Dear Parents and Carers

ACT Swimming Championships

Next week sees the ACT Swimming Carnival take place. We have seven students who are representing the South Canberra region at the carnival: Emily G, Lachlan R, WIlliam S, Ava G, Kai R, Stella H and Lucas S. It is of course an amazing achievement to even get this far, regardless of the outcome. I wish them the very best. I am very proud of them all.

Questacon

Today, we held a science incursion in the school. Questacon visited and ran an interactive and highly enjoyable day for the students, which was both fun and highly educational. Both staff and students enjoyed the day a great deal. My thanks to Paul Jenkins for coordinating the day.

Enrolment Period

The enrolment period for Catholic systemic schools is currently underway. I ask all parents who are enrolling children into Kindergarten to please do so as soon as possible. There are two Open Mornings left:

• Wednesday, May 10, 9.30 – 11
• Thursday, May 18, 9.30 – 11

In addition, we are holding an information night tonight, primarily for Years 2 & 3 parents, on learning opportunities for Grades 4 – 6. This will take place tonight, at 6pm, in the school hall.

Next week, on Wednesday May 10, we are holding a general Information Night, for prospective and current parents, also at 6pm. Sts Peter and Paul is a beautiful school, and it is a priviledge to lead the community. I look forward to welcoming our new parents to our school community in 2024.

Parent Reading Workshop

Next week, Sts Peter and Paul is hosting a visit by Paul McDonald, who will be working with staff and running a workshop for parents, called ‘Parent Reading Workshop’. Paul, from Sydney, is an authority on children’s literature and is very knowledgeable on the conditions needed to help foster a culture conducive to a love of reading. I highly recommend Paul’s workshop. Please RSVP by Friday 5th May to Amanda Basedow either via this google form or amanda.basedow@cg.catholic.edu.au. 

My thanks to our excellent librarian, Amanda Basedow, for organising Paul’s visit.

Mothers’ Day Stall

Friday next week, members of the Community Council are holding a Mother’s Day stall. Children will have the opportunity to buy their mother, or significant female person, a Mother’s Day present. Parents are asked to use Qrk! to pay for their child’s gift. All presents cost $7.00. Please log into Qrk! to enable your child, or children, to buy you a present. In addition, all mums are invited to a Mother’s Day coffee and donut, on the Blacktop, on the morning of Friday, May 12th. The Community Council is funding the breakfast for mums. Our beautiful Kindergarten students are performing a Mother’s Day assembly after the breakfast, at 9.15. My thanks to Katherine Jones for coordinating the Community Council’s actions, and my thanks to Mary de Smet, Jessica Gowing and Sarah Kennelly, for organising the Kindergarten assembly.

Have a wonderful week with your families.

Best wishes.

Cameron Johns

Principal

Sacrament of Confirmation

Thank you for your prompt response in enrolling for the Sacrament of Confirmation. Please ensure that you have selected a family group and mass. Booklets for enrolled Candidates will be handed out next week.

Social Justice  - Vinnies Winter Appeal

On Thursday during our Value Assembly, members of the Year 6 Charity and Social Justice Leaders will launch our Vinnies Winter Appeal. This year, St Vincent de Paul are focusing on the issue of older women experiencing homelessness. The number of older women experiencing homelessness across the country has grown rapidly in recent years, and continues to increase, accounting for almost double the growth rate for all people experiencing homelessness in Australia.

The true extent of the problem in Australia is likely to be hugely under-reported as older women who are at risk of homelessness are often ‘hidden’. Many will stay with their children or friends, live in their car, or stay in unsafe relationships to avoid sleeping rough.

Experts predict we are likely to see an increasing number of older women at risk of homelessness in the coming years given the ongoing shortage of social and affordable housing, rising rents, ageing population and lifetime wealth gap between men and women.

Research shows that most of these women have never been homeless before. For many of these women, homelessness is triggered by a crisis such as the death of a spouse, divorce, serious illness, rent increase or eviction. Intimate partner violence or elder abuse can also lead to older women being forced to flee their homes.

