Dear Parents and Carers

Catalyst

I have written about Catalyst in other newsletters, dating from the second half of last year. Catalyst is system-wide initiative that is based on the science of learning. All schools have the opportunity to undertake some PL in this area of teaching and learning. This Friday, we welcome to the school Toni Hatten-Roberts, who will work with some of the staff around what is called High Impact Teaching Strategies. Toni will coach the Leadership Team, and some other staff, in some of these practices. In time, these practices will be adopted by the whole school. This initiative from CE highlights and celebrates that education is a dynamic profession, in that ‘best practice’ is something that is constantly evolving and being refined.

Book Fair

This week, we held our annual Book Fair in the library. It has been a great success and highlights the great love of books and of reading that exists amongst our students. I would like to thank Amanda Basedow for her support of the book fair, and for her coordination of the event. My thanks too to all staff for their support of the fair, and for their willingness to volunteer some time to assist with it.

National Simultaneous Story Time

Yesterday at 11 am we participated in the annual National Simultaneous Story Time event, with an astronaut reading 'Give me some space!' from the International Space Station (the event was pre-recorded). All schools across Australia who were participating in the event heard the story at the same time. It is a celebration of reading and the power of books, and coincides nicely with our Book Fair. My thanks again to Amanda Basedow for coordinating our involvement in National Simultaneous Story Time.

Christian Meditation   

On Tuesday, Helen Bramanathan visited Sts Peter and Paul. Helen works part-time for both the Catholic Education Office and St Thomas More’s Primary School, and teaches Christian Meditation to students in our Catholic schools. Helen visited all of our classrooms and worked with our students and teachers. Helen was struck by how receptive our students were, and calm, and how easy they were to work with. In turn, the students benefited a great deal from Helen’s gentle wisdom and guidance. My thanks to Fron Garrett-Rumba for coordinating Helen’s visit.

Siloam

Next week, I am away on Wednesday afternoon and all day Thursday, at Siloam, a mini-retreat for principals that takes place each term. We are gathering in small groups at Galong Monastery, for two days. Galong is approximately 1.5 hours from Canberra. It will be the first time we have gathered since Term 4 2019, due to Covid restrictions which were in place last year. Sean Rutledge will very capably lead the school in my absence.

Disco

A reminder that our school disco is being held next Friday (end of week 6), for all ages (K-2 and then 3 – 6). It will be a great night for the children and much fun. I would like to thank the Community Council for their organisation of the night and for their great support of the students and the school.

Have a wonderful week with your families.

Best wishes

Cameron Johns

Principal

Gospel Reflection- Pentecost

Mk 16:15-20

The feast of Pentecost celebrates the power of the Holy Spirit coming upon the disciples and energising them to set about their mission of continuing the ministry of Jesus. The gospel reading is one of the post-resurrection appearances by Jesus when He breathed the Holy Spirit upon the disciples. The actual events of that first Pentecost are recorded in the book of Acts and are recalled in this week’s first reading. The use of this post-resurrection gospel account is a reminder that Jesus had already imbued the disciples with the Spirit but, as so often throughout His ministry, they were a bit slow to catch on to the significance of what He had done. It seems that they needed a more tangible experience to jolt them into action and Acts records the very physical experience of the Spirit entering their midst as a roaring wind before settling upon them as tongues of flame. Jesus had breathed the Spirit upon them but it took the roaring wind to make a real impression on the disciples. There are frequent references in the gospels to Jesus being ‘filled with the Spirit’. It is this Spirit with which He was filled that he breathed upon His disciples; it is that same Spirit that we receive sacramentally in Confirmation.

Adapted from Greg Sunter

Congratulations

Congratulations to Jeremy Daniel, Jack Mulligan and Georgia Hardy who made their First Reconciliation on Saturday. May they know God’s healing grace.

Confirmation

Preparation for the Sacrament of Confirmation is underway and our Year 6 students are very excited. Books have been distributed to group leaders for collection at home group sessions. Please email me (fran.garrett@cg.catholic.edu.au) if you need any help registering or joining a home group. Below is a list of the key dates relating to the Sacrament.

Friday 8^th May 2021

Return of enrolment form, fees and host nominations.

