We respectfully acknowledge the Ngunnawal people, the Traditional Owners of the land on which we work and learn, and pay respect to the First Nations Peoples and their elders, past, present and emerging.
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Dear Parents and Carers,
A warm welcome to Punyamantula in 5 Blue and Dea in 1 Red who joined our school community on Monday. We look forward to learning more about you and your family as the term progresses.
Why is reading so important?
Studies show that reading for pleasure makes a big difference to children’s educational performance. Evidence suggests that children who read for enjoyment every day not only perform better in reading tests than those who don’t, but also develop a broader vocabulary, increased general knowledge and a better understanding of other cultures. In fact, reading for pleasure is more likely to determine whether a child does well at school than their social or economic background.
You can make a huge difference! Parents are the most important educators in a child’s life – even more important than their teachers – and it’s never too late to start reading together.
Learning to read is about listening and understanding as well as working out what’s printed on the page. Through hearing stories, children are exposed to a wide range of words. This helps them build their own vocabulary and improve their understanding when they listen, which is vital as they start to read. It’s important for them to understand how stories work too. Even if your child doesn’t understand every word, they’ll hear new sounds, words and phrases which they can then try out, copying what they have heard.
As parents you play an important role in helping to keep your child interested in books. Find out what interests them, help them to find books that will be engaging and fun, and spend time reading the books they bring home from school together. It is vital that no matter what your child’s age that you are talking to them about reading, about books and hearing them read. This is not something that stops as they move from levelled readers to chapter books. All of our students should be reading every night!
Thank you for your ongoing care and partnership in your child’s learning.
God bless.
Rachel Smith
Principal
Principal’s Notes
Uniform – Hair Cuts
Last week an excerpt from the uniform policy regarding student appearance was shared in the newsletter. Some students have returned from holidays with hair cuts and styles that no longer meet our uniform policy. As a school we appreciate that there are hair styles that are particularly fashionable at the moment. However we do ask that your child’s hair style follows the uniform policy requirements as stated below;
Hair should be clean and neat. A student’s hair should be cut off their face and, if longer than shoulder length, it must be tied back in an appropriate school coloured band. Hair should also be of natural colour and extreme haircuts are not allowed. Rats tails, dreadlocks and geometric shapes cut into the hair are not permitted.
Term 3 Pupil Free Days
As communicated by Ross Fox, Director of Catholic Education, there will be two pupil free days in ACT Primary Schools in Term 3. The dates for these scheduled Pupil Free Days are Friday 5th August and Friday 9th September, 2022. OSHC will be providing care for families if needed on those days, please contact Pam for a booking form.
Change in Eating Habits
With the recent change in weather, we are finding that many of our students both big and small are needing a lot more food at the moment and are eating most of the contents in their lunchbox at recess time. Over the next couple of weeks, you may like to consider sending your child with an extra piece of fruit or an extra sandwich.
The first thing some students do each morning as they enter the classroom is have their fruit break and sadly, for some children this is their first meal of the day. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and students are encouraged to eat a healthy breakfast every morning. A healthy breakfast can help children to concentrate and learn by providing energy and nutrients to fuel their brain and body. Breakfast does exactly what the word says; it breaks the fast after a night’s sleep and provides the body and brain with fuel to start the day. Just like any other organ in the body, the brain needs energy to work properly. With growing bodies and developing brains, kids need to eat breakfast to be able to perform their best at school. Eating a healthy breakfast can help children to concentrate, increase their attention span and assist with their memory.
You may like to consider giving your child carbohydrates such as wholegrain cereals and porridge for breakfast as they give your child immediate energy to start the day. Proteins such as eggs and low-fat dairy provide a slower release of energy to fuel the rest of the day. Foods with natural fibre, like wholegrain bread and fresh fruit, give a feeling of fullness and help with digestion.
Enrolment Update
St Clare of Assisi currently has 63 students enrolled for Kindergarten 2023. It would be terrific to strive for another 6-9 kindergarten students. Please continue to refer families to our wonderful school.
We also have room in all other grades for 2023. Again we would love for each family to refer new families to St Clare of Assisi.
Thank you for being a passionate advocate of St Clare of Assisi. Please remember to share all of the good news about our school and refer families to contact the office.
Learning Time
Missing the start of the school day has a real impact on a child. The morning gathering enables us to greet each other as a community and celebrate our efforts and special occasions. However, we work hard to have the classes inside and learning quickly after the bell rings. Classes are usually inside and ready for learning 5 minutes after the bell rings. Those children who are at school before the bell rings (at 8.50am) are usually more settled and focussed in their learning.
