Sacrament of Reconciliation

On Tuesday we had a beautiful celebration for students receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation. A very prayerful experience for our students, their families and staff. An important moment for students who come to a firsthand experience of the power of God's forgiveness. We thank their teachers for preparing them and the Parish community, including Fr Loi and the visiting priests, who have supported them through this important step on their continuing faith journey. 

MLA Visit

Today we were visited by Mr Deepak-Raj Gupta MLA, one our local Yerrabi members. Some Year 6 leaders accompanied myself giving Mr Gupta a tour of our school. Discussions centred on Government support for Catholic Education and Mr Gupta was impressed by our focus on Sustainability. Like always, we welcome all of our Parliamentary members to come and visit our school. Education will be a key issue and discussion in the upcoming 2020 ACT Election, so ensuring Catholic Education is included within those discussions is important for our community. 

Arts Showcase Assembly

This week we host our Semester Arts Showcase Assembly. This is an opportunity for students, who have been receiving tutoring in the Arts at school, to showcase their learnings. This is an important assembly for those students to have an audience to present. We thank our external tutors who have worked with these students. Congratulations in advance to all the students who will be performing on Friday at 12.40pm. It takes a lot of dedication and courage. Well done!

Swimming Carnival Venue

I have previously flagged the dates for our three big carnivals next year. Whilst I can appreciate that members of our community may have a different suggestion for the dates when these carnivals are held, particularly the Athletics Carnival which falls at the start of winter, there are many factors that are taken into account when locking in carnival dates. The availability of the venue, when the next level carnival will be held, availability of staff, other events occurring at school including NAPLAN, preparation time leading into the carnival for staff, predicted weather, impact on learning programs, availability of back up dates and cost, just to name a few. The dates previously mentioned have considered these factors. 

In 2020, our Swimming Carnival will be moved from Queanbeyan to Gungahlin. There were a couple of big deciding factors with those being cost, travel time and having an indoor venue. We hope this will also be easier for parents to duck to during the day from work. This decision was unanimously voted for by Community Council. In 2018, our survey was put out to the parent community regarding feedback from swimming carnival and it was fairly close regarding the preferred venue. This year's carnival was already booked, however we had some more choice regarding venue for 2020.  

BYOipad Information Session

As we move towards the end of the year, we will be hosting a BYOipad info session. This is particularly for our current Year 4 parents as their children move into Year 5/6 in 2020 where they are permitted to BYOipad to school as an additional learning tool. Mrs Jessica Figura leads our Technologies at school and will be leading this info session. We will be holding one on Thursday 28 November at 3.15pm and a repeat session at 5pm. These will be the exact same sessions, so you can attend whichever one suits or perhaps one parent can attend the earlier one and another later if you wish. 

For those parents who have already had children go through Year 5/6 in recent years, you will be very familiar with what will presented, so your attendance is not required unless you would like the opportunity again and if so, you are most welcome. 

Term 4 Rainbow Award Assembly

On Friday 22 November we will present our final Rainbow Awards for 2019. These awards are presented to two students from each class each term, who have demonstrated our school values, kindness, compassion, forgiveness, perseverance, courage and respect. Students who will be receiving a Rainbow Award will have a letter sent home this week informing their parents. 

2019 Rainbow Award Celebration Day

As part of our focus on Rainbow Awards in 2019, all students who have received an award (64 students over the course of the year), have a celebration afternoon with Mr Webb and myself on Tuesday 26 November. These students are permitted to wear uniform free and will have pizza lunch supplied. They will also have a movie and games afternoon with some special treats of ice blocks and chips. A little way we can celebrate them and the hard work they have demonstrated this year to improve and to make a difference at St Michael's.

We are moving ahead with our preparations for our Year 6 Graduation Liturgy and Dinner. A reminder that our Graduation Liturgy starts at 5.30pm in the Church. This a lovely tradition of farewelling our Year 6 students as a community in Prayer. Following the Liturgy, we will make our way down to the school for a celebration dinner. At the dinner, Graduation certificates will be presented along with the Year 6 photostory. 

Enjoy the week ahead. 

Regards,

Pat Ellis

Principal

Reconciliation

Congratulations to the children who received the Sacrament of Reconciliation for the first time on Tuesday 12^th November in St Michael’s Church.

