Dear Parents

The St Monica's staff had a very engaging day on Monday looking at Christian Meditation and exploring the Catalyst modules developed by Catholic Education - the Science of Learning and the Science of Reading. We look forward to implementing our learning over the coming months as part of our Annual Improvement Plan.

Athletics Carnival - tomorrow - Thursday 22 April

Our Athletics Carnival is on tomorrow. Thank you to the parents who have offered to volunteer, notes were sent home today so please check your child's school bag. Attached is a map of Merici College and the plan of events for the day, for parents wishing to drop in to see their child's event. 

Parents wishing to take their child home from the carnival must complete the signout sheet found on the recording table; just like you do if picking up a child early from school. 

Children can wear a t-shirt the colour of their team and must bring their morning tea, lunch and a water bottle as they will not have access to the canteen. 

Parent Meeting

Information was emailed and sent out via our SZapp regarding the parent meetings next week. Bookings are now open. Please look out for the information as next week's meetings will provide a wonderful opportunity for parents and teachers to catch up and review goals and briefly discuss any concerns. The meeting can be either face to face or via zoom.

Sign In/Sign Out

All children who arrive late to school must be signed in by a parent/carer at the Front Office. No child is to just be dropped off. With our new Compass system, only parents will be able to sign in via the kiosk device. All other relatives or friends will be required to use the paper system.

Winter Uniform

All children are to now be in full winter uniform. Our uniform shop is open on Friday mornings between 8.30am - 9.15am if you need to purchase any items. You can also place uniform orders through Qkr.

School Banking

School banking will resume on Friday 23 April. We will continue to monitor the use of our school banking as I am aware of concerns and many schools have withdrawn this service. 

Principal  

This week we are slowly introducing families to our new communication tool called Compass - Parent Portal.

Yesterday parents should have received an email inviting you to enrol into Compass. For security reasons, the new web and available app are only available to parents legally authorised to access student information. Unfortunately, grandparents or other relatives are not given access to the parent portal. If you have not received an email in the last 24 hours providing your user name and passcode please advise the school office to update your email and mobile contact number.  

The school's Compass portal is available through both desktop and mobile applications. 

If accessing the Compass portal on your desktop you will have to enter the school’s Compass portal URL (provided to the parents in the invitation log-in) in a web browser.

Compass has a mobile app for both IOS devices as well as Android devices.

Apple: https://apps.apple.com/au/app/compass-school-manager/id778415974  Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jdlf.compass&hl=en_AU

Alternatively, the apps may be downloaded directly from the App store or Google Play store.  Then look for/type in the school -  St Monica's Primary School 

Please Note: The mobile applications are not designed for complete use of the Compass platform; it is designed for quick access to a set of specific information and specific actions.

Parents Logging into the Parent Portal

Every family will have a separate account to log into the Compass Parent Portal. When parents log in using the credentials sent to them for the first time, they will be prompted to change their temporary password.

Password requirements:

● Must be at least eight (8) characters in length

● Contain at least one (1) alphabetical character

● Contain at least one (1) numeric character

Once the parent has successfully changed their password they will then be prompted to confirm their contact details which are in the schools Compass Portal. Parents will not be able to navigate through the Compass portal unless they have confirmed their contact information. This is to ensure that all Compass communications are sent to the correct email address/mobile number.

If a parent forgets their Compass portal log-in details, they can reset their password through the log-in screen. The link takes the parents through the password recovery process which includes being sent a confirmation code via their selected method (email/sms).

Please note: If the parent tries to recover their account information using an email address or mobile phone number which do not match the information stored in the school’s Compass Portal, they will be advised to contact the school office and not sent an account reset code.

What St Monica's is trialling this week -  submitting an absentee via an Attendance Note

If using the Parent Portal  to submit a child's absence you will not need to use the SZapp. 

As we begin to use new features I will update regularly and advise when various SZapp features will be turned off. 

Sacramental Program 2021 – First Eucharist for Year 4 students in 2021

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

• Tuesday 8 June at 6pm in St Michael’s Church
• Wednesday 9 June at 6pm in St Monica’s Church
• Thursday 10 June at 5.30pm in St Monica’s Church
• Thursday 10 June at 7pm in St Monica’s Church

Please keep the candidates for First Eucharist in your prayers.

Information Night for First Eucharist

The parent information night will be held on Thursday 29 April 2021 at 6pm via zoom (zoom address provided in the invitation to eligible candidates).

