Dear Parents and Carers

“It seems that God is asking humanity to live inside of a cosmic humility. In that holding pattern, instead of insisting on dividing reality into the good and the bad, we bear the ambiguity, the inconsistencies, and the brokenness of all things. It is our ultimate act of solidarity with humanity and with the world.”

• Richard Rohr

In the reflection above, which was written by Rohr to celebrate the beginning of Advent, he invites us to take up the challenge of resisting the temptation to divide the world up into good and bad, black and white. None of us live lives that can be wholly described one way or another, he seems to be saying. Given that reality, it behoves us to treat ourselves, and all people and situations that cross our paths, with compassion. In this season of Advent, which celebrates the impending birth of Jesus, I find it helpful to remember that Jesus was born into an ambiguous situation. The world then, as now, was not perfect, but that did not stop Jesus from loving his community and standing in solidarity with humanity and the world.

Exciting News

Earlier this week, we heard the excellent news that Melissa Neit, one of our wonderful Kindergarten teachers, gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Matilda. Both mother and daughter are doing well. I congratulate Mel and Ben, and big brother Ted, as they welcome Matilda into their family.

Staffing – 2023

Schools are cyclical communities. Each year, we both farewell and welcome new staff. 2022 is no different, and we are farewelling the following staff:

• Kerry Marsham, our Grounds and Maintenance Officer, is retiring after many years of service.
• Stephanie Burns, our Religious Education Coordinator, is stepping down from her role and has a new job at Trinity Christian School.
• Alissa Pearson has gained a near full-time position at St Monica’s Primary School.
• Jessica Gowing, one of our Kindergarten teachers, is exploring potential career options in the performing arts.
• Mel Neit, as mentioned above, has taken maternity leave for the bulk of 2023.

We welcome the following new staff to our school:

• Veronica Hall, our new REC, and also teaching Year 1.
• Lisa Gill, our new performing arts teacher.
• TBA – Grounds and Maintenance Officer.

Our staff for 2023 include:

Principal – Cameron Johns

Assistant Principal – Anna Williams

Religious Education Coordinator – Veronica Hall

Coordinator – Fron Garrett-Rumba

Front Office Secretary: Trish Collis

Kindergarten: Mary de Smet/TBA; Sarah Kennelly

Year 1: Veronica Hall/Katie Birch; Amanda de Jongh/Laura Williamson

Year 2: Sue Wales/Anne Hitchings; Holly Audsley

Year 3: Sarah Walsh; Paul Jenkins/Gayle Hunt

Year 4: Bridget Pigram; Michele Hallis-Pratt/Nic Marsham

Year 5: Josh Gereis; Fron Garret-Rumba/Ruth de Valentin

Year 6: Katie McGregor; Luke Gubler

Learning Support Coordinator: Maryanne Armstrong

Maths extension (Years 5 & 6): TBA

Robotics: Paul Jenkins

Sports Coordinators: Sarah Walsh & Luke Gubler

Early Career Release and Sports Coordinator release: Gayle Hunt

Gardening Club: Katie Birch, Mary de Smet and Robyn Moore

STEM: Anna Williams

Teacher Librarian: Amanda Basedow

Spanish: Oriella Johnson

Performing Arts: Lisa Gill

Cooking Teacher: Robyn Moore

Newsletter: Anne Perkovic

Classroom Support Assistants:

Anne Perkovic, Jade Arranz, Cathy Shepherd, Tricia Drabsch, Maria McMillian, Sam Stinziani, Mel Harding, Grace Fletcher, Maria Anthony, Deki Wangmo, Maddy Winter, Maddie Greenwood, Olivia O’Donnell, Noah Ryan, Robyn Moore, Erin East

Canteen and Uniform Shop Manager: Lauretta Raccosta

Grounds and Maintenance Officer: TBA

The staff of Sts Peter and Paul Primary are a very talented and gifted community. I am lucky to be the principal of such a school and am blessed to work with the people with whom I work and lead. They will all do everything they can to ensure your child or children have an excellent 2023.

Year 5 Camp

This week, from Wednesday – Friday, our Year 5 students have been on camp, at Cooba, NSW. It has been a wonderful camp and the photos, on our Facebook page, speak to the children’s involvement and joy. My thanks to all staff who attended, and especially to Katie McGregor and Fron Garrett- Rumba, who coordinated and organised the camp.