Charlize A     Santo B         John C           Stella C

Katija C        Joel H            Finley H         Milena J

Jordan L       Aaron L         Cameron L      Madison M

Tom P          Macy R           Isaac U          Sienna W

Whole School Prayer Time

Thank you to 5/6FW for your beautiful WSPT reflecting on Remembrance Day and its significance for us today in our world.

Youth Mass

Don’t forget our upcoming Youth Mass on Sunday 17^th November at the 5:30pm Mass in St Michael’s Church. All young people are welcome to be involved in reading, singing, playing music, helping with collecting money, processing the gifts or just coming to enjoy the special youth celebration (and food after Mass).

ACT Trials Information

Please check the School Sport ACT website https://www.schoolsportact.asn.au/ for information about current and upcoming trials.  The process for registration can be found in the School Sport section below.

End of Year Borrowing & Returns

The last week of borrowing from our library will be in Week 6.  We ask that all library books be returned by Friday of Week 8 as this will greatly assist us with stocktaking during Weeks 9 & 10.  If you have misplaced any books, please contact erin.hardwicke@cg.catholic.edu.au so they can be deleted from student accounts.

New Indigenous Books

Please check out the new selection of Indigenous Books on display in the library.

The app of the week is ScreenChomp. This Free app allows you to import pdf files or images, annotate over the top of the image with the drawing tools and then add your own voice recording. This is then saved as a video recording which annotates live as you commentate.

Congratulations to the following children who have achieved a Harmony Award in Week 5 and will receive their award this Friday at morning gathering (weather permitting).

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

Garang 1/2M, Grace 3/4YM, Hugo 1/2F & Sienna 5/6B

We hope you have a great day!!

Lunch Orders are to be placed by MIDNIGHT on Wednesday nights. 

The canteen still require assistance on Fridays for Term 4 from approximately 12.30-1.45 to help pack lunch orders, if you can assist in anyway, please contact Lisa in the Front Office.  Any help is greatly appreciated.  

Please feel free to contact Empire Catering on 0408 200 481 for queries with lunch orders or any constructive feedback you have regarding menu items.  

Playgroup is held on Wednesdays in Weeks 2 to 9 from 9am til 10.30am in the School Hall. It is for children aged 0-5 and their parents/carers.  Please contact Kylie Arena or Lisa Monro on 62414022 for any enquires. 

Our Lady of Perpetual Help Youth Mass

We have our Youth Masses on the 3rd Sunday of every month at the 5.30 pm time slot at St Michael's, Kaleen. The Youth Mass dinner is done in a potluck style, where all parishioners have a fellowship. Students from the ages of 8 to 18 are welcomed to take part in the liturgy. This has greatly helped our parish of Our Lady of Perpetual Help grow as a community. Our next Youth Mass falls on 17th November 2019, Sunday at 5.30 pm. All young people are invited to partake in this, including playing any instruments in the choir, reading, procession, etc.

POSITION VACANT

Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish, North Belconnen

The parish is seeking a Parish Sacramental Program Coordinator, 5 hours per week, to commence duties for the school year of 2020. 

For skills and experience required and more information refer to the parish website: cg.org.au/belconnennorth.

Applications must be submitted online via email by 30^th November 2019.

Changes to School Sport ACT

From the commencement of this year there will no longer be Belconnen Region level trials for specific sports. To replace the regional level completion, many sports are holding gala days for schools to attend. We will enter teams in these gala days where there is student interest. The pathway for selection to an ACT sporting team is through trials offered in the same way as they have been previously. Please see the information below in relation to the process of registering your child for ACT trials on the School Sport ACT website.

SCHOOL SPORT ACT TRIALS 

Please keep an eye on the School Sport ACT website www.schoolsportact.asn.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 – schoolsportact.asn.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?
8. Make the $5 credit card payment then click to register.
9. An automated email will then be sent to your Principal/School Approver for their approval to trial (no need to take anything to school for the Principal to sign).
10. You will be able to see the process has been complete back in My Profile – once your Principal/School Approver has completed the approval process your child’s information will be collated onto a list for the Team Manager and Coach prior to trial.
11. Note the registration process closes two days before the first trial date to allow sufficient time for approval and sharing of collated information.

Looking forward to another big year of sporting participation,

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