Dear Parents

There was much excitement at 8.00am this morning as our Year 5 and 6 students took off to Cooba for their three-day camp. This is a wonderful opportunity for team building and leadership while enjoying a device-free adventure. Lots of organisation goes into the preparation of such events; we are very fortunate to have such committed staff who are keen to provide such an experience for the children. 

An information note has been sent home today with the children outlining the events that makes up our Cross Country Carnival. This year we are hosting the event in our local area to save on the cost of buses and travel time. We still need the support of our wonderful parent to assist with a range of jobs including set up and track marshalls. To ensure our event never exceeds 500 parents will be required to use the Check In CBR app and will only be permitted to stay long enough to watch their child participate in their age race, unless they are volunteering on the day. As always COVID requirements must be followed and only children well enough to participate should attend school. All the children will be expected to participate in their event. 

Easter is Just Around the Corner

With no fete Easter basket raffle this year I thought it would be great to get the community involved is a small fundraising event. I am asking for each family to donate either a chocolate egg, rabbit or a bilby to the value of $5.00 so that we can put together several baskets to be raffled off on Holy Thursday, the last day of term. Tickets will $1.00 each and will go on sale from Monday 22 March. Donations to be sent in by Friday 19 March so the baskets can be put together for ticket sales to occur over the last two weeks of the term. 

Staffing News

This Friday our new maintenance person, Nic Thomas, will be starting, doing 9 hours her week. Nic is an ex St Monica's student who is currently studying Secondary PE. We look forward to Nic commencing to maintain our school grounds and attend to minor repairs. 

Continue to stay safe and healthy and may God's blessings be with everyone. 

Principal  

Sacramental Program 2021 – First Eucharist for Students in Year 4 from 2021

The Sacrament of First Eucharist will be celebrated in Term 2 of 2021 on the following dates:

• Tuesday 8 June at 6.00pm in St Michael’s Church
• Wednesday 9 June at 6.00pm in St Monica’s Church
• Thursday 10 June at 5.30pm and 7.00pm in St Monica’s Church

Please keep the candidates for First Eucharist in your prayers.

Information Night for First Eucharist – Term 2

The parent information night will be held on Thursday 29 April 2021 at 6.00pm via zoom (zoom address to be provided closer to the night).

Commitment Masses

Students and parents must attend one of the commitment Masses listed below to make their commitment for the sacrament. 

Saturday 1 and Sunday 2 May
Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 May
Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 May 2021

There will be no additional commitment masses beyond these dates.

The Sacrament is available in 2021 for the School of Religion.

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

Altar Servers

Congratulations to all our First Communicants who received Jesus recently in our lovely parish Masses.These children are now invited to become more active members of our parish community by serving on the Altar. We already have quite a few children who fulfil this role beautifully each week. Training sessions will be held within the coming weeks as follows - 

St Monica’s Church - contact Gavan Smith on 0416 258 846.  St Michael’s Church - Tuesday 16 March at 3.40pm or telephone Sr Kate on 0421 943 867.

Older Servers who are already trained are welcome to come along and assist.

School Photos

School Photo Day is Monday 22 March 2021. All children are to wear their full Summer school uniform. Photo envelopes have been sent home with children today. Envelopes with money are due back to school by Friday 19 March 2021.

Family Photos

As a fundraising opportunity familes can request a group photo with siblings to be taken on photo day. This is completely separate from individual student photos. The cost is $15 per photo. Please enclose this money in a separate envelope marked Family Photo - with your family name clearly displayed. Alternatively payment may be made using our Qkr! App. If using Qkr please send in a note to confirm your request and method of payment.

You Can Do It! at St Monica’s

The students have been busy participating in a weekly lesson from the You Can Do It! Social-Emotional Learning Curriculum. While an explicit lesson is taught each week, the skills and language are something that teachers and students are using and practising in their daily social interactions and when problems need to be resolved.

Through the YCDI! Primary Program, all the children from Year 1-6 are working on:

• Changing negative attitudes to positive ones
• Learning coping skills when things go wrong
• Reducing social and emotional difficulties
• Developing higher levels of wellbeing

In Year 1 the children have been discussing and learning how we all have strengths and weaknesses. They have been identifying strategies they can use to help themselves develop confidence.

For some students learning to read can be quite challenging. In fact, more than 60 percent of students do not find learning to read easy and for them to succeed, a structured literacy approach is essential.

In Year 1 the students are explicitly taught different reading skills, engage in daily reading activities and are given many opportunities to practice.

Sounds Write lessons build the students knowledge of the alphabet code which helps them to segment and blend sounds when reading a text.

Students are taught decoding and comprehension skills and strategies. They are exposed to new vocabulary through big books, read alouds and theme-based texts. They engage in fun activities to learn high frequency words. The Year 1 teachers are lucky enough to have some wonderful parent helpers come in each day and read with groups of students.

Maths Problems

Here are this weeks Maths problems. Don't forget to send your answers through to Mr Matchett- ryan.matchett@cg.catholic.edu.au

Year K-2 Problem

Take three different colour blocks, maybe red, yellow and blue.
Make a tower using one of each colour.
Here's one with red on top, blue in the middle and yellow on the bottom.

 

Now make another tower with a different colour on top.

How many different towers can you make?
How will you know that you have found them all?

Year 3-6 Problem

Adrienne, Betty and Cathy were the only three competitors participating in a series of athletic events. In each event the winner gets 33 points, second gets 22 points and third gets 11 points. After the events Adrienne has 88 points, Betty has 11 points and Cathy has 55 points.

In how many events did Adrienne come second?

Happy Birthday to the following students  celebrating a Birthday this week 

Jacob M, Faith K, Liam R, Anna V, Saxon H, Cooper D, Dylan J

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

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 due on Friday 26 February, except for families who have a formal Direct Debit arrangement in place.

If you have not yet made your school fees payment, please do so urgently. Please contact our School Finance Officer if you are experiencing difficulty meeting this commitment.

***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. If we haven't received your information we cannot provide a discount for you.

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

Reminder all families: 

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