Term 1 Week 1

WELCOME BACK!

What beautiful week we have had to celebrate the start of the 2024 school year. I would like to welcome back all our students, families and staff to what I know will be a year of enriching learning, relationship building and lots of fun! I hope that each of you had some down time when you could do something as a family together.

A special welcome to all our new students and their families. The new members of our community include: Evie, Octavia, Harper, Jayden, Evelyn, Aary, Harvey, Giselle, Harry, Lianna, Scarlett, Henry, Iliana, Luka, Mila, Edith, Stefan, Luka, Jerrad, Aijla, Kairon, Ardit and a special welcome to Ms Katie Downie. Katie is our new Assistant Principal Religious Identity and Mission (APRIM). We are sure that she will love her time in our community and we look forward to getting to know her more.

I hope that you have all had a chance to visit our completed front of school redevelopment. We now have a playground that is exciting and just waiting for students to explore, create, and use their imaginations. It has been interesting to watch the children taking some ‘safe’ risks and challenge themselves in crossing the monkey bars, climb over the log scramble, use their leg muscles to bounce strongly on the trampoline. The entrance to the school is now a beautifully inviting space and provides a clear path to our front office. The new greenery has certainly softened the space too. The children and staff absolutely love it as I hope you do. May I invite families to bring their younger children for a play on the equipment on Monday 5 February at 2.30pm, please enter via the Brunswick St gate.

The other exciting element in this space is our RAP mural that was created through conversations with our school’s RAP committee and Aboriginal students and artist, Pat Caruso. The mural has a wonderful narrative explaining the images and colours used. We are very proud of this work and thank Pat for his collaboration with us. In the coming weeks we will have an official “opening” of this whole space and all are most welcome to join us for this event. Details will be shared shortly.

Another exciting new item in our outside space is a new drink fountain that the children can use to refill their drink bottles at any time. Previously we had some very old drinking troughs that would be blocked by the sand and weren’t the most hygienic way for the children to have a drink of water. We now have this fountain in addition to the refrigerated one at the front of the school for the children’s use. A huge thank you to our amazing Parents and Friends committee for using some funds from their budget line to provide this for our students. When the P & F hold fundraisers, it is to raise money to improve some aspect of St Monica’s for the children.

Please put Sunday 18 February in your calendars for the Family Picnic organised by the P & F. Last year’s was a great success and we hope that this year’s will have even more families attend. I hope to see many of you there. Details can be found in this newsletter.

Another date to put in your calendar is a pupil free day on Friday 8 March. Staff will be working on our Strategic Plan 2024-2028 and exploring the Australian Curriculum v9. OSHC services will be available so please make a booking if you require care for the day.

Finally, I am very proud to share with you that St Monica’s was successful in winning a grant to work with KESAB in 2024 on reducing our waste and make choices about personal practices that are environmentally aware and encourage us to be agents of change at school and home. We look forward to this collaboration with KESAB and families will be included at every step of the journey.

God bless,

Emily Sayer

For my first newsletter I would like to take the opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Katie Downie, and I am your new Assistant Principal Religious Identity and Mission. An added bonus for me is that this is my local Parish of which I have been a part of for the last 10 years. I previously worked at St Martin’s for 15 years so am quite familiar with the Parish and St Monica’s Parish School. I am so excited to begin this role and look forward to meeting you all over the next few weeks.

Religious Education

This term in Religious Education classes will be looking at the Big Idea of Ubuntu – ‘I am, because we are’. This idea focuses on compassion in action and teaching students how Jesus loved everyone and teaches us to do the same. Students will learn how to make good and moral choices and to serve those less fortunate than themselves. This is a very powerful and important idea for students to learn and will set them up for the year to be kind and compassionate students.

Shrove Tuesday

Shrove Tuesday is a Christian festival celebrated by many all over the world. It falls on the Tuesday (47 days before Easter Sunday) before the beginning of Lent – a period of around six weeks leading up to Easter. During Lent, Christians give up luxuries to remember when Jesus went into the desert for 40 days to fast and pray.

Shrove Tuesday is on 13th February (week 3) this year. Our pancakes will again be made by the Liturgy Group Leaders. To minimise costs, we are asking for donations of ingredients and supplies.

