From the Principal

Dear Families,

This is the last Newsletter for Term One and I would like to congratulate all our community on the way we have returned to the routine of school. Although this has been difficult at times, our persistence and resilience has been amazing. This is the longest our children have been at school for two years so they are getting tired as they do not have ‘school stamina’ at the moment. With just over a week to go before holidays, your child may need encouragement to come to school each day with a smile on their faces. I hope you have a restful Easter break and you can enjoy time with your families. Stay safe and a reminder we return to school on Tuesday April 26. 

Next week our children will be focussing on the most important week in our Church, Holy Week, leading into Easter. We will be holding Liturgies to celebrate the significant days of this special week.

Palm Sunday is the day Jesus entered the Holy City of Jerusalem surrounded by a crowd of followers. Today, the palms are distributed at mass. 

Holy Thursday is the day during Holy Week that commemorates the Washing of the Feet and Last Supper of Jesus Christ with the Apostles.

Good Friday commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus and his death at Calvary. 

We will celebrate our Easter Sunday and the Resurrection of Jesus when we return to school in Term Two.   

Congratulations

Our School Athletics team made us very proud last Friday on the way they competed against the other primary schools in Sunbury. We came second in the ‘Big Schools’ competition. Congratulations to the following children who now represent St Anne’s at the District level - James Mc, Asha B, Noa S, Tynan J, William R, Harrison J, Lenny M, Isobel Mc, Evelyn R, Salma S, Robbie B, Cooper Mc, Jazmin R and Tom G

We wish them all the best. 

On Tuesday 22nd March our students competed at the Regional Swimming Competition, congratulations to all our students and their excellent results.

Boys 12-13 50 Free  Dylan K 7th place

Girls 9-10 Backstroke   Chloe B  12th place

Girls 11 Butterfly   Evelyn R   12th place

Boys 12-13 Butterfly    Dylan K  5th place

Boys 12-13 Free Relay    Aiden M, Liam  W, Dylan K & Tynan J 9th place.

A special thank you to Mrs Kelly who has been such a great support for our school during the swimming competition.

School Advisory Council (SAC)

Last week we held our first meeting and welcomed our new members to our SAC.

The SAC is an advisory body that provides support, review and advice to myself.  I like to liaise with the SAC  to gain a deeper insight into parents perspectives and an opportunity for them to have a voice. 

Our School Advisory Council members are;

Fr Kevin McIntosh (ex officio) Noelene Hussey (ex officio)

Stephen Arthurson, Simone Watson (Emily Yr 2, Jack Yr 4, Grace Yr 6)

PC Grobler (Maria Yr 1, Christina Yr 3)         Sue Millet (Ebony Yr 4)

Sarah Magro (Anthony Yr 4, Alexandra Yr 1)  Kat Taylor (Samuel Yr 3)

Gayle Sharp ( Elena Yr 3, Luisa Yr 5) Rochelle Verity (Harry Yr 3)

At our last meeting we had Rob Arans from MACS talk to us about the role of the SAC in our Catholic schools. We also discussed the possibility of a swimming program later in the year and the classes that will participate. We also decided to make contact with the Hume Council regarding the traffic issues in Stewarts lane and the side streets. A concern has been raised about the safety of our children when crossing these roads where there is not a designated school crossing which is supervised. 

Our Council members are available to answer your questions or table any concerns at our meetings. 

Prep Enrolments

2023 Enrolments are now open and being accepted. If you have a child ready to begin school next year, please collect an enrolment form and hand it into the Office. We have had many new families join us for our Open Days and we are looking forward to them joining our school community next year. If you have any friends, family or neighbours needing to choose a school for their child, please let them know about St Anne’s. As your recommendation always attracts new enrolments. 

Positive Behaviour For Learning - PBL

Our focus until the end of term is to encourage our children to try and solve their own problems when playing in a respectful way.

Our teaching points are that if something is happening that you don’t like you have three choices;

1. Keep doing what you are doing - you choose to stay and continue to play, even though you may not be having fun or doing the right thing.
2. Move to another area - find another game to play or just move away so you can have a break from the friends you were playing with
3. Ask an adult to help - if you feel you can’t fix up the problem yourself then ask an adult to help you. 

These are lifelong strategies. They can be used when our children are playing with neighbours, when they are older and out with friends or when they find themselves in situations that they know are not going to end positively. 

God Bless

Ms Noelene Hussey