Registration for the Sacrament of First Eucharist

Registration must be made via the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Qkr! App. Registrations opened on 30 March 2021 and will close by 16 May 2021.
No further registration will be accepted after the closing date.

Commitment Masses

Students and parents must attend one of the weekend Masses at either St Monica’s Church (6pm Saturday or 10am Sunday) or St Michael’s Church (8am or 5.30pm Sunday) on one of the dates 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.

Purchasing a stole for First Eucharist

Purchasing a stole is optional and is not compulsory. If you wish to purchase a stole, please make a payment of $20 through the Qkr! App and send an email to sc.belconnennorth@cg.org.au and arrangements will be made for delivery/pickup.

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

National Centre for Australian Children's Literature Exhibition Titled "Dog Tales"

It is an exhibition of 35 original artworks by much-loved children’s book creators Alison Lester, Bob Graham and Ann James.  It includes sketches, initial ideas and information about the creators. 

Opens 10 May and closes 23 June 2021 at the Mura Gadi Gallery, the Library, Building 8, University of Canberra, Mon-Fri 10.30am-4.30pm. 

National Centre for Australian Children’s Literature,

Learning Maths Facts

It is so important for children to have a sound understanding of their number facts, see some tips below about how you can help your child in this area:

Write them out. Use a smartboard, a whiteboard, a blackboard, or even just a plain piece of paper and have a child write them out as you say them aloud. 

Make use of magnetic numbers. Another tactile way of practising math facts is with magnetic numbers. You can also use foam numbers on a wet surface or have them arrange wooden numbers on a table.

Say them aloud. Reciting math facts aloud is a great way to commit them to memory, especially for students who are auditory learners or those who struggle with processing visual information. 

Prompt the child to recite the entire fact then provide the correct answer orally if needed. Often students who are struggling to remember a fact can hear your voice or their own rehearsing it.

Type them out. For kids who struggle with handwriting, and/or speech production, touch-typing is often an effective approach for practising newly learned information.

Show them on a calculator. You can play a calculator game where a learner is given a sheet of facts to enter and must guess before confirming their answer on the calculator. 

This gives students a measure of control in checking their own work and makes it easier for the teacher to see where more practice is needed.

 Arrange objects on a flat surface. From food to buttons, recreating math facts this way can help visual and tactile learners commit them to memory.

Please find below this weeks Maths questions, please email your answers to ryan.matchett@cg.catholic.edu.au.

 K-2

3-6

Task Instructions

What is the area of the shape?

What is the perimeter of the shape?

How many rhombuses do you see?

How many triangles do you see?

How would you colour my youcubed heart?

What questions can you ask?

On Monday the staff at St Monica’s completed an online Catalyst unit on The Science of Reading. This unit introduced the science of how the brain reads and therefore the most effective methods of reading instruction.

 The staff were reminded of the 6 keys of reading

• Phonemic awareness
• Phonics
• Fluency
• Vocabulary
• Comprehension
• Oral language

All of these are already part of our whole school Literacy Action Plan and are incorporated into our teaching programs. By developing these important skills in students in Years K-2 and teaching them to Learn to Read, from Year 3 onwards they can move on to Reading to Learn.

You Can Do It! At St Monica’s

The students will continue to participate 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. YCDI! Education covers five main social-emotional skills that include: getting along, organisation, persistence, confidence and resilience.

With the YCDI Social-Emotional learning curriculum and other well being supports in place at St Monica’s we aim to:

1. help prevent and reduce students’ social-emotional difficulties and mental health problems
2. promote students’ positive well-being and avenues for them to seek support if required

The Canteen will be closed tomorrow, Thursday 22 April, as the Athletics Carnival is on. Canteen will be open on Friday for recess and lunches as usual.

Happy Birthday to the following students  celebrating a Birthday this week 

Evie K, Bastijan P, Henry C, Joshua D, Mitchell B, Elijah G

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

Congratulations to Annabelle F (6H), Bella P (6J), Chloe W (3LG), Zoe P (KB), Abi N (3LG),  Maeve J (6J), Sienna R (4R), Violet P (5MM) and Mariana R (4SG) who performed at the Calisthenics ACT Preliminary Competition during the holidays. The girls all performed beautifully on stage. Best of luck to all the girls for the upcoming ACT Calisthenics Championship in May.

Well done girls. What a wonderful achievement!!

Reminder all families: 

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