Loving God,

As we begin this new school year at St Anthony's, we thank You for the calm and grace that has filled our first week. We are grateful for the smiling faces, the open hearts, and the eager minds that have come together to learn and grow.

Bless our teachers, who guide with wisdom and patience. Bless our students, who bring joy and wonder to our days. Bless our parents and carers, whose support strengthens our community. May we walk together in faith, kindness, and respect.

Help us to continue building a school where peace, friendship, and discovery flourish. May St Anthony, our patron, inspire us to serve others with humility and love.

In Jesus' name, we pray.

Amen 

On Sunday our mission and ministry leaders; Lulu and Elizabeth along with our Religious Education Coordinator Joe Mcgrath and I joined the celebration of 165 years of service by our religious congregations at St Christophers Cathedral.

We pray for all in our religious congregations and give thanks for their commitment to serving God and our communities. Archbishop Prowse shared the Gospel message of finding hope in hopelessness. He invited us to reflect on how we can support those who struggle to find Hope. The theme for the Jubilee Year chosen by Pope Francis is “Pilgrims of Hope”. This has been further developed for Religious Conferences as Pilgrims of Hope: On the path of peace - Listening to the cry of the poor, care of creation and solidarity with all our brothers and sisters. Our school theme this year is also embracing “Pilgrims of Hope”. Last Monday our staff gathered together at Greenhills for our staff spirituality day. Together we prayed and reflected deeply on how we can be Pilgrims of Hope in our school community. Sharing Pope Francis’ letters, provided a deeper understanding of our faith and insightful words of encouragement. Saint Augustine reminds us that to characterise the fullness of communion is to be happy. Happiness is our human vocation- a goal to which we all aspire. Together our staff hope to build a community that supports and nurtures our students and their families.

Last Friday our teachers participated in our CECG system day. MC- Genevieve Jacobs facilitated the sessions where teachers continued to strengthen and reinforce the journey we are on as a system and connect as a staff in the important role we hold in transforming lives through learning. Archbishop Prowse opened the meeting, and we listened and engaged with two keynote speakers- Natalie Wexler on The knowledge gap: What it is and how to narrow it and Prof. Daniel Willingham on Developing independent learners. The day enabled us to unpack each session and share key considerations on how we can improve our own teaching and learning practice.

The day concluded with our interim Executive Director’s address- Ms Pam Betts who affirmed all that we are doing in our system and offered her guidance, support and prayers for the year ahead.

I thank our parent community for your understanding and support in our staff participating in this valuable professional learning and training.

There is a lot we have achieved in just the first week back. My thanks to our wonderful staff and each of you for a magnificent and settled start to the term.

Our downpour of rain, hail and wind last week right on 3 o’clock, I believe was God’s way of allowing our community to see just how swiftly we all pull together in times of need to support and care for our students and each other.

Thank you for your calmness and patience out the front of the school to ensure all of our students arrived home safely.

A reminder of the following pick-up arrangements for the afternoons:

Top oval pick up- Students walk across top oval with teachers and sit and wait being supervised until pick-up arrives. Teachers on duty will remain at the top oval until 3.20pm. Any students still at top oval after 3.20pm will be escorted with a supervising teacher to the drive-thru area at the front of the school where parents/carers can collect student/s.

Front Of school Drive through: 

• Adults should not get out of their vehicle when utilising the drive-through option for dropping off and picking up students.  If your child requires assistance getting out of or into the car you will need to park in the school's carpark. 
  There are two lanes for afternoon pick up, if the lane on the right (blue arrows) is full, please use the lane on the left (orange arrows). DO NOT QUEUE ON WHEELER CRESCENT. 
• Adults waiting to collect child/ren from the front of school are asked to wait in the community garden to allow ease of access for children exiting the school gates.

• If you arrive for drive-through pick-up prior to the children being dismissed you may be required to do a loop of the carpark (green arrows). Alternatively, you can park in one of the bays and join the pick up line once traffic starts to move. Please note, students are dismissed at 3:05pm and supervision of students concludes at 3:30pm. Traffic is lighter from 3:15pm. 

