A prayer for Mothers

Loving God, 

You have loved us with an everlasting love  

You have loved us even more as a mother loved her child. 

Today, we give you thanks and praise for the gift of mothers. 

We pray for the mothers-to-be, 

who are just beginning to be the bearers of new life in them, 

may they welcome their forthcoming child with loving anticipation and joy. 

We pray for the young mothers, 

may they cherish their child with tender care and unconditional love. 

We pray for the mothers who are separated from their children, especially in times of war, poverty, conflict, violence and for any other reasons 

Comfort them, strengthen their hope, and let them feel your loving embrace  

that wipes every tear away. 

We pray for all Mother-figures, 

those who have loved, surrounded and shaped us with motherly care and compassion. 

We especially pray for our own mothers who have nurtured and cared for us, 

Their sacrifices and care gave us a glimpse of the extent of your love for us. 

Thank you for them. 

Grant health, blessings, and well-being to those mothers who are still alive. 

We also remember those mothers who are no longer with us. 

While they live forever in our hearts and memory grant them eternal  

rest and reward for their labours. 

Amen 

Mothers’ day art expo and sweet treat visit 

This Thursday, the 8th of May, we will be celebrating all the wonderful mothers and mother figures in our school community. Each classroom will be transformed into a beautiful art gallery, showcasing personalised artwork created by the students to honour the special women in their lives. 
Families are invited to visit their child's classroom from 8:30am to view the artwork which can be on their desk or on the walls in the classroom. 

In addition, a sweet treat surprise will be provided by the school to accompany the artwork of the eldest child in each family.  

Families are welcome to stay and enjoy their treat until 9:00am, when the bell will ring for our morning assembly. We will celebrate with a Mother’s Day Prayer on the asphalt and students will move to their classes for the start of the school day after prayer at around 9.15am.  

Open day and enrolling for 2026 

Last Saturday morning we had a wonderful opportunity to showcase our school to the community for open day. It was so lovely having many new families coming to visit our school.  

May I take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank our outstanding school leaders who led many, many tours around the school. The feedback from visitors about our leaders was overwhelmingly positive. The level of explicit detail about our school, the learning and environment was very impressive. My thanks too, to our leaders families for dropping them off and collecting them in what I appreciate was a very busy day for all families. 

Please spread the word to families that the enrolment period is open and we welcome all families in our area to come and see what St Anthony’s has to offer their child. 

Concrete Pour and hall renovation update 

Tomorrow morning from 9.30am-11.00am we will have a zoned off area out the front of school whilst concrete is poured at the entry of our new school hall. As this is after school drop off, this should not cause too much disruption to our community.  A detour of the carpark will occur briefly during this time. 

Next week the new stage of steel work will progress for our hall renovation. With brickwork to follow shortly after this. We look forward to seeing lots of progress over the coming weeks. 

Athletics carnival 

Well done to all involved in last week’s Athletics carnival. There was so much joy and enthusiasm shared on the day and lots of gentle competitive spirit! A huge thanks to our wonderful staff and family helpers who made the day such a success. 

Further details will be shared via compass to families to notify them of when we will host the medal ceremony. It is likely to be on week 3 or 4 Monday morning assembly (pending when medals are delivered). 

Term overviews and Semester one reports 

Term overviews will be sent home this week via compass. These overviews capture a snapshot of the learning that is happening this term in each year level. 

Semester one reports will be sent home in week 9. Semester one reports are grade only reports with optional interviews occurring in week 10. 

Come try day at Mackillop 

A reminder that the come try day for Mackillop is this Friday for Year 6 students. Students are to make their own arrangements with their families to get to and from Mackillop for the day. Thank you. 

Kitchen Garden 

Congratulations to our environmental leaders who have had such success with many herbs and vegetables growing in our garden. Thank you, Sharon and our team of parents who helped to create this wonderful space, for our students to learn and be wholeheartedly involved in the growing and maintenance process of the garden. Our students continue to collect food scraps for their compost and have produced worm juice to sell to the community. 

Well done to all involved, keep up the great work kids. We love the work you do! 

Online safety 

In the words of our late Pope Francis…. 

“How I would like for us to look less at screens and look each other in the eyes more. Something’s wrong if we spend more time on our cell phones than with people. The screen makes us forget that there are real people behind it who breathe, laugh, and cry.” 

As we embark on the beginning of term 2, I thought it timely that I share with families that I have had several recent conversations with students around online activity. 

