St Anthony's School Newsletter No.3

Dear Families and Friends of St Anthony’s School,

I hope the long weekend will grace your families with some rest and enjoyment. Today staff undertook a variety of professional learning activities including Equal Opportunity Training, Well-being and Inclusive Education. We are blessed with an amazing staff who want to continue to grow and develop to ensure they are meeting the needs of students. 

Thank you to the many families who joined us in feasting with pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. Thank you to the staff who generously donated all of the pancakes and toppings, and helped cook. Thanks to members of the community who helped cook, serve and clean up. We raised $300 for Project Compassion and prepared ourselves for the start of our Lenten journey. 

Pope Francis has invited us to, “not waste this season of Lent.” Our time of prayer, giving and acting in mercy and love help us prepare to celebrate and enter into the mysteries of Holy Week and Easter.  

Pope Francis’ Message for Lent 2019 offers us some reflections to accompany our journey of conversion this coming Lent.

Care for Creation - When we live as children of God, redeemed, led by the Holy Spirit (cf. Rom 8:14) and capable of acknowledging and obeying God’s law, beginning with the law written on our hearts and in nature, we also benefit creation by cooperating in its redemption. 

Love  - Unless we tend constantly towards Easter, towards the horizon of the Resurrection, the mentality expressed in the slogans “I want it all and I want it now!” gains the upper hand. 

Conversion - The path to Easter demands that we renew our  hearts as Christians through repentance, conversion and forgiveness, so as to live fully the abundant grace of the paschal mystery.

Sports

To the year 3-6 students who have been selected to swim at the Catholic Schools Swimming Carnival on Friday 15th March, all the best. And good luck to the 18 girls from Yr 5 & 6 who will be participating in the inaugural Crows  Football Cup being held on Wednesday 20th March. Congratulations to the students currently representing St Anthony's in Cricket, Basketball and T-Ball this term and thanks to the many parents who coach and support. Thank you to Mrs Downs for all her work in our sports program. 

I look forward to celebrating two important feasts in our Tradition - St Patrick and St Joseph over the coming weeks and commemorating Bullying No Way Day and Harmony Day. A number of exciting learning adventures lie ahead this term including swimming week, learning conversations, Purple Day, Disco and HOLIDAYS!

Best wishes from Stuart 

We believe that every day is bullying no way day. Bullying is repeated verbal, physical, social or psychological behaviour that is harmful and involves the misuse of power by an individual or group towards one or more persons. It can have long-term effects on those involved. Bullying can happen: face-to-face (e.g. pushing, tripping, name-calling), at a distance (e.g. spreading rumours, excluding someone) and through information and communications technologies (e.g. use of SMS, email, chat rooms).  The following website is full of helpful information and details about bullying and how to help your child - http://bullyingnoway.gov.au/

The message of Harmony Day is Everyone Belongs. It is a day to celebrate Australia’s diversity. It is a day of cultural respect for everyone who calls Australia home – from the traditional owners of this land to those who have come from many countries around the world. The Harmony Day website contains further information and resources http://www.harmony.gov.au/ We are blessed to be a part of a community where the culture and stories of everyone is important and valued. 

This past week has been a busy one as we have celebrated Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday and the start of the season of Lent. It is great to see the student’s openness and willingness to learn more about these events and what it means in our Christian tradition.

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of one of the most important times in the Christian calendar. Lent lasts for 40 days (not including Sunday’s) and concludes on Holy Thursday.  It is the time that we prepare to enter the mystery of Easter -  Jesus died and that was sad - but it was also wonderful in an Easter kind of way… somehow he was still with his friends, somehow he is still with us, somehow his love is still leading people to make the world a more loving place.

As in many religious traditions, prayer is a central part of the Catholic tradition. During Lent we are invited to continue our prayer life and ‘make space’ for God. At school we will be having Heart Prayer every day at 11:30am - a few minutes of stillness, silence, simplicity - not talking to God, just 'being with God'? Ask your children what happens in Heart Prayer and have a go with your families at home.

The old term is 'Almsgiving' and refers to being charitable and sharing what we have with people in need. Project Compassion is the appeal run through Caritas Australia which Catholic communities are encouraged to support during Lent. As a school we will be learning about and raising money for 6 different people and their communities from different parts of the world. Families are invited to spend some time together listening to and talking about the people we will be helping. The 6 Project Compassion stories can be found here: https://lent.caritas.org.au

St Patrick is a significant saint in the Catholic tradition and for the many Australians of Irish heritage. St Patrick's Day this year occurs on Sun Mar 17th so as a school we will be celebrating NEXT FRI Mar 15th. Just prior to lunch we will be entertained by some Irish dancers including the talented Carey kids! At lunchtime children will have the chance to buy GREEN Jellies and a few other GREEN treats from the canteen. All items 50c. All money raised will go towards Project Compassion. Thanks to P and F for their support with this event.

Attached is a reflection on the Prayer of St Patrick that your family might like to watch together.

