Principal's Message

Holy God, you see me and you hear me. Through my mask, you see if I smile or if I scowl. Through my mask, you hear me if I whisper a brief prayer or mutter a muffled curse. My friends don’t see or hear or know; nor do my family; nor my colleagues. But you do.Lord keep me and my family close to you.  Keep us safe.  

Covid 19 - News

Thank you for your support over the past few weeks as we have transitioned to remote learning as part of the ACT’s health response to COVID-19.

Following advice from the ACT Government and Chief Health Officer, remote learning will continue for all Catholic Education primary school students during the first four weeks of Term 4 which begins on Tuesday 5 October.  This would mean a face to face return on the 1st November.

Catholic Education will be working over the school holidays to develop further plans for a phased return to on-campus learning in Term 4 when it is safe to do so. Any plans will of course be completely subject to health advice, including in relation to case numbers and vaccination rates.

While I am sure this news will be disappointing to some, the Chief Health Officer has made this decision based on what we know about the COVID-19 outbreak in our community. The health and safety of students, staff and their families, is our number one priority.

Please remember the most important thing you can do is support your child’s well-being. Keep in mind that children can express their feelings in many ways. I encourage you to speak openly with your children about how they are feeling.

If your child requires extra help and assistance, counselling is available through Catholic Care. To access the service, a booking request may be made by contacting (02) 6162 6100.

You can keep up to date with the latest health information and advice on the ACT’s COVID-19 website www.covid19.act.gov.au

I hope your family is able to spend some time together relaxing during the upcoming school holidays.

Postponements and Cancellations

It is with a heavy heart that the school will cancel this year's planned Fete.  After seeking advice from CE and following the current Health guidelines it seems inevitable that our wonderful Fete will need to wait until next year.

School Sports ACT has also cancelled all Primary Athletics carnivals.

We will continue to assess events for next term but there is every chance that events planned in October and November will be postponed until further notice.

Well-being Days - Magic Shows

The school's Well-Being days have been received extremely well by parents, students and staff.  It will be our plan to continue these days during Term 4's Remote Learning Program.  As a boost for all, we are planning on holding some online Magic Shows for our students.  Links will be sent out next term, so make sure that your child does not miss out on the fun.

Welcome back Mrs De Rosa

Next term we will welcome back Nina who will be returning in her role as Assistant Principal/Learning Support at SJV four days a week, Mon-Thurs. She has had an amazing time with her son on maternity leave and is excited to return to SJV from Term 4 onward.

The accompanying exciting news is that CE have decided to offer extra support to our school by continuing Mrs Jo Reed to work as acting AP on the Friday and Special Projects Officer through the other weekdays.  This AP/Special Projects role will have a focus on Curriculum and Pedagogy at our school.

The extra FTE support in these areas from CE is very much welcomed to help us move forward and prepare for 2022.

For something a little bit different - instead of tuck shop lunch for school, we have some quick and easy dinner recipes for you to try. The children can still help cook and clean up - a great life skill that my 22 year old son is learning through lockdown!!

Here are a few easy recipes that you can make. 

Don't forget we would love to share your recipes in the newsletter send them into office.sjv@cg.catholic.edu.au. Take a photo and we will add them to the next newsletter. 

Thanks to Mrs Malpas and Mrs Matchett for their contributions this week. The Malpas family are all about healthy greens !! and Mrs Matchett your potato bake is dinner tonight xo

Green Pillows/Green Worms        

 

Ingredients:

Store purchased bottle of pesto

Spaghetti or ravioli

Method:

Cook the spaghetti or ravioli in a saucepan on the stove once cooked allow to drain

Keep a little bit of the water to add to the pesto

Once the pesto is heated through, add the left over water to the pesto

A quick and easy dinner to cook on a Friday night.

Spinach Lasagne

Ingredients:

Butter

Oil

2 tbs flour

1 chicken stock cube

2 cups milk

2 cups of shredded cheese + 1 cup for top cheese layerpinach 

1 onion diced

3 garlic cloves finely chopped    

2 bags of frozen spinach (Aldi)

1 x large Ricotta (Aldi)

Lasagne sheets

                           

Method:     

• In a pan with oil, cook off diced onion and garlic
• Using the frozen spinach (from Aldi x 2 packs), wilt down in the pan along with the onion and garlic.

Meanwhile make the white sauce.

• Melt a couple of table spoons of butter in a saucepan
• Add a tablespoon or 2 of flour and mix
• Add milk (quantity dependent on how much you want to make) to the mix and continue stirring
• Add a chicken stock cube and a cup (or 2) of shredded cheese
• Stir until  thickened.

Remove spinach from the heat and add the Ricotta cheese (I like to use the big one from Aldi)

Layer ingredients just like you would with a traditional lasagne.

 Top with cheese and bake until cooked through and golden on top on 180 degrees C

     

Mrs Matchett has given us her version of a classic potato bake.

Cheese and Bacon Potato Bake

Ingredients:

1.5kg potatoes

600ml thickened cream

600ml milk

6 slices of short cut bacon

2 cups grated cheese

Method:

1. Peel and slice the potatoes.
2. Put the milk and cream into a large pot with the sliced potatoes.
3. Bring the milk to a boil then simmer for 15-20 minutes.
4. While the potatoes are cooking, fry the bacon in a frying pan. Chop into small pieces once cooked.
5. Pour the mixture into a large baking dish/roasting pan.
6. Sprinkle the cheese and cooked bacon on the top.
7. Cook in preheated oven (200 degrees) for 30-40 minutes.

Mrs Simpson is cooking this tonight, I can't wait to try it!!! My family are excited to try this. 

A huge shout out and thank you to Domino's Weston for their very thoughtful  donation of Pizza for our Staff during Remote Learning! The pizzas were awesome and greatly appreciated. Thank you very much. 

Remote Learning  Classroom

Year 1 and Year 2 have been looking at the Paralympics in Health

Year 3/4CA were creating pictures using chalk art and showing the class what they would like to do in the holidays.

Year 6 Live Maths Lesson 

 

What's coming up and when: