Dear Parents and Carers

For courage when you thought things would be different by now
God, I thought I would feel different by now, 
but new pressures just keep mounting. 
I have been struggling for too long
to meet each new challenge, 
to scrape up resources, 
to find small comforts, 
to change strategies, 
to dig deep into our reserves,
to stay positive,
but I need relief 
and fresh hope
and a minute to just say,
I really wish things were easier.

Kate Bowler and Jessica Richie

We have begun the season of Lent, a preparation time for Easter, and a season that has traditionally focused on a deprivation of some sort, to highlight the need we all have for God. At times, however, we can feel that the whole of our life is one perennial season of Lent, and that we are in constant need. The hard truth is that our faith tells us we have always been in need of God – certainly something beyond ourselves – to sustain us. Whatever our gifts and talents are, or circumstances, or network of family and friends, they will not always rise to meet every challenge. The good news is that we are never in this alone.

Year 5 Camp

Today, our Year 5 students travel to their camp at Berry, NSW  https://www.sport.nsw.gov.au/sport-and-recreation-centres/berry

It promises to be an excellent camp and the children will have a great deal of fun and take important steps in independence, leadership, resilience and problem solving. My thanks to Josh Gereis and Fron Garrett-Rumba for organising the camp. Joining Josh and Fron on the camp are Anna Williams and Sarah Walsh, to whom I am also very grateful. I wish our staff and students a wonderful camp and I look forward to their safe return Friday afternoon. A reminder please to Year 5 parents who have children in other grades that their other children will need to be collected at the end of the school day on Friday. Our campers will not be returning to school until 5pm or 5.30. I apologise for any inconvenience caused by the need to visit the school twice on Friday afternoon.

Parent/Teacher Interviews

A reminder that next week, over Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons (and evening, in the case of Tuesday), we are holding Parent/Teacher interviews. The link to the interviews can be found on Compass. Bookings close tomorrow. I encourage all parents to make a time to meet with their child’s teacher/s, and to collaborate in the setting of goals for the semester. My thanks to all teachers and to Anna Williams, for coordinating the interviews.

Principals’ Retreat

Next Wednesday – Friday, I will be attending the Principals’ Retreat in Bowral, with the Director of Catholic Education Ross Fox, as well as other senior leaders within Catholic Education. The three days are invaluable for the discussion and sharing of system initiatives and directions, as well as the time spent on faith development.

Presentation Mass – First Reconciliation

A reminder that this weekend at the Parish of the Transfiguration, Curtin, students in Year 3 who are receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation are being presented at one of the weekend Masses. I will be attending the 9.30am Mass and I look forward to being part of this important school and parish occasion.

To conclude my input in this week’s newsletter, I would like to finish by quoting the end of the poem which began my reflections, above:

Blessed are we who look to you, God,
in the midst of troubles that are too great for us, 
that have gone on far too long.
Who dare to say, 
now would be a good time for help to come,
for this to be over, once and for all.
God, send us help.
Bring solutions for the desperate, 
protection for the vulnerable, 
comfort for the suffering, 
strength to the caregivers, 
wisdom to those in charge.

Infuse us with the courage to suffer with hope. 
That our suffering doesn’t go unnoticed by you.

Sustain us and orient us to the reality in which we now live.
Help us pace ourselves. Keep us awake
to what might be done, right now.

Have a wonderful week with your families.

Best wishes

Cameron Johns

Principal

Sacrament of First Reconciliation Presentation Masses 

This weekend sees the First Reconciliation Presentation Masses. This is an opportunity for our parishioners to acknowledge and pray for our students and their families as they prepare to receive God’s healing love through the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Parish Mass times:

Saturday 4th March; 6pm and Sunday 5th March; 9:30am or 5:30pm at the Holy Trinity Church, Curtin. All are most welcome.

Project Compassion

Project Compassion runs during the season of Lent. Students are invited to donate to Caritas through Project Compassion. All classrooms have Project Compassion boxes in their classrooms. Classes are raising money to buy virtual chickens. For every $5 raised a chicken will be added to their farm. All money raised will go to Caritas. Thank you for your support.

