Newsletter 5 March 2025
From the Principal
Welcome to week 6. It is hard to believe that we are over the halfway mark of Term 1. The teaching staff have all been so impressed with how dedicated our students have been with their learning.
Next Friday night, we will gather for our annual P&F Welcome BBQ. This event is a great opportunity for our families to reconnect and to welcome our new families into our school community. We look forward to seeing you there. Thanks to the parents who have already made contact with our P&F reps to assist with jobs on the night.
A reminder to current families that our first Prep Enrolment Information event is coming up on Saturday 22nd March. This is an opportunity for current Kindy students to “Come and Try” a morning of Prep, where they can participate in a morning of wonderful learning opportunities and Prep based activities. A flyer has been sent out to the local kindys, however if any current families are interested in attending, please register your interest at the School Office.
As we close off our first month, the staff have noticed an increase in the number of students displaying the tell-tale signs of trying to adapt to the tempo of being back at school, namely fatigue, irritability and not coping with minor setbacks. To assist your children in navigating this time and being fully prepared to learn, it is essential that your children have a clear set routine at home. This should consist of a defined and enforced bedtime - even on weekends - to ensure adequate rest is occurring; starting the day with breakfast - as it can be a long morning for little people when they haven't eaten; and ensuring that their screen time in the afternoon and evening is limited.
From the APM&I
Ash Wednesday – The beginning of Lent
Today, the whole school attended Mass for Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of the Church’s season of Lent. During Lent, Christians spend time thinking about our call to be people of God. Marking ourselves with ashes, is a way of reminding us to live as people of peace, love and compassion. Lent ends after 40 days when Jesus rises from the dead at Easter. Lent is a special time when God invites us to go without, so that others may have a fair share of the gifts of creation.
Project Compassion 2025
During this season of Lent, we are mindful of the many gifts that are ours to enjoy and celebrate the great work of Caritas Australia through their Project Compassion Campaign. The theme of Project Compassion 2025 is ‘Unite Against Poverty’. It gives us all the opportunity to stand in solidarity with vulnerable communities around the world and create lasting change – together. By putting our faith and compassion into action this Lent, and fundraising for Project Compassion, we will help people in those communities lift themselves out of poverty and change their lives forever.
2025 is also a particularly special year as it marks the Year of Jubilee in the Catholic Church. It’s a time of great significance and celebration. A time for forgiveness, renewal, and hope. And what better way to embody the spirit of the Jubilee than by taking part in Project Compassion?
Each week at assembly during Lent, our Year 6 Good Samaritan leaders will share with us a story about the work that Caritas Australia is doing from the donations they receive from schools like ours. The Year 6 students in the Good Samaritan Ministry lead the Project Compassion fundraisers at our school. Their first event was the pancake fundraiser yesterday on Shrove Tuesday, which raised $185.
Their next fundraiser is “Hoops of Hope” on Monday and Thursday of next week. For $2, all students from Prep to Year 6 are invited to shoot 3 hoops. A successful hoop in receives a lucky dip prize, with a grand prize per year level for the longest hoop shot. Student can enter as many times as they like. All proceeds will go to Project Compassion.
P&F Meet and Greet
On Tuesday the 11th of March, The P&F will be holding a Meet and Greet evening at 6pm in the school quad. This is an opportunity to get to know other parents and work together to brainstorm fundraising ideas to support our wonderful school. Drinks and supper will be provided. This will be followed by the AGM at 6:45pm. A reminder that we currently have nominees for all executive positions, so please don’t worry about being assigned a role. Our focus this year is on building community.
P&F Welcome Disco
On Friday the 14th of March, the P&F will be holding a Welcome Hawaiian Beah Themed Disco. The BBQ will begin at 5:00pm, with the DJ beginning at 5:30pm. Entry is free. BBQ presale tickets can be purchased at the school front office
The Oakey Show
The Oakey Show is on Saturday the 15th of March at the Oakey Show Grounds. Many students will have their artwork on display, as well as students who independently enter the other competitions such as baking, Lego making and plant and vegetable growing etc. Congratulations also to the following students named 2025 Oakey Showgirl Award Winners: Melainey Morrison – Junior Showgirl, Nala Kennedy – Mini Showgirl, and Ellie Pentecost – Mini Showgirl Runner-Up. Gates open at 8:00am with the St Monica’s P&F working the front entry, so come on down and say “Hello”. Special attractions include the pet parade, outback riders and fireworks. We are all looking forward to this wonderful community event.
From the Classrooms
Prep
Welcome to another fun filled fortnight in Prep!
I would like to start by thanking all the students for joining in Clean Up Australia Day. We had a lot of fun wearing our gloves and keeping our school clean and rubbish free.
On Tuesday the students participated in activities to commemorate Shrove Tuesday. The Preppies enjoyed their pancakes, and as usual the pancake flip was a huge success. The money donated goes towards Project Compassion to support those in need.
On Wednesday, we went to Mass for Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent which is the 40 days leading up to Easter. As a class we discussed what Lent is and the 3 Traditions of Lent, Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving.
The fun keeps coming with the Welcome BBQ on the 14th of March!
A reminder to all families on Tuckshop days we still participate in our fruit break, please consider sending your child with fresh fruit or vegetables even if they have tuckshop.
Looking forward to another busy fortnight ahead!
Year 1
We have continued our exploration of numbers in Maths this fortnight, moving from teen numbers to numbers beyond 20. Everyone was very excited to learn how easy it is to count to 200 when you're skip counting in 10s! The students have been practising reading, writing and representing 2-digit numbers using concrete materials. We have begun our Alison Lester author study in English by reading 'Noni the Pony'. We have been using the book to learn about how authors describe characters. Through using nouns, verbs, adverbs, and adjectives, the students began writing their own character descriptions for the characters in our story. I have been very impressed with everyone's descriptive language and look forward to sharing these with you at parent teacher interviews in the coming weeks.
