St Anthony's School - Term 3 Week 4 2021

Principal's News

Welcome to our Week 4 newsletter! Next week brings us to mid Term 3 already!!! It’s been lovely to experience some warmer days…..Spring is just around the corner!

We will continue to keep you informed of the COVID situation currently in South East Queensland as we continue to be informed and take direction from our Toowoomba Catholic Schools Office.  It is vital that any students with any cold or flu like symptoms do not attend school and are tested for Covid 19. 

Congratulations!

Last Friday, for the annual Bishop’s Inservice Day, we recognised a number of staff members who received commendation for their years of service to our diocese, many of these years being served at St Anthony’s collectively.

Congratulations to: Elizabeth Patterson (20 years), Kathleen Spencer (35 years), Robyn Smith (35 years) and Jo Keleher (40 years).

On Time and Ready to Learn

I know I sound like a broken record, but the number of students late to school each day continues to be a concern.  In only the 4^th week of term, we are averaging 20 late slips being distributed each morning.

I’ll share with you an experience I had recently where I was teaching in a classroom one morning.  The class had come in, we’d taken the roll, said our class prayer, discussed the timetable for the day, everyone was settled and we were ready to begin our day’s learning with our daily quick write.  As part of the quick write process, we had brainstormed on the topic of the day and I modelled a response to the writing stimulus.  It was heads down and writing for 15 minutes.  We had just commenced and in silence all students were writing profusely, when the first late child entered the classroom.  Most students lifted their heads and I directed them back to on task,  I then had to explain to this child the writing stimulus and ideas etc, it was 10 minutes later when the next late child entered the classroom and you can guess the rest.  There was another child who entered when we had finished the Quick Write and this child had completely missed this part of the day’s learning. I was extremely frustrated by this and this frustration is sadly the reality for most of our teachers and students each day due to students being late.  This has an impact on not only that individual’s learning but also everyone – students and teachers. 

I am a mum myself and I know the challenges of getting households and kids out the door each day, but we all need to implement a routine that ensures kids are at school no later than 8.35am each day.

There are times when out of the ordinary things happen and this can’t be helped, but being late consistently MUST be helped!

NAIDOC Week

NAIDOC Week celebrations were held around the country in July to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

NAIDOC originally stood for ‘National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee’. This committee was once responsible for organising national activities during NAIDOC Week and its acronym has since become the name of the week itself.

This week, our students participated in a number of NAIDOC week activities.  We were disappointed to have to postpone our indigenous games this week, but hopefully we can re-schedule in the near future.

Thank-you to our Yammer Group, who led the liturgy at assembly this morning to remind us of the significance of NAIDOC week and how we can all contribute to this year’s theme ‘Heal Country’.

Commonwealth Census

Tomorrow,  Friday  6^th August we complete the annual Commonwealth School census. We complete two of these a year – one in February and now in August. The census collects information on staff and students from all non-government establishments which have as their major activity the administration or provision of full time primary, secondary and/or special education. The information collected on Census Day will be utilised by the Commonwealth Government to calculate our school’s annual entitlements for general recurrent grants, grant entitlements in respect of Indigenous students and entitlements for students with disabilities.

Parent Teacher Interviews

Parent/Teacher interviews will be held in Week 9 of this term, from 6^th – 10^th  September. Please keep an eye out for online booking regarding appointments. I strongly encourage all parents to take this opportunity to meet with your child’s teacher to discuss learning and social progression and any concerns.

Until next newsletter……God Bless!

Louise

louise.pfingst@twb.catholic.edu.au

APRE News.....

Parish Family Mass

Last Sunday saw 2OT and Prep SJ lead our Parish family Mass for the month of August.  It is always so lovely to have so many children and families participate in the mass. Thank you to all the children who lead us in song and prayers.  We must give a special mention to Mikayla,  a Year Five student, who played the piano during the reflection.  Mikayla also played for us during our whole school Catholic Education mass. We are also very blessed to have Mrs Anne-Maree Spalding coordinate the music and choir.  Mass is held every Sunday at 8.30am and anyone is welcome to attend!  Attending mass is a great way to connect for students what they learn in both Religion classes and through the religious life of the school to a lived experience of prayer among community

Bishop’s Inservice Day

Last Friday all staff gathered to celebrate the annual Bishop’s Inservice Day that is conducted across the Toowoomba Diocese.  Each year, teachers gather to hear from Bishop Robert McGuckin and Dr Pat Coughlan (Executive Director of Toowoomba Catholic Schools Office) to remind us that while we are part of a local Catholic school and community, we are also part of our local Church, the Diocese of Toowoomba. We also participated in a faith formation workshop which has deepened our connections to each other and to the Catholic story which underpins all of our endeavors.

