Dear Families

On behalf of the staff of St Anne’s, I would like to thank all members of our community for their thoughts and prayers on the passing of our colleague and friend Alison Bortchert-Krohn. Mrs BK, as the students knew her, was a larger than life personality and an educator whose presence will be sadly missed. Alison’s funeral is on Monday. We have put measures in place to enable a number of staff to attend, while also keeping our school open and functioning.

As a staff group, we are in the early stages of considering what an appropriate “school-based” memorial for Alison might look like. This will likely take place early next term, with one of the primary considerations being how we can enable families with older students who were taught by Alison to attend.

Christ beside me: Walking in the footsteps of Saint Patrick

Catholic Education Week 2026 Theme

This week, schools across Melbourne have celebrated Catholic Education Week, which is held each year in the week surrounding Saint Patrick’s feast day. Our local cathedral in the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne, St Patrick's Cathedral, was opened in 1858 and is named in honour of Saint Patrick. This reflects the significant Irish Catholic community whose support and contributions were instrumental in its initial construction.

Because of this strong historical connection, the feast day holds special significance for Catholic schools across Melbourne. Today, our Student RE Leadership Team proudly represented St Anne’s at a Mass at St Patrick’s Cathedral, joining students from more than 300 other schools. It was a wonderful reminder of the strength and unity of the Catholic education community to which we belong.

As we continue Lent, we once again ask for your support of the charity Project Compassion, information about which can be found here.

Swim Team

Congratulations to the 14 children who represented our Primary School at the Woodlands Division Swimming Competition on February 25th. It was wonderful to see the students competing and achieving such excellent results. They demonstrated outstanding sportsmanship and should be very proud of their efforts.

Thank you to the parents and carers who attended to support the children, as well as for cheering and encouraging all competitors from every school. Congratulations also to Edward, Sadie, and Jean, who progressed to the Northern Metropolitan Primary Regional Swimming Championships, which took place yesterday. Edward placed 9th, Sadie 9th and Jean 8th. What an amazing result from our swimmers.

At St Anne’s we…

This week, classes across the school have deepened their understanding of the We Are Learners pillar by engaging in tasks that highlight the disposition of being collaborative. From our Prep students learning to take turns and encourage one another, to our Year 6 students listening to different perspectives, negotiating and compromising, students across the school have been developing the skills needed to become successful collaborative learners.

Prep Parent Night Out - Prep & Connect

A big thanks to our PFA crew - Rosa, Clare & Patrice - for organising last Friday’s catchup for Prep parents at a local Sunbury venue. With a turnout of more than 50 parents, it was an evening to establish or strengthen connections outside of the school setting. Our current Prep cohort will finish primary school together in 2033 (!!!) so there will be many more opportunities to catch up between now and then.

Attendance

The graphic at the end of this page describes our obligations and actions in relation to the reporting of student absences. It highlights the importance of alerting the school when your child will be absent, and the reason why we make follow up calls for unexplained absences. We ask for your support in this matter. Please note that the SIMON Everywhere App is back up and running, and is the easiest way to report students absences.

As usual, reach out with any questions, complements or concerns - principal@sasunbury.catholic.edu.au

Warm Regards and God’s Blessings,

Stephen

Harmony Day