St Monica's Primary North Parramatta Newsletter

Dear Parents and Carers,

Tomorrow, we will join together as a community to have some competitive fun for our annual Athletics Carnival.  This year, we bring back the Mercy traditions at St Monica’s and revive the House Names that are an integral connection to the people or concepts associated with our school that was established in 1892 by the Sisters of Mercy.

McAuley - GOLD

Catherine McAuley began the Sisters of Mercy in Dublin, Ireland in 1831.  Catherine McAuley had a great love of the poor and desire to provide quality education for all women.  The family coat of arms for McAuley has a lion in the centre and the colour gold is a link to the lion’s strength and colour.

Mercedes - BLUE

The word “Mercedes” is Latin for mercy.  Mercy is God’s compassion reaching out to make the world more human.  We each give and receive Mercy.  In the Bible, blue has been used to represent Grace, Mercy and the River of Life.

Callan - GREEN

St Mary’s Callan in Kilkenny, Ireland is the convent of origin for the Sisters who came to Parramatta.  In 1888, Cardinal Moran invited the Sisters of Mercy from Callan, Ireland, to set up a foundation in Parramatta.  The colour green links to the Irish heritage of the Sisters.

Clare - RED

Mother Clare Dunphy led the first group of nine Sisters of Mercy from Callan in Ireland to Parramatta in 1888.  Mother Clare took care to develop the highest standard of education in Parramatta. The colour red reminds us to “Be Faithful” and is a symbol of devotion to the Church.

I look forward to witnessing the Mercy Charisms at St Monica’s, not only on Friday, but every day.

Lisa Crampton
Principal

PLEASE READ

Dear Parents and Carers,

Please see NSW Health and CEDP guidelines below for students returning to school after an illness (NB: these guidelines have not changed):

• Students must not attend school if they are unwell.  This includes even minor flu symptoms.
• Students must return a negative COVID-19 test result and be symptom free before returning to school.
• Schools must sight the negative COVID-19 test result prior to allowing students to return to school.

If you are unwilling to allow your child to undertake a COVID-19 test or provide the school with a negative COVID-19 test result, the student is to be excluded from school for a 10-day period.  Additionally, the student must by symptom free for at least 3 days before returning to school.

Thank you for your cooperation in ensuring the safety of all students and staff at St Monica's.

On Monday night, a very enthusiastic group of parents joined together for our Term 2 Parent Involvement Committee meeting.  A fundraising committee was formed and will meet again to decide on the major fundraiser for 2021.  Our goal this year is to raise funds for representative sporting jerseys and to improve our capacity to livestream our assemblies and other events at school.  Mr Corin has put together a wish list for us to work towards including a Fujifilm Digital Camera, Yamaha Audio Interface Mixer, Rode Wireless Microphones, ATEM Mini Pro, HDMI Splitter and a variety of cables.  Our goal for fundraising in 2021 is $5000. 

If you would like to join the fundraising committee, please join our zoom meeting on Monday night at 6pm - the link is on the school’s Google calendar.

National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) 

Years 3 and 5 are loving NAPLAN so far - and they love the sugar beforehand to get their brains tingling!!

• Monday - Numeracy
  
  

If you have any questions about NAPLAN Online, please contact your child’s teacher.

St Monica's Athletics Carnival will be held tomorow Friday 14 May (Week 4) at Holroyd Sports Ground.  All students are to come to school and will travel by bus to the sports ground.

If parents wish to attend the carnival, they will spectate from a designated area aligned with COVID restrictions.  Students must sit with their colour house.  

Students may wear a t-shirt of the Colour House they are in.  NO images or words are to be displayed on the shirt. 

Thank you to those parents who have volunteered to assist at the Carnival.  Please ensure that you have completed the Building Child Safe Communities requirements prior to assisting on the day.  This can be accessed by visiting the following link , scroll down to "Start Training Now".   

On completion of the BCSC training module you will be sent a confirmation email with your BCSC number.  Please forward this email to the school office so that we can record your number and update your details.  

Parent volunteers are requested to meet at Holroyd Sports Ground at 9:00am tomorrow. 