COMPASS Communication
Parents are reminded that 99% of communication is now distributed through the Compass App. Please download the app and login so that reminders, updates and letters are not missed.
Compass is used for:
- Submitting absentee notes
- Booking parent teacher conferences
- Accessing your child's reports
- Granting permission for excursions and events
Not receiving communication?
Be sure to update your email address with the front office. Check your junk mail for login information for Compass.
COVID Update
Please note that the safety and welfare of students and staff will always be the priority for all decision making by Catholic Education and our school. We ask that you support the school by keeping your child/ren home if they are at all unwell. Parents will be notified and asked to collect their child/ren if they are exhibiting any symptoms of being unwell. As communicated last week the guidelines for household contacts remains the same. Where a student who is a household contact wishes to attend school, they must:
- Undertake a COVID-19 test in the 24 hours prior to returning to school and then every 48 hours if ongoing attendance is required;
- Only leave home if they are asymptomatic and a negative result is returned; if a positive result is returned, they must immediately comply with requirements for people who test positive for COVID-19.
If your child tests positive to COVID please inform the school. Rapid Antigen Tests are available for distribution on request. Please forward these requests to the front office. We thank you for your continued assistance and support in keeping our school safe and open.
Leaving St Clare of Assisi
Don’t forget to let us know if you are planning to leave St Clare of Assisi at the end of the year. (Year 6 exempt of course!) Please use the link below. We will soon commence the process of planning enrolments and class numbers for next year.
https://stclareconder.schoolzineplus.com/form/10
Who were Jesus' Grandparents?
On July 26th, the Church celebrate the Feast Day of St. Joachim and St. Anne, the parents of the Virgin Mary. Despite the importance of their role as the maternal grandparents of Jesus, we do not know too much about them.
Regarding Joachim, we know that he was a shepherd from Jerusalem, married to Anne. They did not have any children, and they were a rather elderly couple when, one day, while Joachim was at work in the fields as usual, an angel appeared to announce the birth of a child, and Anna also had the same vision.
So they called their little girl Mary, which means “loved by God,” and then they moved to Nazareth, where they educated Mary, teaching her the law of the Lord.
We keep our grandparents in our prayers and look forward to welcoming them into school and celebrating Grandparents Day together when the weather is warmer. We will keep you updated when we finalise a date for this special day.
SCA Feast Week
Our school's Feast Week is coming up in Week 4. A timetable of events will be coming out this week via Compass to all families. Please take note of three important events that need forward planning:
- Mass - all students will attend our Feast Day mass on Thursday 11 August, which is St Clare's Feast Day. Please complete the permission form via Compass for your child to travel to and from the Church.
- Special Lunch orders - to celebrate Feast week, Michelle in the canteen is providing special pasta days for us. Kinder, Year 1 and Year 2 can have their special lunch order on Monday 8 August. Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 can have their special lunch order on Tuesday 9 August. You can place your child's order via QKR.
- 'S' dress up day - We do this every second year for Feast week and take a letter from our school's name each time - SCA. This year we are up to the letter 'S'. Come on board and have your child's outfit ready for Friday of Week 4, 12th August 2022!
Congratulations to the children who will be awarded white cards at the 8.45am Friday Morning assembly.
| Kinder | Joshua B, Beau B |
| Year 1 | Grace B, Kourtney H, Darcy M, Peyton R, Aari S, Violet V |
| Year 2 | Vanessa A, Amelia B, Tyler L, |
| Year 3 | Amaya A, Angelina D, Aleriah K, Noa L, Charlie M |
| Year 4 | Mikalah D, Sofia R, Dishaan S |
| Year 5 | Mikayla A, Cara L, Flynn S, |
| Year 6 | Ayla H, Chloe O, Luke R |
Just a reminder this Friday is Crazy Hair Day. Check out the fete section below for all the information.
Congratulations Imogen P (6G) on winning the Catholic Education NAIDOC 2022 Postcard Competition.
Imogen's framed artwork was presented to her last Friday. The artwork was the cover of the NAIDOC week Mass booklet. They can be viewed on the front counter in the Front Office. What a beautiful postcard you created Imogen - well done!
Don't forget to read lots to finish the challenge. There is a prize for the class who finishes the challenge first!
Speckles – Siena
Smarties – Asha
Smiggles – Aaliyah
Squiggles – Ivy
Swifts – Montana
Skittles – Chelsi
Sparkles – Elissa
Smurfs – Tess
Sunshines – Bye
Stars – Maddi W