Dear Lord,

As we enter our second week back at school,
we pause in gratitude for the many blessings You have given us.
Thank You for the safe return of our students, staff, and families.
Thank You for the energy and spirit that fills our school once again.

Through the intercession of St. Anthony,
faithful servant and wise teacher,
we ask for your continued guidance in the term ahead.
Help us to walk with purpose and faith,
to learn with open minds and compassionate hearts.

Grant us strength when we feel tired,
courage when we feel uncertain,
and a spirit of kindness in all we do.
May we care for ourselves with patience
and look out for one another with love.

St. Anthony, patron of seekers and students,
pray for us as we seek wisdom, peace, and community this term.
Help us to keep Christ at the centre of our learning and our lives.

We ask all this in Jesus’ name.

Amen.

The beginning of Term 3 has been filled with energy and spirit. It has been wonderful to see the students ready to begin school routine and practice.

Our dance program has begun across K-6 and it has been delightful to see the courage and participation from all our students- and staff! We are excited to present the dance talent across our school at our Grand friends’ day in term 4. Date to be confirmed.

My thanks to Bernie Ephrams for her coordination of NAIDOC week activities and accompanying our Years 2-6 students the NAIDOC mass at St Christopher’s Cathedral last Friday.

We have already had many amazing events occur in such a short time. Last week our Year 6 students attended a performance of the musical Legally Blonde at Merici College and some of our Year 5 and 6 students attended the futsal competition in Fadden. Congratulations to Asher De La Mezzo who will participate in the rostrum quarter final at Fadden Primary tomorrow evening.  We look forward to celebrating 100 days of kindergarten next Monday. Don’t forget to take a look at the term events on our pacing guide at the end of the newsletter. How lucky we are to have such amazing staff to plan, organise and coordinate so many meaningful events and still maintain an environment of calm across the school.

Community council

Congratulations to Steven Hunt who has been elected as our school community council chair.

St Anthony's School Community Council operates with the consent of the Archbishop of Canberra and Goulburn and as part of the Catholic Education Canberra and Goulburn (CECG), where formation and education are based on the mission of Jesus, and where Jesus Christ, our greatest teacher, calls us to share and witness our Catholic Faith and Tradition, build inclusive communities and deliver contemporary quality learning opportunities for every person.

The participation and involvement of parents, staff and students in the life of the school is integral to building an open, inclusive, welcoming and collaborative school community.

Our school community council executive members will be meeting on Tuesday, 12 August. Details of this meeting will be shared in our newsletter after this meeting.

Pupil Free Day

Last Monday our staff gathered for our pupil free day to participate in MClass training. This training provided new information on input and analysing data and assessment. The second part of the day was reviewing our behaviour guidance strategies and wellbeing for our students at St Anthony’s. Over this term our staff will continue to review this policy together in our staff meetings in preparation to share with our community once this is finalised.

A reminder that we have a second pupil free day at the end of this term on Friday 26 September.

Parenting workshops

Below are some details for perks parenting workshops. These workshops cover a range of topics that may be of interest to parents and carers.

The Southside Initiaitve’s next FREE PERKS Parent Workshop is this Thursday evening at Richadson Primary School – NO2Bullying – facilitated by Canberra PCYC.

The workshop explores 3 strategies for parents/carers whose children are being bullied at school, online or other areas of their life. The science behind why people bully others, baiting, and how to deal with bullies safely.  Suitable for parents/carers of Year 5, 6 and secondary year students. 

You can read more about this workshop (and register) and other planned workshops for Term 3 and 4 here.

Click on the link to register for this webinar:

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_1F2ru7CCQy-Ey1hGpbn-vw

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Grandfriends day

Grand friends day will take place in term 4 this year. Date to be advised once Dance program has confirmed.

FFF

Our next Family Faith Focus Mass is this Sunday the 3 August, 9am at St Anthony’s Parish Church. It is a wonderful opportunity to come together and celebrate mass.

Family Faith Focus is about attending Mass with us as a community on the first Sunday of each month. We as a staff will be there to support you and lead our children at Mass in a Children’s Liturgy. This is a wonderful opportunity to re-engage with our Church and develop your faith and commitment to Christ.

Reminder - Reconciliation and First Eucharist programs.

We keep in our prayers our students who are preparing for the Sacrament of Reconciliation and First Eucharist.

The Sacramental Program runs as follows:

Reconciliation Life Lesson 1- Tuesday July 29^th 

Reconciliation Life Lesson 2- Tuesday August 5^th 

SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION MASS - WEDNESDAY AUGUST 13^th 

First Eucharist Life Lesson 1- Tuesday August 19^th 

First Eucharist Life Lesson 1- Tuesday August 28^th 

FIRST EUCHARIST RETREAT DAY - Thursday September 4^th 

FIRST EUCHARIST MASSES - 13th /14th/20th/21st of September 

Please contact Mr McGrath at joseph.mcgrath@cg.catholic.edu.au if you have any questions.

Hats are back

As we exit July this week, students are required to wear a school hat when they are playing at recess and lunch.

School Parking

A reminder that cars are not permitted to park in the bus zone immediately outside of the school admin building during zoned bus times, and cars turning right into the school entrance after 8.15am.

The area immediately outside of the school admin building is zoned for buses from 8.15am-9.00am and 3.00pm-3.30pm on all school days. I appreciate that the mornings are quite busy and that the bus drop-off zone can be a convenient and reasonably easy enough drop-off for students to move on from when buses enter the area. However, parked cars and students taking a significant amount of time to exit their cars in the bus zone could cause access and safety issues.

Vehicles are not permitted to enter the school driveway by exiting right from Wheeler Crescent between 8.15am-9.00am. Vehicles heading in this direction are to travel onto the roundabout, turn and exit back onto Wheeler Crescent, and then enter the school driveway via a left turn.

Have a beautiful week.

Erin

Term 3 dates and events