Week 10 Activities

Next week, our final week for Term 4 and the school year, sees a number of activities take place:

• Reports are published on Monday and class lists are sent home
• Year 6 have their Graduation Mass on Monday and that evening celebrate their Graduation dinner
• Swimming Continues for Grades 1 & 2
• On Tuesday at 2pm, our Kindergarten students are presenting the Nativity Story (all Kindergarten parents are very welcome)
• Wednesday: a dress up day for our students, the cost of which is a small present, suitable for a child their age, for Christmas
• Year 2 have a rural firefighters’ visit on Wednesday
• The Year 6 fun day is on Wednesday
• Sts Peter and Paul is hosting a BYO picnic and drinks Christmas Carols evening on Wednesday, 5.30 – 7.30, with Santa visiting.
• Students’ last day is on Thursday December 15^th.

On behalf of all the staff, I would like to thank the parent community for their wonderful support over the last 12 months. It has been excellent seeing the school being able to open up again, and have our first year, since 2019, of uninterrupted, face-to-face learning. I wish all of our families a very happy and peaceful Christmas and New Year, and I look forward to welcoming our families back on Tuesday, January 31^st.

Best wishes

Cameron Johns

Principal

This year at Sts Peter and Paul, we are all called to ‘Let Your Light Shine”

Vinnies Christmas Appeal 2022

St Vincent de Paul is committed to making Christmas a time to renew hope. They are dedicated to providing shelter, food, clothing, financial support, friendship and care for tens of thousands of people in the Canberra/Goulburn region.

This year, as with previous years, students at Sts Peter and Paul are invited to donate to the St Vincent de Paul Christmas Appeal.  These items will be combined by members of our local Vinnies chapter to fill hampers for families in the Canberra region.   

Each class has been allocated a small list of suggested items to donate in the table below (please select from the list and donate what you can).

These will be placed in near the Christmas Tree in our school foyer.

All donations will be presented to a St Vincent de Paul representative at Wednesday morning assembly in Week 10 (14th December).

SRC LED CHRISTMAS DRESS UP DAY - BONUS DONATION : This year as a special SRC (Student Representative Council) led initiative, we will have a bonus donation day. On Wednesday 14th December, Students are invited to bring in a small gift for a child or family to donate to St Vincent de Paul (unwrapped to aid in hamper creation for the team) Students may dress up in Christmas-themed clothes on this day. Thank you for your generous support of St Vincent de Paul.

Please send in all food items by Tuesday 13/12/22.   

Third Sunday of Advent, Year A Gospel Reflection

Why would John the Baptist send messengers to question Jesus? We recall from last week’s gospel passage that John had a somewhat ‘fire and brimstone’ perception of what Jesus would be like. Perhaps as he sat in his prison cell John began to wonder whether Jesus was indeed the Messiah that John believed him to be. Perhaps the question was not for himself but rather for his disciples that he sent to Jesus. Given the answer that Jesus provided them, perhaps John’s intention was for the disciples to recognise that Jesus was in fact the one that John had proclaimed and that the disciples should switch their allegiance to Jesus. John probably guessed that he would not be leaving that prison alive and may have been leading his disciples to the next step in their discipleship by having them go and scrutinise Jesus.

The indirect answer that Jesus provides to the query would have not sounded like such a roundabout response as it does to us. The picture Jesus describes of the blind seeing, the lame walking, lepers cleansed, and the deaf hearing would have been very familiar to those who were listening and the first audience of this gospel. These were signs of the coming of the Messiah that had been foretold by the prophets. In his answer, Jesus effectively says, ‘Well, all the things that are supposed to happen when the Messiah comes are happening now with me. There’s your answer!’

The reading continues to build on the Advent themes of anticipation, preparedness and hope. As we draw closer to the celebration of the Nativity, in this reading is confirmation that our hope is not misplaced. Today’s readings emphasise the joy that lies in the anticipation and expectation of what is coming.

(Reflection by Greg Sunter)

2022 Graduation Mass and Candle Ceremony

Next Monday 12^th December at 12:00pm we will be celebrating the Graduation of the class of 2022 with a Mass in our school hall. We will also be holding the traditional candle ceremony, where Year 6 Leadership in the Sts Peter and Paul Community will pass from the current Year 6 students, onto our upcoming leaders for 2023.

All families of Year 5 and 6 students are invited to join us for this very special occasion.

Have a blessed week,

Stephanie Burns

Religious Education Coordinator

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

to those students who are celebrating their birthday this month

Poppy de S

Cameron de J

Ana Q

Cameron B

Ollie S

Archie S

Charlotte R

Maxim L

Jordan G

Leo H

Elise L

Yuki S

Sabine F

Neriah V

Felix G 

Yezin D

Joseph N

Mrs P

Manveer S

Ruevena N

Nicholas V

Joshua V

Eleanor M

Thomas O'D

The wonderful Mr Marsham will be leaving Sts Peter and Paul at the end of this year, after many years of faithful (and super-handy) service to our school community.

