Dear Parents/carers,

I hope everyone is enjoying Family Sabbath Week. The origins of Sabbath are around biblical references for the 7^th day or the 7^th week being a time of rest. This week is set aside every term for everyone to take a breath, spend time with family and friends and enjoy those special moments. Schools are a busy place for students, staff and parents, so to have a week with no homework or meetings, is one way to assist in creating this time.

Learning Goals

Teachers work with students to establish literacy and numeracy learning goals to help them to understand where they need to improve in their learning. Conversations about learning are crucial for students if we want them to be proactive, responsible and engaged. Teachers have allocated timeslots for bookings in the Schoolzine app for parents and students to have these important conversations next week. It’s important when we have these conversations to start with areas of strength before moving to areas of challenge. I hope there are many great conversations that benefit everyone. Please chat to Lisa in the Front Office if you are having any booking issues.

Camp Birrigai

Thank you to the Yr 5/6 teachers Miss Kapantais and Miss Frogley for accompanying the Yr 5/6 students to camp. Thanks also to other staff who were involved in supporting Camp this year. Mr Webb who stayed for the night sessions and Miss Lewis, Mrs McKeogh and myself who assisted with daytime supervision. Special thanks to all teachers who are putting aside personal and family time to ensure that we can provide a camp experience for our 5/6 students.

Hot Cross Bun-Easter Fundraising

A note went home on Friday letting everyone know about an Easter fundraiser suggested by our wonderful Community Council. Families are welcome to order multiple packs which will be sent home on Friday 26^th March.  Details can be found later in the Newsletter.

School Photos Reminder

School photos have been booked for Tuesday 30^th March (Week 9, our last week of this term). A reminder that this will be a full school uniform day (not sports uniform). Year 6 students are reminded to wear their leadership shirts.

School Term Dates

This term is a 9-week term with school concluding for the Easter holiday break on Thursday 1 April. Term 2 for all students will commence on Tuesday 20 April. Catholic Education has directed that Monday 19 April has been allocated as a pupil-free day of professional learning for staff around High Impact Teaching Practices.

Thank you for your continued support

Many blessings

Judy Egan

The Community Council met (face to face) for the first time this year on 1 March, welcoming new members: Caitlin Blackford, Shane Love, Natasha Kapantais and Judy Egan and returning members Damien Webb, Evan Thomas, Gabriel Walsh and Emma Bickley.

The Council discussed the continuing impact the COVID19 pandemic was having on the students, teachers, families, parish, and broader community with several

restrictions still in place for gatherings, spacing and cleaning requirements. The Council also discussed current enrolments, financial situation, and potential fundraising opportunities for 2021, the latter included the unfortunate situation of missing out on hosting a school fete in 2021. We are currently organising a Hot Cross Bun Easter fundraiser, if you have any ideas for fundraising or general questions for the Council please raise them directly with Lisa in the Front Office. The next meeting will be Week 4 in Term 2. 

Sacramental Program 2021 – First Eucharist for students in Y4 from 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 and 7pm in St Monica’s Church

Please keep the candidates for First Eucharist in your prayers.

Information Night for First Eucharist – Term 2
The parent information night will be held on Thursday 29 April 2021 at 6pm via zoom (zoom address to be provided closer to the night).

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

The Sacrament is available in 2021 for the School of Religion.

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

Thanks For Your Support

Our Book Fair this year has been one of biggest and most successful ever. Thank you to all the families who visited the fair last week. We sold $3345.00 worth of books. This means we receive $795.00 in commission which is put towards purchasing new books for our library this year.

Do you find covering books cathartic? If so, we need you!

We have lots of books that require covering over the course of this term and into next term. If you are able to assist, please see Mrs Hardwicke or Mrs Monro.

Erin Hardwicke

Erin.hardwicke@cg.catholic.edu.au

Swimming Carnival Winning House

Congratulations to the Green Crocodiles who are our swimming house champions for this year. Well done on a great carnival!

1st:  Green Crocodiles

2nd: Red Kangaroos and Gold Dingoes

3rd:  Blue Tongue Lizards

Presentation of Ribbons

We will present our swimming ribbons at morning assembly this Friday (weather permitting). Please feel free to join us as we congratulate our students on their sporting achievements. At this time we will also present the trophy to the Year 6 Leaders of Green house.

