Dear Parents

Today the school community came together for Ash Wednesday Mass to mark the beginning of Lent; a time to pray, fast & give. Please take the time to discuss this important season in the Church's Liturgical Cycle as we prepare ourselves over the next 40 days for the death and resurrection of Jesus, at Easter.

It was really wonderful to see the number of families take up the opportunity to meet their child's teacher last week. The teachers found it very valuable as they plan your child's learning for the weeks ahead. 

Our new School and Family Counsellor, Royko Kayasu, commenced last week and is keen to connect with the children and their families. During the course of the year she will be offering individual counselling and if time allows will work with the teachers to provide group sessions to support the various emotional needs of the children. Any families wishing to access this service for their child/ren should contact me directly via phone or email for a request form. Royko will be at the school every Tuesday and every second Wednesday. 

On Friday we farewell Mrs Liz Foster who is commencing maternity leave. We are all looking forward to the arrival of baby Foster in the coming weeks. Liz has been a wonderful extra staff member over the last three weeks, coordinating the Year 6 leadership day, the swimming carnival and assisting with all the Years 5 & 6 camp preparations. We will miss her enthusiasm and support but know she will love her time at home being a fabulous mum. 

This year Mr Luke Donnelly is accessing every second Wednesday as a family care day to look after his youngest child. In his absence, Mrs Haley Stonhan will be Acting Assistant Principal and provide support on days when both Luke and I are not at school. Congratulations to Haley on this appointment for 2021.  

Principal  

This Friday morning (19 February) the Year 6 students will receive their leadership badges for 2021. The ceremony will occur in the school hall, commencing at 9.30am, with the Year 5 students attending and one parent per Year 6 student. The numbers attending is due to the current COVID restriction on the number of people attending indoor events.

The event will be streamed to the St Monica's children in Kinder to Year 4 via MS Teams.  

Parents attending must

• Register via the CBR Check In app to be displayed at the entry of the hall
• All adults must ensure 1.5m physical distancing when entering, leaving and sitting in the hall 
• Any parent and student who is unwell or has any flu-like symptoms must not attend this event
• All attendees are encouraged to adopt good hygiene practices while at this event

The Year 6 students are to wear their correct summer uniform for this very special occasion.

We are all looking forward to this very special event. 

Sacramental Program 2021 – First Eucharist for catch-up students Y4 from 2020
The Sacrament of First Eucharist for the students from Year 4 in 2020 will be celebrated in term 1 of 2021 on the following dates:

• Tuesday 23 February at 6pm in St Michael’s Church
• Wednesday 24 February at 6pm in St Monica’s Church
• Thursday 25 February at 6pm in St Monica’s Church

Please keep the candidates for First Eucharist in your prayers.

Home Booklets

The completed and signed home booklets should now have been handed back to the school. If you have not handed the home booklet back could you please do so by the end of the week so that Fr Loi can sign them prior to the celebration of the sacrament. The signed booklets will be returned to the candidates on the night of the Sacrament along with their certificates.

There will be a further celebration for First Eucharist in Term 2, 2021 for students in Year 4 in 2021. More information will be available in the school and church bulletins and also on the parish website at www.cg.org.au/belconnennorth

For further information please contact the Sacramental Program coordinator at sc.belconnennorth@cg.org.au

The Year 1 Team 

Mrs Yvette Rosenfeld

Mrs Melinda Brown

Mrs Helen Houghton

BUILDING LANGUAGE SKILLS WITH YOUR CHILD

Building language skills with your child is important for them to communicate effectively. Children who engage in meaningful conversations and interactive chatting tend to have higher language abilities which ultimately improves their reading and writing skills.

Conversations with your child every day are important to build these skills.  

What conversations can you have with your child this week?

SAVE THE DATE - Wednesday 5 May Parent Cyber Safety Session with Safe on Social

To celebrate National Safer Internet Day we would like to announce our Parent Cyber Safety Session with Kirra Pendergast from Safe on Social. Kirra is the CEO of Safe on Social Media who support schools and parents to ensure the safety of our children online. Kirra is an advocate for children, provides practical advice to parents and is an engaging presenter who will leave a buzz in the room. You can hear her here with Mia Freedman on Mamamia: https://www.mamamia.com.au/podcasts/no-filter/kirra-pendergast-safe-on-social-media/ 

We would encourage all parents to attend the session on the evening of Wednesday 5 May and will ensure that childcare is available and a zoom link for those of you at home.

This year we have approximately 70 students, from ages 8 to 12, registered to participate in our St Monica's Competitive Swimming Carnival on Monday 22 February.  Entries are now closed. Refer to the reminder note below. 