Through their specialist homelessness services, Vinnies assists older women who are homeless, or are at risk of becoming homeless, to have access to the supports they need to get back on their feet and to be safe and well. They will continue to advocate at state, territory and Commonwealth levels to immediately increase social security payments and to boost the supply of social and affordable housing so that older women can retire with dignity and with a safe, affordable place to call home.

Sts Peter and Paul Vinnies Winter Appeal - so how can we help?

Throughout Weeks 3 and 4, we are inviting students to, ‘Share your Kindness’ and donate one or more of the the following items: toiletries bag, toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo, conditioner, soap, face washer, hairbrush, moisturiser, and feminine hygiene products. Donations can be dropped off at the school foyer in the labelled tubs. 

‘Share your Kindness’ weeks will culminate in Crazy Hair Donation Day on Friday 19th May. Students are invited to have crazy hair and donate one or more of the items listed above. Thank you for your support. 

Sunday Gospel: John 14:1-12, Fifth Sunday of Easter - Year A

I am the way, the truth and the life.

Today’s gospel passage comes from the very long Last Supper discourse in the gospel of John. When Jesus speaks about ‘going away’ for a time it could be interpreted as the period of his death and rising that are about to occur in the chronology of the story. However, the gospel of John is written a very long time after the death of Jesus; perhaps as much as 70 years after Jesus. Given this period of time between the events and the writing, we know that the writer was also referring to this longer time of Jesus ‘going away’. By the time of the writing of this gospel the early Christians were starting to come to terms with the fact that Jesus probably wasn’t going to return in their lifetime. They had seen the devastating destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Romans in 70CE which they thought had signalled the end of all time. However, here they were, still alive and still no sign of Jesus’ return.

The theme of being present and being absent is very strong in this gospel. The discussion about Jesus and the Father being one is part of this theme. Jesus is God present in the world. God has come to dwell among the people. When Jesus speaks of preparing rooms in the Father’s house, it is a reference to preparing the disciples to ‘live’ in God; to dwell in God just as God has dwelt in the people. (Greg Sunter)

Blessings for the week ahead,

Veronica Hall

Religious Education Coordinator

Welcome back to Term 2 parents and students!

As you’ve most likely already seen in the return to school, transitioning back to a school routine can find students experiencing a wide variety of emotions, from excitement and happiness to apprehension and fear. Emotions may be at an all-time high right now, and coupled with increased exhaustion from long school days, here are some reminders to keep in mind that parents can do to help students develop their emotional regulation skills at any age.

Create an emotionally expressive environment at home and school. This means creating spaces where they are free to say how they feel without fear of being judged or "shut down".

Talk to them openly about emotions and feelings. When you are feeling an emotion, share that with them. Talk to them about your emotions and tell them how you cope with some of the hard emotions yourself.

Model appropriate emotional regulation skills yourself. Let them see you when you are happy, sad, or angry, and show them appropriate responses to those emotions. They need to be able to see healthy responses to all of the emotions.

Help them understand how to take care of their physical needs. Helping them get a good night's rest, eating healthy foods, and exercising the body are all essential to being able to feel satisfaction in life.

Help them engage in activities that build a sense of achievement. Doing one positive thing every day can lead to a sense of achievement and contentment. The things that bring us joy have been shown to decrease negative moods and increase positive moods.

Parents are welcome to contact the school counsellor via phone or email (Shandelle.steere@catholiccare.cg.org.au) should you have any questions concerning your child’s emotional regulation abilities or mental health concerns.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

to those students who are celebrating their birthday this week

Charlie W

Kenzo JJ

Ivy K

Leah P

Tenzing N

Annika T

William R

Abigail J

This year, to celebrate Mother's Day, we are excited to be holding the following events:

 Mother's Day Breakfast

All mothers, grandmothers and other special carers are invited to attend a breakfast with their children on

FRIDAY 12^th MAY

from 7:45am - 9am

in the school grounds

 A coffee cart will be serving hot beverages and a light breakfast will be provided. 

