Newsletter 2 April 2025
From the Principal
As we work through the final couple of days for Term 1, I’d like to thank our parents, staff and students for all of the great work and dedication this term. I’ve been extremely impressed with the level of work and engagement from our students throughout the term. You have all work hard and have gone out of your way to demonstrate our Learning Behaviours of Confidence, Curiosity, Getting Along, Organisation, Persistence and Resilience. Congratulations to our fantastic Prep students for completing their first term of school. It has been amazing to see their progression and how quickly they have responded to school routines and eagerly engaging in their learning.
I’d like to congratulate our students on their efforts at the Cross-Country last Monday. I was extremely impressed with our students’ sportsmanship, determination, and team spirit. Thank you to our staff for assisting with all the jobs and making the day such as success. Thanks to Mrs Bruggemann for her time in preparing the carnival and the students. Thanks to Mrs Bruggemann and Mrs Anderson for taking the time to provide extra training opportunities through Run club.
Last Thursday, Miss Keleher, Miss Grant and I attended the Toowoomba Catholic Schools Student Protection Symposium. This was an opportunity for our School Student Protection contacts to hear from experts in their field around providing safe and support environments to our students. Throughout next term we will be sharing a list of resources for parents to have a look at particularly around issues such as cyber safety. On Monday, our new School Guidance Counsellor, Mr Henry Logan came to the school for a familiarisation and handover visit. Mr Logan is looking forward to working with us from next term and he will form part of our Students Protection Contacts as well.
Below is a brief bio from Mr Logan.
Hi, my name is Henry Logan and I am very excited to be the new Guidance Counsellor at school. I am very approachable and enjoy meeting new people, so please come and say hello! I am passionate about helping young people be the best version of themselves. My previous teaching position with TCS was at St Saviour's Primary where I have taught Year 6 for the previous 3 years. I am a father of two girls aged 5 and 3 and my interests include hiking, footy, travelling and the odd triathlon.
As we finish off for Term 1, I would like to wish all of our families a happy and holy Easter season and enjoy some time wonderful family time together.
From the APM&I
Holy Week School Prayer Celebration
As we are approaching the end of Lent, we turn our hearts and minds to the most important week in the Church’s year, Holy Week. Holy Week commemorates Jesus’ last week on earth and the events leading up to His resurrection on Easter Sunday.
On Friday, we will hold our whole school Holy Week liturgy, with Prep introducing the story, and then each year level reenacting a scene with an accompanying song. All parents and families are warmly welcome to attend.
Term 1 Caritas Fundraising for Project Compassion
This term we held a number of fundraisers for Caritas Australia including Pancake Day, and the Hoops of Hope Competition. Combined with the class Caritas boxes, we raised a total of $665.30.
A big thank you to all students, staff and families who got involved, and a special thank you to Mrs Malone and the Year 6 Good Samaritan Ministry for leading the school in this mission. This fundraising campaign was a great example of students living our Good Samaritan mission to ‘Go and do likewise’.
From the Classrooms
Prep
Welcome to week 10! We can’t believe the Preps have almost completed their first term of school. Time certainly flies when we are having fun.
We are currently focusing on organisation; you will have noticed a checklist go home earlier in the week. We are encouraging the student’s independence but do ask you follow up with your child to see tasks are completed.
The past week we explored becoming curious learners. The students engaged in a range of hands-on activities that allowed their curiosity to shine, we had a sensational time!
Year 1
What an exciting and jampacked first term it's been. In Maths this week, we have begun learning about units of time. We talked about different activities we are familiar with and organised them under the headings seconds, minutes, hours, days, months and years.
In Health, we have been learning about what makes a good teammate. It was so wonderful to hear the class sharing stories about their friends and how they are good teammates every day.
The class has almost finished their short stories, we just have to finish our front covers. It was wonderful to share these with many of you at parent-teacher interviews.
If you missed out on an interview and would still like to make one, I am happy to make appointments for early next term via email. I hope everyone enjoys the last couple of days of term and has a safe and happy holiday.
Year 2
I can’t believe we are already at the end of our first term in Year 2! What an amazing term full of learning and growing we have had!