Tuesday, 4^th May, 2021

5.30pm: A Zoom Information Night for Family Group Hosts

6:00pm A Zoom Introductory Night for all Parents of students making their Confirmation
https://cgcatholic.zoom.us/j/93099164158?pwd=RFljZUdYM3g3ekt6OFV5WFVGNjZkUT09
 Password: 534821

Thursday 27^th May, at 5:00pm

Stole making night @ Holy Trinity May-June (various dates) Four family group meetings to be held before the children’s retreat

Saturday 5^th 6:00pm

Sunday 6^th June 9:30am

Candidate Presentation Mass at Holy Trinity

Thursday June 3rd

Children’s Retreat Day @  Holy Trinity  9:00 am -2:15pm

Tuesday 15^th June

Wednesday 16^th June

Sacrament of Confirmation at 6:00pm at Holy Trinity Church 

Christian Meditation

Helen Bramanathan from Catholic Education came to visit this week and demonstrated Christian Meditation in classrooms with our students. Christian Meditation is a beautiful form of prayer where we allow the stillness of God to be present within us. It is a form of prayer that is highly appreciated by many in this busy day and age. If you are interested in praying through Christian Meditation with your family at home, please email me.  

https://www.prayingwithchildren.org/p3nc05td.html

 23/05/2021  Pentecost Sunday

  Praying with Children is an online resource that is designed for families with children to use at home. It includes an extract from the Sunday gospel, along with some reflection questions, family activities and a short video to watch.

Blessings,

Fron Garrett

Religious Education Coordinator (Acting)

DATES TO REMEMBER

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

to those students celebrating their birthday this week.

Isabella T

Lachlan A

Emma I

Roxie M

Principal's Awards: Zoe 3/4M

Canteen Awards: William B, KM; Alexa Y, 1M; Alexis V, 1W; Isabella M, 5M

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):

Eleanor M, 2M; Charlie G, 2M; William R, 3/4M; Aria N, 3/4B

We are keenly anticipating our Term Two disco that will be held on Friday, May 28 Week 6. Our DJ, Jungle Jerry, has been busy collating playlists of classics which promise a little something for everyone. With talent like this in store, our disco promises to be a memorable night.  If you would like to contribute songs to the playlist, please fill out this Google form https://forms.gle/GjxsxEJVYVFGywpM9

Tickets are available on Qkr! A $5 ticket will include Sausage, Drink & Treat. Students will get a token at the door to receive their Food and Drink.

Session times will be the same as previous years in the Hall:

6.30 – 7.15 pm   Kinder, 1, 2

7.30 – 8.30 pm Years 3-6

We are having a marvellous Book Fair! So many books (and posters and stationery) flying off the shelves. It's the last day tomorrow, don't miss out!

In other news, we all thoroughly enjoyed today's National Simultaneous Story Time with the reading of 'Give me some space' from the International Space Station.

South/Weston Region Cross Country Carnival Wednesday 2^nd June
at Stromlo Forest Park, Opperman Avenue, Stromlo.

Thank you for returning your child’s permission notes for this carnival and for paying $10 via Qkr. Fingers crossed that the weather is a little nicer than it is today!

Saints Peter and Paul Athletics Carnival save the date

Sts Peter and Paul’s Athletics Carnival will be held on Friday 4^th June, 2021 (Term Two, Week 7) at Woden Park Athletics Track, Cnr Yamba Drive and Kitchener Street, Phillip ACT.

All students will be leaving school at 9:10am and travelling by foot to Woden Park Athletics Track. Students in Kindergarten and Year 1 will be returning to school at 11:30am. All other students will return to school at 2:30pm. (Please note that these are approximate times.) As this is considered a local area excursion, permission notes are not required for children to participate.

Please find information below in relation to the different track and field events that your child/ren will be participating in on the day. A rough program of events will be uploaded to the newsletter when it has been finalised J

Discus and High Jump will not be run on the day. If you would like your child to compete in these events at the South Weston Region Athletics Carnival, please provide their distances/heights from a certified discus or high jump coach or official (e.g. a Little Athletics Centre representative.

Due to current COVID restrictions, we kindly ask all parents attending the carnival in any capacity to use the Saints Peter and Paul Check in Canberra App QR code on the day, which will be located near the covered seating area (sign in and out sheets will also be found here if you do not have a smartphone) and observe the 1.5m social distancing measures currently in place.

On the day, children may wear a house colour t-shirt instead of their school sport shirt if they would like. If you’re not sure what your child’s house colour is, please ask their teacher. The houses and colours they represent are; Red – Cooyal, Yellow – Bangalong, Green – Iraga and Blue – Talara.

Children will need to apply sunscreen before coming to school and will also need to bring their hat, any food that they would like to eat and school bag with them to Woden Park Athletics Track. If your child/ren would like to make posters and bring mascots to support their house, they are most welcome. However, we kindly ask that no crepe paper, streamers or glitter be used when creating these.

Mrs Raccosta will be offering a special lunch on this day, so watch out for more information in relation to this. If you would like your child to have this special lunch, please order via QKR. Unfortunately, there will be no over the counter canteen sales on the day.

We would appreciate the help of parents who are able to act as timekeepers, marshals and long jump, shot put and novelties assistants. If you are able to help out, please complete the Parent Assistance section in Compass no later than Tuesday 1^st June. This will become live ASAP. Thank you for your assistance with this. All parent volunteers will be meeting at Woden Park Athletics Track, at approximately 9am.

