Term1 Week 5

It’s been another busy fortnight since we last connected. I hope that the last two weeks have had some highlights for you and your family.

Two highlights that I would like to share with you about the great learning and community events that have been happening in our school since the last newsletter are Carnevale and A Day of Music with John Madin. Both whole school events had the students thoroughly engaging with their creativity in visual arts and music. Watching the children’s faces as they sang, played a unique instrument, or danced was uplifting. Oh, to have their energy levels! Ask your child more about either of these events and I am sure that they will share with you how interactive and fun they were.

On our socials and in this newsletter, we have shared with all families the pupil free days for 2024. Each of these days is used for the professional development of staff and the conclusion of the end of the school year on Wednesday 11 December allows the teachers to transition learning and wellbeing information to your child’s 2025 teacher. For each of these days, our wonderful OSHC service is open and available for our families. Jodie Byrne will send out information about making bookings closer to the date.

Another date to add to your calendar is the Parent Teacher conversations which will be held during the week of 2 April to the 5 April. Information about bookings will be sent home in the next two weeks. I encourage every family to make a time to connect with their child’s teacher to hear how the year has begun.

Kildare have been in touch with us about a new date for a personalised tour of their college. This will be held on Tuesday 19 March, 5.30-7.00pm. They also offered apologies to any family who were inconvenienced by the cancellation of the 26 February tour, but it was unavoidable due to health concerns. I will send home new flyers with more information soon.

Each year we share with families important documents regarding the Child Protection Curriculum and safeguarding of young people. Included in my section is a link to provide parents with further information about the Adelaide Archdiocese policy for Safeguarding Children and Young People in our schools and churches. The other important document that we engage with is the Education Department’s website for Keeping Safe: Child Protection Curriculum, which we are mandated to teach in our schools. The two themes that underpin all that we teach in this curriculum are ‘We have a right to be safe’ and ‘We help keep ourselves safe by talking to the people we trust’. This sits alongside our MITIOG program and this core curriculum from Catholic Education South Australia guides our work in this area. Please come and see me if you have any questions or would like to go through the documents with me.

Safeguarding Children and Young People Policy and Procedures

Today we spent our afternoon after lunch undertaking “Clean Up St Monica’s”. We started as a whole school hearing from our Ecology Leaders about their work with Lee from KESAB in understanding what is our footprint on the environment through our rubbish and are we using our bins systems appropriately. One of the biggest take aways for the leaders was the importance of minimising rubbish that comes to school eg food wrappers and using our bin system effectively and accurately. I will be working closely with these leaders over the coming terms to decrease our rubbish that goes into landfill and create some positive actions that are simple but so impactful. Stay tuned for helpful hints and interesting insights that we have learnt.

Have a wonderful week ahead,

Emily

Year of Prayer

On Wednesday, our staff meeting focussed on prayer. Pope Francis has declared 2024 ‘The Year of Prayer’ in preparation for the Jubilee next year. Staff revisited the idea that prayer is ‘the raising of one’s mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God’ (CCC, 2559). We looked at the three expressions of prayer – vocal prayer, meditative prayer, and contemplative prayer. Understanding that prayer can look, feel, and be practiced in many ways staff were given ideas and resources to support them in creating engaging prayer spaces and developing prayer session that students are involved in creating and are meaningful to their everyday lives.

Below is a prayer from Pope Francis that he hopes we can prayer regularly over the next year in preparation for the Jubilee.

Staff Retreat

Next Friday, staff will participate in a staff retreat at Calvary Hospital. The retreat will focus on reclaiming our Josephite Tradition and connecting this to our Catholic Identity. As a staff we will discern what this means for the St Monica’s community and what it will look like in action.

We are lucky enough to have Paul Murphy joining us in the morning to share with us some insights into the Josephite Tradition and how we can connect this to our current Catholic Identity. Paul has a deep understanding of the Josephite Tradition and Mary MacKillop, writing a resource for schools – ‘Head, Heart, Hands: Exploring the legacy of Sant Mary of the Cross MacKillop.

Following this we will explore our current vision and mission statements and look to renewing these to reflect our Josephite Tradition and why ultimately St Monica’s Community exists and what this looks like and how will we achieve this mission. We will also be introducing some guiding posts that will become St Monica’s way of life and our hope for our community.