We acknowledged four of our staff on this day for their long service to Catholic Education. Robyn Smith ( 35 years)  Kathy Spencer (35 years)  Elizabeth Patterson ( 20 years) Jo Keleher ( 40 years). Aren’t we lucky to have such dedicated and loyal staff?!

NAIDOC Week

We celebrated NAIDOC week this week.  The theme this year is Heal country! Heal our nation! For our indigenous people Country is part of their identity. It is family, kin, law, ceremony, tradition and languages. Through their languages, songs, ceremonies and traditions they celebrate Country and Country speaks to them.

Thank you to the Yammer group who led us so thoughtfully in prayer at assembly. We reflected upon how to heal Country by embracing First Nations’ cultural knowledge and understanding of Country and see them as equal to the cultures and values of all Australia.

Loving God, Bless us with….

Eyes that see goodness, mouths that speak love, eyes that are discerning, hearts that are accommodating, hands that touch in kindness, feet that go the extra mile and smiles that show acceptance.

Middle Leader News

This is our final week of investigating the  learning behaviour ‘Be Engaged’.  From our Student Voice data it is apparent that students across the year levels have an understanding already of how to display this behaviour.  Some examples of students’ responses to the question “What does it look like, sound like and feel like to be engaged in learning?” are below.

• Following directions.
• Whenever you are thinking about your work you are engaged.
• Being organized.
• Learning new things.
• Believing in yourself.
• Putting our blinkers on and focusing on learning.
• Listening attentively.
• It makes me feel calm and happy.
• My body is still and calm, I am not distracted by others.
• It makes you feel accomplished.
• You are always focused, concentrating and pro-active.
• Stuck into your work!
• You are curious with what is going on and you are sharing your ideas with others.
• You are thinking about the topic and nothing else.
• You are thinking, “I’ve got this!”

Next week we will shift our focus to the learning behaviour, “ Be a Communicator”. 

          

     Love of Learning

         Be engaged | Be curious| Be a communicator| Be persistent| Be proud

Toowoomba Eisteddfod

Unfortunately, due to the emerging Covid situation in Brisbane the Toowoomba Eisteddfod had to be called off this week.  Five students had been working diligently preparing for their poetry performances and were disappointed to not be able to compete.  They kindly offered to recite their poems on Assembly today and did a wonderful job.

Prep KJ & SJ

We have been off to a busy start this term in Prep and we have lots of work ahead of us. It has been wonderful to see all students so engaged and excited about their learning. We have seen so many students advance in both reading and writing since we have come back to school, which is excellent. We still encourage that students practice sight words and reading daily. 

During Religion this term students are learning about Jesus and the miracles that he performed throughout his life. Students are connecting Jesus' teachings from the stories in the bible to their everyday lives and how they can live in the footsteps of Jesus. 

Throughout Maths this term students are expanding their knowledge on numbers including before and after, skip counting by 2's, using collections to count numbers and counting up to 100. Students have also been investigating patterning, measurement, and time. 

We have been working hard on all subject areas already this term and students have shown how much determination they have to try new things and undergo difficult tasks.  

kylie.jones@twb.catholic.edu.au

samantha.jaeger@twb.catholic.edu.au

jo.keleher@twb.catholic.edu.au

Yr 1 HS

Welcome to week 4! This term we have had a real focus on classroom behaviour and expectations. Many students are engaging in their learning to the best of their abilities, following the schools behaviour expectations on the playground and in the classroom, and this is wonderful to see.

The last few weeks in Math we have been investigating capacity and length using informal units. The students have really enjoyed the hands-on investigation using rice and pasta to measure capacity and blocks and paddle-pop sticks to measure length.

In science we have been observing the world around us including the weather and the sky. At home I would encourage students to observe the night sky and the changes in the moon across the next week or so. We will make time in our lessons to share our learnings with the class. 

holly.sheehan@twb.catholic.edu.au

Yr 1 KS

Hello again from 1KS

The last two weeks have flown by very quickly and the students in 1KS have been working well.  We have learned how to work well together and we have settled into our new routines and have been completing some exciting learning tasks.  We are continuing with our work on The Cranky Bear Series of books for our literature study, while our Science and Humanities focus has been Seasons and Weather.  This has been interesting considering the changeable weather we have been having lately!  We have also started working with Bee Bots in technology.  Don’t forget we need to have our Library books and bags on Tuesdays – it is really important that children of this age read out loud to someone every day.  The library books that the children take home include a number of books at an appropriate level for each child to successfully read to someone at home.  This helps develop reading skills more rapidly so thank you for taking the time to read with your child.

