Dear Parents and Carers

On Monday, we had the visiting Questacon Science Circus visit the school. The children enjoyed an engaging and informative science presentation and were thoroughly immersed in the world of science concepts. My thanks to Paul Jenkins for coordinating such an enjoyable day for the children.

School Population and 2021

This year has seen our school population steadily increase. Late last term Ross Fox, the Director of Catholic Education, wrote to me and informed me that the school had been granted a 13^th class, which is great news for the school. This means that the class configurations for 2021 include the following:

2 x Kindergarten

2 x Year 1

2 x Year 2

3 x 3/4

2 x Year 5

2 x Year 6

My hope is that the school population will continue to increase enough to be granted a 14^th class for 2022, which we would be informed about this time next year. Class teachers are still being decided for 2021.

Community Council Events – important dates

Last night, the school Community Council met and among other things, decided (COVID-19 dependent) on some Term 4 social events. Further details are being worked out, but in the meantime, I encourage all parents to reserve the following dates in their calendars for these Community Council social events:

• Friday, November 20^th, 6pm: Barefoot Bowls Night at the RUC, O’Connor
• Friday, December 11^th, Christmas Carols family picnic night, school oval

COVID-19 has greatly inhibited our ability to gather as a community, and therefore these are opportunities I encourage you all to take, if possible. My thanks to the Community Council for their work.

Cross Country Carnival

Thursday sees our Cross Country carnival take place, on school grounds. Next week is forecast to be much warmer so it should be a pleasant day for all children and staff. Week 6 also sees our Athletics Carnival take place; again on school grounds. My thanks to Mary de Smet for organising both events.

Kindergarten Information Night

A reminder for parents of children who are commencing Kindergarten in 2021 that we are holding our Kindergarten Information night on Wednesday week 5 (November 11) at 6pm. I am in contact with CE to work out if it will take place in person or via zoom. On Friday the 13^th, we are having an orientation ½ day for our 2021 Kindergarten students.

Finally, a reminder that I am away tomorrow and Friday at Catholic Education system days, important days which sees the principals and senior CE personnel gather for meetings and to discuss the system priorities for 2021. In my absence the school will be very capably led by Sean Rutledge.

Have a wonderful week with your students.

Cameron Johns

Principal

Sunday Gospel: All Saints Sunday

Saints are sometimes regarded as ‘Catholic superheroes’. Stories of miraculous and remarkable deeds abound, though more in the vein of conversions and cures than speeding bullets and tall buildings. But to get caught up on the Saints of the stained glass windows is to overlook the vast majority of saints. You see, a saint is anybody whose soul is in heaven. The Church celebrates a certain number of Saints whose lives provide a glimpse of God for the rest of the Church. But there are many, many more saints whose glimpse of God was only ever experienced by their family, friends and those with whom they worked. The feast of ALL Saints is an opportunity to remember and reflect on the lives of those saints who’ve been known and loved by just a few and whose sphere of influence was such that they will never be recognised as Saints by the universal Church.

Today’s gospel, the Beatitudes, from the Sermon on the Mount describes perfectly those ‘lower case s’ saints we celebrate in this feast day. The Beatitudes are sometimes referred to in parallel with the Ten Commandments. However, the Beatitudes are not ‘rules’ or ‘instructions’ for life as the Commandments are. They are more in line with a strategy that today we would call ‘positive reinforcement’. They celebrate those who respond to God’s call through particular attitudes towards life and towards others. Jesus presents them to the disciples and the crowd as images to inspire imitation. They’re not hard and fast rules for life, but attitudes for life; the Be-Attitudes, so to speak. Those who live with these attitudes in this life are to be celebrated – ‘Happy are you’ – for they will be saints. They will be welcomed into communion with God in heaven.

 (Gospel Reflection by Greg Sunter)

Grandparents' Day

Thank you to all of the parents and grandparents who submitted a photograph for Grandparents Day last week. It was so lovely to see the many photos of Grandparents within our community, we are so blessed. We will be sharing the video on our Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/STPPGARRAN/videos/1016186872181158

Sacrament of First Eucharist

Thank you to all of the parents who have enrolled their child in the First Eucharist Sacramental Program. For anyone who still needs to register their child, please see below.

To enrol online:

Access or download the Qkr! app. 

Tap on ‘North Woden Transfiguration Parish’

Tap Sacrament of First Eucharist (second option)

Complete the form and make your online payment. ($40).

Home groups are also being established now, please use the link below to place yourself and your child into a Home group:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1x-B_Dgkud5IlolbLpeGkLKIf7vdBNhXGp-DejSBA8Bw/edit?usp=sharing

Mass Dates and Times can now be selected using the link below. Due to restrictions, only 4 children will be able to register for each Mass. Please remember to also list the number of family members/guests that will be attending (Maximum of 10).

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/146FLEi9zYXFb7-ORSpIEnyadSPXt4E8kAxxmC_2ORTM/edit?usp=sharing

Children’s Liturgy

Children’s Liturgy runs on the 2^nd and 4^th Sunday of each month during term time. Below is a timetable with the dates for Term 4. Children’s liturgy occurs during the 9:30am Sunday Mass at Holy Trinity, Curtin. Last Sunday we had a wonderful turn out, 24 children enjoyed spending time with our Youth Ministers, Grace and Maddie, during Mass and completing a craft activity together before returning to the church.

Youth Group is on this Weekend

Youth group will be held this Sunday the 1^st of November, 4-5:30pm before Mass at the Parish Centre at Curtin.

The theme is ‘Learning to love others as your neighbour’, and everyone is encouraged to dress with a Disney theme. Our Youth Ministers Grace and Maddie will run Youth Group, and all children in Years 5 and 6 are welcome to attend.

