As the school term comes to a close, we come before you with a grateful heart.  

We thank you Lord, for this term.For our challenges, our successes, and the mistakes from which we have learnt.  

Give us strength and courage to do what is right: to be witnesses of our faith. Help us appreciate what others do for us and give us time and effort to help others. To be peacemakers in our family. 

We continue to pray for Aidan and Aaron, students from St Edmund’s College who were involved in an accident in recent weeks. We keep in our prayers, their families and the St Edmund’s college community and all who are unwell and facing challenges at this time. We pray for their strength and healing. We give thanks for the counsellors and staff who are continuing to provide support to St Edmund’s College staff and students.  

Keep us safe over the term break and bring us back refreshed and ready for a new term. We thank you for our friends, teachers, parents and a community that cares for us. 

Our wonderful students are just as deserving and we are incredibly proud of each of them. How wonderful it has been to participate in a variety of excursions and sporting events this term. Our community spirit has been very evident through gala days, excursions, swimming and cross-country carnivals, Harmony day and much more. 

May we be reminded of all that we have to be grateful for. I hope each of you are able to enjoy some time with your families and a well-deserved break from washing school uniforms, packing lunch boxes and navigating through homework. Thank you for all that you do to support our students and STA community. 

With blessings for a peaceful Easter with your family. 

Erin 
 

Appreciation 

Thank you to our wonderful family volunteers who offered their time and skills to assist with our St Anthony’s annual Cross-country carnival last Friday. We were blessed with beautiful weather and the children had a magnificent day. My sincere thanks to our volunteers, teachers and staff for their organisation and attendance at the recent AFL Gala day, Chess tournament, regional swimming and the Maninga and Daley cup tomorrow.  

Communication to teachers via emails and compass 

The CECG ICT advised all schools yesterday that emails from parents sent through Compass and other communications portals (Xplor, Outlook, etc.) to teachers have been incorrectly classified due to a default detection policy rule, leading to the blocking of emails. 

This was not a cyberattack-related event, and all systems are currently processing emails normally. The issue has now been resolved, and changes have been implemented by the ICT team as of yesterday afternoon.  

Our sincere apologies if you have not received responses to your emails. Staff are working through the backlog of correspondence since being notified of this default. For any urgent enquiries, please contact the office so that staff can ensure they contact you. 

Keep our students safe- Closing the gates. 

Please ensure that as you come into the school (if it is after 9.00am) or as you leave in the afternoon that the gates are closed. The main gate next to our community garden needs to be closed (but not locked) so that families can collect their child from OOSCA. A reminder has also been shared with OOSCA families. This is for the safety of all children in our school. 

Duty of Care 

A reminder that supervision of students begins from 8.30am. When students arrive at school, they are to be seated at the front of the school until the teacher on duty arrives and opens the gates for students to enter. It would be greatly appreciated if you could remind your child/ren that for the safety and well-being of themselves and others, students should not be running around the front of the school, and that bikes and scooters should be walked in through the school gates. For our walkers and riders, please remind children that the school crossing is to be used to cross roads. 

Confirmation Registration 

Families are now able to register candidates for this year’s Sacrament of Confirmation. The candidates must be in year 6 and have celebrated the sacraments of Baptism, First Reconciliation as well as First Eucharist.   

An information night will be held at the church on Tuesday the 13th of May (Term 2, Week 2) with dates and all necessary information. If you would like your child to make the Sacrament this year, please email our Religious Education Coordinator, Mr Joe McGrath. joseph.mcgrath@cg.catholic.edu.au 

Project Compassion 

Thank you so much to our generous and caring community. As a school, we have now raised over $2000! All money raised will go towards CARITAS and the incredible work they do around the world. Students have been learning about where the money directly goes in Religion lessons over the Lenten period.  Our St Anthony’s community continues to show our true colours when helping those in need. Congratulations to 1A who was the class that raised the most money, celebrating with a pizza party this week. 

Family Faith Focus Mass 

On Sunday, we shared our FFF mass with a children’s liturgy in the Church. A reminder to families that all are welcome to join us for our Family Faith Focus Mass on the first Sunday of every month from 9.00am. Children come to the Church and participate in a short liturgy with teachers while their grown-ups attend Mass. Children rejoin with their families in time for communion with Father Leonse. 

Pupil-free days 

A reminder that on Friday 11 April it will be a system-wide Pupil Free Day and on Monday 28 April  

The first day back of Term 2 is Tuesday, 29 April 

School uniform for Term 2 

All students are required to wear full winter uniform from Week 1, Term 2. 

This includes: 

Clothing Shop 

The school uniform shop is open on tomorrow (Wednesday 9th April) from 9am-10am.

School fees- Direct debit 

Thank you for your patience around Catholic Education’s finance transformation process. 

I appreciate that there has been several changes in fee processes and billing. 

This week, we have been advised by Catholic Education that there will now be direct debit payment options for school fees. 