We are very excited about our Staff Retreat and the possibilities of what can be achieve on this day. I can’t wait to share with you the results of this day and the hopes we have moving forward for St Monica’s.

APRIM

Katie Downie

The Year 6's were visited on Wednesday by the head conductor of the Catholic School's Music Festival, Ms Denise Rothall. All Year 6 students will be performing as part of a mass choir at the Festival Theatre in September. Until then they will be rehearsing each week with Mrs Tamblyn, learning 9 songs plus choreography. We can't wait to see them shine on stage at the end of Term 3!

This week Jon Madin a talented musician and creator of some weird and wonderful instruments spent the day with our Year 1-6 students. He taught each class how to play a number of songs on his home-made Echo Cellos, Musical Bikes, Stomp Boxes, Bin Drums and Marimbas. Each class then performed their songs to the whole school in an afternoon concert.  The students had so much fun exploring the instruments and learning to play as an ensemble. 

Sarah Tamblyn 

Music and Performing Arts Teacher 

Reading is Magic

Book Club

The Book Club orders arrived this week however some orders are on back order and as soon as they are received will be given to the students.  Apologies for any inconvenience.

Premier’s Reading Challenge 2024

Congratulations to 3/4LP students, Jazmine, Lachlan, Oliver, Leo and Annabel the first students to complete this year’s challenge.

Library Leaders

Thank you to Library Leaders, Sebastian, Chloe B, Jaxson, Alan, Assal and Lilly M who have completed their training and are now lending out readers to the younger students in the mornings. 

Author News

Congratulations to Sally Rippin who has been appointed as the Australian Children’s Laureate for 2024/ 2025. Sally has written over l00 books for children and young adults, many of them award winning including the popular Billie B Brown and Hey Jack! Series which our students enjoy.         Sally’s theme as Laureate is ‘All Kids can be readers!’.

Young Readers’ Day – Writers Week – this Sunday 3 March – Pioneer Women’s Memorial Garden -Calling all fans of picture books, graphic novels and epic middle grade series! It’s an unmissable day of bookish events for all the family. A packed program designed for the youngest of book lovers and featuring some of the most dazzling names in Australian children’s literature. Completing the line-up is Adelaide’s own Story Trove, the participatory performance group who invite youngsters to bring stories to life through play and performance.

In the Torrens Tent

9:30am             Anna Walker: Snap!
10am               Story Trove: The Garden at the End of the World
10:30am           Kirli Saunders: The Incredible Freedom Machines
11am               Jason Pamment: Ember and the Island of Lost Creatures
11:30am           Carla Fitzgerald: How to be Prime Minister and Survive Grade Five
12pm                Alison Lester: Magic Beach
1pm                  BREAK
2pm                 Catherine Norton: The Fortune Makers
2:40pm             Kirli Saunders: Bindi
3:20pm             Amelia Mellor: The Grandest Bookshop in the World

On the North Stage

1:15pm            Jessica Townsend: Nevermoor
3:45pm            Microstory Competition
5pm                Hear Me Roar

COST: Free   WHEN:  Sunday 3 March  WHERE: Pioneer Women’s Memorial Garden

A delicious recipe from the OSHC kitchen

2 cups (300g) self-raising flour

1 cup (200g) caster sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1 cup mashed pumpkin (see notes)

2 eggs, lightly whisked

150g butter, melted, cooled

1/2 cup (125ml) milk

3/4 cup (75g) frozen blueberries

Maple butter
200g butter, softened
1/3 cup (80ml) maple syrup
Select all ingredients

ADD TO SHOPPING LIST

Step 1

Preheat oven to 180C. Grease and line and 10cm x 22cm (base measurement) loaf pan with baking paper, allowing the 2 long sides to overhang.

Step 2

Combine the flour, sugar, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg in a large bowl. Combine the pumpkin, eggs, butter and milk in a large jug, whisk to combine. Add to the flour mixture and stir to combine. Add blueberries and stir to combine. Pour into the prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Set aside for 10 minute before turning onto a wire rack to cool.

Step 3

Meanwhile, to make the maple butter, use and electric beater to beat butter until pale. Add syrup and beat until well combined.

Step 4

Cut pumpkin bread into slices. Serve toasted wi

th maple butter.

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.