God bless,

Stephanie Burns

Religious Education Coordinator

Awards will be presented to the students on Friday of week 4.

Principal's award: Alex S, 5/6M

Learning Support Awards: Khaled A, 2M; Lucy D, 3/4B

What is Youth Ministry? Youth Ministry is an engaging way for young people to come together and share the word of the Lord with other young people.

God bless 

Saints Peter and Paul Cross Country Carnival new date

Thursday 5^th November (Week 4)

Let’s cross our fingers that the weather is fine next Thursday… although at this stage it’s looking like the only day they are predicting rain next week. 
As previously mentioned, we are encouraging all students to wear their house colour shirt with their sport uniform on the day. I will be meeting any interested students up on the oval next Monday and Tuesday (2^nd and 3^rd November) at 8.40am for a bit of a practise run. It won’t be the full course, but something is always better than nothing! The rough distances for each age group are included below.

5, 6 and 7 years (1 shorter lap)

8 years 1000m (1 big lap)

9 and 10 years 1500m/200m (2 big laps)

11 and 12 years 3000m (3 laps)

Unfortunately due to current restrictions in place we will be unable to have any parents in attendance.

Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions about our cross country carnival. mary.desmet@cg.catholic.edu.au

K-2 Gymnastics Clinics Wednesdays

All Kindergarten, Year One and Year Two students are having a great time at the gymnastics clinics. They are practising a variety of fundamental movement skills, including balancing and locomotion. These clinics will be running each Wednesday until December 9^th (Week 9.)

Years 3-6 Golf Clinics Tuesdays

All students in Years 3-6 will be participating in some golf clinics run by the director of golf instruction at the Royal Canberra Golf Club. These clinics will begin next Tuesday 3^rd November (Week 4) and will continue each Tuesday until 8^th December (Week 9). We are able to provide these sessions to the students as a result of Sporting Schools funding that we received.

Athletics Carnival save the date Friday 20^th November (Week 6)

We are going to have a day of athletics fun at school on this day. Please watch this space in the coming weeks for more information about this event.

 Families can make contactless payment via Qkr!

 Purchase over-the-counter sale items (snacks & treats) for your child/children in a lunch order via Qkr!

or

you can purchase a “daily counter sales voucher” via Qkr! for your child/children to go to the canteen to collect something at lunchtime.

Fruit incentive ticket WINNER for last week was Blake G, 5/6M.  Congratulations Blake, you have won a $2.00 voucher, to spend at the canteen. Please see Mrs R at the canteen to collect your voucher.

Canten roster - Week 4, Term 4

Time	Wednesday	Thursday	friday
9-11 am	Nick I	Cate M	Sarah C

FRIDAY ONLY

 To celebrate 

WORLD TEACHERS' DAY

 and all the wonderful things they do…

  Have a lunch order on Friday 30th October and receive a special treat in your lunch order!
                  
DON’T MISS OUT!

Special Lunch Day

Thursday 5 November

Cross Country

 The school will be holding our next special lunch day on THURSDAY 5 NOVEMBER.

Children will be able to order cocktail frankfurts, drink and a treat for $6.00.

 Orders available on Qkr! NOW

 Download the app on your mobile phone to place your order.

 ORDERS CLOSE 9AM THIS FRIDAY 30 OCTOBER!

Vegetarian option is available.

 No counter sales or other lunch orders will be available on that day.

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.

 You can place an order via Qkr! Order on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday and the item/s will be delivered to your child’s classroom. Orders need to be placed before 8.45am.

Please see SZapp for the Summer 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 its’ hours and I will do my best to attend your needs.

The uniform shop is limited with space, so as a guide, clothes should only be donated if washed and in perfect resalable order.

The uniform shop is asking for NO MORE donations of white sports tops please.

Please give any used second-hand uniform to Mrs R in the canteen, Thank you.

 Lauretta Raccosta

Uniform Shop

Lauretta.raccosta@cg.catholic.edu.au

SPINACH FILO TRIANGLES

Ingredients

Bunch spinach, washed & chopped

1 apple, grated

500 g ricotta cheese

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 lemon, zested

Pinch salt & pepper

8 sheets filo pastry

1/4 cup olive oil

Method

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

Bring a saucepan of salted water to the boil, add spinach and cook for 30 seconds, then drain, run under cold water and drain again.

Squeeze all the moisture from both the spinach and grated apple using paper towel and then place in a bowl with the ricotta, egg and lemon rind. Mix well and season with salt and pepper.

Place 1 sheet of filo pastry on a clean chopping board and cover remaining filo with damp towel to prevent it from drying out. 

Cut sheet in three strips and brush with oil. Place a tablespoon of mix in the corner and fold diagonally (making a triangle), place on prepared tray.

Continue with remaining filo strips then repeat with other sheets.

Brush triangles with oil and bake for 20 minutes, until golden.

This easy recipe is on page 144 of our 50th Anniversary Cookbook.

The cookbook, full of recipes from either Mrs Robyn Moore (fab cooking teacher) or donated by our school community, can be purchased for only $20 via Qkr! or eftpos (No cash please). Books can be collected from the front office. 

Build a blanket fort!

The second last School Council meeting was held this week and the council is finalising plans to have a “biggish” end to the year. Look out for details of a replacement event for trivia night (bare foot bowls at the RUC) in Week 6 and details of our next effort at school Christmas carols on Friday 11 December (Week 9). There may also be a surprise guest (or two) at the carols.

On a serious note the School Council will be farewelling 3 members at the end of the year. If you wish to join the Council for 2021 or would like to know more about what it does please email me (thomasmmulligan@gmail.com).

Regards,

Thomas Mulligan