Dear SCA Families,

The Easter eggs on the supermarket shelves have been on display for a month now, so Easter must be soon, right?  Well, not quite yet. Lent begins today, so I share with you the following reflection.

Jesus retreated into the wilderness and fasted for forty days to prepare for his ministry. It was for him a time of contemplation, reflection, and preparation. By observing Lent, Christians join Jesus on his retreat.

Lent consists of the forty days before Easter. I didn’t know until recently that we skip over the Sundays when we count the days of Lent, because Sunday is always the joyful celebration of the Resurrection.

Early societies relied on wood fires for heating and cooking, which meant that keeping ashes under control was a major task. Then as now, if a person was preoccupied with something serious, they didn’t always tend to the housekeeping (at least that’s my excuse) — it’s the least of their concerns. Imagine that there is a death in the family. A friend stopping by to pay their respects might gently say, “Did you know you have ashes on your face?”

So ashes became a sign of remorse, repentance, and mourning. Today someone might wear a black armband to signify they are in mourning; back then people put ashes on their foreheads.

During Lent, ancient Christians mourned their sins and repented, so it was appropriate to show their sincerity by having ashes on their foreheads. The custom has persisted in the Church as society has changed around us. It is most appropriate on Ash Wednesday, when we begin a period of reflection, self-examination, and spiritual redirection.

Community Council

Our first Community Council meeting of the year was held at school last night. I am pleased to introduce to you the 2024 SCA Community Council Executive:

On behalf of our community, I thank each person on the Council who will serve our community this year.

I also extend a sincere and significant vote of thanks to Melinda Reeson who finished on the Council last night. Over the last 5 years, Melinda has been generous with her time and wisdom in various roles, significantly as Secretary and Treasurer in the past two years.

Reporting (Walking Together)

We are determined, as a staff, to walk together with the parents of our students, to provide the best learning environment and opportunities possible. To facilitate an effective partnership, as well as being open to parent communication, we provide a structured program of feedback opportunities for parents.

Please take a run through your calendar, and lock in these dates for later in the year:

Term 1

Progress Reports (Friday Week 7, 15 March)

Parent Teacher Interviews (Week 11, 9-11 April)

Term 2

Learning Journey (Week 8, 18 June)

Reports (posted on Compass on Friday Week 10, 5 July)

Term 3

Three-Way Conferences (Week 2, 29-31 July)

Learning Journey (Week 8, 10 September)

Term 4

Reports (posted on Compass on Wednesday Week 9, 11 December)

Student Leaders

Our Year 6 students spent last Wednesday reflecting on what it means to be a leader, an in particular, what lessons Jesus taught us about leadership.

Next Friday we commission our Year 6 students as leaders in our school, and wish them every blessing for a wonderful final year of primary school.

Janitor / Groundsperson

Our Janitor / Groundsperson, is moving on and we are advertising the position. If you know of someone who may be interested, please point them towards https://careers.cg.catholic.edu.au/cw/en/job/502738/janitorgroundsperson-st-clare-of-assisi-primary-school-conder-act  for further details.

It was once said…

Smile, it enhances your face value.   

Dolly Parton in ‘Steel Magnolias’

Blessings to you and your family.

Matt Egan-Richards

Principal

SCA students will continue to be Masters of Spelling!

Spelling Mastery has started again this week at SCA for Year 3 - 6. It is an evidence-based, explicit approach to teaching spelling skills and phonemic awareness. Our students are grouped according to their needs in spelling, and this is based on recommended levels from Spelling Mastery assessments. For example, we have some Year 3s working with Year 4s.

‘Mastery Learning’ is explicit direct instruction for 25 minutes per day in Spelling, 4 times per week. It aims for the students to be ‘masters’ of particular skills/understandings about how word and sounds works before moving on to the next concept and level. The lessons gradually build and the students will definately feel challenged. 

If you have any queries, please feel free to contact me.

NAPLAN 2024 @ SCA

What is NAPLAN?

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is an annual national assessment for all students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9, and is the only nationwide assessment that all Australian children undertake.

