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“Never see a need without doing something about it.” (1871).
Last Thursday we celebrated the feast day of St Mary of the Cross Mackillop. Our 3 Padua class showed each of us how we can be more like Mary and the impact she had on so many people.
Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop is Australia’s first saint and throughout the universal Catholic church is now to be ‘honoured devoutly among all the saints’.[1]
We keep in our prayers and thoughts those in our community who are unwell and suffering serious illness. We pray for members of our school community who have recently lost a loved one or have an anniversary of losing a loved one at this time. May they know the strength and love of those around them.
We thank You Lord, for our dedicated parents and devoted community members, who tirelessly contribute their time, resources, and wisdom to aid our school and shape it into a beacon of enlightenment, virtue, and knowledge.
We are grateful for their love and their sacrifices that nurture and fortify St Anthony’s Primary
May the light of Your love continue to shine through the hearts of these individuals. Grant them peace and fill their lives with Your blessings as they have filled ours.
Amen
How lovely it is to be back at school and amongst our wonderful students, staff and school community. My sincere thanks to Garreth Wigg and our leadership team for stepping up in my absence and for all their extra work.
Bernadette Whitfield will continue in the acting Assistant Principal role as Garreth enjoys some much-deserved long service leave for weeks 5 and 6.
For those with a love of sport, witnessing camaraderie and celebrating the efforts of others all over the world, I am sure you would have enjoyed the past weeks of watching the Olympics. How great it was to see so many athletes representing their country with such pride. As I mentioned in our morning assembly on Monday, I was so thrilled received an email from a parent from another school in Canberra, who shared their experiences of watching our St Anthony’s students play basketball in the Sue Geh Cup recently. I felt that the sentiments from their email, capture some of the core values of what we embrace for all of our students here at St Anthony’s….
Here is a snippet from the email…..
…..to the commendable sportsmanship your basketball players and their coach demonstrated on Tuesday the 6th of August at the Sue Geh Cup.
…our girls learned a valuable lesson through the humility demonstrated by your team, and left the competition with a far-more positive experience
…. I am grateful and respectful of the leadership, camaraderie and great sportsmanship
Congratulations to all our students, including our swimmers, chess champions, basketballers, cross country runners, rostrum speakers and skiers who continue to represent St Anthony’s with pride and live out our values in their day-to-day interactions with others; Be Responsible, Be Respectful, Be a Learner. Well done to each of you, we may see some of you in the years to come, representing Australia at the Olympics!
As we approach the second half of the term, I look forward to witnessing the continuing hard work and success from our students and staff. We have much to celebrate here at St Anthony’s and have wonderful learning and events ahead. Please keep an eye out on Compass for the upcoming details.
Corroboree Family Culture Day
All Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and families are invited to a day of yarning, culture and fun on 20 September 2024. The Corroboree Family Culture Day will provide students and families with an opportunity to develop connection and relationships with each other through games, activities, cultural learning and networking. Please see the flyer in the newsletter. Link: Corroboree Culture Day
Tell them from me survey
As part of our focus on school effectiveness, St Anthony’s will be participating in an online survey for parents and students – Tell Them From Me® (TTFM®). The survey will provide us with valuable feedback on what our parents, carers and students think about school life, how engaged they are with school and the different ways that teachers interact with them. Schools in Australia and around the world have used the Tell Them From Me survey to help them improve.
The link to complete the survey for parents and carers in our community is below:
Within the next two weeks, students in Years 5 and 6 will be given the opportunity and time to participate in this survey during regular school hours. Students who complete the survey will be given a random username and password to access and complete the survey online. Students’ names cannot be linked to their responses which allows it to be completely anonymous. Results will show all student scores combined – it is not possible to single out individual students in the results.
The survey takes approximately 15-20 minutes to complete. The survey measures include such topics as emotional and social well-being, physical health, and behaviours and attitudes linked to student success. The survey also allows students to give their thoughts and feedback in open-ended question responses.
Participation in the survey is entirely voluntary. Your child will not take part if either you or your child do not wish to. If, during the survey, your child is uncomfortable answering any question, he/she should leave it blank and move on to the next one. Your child can stop the survey at any time.
If you do not want your child to take part in the survey, please email the school office before Friday 16 August via Office.StAnthonysWanniassa@cg.catholic.edu.au
Kinder enrolment interviews
We have had an overwhelming response of enrolments across the school, including Kindergarten. How wonderful that our school reputation is being so well received by our surrounding community. So much so, that we now have waitlists across most classes.
