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Dear Parents and Carers
Welcome back for Term 4. I hope your break has been good for you all.
Staff News
Mrs Barbara Nell - Resignation and thank you. Barbara let me know in Week 10 that she would finish her contract on Year 3/4L at the end of last term. I thank Barbara for her work with the class and with staff last term. I appreciate the time that Barbara gave the class and for the creativity she brought to her lessons. Barbara continues working in our ELC this term.
Mrs Jo Dufelmeier - Now on Year 3/4L. Well done to Jo on her great job working on Year 4A two days per week last term. Thank you to Jo for accepting to job-share on Year 3/4L two days per week with Angie Kisiel. Jo will teach Monday and Tuesday as these will now be Angie’s REC days.
Miss Rachel Pearson - Fulltime on Year 4A. Well done to Rachel and Jo for their teamwork on Year 4A last term. Rachel will now teach full time on 4A for Term 4 as planned.
Mrs Janice Spackman - I’m pleased to announce that Janice will return to work this term one day per week which will be Fridays. Janice will work supporting students from Meeting Student Needs funding. It is great to have Janice back; she brings a wealth of experience to whichever role she fills.
Mrs Gretel Burgess (School Counsellor) - Gretel has been successful in a new counsellor position at Mackillop College starting this week. Gretel will return in Week 2 on Wednesday 23 October at 1.25pm to see our students and staff. Thank you to Gretel for all of her wonderful work with our students and for the difference she has made to their wellbeing. CatholicCare are working to fill the vacant counsellor position and I expect that this could take a few weeks.
Year 5 and Year 6 Musical - Rehearsals and Performances Coming Up
Good luck to our Year 5 and Year 6 students and staff involved the 2019 musical ‘Ali Baba and the Bongo Bandits.’ I am sure the performances will be very entertaining and it will be something special for these students to be involved in - at times we have had Wakakirri, Dance Nation and whole school musicals, but they were different to this type of show. Thank you to Mrs Bernie Ephraums for her continued inspiration in the area of performing arts and to all of the staff involved. There is still much to do over the next week before the opening show at St Mary MacKillop College on Monday 21 October.
For tickets and performance information please contact the front office staff at St Anthony’s.
Catholic Schools Netball Carnival this Saturday
Good luck to all students, staff and parents involved in the 2019 Catholic Schools Netball Carnival this Saturday 19 October. Thank you to Mrs Angela Ryan and Miss Romy Batista for all of the work they have done to organise our teams and participation in this event, as well as the Boorowa Netball and Touch Football Carnival next week.
The Catholic Schools Netball Carnival is being hosted by Rosary Primary School and will be held at Calwell Playing Fields. This carnival will be the last respective combined Catholic Schools Netball Carnival or Soccer Carnival as principals recently voted on behalf of their communities to cease the events due to the huge amount of work involved by staff and volunteers. The decision is understandable with how busy schools are and also the lives of our volunteers. The carnivals started some 26 years ago but demands are very different now!
It is also worth noting, the Boorowa Netball and Touch Football Carnival is next Friday 25 October (Week 2) and we have approximately 100 students attending. We have entered 5 teams in the netball competition and 5 teams in the touch football competition.
IMPORTANT CHANGE - 2020 Class Lists Process
This year I will not be calling for class list or placement considerations from parents and carers for our 2020 lists. I will also not be asking teachers to have students nominate friendships. These processes have been in place for a number of years but it is now time to make a change.
Somehow an unreal expectation has been created that the school can accommodate all requests, including friendships, and make changes to class lists at all stages of the process right up until school starts. There are many factors that teachers and I need to take into consideration when forming class groups each year. Even with the best designed plans in place, every year there are always students and parents who feel their child’s friendships or circumstances have changed between the time of drafting class lists and the start of school in the New Year. Many of these factors are out of the control of the family or the school i.e. child wants to be with different students than the parents want them with, child was away or on leave when friendships were considered, they have changed friends or had a falling out with friends late in the term or over the holidays, a child leaves the school and leaves them without a friend in the class and so on. If this occurs there is great anxiety and confusion and in pretty much all cases the school is simply unable to make changes to the class lists.
Ultimately, the school makes the decision on the best class lists for each year level with the information they have on hand. Our goals include planning for a successful transition from year to year for every student and to provide a class grouping that will give them an opportunity to engage in learning and do their best work.