It’s a measure to see whether or not young Australians are developing the literacy and numeracy skills that provide the critical foundation for other learning, and for their productive and rewarding participation in the community.

Why do students sit NAPLAN Tests?

NAPLAN helps governments, education authorities and schools to see whether young Australians are reaching important literacy and numeracy goals. It provides information about how education programs are working, areas for improvement, and which schools need support in the teaching and learning of literacy and numeracy.

It can support school improvement by enabling teachers to monitor their students’ progress against the national measure, to identify strengths and areas to improve in teaching programs. It provides additional information to support teacher judgement about progress in a child’s level of literacy and numeracy attainment.

Literacy and numeracy are core to a well-rounded education and are essential life skills that students develop in every aspect of daily life, no matter what further education or career path they take. Students can’t fail NAPLAN as it’s not that type of test – they should just try their best.

NAPLAN tests are one aspect of each school’s assessment and reporting process, and do not replace the extensive, ongoing assessments made by our SCA teachers about each student’s performance.

When will NAPLAN occur at SCA?

NAPLAN testing will occur in our school between 13 and 25 March 2024 for students in Years 3 and 5. Online NAPLAN tests provide more precise results and are engaging for students. 

The tests are tailored (or adaptive), which means that each test presents questions that may be more or less difficult depending on a student’s responses. This helps students remain engaged with the assessment. Tailored testing allows a wider range of student abilities to be assessed and measures student achievement more precisely. 

A student’s overall NAPLAN result is based on both the number and complexity of questions they answer correctly. Your child should not be concerned if they find questions challenging; they may be taking a more complex test pathway. 

All Year 3 students will continue to complete the writing assessment on paper. NAPLAN provides valuable information to schools and parents about literacy and numeracy achievement. It supports school improvement processes by enabling teachers to monitor student progress over time and to identify areas of strength and development. 

All eligible students are encouraged and supported to participate in NAPLAN testing. Visit www.nap.edu.au to see interactive versions of the test and for more information. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Your kids are definitely in safe hands!!

The SCA Staff participated in a CPR course run by ACTWELL. As you can see by our photos, they all passed with flying colours!

The Staff learned and refined their CPR skills, in line with the Australian Resuscitation Council guidelines, including using an automated external defibrillator (AED), how to rotate a person injured with minimal interruptions to compressions, and what to do if the casualty regurgitates or vomits. One of our highlights was learning to use bandages for different situations. The course also covered conveying accurate incident details when handing the casualty over to emergency services. SCA Blue Cards were awarded to our facilitators Melissa, Gary and Danni.

Jo Reed

Assistant Principal

Sunday Gospel - First Weekend of Lent Mark 1:12-15

Jesus’ proclamation of the kingdom of God is a call to live out God’s transformative dream of right relationship with one another and with our world. To accept this call requires a change of heart and mind (a metanoia) and the adoption of a new orientation, a new worldview based on living the kingdom of God. This is a challenge to be counter-cultural – to go ‘against the flow’ of the majority attitudes at times. It is certainly not an ‘easy option’ that we are called to live. Jesus’ call to ‘repent and believe’ is a very appropriate call to begin the Lenten season.

Ash Wednesday

Today our students participated in a beautiful liturgy to recognise Ash Wednesday, the start of the Lenten Season. The call to focus on the three key themes of prayer, fasting and almsgiving was highlighted by Fr Namora, as students received the ashes on their forehead. 

Lenten Parish Schedule  

Lent is an especially sacred time of year so here is a list of ways that you may enter into the spirit of the season.

• The Parish Lenten Program, Pieta, will run on Monday evenings from 7pm – 8pm from 12 Feb to 18 March. Sign-up sheet in the foyer of the Church or  call the Parish Office on 6291 6688.
• 14^th Feb: Ash Wednesday – Mass at Holy Family Church at 10am and 6pm.
• Fridays during Lent – 6pm Mass at HFC, followed by Stations of the Cross.
• Wednesdays at 7pm from 21^st Feb to 27^th March at HFC – Contemplative Masses – Silence is an integral part of the celebration of the contemplative Mass and I am aware that it is not necessarily appealing to all. Children at Mass, if they are distracted for some reason, our beautiful church foyer or children’s liturgy room will be a useful place. I would love to see children in the church and I also want them to understand the sacredness of our worshiping place. Fr James T Antony.
• 1^st Rite of Reconciliation is available each Saturday from 10am to 10:30am and 5pm to 5:30pm plus each Sunday from 5:00pm to 5:30pm.
• 2^nd Rite of Reconciliation is at 7pm on Thursday, 21^st March at Holy Family Church.

