St Anthony's School - Term 3 Week 10 2021
Principal's News
Welcome to our Week 10 newsletter!! I’m not sure about you but to think tomorrow is the last day of another 10 weeks of learning seems somewhat unbelievable but we made it!! I hope everyone has a restful break and a reprieve from the busyness of the school routine.
Thank you to everyone who came along to our first ever ‘Dads and Kids’ event. I looked across the oval at one stage and the laughter and evident enjoyment was electric!!!! The one HUGE learning for me from this event is that we don’t have to go overboard or overthink the entertainment. This was the simplest of nights to organise but yet possibly one of the most successful to date. I think it is safe to say it will become an annual event. I must say a MASSIVE thank you to the staff of St Anthony’s who assisted prior to and on the night. With everyone doing a little bit, it all came together!!
Principal Review
Thank you to parents who completed the recent survey regarding my leadership here at St Anthony’s. It has been a bit of survey overkill recently and I thank you all for your time and feedback.
The review team will be here onsite on Tuesday, 12th October and will be conducting face to face interviews with all staff and any parents who are interested in speaking with one of the team. Please let me know via email (louise.pfingst@twb.catholic.edu.au) by Friday 24th September if you would like an interview with a preferred time and I will do my best to accommodate.
RADII Survey
During Catholic Education Week, parents had the opportunity to complete a Parent Satisfaction Survey. We had 33% of responders which doesn’t always provide us with a consensus of feedback but it is feedback, we consider none the less. Most of the feedback is overwhelmingly positive about the school, the quality of education received and importantly the consensus is that your children enjoy coming to St Anthony’s!
I’d like to take this opportunity to respond to some of the feedback given. There was a comment regarding concern for the number of Pupil Free Days each year.
These Pupil Free Days are sanctioned each year, mandatory and are designated for staff and professional development activities. On these days, staff cover many topics such as mandatory training, moderation of assessment with other schools, and professional development on the strategic direction of the school. A number of these days are also taken in school holidays and as twilight professional development sessions during the school terms after a school day. The agenda for these Pupil Free Days are both organisation and school directed but the number of days taken for professional development are not school decided.
We give ample notice to parents through the year about when these sanctioned days occur. I don’t know about you, but I want the teachers teaching my children, to be abreast of current educational changes to curriculum and best practise for the educational outcomes of all children. Pupil Free Days occur for teachers across all education systems, catholic, independent and state.
Most of the feedback regarding the new Parent Portal has been really positive. There was a comment about no parent consultation regarding this change. The change did come from parent consultation following our school review in Term 4, where feedback was received that we had too many platforms for communication such as Skoolbag and Facebook and parents weren’t sure where to find the latest information so with change of our school information system, a Parent Portal was a function we were able to access. This is our one stop shop for all information, with our school Facebook page still used as a platform for promoting the school. I know there are parents who would still ideally prefer paper copies of notes but this is just not feasible or cost effective any more. We live in a digital world and must move with the times!
Each parent has been provided a username and pin for the portal. We encourage parents to download the ‘Sentral for Parents’ app in the app store and notifications come via the app when new information is uploaded to the portal. Schools are busy places with a lot of information coming out from the school related to many different events or happenings. We encourage parents to access the portal once a day or at least when a notification is received. I’m a parent of 2 children at 2 different secondary schools and certainly realise the flood of information is a reality, but make it my daily practice to have a quick look at both portals or guaranteed I miss something! Kim Hess has been instrumental in contacting parents regarding their portal access and has been more than willing to assist if there’s been a problem. Please contact Kim if there is an issue with your portal access.
The last point is regarding teacher access before and after school. We have also been very clear in communicating that teachers are more than willing to meet with parents at a mutually agreeable time. This is not ideally before school. Making a time, ensures focus can be given to the issue or concern at hand. Teachers are available in classrooms each day from 8.30 – 8.40am and this time is most suited to a quick hello or a quick message, not an in depth conversation pertaining to behaviour or learning. Teachers have a significant workload to plan, teach and assess the curriculum, this includes providing adjusted curriculum to those students who need it. Many mornings before school and afternoons after school, teachers are meeting as professional teams, with the leadership team or learning support staff. They are also mentally preparing for their day with a myriad of tasks to complete.
Teachers also have the flexibility to be able to leave at 3.00pm. Many teachers have their own families to attend to and after school commitments but I also know many are working late into the night and on week-ends. So yes, teachers will meet with parents at an agreed time, preferably not on the fly. You can email your child’s teacher firstname.lastname@twb.catholic.edu.au and you will receive a response within a 24hr period. Teachers are not generally able to answer emails through a teaching day.