 We look forward to seeing you there!

Mother's Day Stall

We will be offering the students a Mother's Day stall where they can choose their own special present for their mums or other special women in their lives! 

• The stall will be held during school hours on FRIDAY 12^th MAY  
• All gifts are $7.00; limit of 1 - 2 gifts/child
• Vouchers will be used to 'buy' a gift on the day and these are now available to purchase via Qkr!; there will be no cash sales on the day
• Children will be given their voucher/s by their teacher on Friday to use at the stall

PURCHASE OF VOUCHERS WILL CLOSE AT 2PM THURSDAY 11^th MAY!!!

Happy Mother's Day to all!

ACT Swimming Championships

A huge congratulations to the following students who have been selected to compete at the ACT Swimming Championships Tuesday May 9th (next week) at the AIS Aquatic Centre. Emily G, Lachlan R, WIlliam S, Ava G, Kai R, Stella H and Lucas S. 

We wish you the best of luck next week! 

South/Weston Region Cross Country Carnival Tuesday 6th June at Stromlo Forest Park, Opperman Avenue, Stromlo.

Congratulations to all students for a great Cross Country Carnival. Last Friday, Kindergarten and Year 1 classes were handed a certificate of completion for such wonderful efforts, and a congratulations to our 8-12 year old ribbon winners for our Cross Country Carnival and a special congratulations to our Age Champions for 2023. 

Junior: Kiera S and William F

11 Years: Isabel W and Harry R

Senior: Anna S and Hamish S

Last week I spoke to the students who have qualified for Regional Cross Country. If your child came home with a note last Friday and you know that your child will not be able to attend on the day, please email Sarah Walsh ASAP. I am still waiting for confirmation from School Sports ACT on information to send home to those who have qualified in their age bracket. Once I have this information, a note will go home to you via Compass. Thank you in advance for your assistance with this.

Athletics Carnival - Save the Date!

The Sts Peter and Paul Athletic’s Carnival will be held Thursday 1st June (Week 6). This carnival will see students from K-6 participating in a range of track and field events, and fun novelty events on the day. Keep your eyes peeled for further information about this!

National Walk Safely to School Day

Well it’s that time of year again when our school seriously starts talking about walking!

Walk Safely to School Day asks that we all consider our transport habits and try to incorporate more walking as part of a healthy, active way to get around. And although walking all the way to school isn’t realistic for many of us, it’s quite easy to figure out how you can build a walk into your family’s daily routine.

You can teach your child the healthy habit of walking more by:

• Walking with them the whole way to school
• If they get the bus or train, walk past your usual stop and get on at the next stop
• If you have to drive, park the car a few blocks away from the school and walk the rest of the way.

Regular exercise like walking with your child not only helps them (and you!) beat chronic problems like obesity, heart disease, behavioural and mental health issues and diabetes. It also gives you a great opportunity to teach your child safe ways to behave around roads and traffic.

Remember, Active Kids are Healthy Kids so get planning your own Walk Safely to School Day journey for Friday 19th May 2023!

For more information, visit www.walk.com.au.

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!

Please take note of your child or children’s library days. Kinder- Year 4 must have a Library Bag to borrow books to take home. 

I am in the Library Monday- Thursday. Should you have any questions please email me at amanda.basedow@cg.catholic.edu.au

Please join our community event

Parent Reading Workshop - Tuesday 9 May, 5pm, 

We are very excited to be holding a Parent Workshop in Week 3 with guest speaker Paul Macdonald.

Paul is a Literacy expert and owns the award-winning The Children's Bookshop which has been a Sydney literary institution since 1971.He has a Master of Education, working almost 20 years as a teacher of Upper Primary and Secondary.

He has won numerous awards in teaching such as a Quality Teacher Award and The Premiers English Scholarship. Paul won the inaugural Maurice Saxby Award in 2012 for his contributions to raising the profile of teen fiction. He also was the winner of the 2016 Lady Cutler award for services to children's literature and literacy in Australia.