You can stay up to date by referring to our website: http://www.ccparish.org.au

Project Compassion

To further support our call to almsgiving this Lent, our school will once again be supporting the work of Caritas Australia, through Project Compassion. Students will have two ways to contribute to our donations this year:

1. Classes will each have a box which students are able to donate change into
2. Friday Week 10, (5/4) will be a uniform free day, with a gold coin donation. All money raised will go to Project Compassion. 

This year, you are able to donate to our school account online. Please visit

https://schools.projectcompassion.org.au/o/st-clare-of-assisi-primary-school-conder 

Wishing you a wonderful week

Rachel Kennedy

Religious Education Coordinator 

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

2024 TERM 1

All dates are available on the School Calender 

https://www.sca.act.edu.au/calendar

On Thursday 29th of February, St. Clare of Assisi will be holding our annual Swimming Carnival at Queanbeyan Aquatic Centre Cnr Crawford Campbell and Antill St, Queanbeyan. All children from Years 3 - 6 will participate.

Please complete the event nomination form and permission on Compass by Wednesday 21st of February.

The cost will be $12.50 per child.

All 200 IM swimmers are asked to be at the pool by 8:30am to begin their races at 9:00am. Parents may be asked to stay and assist with time keeping for these races. For all other swimmers, buses will begin leaving school at 9am.

Competitive 100m and 50m swimmers will leave school on the first buses. All children will return to school by approximately 2:45pm. Lunch will be eaten at the pool so please pack recess, lunch and water bottles for your child. The canteen at the pool will be available for snacks only.

The program will include 200m Individual Medley, 100m, 50m and 15m swimming events. It is expected that all children will be able to compete in at least one of the 50m swimming events. Last year, we had many children who decided they wanted to enter a race on the day. It would be appreciated if you and your children could discuss what events they would like to enter and nominate for these. It is great for everyone to have a go at the competitive races - 50 metres is not as far as you think, so sign up today! There will be staff members walking the length of the pool with each race.

To make time for the 15m races across the pool, we encourage children to sign up for 50m events via Compass before the carnival. There is no guarantee children will be able to enter a race on the day. If your child is not a confident swimmer, the 15m races swum across the pool are the best option. These races are to give an opportunity for everyone to have a go at a race. There are adults in the water to assist and floatation devices there if needed.

Please nominate the events your child would like to participate in using the checkboxes on Compass. All children will be given the opportunity to participate in fun at the Water Park at the pool. The day is designed for all children to participate and so that a school swimming squad can be chosen to compete in the Tuggeranong Region Swimming Carnival.

Children will need to remember the following:

• Wear a T-shirt in their house colour; (McCubbin-blue/Roberts-red/Streeton-green/Conder-yellow)
• Bring recess, lunch and drinks – lots of water!!
• Swimmers are to be worn to school under sports uniform
• Thongs/sandals, towel, school hat and sunscreen
• Swimming caps are highly encouraged. These are available from the Front Office for $5. 
• Parent helpers and spectators will not be charged entry to the pool and your children would love to see you there.

Katherine Austin

Sports Coordinator

Book Club will close on Friday 16^th of February

On the 10^th and 11^th February 2024, Jade M of 5 Green, represented the ACT- Cougars in the U10 OzTag NSW State Championships at Penrith.

Her team went through to the semi-finals undefeated. Up against the Central Coast in the semi-final, the score was drawn at 1-1 at full time. This meant that the girls went into extra time to see who would go through to the grand final.  Unfortunately Central Coast came away with the win 2-1, however the ACT Cougars played so well and did themselves and the ACT proud.

Well done Jade!