How does Caritas help? Let's meet Priscilla:

Priscilla joined the Zimbabwe Integrated Community Development Program, implemented by our partner Caritas Hwange and funded by Caritas Australia. Through the program, Priscilla and her community learnt conservation farming techniques to grow drought-resistant crops to help mitigate the effects of climate change.  

Priscilla was able to produce a bumper harvest in her first year of practising conservation farming.  

Priscilla also used the funds from her harvest to start poultry farming, where she can sell eggs to pay for her grandchildren’s school fees, books and stationery. The poultry farming provides a safety net for Priscilla and her family during times of hardship, like the current drought.

Sunday Gospel: Matthew 17:1-9, First Sunday of Lent  – Year A

His face shone like the sun.

Just when some of us think Lent is a grim season of self-denial, the Church gives us the story of Jesus’ Transfiguration to put our sacrifices in context. The only reason we deny ourselves anything or commit ourselves to actions of service for these 40 days is to grow more deeply in love with the God who loves us into life. Penance is not meant to attack our self-esteem, it’s intended to help us sort out what really matters, to cast some light in the darkness of our lives and to focus on the relationship which gives meaning and purpose for this world and the next.

The God of Mount Tabor is not interested in each of us feeling isolated as we fulfil the letter of a legal code. God wants all of us to have hearts that listen to the Gospel of love so that we can gain the power to transform the world through the sacrifices of our daily lives.

On a much gentler scale, Mass is meant to be a weekly mountaintop experience for us where we hear God call us by name and confess his love for us; where we feel re-energised for the commission we have to bear God’s light to the world. In this context anything we can do this Lent that helps remove the blocks in our full response to God’s love, must be worth effort.

(adapted from Richard Leonard)

Once again we have had fantastic results at the Royal Canberra Show! We are so lucky to have our wonderful cookking teacher, Mrs Moore to lead the way and to have so many talented students. So proud!

You may already have seen some of our entries on our Facebook page.

These awards will be presented at our next awards assembly on Thursday, 9 March in the hall.

Principal's Awards: Delilah F, 1W; Madison H, KW

Canteen Awards: Matilda W, KW; Sadie W, 1M; Joseph S, 2M; Dominic M, 2W; Harry R, 6M

Learning Support Awards:

(please note that LS awards are given to any child in the school that the Classroom Support Assistants have noticed doing something wonderful): 

Sophia B KW; Dominic M, 2W; Abby D, 2M; Kolbe T, 3M; Matthew S, 3M; Reuben T, 2M; Caitlin M, 4M

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

to those students who are celebrating their birthday this week

Lilah J 

Liam T

Tobias T

Sophia B 

Luke B

Marcus H

Alexa Y

Patrick C

Irin R

Lachlan R

Sts Peter and Paul Primary is proud to have every child registered in the Challenge again this year! To complete the challenge, students need to read 30 books within the timeframe. The 30 books can be from class reading and individual reading. Fiction or non-fiction, poetry, EBooks (including on SORA), audio books, graphic books, home books and of course library books. As long as the books are age appropriate! Students can read the books themselves, listen to an adult or older sibling read to them, listen to an audio book or read a book online. The challenge runs from Tuesday 14th February to Friday 4th August. 

I am seeing lots of keen readers filling out their charts (Year K-2 in class all together) and Year 3-6 individually on their iPads!   

https://www.education.act.gov.au/public-school-life/additional-programs/chief_ministers_reading_challenge

Lunchtimes in the Library

We have had a few enthusiastic puzzle students in the Library during Lunchtime! Look at this fantastic group effort to complete this 500 piece puzzle!! Woohoo!

Scholastic Book Club Rewards

Thank you to the families who purchased books in Issue 1 of book club. These are the amazing books we were able to get from our scholastic rewards! We already have a lot of reservations on these as they are all newly published books!   

Keep reading! Mrs Basedow

Saints Peter and Paul Swimming Carnival
Wednesday 8th March at the Lakeside Leisure Centre

We are getting more and more excited for our Swimming Carnival next Wednesday! Thank you to all the parents and carers who have already completed the GoogleForm and consent forms on Compass. If you are yet to do this, please have the GoogleForm race nomination form completed by Friday 3rd March, and the Compass consent form completed by Monday 6th March. We appreciate your patience as we use these platforms to gather data for school events.