Have a great week – stay safe!

Kathy Spencer

kathleen.spencer@twb.catholic.edu.au

Yr 2 OT

A lot has happened this fortnight in 2OT. We have been busy keeping up with the Olympics & recognising how the games have embraced people from all ethnicity & how it brings us together as a nation. The students are beyond proud of Patrick & his run in the 10 000m & his never give up attitude. Thank you to the families who attended our Mass on Sunday morning - fantastic to see so many familiar faces. 

This week we continue learning new strategies to solve simple addition and subtraction problems. In English we are developing the skills required to write an information report based on an Olympic athlete or sport! If you would like to support your child further at home in these areas please don’t hesitate to email Mr. Tattam.

Until next time,

Mr. Tattam & the superstars in 2OT. 

ory.tattam@twb.catholic.edu.au

Yr 2/3 VN

Welcome to Week 4!  The term is flying by already and we are busy engaging in great learning across all key learning areas.  In Math, we are continuing to investigate fractions and are looking at vertical additional algorithms.  For example:

  25
+16
_____

This is a great, easy skill to practise at home.  The language that we use at school is:

• We always add the ones column first.
• If the answer in each column is 10 or above, we- drop the ones, carry the tens.

The important understanding in a skill like this is knowing that we are not just adding 2 and 1.  We are in fact adding 2 tens (20) and 1 ten (10).  Without this conceptual understanding, students are just practising a rote skill and not fully understanding the concept.  Discussion around this is pivotal.  Students in year 2 are expected to be working with numbers to 1 000 and students in year 3 to 10 000. 

Each fortnight I will add a skill we are learning in class to the newsletter for parents who wish to consolidate some learning at home.

vicki.nauschutz@twb.catholic.edu.au

emma.daniells@twb.catholic.edu.au

Yr 3 RM

In maths we are winding up our work with fractions.  Everyone has worked very hard to grasp this concept. In HASS we have used alphanumeric grid references and directional language to locate places. In English we have been developing our editing and note taking skills.

rebecca.more@twb.catholic.edu.au

barbara.hair@twb.catholic.edu.au

Yr 4/5 RS & Yr 4 SC

Dear Families,

We celebrated Catholic Education Week and our students were asked what is distinctive about our school and they offered the following:

• We believe in God and Jesus and the bible.   
• We believe in the Trinity.
• Our school has a patron Saint – St Anthony of Padua.
• We go to church which is beside our school.  
• Religion is one of our subjects.
• We love God.    We pray.    We greet people with "God Loves You"
• There are crosses everywhere.  
• We are educated at St Anthony’s.
• Religion teaches us to be nice people, how to love others and live a good life.
• Maths learning is how to operate effectively in the world – money, time, addition, subtraction etc., 
• Reading and writing.  Being a communicator.
• Speak clearly and express point of view 
• Independence
• Resilience
• Friendships and their challenges
• Problem solving   
• Safety 

We will go to the Parish Mass on a Friday in the next fortnight.

Our Year 4 students thoroughly enjoyed their outing for Bike Safety. Everyone improved their skills and knowledge for being safe on the road.  We go to visit Healthy Harold in the Life Education Van in Week 6 and in Week 7, will celebrate Book Week. The Book Character dress up parade is on the Tuesday, so we hope creative minds are at work and use something which is already at home.  We participate in the Readers' Cup competition, answering 20 questions about ‘The Lorax’ and ‘’Fire.’ The top 4 finalists will compete against another school's team. We will also scribe answers for the Preps and Year 1 students, so it will be fun to meet with our buddies!

We are looking forward to productive weeks ahead, characterised by a Growth Mindset, Commitment and being Engaged, Visible Learning and being a Communicator.

Have a great week,

Sharon, Robyn and Barbara.

robyn.smith@twb.catholic.edu.au

barbara.hair@twb.catholic.edu.au 

sharon.cox@twb.catholic.edu.au

YR 6 LW

It’s all about Asia and natural disasters in our classroom at the moment, as we continue to explore volcanoes in Science and the diversity of Asian people and places in HASS. We are in the initial stages of an integrated HASS and maths ‘Fantasy Flight’ investigation, which will involve selecting and researching destinations to visit on a dream trip to Asia. Students will then create a travel itinerary and a record of expenses to show how they have spent their budget. ​ 

Reading still remains a priority in our classroom. Children who read regularly, generally have a wider vocabulary and are more confident in writing tasks.  Regular reading at home would also be beneficial.  

leigh.winters@twb.catholic.edu.au

Yammer Group

This week we have celebrated as a school NAIDOC Week. NAIDOC stands for National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee. Its origins can be traced to the emergence of Aboriginal groups in the 1920’s which sought to increase awareness in the wider community of the status and treatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.