Be assured, your child’s current teacher and other key staff in the school, know your child well and have information and data about them which assists in placing them in the best class for 2020. We also record information on each child’s social development and behavioural incidents that have occurred so we feel we are in a good position to balance needs in each class list. Our Classroom Support Staff work with parents to ensure that personal plans and adjustments are recorded and implemented as required. The ELC staff and our Kindergarten staff are working together at the moment to organise class lists for Kindergarten 2020. Their formal orientation will be later this term.
Children are more resilient than we often give them credit for and they will be OK in whichever class they are placed.
If you are concerned at all, ensure your child’s teacher has been informed of any relevant information as they will be drafting the 2010 class lists over the next 3 weeks. As in previous years, your child will meet their class teacher before the end of the term, along with new students enrolled in the school.
Parish Dinner Dance this Saturday in the School Hall.
I wish our parishioners a fantastic night at the annual parish dinner dance. The event will be held in the school hall this SATURDAY.
Upcoming Term 4 Key Dates:
These are a guide to some of the key dates for the term. Please always check the school calendar to ensure they are correct. There will be other events on the school calendar too.
- ELC 2020 to Kinder Observations (Week 1)
- Saturday 19 October - Catholic Schools Netball Carnival
- Monday 21/10 - 24/10 Year 5 and Year 6 Musical Ali Barba and the Bongo Bandits (4 Shows at St Mary Mackillop College)
- Friday 25 October - Boorowa Touch and Netball Carnival
- Friday 1 November - 2.00pm Year 3 Assembly
- Monday 11 November - Remembrance Day Liturgy
- Wednesday 13 November - Canteen Tuck Day
- Friday 15 November (Week 5) - Grandparents Day 9am -11.30am Note: The earlier start time.
- Wednesday 20 November - Alpha Theatre Show - Beauty and the Beast (here at school)
- Friday 22 November - St Anthony’s 2019 Talent Show
- 2020 ELC Orientation - Tuesday 19 November 9am -11am Bilbies, Wednesday 20 November 9am-11am Koala’s, Thursday 21 November 9am-11am Possums. (TBC)
- Wednesday 27 November - 2020 Kindergarten Orientation Session (TBC)
- Mission Week (TBC)
- Kindergarten Christmas Nativity Story - Thursday 12th December
- 2019 Thanksgiving Mass - Thursday 5 December
- Monday 9 December - Year 6 Graduation Mass and Dinner
- Friday 13 December - Semester 2 Reports Home
- Tuesday 17 December - Year 6 Big Splash Excursion
- Wednesday 18 December - Year 5 and Year 6 Candle Ceremony
- Thursday 19 December - Last school day for 2019
I wish you all a great start to Term 4.
God bless
Greg Walker
Principal
Term 4 School Fees will be emailed out next week.
Payments may be made by cash, cheque, credit card, Bpay, EFTPOS, QKR! or Direct Debit. We have upgraded the EFTPOS machine to an Albert, if you chose to pay your statement by completing your credit card details please make sure that you also have the CCB number, the form currently does not ask for this number but it is now required.
There is a formal process to apply for fee concessions if you are experiencing financial difficulties. Please contact Katie Akers.
Please keep in your prayers the Grady Family. Margaret, the very much loved Grandmother of Cooper 1L and Caleb from the ELC passed away after a long courageous battle with cancer. Margaret's funeral will be held next week. Rest in Peace.
Congratulations to Maddison in 1 Padua who welcomed Baby Brother in the holidays.
Beau Scott Raddatz was born on the 30th of September and has two big sisters, Charlotte not yet at school.
Congratulations to Mum and Dad too!
Week 3 |
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Tuesday 29th October | Courtney Guy | 9am-12pm | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wednesday 30th October | Oslinda | 12-2pm | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Thursday 31st October | Karen Carmody | 9am-12pm | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Friday 1st November | Selina Walker | 9am-2pm | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rachel Esler | 9-10:30am | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Edward Denison-Edson | 9-10:30am | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Di Young | 9am-2pm |
St Anthony's can now offer a new hassle-free school payments system called Qkr! This will replace flexischools for the Canteen starting Term 4. This system is operational and ready to use and the tickets for the Year 5 and 6 musical are available using this sytem NOW.