From the Principal
Dear St Anthony's Families,
Loving God,
We thank you for the gift of our Catholic schools.
Where we learn and grow in your presence.
As we celebrate this Catholic Education week, we walk in the footsteps of Saint Patrick.
Seeking to be courageous in faith and kind in action.
May we feel Christ beside us, leading our staff, guiding our students and uniting our families.
Help us to build a community of compassion and live out the gospel in all we do.
We ask this in the name of Jesus, our teacher.
Amen.
Week 8 of Term One
Dear St Anthony's Families,
Another busy two weeks finished. Our NAPLAN is just about completed and I thank our teachers, our staff and especially our students in Year 3 and 5 for the successful completion of these tests.
Our photoshoot last week was great and lots of fun. You will be seeing more images soon throughout the newsletter, website and our social media channels.
Here is a snapshot:
We had a successful Open Morning on Saturday with three families visiting our school.
Yesterday celebrated 'Harmony Day' (officially on the 21st) with lots of activities. We raised a lot of money for CARITAS. Thank you to all students and parents for your support and dedication to this great cause. Please see here for photos and our fundraising result!!
Swimming starts next week
A friendly reminder that our swimming program starts next week on Monday. Thank you to all the families who have completed the permission forms. If you haven't done that yet, please do so now, it make things a bit tricky for the school if we don't have the permissions sorted by today.
HOLT swimming Competition
Congratulation to all our swimmers who took part in the HOLT swimming competition at GESAC last Monday.
A special congratulations to Felecia and Mokki for making it to the next level, the Beachside Division Swimming Carnival on Tuesday at Carnegie Pool.
Child Safety Standard Two
As you would have read in our last newsletter, the month of March is focused on Child Safety Standard Two in the '11 Standards in 11 Months' campaign. Standard Two is "Child Safety and Wellbeing are Embedded in Organisational Leadership, Governance and Culture".
We, at St Anthony's, have a zero tolerance for any form of child abuse and is deeply committed to upholding and embedding the highest standards of child safety across our school.
All our Child Safety policies and procedures can be found on our website.
If you have any questions or concerns, our staff is always here to help.
Community Celebrations
On Sunday we celebrated the commissioning Mass for our staff and the Parish teachers. It was wonderful to see some of our students celebrate with us.
And....., JOSH IS BACK!!! After a little stint in hospital and a few weeks recovery, Josh is back at school. His classmates surprised him with a present.
Our beautiful 5/6 parents took up a collection for him while he was in hospital and this week presented him with a great big duck, a duck t-shirt, duck socks, some duck pens, and a little squishy duck. All the kids know he loves ducks so these were the perfect gifts. He also received some extra money that he can spend.
Our community is amazing. ❤️ (From Mrs. Casey)
This is what St Anthony's is all about!
'Step into Prep'
In Term Two we will have our first 'Step into Prep' initiative.
All 2027 Foundation students in our area are invited to attend our ‘Step into Prep’ mornings in Term 2 (20 & 27 May and 3 June from 9.30am to 10.30am). Children can attend one, two or all three mornings and they don't need to be enrolled into St Anthony's. The times align with our playgroup times.
There will be a different program each morning.
These sessions are a wonderful opportunity for children to become familiar with the school environment, meet some of our staff, current preps and experience a little of what Prep will be like. Parents are more than welcome to attend, sit back or join in, have a chat or tour with me or enjoy a cup of coffee or tea in our staffroom.
Any families interested can register here:
Current families, please spread the word!!
FOCUS on Learning (Mini Whiteboards)
At St Anthony's we often use mini whiteboards. They are a simple but powerful tool used in our classrooms to support explicit teaching. They give every student frequent opportunities to respond during lessons rather than only a few students answering aloud. After modelling a concept, teachers ask students to write their responses on mini whiteboards and hold them up. This allows the teacher to quickly check for understanding and accuracy across the whole class. Teachers can immediately identify misconceptions, provide feedback and adjust instruction if needed.
Because answers can be easily erased, students feel comfortable attempting responses and making mistakes. Overall, mini whiteboards increase engagement while helping teachers monitor learning and support students effectively.
In faith and partnership,
Ru Lameijn
Principal
'Excellence grows in environments where respect is practiced, empathy is valued, and inclusion ensures every voice matters.'