Last Saturday our incredibly dedicated staff from our STA Primary, ELC and OOSCA spent their day attending the Calming Today's Anxious Kids conference with Maggie Dent, child psychiatrist and educator Dr Kaylene Henderson and Allison Davies, who specialises in music and the brain and brings a neurodivergent lens to the presentation. This professional learning provided us all with such valuable resources and information to support our students at St Anthony’s.

Parent TV is a useful tool you might find helpful to use with your own families.

Evidently, the first two weeks of Lent encourage us to reflect upon the mystery of Jesus.

The testing of Jesus (Matthew 4) manifests his humanity.

Our good friend Brendan Byrne, SJ, says Jesus is being invited to the ‘false self,’ and what is true for Jesus is applicable to us:

We are tempted to identify with what we do.

We are tempted to identify with what people think of us.

We are tempted to identify with possessions – wealth, thoughts or ambitions.

The transfiguration of Jesus (Matthew 17) manifests his divinity:

There in their presence Jesus was transfigured. His face shone like the sun and his clothes became as white as the light.

Eyes are opened – Jesus reveals his glory. Ears are opened – the Father speaks with clarity:

This is my Son, the Beloved; he enjoys my favour. Listen to him.

Our good friend Austin Cooper, OMI, sees in the transfiguration of Jesus the essence of Christian spirituality:

Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain where they could be alone.

We let ourselves ‘be taken.’

We put aside the false self in favour of the true self.

Amen.

TPercy 2023

This afternoon I will travel to meet with Principals across our Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn to attend a conference until Friday with our Archbishop Christopher Prowse, Director Ross Fox and keynote speaker Fr Timothy Radcliffe. I am grateful to our outstanding leadership team and staff who will continue doing their wonderful work in my absence.

On Wednesday our super Year 6 students are attending their camp in Berry. My sincere thanks to our fantastic Year 6 teaching team who will accompany and support our students over the three days.

My thanks to our STA staff who participated in First Aid and CPR training at school last Tuesday evening. I appreciate the commitment and dedication our staff continue to display to ensure the safety and well-being of our students and our STA community.

A huge thanks to Caroline in our School Clothing pool for her wonderful organisation and availability to open up the clothing pool each fortnight, it has been greatly received and appreciated by our school community. The clothing pool is open from 9.00-11.00am this Saturday.

Thank you to Megan Doherty and our wonderful fete committee for their continued coordination of resources, ideas and organisation of our school fete. We are all so excited and grateful to you for everything you are doing to make our fete happen. Details of how you can help and contribute to our upcoming fete is included in this week’s newsletter. Thank you.

Parent Teacher Meetings

Week 9 will be an opportunity for parents/carers to meet with their classroom teacher to touch base on where their child is at and any information that the parent/carer may wish to share about their child to support their learning and development at school.

These meetings are a brief 10 minutes and are not planned to be long reporting interviews. Reporting interviews have been scheduled for Term 2 and Term 4.

Many families have already met with their classroom teacher and may not need to meet again in Week 9. These meetings are optional. Please keep an eye out for booking details in the coming weeks. These can be made online or in person via Compass. 

Student absences

Catholic Education Canberra-Goulburn policy requires parents and carers to provide an explanation to the school for any absence, ideally on or before the day of absence, and no more than five school days after the absence occurs.

As a school, we are required to record student absences and the reasons for any absences. Parents and carers can now submit student absences easily through the Compass app. Teachers have the ability to send reminder notifications via Compass, which we will send out between 1-2 weeks of not receiving correspondence of a student absence. Please action these notifications if you receive them.

Information on how to submit absentee notes can be viewed below. As always, if you have a Compass questions, please contact the school to speak with Mr Garreth Wigg, who will be happy to assist you.

Caritas Australia's Project Compassion

During Lent, we support Project Compassion. Donation boxes will be distributed to classes prior to Wednesday. Please encourage your children to bring in donations to support this cause. Donations can also be made via the QKR! app.

Caritas t-shirts

This year, to support Caritas Australia’s Project Compassion, we are again offering all children, staff and family members, the opportunity to purchase a St Anthony’s ‘Come, Holy Spirit’ t-shirt. Each t-shirt costs $25 with a percentage of the cost going to Caritas Australia’s Project Compassion. T-shirt sizes range from children's 4-14 through to adult's XXL.

Orders are to be placed via the QKR! app and close on March 15 at 4:00pm

Confirmation

An email has been sent to all families regarding The Sacrament of Confirmation. If there are any questions or queries, please contact Mr McGrath.

Upcoming Hall renovation

We are incredibly excited to share that plans have begun and meetings are happening around the commencement of our school hall renovation. This is such a wonderful and much-needed project that I look forward to sharing with you the details of when the construction will commence.

Afternoon pick-up arrangements.

A reminder to students catching the bus in the afternoons. Students catching the school bus are to wait outside the drive through area. If families have made their own arrangements for pick up areas or students catching buses from other areas, please know there is no supervision of students outside school grounds.

Week 7- Family week

Next week is family week and traditionally a week free from homework. We hope this week provides families with a moment to catch their breath with a little extra time as we head towards the weeks ahead.

Important dates: 

• Wednesday 6 March to Friday 8 March – Year 6 camp to Berry. Bus departs from the front of the school at 6.45am sharp on Wednesday
• Friday 8 March – 4 Padua Prayer Assembly at 12pm in the school hall
• Wednesday 13 March – NAPLAN commences for Year 3 and 5 students
• Friday 15 March – School Disco and Working Bee. 5.30pm-6.30pm ELC - Year 2 & 6.45pm-7.45pm Year 3 - 6
• Monday 18 March – STA swimming carnival
• Saturday 23 March - Enrolment open day 10am to 12 noon and open shed for fete 9-11am

 Have a wonderful week,

Erin 

If you are able to assist with either the disco or working Bee, please register your availability below:

Link to register to help with School Disco + Working Bee

Parents and carers of primary school students are invited to participate in a free 30-minute webinar to help understand eSafety and parental controls.

The webinar will be hosted by the Council of Catholic School Parents (CCSP) in collaboration with the eSafety Commissioner. Please see the attached flyer for details and the link below to register.

https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/3100911298333648471

Dear parents of OOSCA students,

If you are not receiving statements please contact Sarah Waller on 62314022 or Sarah.Waller@cg.catholic.edu.au.

A reminder that OOSCA closes at 6pm, a late fee is charged when you are late to collect your children. We understand that there can be unavoidable circumstances, however bookings may be suspended for repeat offences. Please be mindful that our staff often have other committments to get to after working at OOSCA.

We ask that families make sure that your CCS has the eligibility and enrolment confirmed.

Thank you,

The OOSCA Team