Dear Parents

Welcome to Week 6.  Recently we have been faced with challenges and opportunities as a community.  This leads me to remember a quote from St Augustine - 

Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you. 

Community Meeting - Catholic Education in Weston Creek/Molongolo

I would like to thank all our parents who were able to attend last night's community meeting.  Many things were discussed but I feel that many people thought that they were not 'heard' during the process.  I feel that there is an opportunity here to listen to the needs of the SJV community to see what we want for our school.  I also believe that it is better to present solutions to CE rather than problems.  This then puts our community on the front foot as how we would like see our school develop over the next five years.  As such, I will be asking for a representative from each year level and a member of staff to form a consultative group headed by our SCC Chairperson, Rebecca McMahon, Fr Michael and myself.

Corona Virus/ Covid 19 Update

Tomorrow I will send out a direction from CE as how our school community will deal with all aspects of Covid 19.  These directions will follow recommendations from the department of health and will be set for the safety of our whole community.

Working With Vulnerable People Card

A reminder that all parents who work or volunteer within the school must have a WWVP card on them at all times.  It is well within the right of the ACT Government to complete spot checks within our school to see if we are adhering to the legislation regarding school visitors.  If you do not have a card, these can be applied for through Access Canberra.  

With Sharee Thomas 

SACRAMENTS

A reminder to the parents of children in Years 3 and 4 who wish for their children to receive the Sacraments of Reconciliation or Eucharist that the Commitment Masses are this weekend (5pm Saturday or Sunday at St Jude's and 9am Sunday at SJV). Children and a parent/adult MUST attend one of these masses as you will need to commit to the preparation of the Sacrament in front of the Parish community as well as hand in your commitment cards. I will send a new copy of these commitment and prayer cards home with the children today in case you have misplaced yours.

The formation evenings begin next Thursday, the 19th March from 6:30 - 7:30pm at the SJV Church. These evenings, 3 in total, are also compulsory. 

Thank you to those parents who have already registered on the QkR! app for the Sacraments. This will need to be finalised by Thursday the 19th.

FEAST OF THE ANNUNCIATION

Next Wednesday we will be celebrating our Parish's feast day with Mass at 10am. St Jude's will be joining us for the combined celebration and we would love to see lots of our families there to help celebrate the first Feast Day of our newly named Parish. 

PROJECT COMPASSION

The annual Caritas Australia Project Compassion Appeal is now on. Donations to Project Compassion allow Caritas Australia, the Catholic Agency for International Aid and Development, to work with local communities around the world to alleviate poverty, hunger, oppression and injustice.

Each Classroom at SJV has a Project Compassion box for their donations or if you prefer, you can donate online via the website https://lent.caritas.org.au/donate 

Have a great week!

Thank you Mrs Malpas, Mrs MacKenzie and Miss Brewer for all their work in planning the 2020 SJV Swimming Carnival.  We look forward to this great event on 16th March 2020.

This week the ELC children have been enjoying the welcoming weather.  The Turtle, Stingray and Lobster children have experienced their first adventure to a local park.  Our local parks play an important role in our preschool programs throughout the year.  Each park session provides the children with a different experience.  Some children gravitate to to the equipment, others engage in social interactions, some explore or invent, and others relax. Nature play can benefit the whole family.  If you are interested in embedding it into your family and making memories outside, Canberra Nature Play website is a good place to start https://www.natureplaycbr.org.au/

Thanks to 2019 ELC fundraising events, the Preschool purchased large wooden blocks, which arrived this week.  We look forward to seeing you at the St Jude’s Fete on Saturday!

Sign In- When signing your child in please ensure that you are only signing them in for the current session.  If you child is attending Before School Care, only sign them in to Before School Care.  Our staff sign them out of Before School Care and into their Preschool class. https://www.cleanupaustraliaday.org.au/

SJV Disco – ELC Families are invited to the St John Vianney’s Disco on Friday 13 March from 5:30pm to 7pm.  See the ELC for more information.

Community Library call out- If anyone has a structure that would be suitable as a Community Library that you would donate, please let ELC office know.  We have the perfect reading chair near the front gate and hope to add a mini community library.

SJV Playgroup – St John Vianney’s hosts a playgroup for children aged 0-5 every second Wednesday from 9:30am to 11am.  The last playgroup session for this term is on 1 April and the theme is Easter.

What's coming up and when:

SJV Tuckshop is open Wednesday & Friday.  Orders can be made online via Qkr!  A copy of the Menu and Qkr! instructions can be found on the Canteen Waramuchies Webpage.

Please remember to bring your WWVP card with you.

Tuckshop Volunteers Needed