Dear SCA Families,

We welcome the following students and their families to SCA this term: Yumi (2 Green) and Oliver Webb (4 Red), William Hancock (2 Red), Xavier King (3 Red) and Hunter Svensen (5 Red).

At the start of a new term I remind you of our strong belief in working closely with the parents and carers of our students. Please don’t hesitate to contact your child’s teacher, or myself, over any matter.

Don’t forget, following the reports sent home last term, if you require an interview with your child’s teacher, please contact them directly. We have held our formal whole school interviews earlier in the year, but parents are welcome and encouraged to meet with the child’s teacher at any time during the year. These meetings are a good way to discuss the report and set goals for the future.

I implore that you take the time each week to check the contents of the newsletter, which will be sent home electronically every Wednesday.

Our Silver Jubilee

Our school is worth celebrating. In its 25 years, thousands of children, parents and staff have benefited from, and contributed to the SCA family.

If you are presently, or previously have been, connected to our wonderful school, please join us on Friday 9^th August to celebrate this milestone.

It promises to be a great night.

For details, please refer to Facebook, our App, Website, or call us on 6294 1860.

School Focus

Through this term we continue to focus on the school theme, ‘Be the light of Leadership. In doing this we will explore the question, ‘What are some of the qualities of good leaders?’

Tuckshop Helpers

We are in desperate need of more helpers this term. If you can help, once a week, once a fortnight, or even only once a month, please contact the school to let us know. Thank you.

First Holy Communion

We pray for the children in our school and parish who are preparing to participate, for the first time, fully in the Eucharist next month. May they come to know and cherish the place of Jesus in this sacrament and their lives.

Parent Network

We offer a sincere and heartfelt thanks to Kate Blenkin for an awesome job heading up the Parent Network for the last two years. She has quietly and effectively worked with parents and staff to ensure the effectiveness of this initiative.

We also thank and welcome on board Anne Scollen, whose children are Ella (4 Blue) and Hayden (2 Green), who is taking on the role of Parent Network Coordinator.

Annual Satisfaction Survey

An annual satisfaction survey of parents, students and staff will be conducted on behalf of all Catholic schools in the Diocese this term. The surveys are designed to gather feedback from parents, staff and students about our school and will be used to inform school improvement. Responses are confidential and individuals can not be identified.

The surveys will be launched via email on 29 July and close on 9 August 2019 using the email addresses supplied to the school. If you do not receive an email with a link to the survey, you can access and complete the survey at the following link. https://www.research.net/r/stclareofassisiparent2019

Whooping Cough

Late last term one of our students was diagnosed with whooping cough. Following advice from the ACT Health Protection Service, we share the following key messages:

• You can still get whooping cough even if you are fully vaccinated as protection from the vaccine wears off over time. For this reason a booster dose of whooping cough vaccine is offered in Year 7 at high school.
• If your child has been vaccinated, the cough may be mild, particularly at the start of the infection. Even if the cough is mild your child is still able to pass the infection to others.
• Please see your doctor as soon as possible if your child has a cough. A swab test is most accurate in the first 4 weeks of coughing. There is no need to have your child tested if they do not have a cough.
• If your child is suspected of having whooping cough and the doctor has ordered a swab test, please keep your child at home until the results are available as they may be infectious.
• If your child is diagnosed with whooping cough, they must be excluded from school until they are no longer infectious, which is usually after taking an appropriate antibiotic for 5 days.
• Whooping cough is most serious for babies under 6 months of age.

Please contact ACT Health on 5124 9213 if you require any further information about whooping cough.

Grandparents Day

We will celebrate the “grand-folk” in our children’s lives on Friday 2 August. Please let all grandparents and “grand-figures” know they are invited to St Clare’s for this occasion.

School Fees

School Fee Statements will be emailed to all families next week. Please ensure the office has your correct email address. If you haven’t received the fee statement by next Thursday, please contact the school.

It was once said…

“Nobody can do for little children what grandparents do. Grandparents sort of sprinkle stardust over the lives of little children.” ~ Alex Haley

Blessings to you and your family.

Matt Egan-Richards

Principal

Be the Light of… Leadership

Leaders we Know, Jesus as Leader, Qualities of Leaders, We are Leaders

EUCHARIST PARENT PREPARATION EVENING

Parents are reminded to attend the preparation evening

Thursday 25th July at 7:30pm at Holy Family Church, Gowrie.

(Students DO NOT attend)

GRANDPARENT'S DAY

We are very excited to once again be celebrating Grandparent’s day at school, next Friday 2^nd August in honour of all Grandparent figures in our lives. Just like us, Jesus himself had grandparents named Joachim and Anne, who were Mary’s parents. St Joachim and St Anne’s feast day is celebrated on 26^th July. We do not know very much about Mary’s parents, but we do know that they were good, faithful parents who raised her with a love and devotion to God like none other except Jesus Christ Himself. Joachim and Anne serve as role models for parents and grandparents and both deserve to be honoured and emulated for their devotion to God and Our Lady Mary, the Mother of God.

Timetable for Grandparents Day

11:30 – Special Morning Tea for Grandparents in the school hall

12:00 – Classroom visits with Grandchildren

1:20   – BYO picnic lunch with Grandchildren

• Please complete the online indication of attendance for Grandparent’s Day, to assist with catering for morning tea.
• You will also need to indicate if your child is going home early with their Grandparents.

Class Mass this Friday 26th July:

6 Red

NAIDOC Mass this Friday 26th July:

6 Green and Indigenous Students

Congratulations to the children who will be awarded white cards at this Friday's assembly.

Netball 20 July

Player of the Week and Match Reports

Speckles – Cailin Napier

Little Skittles – Lilah Barrenger

Smarties – Ella Johnson

Squiggles – Katie-Lee James, Cady Woodfield and Narvan Osloubi

Stars – Isobel Hill

Swifts – Tahlia Banchit

Sunshines – Bye

Skittles – Samantha Baker

Sparkles – Jasmine Nguyen and Lilly Tunningley

Skittles Match Report

On Saturday the 20th of July, the Year 6 SCA Skittles team played against the Maddies Mickey Stars. The Skittles team started off strong, getting the ball down into our shooting circle easily and scoring our goals into the hoop. However the Maddies came back and started getting their points up.

By half time, the score was close and the Skittles were only winning by a few points. In the third and fourth quarter, our amazing centre courts Charlotte, Lily and Sammi did a great job at working the ball down to our shooters. Our awesome shooters Teah, Phoebe, Ella and Mia were very accurate with their shots, getting our points up higher! The Maddies team got the ball close to their end a few times but with our excellent defenders Maddi, Jaida and Isabel, we stopped them from getting the ball into their circle. After lots of hard work from all our players, we ended the game with a win of 19-6.

A big thank you and appreciation of great sportsmanship goes to the girls for helping out the Maddies by playing on their team as they only had 5 players. Well done Skittles!

Squiggles Match Report

The Squiggles versed the Maddies Mad Machines last Saturday and we were expecting a close game. Just before the start of the game  the Squiggles only had four players, and we went in search of spare players from other SCA teams. We were kindly offered the support of two other players from another SCA team and took to the court one position down. 

The Squiggles defence was outstanding throughout the game and they fought hard to keep the ball at their end of the court. It was a defining game for the Squiggles coming into the game already at a disadvantage but they kept going and managed to ensure the Maddies Mad Machines did not score a goal. The game was won by the Squiggles 17-0 which is a testament to their teamwork, persistence and ability.

I would like to thank Mrs Breen for kindly sharing her players around with the Squiggles team. It was a real team effort by SCA parents and players and I could not of been more proud.

Dear parents and carers,

In my work as a school counsellor I have conversations with many parents about the difficulties children sometimes have managing their emotions. This is a critical skill for children to learn and the research tells us that when children learn how to do this in childhood they are more likely to achieve as adults There are some simple ways you can help your child to learn to regulate their emotions. Have a read of this fantastic article from the Gottman Institute website if you’d like to learn the steps to becoming an ‘emotion coach’ for your child: https://www.gottman.com/blog/strengthen-childs-emotional-intelligence/

I hope you all enjoy a great term 3!

Carrie Coghlan MSW
Student & Family Counsellor
CatholicCare Canberra & Goulburn

Congratulations to Mary Bunt who received two first place awards for her hens at The Pekin Bantam Club of Australia’s Annual Show.   

Well done Mary!!

Congratulations also to Jesse Fordham and Nate Pfitzner who spent part of the school holidays in Orange, playing in the NSW Regional Touch Championship, in the U12 ACT Raiders representative Touch team. Nate was awarded Most Valuable Player (MVP). Go boys!