Good luck to all our swimmers for 2021 and thank you to the parents who have volunteered to assist. 

The children at St Monica’s are now enhancing their social and emotional skills by participating in lessons from the You Can Do It! Program. The program contains lessons that teach attitudes, values, character strengths, social-emotional skills, successful relationships and well-being. The program has been recognised by the Australian Governments BeYou Mental Health and Wellbeing initiative as being a “best practise” program based on research of effectiveness.

As a school, we have subscribed to the YCDI! Positive Parent Online Program. The parent program has much to offer including:

• eLearning topics on positive and effective parenting
• motivational and inspirational audio eLearning series
• insight articles that present important information on parenting topics

Throughout the year we will feature some of these articles in the weekly newsletter, but they are available to you at any time with your family subscription. Parenting strengths to make a difference is an example of the articles you and your family can access.

Visit You Can Do It! and go to LOG IN to use the username and password sent home on the flier last week. 

Proposed activities for camp 2021. These are subject to change. 

 Year 5  

• Archery 
• Leap of Faith 
• Slingshot 
• Assault Course (water based) 
• River Day at Dalgety River (water based) 

Year 6  

• Lake Day at Lake Jindabyne (water based) – first day of camp. All children in Year 6 will need to be wearing their swimmers under their clothes on the bus. 
• Big Swing 
• Team Manoeuvres 
• Mt Bikes 
• Low Ropes 
• Survivor (water based) 

A friendly reminder to families that the final instalment payment of $200 for camp is due by Friday 26 February. Payment must be received in full prior to departure for camp. Please contact the office if you are not sure of your balance.

FYI, the first instalment of $140 was due on 4 December 2020, total cost is $340.

Welcome to the new babies 

Congratulations to the Altieri family - (Sophie - 2RR) on the arrival of Elouise and congratulations to the Rutter family - (Joshua - 2E) on the arrival of Stella. Both babies were born in the school holidays.

Welcome to our new families 

We welcome our new families to the school - Azurin-Chalker, Boveington, Byatt, Chapman, Ellero, Fitzgibbon, Hanrahan, Price, Siracusa, Vuong, Clark, Dwyer, Jayassekara, Larsen, Leane, Thomas, Ador Deng, Machacek, Anoop, Watson, Hodgekiss and Frith.

Congratulations to Craig McPherson - father of Jessica (5EM)

Congratulations to  Sergeant Craig McPherson  who was awarded an Australian Police Medal (APM) in this year’s Australia Day Honours. Craig has had a remarkable 33 year career, being recognised for his distinguished dedication and service to ACT Policing and the community. He has delivered positive community outcomes and significantly influenced culture, policy and legislative reform, recruit training and Road Policing operations (just to name a few!)

***Attention families with older children at other ACT Catholic Systemic Schools***

Do you have older children attending St Francis Xavier College, John Paul II College, Merici College, St Clare's College or Mary Mackillop College? Or another ACT Catholic primary school? You are entitled to a discount on your school fees here at St Monica's but you must submit the form below please, so I have your correct information.

Family circumstances change therefore you must notify the school at the commencement of every school year. Please do not assume that if you received this discount in previous years that it carries over to the next year. This information is wiped from our database at the end of every year.

If you have not submitted this information, please do so as a matter of urgency. Term 1 school fees are being invoiced this week - if we haven't received your information we cannot provide the discount for you.

Link to complete & submit form online: 2021 Fees Systemic Sibling Discount Form

Information related to school fees is available in our school app, under Forms & Documents. You can access the 2021 fee schedule, Direct Debit forms, remission application forms and other fee-related information.

Term 1 school fees were invoiced last week.  Invoices were emailed where possible, otherwise sent home on Monday with the eldest child, as Australia Post is not delivering efficiently.

Full payment of school fees is required by Week 4 each term, except for families who have a formal Direct Debit arrangement in place. Fee concession may be available to families experiencing genuine financial hardship. A remission application form and supporting information will need to be submitted. The application form may be downloaded from our Schoolzine app - under Forms & Documents. Applications for fee concessions are treated in the strictest of confidence.

Applications for a 2021 fee concession must be submitted no later than Friday 26 February.

Happy Birthday to the following students  celebrating a Birthday this week 

Anthony M, Lachlan B, Mason N, Atilio R, Francesco R, Sophie S, Fatmata K

Reminder all families: 

Catholic Education COVID-19 Website - Click to open web updates

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

Lis O'Daly provides private piano lessons through the school. If you are interested please contact the school office for further details on how to contact Lis to discuss cost etc. 

Private Guitar Lessons

Monday Chess Lessons