• Recess
• Lunch
• Water Bottle
• Hat
• Jacket/Tracksuit Jumper
• Sunscreen
• Something to sit on as the ground may be damp/wet eg towel or plastic bag

Welcomeasy advise that lunches will NOT be delivered to school tomorrow due to the Carnival.  Parents will be contacted by Welcomeasy if you are on a Meal Plan or have placed an order.    

PLEASE ENSURE YOU PACK ENOUGH FOOD FOR YOUR CHILD.     

Please note that there are NO CANTEEN FACILITIES at Holroyd Sports Ground.

Thank you in advance for your support.

Armani Barakat
Sports Coordinator

Thank you to those parents who have downloaded the Qkr! app.  

To ensure payments are processed correctly, we request that you please update your child's profile.  A profile needs to be created for each child. 

Please check that you have correctly entered your CHILD'S NAME and CLASS.  If you are unsure what class your child is in, please contact the office.

There are a number of payment options available on the app.

• Enrolment Deposit - only to be used for NEW students to the school.
• Library Book Replacement Cost - only for parents who receive a letter from Mrs Davino requesting payment for library books.

Please do not use these two payment options unless you have been requested to. 

Instructions to download the Qkr! app can be found here.

Thank you.

Registration for First Holy Communion will take place at St Monica's Church on Saturday 29th May (5pm Mass) and Sunday 30th May (9am Mass).

This Sacrament is for children who are in Year 4 (or older) and who have received the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Please bring a copy of the child's Baptism Certificate if First Reconciliation was received at another Parish. 

Families are invited to make a donation of $30 in cash (payable at the time of registration).

Any further enquiries, please email stmonicasacraments@gmail.com

Andrew Baker
Religious Education Coordinator

Our 2nd Hand Uniform Clothing Sale will be held on Friday 21 May (Week 5) and Wednesday 26 May (Week 6).

The Clothing Sale will be held between 8:20am-8:50am and then 2:45pm-3:00pm.  

Please note that CASH will not be accepted at the sale.  Parents will be required to pay for their purchases using the Qkr! app.

Thank you to Mrs Laura Jilwan who has kindly volunteered to coordinate the Clothing Sale.  If you would like to assist Laura, please contact her on 0412 602 914. 

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Our next Fun Food Day (Subway) will be held on Friday 28 May (Week 6).   

Thank you to Mrs Insiya Jinwala for kindly offering to coordinate the Fun Food Day. 

If you would to assist Insiya, please contact her via insiyak@hotmail.com

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Our Staff Development Day for Term 2 will be held on Friday 4 June (Week 7). 

Students do not attend school on this day.

The Catholic Education Diocese of Parramatta has now mailed out the 2nd School fee instalment statements.

Fees are due and payable on Wednesday 26 May 2021 (Week 6).

Unless you have a previous arrangement with the school, please ensure fees are paid by the due date. 

Families who are experiencing financial difficulty are requested to contact the school office immediately so that a confidential appointment can be arranged with Mrs Crampton or Mrs Rebello.

Thank you, 
Mrs Lata Rebello
School Finance Officer

Thank you to Victoria Elias, Alison Cox, Anella Bortone, Laura Jilwan, Rebecca Essey and Dalia Sadek for organising the Mothers' Day gifts for our students this year.  Many hours of preparation were spent ordering, sorting, labelling and wrapping the gifts for the students to take home.  We are grateful for your efforts and hope that a lovely Mothers' Day was had by all. 

A huge THANK YOU to the Corin family for donating a new Bose Portable PA Speaker for Kiss ‘n’ Ride - we love it! 

The students can now hear their names being called so clearly!

Congratulations to the following students who have recently received Merit Awards

Each term we look for the student in each class who
 borrows & reads the most books from the library.

The winner has their face & name proudly displayed on
our bookworm farm all term in the library for our students to see!

 “We are SAFE, RESPECTFUL LEARNERS”

CLASS JARS
Students are continuing to work hard in class to earn "bees" from teachers acknowledging when they are safe, respectful learners.

Students encourage each other to contribute to the class jar so they can enjoy a reward as soon as it is filled.