In English we are coming to the end of our narrative unit. We have written our own stories and are now publishing them using book creator. We can’t wait to share our stories with others!
In Maths, we have been learning all about ordering numbers and we have just started learning about growing patterns.
In Religion, we have been learning all about how to be Stewards of creation and look after our world.
We are so excited for the Holy Week play on Friday. We have been doing lots of practices to make sure we feel as confident as possible.
I hope everyone has a happy and safe holiday and I will see you all refreshed next term!
Year 3
The Year 3 students have had a fantastic Term 1 with so much learning taking place and many accomplishments which they should be so proud of.
They completed their first ever NAPLAN, demonstrating incredible resilience and persistence, and performed on assembly showing great confidence as they learnt their scripts and dances.
Within the classroom they have been continuing to develop their curiosity and organisation skills, becoming more independent and taking ownership of their learning.
As we head into the holidays, I wish you all a safe and happy Easter break and look forward to welcoming the Year 3 students back ready for another exciting term ahead.
Year 4
The students, in 4, have done a marvellous job at writing their own chapter of ‘The Twits”. I have enjoyed reading their chapters and how well they have linked their chapters to the original story.
The Year 4 students enjoyed the T-ball Gala Day, hosted by the Catholic Education Office. It was great to get out and have a run and meet some of the students from our other schools.
Thank you to everyone for supporting our Caritas challenge. As of Monday, we collected $65.20 for those less fortunate than us. That’s $2.40 per student, well done Year 4! The students have been encouraged to bring in what they can for the remainder of the term.
Thank you to the parents who met with me for a parent teacher interview. I enjoyed talking to you about your child’s progress.
I wish you all a safe and happy Easter break and look forward to seeing everyone back on Wednesday 23 April, for the start of Term 2.
God Bless
Year 5M
Term One has been winding down with plenty of excitement and energy. In English, we’ve been exploring the fascinating world of The Wild Robot and channeling our creativity into crafting our own science fiction stories, which we’re eagerly looking forward to sharing with our families and friends. In HASS, we’ve combined our understanding of the early Australian colonies and our skills in creating 3D shape nets to design and construct a realistic 1800s-style colony.
Over the past couple of weeks, 5M has focused on the theme of harmony, reflecting on how we can contribute as individuals in a diverse, interconnected world. Meanwhile, we’ve been rehearsing diligently for the Holy Week play, pouring our energy into bringing the story to life. It’s been an unforgettable term filled with dedication, hard work, creativity, and plenty of laughter along the way.
Year 5R
5R working together to achieve goals!
Year 6
Welcome to the final week of Term 1. Hasn't it flown by!
We have been discussing in class how becoming a leader is like a process of metamorphosis. The students came in at the start of the year like caterpillars, learning how to become amazing leaders. Now they have had that time to learn the ropes, find their feet and decide what sort of leader they would like to be remembered as. They will all start Term 2 as fully fledged leaders, ready to fully embrace their roles. We are so proud of the progress that has been made this term, and we are looking forward to watching these amazing children develop further throughout the year.
Thank you for your kind donations towards the Easter raffle and for selling the tickets. Remember the money that is raised towards the camp comes off the final cost of the camp.
We are in the process of scheduling further Parent-Teacher interviews for Thursdays next term, so if you didn't get in to see Zoe and I this term, let us know and we can make a time.
A few weeks ago, four of our Year 6 leaders were chosen to participate in the annual Mayoral Morning Tea held at the Highfields Cultural Centre. The Morning Tea allows young leaders to meet the Mayor and Councillors, interact with one another and develop networks they can utilise in their future endeavours. Zack, Jayce, Arabella and Marlie represented St Monica's and Jayce and Arabella had the opportunity to speak in front of nearly 200 people. They received many compliments on their speeches, and it was a pleasure to see them participate as leaders of our school. Each student demonstrated our Learning Dispositions exceptionally.
Have a wonderful Easter break!
From Music
Next term our School Choir will be busily preparing for the Dalby Eisteddfod. To ensure we have enough time to prepare, Choir will be held on Wednesday AND Thursday lunchtimes for term 2 only.