Save the date! Week 9 Fri Mar 29th

Students will be running stalls, raising money for Project Compassion.

All items/activities 20c

Thanks to the many parents who are supporting their children to plan and run a stall.

More info soon!

This year Holy Week and Easter are in the school holidays.

We will be remembering the events of Holy Week in Week 11 and will celebrate Easter when we return after the holidays - for Christians Easter is not just one Sunday but lasts for 6 weeks!!!

Watch this space!

Each term Principals of all South Australian Catholic Schools meet together with the Director, Dr Neil McGoran, to explore key issues and learn more about strategic activities and directions of Catholic Education. Over the last few years we have  been exploring ways to Lead Catholic Education to New Levels Excellence, which is our plan to strengthen, transform and promote Catholic Education South Australia. This strategy is calling us to find ways to explore and express our Catholic Identity in new and meaningful ways, set targets for improved outcomes for students and their learning, and work together to enhance all members of our communities well being and engagement. 

The Catholic Education Strategic plan is located below which outlines key actions and requirements for our school and the system. Together we will be exploring ways to: 

• enhance our Catholic Identity through meaningful learning and formation experiences 
• seek improved learning outcomes
• strengthen our approaches to care for creation
• partner with the whole community to support and advocate for well-being and inclusion 
  
  

We continue to be blessed with a really beautiful and active P&F group and a special mention goes to the group of volunteers who assisted with Shrove Tuesday’s Pancake Breakfast. Thank you all! 

Keep an eye out for these coming events you could get involved with:

·         St Patricks Day will be celebrated on Friday 15th March and we are looking for people to help make 130 cups of Green Jelly. A small batch could be done at home and brought on the day or join a group (I hope!) in the canteen, before Thursday pick up.

·         The School Disco will be on Thursday evening 11th April, just before Term end. We’re calling for volunteers for this one too.

·         Week 2 next Term will be time for our Mother’s Day stall, with lots of new goodies already in stock for the children to choose something special for Mum.  We are keen to have some Dads or other Special Male helpers “man” the stall, so the Mum’s can enjoy the other activities available on the day. Come on fellas raise your hand if you can help on Friday 10th May (9-10:30am at most).

We are thrilled to receive whatever help you have to offer – shopping for ingredients, cooking, producing flyers for the various events… If you’d like to add your talents to the team you can speak with anyone you see here in the photos taken at our most recent meeting or the office staff too.

Currently the active group keeps in touch via Messenger which is open to any parent to join but we hope to switch over to the Skoolbag App soon to ensure the whole school parent community gets included.

All volunteers are required to have a Catholic Ed Police Clearance. It’s a fairly easy process, especially if you already hold a clearance from another organisation. Our fabulous office staff can assist you.

Bernice, Mel & Jenny

Pop it into your diaries: Sunday 17 November 2019, 10.30am to 3.30pm.

We would still love to hear from you if you can help out with our amazing Fete this year! If you have an interest, please return the form or even just submit your name to the front office. Don’t worry if you have never helped out with organising a Fete before, we have a great line up of helpers who will guide you through (and who some are also experiencing their first Fete committee). You may want to be a convenor of a stall or perhaps helping out behind the scenes is more your thing? There will be plenty of opportunities to put your name down as a volunteer throughout the year so at the moment we are looking for convenors (repeat convenors is even better!) or people who can help make bookings, source free stuff, source our entertainment line up, help stall convenors with their organising and help make some important decisions as the year goes on. The Fete team so far is: Jane Ryan, Anna Merola, Sarah Sommers, Melissa Hoggins, Bernice Nitschke, Jenny Larsen, Jennie Brown, Natalie Victory, Letitia Waite, Penny Harrison, Tanya Andrews, our amazing Sue Hargreaves and myself. So please speak to one of these awesome women if you want to find out more! We will be organising a Fete meeting soon.... in the meantime make sure you follow us on Facebook and Instagram!

Follow us on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/stantedw.fete

Follow us on Instagram here: @stantedw.fete

Please Like and Share our pages and upcoming posts as it’s a great way to spread the word about our Fete further beyond our school community.

My Challenge is a free, step-by-step way to increase the uptake of digital skills in this generation across South Australia through community, schools and family. It’s all about increasing inclusive digital opportunity.

Students will take be invited to take part in the challenge at school and families are also encouraged to be involved. More information is available at the website - https://commissionersdigitalchallenge.net.au/

Helen Connolly (Commissioner for Children and Young People,South Australia)

Unique small group hiking trips designed for mothers and their daughters (or aunts, nieces, grandmothers) to share in the challenge and fun of overnight hiking and camping. Helping girls to appreciate their strength, resilience and personal capability. Strong Daughters trips are aimed for girls aged 9-13 years and operate over a weekend / school holidays.

Activities, equipment, food and drink is provided. All our Strong Daughter trips are guided by our super friendly and qualified Big Heart Adventures leaders and experienced peer mentor. Check our website link for inclusions and exclusions, fitness requirements, and further details. https://bigheartadventures.com.au/strong-daughters/