St Anthony's School Newsletter No.14

Dear Families and Friends of St Anthony’s School,

On Monday 2nd Sept our staff joined St Teresa's & Nativity School to undertake a professional learning day about Visible Learning. Visible Learning is about using research and strategic actions to seek improvement in student learning outcomes. It is not about introducing a new program but rather investigating aspects of learning that are working at St Anthony's and exploring these with the aim of transferring knowledge and actions into other areas. Supporting this learning we have undertaken a staff survey exploring our perceptions and understandings and we have undertaken a school audit. We are beginning to put all of this information together to develop strategic actions for term 4 and beyond. We look forward to sharing more about our plans and seeking your ideas and feedback. 

Over the past couple of weeks we have welcomed a range of visitors  to enrich student learning experiences including Marion Council to facilitate Bin Audit, Athletics and Baseball clinics, Soccer Player Ryan Kitto to talk about the Premier's Reading and Be Active Challenges and  After School Hockey Clinics.

We welcomed students from Clarence Park Kindy who visited us and took part in a number of learning activities.

We have a couple of action packed weeks left of this term and I look forward to continue to see our students be thriving people, capable learners and leaders for the world God desires.  

Best wishes,  From Stuart  

Health & PE Day  is a nationwide initiative that highlights the importance of Health & PE in the Australian Curriculum, and its influence on the learning and development of children. We celebrated the day by  wearing our colours, participating in whole school fitness and some fun with our Staff vs Student game. 

An educated Nation, comprising active and healthy young people, is the best investment we can make for the future. Learning in Health and Physical Education (HPE) makes an important, positive difference to their time as students and their lifelong participation and health outcomes. Parents, teachers, schools and communities play a central role in promoting, facilitating and modelling positive lifestyle behaviours.

At St Anthony's we engage students in rich learning about health and well-being and through community and school staff support provide a range of sporting and physical activities including : school sports, after school and in class clinics, PE Class, Daily Fitness & Just Dance in the Library. 

Over the next 4 weeks students will be undertaking the Premier's  Be Active challenge. Students are encouraged to reflect on their activities and fill in their passports. The Premier’s challenge asks that students are active for 60 minutes a day, for 5 days a week for 4 weeks. More information and ideas can be found at the website - http://www.pbac.sa.edu.au/ and on student passports.  We know that health and wellbeing are key factors to support student learning. 

Hats & Sunscreen – In line with our Sun Smart Policy, from the 1st September, all students are required to wear their hats when outside at play and during learning time. The Policy always requires students apply sunblock prior to coming to school. Sunblock is re-applied prior to lunchtime. Thank you for your support as we work together to keep our students sun safe.

 Text messages, app updates and emails will be sent out in the coming weeks asking families to indicate if they are leaving St Anthony's at the end of the year. We will not require a response from Year 6 students. This information is critical as we begin to plan for next year and ensure we can pass on vital information to support ongoing learning of students. It is stated in our enrollment policy that families are liable for fees if they do not provide one terms notice prior to leaving our school.

We remind all families that we welcome the opportunity to talk about situations and circumstances to ensure we can support your child's ongoing enrollment. 

On Tuesday 10th September we welcomed a group of  students from Clarence Park Kindy. We are working with our local early child care centers to share our resources and build up strong connections. During the visit students played with our robots, had some fun in the Library and spent some time in the music room with Mr Young. 

Students develop personal and social capability as they learn to understand themselves and others, and manage their relationships, lives and learning more effectively. Personal and social capability involves students in a range of practices including recognising and regulating emotions, developing empathy for others and understanding relationships, establishing and building positive relationships, making responsible decisions, working effectively in teams, handling challenging situations constructively and developing  leadership skills. (Australian Curriculum) 

Our work and continued focus on wellbeing especially through Social & Emotional Learning fits well with this theme. Social and emotional learning is about developing the ability to care for ourselves, others, make responsible decisions, establish positive relationships, and handle challenging situations. (Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, 2003)

Students develop ethical understanding as they identify and investigate the nature of ethical concepts, values and character traits, and understand how reasoning can assist ethical judgement.

Ethical understanding involves students building a strong personal and socially oriented ethical outlook that helps them to manage context, conflict and uncertainty, and to develop an awareness of the influence that their values and behaviour have on others. It does this through fostering the development of ‘personal values and attributes such as honesty, resilience, empathy and respect for others’, and the capacity to act with ethical integrity. (Australian Curriculum) 

Connected with this theme the Year 5 students, with the support of the Marion Council undertook a bin audit of our rubbish. They shared their findings with the whole school and we look forward to actioning some of these discoveries. 

 The Pope has asked that throughout the month of September until the Feast of St Francis, the Patron of the Environment, on October 4th, we pray for and act in love towards our fragile earth.

“Let us pray so that everyone may receive the message of care for the earth and grow in responsibility toward the common home God has entrusted to us. Pope Francis 

Today we explored God’s creation and planted sunflower seeds and made hand flowers. We are looking forward to seeing our seeds and hands grow....! 

In Geography, the Year 2/3 students have been learning about continents, countries and geographical divisions.

To show their understanding, they have made countries out of lego, performed Reader’s Theatre and made a labeled globe of the world using a balloon!

The year 5/6 classes have been exploring and consolidating their understandings of measurement through designing house plans.

VR Project ..... something exciting is coming, stay tuned!

Ms Commane has been developing the class drama skills and this week they worked on developing a mime about a fairytale.

The St Anthony’s School Fete is only 2 months away – Sunday 17th November 10.30am to 3.30pm

The Fete team are busy finalising all the details and encourage you to share the date with your family and friends.

What have we have been doing ‘behind the scenes’?

*           Door knocking business’s for Silent Auction items and/or Vouchers

*           Collection of wine, wine and more wine (for the Bar, silent auction and wine wall/raffle) is ongoing –

any help is appreciated!

*           Convenors have attended a meeting and are busy finalising all the requirements for their stall

*           Shopping lists are busy being prepared

*           Food requirements are being sourced and ordered

*           The entertainment line up is almost complete – expect to see an action packed day of music, dancing and FUN!

*           Stall infrastructure is being finalised (tents, tables, power etc)

*           WHS requirements are being finalised

*           Fete map and layout is being prepared

Next term

*           Kids Zone pre-purchase ticket sales will start

*           We will advise of dates for Trash n Treasure and Clothes collection days

*           Stall rosters will be finalised

*           We are finalising all the Fete signage and flyers and will soon ask for volunteers for a mailbox drop in your local area and/or displaying a Fete sign (especially if you live on a main road or near an intersection!)

*           There will be a final Fete meeting Wk 2 (normal PnF meeting time) to finalise all stalls and provide Convenors with information

*           Baking and Lolly stall convenors will provide information on how you can support this stall with your baking skills

We are all looking forward to what is shaping up to be an amazing weekend and Fete day and with your support it is sure to be a success!

Our combined St Anthony's / St John's Footy Team had a successful night at the 2019 West Adelaide 6/7 SANFL schools football presentation Dinner. 

Congratulations to Gus, Joey and Harper for making the 2109 “Team of the Year”  - great effort guys.