Bees are given out frequently so students can contribute to and enjoy a whole class reward often.

Bees can also be earned in the library when borrowing & returning books and even when students visit the office and display respectful behaviour.

Class rewards that were earned last week:

Stage 3: extra play after lunch during wet weather

PLAYGROUND CASES

Safe, respectful playground behaviour is also acknowledged with a white “bee” given out by teachers. 

Students place these bees into the class boxes in the playground.

There is great competitive fun to see who the next winner will be and what fun activity they will get to enjoy.

Mrs Rita Davino on behalf of the PBS4L Committee

Healthy eating is yummy!!

Monica Mango can’t wait to see some of these recipes in action. Remember, if you can show the yumminess in your ‘munchbox’ at school, we’ll take a photo and put it on the school Facebook page. Happy cooking!!

Children see huge amounts of advertising for unhealthy food and drinks, on television, the internet, social media and sometimes even through promotions in the community. By encouraging unhealthy eating, this advertising can affect kids’ health – now and later in life. So let’s encourage a lifelong love of healthy fuel for our bodies!

This week’s recipe is quick, sugar free and uses little equipment (so no big mess to clean up)

Date and coconut cookies  

1 cup pitted dates, roughly chopped

1/4 cup rolled oats

3 Tbsp wholemeal plain flour

1/2 cup desiccated or shredded coconut

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ ripe banana

1 tbsp coconut oil

1/4 cup milk

Method

1.    Preheat oven to 180°C. Line 2 baking trays with oven proof paper.

2.    Place all ingredients (except milk) in your food processor and blend to combine. Place mixture in a bowl.

3.    Stir through the milk until a moist batter forms.

4.    Roll teaspoon sized balls, place on the baking tray and flatten gently.

5.    Bake for 12 - 15 minutes. Cool.

6.    Store cookies in the refrigerator or freeze separately.

Recipe credit: onehandedcooks.com.au 

PLEASE ensure that every child has their water bottle EVERY DAY. 

Many students are still attending the school office requesting cups of water each day.  

As the bubblers are not in use, it is most important that students bring at least one bottle of water each day so that they are not dehydrated.

NO glass bottles please.

Thank you in advance for your assistance. 

Skoolbag is the school’s primary avenue for immediate communication with parents.

Skoolbag is a communication app which all parents are strongly advised to install on their smartphones, ipads etc. 

A note will be sent home next term, requesting you to advise whether you have downloaded the Skoolbag app. 

We thank you in advance for your assistance. 

We remind students that there is NO SHARING OF FOOD at St Monica's. 
Parents are requested to please send only healthy food options for your children to eat at recess and lunch. 

Chocolates, lollies and lollipops are treats for home and should not be sent to school.

Thank you for your support. 

Parents are reminded that morning supervision commences at 8:20am. 
Students ARE NOT supervised before this time.
If you need your child/ren supervised before this time, please contact COSHC.  (Details below)

Phone: 0429 990 179
Email:  COSHCStMonicasParra@parra.catholic.edu.au  
Morning 6:45am to 8:45am            Afternoon 3:00pm to 6:30pm

To keep informed of upcoming events, parents may subscribe to the School Google calendar.  The Google calendar will be the primary source of information about school dates in the future.

Go to our School Website and scroll to the bottom of the calendar.

Click  “subscribe" near Parent Calendar.

Please ensure that every item of your child's clothing, lunch boxes, drink bottles and mobile phones (if applicable)  have a CLEARLY MARKED NAMED LABEL. 

It is easy to return items that are clearly marked with a child’s name. 

We thank you in advance for your support. 

Dear Parents/Carers 

All Contractors / Volunteers who visit St Monica's School must have a BCSC number before they will be allowed to enter the school grounds.

CEDP has launched a new Building Child Safe Communities form and online training module that all volunteers/contractors are required to complete. 

• You must provide your BCSC number to the school prior to assisting at an event. (Please forward the automated email to the school email address stmonicasnparra@parra.catholic.edu.au or provide a hard copy)
• No Contractor / Volunteers (parents included) will be granted permission to assist with a school event without a valid BCSC number.