Dear STA Families,

Please keep those students from Year 6 in your prayers this week as they prepare for the Sacrament of Confirmation this Thursday evening at 6pm. Students have been engaged in preparation at school, the last two Tuesday evenings at St Anthony’s church, and today at our Confirmation retreat day. My thanks to Mr Joe McGrath for leading our Year 6 Confirmation candidates throughout their journey to Confirmation throughout this term.

Heavenly Father,
We thank You for the gift of these young souls,
as they receive the sacrament of Confirmation.
Fill them with Your Holy Spirit,
that they may grow in wisdom, courage, and faith.
Guide them with Your light,
and keep them always in Your loving embrace.
May they stand strong as witnesses to Your truth,
and share Your love with all they meet.
Bless them on this sacred journey,
and let Your grace be their constant companion.
In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.

Congratulations and farewell

Congratulations to Cameron and Dianne Beck who celebrated the birth of their first child, a daughter Sidney Rose in New Zealand last week.

On Friday we farewelled Maddie Waye who has commenced maternity leave. We look forward to hearing from Maddie and Michael when they welcome their first child to the world in the weeks ahead.

Welcome

St Anthony’s welcomes Anna Mihalyka to the DT role. Anna brings much joy and passion to the teaching role, and we are very blessed to have her join our St Anthony’s teaching team. Anna will be teaching K-3 DT and working across K-6 in a teaching role. Welcome Anna.

St Anthony’s Feast Day celebration

Next Friday is St Anthony's Feast Day. Our students will all participate in a whole school Mass at the St Anthony's Church from 10.00am. Families are warmly welcome to attend this Mass. Students will be transported via bus, to and from the Church.

St. Anthony of Padua’s life is what every Christian’s life is meant to be; a steady courage to face the ups and downs of life, the call to love and forgive, to be concerned for the needs of others, to deal with crisis great and small, and to have our feet solidly on the ground of total trusting love and dependence on God. We call on all in our community to share in the values and teachings of St Anthony.

Reconciliation week

Reconciliation week at St Anthony’s was an opportunity for us all to celebrate the richness of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures along with recognising all cultures in our school community. Thank you Mrs Bernie Ephrams for coordinating our Reconciliation week activities to honour the past, act in the present, and build a better future. It's a call to continue the journey-drawing on the lessons of history to guide the way forward. Thank you to our families for joining our Reconciliation march where as a school community we were able to come together, reflect, and take meaningful steps toward a more inclusive future.

Walk and ride to school

Our walk and ride to school day was a huge success. It was so wonderful to see many students walking, scootering or riding to school with their families. We even had members of our local Police greet the children as they entered the school, congratulating them on their efforts and providing stickers for our children.  

Hall progress

The steel construction is coming together, and the front of the hall is taking shape with a grand entrance beginning to be visible from the front of school. Over the coming weeks, brick works will continue ready for the roof to follow and internal inclusion to begin. A very exciting stage of development.

Community council meeting tonight

Our community council will meet this evening to discuss school developments, community events and overall wellbeing of our school and its community. I look forward to sharing key points from this discussion in our next newsletter.

Kindergarten enrolment interviews

We have had an overwhelming response for Kindergarten enrolments in 2026, along with additional enrolments across many year levels. I will be facilitating kindergarten enrolments over the next week.

Kiss and Go at drive through

A reminder to families who use our before and after school drop off zone. Please note that this is a “kiss and go” zone. Please do not park in this area. If students are needing to be put into a car seat or you are needing to get out of your car, please access the carpark area and park your car and walk your child up to the school. This is for the safety of all children in our school.

No hats

As we enter our J months ahead- June and July, hats are no longer required to be worn during the winter months.

Pyjama Day

On Thursday 19 June, students are invited to come to school dressed in their winter warmer clothes or PJ's and donate a gold coin to assist in raising funds for St Vincent DePaul. All funds will be raised to support the Vinnies CEO sleepout.

Every night, thousands of Australians experience homelessness. But it doesn't have to be that way. This year I'm taking part in the Vinnies CEO Sleepout to raise money for the St Vincent de Paul Society to support Australians in need. For one night, I'll be sleeping outside as part of an eye-opening experience to raise awareness and bring home the realities of homelessness.

To help break the devastating cycle of homelessness, I need your support. If you are able to donate, please follow the link, every little bit helps. Vinnies CEO have let me know that an anonymous donor will now match every donation across all participants until their donor match of $50,000 reached. From 8am on Wednesday 4 June, all eligible donations up to $1000 will be matched dollar for dollar until the donor matched is reached. SO…. every little bit helps (and on Wednesday from 8am can be doubled):

www.ceosleepout.org.au/fundraisers/erinmarmont/act

Student Reports and interviews

Student Reports

Student reports this semester will include grade allocations followed by an interview. Reports will be released via compass in Week 9 with follow up interviews in Week 10.

Free webinars for parents and carers

The Council of Catholic School Parents (CCSP) is hosting webinars for parents and carers in June. Please promote these webinars to your school community. Please see the attached flyer further down in this week’s newsletter for more information and registration links.

Below are links to webinars being provided by the of Office of the eSafety Commissioner on cybersafety. These live webinars give parents and carers the knowledge, skills and tools to support their children to have safe online experiences.

Understanding and using parental controls to help protect your child online – 3 June 3.30pm

Parental controls can be a useful addition to the strategies you use to help protect your child online. Parental controls can help protect children and young people by preventing access to harmful content, as well as helping manage time spent online and who they communicate with. In this 45-minute webinar you will learn about:

• the types of parental controls available and how to set them for your child’s safety including smart devices, in apps, gaming platforms and computers
• using parental controls with other online safety strategies to help your child build digital and critical skills to have safer experiences online.

Register here

Sexual extortion: What parents and carers need to know – 18 June 12.30pm

Sexual extortion or ‘sextortion’ is a form of blackmail where someone threatens to share a nude or sexual image or video of a person unless their demands are met.

Sexual extortion is a serious, growing online concern, especially for young people. But what exactly is it? What conversations may help prevent it and how can you support your child if they’re targeted?

This 30-minute webinar will explain:

• what sexual extortion is
• the impacts and potential harms sexual extortion may have on young people
• strategies to support young people who may experience sexual extortion, including how to respond and access support; and how to encourage safer and more positive online interactions.

It’s suitable for parents and carers of young people in upper primary and secondary school.

Register here

Reminder - Family play date

Save the date and come and join our families for a play at Tuggeranong Park on Sunday 15 June.

Term 2 dates and information

Have a beautiful week,