Dear Parents and Carers

“The theological virtue of hope is the patient and trustful willingness to live without closure, without resolution, and still be content and even happy because our Satisfaction is now at another level, and our Source is beyond ourselves.”

• Richard Rohr

St Paul, one of our patrons, names hope as one of the three theological virtues, the other two being faith and love. In the quote above, Rohr speaks to a virtue of hope: the ability to live in creative tension with how things are for us, as opposed to how we would like things to be, and to live in such a way that entails us having a heart open to the world and to the people we encounter each day. To live in such a way requires an enormous amount of courage in letting go and relying on something greater than ourselves to sustain us – in our faith tradition, we call that ‘something’ God.

Mother’s Day

Last Friday, we celebrated Mother's Day by holding a breakfast at school, with many examples of beautiful artwork by our children on display. We also held a Mother’s Day assembly, which Kindergarten performed, and we had a Mother’s Day present stall, which saw all children pick out a present for their mother. All of this happened because the Community Council and other parents, with school staff as well, put in many hours of work in an effort to ensure that we celebrated the gift of mothers in the lives of our children and of the school. I would like to thank Erin and Will Frost, Tara Kuleas, Jordan De Smet, Tegan Ingold, Dimity Walsh, Lisa Dogan, Natasha Fenton, Mary Romanous, Steve Honan, Yun-Cheng Lin and Alister and Katherine Jones. I would like to also thank the Agland family who generously donated some of the earrings for the stall. Thank you to all concerned who helped make the morning such a special occasion.

This week, the school ran its annual bookfair, with the theme of ‘Bookaneer’ (a pirate theme). This is also an event that requires hours of preparation and, like the Mother's Day celebrations, brings joy to many. The library is still worth visiting just to see the amazing effort that Mrs Basedow has made in creating a pirate-themed display. The school will receive a return of the profits. My thanks to Amanda and Chris Basedow for amazing efforts, and to the many staff who have given up time to assist with sale of the books.

Vinnies Appeal

This Friday is Mad Hair Day. Children are invited to wear a wig, or to do something ‘mad’ with their hair. The ‘fine’ for doing so is to 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.  The items go to the St Vincent de Paul Winter Appeal, which helps the many needy people in our local community. Homelessness is a terrible condition for any person to be in; never more so than in Winter. Please consider a donation this Friday.

Walk to School Day

Also taking place this Friday is our annual ‘Walk-to-School’ day. Sts Peter and Paul are joining many schools across Canberra for this annual event, which seeks to encourage a healthy lifestyle and sustainable ways of living. All children are able to meet certain staff members at a particular point around Hughes/Garran, who will then walk with them to school. Please see this link for details: https://www.walk.com.au/WSTSD/

Enrolment Period

A reminder that this is the official enrolment period for all Catholic schools in our Archdiocese. Parents enrolling children into Kindergarten are asked to enrol their child by the end of May. We are experiencing strong interest in the school, and very healthy enrolments, as always, and have had many visitors. Our final Open Morning is this Thursday from 9.30 – 11am.

Have a wonderful week with your families.

Best wishes

Cameron Johns

Principal

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

to those students who are celebrating their birthday this week

Ajla J

Miranda C

YO HO HO!

What a fantastic turnout for our Bookaneer Book Fair! 

Thank you everyone for your support for our Library fundraiser - what a wonderful three days! I have loved seeing the excitement on the children’s faces! 

Winning Pirate Flag entries:

Thank you to Mr Johns and Mrs Williams for judging our competition - it was a very hard decision! 

Congratulations to the following students: 

Kinder- Ava B KW

Year 1- Amelia D 1M

Year 2- Selene A 2W

Year 3- Grace B 3W

Year 4- David CL 4W

Year 5- Alexandra B 5W

Year 6- Miranda C 6M

We hope you love your book prize!

If you have a book on order from the Book Fair, it will be delivered as soon as it arrives by post from Scholastic. 

National Simultaneous Storytime 

National Simultaneous Storytime (NSS) is held annually by the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA). Every year a picture book, written and illustrated by an Australian author and illustrator, is read simultaneously in libraries, schools, pre-schools, childcare centres, family homes, bookshops and many other places around the country. Now in its 23nd successful year, it is a colourful, vibrant, fun event that aims to promote the value of reading and literacy, using an Australian children's book that explores age-appropriate themes, and addresses key learning areas of the National Curriculum for Foundation to Year 6.

This year NSS takes place on Wednesday 24 May 2023 at 11am! We will be reading it as a school in the Hall. 

About the book

It was finally time for the event of the year,
Spike couldn’t believe it—
THE GREAT RACE was here!
The other sloths said it couldn’t be done,
but Spike didn’t care, she was ready to run!

About the author
Rebecca Young is an award-winning author from Sydney. Her first book, Button Boy, illustrated by Sue deGennaro, was a Notable Book for the 2012 CBCA Awards and has been published internationally. In 2016, Teacup, illustrated by Matt Ottley, won the Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children’s Literature in the NSW Premier’s Literacy Awards.

About the illustrator
Heath McKenzie is an award-winning children’s book illustrator who has written and illustrated countless books for children. Heath lives in Melbourne with his wife, two kids, dog, and a fish that he considers more of a lodger than a family member.

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

Happy reading! Mrs Basedow

Athletics Carnival

Thank you so much to all of the fab family members who have volunteered to help at our Athletics Carnival on Thursday 1 June.

We still need some helpers, so if you are able to assist, even for a while, please email Luke Gubler or Sarah Walsh.

National Walk Safely to School Day

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 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rWOeJNuIQND7-LJZbehtsQecW2UOyfWEw7FQ6GIxAHs/edit

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!

Another very busy week in the kitchen and garden.

Our Kinders and Year 1 students had fun preparing a lovely healthy snack, Bliss Balls, to share with their loved ones. These contained breakfast cereal and dried fruit. We hope you enjoyed them.

We were also "all hands on deck” in garden club preparing our Mother’s Day gift, a special message and recipe for making something yummy (Pear and Rosemary Cake), using the herb freshly picked from our garden. The children were very proud that they could share their hard work with our school community Mums. We hope you liked you gift Mums!! Thanks to our Year 6 Leaders and garden club regulars.

If you make anything with the rosemary, be sure to send in a picture for the newsletter. We would love to see the fruits of our labour being used.

For more information about the Kitchen Garden Program please 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.

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.

 ARE YOU ABLE TO HELP OUT IN TERM 2?

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

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

Term 2 canteen roster

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.

Thank you to all the students who participated in today’s Special Lunch Day! 

Mrs R was so happy seeing all the children enjoying themselves, chatting and sharing the same meal with their friends.

 Thank you, Belinda, Chris & Jane for your help today. 

You made the day run a lot smoother.  Your help was very much appreciated!

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 school's website for the Uniform price list.

Lauretta Raccosta

Uniform Shop

Lauretta.raccosta@cg.catholic.edu.au