Year 2
What an amazing fortnight the Year 2’s have had! I can’t believe how fast this term is flying by!
In English, we have been continuing our narrative journey with a focus on characters. We have been learning all about how to describe characters by focusing on their appearance, personality and feelings.
In Maths, we have been reviewing skip counting in 2s, 5s and 10s and have learnt how to skip count in 3s. We have also been learning how to add and take away multiples of 10 from 2-digit numbers.
In Science, we had the opportunity to make ice cream in a bag. We have been learning about Earth’s natural resources and learning about where things come from. We learnt that everything you need to make ice cream is a natural resource. We loved this lesson!
We have been working really hard on our artwork for the upcoming Oakey show this week. We are so proud of what we have done so far and can’t wait to share the finished products with you all!
Until next time,
Lauren Grant
Year 3
Year 3 have been busily practicing and preparing for their assembly of Friday where they will be presenting about our school learning disposition Persistence. Persistence is continuing a course of action in spite of difficulty or challenge. In other words, it’s the ability to keep trying when something gets tough and never giving up.
This has prompted many great conversations about times when we may need to demonstrate persistence in our own lives. With NAPLAN commencing next week, it is an important message that although we may come across challenges in life and in learning, it is important to persist and try our best. All parents are welcome to attend the assembly presentation on Friday morning. - Kaylene Keleher
Every Thursday the students work with Ms Barsby. We are currently exploring how to group and classify animals as Vertebrates and Invertebrates. We are looking at the observable features of insects where we will use our scientific knowledge to draw and label our chosen creature. In Health, we have identified the values of What Makes a Good Character in a person and how to bring Get Along Thinking into our lives both in the classroom and at home. We are getting ready for NAPLAN in our Quick Write lessons and have been investigating how to represent Data on a graph. It’s busy in Year 3 but we always find time for a little end of the day silly song. Hope no one’s washing their face with orange juice! - Donna Barsby
Year 4
Year 4A
The students in 4 have been exploring the language features of ‘The Twits, focusing on the way Roald Dahl uses imaginative language to describe the characters of Mr and Mrs Twit. The students will use these language features to write their own chapter of ‘The Twits’.
In Science we have been investigating force and what happens if too much force is applied, as well as, what happens if not enough force is applied.
An email was sent home on Monday regarding the Year 4 Caritas challenge. This challenge will continue up until the end of Term 1. I thank you to all those families who are considering supporting this challenge and those who are less fortunate than ourselves.
Thank you.
God Bless
Year 5M
We have had a productive but fun couple of weeks in 5M! We have been focusing on the values of getting along and persistence and having conversations about what it means to be a member of a team and community. We have also been talking about stressors and triggers and coming up with strategies to make us the best learners possible! In English, we are working on our science fiction narrative writing and our persuasive writing. In math, we have been doing lots of practice with fractions and percentages. In science, we have been learning about the importance of the sun in our solar system.
Year 5R
Year 6
Welcome to Week 6!
This term is certainly flying! A big congratulations to the students for their fabulous assembly item on Clean Up Schools Day. If you haven't already seen the dance, make sure you go to the school's Facebook site and have a look. This week, we have had the Shrove Tuesday pancake flipping competition - congratulations to Jayce for taking out the class award! We will celebrate the beginning of Lent on Wednesday with a whole school Mass, and in class, we will discuss what we can give up for Lent and make our Lenten promises. The three main focuses for Lent are fasting, almsgiving and prayer. Please remember to donate to our Caritas causes over the next few weeks, as this money goes towards helping those less fortunate than ourselves. The night of Friday 14th is the P&F Welcome Disco. Grab your best Hawaiian accessories, and we will see you there! The following Saturday is the Oakey Show. We have been very busy creating amazing art entries so make sure you head to the pavilion and support our students. Have a great week.
From Music
Do you have any silk scarves at home that you are no longer using? Mrs Hughes would love to use them in Music lessons. Many classes have enjoyed using scarves while listening to different types of music and learning about pitch, tempo & dynamics. Scarves can be donated to the school office or given to Mrs Hughes. Thanks!
Ukulele Club is off to a great start for the year! Ukulele Club is held each Wednesday at Big Lunch in the Music Room. If students have their own ukulele, please bring it to school on Wednesdays. Mrs Hughes is happy to tune it before school. If not, students are welcome to use the school ukuleles.
We have over 20 students who are committed to being part of the St Monica's School Choir this year. Choir is held every Thursday in the Music Room with Mrs Hughes & Mrs Malone. Hopefully some Choir members will be able to lead the singing at the Parish Mass on Saturday 1st March at 6pm.
Sports News
Be Well at St Monica's
From the P&F
Next week is a busy week for P & F events!
On Tuesday 11th we welcome everyone to the P & F meet and greet at 6pm in the school quad. We are looking forward to getting to know other parents and friends over drinks and a light supper.
Following the meet and greet we will be holding the AGM at 6:45pm in the school library. We currently have nominees for all positions, but all are welcome to attend.
On Friday 14th get ready to dance the night away at our Hawaiian themed disco. We are looking forward to seeing as many families as possible from 5:30pm on the school oval! The BBQ and bar will be running throughout the night and there will be raffles and prizes for the best dancers and the best costume!
Clothing Pool
The clothing pool is currently located in the OSHC, if you require anything please contact the school office or see Lauren in OSHC room near the Prep Classroom.
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.
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