Dear SCA Families,

This Friday is St Patrick’s Day. But did you know that, two days later, we also celebrate the feast day of Saint Joseph?

We know little about the life of St Joseph but what we do know is that God chose him to play a special role in the salvation story. Joseph stood by Mary and trusted her account of God’s intervention in her life through an unexplained pregnancy. It was Joseph who protected the infant Jesus and Mary when they fled to Egypt to escape certain death. Under Joseph’s care and influence, together with that of Mary, “Jesus grew in wisdom and grace, finding favour with God and among people”. (Luke)

St Joseph is a model for us of good living, of living and acting in such a way that reflects God’s goodness and love by constantly doing what is right and good. We celebrate the Feast of St Joseph on 19^th March^.

May St Joseph and St Patrick bless our school community this week with a desire to always do what is right, and with a firm faith in God’s loving presence within and among us.

Colour Fun Day

On Friday 31st March, we will share the fun of the 2023 SCA Colour Day. This is a major fundraising event for St Clare of Assisi.

This year the money raised will be going towards brand new Playground equipment, in both Senior and Junior areas.

Please take note of the instructions for sponsorship, and jump in to help us build the best playground equipment we can for our children.

School Fees

Term 1 Fees were due Friday 3rd March.  

The following payment methods for school fees will be eliminated in 2023 with the migration to a new Finance system:
Direct Debits
Direct bank deposits
BPoint (Credit Cards) 

Please note that the preferred payment methods for the 2023 School Fees will be BPAY, however, you will also have the option of paying with EFTPOS, Qkr and Cash. Your BPAY details can be found on the bottom left hand side of the fee statement.

If you have a direct debit in place, and have not already, please contact Jo McCarthy on 6294 1860 or jo.mccarthy@cg.catholic.edu.au to receive a cancellation form. Alternatively one can be downloaded from the school website under the school fees tab. 

It is most important that you notify the School regarding any changes to your email address as this is our primary form of communication.

Principals’ Gathering and Retreat

Last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, I attended the Catholic School Principals’ Retreat at Bowral. This is an annual retreat generally held at a location which is a midpoint in our archdiocese. Most schools in this region are located in the ACT; however, a significant number are situated in regional areas of New South Wales. The archdiocese stretches from Pambula in the South to Lake Cargelligo in the West. As a visiting lecturer once remarked “Good Lord! That’s about as big as Ireland.”

Given the significant distances between schools, this was only one of two occasions this year that Principals throughout the archdiocese have an opportunity to meet and catch up.

Our Director, Mr Ross Fox, used Wednesday as a day where he outlined System-wide initiatives, such as the Catalyst Teaching and Learning program, which is continuing throughout our archdiocese.

The retreat leader was Sr Margaret Ghosn. Sr Margaret is Principal at Maronite College located in Sydney. The theme for the retreat was – In the Image of God - Christian Anthropology.

I thank Mrs Jo Reed and the Leadership Team (Mrs Rachel Kennedy, Mrs Belinda Breen and Mrs Jo Thomson) for holding the fort while I was away.

Community Council

Our Community Council will have its second meeting of the year next Tuesday (21^st March) evening. Should you wish to send a message to our Council, we would love to hear from you on sca@cg.catholic.edu.au

Parent Teacher Interviews / Oral Reporting

In Week Nine this term (27 – 29 March) teachers will be available for Parent Teacher Interviews at which your child’s progress can be discussed. Teachers are looking forward to meeting with the parents of every child in their class. Please feel free to contact your child’s teacher should you feel a longer interview or an alternative time may be required. Bookings are made online using Compass, further information to follow.

NAPLAN Weeks
This week, our students will participate in NAPLAN, the national literacy and numeracy assessment that students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 sit each year. It is the only national assessment all Australian students have the opportunity to undertake. Students sit assessments in writing, reading, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy. NAPLAN is just one aspect of a school’s assessment and reporting process. It doesn’t replace ongoing assessments made by teachers about student performance, but it can provide teachers with additional information about students’ educational progress.

Schools have transitioned from paper-based to computer-based assessments. All Year 3 students will continue to complete the writing assessment on paper. Online NAPLAN tests provide more precise results and are more engaging for students. One of the main benefits is tailored (or adaptive) testing, where the test presents questions which may be more or less difficult depending on a student’s responses. Your child should not be concerned if they find questions challenging; they may be taking a more complex test pathway.

See the types of questions and tools available in the online NAPLAN assessments at the public demonstration site. More information for parents and carers can be found here.

It was once said…

Lenten blessings to you and your family.

Matt Egan-Richards

Principal

Registrations are open!

As I drive down the expressway to school each day, I’m met with bold fonts and toothy faced grins spread across the many advertisements for school team sports.

