Dear SCA Families,

It was great to see so many families meeting the teachers and mingling with other SCA families at last night’s event. We hope this format, with a social gathering and dedicated classroom information sessions, met your needs. Please let me know via email, or feel free to speak with me in person.

Thanks to the staff for being present for a long day and to the Community Council, Parent Network and staff for cooking up a feast.

White Card Presentations

We warmly invite parents of our weekly “white cards” winners to our morning assemblies on Friday (8.45am). To ensure we remain COVID compliant, please practise social distancing, and only remain on the school grounds until assembly is over.

We hope to see you here soon.

Years K – 2 Afternoon Dismissal

Technically, school finishes at 3.00pm. However, to ensure the safety of all at such a busy time, we allow K – 2 students (and their siblings) to be picked up early.

This means that K - 2 children who are picked up at Donut or Front Pick-Up will be released from class at 2.50pm. Children who are going to OSHC, walking, riding etc. will be dismissed at 3.00pm with the rest of the school.

Parking

With many parents of K - 2 students parking rather than using the drop-off zones, we will re-open (from today) the Courts area for parking in the morning and afternoon. To ensure the safety of all, please observe the following:

• Only parents in K – Year 2 should park in this area.
• Cars must leave the courts by 9.00am (so that the school can use the area for sport and other activities).
• Cars leaving the courts area must give way to vehicles leaving Donut or the driveway.
• Children must always be accompanied by an adult while walking to and from cars.
• The courts area will be opened at 2.40pm each afternoon, and cars must leave by 3.15pm (so that OSHC can safely use the area).

Parent Network

SCA has a network of parents who liaise together to establish and strengthen relationships amongst parents, families and the school. The network is a friendly, informal group who recognise that it is not easy to find time to volunteer, so they keep the focus on sharing small tasks in an understanding ‘no pressure’ atmosphere.

If you would like to help, or simply want more information, please contact our Parent Network Coordinator, Anne Scollen on 0414 433 710 or email scaparentnetwork@outlook.com.au.

Uniform

Thank you for ensuring the children started the year dressed well. It helps develop a sense of pride in self and the school when children take the time to present themselves neatly in their uniform.

School Fees

School Fees statements will soon be emailed to families. Fees are due by Friday 5^th March. If you would like to set up direct debit arrangements, please contact the office. Please contact me if there are going to be any difficulties in meeting this expense. We have a Fee Assistance Policy in place to help families who find themselves either in short term or long term financial difficulties.

Opening Mass

Unfortunately this year parents are not able to attend our opening school Mass due to COVID restrictions in our Hall. The good news, though, is that we can celebrate this as a student and staff body, officially launching our school year and theme.

Email Contact

Staff are always happy to receive parent emails and will endeavour to answer them as swiftly as possible. Please note though, that, as we work face-to-face with the children, staff will usually not read their emails until the afternoon or the following morning.

My email address is matt.egan-richards@cg.catholic.edu.au. (Yep, it’s a long one!)

Contacting Staff after 5.30pm

I have asked staff to not reply to emails sent to them after 5.30pm at night. Teachers deserve to have family time. They will reply to your email when they arrive at school in the morning.

Canteen

I encourage all parents/carers (grandparents welcome too!) to consider volunteering to help in the canteen…there are many options, depending on your time constraints and our Canteen Manager, Mrs Michelle Wood, is always very appreciative of any offers. Even if you could spare 15 minutes first up in the morning that would be a help. All lunch orders must be submitted online by 9.30am. Have you downloaded the Qkr! App?

Working With Vulnerable People Legislation

Any parent who volunteers to work in classrooms, sporting teams, Learning Support, coaching, driving children to excursions, canteen, uniform shop, etc. must download and complete the Working With Vulnerable People paperwork and take it along with proof of identity to an Access Canberra Office. As with your driver’s licence renewal, your photo will be taken and a card sent to you within 2-4 weeks. There is no fee for volunteers. If you intend offering your services in any way this year, we ask that you comply with the legislative requirements. We thank you most sincerely for your time and willingness to support this community. Please show your card to our friendly team at the front office where they will take a copy.

