of the Death Cap mushroom are poisonous and eating part of a mushroom can be fatal. Cooking the Death Cap mushroom does not make it safe.

If you suspect that you or one of your family members might have eaten Death Cap mushrooms you should seek urgent medical attention at a hospital emergency department. If you believe you have seen a Death Cap mushroom keep children and animals away and do not touch the mushroom with your bare skin. If it is growing in a public area please contact Access Canberra on 13 22 81.

If it is in your own yard wear rubber or plastic gloves and remove the whole mushroom, including any part under the ground. Put it straight into a plastic bag and dispose of bag in the rubbish bin and then wash your hands.

For further information on Death Cap mushrooms, download the fact sheet online at
https://www.health.act.gov.au/about-our-health-system/population-health/fact-sheets