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Dear Families,
Well done to all of our Parents and Carers for preparing your children so well for their first week back at school. Congratulations to our wonderful students who have returned to school with such wonderful attitudes and plenty of enthusiasm. Our students have had a very settled start to the year and I am very proud of the way each student has responded to the structure and routines of the school day at St Anthony’s.
This year, our school theme is We are better together than we are alone. How fitting for our current climate, where now more than ever, we need to be walking this road together. We often describe life as a journey and we speak about Jesus being on that journey with us. Pope Francis spoke in the last year of Synodality and more recently Archbishop Prowse shares his words of Synodality. He describes Synodality in one sense as walking together in Hope. The Scriptures remind us that Jesus meets us on this life journey. No matter the destination, Jesus encounters us when we are on the road. Jesus meets us in our conversations with one another. Jesus meets us in our walking and in our resting. Jesus meets us when we reflect in our minds and hearts about our experiences. Most importantly, Jesus wants to meet us to share his story with us, so that it might transform us.
I was fortunate enough to spend some time with my family at the South coast over the Christmas break and thought I’d share this story with you. I was lining up at the busy IGA at Malua Bay to purchase some supplies. Behind me in the line were four young children, the eldest with a debit card in hand. The children didn’t seem to have any goods to purchase in their hands as the line moved slowly towards the counter. As I approached the counter to pay for my supplies, I watched the children who patiently waited in the line, select their ice creams from the fridge at the front counter. The children had obviously waited till they reached the front of the line before they selected their ice creams (instead of holding on to them and letting them melt while they waited…clever I thought to myself) I observed the children quickly take the ice creams out of the fridge (they already knew exactly which one each of them were going to choose) and incredibly politely,they each placed their ice creams on the counter, as their eldest brother paid using the debit card. With beautiful and kind manners, each of the children thanked the cashier and waved goodbye. I thought to myself as I left the shop, how refreshing and wonderful it was to witness children being so responsible, independent and well-mannered. I could see an adult waiting for them at the door of the shop. I smiled and let him know how kind and patient the children were in the shop waiting, and commended the children for their beautiful manners. What made this story even more special, was to learn from my conversation with the adult (who I now knew as their Father), was that unknowingly to me, these children were from our very own community, St Anthony’s Parish Primary School, Wanniassa!
How blessed I am, I thought to myself and smiled as I walked back to my car.
I feel very privileged to be a part of leading such a wonderful community and very much look forward to the year ahead. Over the past days I have taken great enjoyment in listening to the wonderful holiday stories that have been shared with me by the students, both on the playground and in the classrooms. How wonderful it has been to witness how settled each of them have returned to the learning environment.
I am very grateful to our dedicated staff for the enormous work and preparation that has gone into ensuring that the term has begun as smoothly as possible for our students. Last week our Staff participated in online Professional Learning. Part of this was beginning our week with prayer and an opportunity for staff to reflect and pray. With the business of our lives, I am at times challenged by the need to just be still and silent. I take great comfort in knowing that with silence, these moments bring me closer to God. Constance T. Hull (2018) sends us all a gentle reminder as we begin the year together: The more silence we allow to enter into our lives and our souls, the more God will fill us with His loving presence. The restlessness will ease. The boredom will abate. We will begin to crave silence. It may start as shutting off the radio while driving in the car or getting up early in the dark to pray. The progression will be slow-as is always the case in the spiritual life- but we will progress by the grace of the Holy Spirit.
We keep all of our community in our prayers, particularly staff members and families who have been affected by illness and isolation. We also pray and thank our wonderful Medical personnel and workers across Canberra who are working tirelessly to protect our communities.
Please know my door is always open for communication and be affirmed in knowing the well-being, safety and care of your children is paramount and they are in good care with the wonderful staff we have here at St Anthony’s.
PRINCIPAL
Unfortunately we have had to cancel our Swimming Carnival which was due to take place this term. If your child would like to be considered to enter the ACT Championships further information will be available soon.
Our first week is off to a good start. All classes in the Primary School have visited the Library and the Preschool have had a lessons in their classrooms. Classes have borrowed bulk loans to fill their classroom shelves.
Library Borrowing
Just a quick reminder: All students will need a library bag to borrow books to go home. Please ensure they are labelled with their name and class and placed in their bags the night before their lesson.
Classes Borrowing
Classes |
Borrowing |
Kinder Year 1 |
2 books to go home. |
Year 2 Year 3 |
2 books to go home. 1 silent reading book for their desk. |
Year 4 Year 5 Year 6 |
3 books to go home. 1 silent reading book for their desk. |
Book Club
Book Club catalogues have gone home this week. All orders are placed online. https://www.scholastic.com.au/book-club/book-club-parents/
No money comes to school. Orders will close 9:00am Monday 14th of February. If you are purchasing a book as a gift and you don’t want your child to receive it at school, please indicate this on your order.
Sora – Online Books
All students in the Primary School have access to Sora. Online books include, fiction, non fiction, magazines and audio stories. To be able to use it at home please follow the instructions below.
Instructions: 1. Open browser and head to https://soraapp.com/welcome/login/202541 OR Google 'Sora ACEN' and click on the first result
2. On the sign into you school page, select ACEN Member Collection from each of the menus and press the green buttons to continue
3. If prompted, type in your username (e.g., jsmith01) and password and make sure that Canberra-Goulburn is selected from the dropdown menu
4. You should now be in your Sora account
5. We encourage students to bookmark the site for quick access later
If your child doesn’t know or cannot remember their username or password, contact their teacher.
“You can find magic wherever you look. Sit back and relax all you need is a book!”
– Dr. Seuss
Danielle Smith
Teacher/Librarian
NAPLAN Online will occur in our school between 10 and 20 May 2022.
NAPLAN Online is a more engaging assessment that adjusts questions to each student’s achievement level. It also delivers more precise results to schools and parents more quickly.
NAPLAN provides valuable information to schools and parents about literacy and numeracy achievement. It supports school improvement processes by enabling teachers to monitor student progress over time and to identify areas of strength and development.
All eligible students are encouraged and supported to participate in NAPLAN testing. Visit www.nap.edu.au to see interactive versions of the test and for more information.
Labelling clothing and other belongings
Please ensure that your children’s names are on their jackets, hats, lunch boxes and drink bottles. Also check that labels are still legible after a few washes.
Jackets, hats, lunch boxes, fruit boxes and drink bottles found around the school property are put in the Lost Property bins in the Library. Those with identifiable names are returned to their owners in the classrooms, usually on Mondays.
Jackets without names (including those that are not clearly identifiable) are taken to the Clothing Pool for re-sale (12 to 15 jackets a fortnight!!). The Clothing Pool cannot re-sell hats.
Drink bottles and lunch containers are put on display in the window of the Library and, if not claimed within a week, are put in the rubbish.
Due to the same “first or last name” possibly being used by more than one family, a first name Initial and the last name would be very helpful in identifying the correct student to return items.