• It is a last resort for us to call wet weather pick up due to the disruption it causes to learning and to local traffic. This will only occur if the conditions on the oval are unsafe, or if the weather is severe. In this instance, we will send out a message on Compass notifying families of the wet weather pick up - there is no need to contact the office. It is really helpful if families have their surname printed in large font and displayed on your dashboard when coming through the drive through. This enables the teacher on duty to swiftly call your surname out to students and for students to move quickly to their car for pick up.
• If you find the carpark stressful during wet weather pick up we suggest you arrive at 3:20pm when the traffic has usually eased. 

• Your children are watching and learning how to be patient, kind and considerate. 

Meet and greet this evening

This afternoon we welcome families to their child/ren’s classroom for our meet and greet sessions. These will run from 3.30-3.50pm and 4.00-4.20pm. Please go directly to your child’s classroom for session 1 or 2.

Mr Wigg will also be facilitating an information session for families of students in Year 4 on how to set up Google Family Link to supervise your child’s Chromebook. These sessions will take place at 4pm and 4.30pm in the school library. Please bring your child’s Chromebook with you if you plan on attending.

Whole school Mass

On Friday is our whole school mass. This is an opportunity for our students to gather and pray as a whole school. Our school captains and portfolio leaders will also be presented with their badges and officially presented to our school community.

Mass is from 12pm in our St Anthony’s Parish Church.

Annual Improvement Plan

This year our school will be focussing on three key improvement goals:

• Together we will be pilgrims of Hope in our school community.
• Further develop enriching coaching practices across K-6 to enhance teaching practice.
• For our students to excel in their learning and grow their confidence and wellbeing

Our staff have developed improvement targets and specific strategies and purpose to assist our school in reaching these goals.

Hall renovation

Our school hall renovation continues with lots of progress made over the Christmas break. Whilst the hall is an exciting project for our school, it does mean we have had to be creative on different events around the school. To ensure we can still gather as a community, grade liturgies will be held in the Church this semester and grade assemblies moved to the later in the year. Teachers will inform families of when these will occur during the year. Our community council will meet this term to discuss and determine our fundraising events this year. We are looking forward to celebrating with some wonderful events across the year.

Swimming Carnival

The swimming carnival is on Monday, 24 February.

Details have been sent via Compass to Years 3-6 families.

Students will wear swimmers under Sports uniform to school. Students will wear swimmers throughout the day and are encouraged to wear house colours. Students must wear full school sport uniform when travelling to and from the pool.

Transport:

Students will be transported to and from Stromlo Leisure Centre by bus. Buses will leave St Anthony's Primary School at 9:05am and return approximately by 2:30pm in time for afternoon pickup. Any parent wishing to drive their child to and from the venue must email their child's classroom teacher before the end of week 3. Students will not be allowed to travel with another parent/carer unless written permission has been received before the end of week 3.

This event is for students in Years 3 - 6. On the day, all students attending must complete a swim test before entering any of the events (races/novelties). If a student is nominated in a race and is deemed a non-swimmer following the swim test conducted by the lifeguards on duty then they will not be able to participate in the nominated event. 

Students have the opportunity to participate in the following races:

Competitive Swimmers

• 200m IM - must be dropped at pool by 8:30am by parent/guardian. 
• 100m Freestyle
• 50m Freestyle, Backstroke, Breaststroke and Butterfly

Non- Competitive Swimmers

• 25m Freestyle, Backstroke and Breaststroke

Non-Swimmers

• Novelties (non-swimmers)

*Competitive swimmers cannot compete in the 25m races or novelty events.

*Those aged 10-12 wishing to be considered for progression to the regional carnival for 100m backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly events can submit a registered time to Mr Marmont by email, jamie.marmont@cg.catholic.edu.au

Any parents wishing to volunteer would be greatly appreciated. Please indicate on the consent form on Compass if you are able to assist as a timekeeper or an in-pool assistant for the 25m races. No experience or expertise is necessary.

School fees

We have been notified by Catholic Education that school fee statements should be sent to families by the end of next week. All fees will be posted and made visible to families via the Compass Parent Portal.

Term 1 dates and reminders

 Have a beautiful week,

Erin