Holding this carnival enables us to select students to represent our school at the South/Weston Region Athletics Carnival on Wednesday 18^th August. Students who are turning 8 and over this year may be considered for representative selection. Information in relation to parents/spectators attending the regional carnival will be shared with you when it becomes available to us.

We’re looking forward to an amazing day of fun together J

School Sport ACT Calendar

If you ever have any questions about anything related to Sport, please don’t hesitate to get in touch mary.desmet@cg.catholic.edu.au Hopefully I’ll be able to help you out!

CANTEEN IS CASHLESS

 Families can make contactless payments 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.

Thank you helpers; your assistance is very much appreciated!

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

Thank you.

Are you able to help out in the canteen?

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

Term 2 canteen roster available now

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

Please ensure you have your WWVP card.

https://stpandp.schoolzineplus.com/CanteenRosterTerm2

THE CANTEEN WILL BE CHANGING TO WOODEN CUTLERY!

We can use up our plastic cutlery until the ban.

 Alternatively, children can bring their own cutlery from home. 

 Please select on Qkr! If you would like the canteen to provide cutlery in your child/ren’s lunch order.

Lauretta Raccosta,

Canteen

Lauretta.Raccosta@cg.catholic.au

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 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 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.

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

Kitchen Garden, Cooking and the Curriculum

This week the garden club would like to say a big thankyou to Mr Croker (Grandfather of Evie and Charlie Croker) for the fabulous seedlings he donated. We now have broccoli, beans and spinach to add to our garden. The garden club will enjoy looking after them and eventually using them in our kitchen to create tasty morsels.

This week, in the kitchen and classroom, Kinder and Year 1 enjoyed making cheese and pumpkin muffins using our very own produce. The children loved them and enjoyed devouring them while sitting on our Indigenous cushions.

During the lessons the children learnt about Grow foods (Meat and alternatives and Dairy Food Groups) and what heat does to something – for example, what happens when we put cheese in the microwave and then leave it in the fridge. Or, in the case of pumpkin and cheese muffins - what happens to the cheese? Health and Science in the kitchen! Well done Kinder and Year 1. 

If you have any question about what we are doing in the classroom, kitchen and or garden email Mrs Birch Katherine.birch@cg.catholic.edu.au.

The Garden Club

VEGETABLE CURRY

Ingredients

1 Tbsp oil

1 onion diced

2 Tbsn mild curry paste

400 g can tomatoes

2 potatoes, peeled and cubed

2 carrots, peeled and chopped

15 green beans, tailed and chopped

200 ml water

1 Tbsp chopped coriander leaves

150 g baby spinach leaves, rinsed

Method

Heat oil in a saucepan.

Add the curry paste and stir for a further 2 minutes.

Add tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, beans and 200ml water.

Bring to the boil then simmer for ten minutes.

Remove from the heat and season with salt and pepper if needed.

Stir through spinach and coriander leaves and serve hot with rice or crusty bread.

Saints Peter and Paul Cross Country Carnival

Well done to all students who participated in our Cross Country Carnival on Friday 23^rd April. A special congratulations goes to the following students who are our age champions for 2021.

Juniors: Anna S and Hamish S
11 Years: Ava T and Noah G
Seniors: Josie A and Ben S

We will hand out the cross country age champion shields to the above students and ribbons to all students who came 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd in their respective 8-12 years races on Monday 10^th May (Week 4) at our morning assembly.

Congratulations also goes to Bangalong, who had the most house points on the day.

Thank you so much to all of the parents that came and helped out on the day. We would not have been able to do it without you. It was so nice to be able to welcome parents and spectators back to our carnival. It was great to see you there cheering on your children as they made their way around the track.

If you think your child may have qualified for the South/Weston Region Cross Country Carnival, please have a look at the information below.

South/Weston Region Cross Country Carnival Wednesday 2^nd June 
at Stromlo Forest Park, Opperman Avenue, Stromlo.

If your child has been selected to represent our school at the regional carnival, they will receive a note about this shortly. Please be aware that there will be a quick turnaround for bringing these notes back to school, as nominations need to be submitted to the convening school for organisational purposes. If your child would like to participate they will need to have brought their note back to me no later than Monday 17^th May. They will also have needed to pay $10 via Qkr. Thank you so much for your assistance with this.

Saints Peter and Paul Athletics Carnival save the date

Our school athletics carnival will be held on Friday 4^th June (Week 7) at Woden Park. Please watch out for more information in relation to this coming on SZapp (located in the ‘Feed’ section) in the coming weeks.

School Sport ACT Calendar

If you ever have any questions about anything related to Sport, please don’t hesitate to get in touch mary.desmet@cg.catholic.edu.au Hopefully I’ll be able to help you out!