Please note, this means that Ukulele Club will take a break in term 2. Ukulele Club will resume in term 3.
I hope to see most of you on Friday morning at the Holy Week play. Our students have been working so hard preparing for this.
Library
We have been so busy in library lessons! Students in years 3-6 continue to develop their skills in research, using Accessit to find physical resources and Encyclopedia Britannica for other information. EB is a subscription, so students have to log in to accessit to use it. The link to Accessit is here. Students may find they need to log in at home. They do this by using their school username (OAKxxxxxxx), then @twb.catholic.edu.au, then they will use their school password. Please bookmark the page so it is easier to find. This is also how students access to ClickView. They reach it by clicking on the link on the home dashboard of Accessit. Students have been shown where this is located. It would be great if these were made use of at home as they are fabulous resources.
Students in the lower years are developing their knowledge of nonfiction texts, and how to use the library collections. We are learning about contents pages, indexes, glossaries, titles, subheadings, fact boxes and other parts of the text that will help students understand how nonfiction texts work.
Sports News
Be Well at St Monica's
From the P&F
2nd Hand Uniform Shop - If you are looking for extra uniforms at an affordable price, please visit our 2nd hand uniform shop located at our after-school care facility. Additionally, if you have any uniforms that students have outgrown, we welcome any donations. Currently we are quite low on formal dresses and winter items. Your donations are greatly appreciated.
Uniforms
School uniforms are now available at School Locker online theschoollocker.com.au
Research has shown that one of the real advantages of an education at a Catholic School is that a special and unique pride is developed. One significant way to foster such pride is the enforcement of strict uniform guidelines. All children are expected to wear the school uniform as listed below:
School Uniform - Years 1 to 6
Girls – Formal - Monday, Wednesday & Thursday
- St Monica’s School Dress Uniform
- Dress: Pattern, Sutton no 346(B)
- Dress: Fabric, Check 8021
- Collar: Cesarella 1301, Zip: Birch 265 Bottle Green
- St Monica’s School green school bucket hat
- Short white socks – (no ankle socks)
- All black shoes – may be leather or jogger.
Girls – Sports - Tuesday and Friday
- St Monica’s School Sports Shirt Yr.1 to Yr.5
- St Monica’s School Leader Shirt Year 6
- St Monica’s School Navy Blue Skort
- St Monica’s School green school bucket hat
- Short white socks
- White sandshoes/joggers
Winter Variation
- As Above
- St Monica’s School Bottle Green Fleecy Pullover with embroidered crest
- Green fleecy track pants with sports uniform only.
- Navy Blue Tights (optional)
Boys – Formal - Monday, Wednesday & Thursday
- St Monica’s School Dress Shirt with tartan collar
- Shirt: Pattern, Simplicity 5581
- Fabric: Bottle Green Poplin 8021
- Shorts: Navy Blue Long Shorts (Ruggers)
- St Monica’s School green school bucket hat
- Short navy-blue socks – (no ankle socks)
- All black shoes – May be leather or jogger.
Boys – Sports - Tuesday & Friday
- St Monica’s School Sports Shirt Yr. 1 to Yr. 5
- St Monica’s School Leader Shirt Year 6
- St Monica’s School Navy Blue Shorts (Stubbies)
- St Monica’s School green school bucket hat
- Short white socks
- White sandshoes/joggers
Winter Variation
As Above
- St Monica’s school Bottle Green Fleecy pullover with embroidered crest
- Green fleecy track pants with sports uniform only.
- Long navy-blue pants - Ruggers – Formal uniform (optional)
It is expected that the correct and clean school uniform will be worn at all times. A school uniform can help instil in the students a sense of pride and identity. It also signifies unity and equality.
Prep students wear the sports uniform 5 days per week – Monday to Friday
All Students
Hair: Collar length hair or longer must be tied back with a green band or green ribbon. Natural hair colour is expected. Rat’s tails and tracks are not permitted.
Earrings: Girls: Sleepers and plain studs are the only acceptable earrings.
Boys: No earrings.
Other: Clearly mark all clothing with your child’s name.
Mini Monnie's Playgroup
Outside School Hours Care
Community News