Paul not only manages The Children's Bookshop but is also a consultant working with numerous schools focusing on building reading cultures. 

He is the co-author of the CBCA Notable picture book The Hole Idea and has written several other academic texts.

Please see the attached flyer for more information. Light refreshments will be available. Please RSVP by Friday 5th May to Amanda Basedow either via this google form or amanda.basedow@cg.catholic.edu.au 

Thank you to the parents who have already sent in their RSVP. We would love to see as many parents as possible there as it will be extremely worthwhile for your child/children!

The Book Fair is coming argh me hearties! 

Instead of Book Club this term, we are having our annual Book Fair in Week 4! The Book Fair is always an exciting event at Sts Peter and Pauls and this year is going to be better than ever! Please see the attached information and get excited! 

Happy reading! Mrs Basedow

Dear Friends

This week we welcomed Kinder and Year 1 back into the kitchen.

They have grown up!! They remembered all the fabulous skills they leant last term but conducted themselves with more maturity and patience.

We made ANZAC biscuits with the children and while they were stirring the mixture, they practiced their counting skills. It was great to hear. We also explained to the children why ANZAC biscuits were so important to our soldiers.

The children all took a bag home to share, decorated with the recipe so hopefully you can make ANZAC biscuits at home. I hope you enjoyed them too – as would our soldiers many years ago.

As always, if you would like any information or have any questions feel free to email Mrs Katie Birch katherine.birch@cg.catholic.edu.au

The Garden Club

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,

or

Purchase a “daily counter sales voucher” via Qkr! for your child to go to the canteen to purchase (snacks & treats) at lunchtime.

There are some prices changes to the menu, unfortunately the Canteen needed to increase some of its prices due to high increase of prices from suppliers. 

Mrs R has been able to keep most items at a minimum cost for families.

 CANTEEN VOLUNTEER ROSTER

Thank you helpers; your assistance is very much appreciated

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

New Roster out now!

 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

Term 2 canteen roster

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

https://stpandp.schoolzineplus.com/CanteenTerm2

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.

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 Uniform Shop is available via Qkr!

On Tuesdays - Fridays, orders will be delivered to your child’s classroom. Orders need to be placed before 8.45 am. 

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

It is usual practice for most schools to offer second-hand clothing at the uniform shop to families at a discounted price. Quality second-hand clothing can only be purchased during uniform hours. 

We do understand that this may not be convenient for some families so please feel free to send me an email if you are unable to get to the uniform shop during opening hours and I will do my best to attend to your needs.

Apologises to all the families that have been awaiting on uniform items that they have purchased.  Unfortunately, our supplier LW Reid ran out of stock on their end which has left us waiting for new supplies.

 Stock will be arriving mid – late May

 As soon as it arrives, uniform will be delivered to your child.

 Thank you for your patience.

Lauretta Raccosta

Uniform Shop

Lauretta.raccosta@cg.catholic.edu.au

Robogals Canberra are holding free STEM based workshops at ANU this month.

Our event pages and event info is here for tickets: 

6^th of May 1-2pm

- Ages 12-15: robotics

- Ages 8-11: engineering prototyping

https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/stem-workshop-6th-may-tickets-616364130707?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=escb

20^th of May 1-2pm

- Ages 12-15: arudinos (coding and electronics)

- Ages 8-11: hands on science experiments and electronics

https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/stem-workshop-20th-may-tickets-616394782387?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=escb

FAQs

Where will the workshops be held?

The workshops will be held in-person on campus at ANU at the Birch Building (#35).

As this event will be held in person, ACT COVID-safety protocols will be followed by all volunteers. It is expected all participants will also abide by the ACT COVID regulations at the time of the workshop.

What are my transport/parking options for getting to and from the event?

Parking is free on campus at ANU on weekends.

How can I contact the organiser with any questions?

Please direct any questions to canberra.president@robogals.org