Joseph - Napkins

Mackillop - SR Flour or Butter

Augustine - Strawberries or Blueberries

Tenison Woods - Lemons, Syrup or Milk

If there are any dietary requirements please ring Annette to discuss – 8344 2384

Upcoming Dates

Friday, 9th February 9am Beginning of the Year Mass

Tuesday, 13th February Recess Shrove Tuesday

Wednesday, 14th February 9am Ash Wednesday Liturgy of the Word

Friday, 15th March 9am St Joseph’s Feast Day Mass

Friday, 28th March Good Friday

Monday, 31st March Easter Monday

Tuesday, 1st April 9am Easter Liturgy of the Eucharist

Katie Downie

APRIM

Library News

Significant Dates to remember

March 1-17        Adelaide Writer’s Week

May 22                 National Simultaneous Storytime reading Bowerbird Blues by Aura Parker

Aug 17-23           Book Week – this year’s theme is ‘Reading is Magic

Premier’s Reading and Premiers be active Challenges

We will again be participating in these Challenges. Most years we have 100% of our students achieving the Premier’s Reading Challenge however only a small number of students complete the Premier’s be active Challenge. This may be because the students do not have enough information about it.

What must students do to complete the Premier’s be active Challenge: The Challenge requires students to do at least 60 minutes of physical activity on at least 5 days of the week for at least 4 weeks from the start of the school year until the end of week 10, term 3.

Students must record their physical activity on the relevant student recording booklets or class progress charts.

To meet their daily requirement, students should undertake 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA). Examples include riding a bike, playing tag games, dancing, playing sport, walking to or from school. Physical activity does not need to be in one block of 60 minutes – it can be shorter amounts of activity that add up to 60 minutes.

The Challenge is achievable for children of all abilities. All participants will be required to complete at least 4 weeks of the Challenge.

Students with disabilities - A ‘negotiated’ Challenge can be set for children with special needs.

Scholastic Book Club – Last year with your support we were able to buy over 300 readers and many other resources for the classrooms and library.

  Issue 1 2024 will be distributed to all classes on Monday.  Orders will close on Wednesday 14th February and are to be ordered through the LOOP option.  All orders are to be done online; no cash is accepted. Please find below the link to the parents page for Book Club https://www.scholastic.com.au/book-club/book-club-parents/

Pamela Allen (AM) - Congratulations to children’s author Pamela Allen who has written and illustrated more than 50 works that have found homes in libraries and bookshelves across the world. She was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her significant contribution to literature in this year’s Australia Day honours. We have many of her books in our library which are enjoyed by students and staff alike. Can you remember who it was that sank the boat in her wonderful book ‘Who Sank the Boat’?

Alicia Molik who was the Adelaide International Tournament Director for 2024 presented the trophy on the day.  Metro schools were Prince Alfred College and St Monica's as as well as country entrants Maitland Lutheran Primary School and Port Lincoln Primary School.  First round St Mons played against Prince Alfred College- score PAC 127 to St Mons 101.  St Monica's won 4 games and lost 4 games in this round.  St Monica's then played against the runners up Port Lincoln Primary School and won the play-off.  Overall St Monica's came third and the kids had a great morning at the Drive on the match courts, although it was an extremely hot day.  A great experience for them all!  The kids and families were given a complimentary entry tickets to the Adelaide International Tennis for the day for participating in the tournament.

We have been informed by St Mary’s College and Christian Brothers College, two of the colleges that our students may transfer to for high school, about the great success of some old scholars of St Monica’s. Michael Fragnito was Proxime accessit at CBC and Claudia Dnistrjanski was the 2023 Dux of St Mary's. We congratulate them on their success and wish them every success for their future endeavours.

Christian Brothers College:

Michael Fragnito, was our Proxime accessit, with an amazing ATAR of 99.15

Jack Devenish, received an ATAR of 96.30 and was our College Vice Captain of Excellence.

Rory Varricchio, received an ATAR of 95.25 and

Charlie Campagnolo received a 93.20

St Mary's College

Claudia Dnistrjanski named the Dux at St Mary's College

The parent community has established a private group on Facebook that facilitates the trading of second-hand uniform items.

Please visit www.facebook.com/groups/stmonicasbuyswapsell and request to join the group if you are interested.

The page is ideal for selling items in good condition that your child has outgrown, or to sell items if your child is moving on. Simply post images and your contact details. Alternatively, you can join the group to take advantage of the pre-loved items that become available.

For those of you who are not on Facebook, please contact the P&F pandf.stmonicas@gmail.com and they will assist you with the sale of items.

Please note the sale of old-style uniform items is not allowed. St Monica's Parish School does not manage this page and takes no responsibility for any private sales.

We acknowledge the Kaurna people as the traditional custodians of the land upon which St Monica’s learn, work and play.

May we walk gently on this land acknowledging the Kaurna people's deep spiritual connection with their country.

We pay our respects to Kaurna elders past and present and commit to the ongoing journey of Reconciliation.