At the morning assembly on the last day of school (15^th December), the children will be singing a special song to Mr Marsham to farewell him and honour the time he has given to Sts Peter and Paul. Parents are invited to join us for this special occasion at morning assembly at 9:00am. 

We will also invite the children (and staff!) to dress-up in honour of Mr Marsham (for example, wear something hi-vis ) if they would like to. 

SHHHH It's a surprise, please don't mention anything to Mr Marsham! 

Congratulations Hamish H, 2W!

Hamish is very excited to be named in the U8's ACT Futsal team to compete at the National Club Futsal Championships in Sydney in January.

Hamish only started playing Futsal this year and has been described as "Made to play Futsal".

Thank you to everyone for your continued support in the Library this year! I love hearing about how much the students look forward to visiting each week. I am already looking forward to all of the exciting things planned for 2023? 

We still have a number of overdue books that need to be returned to the Library. Please, please, please check around the house to see if any have been missed! This week we had 2 books that were 620 days overdue~ better late than never! If you have lost Library books, the school asks that you pay a $10 fee per book on QKR! 

Have a wonderful, safe and merry Christmas with your families! Keep reading over the holidays and remember the ACT Public Libraries are a wonderful place to visit during the Christmas holidays! 

Please contact amanda.basedow@cg.catholic.edu.au if you have any questions regarding the Library or borrowing.

Keep reading, Mrs Basedow

This was our last week of the Kitchen Program for 2022. What a year!

We started Christmas cooking with each class. Stained glass and reindeer biscuits were just a few of the yummy things the children cooked and more importantly, ate. Parents and carers, we hope some of them reached home!

We also welcomed two more fruit trees into our garden to complete our orchard. We now have three feijoas to care for and water. Fingers crossed they are good to us and reward us with fruit. Our garden crew also did a magnificent job weeding the garden so the trees can grow.

If you have any questions please email Mrs Katie Birch katherine.birch@cg.catholic.edu.au

From all of us at the Garden Club have a safe and joyful holiday.

See you in 2023.

The Garden Club

Last Thursday, Year 6 enjoyed a mini cooking challenge.

Their challenge included designing their own menus, ordering ingredients, then preparing and presenting their food to our guest judges, Mr Gubler, Ms Audsley, Ms Garrett-Rumba, Mrs Burns, Mrs Williams and Mr Johns.

They were marked on

- how well their menus included the healthy food groups,

- presentation

- taste 

- how well they cleaned their cooking bays.

They did very well, the judges were very impressed with the food they were presented with.

They did have trouble deciding who met the brief best.

Well done Year 6 and a big thank you to all our guest judges.

STAINED GLASS WINDOW BISCUITS

Ingredients

125 g butter

2/3 cup icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla essence

2 cups plain flour

1 tbs sugar

1 egg, plus 1 egg white, lightly whisked

10 fruit drops (or similar hard candies)

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees, line 2 trays with baking paper and set aside.

Beat butter and icing sugar together in a large bowl until creamy. Beat in the vanilla and egg, then mix in the flour. Gather the dough into a ball.

Place dough on a floured surface and roll out with a floured rolling pin.

Cut shapes out of the dough using a cookie cutter and place on prepared trays. Continue with remaining dough by piling scraps together and rolling out again.

Cut a small hole in the centre of each biscuit, brush with the extra egg white and sprinkle with sugar. Bake biscuits for 5 minutes, remove from oven.

Meanwhile unwrap lollies, place in a snap lock bag. Wrap in a tea towel and crush with a rolling pin.

Place a teaspoon of the crushed lollies in the centre hole of each biscuit and return to oven for another 5 minutes.

Cool for 15 minutes before touching as the melted lollies will be hot. 

Ingredients

3 x 200 g blocks Cadbury milk chocolate

1 pkt snake lollies

1 pkt milk bottle lollies

1 pkt marshmallows

Optional extras

1 cup unsalted peanuts

1 pkt raspberry lollies

Desiccated coconut

Anything that would taste good (Christmas M&Ms for that festive look)

Method

Grease and line a 19cm by 29cm slice pan with baking paper.

Chop lollies roughly and place in a large bowl.

Melt the chocolate, one block at time, in the microwave for 1 minute (may need an extra 10-20 seconds).

Add to chopped lollies.

Add optional extras and mix well.

Press mixture into prepared pan, refrigerate for at least 2-3 hours until set.

Cut into bite size pieces.

The recipes in the newsletter are from the Sts P & P 50th Anniversary Cookbook. The recipes come from either our wonderful cooking guru, Mrs Moore, or were donated by members of our community. The Rocky Road recipe was donatd by Anne Perkovic (Mrs P).

