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,
Happy Feast Week! During SCA Feast Week we remember our patron, St Clare of Assisi and we give thanks for the wonderful school community we are all part of. Sadly, we have had to celebrate without the presence of parents, but are thankful we can gather as a school community with our students and staff in celebration at our Feast Day Mass tomorrow.
I am especially proud of our Year 6 Faith Leaders who visit classes each day to lead them in class prayer focused on St Clare of Assisi. We have had St Clare themed colouring in competitions, special lunches and a “SCA Emblem Hunt” for Years K-6. (Make sure you ask your child about the fun they had while doing it today)! Special thanks to Karen Haines, our Religious Education Coordinator, for all her hard work and the staff who assisted with powerpoints, music, displays, cooking and general organisation. It was a mammoth team effort and we should all be proud of our staff and students.
St Clare devoted her life to God, leaving her family and their lifestyle behind and following closely in the footsteps of St Francis and his mission. Following Francis’ death, Clare continued to work in the Assisi area, in the church that Francis ‘rebuilt’ and began her own order called the Poor Clare’s. The Poor Clare Sisters still work in Assisi, Italy and around the world.
St Clare once told her sisters that…“When lips cease to pray, let your hands begin”, meaning in essence that our actions often speak longer and louder than our words ever can. Clare built her life around the values of love and service so during our Feast Week we should all take a minute to reflect on our relationship with each other and God.
St Clare of Assisi, pray for us.
God bless.
Rachel Smith
Principal
Principal’s Notes
Social Media
It is not unusual to hear of children across the country who have been involved in disturbing social media events. As a school, we will continue to look at ways in which we educate our students to use digital resources wisely and appropriately.
Most children access social media when they are not at school. (Social networking describes a variety of services like TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram, Roblox, Fortnite, Minecraft and many others.) As a parent it may be useful to refer to the Office of the Children's eSafety Commissioner website (https://esafety.gov.au/) — it has excellent information on a wide range of topics including protecting personal information; cyberbullying; balancing online time; photos, videos and social media; offensive and illegal content; sexting; and social networking. The site also lists a variety of trusted partners and online safety websites to help guide young people towards safe and enjoyable experiences online.
Our expectations of students in relation to the use of ICT at school for educational purposes is very clear and all students are required to adhere to the acceptable use of IT policy. Any breach of this must be reported immediately.
School Grounds Project
This year the school is undertaking a project to improve the flow and drainage of water across the school grounds. We are also using this as an opportunity to tidy up and improve the grass areas adjacent to the Kindergarten and Year One Classrooms, and the equipment. Work began this week on section one, the area between the Kindergarten classrooms and the hall. Thank you to those parents and carers who have adjusted their pickup arrangements to accommodate the work. Thankfully the donut area has continued to flow and move quickly of a morning and afternoon.
10 minutes a day!
Did you know that adding 10 minutes a day to a child’s reading makes a big difference over the year! Just 10 minutes of reading each day increases exposure to so many more words and ideas (in fact as much as 600,000 more words in a year). Just think of the increase in general knowledge, vocabulary, fluency, spelling and ability to comprehend.
Whether you spend 10 minutes reading to your child, reading with them, listening to them read or ensuring they read 10 minutes before bed, you are having an enormous impact on their growth and development.
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.
Mask wearing for students in primary schools is at the discretion of the student and families, it is not recommended that students in K-2 wear masks. We will advise the community when a significant number of cases are reported. 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.
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 first of which was last Friday 5th August and the next will be Friday 9th September, 2022. OSHC will again be providing care for those families if needed on the 9th September. Please contact Pam on 6294 8004 for details.
Feast Week
We are having a wonderful week celebrating our patron, St Clare! Tomorrow we will be travelling to Holy Family Church at Gowrie to celebrate a whole school Mass. The Mass will provide the students and staff the opportunity to celebrate Mass as one community and will help to create strong links between all participants.
Saint Clare of Assisi was born into a wealthy Italian family but soon shunned her luxurious upbringing to embrace a life of piety and poverty. Inspired by the words of Francis of Assisi, Clare fled her home and joined Francis, establishing her own religious order. The group became known for their austere and devout lifestyle and for the power of their prayer, which is credited with saving Assisi from invaders twice. After Francis' death, Clare continued his work and broadened her own influence. Clare died in 1253 and was canonized two years later by Pope Alexander IV.
Eucharist Commitment Masses
For all families who have enrolled their child for First Eucharist:
Please present your child to the parish community at one of the following weekend Masses this Saturday and Sunday, the 13th & 14th of August. You can choose one of the four weekend Masses. Mass times are: Saturday at 6.00pm Sunday at 8.00am, 10.00am OR 6.00pm.
Please fill in the Commitment Form and BRING IT WITH YOU to the Mass. Your child will need to bring their Prayer cards as well. The children can hand these out to parishioners in the foyer after Mass, saying “Please pray for me.”
Thank you to those families who attended their Commitment mass last weekend.
Congratulations to the children who will be awarded white cards at the 8.45am Friday Morning assembly.
| Kinder | Zoe F, Chaga N, Armaan S, Annabelle S, Hallie V |
| Year 1 | Toby B, Nova B, Neville H, Oscar R, Holly W, Amali V |
| Year 2 | Nelson L, Ekam S |
| Year 3 | Miranda A, Indi C |
| Year 4 | Nate A, Mahlia E, Cooper R, Oliver R, Riley Y |
| Year 5 | Isabella B, Tristan E |
| Year 6 | Zach G, Liam S |
Book Fair is on Tuesday 16th of August and Wednesday 17th of August in the multipurpose room.
It will be open from 8.30am - 8.45am and 3pm - 6pm.
There will be lots of books for sale as well as some fun things.
Player of the Week
Speckles – Maggie
Smarties – Nikita
Smiggles – no game
Squiggles – no game
Swifts – no game
Skittles – Dakota and Ally
Sparkles – the whole team
Smurfs – the whole team
Sunshines – no game
Stars – Sofia
Skittles Match Report
On Saturday morning the Skittles played in the freezing cold weather against Holy Family.
It took lots of running to warm up and the girls worked hard in attack and defence.
The girls have been focusing on coming forward for the pass and finding space away from the pack. They were able to move the ball down the court well and we had many attempts at goal.
Our defence was strong and we had some great intercepts, keeping the ball out of the oppositions circle.
The win went to the Skittles with the final score 4 - 1. Great game girls!
A very big congratulations to Chloe P (5R) who won the U13 girls Fadden Pines Cross Country shield for the 2022 season for St Clare of Assisi Primary School.
Well done Chloe!
