On March 25th, we celebrate the Annunciation of the Lord, the moment when the Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and told her she would be the mother of Jesus. Mary showed great faith and trust in God, saying “Yes” to His plan. This special day reminds us to listen to God’s call in our own lives and to respond with open hearts and courage. May we follow Mary’s example, embracing God's love and guidance in all we do.

Prayer for the Annunciation of the Lord

Loving God,
You chose Mary to bring Jesus into the world.
Like her, help us to listen to Your call and trust in Your plan.
Give us faith, courage, and a willing heart to say “Yes” to You every day.
May we share Your love with others, just as Mary did.
We ask this through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen

Prayers

During Lent, you can pray for spiritual growth, seeking God's guidance, forgiveness, and strength to overcome challenges, and to deepen your faith and relationship with Him. We pray for each other. This time of the term can be more challenging than others. Some of our students may be feeling a little more tired and emotional than usual. We keep all our children and their families in our prayers

We keep our classroom support assistant Annabel Phillips in our prayers who unfortunately has undergone recent surgeries. Annabel is missing everyone very much and grateful for our prayers and well wishes.

Last Friday we farewelled Cameron Beck who will take on his new adventure and chapter to be with his wife and family in New Zealand. May God bless Cameron, Dianne and the safe arrival of their beautiful girl.

Thank you

An enormous thanks to our Year 6 Campers and teachers who spent three days in Berry last week. Camp is such a wonderful experience for our students, and I am very grateful for our teachers who have accompanied our Year 6 children away for the three days and two nights.

Movie night was a huge success last Friday night. My sincere thanks to Megan Doherty for her coordination of this event and our amazing staff who were able to lend a hand preparing for this event as well as on the evening. The community response was so very positive and appreciative. How lovely it was for our families to join together for a night of fun and laughter. We look forward to hopefully planning another movie night later in the year.

A huge thanks to our wonderful parent representatives who organised a St Anthony’s kids play date last Sunday 23 March at Tuggeranong town park. This is a wonderful event for our families to join with children and meet members of our St Anthony’s community.

Harmony day

Last week was Harmony week. Harmony Week is an annual celebration of Australia’s cultural diversity and the benefits it brings to the Australian community. Harmony Week is a time to celebrate that Australia is one of the most successful multicultural societies in the world. It is about inclusiveness, respect and belonging for all Australians, regardless of cultural or linguistic background, united by a set of core Australian values. Our cultural diversity is one of our greatest strengths and is at the heart of who we are. It makes Australia a great place to live.

Thank you, Amanda Winne for your coordination and efforts to make Harmony Day so valued and memorable at our school. Last week our students loved the activities in the classrooms as well as the spectacular sign as they entered the school.

Keep our students safe- Closing the gates.

Please ensure 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.

Moving safely around play areas

This morning one of our students had a fall on the asphalt. Your child may speak with you about this this afternoon. I have met with all students and teachers today and reassured them that the student is okay. This has also been a timely reminder that whilst our play areas are for playing, when moving to these areas we should be walking safely and looking out for others.

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 wellbeing 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.

Walk and ride to school day.

St Anthony’s Primary School are excited to be celebrating National Ride2School Day on Friday 28^th March (Week 8). 

In the spirit of embracing a healthy and happy start to the day, we encourage all students and their families to leave the car at home and give riding, walking or scooting to school a go.

National Ride2School Day is the perfect opportunity to kick-start new healthy habits and promote the many benefits of active transport for our community. 

We would love it if you could join us at any of our four meeting points. We will leave at around 8.30am to either walk, scoot or ride to school. 

• Near Kidstart (Mini Wanniassa Shops)
• Near the playground at the Wanniassa Main Shopping Centre
• Kambah (Meet on the Kambah side of Athlon Drive underpass near the school).
• Bonython/Greenway (meet under the Drakeford Drive underpass near the school).

If you can’t actively travel the whole way, consider parking the car nearby and riding or walking the rest of the way. 

It’s going to be a 'wheelie good day and we hope to see you there! 

Parent/Teacher interviews in week 9

Week 9 are parent/teacher interviews. I appreciate that many families have already met with their child’s classroom teacher this term. Please reach out to your child’s classroom teacher directly via email if you request a meeting with them.

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 13^th 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 $1200! 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. We have one more week of fundraising, with the class that raises the most money, celebrating with a pizza party in week 10.

Family Faith Focus Mass

Our second FFF mass for the year will be held Sunday April 6th. The children’s liturgy will focus on Easter and what it means to acknowledge Jesus and his life today. Come along and celebrate as a community.

St Anthony’s Cross Country Carnival Friday 4 April

Where: Top oval next to school.

Students will participate in the Cross Country at school. Please note, this will occur between recess and lunch time on Friday 4th April

Additional event details:

The annual St Anthony’s Cross Country Carnival will take place on Friday 4th April 2025. All students from Pre-school to 6 will participate on the day. We hope to start the races shortly after the recess break is finished. This means the first race will start at approximately 12pm.

PLEASE NOTE that the event schedule below is based on approximate timings and may be subject to change. It is hoped that this staggering of races will relieve congestion at the finish line. We hope to have the last race completed before 1:15pm but this could be subject to change on the day.    

Schedule of Events (approximate timings):

**Top 3 place ribbons will be handed out on the day.

What to wear: 
All students will need to wear their full sports uniform. 
Optional, students are more than welcome to wear a coloured T-shirt (NO singlets) in their house colour.

Bradman- GREEN        Fraser- RED        Gilmore- BLUE    Paterson- YELLOW
 
Volunteers:
To assist with the coordination of the carnival, we require parents to assist on a checkpoint situated around the Cross Country course. If you are able to assist on a checkpoint, please click the link below to sign up by Sunday 30^th March:

volunteersignup.org/ED93W

Please note that due to the nature of this event all volunteers must have a current WWVP card. You must sign in at the front office and show your valid WWVP on arrival.

If you have any enquiries, please email jamie.marmont@cg.catholic.edu.au

Pupil free day

A reminder that on Friday 11 April it will be a system wide Pupil Free Day.

Enjoy your week,

Erin