"Technology is not neutral. From the moment of its creation, it has the potential to both enable and constrain us. The key is to use it in ways that enhance our humanity, not diminish it." 

Pope Francis, World Communications Day 2024 

Further reading: Vatican Document on Digital Ethics, 2023 

I strongly appreciate the complexities of navigating through our technological world, particularly with the access our children now have to new apps and online communication tools. 

I very much respect the role a parent and carer have in deciding what technology their own child has access to, whether it be their own phone, iPad, computer, etc, or not at all. For some families the following information may not be as relevant. 

For families that do have a child or children accessing online platforms at home, particularly for communication, eg. Kids messenger, snapchat, Instagram. Can I please urge families to speak with their child about appropriate online behaviour. This includes creating false accounts and pretending to be another person. 

The following webinars may be of interest to families to gain further information on how you can support your child/ren, if not now, into the future. In addition to these webinars, ThinkUKnow is a free, evidence-based online safety program that provides presentations to Australian parents, carers and teachers and students. The program gives parents, carers, teachers and students information on how to stay safe online. Topics included within the presentations are specifically aimed at educating and increasing awareness about online child sexual exploitation including avoiding unwanted contact, online grooming, self-generated content, sexual extortion and how to get help. 

Whilst we provide this information to our students at school, it may also be helpful to have these conversations at home. 

The eSafety Commissioner is Australia's independent regulator for online safety, established to ensure safer and more positive online experiences for all Australians, particularly addressing issues like cyberbullying, image-based abuse, and illegal online content.  

Currently, or in the future both adults and children will be using social media and programs that require us to communicate with others online in some form on a daily basis. 

The best way to ensure our safety is to be aware. We encourage parents to be aware of the purpose of apps and programs, aware of the risks associated and what to do if something does go wrong. 

At St Anthony’s parish primary school we apply and use appropriate practices to facilitate and support ICT throughout the school. The practices are aligned under the organising elements of the Australian Curriculum: Information and Communications Technologies capacities. 

All students who have access to ICT (including use of Chromebooks) are to agree and sign an IT agreement which outlines the appropriate use of technology at St Anthony’s. 

Cyber safety is paramount and all students at St Anthony’s (including outside school hours) have the right to feel safe. 

Here are some factsheets for parents and carers including frequently asked questions for some popular apps and websites and a link to the eSafety newsletter on relevant and up-to-date issues and information. 

• View and Download Factsheets for Parents 

https://www.thinkuknow.org.au/resources/factsheets-for-parents 

• eSafety newsletter subscription  

https://www.esafety.gov.au/about-us/subscribe?parentnews=1 

Upcoming eSafety parent/carer webinars 

Below are links to live webinars from the office of the eSafety Commissioner to help give parents and carers the knowledge, skills and tools to support their children to have safe online experiences. 

14 May and 3 June. Understanding and using parental controls to help protect your child online 

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. 
Join us at this 45-minute webinar to find out 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. 

It’s suitable for parents and carers of children in primary school. 

Register here 

21 May. eSafety 101: how eSafety can help you 

eSafety has a range of programs and resources that can help parents and carers build knowledge, skills and tools to support their children to have safer online experiences. 

This 30-minute webinar introduces: 

• eSafety resources designed to help you start the conversation about online safety with your child 

• how to help children and young people thrive online with 5 top tips to keep your family safe online 

• how the eSafety Commissioner can help parents, children and young people that are experiencing online harms. 

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

Register here 

27 May. Exploring the online experiences of boys and young men 

For boys and young men, the internet can be a place where they seek connection, validation and guidance as they explore what it means to be a man today. However, it also exposes them to risks like harmful content, online exploitation and the growing influence of misogynistic ideologies. 

This 45-minute webinar will help parents understand: 

• the social and cultural influences shaping boys and young men 

• how boys engage online, build relationships and how they may be vulnerable to manipulation or exploitation 

• the impact of social media, gaming, and influencers on their attitudes, behaviours and sense of identity. 

This presentation will share practical strategies to build critical thinking, challenge harmful narratives, and create open conversations that empower boys and young men to navigate the online world safely and respectfully. 

Register here 

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 at 5.30pm (Term 2, Week 3) 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 

School uniform for Term 2 

A reminder that from this term, students are to wear full winter school uniform. 

This includes: 

Term 2 dates and information 

Wishing all of our wonderful Mums a Happy Mother’s Day! 

On Sunday we give thanks for all mothers, grandmothers and mother figures in our lives. 

Have a beautiful week. 

Erin