Term 4 Week 3

Greetings!

It seems like I was just saying ‘Hello’ and now it is time to say ‘Goodbye’.

I am grateful for the privilege of working in this community again. In a conversation the other day, I realised it was my third time ‘back’. I was first appointed here in 1993 and then again, after having my first child, in 1998 and now in 2024. I wonder if our paths will cross again?

It is good for a school community to have ‘fresh eyes’ in to see what might have been overlooked and to affirm what is going well. While there are many great things about St. Monica’s, I think the thing I have been most impressed with are the students here; your child(ren). I have worked in many different schools but the children here at St. Monica’s are by far the most thoughtful, well-mannered, considered and considerate children I have come across. I am continuously impressed by their ability to listen carefully, respond appropriately and think things through clearly. Their ability to accept consequences shows great integrity and a trust in the adults who surround them, be that parents or staff. Thank you for growing children who are already showing admirable attributes, we can only be hopeful for a world in which they will be the adults.

This week our Year 5 and 6 students, accompanied by Sarah M, Emily M, Jim, Annette and Daniel spent the first three days at Illawonga on the beautiful River Murray at Swan Reach. The stories that have returned with them indicate that they have had a fun time and grown greatly through this experience. While camp is often a challenging experience for children, it is a challenging experience for staff on a completely different level. Thank you to Sarah, Emily, Jim, Annette and Daniel who so graciously gave of their time to take your child(ren) away, keep them safe and happy and help them deal with any challenges that camp (or the journey home) might have presented them. What an experience! Great work everyone!

It was also interesting to listen to the stories of the siblings of children who went on camp. They were keen to share how different life was for them being an ‘only child’ or in a family with one less child at home. Having our Year 5 and 6 students away also allowed our Year 4 students to step up as the leaders in our school. As a community, we must be grateful for ALL the opportunities camp presents for us.

Sarah M is backing up her camp duties with those of Tournament of Minds Co-Ordinator. Sarah and Louise are accompanying our TOM Team to Sydney at present. The team left Adelaide on an early flight on Thursday and will return on Sunday. Depending on when you are reading this, the TOM students could be in the middle of their presentation or have already competed and be awaiting results. Either way, we wish them all the best; may their minds remain sharp and focussed, their team skills honed for the greater good and their sense of fun and pride abound.

Thank you

Last week on Thursday we celebrated World Teachers Day. What a beautiful celebration we had! All the staff here at St. Monica’s (who are all teachers), would like to thank

Sarah M & the student voice students who provided us with a beautiful spa experience
All the students here who decorated hearts with pictures and words of love for all the teachers
The Parents & Friends who supplied us with cupcakes for morning tea

Grandparents and Special Friends Afternoon

Next Wednesday 6/11 at 2pm we welcome all our Grandparents and Special Friends to come and spend the afternoon with us.

Entry to the school will be via Brunswick St.

At 2:00pm our guests will be welcomed into library for a cup of tea or coffee and biscuit and to be entertained by our Performance choir who will sing a few songs.

We will move to visit classrooms at 2.30pm where our guests can share a book, play a game or draw a picture with their special child/ren.

We will finish at 3.00pm.

So this is goodbye…

May your child(ren) always remain a source of joy to you.

May you be grateful for the school community who are your village.

May the spirit of St. Monica, the parent of the challenging child, give you hope,

And may you remember…

In all things Love

Susanne Harding

Acting Principal

Prayer – All Souls Day and All Saints Day

Director of Catholic Identity and Mission, Dr Jill Gowdie, recently summed up what All Saints Day and All Souls Day is all about.

Halloween is the shortened form of All Hallows Eve (Hallow’een) ,and another name for All Hallows is All Saints. All Saints Day follows Hallow’een, and All Souls Day follows All Saints Day. They are all connected and together celebrate the Christian belief that Love always prevails over the darkness, that life flows into eternity, and that no-one can ever fall out of the hand of God.

Life and Death - the bigger reality

All Saints Day (Nov 1)and All Souls Day (Nov 2) are significant feast days in the Church's calendar and together celebrate one of the more beautiful beliefs of the Catholic tradition. They make us remember and connect into a greater reality of being, that explodes past the everyday into something deeper. We believe that the ones we call saints - and celebrate on All Saints Day - understood the deeper, larger reality of life and lived their lives by it; and we believe that those we have loved and who have passed away - and who we remember especially on All Souls Day - have passed away into this wonderful communion. Even the uglies which come out to play in all kinds of ways on the evening before All Saints day cannot change this deeper stronger reality of love and life, living and dying.

There are three simple ways Catholic schools can mark and celebrate All Hallows Eve (Halloween), All Hallows (All Saints Day – Nov 1), and All Souls Day (Nov 2):

All Hallows Eve (Halloween- October 31): ‘Nasty Spirits’

This is the day of decoration with cobwebs, goblins, bats, when all the nasty naughty ‘spirits’ come out to play -  their last gasp before the power of All Saints reigns! 