Each year during NAIDOC week, communities all over Australia celebrate and recognise the achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders within their local communities. Here at St Anthony’s we have come together to celebrate as a school community.

Year 4 to 6 students were encouraged to create a social media post about this years theme “Heal Country.” Prep to Year 3 created beautiful colourings. We have read stories, shared in Liturgy together and completed activities within class. Our Yammer Group attended a days program at the Cobb+Co Museum where they participated in outdoor games, crafts, dancing and much more. Sadly our special guest wasn’t able to come and play outdoor games with us due to COVID19 lockdowns, however we will organise a new date when we are able to.

Yammer Group has also continued with their Tucka Time course. The students are loving the opportunity to learn new recipes and I’m sure they all agree the best part is getting to try the food once it is cooked.

Terri-An.Nolan@twb.catholic.edu.au

Please notify the school office if you have updated your residential address, your email address, your phone number, household structure or if your child has had a change in Visa, medical details, eg asthma plan, allergies, medication.

                  These records are very important for our files.

If your child is sick or complains of feeling sick, please DO NOT send them to school. 

Book Week - August 23rd - 27th

• We have a variety of Book Week activities this year, which will take place in Week 7. The theme is “Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds”. 

• Book Week dress up – Tuesday 24th August, Students will be invited to come dressed as their favourite book character or dress up around this years’ theme. 

• Reader’s Cup competition – 23rd August to 25th August. 

• Book Fair – we will be holding a Book Fair during Book Week. Books will be on sale in the library, with an online option available.  

Dads & Kids Night

Thursday 2 September 2021

5.30pm to 7.30pm

If you’re a Dad or a Dad figure in our school community, we would love you to come and join in an evening of fun games and a BBQ dinner. 

Please complete the form below to indicate your intentions

Patrick Tiernam

St Anthony's would like to acknowledge past student Patrick Tiernan on his recent achievement of competing in the 10 000m at the Olympic Games. Patrick and his family have had a long association with our school and the parish. While Patrick already had the support of community members who remember him and his family, he now has a new legion of fans throughout the St Anthony's community. Congratulations Patrick on your strength, determination, and above all, being a great ambassador for your sport, family and country.

"What Every Parent (& Community) Should Know About Self Harm"

Date: 2nd of Sept 2021

Time: 5:15pm - 7:00pm

Cost: $20

Location: South Toowoomba Baptist Church. 279 Geddes St, Centenary Heights. 

Workshop Content – Self Harm

• What is self-harm
• Differences and links with suicide
• Typical pattern of self-harm
• Common reasons why young people self-harm
• Risk factors
• Protective factors
• Why it happens
• Those most at risk

What can I do to help my child?

The Presenter

Garry King has extensive experience with working with young people. This experience is the result of having worked as a teacher, youth worker and counsellor and complemented by degrees in welfare and education as well as masters degrees in counselling and suicidology. He has previously worked as the youth welfare consultant for the Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention. He was appointed an adjunct lecturer, youth welfare at the Central Qld University and is the recipient of a Churchill Fellowship to the USA to further research youth suicide. Garry has written a number of journal articles and books on youth welfare as well as being a speaker at national conferences. He is a peer reviewer for the International Journal of Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention. Garry is an invited author for the 2016 School Social Work, USA, on suicide prevention and intervention. He was an invited presenter on Non-Suicidal Self Injury at the 2018 World Positive Psychology and Mindfulness Conference in New York. He was a keynote presenter at the 2018 Schools and Mental Health Australian Conference. He was a presenter at the 2019 International Society for the Study of Self-Injury conference in the USA.

His most recent book (with Dr MM Kerr, Pittsburgh University) “School Crisis Prevention & Intervention” has been released in the USA. Garry continues to work with young people as a school counsellor and at a homelessness service.

Parentline

Free counselling + support for parents & carers.

Parentline is a confidential telephone service providing professional counselling and support in Queensland and the Northern Territory.

Our phones are open every day from 8am – 10pm, while WebChat is available every day from 8am – 9pm.