Term 4 Week 2

Welcome back!

The students have settled in beautifully to a new term of learning and fun! I’m struggling that we are still having to wear jumpers to stay warm in late October. Whilst it is frustrating that the beautiful spring weather is not our ‘norm’ yet, we must keep in our thoughts and prayers those whose homes and communities are being inundated with flood waters currently.

I hope that the holidays gave you some time to relax as a family and go a bit slower in your day. I think a couple of pyjama days should be compulsory in the school holidays. I had a lovely couple of days at Port Elliot with my family. For the first few days it was just my son, James, and myself. He is nearly 23 and the chance to just sit and talk, go for a walk together or explore a part of the beautiful coastline is very rare. Our children grow up very quickly so when you do have the chance to spend the time together – grab it!

Today we acknowledge and celebrate World Teacher’s Day. If asked I am confident that each of us could name a teacher who has made a significant difference to your life. I remember Miss Smith who was my Grade 1 teacher and I thought she was the most beautiful person ever! But when I reflect on those educators who had an impact on my learning and my thinking, I would struggle to name just one. There were those who inspired by love of reading and those who frustrated me because I thought that they just ‘didn’t get me’ but now I realise how much they did. I would ask a favour of each family this week. Take a moment and send a message of gratitude to your child’s teacher and the work that they do to help your child to flourish. A simple action which will have a huge impact. Staff at St Monica’s are really quiet special!

There are many important dates to add to your calendars this term. You can find them included in this newsletter. Our first one is our whole school Sports Day on Friday 4 November. Annette Giacomelli has sent out emails with information about this day, so please take some time to read through them. I look forward to my first St Monica’s Sports Day and sharing it with you all. Who will be the champion team on the day?

Thank you to those families who have already completed the 5-minute survey to provide us with feedback for the Student Led Learning Conversations. One of our strong passions and commitment to education and community building is the inclusion of the student voice and student agency. Staff and students have already shared their reflections, so I look forward to reading your input. From here I will feed this information back to all stakeholders and use it to improve our process in 2023.

We are currently finalising class structures for 2023 based on the numbers of students who are returning to St Monica’s or who will begin with us next year. If you know of anyone who may be considering sending their child to our school next year, please have them contact us for further information.

It is now the end of our two week uniform transition period. From Week 3 onwards, all students should be wearing the correct summer uniform to school and all students must have a school hat for wearing at break times. If you need to purchase a new hat they are available from the front office and have both the bucket hat and the legionaries cap styles. We have the permanent pens for naming purposes too!

I look forward to seeing many of you at Sports Day next Friday.

Have a wonderful week ahead.

Emily Sayer

Principal

Next week the Catholic Church celebrates the feast days of All Saints (November 1) and All Souls (November 2).

The Feast of All Saints recognises the remarkable lives of all the Saints of the Catholic Church, which exceeds 10,000. We are reminded that these people, all lived ordinary lives like you and I, but whom listened to the gospel messages and where inspired to contribute to a world God desires in some of the most remarkable and extra ordinary ways. We are all called to be saints by living our lives following in their footsteps.

The Feast of All Souls, is dedicated to loved ones who have passed away, remembering their lives and the impact they had on us. We are encouraged to continue to remember them and keep a special place in our hearts for them all. In the library there will be a dedicated prayer space where classes will be invited to vist and pray. Paper hearts will be avalible for students to write deceased loved ones names on as a special intension. Students are also invited to bring in a photo to be placed in our community prayer space. Please include your child's name on the back of the photo or frame so it can be returned the following week. 

Our first Little Lightbulb breakfast was a great success.  Students and parents from Years 3-6 enjoyed learning about and exploring Bridges with Mr Ken Daunt.

Our next breakfast will be on THURSDAY 17th November.  More information to come out next week.

Student Voice organised some wonderful gifts and special messages for all of our wonderful teachers and ESO’s.  This day is celebrated each year as we appreciate all the work teachers do to help us.

At St Monica’s we currently have a Speech Pathologist who works with students privately, 1 day a week.  We are investigating the possibility of a psychologist working on-site once a week too.  To make this viable, we would need 3-6 students who would see the psychologist either weekly or fortnightly.  If you are interested in exploring this further and receiving correspondence about fees (either privately funded or NDIS) and times,  please send an email to:

smorris@stmonica.catholic.edu.au

Sarah Morris

Leader of Learning (Wellbeing and Inclusion)

Earlier in the year Ayla was selected as part of the Calisthenics South Australia National Development Team. As well as club calisthenics, Ayla has been training for 3.5 hours every Saturday since April with her team in preparation for the prestigious Frangipani Cup competition held in Darwin. On Thursday the 22nd of September, Ayla travelled with her team and coaches to Darwin to compete in the competition which took place on Sunday the 25th. They took out 6 first place positions for March, Clubs, Exercises, Rods, Aesthetic and Song and Dance. Ayla is the youngest member on the team, but her performance displayed maturity and technical precision beyond her years. Congratulations Ayla on this amazing achievement!

During Week 1 of Term 4, Year 6 student Daisy travelled to Rockingham in Western Australia to compete in the 12 Years and Under National Football Championships. She played in the South Australian team after trialling against other soccer hopefuls. Daisy competed in 6 games through the week, coming away with 2 wins and a draw. Daisy said, “I was happy with being involved in some assists for my team and being able to compare and compete with some of the best midfielders in Australia. I enjoyed the experience and being able to play soccer for the week.” Congratulations on your achievement Daisy!

The last few weeks have seen many classes complete their units of work in Drama lessons with Mrs Tamblyn. The Year 2 students performed the musical The Little Red Hen to families and Year 3 students worked in small groups to present a short play to their peers. Year 4 students used their bodies to create shadow plays and Year 5 students explored the elements of mime, created and then performed their own short pantomime.

Book Club 7

Issue 7 Book Club Catalogues will be going home soon. Please note that Issue 7 closes for orders on Monday 31^st October.

With Christmas coming you may consider buy books for presents. If you wish to do this, you can use the Gift Function and place a separate LOOP order for items intended as gifts. LOOP orders tagged as a gift will delivered to the school and marked accordingly as a gift on the distribution slip. They will be set aside in the Library or School Office, and you will be notified of their arrival.

When you buy books through the Book Club the School receives back 20% of the total orders.

Thank you for your support and happy reading.
 

St Monica’s acknowledge the Kaurna People as the Traditional Owners of the lands on which we live, learn and work. We acknowledge the continued deep spiritual connection and relationship of Aboriginal peoples to this country and commit to the ongoing journey of Reconciliation.