Dear Families,

Welcome back! It is wonderful to see everyone returning refreshed and ready to start a new term.

We have had some exciting news over the break with Mrs Hooper giving birth to a healthy baby boy, Alfred (Alfie) - photo below. We all look forward to cuddles when they are able to visit.

Yesterday, staff participated in The Management of Actual or Potential Aggression (MAPA) program. This system-wide training is part of the school’s holistic approach to managing student behaviour through both positive reinforcement, explicit teaching of appropriate behaviours and the setting of clear and known boundaries. Staff will continue this training over a series of twilight staff meetings.

Today we had a visit from Dr Jennifer Buckingham, Director of Strategy for MultiLit and Alison McMurtrie, Product Development Manager. They were here to see how we were implementing Initialit across Kinder to Year 2 as well as our various literacy intervention programs. They were both very impressed with the work we had already done and were able to offer some helpful advice about where to go next. I thank the teachers who so warmly welcomed her into their classrooms.

As restrictions continue to ease, we can now allow shared food and home-cooked cupcakes! We still have to be conscious of numbers within the school and everyone will still have to enter and exit via the Front Office, except for assemblies where you will enter through the hall. I thank you for your continued support and everyone’s using the Canberra Check-In App.

The shade structure was erected over the play equipment over the break. Sadly, we were not able to move the original structure, but I think you will agree the new structure does the job very well.

I would like to remind families that all students who come to school late will need to be signed in at the Front Office. Our new system requires parents and carers to sign in using the new kiosk which will be located in the Front Office. We will no longer be able to accept the old sign-in slips. We will also require parents and carers to sign-out students who are leaving using the same kiosk. I encourage students to come to school on time as even just coming 5 minutes late to class each day adds up to over 16 hours of missed schooling every year!

I will be on leave from this afternoon through to next Tuesday. During this time Mrs Carmen Myles will be Acting Principal.

God Bless

We have moved to a new Student Management System called COMPASS. This Catholic Education initiative will be rolled out across all Catholic schools in our Archdiocese. This system will replace a number of different programs we currently have in place to manage student data. Some of this data includes:

• Attendance
• Events
• Student Reporting
• Student Wellbeing
• Parent Portal

A flyer of the benefits of COMPASS is included below. We will start the roll out with student attendance and gradually introduce other elements of the system throughout next term.

Commencing the beginning of Term 2, the new system requires parents, of students who are late, to school to sign their children in using the electronic kiosk. This means if you need to sign your child/ren in/out you will need to come into the Front Office to do so electronically.

Welcome to STA

The attachment below provides general information sent out in Term 1 regarding STA.

School Fees
School Fees for Term 2 will be sent out by the end of Week 2.

Lunch Boxes
Please ensure your children have sufficient food in their lunch boxes during these colder months.  We keep emergency supplies in the front office only.

Car Parking
For the safety of our students, parents and staff please:

• park in designated car parking areas or across the road in the rear Charnwood shop car park;
• do not park on the Black Top / Netball Courts after 9am as this is a designed sports area;
• please do not park in the Disabled Car Parks, without authorisation, or the yellow striped areas between these two car parks.

Uniform Shop Donations
A reminder to families that our Uniform Shop gladly accepts donations of uniforms in good clean condition.  These uniforms are then sold in our Uniform Shop for $2 per item.  The uniform shop is open every Tuesday morning from 9:15am - 9:45am or after school - by appointment only.

Students are required to wear winter uniforms in Term 2.  Please go to our link below to view our uniform requirements and view the photos below.

Please note that leggings are not part of our school uniform and the sports uniform is only to be worn on sports days.

Our Scholastic Book Fair is coming up in Week 3 from Tuesday 4^th May – Thursday 6^th May!

Our Book Fair will be open to students during lunch times, and families will be able to come in after school until 4 pm to have a look, and purchase books.

Students may have the opportunity to browse with their class teacher and may come home with a wish list.
Students will also receive a brief catalogue next week where you are able to purchase books in advance, similar to the book club process.

If families are choosing to visit the Book Fair in person after school, adults will need to check in via the CheckIn Canberra app,
and may need to wait a few minutes before coming in to the Library.

Online orders for Issue 3 due by 6 May 2021

Scholastic Book Club Order Forms will be sent home this week.
Scholastic now use online ordering.

No cash orders will be accepted at the Front Office for Scholastic Book Club.

The school will still get credits and the books will still be delivered to school for us to distribute, unless parents have requested they be delivered to their home.

Please download the INLOOP App
on your device or order from the online website.

https://mybookclubs.scholastic.com.au/Parent/Login.aspx

 Any questions please contact me via email ksligar@bigpond.net.au

Please note that there are several public holidays in Term 3.

Community News is located on our website.

Wednesday 21 April 2021 is  St Francis Xavier College Expo Day.  This is a day when our Year 6 students experience high school for a morning.  Please see Permission Note below.

APRIL 2021
Congratulations to the following students who will be celebrating their birthday this month:

Maya R;  Yuvraj S;  Kael S;  Sophia S;  Chaia L;  Henry T;  Indie-Rose H;  Ryan S;  Riley S;  Thor S;  Charlotte S;  Jessica J;  Parker W;  Mackenzie S;  Grace J;  Estelle W ;  Poppy R;  Andrea O;  Zeus B;  Anon D;  Felice F;  Melinda M;  Miranda G