In week 7 & 8 I will be conducting enrolment interviews for our Kindergarten 2025 classes. After this process has been finalised, the number of classes across the school will be determined. Further information about 2025 classes will be provided in Term 4.
A reminder, if your child is not returning to St Anthony’s in 2025, please advise our office in writing via email as soon as possible.
Visit from speaker
Last week the Speaker of the House of Representatives the Hon. Milton Dick MP and David Smith MP brought the parliament to St Anthony’s as part of the Parliament in Schools program, which started in 2022 to improve civics education in Australian schools. Our Year 5 and Year 6 students had the opportunity to learn from The Speaker and pose to him some great questions about leadership, civil service and life as a politician. Our students showed great respect towards our guests and asked fantastic questions. The Hon. Milton Dick commented in a Canberra Times article that “it would be safe to say that there is some pretty good examples of good behaviour here at this school in Canberra that I’ll probably be encouraging some members to follow when parliament resumes for the next few two weeks”. This visit, and feedback, another example of the wonderful students we have here at St Anthony’s.
Hall renovation
Catholic Education are currently undergoing to tender process for our Hall renovation.
There has been some slight delay with the start date, and we hopefully look forward to this project commencing over the term 3 holidays and beginning of term 4.
Our wonderful canteen manager Maree and our family helpers have been so accommodating and flexible in preparing for the temporary move of our school canteen to a portable canteen that will set up ready for business during the hall renovation. There will be a slight change to the canteen menu during this time with further information to be shared before the end of this term.
Below are some examples of hall transformation:
HATS
A reminder that we are now out of “ J months” and hats are to be worn when outside. Hats can be purchased from our clothing shop or front office for $15.00
Fathers Day Breakfast & Liturgy
On Friday, Week 6 (August 30th), we will be celebrating all of the amazing men who serve as role models in our community.
Year 1 will host a Fathers’ Day Liturgy at 9:15am in the hall, and we warmly invite all families to join us in this celebration.
During the Liturgy, we will showcase a photo story to honour all the dads and father figures in our lives. If you would like your family to be included, please email a photo to joseph.mcgrath@cg.catholic.edu.au by Thursday the 22nd of August.
Before the Liturgy, there will be a BBQ Breakfast from 8am featuring delicious bacon and egg rolls, available for purchase only on QKR for $5. QKR payments will close Tuesday August 27th.
This year St Anthonys Primary is participating in the Bullying No Way: National week of action, 12 to 16 August 2024. Due to Science week we will be focusing on this National week of action during Week 10. More information will be provided closer to Week 10.
The new hero colour for the campaign is purple – symbolising peace, strength and empowerment to take a stand against bullying behaviour.
The theme for this year's campaign is Everyone belongs. This theme highlights the importance of creating a sense of belonging and inclusion for students. We recognise bullying often thrives in environments where individuals feel marginalised or excluded, and it is our collective responsibility to ensure that every student feels valued and respected.
“Positive school climates that value diversity and inclusion can foster a sense of belonging and provide a protective factor against negative peer relationships and reduce bullying.” (Australian Education Research Organisation 2023).
For more information about Bullying No Way Week and bullying prevention, visit the Bullying No Way website.
Save the dates:
- Thursday 15 August. Basketball ACT Jamie Pearlman Cup Years 5 & 6 boys
- Thursday 15 August. Year 4 Assumption of Mary Liturgy @ 9am
- Thursday 15 August. ICAS English Test Year 2 and 4 students 9.30am
- Friday 16 August. ICAS English Test Year 3, 5 and 6 students 9.30am
- Week 5 is Book Week. Please see this newsletter for information about book fair open times
- Tuesday 20 August. Eucharist Life Lessons 5:30pm @ the church
- Wednesday 21 August. Book Week parade 9.20am in the assembly area (weather permitting)
- Friday 23 August. ELC and K-6 Book and Brunch 11.30-12pm
- Friday 23 August. 3A prayer focus assembly 12pm in the school hall
- Monday 26 August. Tuggeranong Athletics
- Tuesday 27 August. Boys OzTag
- Tuesday 27 August. Eucharist Life Lessons 5:30pm @ the church
- Wednesday 28 August. Girls OzTag
- Wednesday 28 August. Kinder Excursion to Questacon
- Friday 30 August. Father’s Day breakfast from 8am
- Friday 30 August. Father’s Day liturgy at 9.15am in the school hall
- Monday 2 September. First Reconciliation & First Eucharist Retreat Day
- Friday 27 September. Bullying No Way activities and splash of purple
Have a great week,
