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Thank You!
It was lovely to have the chance to meet with so many ELC families at our recent Meet and Greet evening. We hope you got the chance to meet some other parents and families, or chat with some of our ELC staff. Thanks so much for taking the time out of your busy weeks to come along. One of the highlights of our job is getting to meet so many lovely families!
Lent 2023
Wednesday the 22nd of February marked the beginning of the Season of Lent on the church calendar. The Bilbies and Koalas class had a lovely time together on Shrove Tuesday, preparing for Lent by assisting with making some delicious pancakes. We had so many enthusiastic cooks to help with measuring and mixing ingredients, and the students loved the chance to flip their own pancakes and serve them onto their plates. They were delicious!
The Possums and Koalas class joined the students of St Anthony’s for an Ash Wednesday Liturgy lead by Father Tom. Traditionally the 40 Days of Lent are a time when people of faith seek to make space in their lives for God through prayer, fasting and giving to others. Everyone is on different roads with their faith journey and I think Lent can be a season to simplify our lives so we have more time for the things that matter most to each of us. Taking time to thank God for something each day or sharing as a family something you are grateful for each day is a great practice for building a sense of wellbeing as we take time to appreciate the good things in our lives. Having a focus on others and giving of ourselves to others is also shown to be an effective way of building well being. For small children acts of giving to others can be as simple as giving someone a hug, helping with simple jobs and inviting someone to join in a game.
As part of the season of Lent as a school we seek to give to others through donations to Project Compassion. We have a number of donation boxes at the ELC - one in the front foyer and each class also has a donation box. It would be lovely for our ELC children to bring in donations to support this cause. Donations can also be made via the QKR! app. Perhaps to make this more meaningful to the children you could chat with them about some simple jobs they could do at home to earn some money for the donation box.
Harmony Day T-Shirts
This year, to support Caritas Australia’s Project Compassion, we are again offering all children, staff and family members, the opportunity to purchase a St Anthony’s ‘Flourish’ t-shirt. Each t-shirt costs $25 with a percentage of the cost going to Caritas Australia’s Project Compassion. These t-shirts will be a wonderful addition to our Harmony Day celebrations in Week 8. T-shirt sizes range from children's 4-14 through to adult's XXL.
Orders are to be placed via the QKR! app and close on Thursday 2nd March at 4:00pm. If you would like to order but are unable to make payment by Thursday the 2nd of March, please contact Beth via email beth.lehmensich@cg.catholic.edu.au
Coming Up
On the 21st and 24th of March students from the ELC will be travelling to Birrigai to participate in their Wombat Songlines Day program designed for Preschool students.
Students will learn a little about the Birrigai landscape and its significance to the Ngunnawal people. They will go on a short bush walk, help make some damper and learn about some of the native plants and animals that can be found at Birrigai. Information and an online permission form for this excursion will be emailed to you in the next week or so. Each class would also love to have 2 or 3 parent helpers come along to assist on this excursion. Any helpers joining us must have a WWVP card, which can be applied for at Access Canberra using the following link.
A friendly reminder to please complete and return your CWA, that was emailed to you last week. These need to be kept on file here as part of your CCS being applied to your account with us. Thank you to those families who have been able to return it already. If you have any questions, please contact Olivia or Emma at any time.
We have received information from the Department of Education regarding changes to CCS from July this year. Please visit their website for further information. 
LUNCH ORDERS
Children at the preschool are able to receive lunch orders from the primary school canteen. When ordering food please order Lunch (no recess) from the Early Learning Centre Canteen Menu only. Items ordered that are not from this menu list will be sent home in student’s bags and students will be given a suitable alternative from the canteen or our ELC kitchen.
The Early Learning Centre Lunch Menu includes wonderful options suitable to your 3-5 year olds. The full canteen menu is not an option as it is important that our preschool students are eating a healthy and balanced lunch while at Preschool and enjoying ‘sometimes’ foods when they are at home.
To order please download and use the Qkr! app. Once installed, find and click on St Anthony's Parish Primary School and create a profile for your child.
The Canteen is open Tuesday - Friday and orders need to be placed by 9:15am.
As you would be aware, SZapp is our main source of communication for general information within our preschool. I hope that you are reading this as you are connected and recieved the notification about this newsletter being published and shared with you. If not, and you became aware of the newsletter only through a Seesaw message from your child's class teacher, please connect to SZapp now.
You will miss important information and events if you are not connected and subscribed to the 'Preschool Parents/Carers 2023' group. Please see the below instructions to download the app, or speak to one of us in the office and we will be more than happy to help. Thank you.