Books are now at the bargain price of $10 (and you will receive a bonus tea towel), payable on Qkr!. Books will be sent home with your child once payment has been receipted. 

THE CANTEEN IS CASHLESS FOR ALL LUNCH ORDERS

Families are required to place ALL lunch orders via Qkr! before 8.45am

Please purchase over-the-counter sale items (snacks & treats) for your child in a lunch order.

Over-the-counter sales at lunch time are back for ice creams only.

Purchase a “daily counter sales voucher” via Qkr! for your child to go to the canteen to collect an ice cream at lunchtime.

CANTEEN VOLUNTEER ROSTER

Please contact me if you are unable to help out on your day.

 ARE YOU ABLE TO HELP OUT on Thursday (last day of term)?

 Click on the link below to add your selected time to the roster.

https://stpandp.schoolzineplus.com/term4roster

or email me you details.

All volunteers must have a WWVP card.

Qkr! TIP

 Is your child sick and not going to school, and you have placed a lunch order on Qkr!?

You have till 8.45am that morning to cancel the lunch order - instructions on how to cancel lunch orders are below.

THE CANTEEN IS CASHLESS

Next Thursday is the last day for lunch orders.

  If your child orders a product that becomes unavailable, it will be substituted with something to the same value or like.

Stock is very low as we prepare for our fridges and freezers to defrost during the school break.

 If your child does not have any lunch, he or she will be provided with a vegemite sandwich.

Could all Canteen invoices please be paid before the end of the year.  Payments are made via Qkr! “Canteen Invoices”.  Thank you

Canteen is closed the first Wednesday of Term 1 for set up.

  It will reopen again on Thursday 2 February 2023.

Mrs R would like to thank ALL the volunteers that helped this year in the Canteen! Your assistance was very much appreciated.  Looking forward to having volunteers back in the canteen in 2023!

If you would like to help out in the canteen in 2023, please email me your details

OPEN TUESDAY MORNINGS

8.30 – 9.30AM

 The Uniform Shop is a service for the parents and children. 

We sell New & Quality Second-hand school clothing, and all money raised goes back to the school to provide resources for the children.

The School Uniform is available via Qkr!
Tuesdays - Fridays, orders will be delivered to your child’s classroom. Orders need to be placed before 8.45 am. 

 The Uniform shop is stocked up with second hand uniform, please visit on a Tuesday morning to purchase second hand uniform.

The uniform shop is limited with space, so if you wish to donate pre-loved items, PLEASE ONLY DONATE CLOTHES

that are washed and in perfect resalable order.

Thank you

Please visit the schools website for the Summer Uniform price list.

STARTING SCHOOL IN 2023?

PURCHASE A STARTER PACK ON QKR! NOW

Step 1: Download the Qkr! app

Step 2: Register - follow the steps

Step 3: Find our school - Sts Peter & Paul Primary School

Step 4: Register your child - select “new enrolments”

Step 5: Purchase a starter pack for pick up at the front office between school hours.

Beat the crazy rush next year and get in now before this year is through to purchase any school uniform needed for 2023! 

Lauretta Raccosta

Uniform Shop

Lauretta.raccosta@cg.catholic.edu.au

UNIFORM SHOP EXTENDED OPENING HOURS

FOR 2023

 WEDNESDAY 25 JANUARY 2023

9AM – 12AM  

School holiday opening hours via appointment only

https://stpandp.schoolzineplus.com/uniformshop2023

 MONDAY 30 JANUARY 2023

9AM – 12PM  

School holiday opening hours via appointment only

https://stpandp.schoolzineplus.com/uniformshop2023

 TUESDAY 31 JANUARY 2023

8.30AM – 9.30AM

Usual uniform shop hours

However, beat the crazy rush next year and get in before this year is through to purchase any school uniform needed!

Uniform can still be purchased via Qkr! and delivered to your child till the end of the year!

Edii's Maker2Market business taster experience is a three-day, program that enables creative teens ( aged 10-17)  to deep dive into creating a micro-business and selling handmade products to real customers at Old Bus Depot Markets. It's a fun learning experience based on design thinking methodology that grows problem-solving curiosity, creativity, critical thinking, perseverance, and social skills. A great introduction to the innovation life-cycle of designing, making, and testing and importantly the skills learned through this real-world experience enable creative teens to earn their own money doing what they love! 

More: https://www.edii.com.au/m2m-business-taster/

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkKIcHakxCU

Book your place in the January holiday program: https://www.edii.com.au/m2m-business-taster-booking/