Please see information from Catholic Education: 

Catholic Education has introduced to St Anthony’s families the BPoint Enterprise Solution to manage direct debit arrangements for the payment of school fees. 

You will expect in the coming weeks to receive an email directly from Catholic Education outlining further information on how to action this. The following information is to give you some brief background and details: 

What is BPoint and What Do You Need to Do? 

BPoint is a secure Commonwealth Bank payment processing platform designed to facilitate online payments, while ensuring the highest security standards. This system safeguards your financial information using industry-leading security measures. 

Our new direct debit platform will allow you to pay school fees using either a bank account or a credit card (excluding AMEX). Please note that payments made via credit card will incur a 0.5% surcharge. 

Establishing Direct Debits. 

Next week, families will receive an email outlining estimated weekly, fortnightly, and monthly repayment options to ensure all fees are paid by the end of the year. These amounts will also include any outstanding 2024 balances. 

What next? 

You will receive an email that will provide a start date for direct debits and options for selecting your preferred payment frequency. Once a payment frequency is selected, you will be directed to enter your bank/credit card details. Once the information is entered, you will receive an email from no-reply@bpoint.com.au . The email will contain two links, 

1.         The first link requires confirmation of the direct debit arrangement. Please note that the link will expire within 7 days. 

2.         The second link provides a copy of the eDDRSA for your records. 

While using the direct debit payment option is not compulsory, many families find it helpful in staying up to date with their financial obligations. 

For any questions or further assistance, please contact our Finance Office at Catholic Education. 

A message from our school counsellor 

TUNING IN TO KIDS®  

EMOTIONALLY INTELLIGENT PARENTING 

Dear Parent/Carer 

You are invited to join a parenting program that could make a positive difference to your child’s development. Tuning in to Kids® is an eight-week group program for parents. It can help you to teach your child the skills of emotional intelligence.  

What is Emotional Intelligence? 

Emotional Intelligence is about using your emotions to guide you through the world.  It is about being able to use your knowledge of emotions to make decisions, to calm yourself down, to manage anger and conflict, to help you in your relationships with people, to understand what is happening in social situations, and to assist you in any aspects of life that involves you and another person. 

Why is Emotional Intelligence important? 

Children with greater emotional intelligence have been shown to: 

• have greater success with making friendships and be more able to manage conflict with peers 
• have better concentration, which means they are more likely to be successful academically
• be more able to self-soothe when upset or angry
• tend to have fewer childhood illnesses
• have more stable and satisfying relationships as adults; and
• have greater career success ... emotional intelligence may be a better predictor of academic and career success than IQ!  

When parents focus on helping their child learn about emotions, the child is more likely to have higher emotional intelligence. In this parenting program we will teach parents what to do to help these skills develop. 

Program details 

The program will run each Tuesday starting on May 6 for eight weeks for 1.5 hours at a time. It will be held at Marymead CatholicCare Canberra & Goulburn Red Hill office between 9:30 and 11 am. 

If you have any questions regarding the program, or would like to register, please contact us via email by Friday April 11 COB.  

Ryoko.Koyasu@mccg.org.au or Patience.Way@mccg.org.au 

Changes to bus timetable 

From next Tuesday (8 April 2025), bus timetables and school packs will be available to download ahead of timetable improvements which begin from the start of school term two on Monday 28 April 2025.  

Improvements for students include additional school services and refinements to bus routes to provide better coverage to surrounding suburbs. Some school services are also being adjusted to better align with bell times based on school community feedback.  

More broadly, the timetable improvements will deliver an additional 94 bus services per weekday, including more AM and PM weekday peak services for key Rapid routes. There will be no changes to light rail frequencies. 

School packs and timetables  

Please find attached the updated school pack specific to your school to help distribute to your school community. Also attached (and below) is a social tile to help with your messaging. 

Updated school packs and timetables will be made available to the broader community to view and download ahead of the school holidays next Tuesday 8 April 2025. 

Students and families will be encouraged to check their school packs and timetables at the Transport Canberra website to prepare for the new school term.  

For parents, carers and guardians with children who catch the bus to school, we recommend familiarising them with any updated morning and afternoon pickup times.   

Please be aware though, the Transport Canberra journey planner on the MyWay+ app and online will be updated with the new timetables in the week leading up to term two.   

Summary of school changes: St Anthony's Primary School 

• Route 2062 – Service extended to better cover Monash. Morning service begins 3 minutes later to better accommodate bell time.  

• Route 2063 – Service extended to better cover Gowrie. Morning service begins 15 minutes earlier to better accommodate bell time. 

Keep in touch 

Stay up to date with important Transport Canberra news, including changes to services and the latest project and event information. Sign up to our weekly e-newsletter, or you can like us on Facebook and follow us on X (formerly Twitter). 

Term 2 school events and dates. 

Please keep an eye on the school and Compass calendar for further events as they are confirmed and possible date changes. 

Have a safe and restful break from school, and we all look forward to seeing everyone next term.

Erin