It brings a nostalgic ache for the winter chilled fingers quickly warmed by early Saturday netball games at Arawang. Afternoon Hockey played alongside the tower of school bags littering the sideline. The sounds of AFL whistles and Soccer Coach pep-talks always background noise to the sweetness of sticky half time frozen orange wedges.

All of these childhood moments that can’t be captured in the signs that zoom past during the morning rush hour. These moments, however, can be passed down to our children for them to experience.

While our focus as kids might have been on the bag of snakes passed around, or the feeling of our sweat covered friends diving on us after a try, we were also experiencing the immense social, emotional, and mental benefits of playing a team sport.

Regardless of the sport or participant’s skill level, on a biological level, active bodies produce endorphins – naturally occurring chemicals scientifically proven to improve our mood, reduce stress, relieve feelings of anxiety and depression, boost self-esteem, and help us sleep better.

Being a Mum of three now adult children, I found that playing a team sport also taught both them and myself three important guiding values:

1. Respect for coaches, teammates, opponents, umpires, and officials;
2. Self-Regulation when learning to play, reflecting on our actions on and off the field, and following the rules of the sport;
3. Empathy when working alongside other players, celebrating someone’s wins, and spreading positivity and compassion to those who need it.

In School, the PE Curriculum aims to achieve these through cooperative games in Kinder to more competitive sports in Years 5 – 6 such as Football, Rugby, AFL and Netball.

Luckily, long gone are the days of playing against the same teams, as there are now many opportunities to represent the school, Tuggeranong district, and state across various sporting codes.

Registration for team sports are now open! Let your children and yourselves explore the joy of team sports together – sticky fingers and all!

Constable Kenny Visit

Constable David Packwood AKA Kenny Constable Koala visited St Clare’s last week to share some very important information with our Year 5’s about how to keep safe online, instant messaging and ‘chat’ and social media. 

Year 5 Takeaways from Constable Kenny

“If everyone was safe online the world would be a better place.” Eli 5G
“What you post never goes away.” Josh 5B
“Think… Is it kind or safe before posting?” Evie 5G
“Don’t Cyberbully!” Everleigh 5B

God Bless,

Jo Reed

Assistant Principal (Acting)

This week we acknowledge the feast days of two significant saints, St Patrick (17^th March) and St Joseph (20^th March). Through these two strong leaders, we are called to reflect on our own mission in life. A timely Lenten reminder to pause and prayerfully reflect on what God is calling us to do. This weekend’s Gospel is the story of Jesus healing the Blind Man (John 9:1-41). In the same way that St Patrick and St Joseph were called to mission, this Gospel reminds us to reflect on what and who we are ‘seeing’. When was the last time you called or saw that old friend? When did we put all devices down and listen to the stories of our family members? Through these actions, we enliven our own gifts and fulfill our own mission, as disciples of Christ.

Confirmation: A reminder that the parent formation sessions for Confirmation are on tonight and tomorrow night, 6-7pm, at Holy Family Church in Gowrie. This is a compulsory session for parents/carers of children enrolled in the Confirmation program. Commitment Masses will be held this weekend and next weekend. If you are unable to attend these, please get in touch with myself or Anne Gowen the Corpus Christi Sacramental Coordinator, as soon as possible.

Project Compassion: All classes now have their Project Compassion boxes in their classrooms. Due to the timing of the Colour Run, we will be sharing a portion of the profits with Caritas so as to not overwhelm our fundraising efforts. If you have spare change at home, please feel welcome to drop it into our box in the front office or give to your child to put into their box. Further information about the projects Caritas are supporting this year can be found here https://www.caritas.org.au/project-compassion

Congratulations to the children who will be awarded white cards at the 8.45am Friday Morning assembly

TERM 1

WEEK 7 (13th March to 17th March)

Thursday 16th March - Book Club closes

WEEK 8 (20th March to 24th March)

Monday 20th March - School Photo Make up at 9am individual photos only

Wednesday 22nd March - Harmony Day

WEEK 9 (27th March to 31st March)

Friday 31st March - Colour Fun Day

WEEK 10 (3rd April to 6th April)

Thursday 6th April - Last day of Term 1

2023 TERM 2

WEEK 1 (26th April to 28th April)

Wednesday 26th April  - First Day of school for all students - Winter Uniform

Mums, Dads, Grandparents, Carers everybody is welcome to volunteer. Babies in prams, toddlers and younger siblings are more than welcome!! 

A big SCA congratulations to Noah (6R) and Georgia (1R) who raced at the ACT BMX Championships on the weekend.

Noah came home with #1 ACT and Georgia a participation trophy as a Sprocket rider. A super effort by both!