Thank You

Thank you to the 23 parents who so kindly volunteered to assist us at last week’s swimming carnival. We cannot run these events without your support. On behalf of the staff and students, a huge ‘THANK YOU’ for helping to make the day run smoothly, and most importantly fun for our students.

Belconnen Region Swimming Championships

We wish, Ada (5/6K), Isaac M (5/6F), Samuel (3/4A) and Oscar (3/4A) all the best as they compete at the Belconnen Region Swimming Championships today!

Well Done!!

The ACT Little Athletics Championships were held last weekend, and there were some great results for St Michael's competitors:  

Seb R (3/4Y):  1st in under 9 Boys 700m Race Walk  

Jillian R (5/6F): 3rd in under 11 Girls 1100m Race Walk 

Lachlan M (3/4A): 3rd in under 9 Boys 100m Sprint  

Cameron W (5/6F): 2nd in under 11 Boys 400m 

Former student Josh Lobo was 1st in U13 100m (beat the 12 second barrier twice in both the heats and final and set a new 20 year old ACT state record).

What a great way to finish the season.

School Photos  - Tuesday  30  March

Photo envelopes were sent home this week and photos can now be ordered online, all the information is printed on the envelopes.  There are sibling envelopes available at the Front Office, see Lisa if you would like an envelope.

Sibling envelopes and envelopes with money enclosed will need to be dropped into the Front Office before photo day. If you have paid online there is no need to bring back your envelope.

Please remember that photo day is on Tuesday 30th March and all students are required to be in full summer school uniform (NOT sports uniform).

Congratulations to the following students who achieved a Harmony Award in Week 7.  Awards will be presented at Friday morning's assembly (weather permitting).

Well done!!   

Special wishes to those children who celebrate their birthday this week:

Olivia 3/4A, Eamon 5/6K, Lachlan 3/4A, Elise 5/6K, Elliarna 1/2H, Mahlia 1/2B & Jerry KF

We hope you have a great day!!

DANCECORE -  Dance classes are on Friday's at recess in the school hall, forms are available at the Front Office. 
Contact Cassie 0417 442 750 

CHESS -  Chess classes are held in C Block on Tuesday’s at recess, forms are available at the Front Office.  Contact Sydney Academy of Chess 9745 1170

GUITAR - Guitar lessons with Sam on Thursday's, please contact
Sam on 0408 196 855

PIANO - Piano Lessons with Mary-Liz on Mondays & Tuesdays, please contact Mary-Liz on 0413 425 753

SCHOOL BANKING  -  Banking has been suspended for Term 1.

SCHOLASTIC BOOK CLUB -  Scholastic Book club is back and runs twice a Term.  If you have any queries, contact Mrs Monro or Mrs Hardwicke.

The Entertainment Book is back, bigger and better, prices starting from $69.99.  Please click on the link below to order your digital copy of the new book.

https://au.entdigital.net/orderbooks/232g38

Please see the School Sport ACT webpage https://schoolsportact.org.au/ or Facebook page for the most up to date information.

SCHOOL SPORT ACT TRIALS – Please keep an eye on the School Sport ACT website https://schoolsportact.org.au/ for upcoming ACT trials. The process for registering can be found below. If you need any assistance registering your child please feel free to ask for assistance.

How to register your child with School Sport ACT

School Sport ACT now collects all registration information online – this is to prevent the movement to and fro of a paper note and have all information readily available to officials prior to the trial. As this process incurs a fee for data storage, system maintenance and admin, a small $5 fee payment via credit card will be required.

1. Go to the School Sport ACT website – https://schoolsportact.org.au/
2. Click Register (top right corner of homepage) for an Account – enter parent details and password
3. A confirmation email will be sent to your chosen email that will contain a link that you must click on to verify the email account.
4. Click Log In (top right hand corner of home page) enter password then click on top tab My Profile
5. You will see a ‘dashboard’ of your information, click green box to Add Student – enter student and medical details and save.
6. Go to the Sports Tab – choose your specific sport, click on Trial Information box then click on the Register to Trial link.
7. Select your child’s name from the dropdown box and then enter the optional fields for Playing History, Preferred Position (if applicable) and Representative Experience. If you are already in the system, ensure your child’s school is up to date in your profile – have they moved onto High School?

Please contact me via email if you have any questions, feedback or are able to offer your assistance at any of our sporting events throughout the year.

Looking forward to another big year of sporting participation,

Erin Hardwicke
erin.hardwicke@cg.catholic.edu.au