Race Nomination Form: https://forms.gle/C1TJKVfSa2dTpRca6

Parent Volunteers

Thank you to the parents who have offered to assist us on the day with timekeeping and novelty events. If you are able to lend a helping hand, please email  Sarah Walsh (see email below) with an image of the front and back of your valid WWVP card. If you have volunteered, you will receive an email from us on Monday next week detailing finer details of the day.

How the Day will Run

Students who are not participating in 100m races will need to be at school by 9:00am, as buses will leave school at 9:15am. Students will be leaving the pool at approximately 2:15pm. The order of races for the day will be:

   100m

   50m

   25m

Just a gentle reminder to please remember to sign your child/ren out at the recording table if you would like to take them home early. Thank you so much for your assistance with all of this. We’re looking forward to a great day together at the pool.

If you ever have any questions about anything related to Sport, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with Luke Gubler (luke.gubler@cg.catholic.edu.au) and Sarah Walsh (sarah.walsh1@cg.catholic.edu.au) and hopefully we will be able to help you out!

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.

 Ice creams are the only over-the-counter sales at lunch time in Term 1.

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

Lent Special - Fish Fingers

Available very Wednesday and Friday during Lent

CANTEEN VOLUNTEER ROSTER

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

 ARE YOU ABLE TO HELP OUT IN TERM 1?

If you have any spare time and would like to help in the canteen, PLEASE feel free to contact me through email at lauretta.raccosta@cg.catholic.edu.au

or click on the link below to slot a time in.

Term 1 canteen roster

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

https://stpandp.schoolzineplus.com/CanteenRosterTerm1

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.

Swimming Carnival Wednesday 8 March

MEAL DEAL

Are you in Kindy or Year 1 and staying at school?

Well, don’t be sad because Mrs R has a special meal deal for you in the canteen that day!

Cost $7.00

 Menu: 3 nuggets (GF) or hot dog or pizza or pasta or 5 fish fingers with a fruit popper,  popcorn and a lolly bag. 

Orders can be made via Qkr! up to 8.45am morning of the swimming carnival (Wednesday 8 March)

Please note the above set menu is the only food available for students on that day and is ONLY AVAILABLE FOR KINDY AND YEAR 1 STUDENTS. 

Canteen will be open for counter sales at lunchtime for frozen items.  Please purchase a “daily counter sales voucher” via Qkr!

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 Uniform price list.

Lauretta Raccosta

Uniform Shop

Lauretta.raccosta@cg.catholic.edu.au

What a fabulous week in both the kitchen and garden!

We learnt about the meat and alternatives group in the kitchen and classroom. The children cooked zucchini slice using eggs and zucchini from our garden. The slice was extra special as it used every food group that they have been learning about. The children also learned that food from the meat and alternative group make us grow!

It was another fun filled session in the garden on Friday with loads of weeding, watering, seed planting and harvesting. We now have plums, pears, tomatoes and zucchini to cook with.

We are pleased to also to announce our successes at the Canberra Show. What a fabulous effort by our students!!! Check out this newsletter and the school's facebook page to see the  results.

For more information about our Kitchen Garden Program please email Mrs Katie Birch katherine.birch@cg.edu.edu.au

Until next week…

The Garden Club

VEGETABLE (ZUCCHINI) SLICE

Ingredients

4 eggs

1 cup self raising flour (gluten free optional)

2 small zucchinis, grated

2 carrots, grated

1 large onion, finely chpopped

400 gr can corn kernals

1 & 1/4 cup grated cheddar cheese

3 Tbsp vegetable oil

Method

Preheat oven to 160 degrees, grease and line a larg baking dish and set aside.

Whisk eggs in a large bowl. Add the flour and beat until smooth.

Add the zucchini, carrot, onion, corn, cheese and oil and stir until all combined.

Pour mixture into the prepared dish and bake for approximately 30 minutes or until cooked through. Remove from the oven, cool for 10 minutes.

Lift out of the baking dish using the paper and cut into slices to serve.

The Enlighten Festival starts in Canberra this week and offers many fun and wonderful activities to be a part of.

Check out the link below for more information:

https://enlightencanberra.com/

Follow the link for information on ACT Government Drop-in Clinics for speech therapy, physiotherapy and occupational therapy.

https://www.communityservices.act.gov.au/childdevelopmentservice/drop-in-clinics