All Hallows (All Saints Day-November 1): The Lamp of Love  

This is the day of Saints and Angels – the reminder that this is the world that conquers the nasties – and is the victory of love. We believe that the ones we call saints - and celebrate on All Saints Day - understood the deeper, larger, layered reality of life and lived their lives by it. Their light guides us in the ways of God. The lamp or lantern at the door or in the window is the sign of light and love to those who need to be guided home. This is an old Christian tradition still practised widely in Northern European and some Asian countries. This is the day for us to bring a lantern/lamp to the prayer-space or to hang near the door or in the entrance foyer to our school or light a lantern in the coming week at home and place it in a window. 

All Souls Day (November 2): The Book of Remembering

When someone passes away, we believe that they have joined this great communion of saints. And so, another tradition in our Catholic communities is to have a book during the month of November in which we write the names of those who have passed away into the heart of God – those names, those loved ones we want to remember and never forget – and to do so in the embrace of community.

At St Monica’s our prayer focus for the week is All Saints Day and All Souls Day. Students have learnt the importance of these days in the Catholic Liturgical Calendar and taken time to reflect on those who are no longer with us and those Saints they can call on when they need. One thing the students have been asked to do is record the name of a loved one that has taken their journey to be with God. In doing this we have asked the students to pray for this person throughout the week.

ALL SAINTS’ DAY PRAYERS

Dear God,

Thank you for the saints who teach us how to love and be good. Help us to be like them and be kind to others.

Amen

ALL SOULS’ DAY PRAYER

Loving God, 

We pray for everyone who has died. Please welcome them into your heavenly home and give them peace. 

Amen

iLax Indoor Lacrosse

Recently, one of our parents, Simon Gill, put together a couple of teams to participate in the iLax Indoor Lacrosse Competition held on Saturdays at The Lights Community and Sports Centre, Lightsview. On the Friday before the 1st game Simon held a training at St Monica’s to give the students an opportunity to learn some skills before the actual game.

Simon has shared with us how the first week went and included some photos. Thank you so much Simon for overseeing this for St Monica’s.

Week 1 of iLax was a huge success! 

Under 8's:
East Torrens Payneham 6 def St Monica's 5
Our team was made up of Benjamin, Viktor, Felix, Emma, Edrick, Airlie, Dakota, Joshua, Jacob and Olivia. Mile played for East Torrens given we had plenty of kids on the bench.

It was a very close, competitive game played in great spirits, up against the experienced team from East Torrens Payneham. Given that Ben and Airlie were the only kids to have played before, this was an excellent result.
Goal Scorers were Edrick with 1, Joshua with 1, and Olivia with 2.
Mile also scored one for East Torrens.

Thanks to Jack and Mateo for running the scoreboard and filling in the scoresheets.

Under 11's:
St Monica's 10 defeated East Torrens Payneham 2
Our team was made up of Jack, Flynn, Patrick, Mateo, Peter and Benjamin filled in for a second game, as well as Mile playing for East Torrens again. Jack played the first half as goalkeeper, while Benjamin did the second half, and Mile played in goals in the second half for East Torrens.

Most of our team in Under 11's are experienced players, with everyone playing in the 2024 field season except for Peter and Flynn. Flynn played indoor Lacrosse with us in Term 1 and has exceptional skills, while Peter in his first game ever looked like a natural Lacrosse player with years of experience!

The game was a little one-sided with the East Torrens team being much younger, but it was played fairly and both teams showed great sportsmanship.

Thanks to Brad and Tricia for running the scoreboard and filling in the scoresheets.

The kids had lots of fun, and we had excellent feedback from the parents.

The Under 8's will play against East Torrens each week, which will allow us to mix and match teams as needed. The Under 11's come up against the Blackfriars Hounds in Round 2 which should be a great game!

Upcoming Dates – St Monica’s Parish School

Reconciliation Family Church Session(Rehearsal) Tuesday, 5 November, 6pm St Martins Church                                                                                                                

Remembrance Day Liturgy                          Monday, 11 November, St Monica’s   Playground                                                                                                

Reconciliation Liturgy & Celebration            Thursday, 14 November St Martin’s  Church                                                                                                

Year 6 Retreat Day                                       Friday, 15 November Broadview  Bowling Club                                                                                           

Advent Mass                                                 Friday, 29 November St Monica’s Church

Katie Downie

APRIM

The Year 5/6 students have just enjoyed a 3 day, 2 night camp at Illawonga, Swan Reach. We did so many fun activities like kayaking, exploring a cave and finding fossils, raft building, riding paddleboats, fishing, archery, go karting, team games and exploring the property on a special trailer. Here are some thoughts from the students about the fun experiences they had.

Patrick – I loved everything about camp.

Artin – It was really fun, but I didn’t get enough sleep!

Archer – I loved jumping in the river, it was so fun.

Hitansh – I loved all the aquatic activities because we got to play in the water.

Daniel – I liked the cave. It was very hot but I liked finding the fossils.

Mateo – The activities were really fun because all of the instructors were really nice and funny

Annabel – I loved the cave especially when we had to go the hard way because it was challenging and I got so dirty. Who doesn’t like a challenge!

Aria – I loved hanging out with all my friends. When we did The Bug’s Life activity we got to push each other into the water and have fun.

Matthew H – I really liked the pedal karts because we all got to race each other.

Daniel – I liked screaming to my friends, ‘There’s a shark in the water!’

Camp is a wonderful opportunity for students to further develop their relationships with the classmates and teacher outside of the school environment. We highly recommend going along for exploring, a fun way to learn and laughter.

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.