SCA SchoolZine App & QKR (Both Apps are recommended for families)

At SCA, we use the “SchoolZine App” as the primary method of communication with the parent body. We ask all parents to install SchoolZine and ensure settings are correctly set for the appropriate class for their children.

Qkr is our school services payment app e.g lunch orders, sports shirts, disco etc (cannot be used for school fees).

How do I install the App? – just search for  SZapp in the App Store and/or QKR! . Install it on your device. In order to receive information relative to your child’s grade you will need to set up push notifications. Click the link below if you need instrucitons:

Community Council AGM Tuesday 16^th February at 6.00pm

We invite all parents to come along to our first Community Council (SCA CC) meeting for the year. For those who can’t make it to the meeting, a report will be shared with the school community. Crystal Tunningley is our CC Chair, and all Executive positions are filled for the year.

To ensure we are able to meet COVID Safe requirements, people wishing to attend must reply by Friday 12th February. Please send your reply to council.scaconder@cg.catholic.edu.au or by calling the Front Office on 6294 1860.

It was once said…

Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world.   

- Howard Zinn

Blessings to you and your family.

Matt Egan-Richards

Principal

LENTEN JOURNEY

Next Wednesday 17th February, we mark the beginning of Lent with Ash Wednesday. The day before is called Shrove Tuesday. Shrove Tuesday originated during the Middle Ages. As in contemporary times, food items like meats, fats, eggs, milk, and fish were regarded as restricted during Lent. To keep such food from being wasted, many families would have big feasts on Shrove Tuesday in order to consume those items that would inevitably become spoiled during the next forty days.

The English tradition of eating pancakes on Shrove Tuesday came about as a way to use as much milk, fats, and eggs as possible before Ash Wednesday began. In France, the consumption of all fats and fatty foods on this day coined the name "Fat Tuesday" or Mardi Gra.

The children will attend an Ash Wednesday Liturgy in the school hall on Wednesday 17th February.

Congratulations to the children who will be awarded white cards this week on Friday morning

Hi everyone, my name is Ima and I am your new Student and Family counsellor! I am enthusiastic about providing personalised and appropriate counselling that empowers students and families.

As part of the pastoral care program for students, St Clare of Assisi Primary have access to a Student and Family Counselling service provided by CatholicCare Canberra & Goulburn (CCG). CCG are contracted by St Clare of Assisi Primary to provide a counselling service to students and their families on site. There is no fee to access this service.

The role of the counsellor is to focus on the emotional, social and educational well-being of the students. Counsellors welcome contact with students having difficulty with some part of their life, whether or not it affects their school work. The problem does not have to be a big one. It is better to seek help sooner than later. Some typical concerns that counsellors work with include: anger, anxiety, behavioural problems, depression, eating problems, family breakdown and family conflict, grief and loss, learning and educational challenges, parenting challenges, peer and other social relationships, school avoidance, stress and study skills. As well as individual sessions with students, counsellors can run groups, do family work, consult with parents and teachers and make referrals to other services and supports.

Student and Family Counsellors subscribe to a set of professional ethics that include duty of care and respect for the individual rights to privacy and confidentiality. The counsellor's obligation is to ensure the safety, wellbeing and confidentiality of the student they are working with. All counsellors are mandated to report any disclosure or sign of abuse (including self-harm) or neglect to Child Protection Services. Outside of our mandated requirements, all counselling sessions are confidential and the details will not be discussed with other parties unless written consent is given by the client.

2021 has seen some changes to the school counselling service. The biggest change relates to consent and permission. Parent consent is now required for all students under 14 years of age, consent will be sought and provided via email. The other major change is how to make an appointment. Referrals and requests can be made by completing the online referral form accessed via https://catholiccare.force.com/housing/s/school-referral-form

As we get into the new year let’s remember to be kind to ourselves, don’t forget:

“I am loved, I am worthy, I am brave, I belong.”