Some of the feedback in the survey is always a bit left of field and without the context of the comment, it is hard to respond but as I’ve always attested, I am more than happy to meet face to face, email me or phone to discuss any issue or concern.
Christmas Concert and Fair
Our Term 4 PPF event is a Christmas Concert and Fair on Thursday, November 25th commencing at 5.30pm. All students will be performing and there will be food, a visit from Santa, stalls co-ordinated by each class and much much more! We will be looking for a parent or group of parents from each class to coordinate a stall and these can include such things as lucky dips, bottle stall, magnetic fishing, fairy floss, ham wheel, teddy bear adoption and the list goes on. You may have a special talent or connection you can share with our school community. Such an event is always successful with the help of many! Let us know in the office, if you have an idea to for this event.
NAPLAN
We recently received our 2021 NAPLAN results. The individual student reports have been sent home in hardcopy and also uploaded to the portal.
NAPLAN is not a pass or fail test, rather, it assesses the types of skills that are essential for every child to progress through school and life. The NAPLAN tests are designed to identify where a student may need additional support to improve his/her learning outcomes.
NAPLAN results also provide valuable school data that we triangulate with other formative and summative assessment and help us with particular areas we need to focus on as a school. I have included a table to give you some indication of how our Year 3 and 5 cohorts are comparible to both the State and National Mean.
The first table shows our Year 3 and 5 students in comparison to the National Mean and the table below in comparison to the State Mean.
Our Year 3 results are particularly impressive this year. We do attribute this also to these Year 3 students having completed all of their schooling with the Diocesan Reading Improvement Strategy and most recently the Writing Improvement Strategy which has certainly brought rigour and consistency with the teaching of both reading and writing and in turn grammar and punctuation and spelling. We have also been on our Lighthouse Numeracy journey for nearly 4 years now, with a focus on learning through using maths manipulatives, maths vocab walls, daily number talks, maths learning goals and maths investigations. These daily embedded classroom practices provide students with the necessary skills to be able to apply to situations such as NAPLAN.
Opti-Minds
We were able to offer Opti-Minds at St Anthony’s this year as one of our extra curricular pursuits. We entered 2 teams in the areas of Language and Literature and Science and Engineering. This year both the long term and spontaneous challenges were recorded and uploaded for judging. There are so many week-end and after school hours put into the process of prop making, script writing, budgeting, problem solving, performing, recording and uploading.
From what I saw of the finished performances, these students should be very proud of themselves and once again a very special thank you to our facilitating teaching staff – Leigh Winters and Terri-An Nolan and Sharon Cox who stepped in at various times also. These ladies gave many hours of their time to facilitate this process and without their willingness to volunteer, we would not be able to offer such experiences for our students.
Last Monday, following the week-end judging we were very excited to receive the news that our Language and Literature Team were awarded first place and our Science and Engineering Team were awarded Honours. This is the third consecutive year that our Language and Literature Team have placed first. What an outstanding achievement!!!!
This year’s participants were:
Year 6 Camp
Our Year 6 students are very excited about their school trip to Tangalooma Island on Tuesday 5th October until Friday 8th October. All camp payments should have been finalised by now. Just a reminder that departure is at 6.45am sharp on Tuesday 5th October and students are expected to arrive no later than 6.30am. Keep an eye over the portal on the holidays for any updates!
Remember that Monday, 4th October is a public holiday and Term 4 commences on Tuesday, 5th October.
Until next term……God Bless!
Louise
louise.pfingst@twb.catholic.edu.au
APRE News.....
Season of Creation
Thank you to Prep SJ who had their first time leading prayer assembly this week. They did an excellent job, exploring the gift of God’s creation. We are currently in the Season of Creation which extends from the 5th of September to the 4th of October. The Christian family unites for this worldwide celebration of prayer and action to protect our common home. Pope Francis asks us to reflect upon how we can care for this precious gift, living in harmony with all of God’s creation. This year’s theme is “A Home for All.” As part of being a member of a Catholic School students learn about Catholic Social Teachings, with one of the guiding principles being ‘care for our common home’. Students across the year levels have been learning in Science and HASS about environments, sustainability, and recycling to name a few topics. Making connections to real world examples of issues and placing a Catholic lens upon our actions is a way to embed Catholic Social teachings within the school community. One such action for justice undertaken this term from Year 2/3 was a ‘rubbish free lunch’ event.
Lord, allow our eyes to see the beauty of creation, in flowers, creatures, forests, and cities. Allow our ears to listen to those in need. Allow our voices to speak out for justice when we see the earth and people mistreated. Allow our hands to care for the earth. Allow out feet to take your message out to the world. We ask this in Your name. Amen
Sacramental Program
Just a reminder that if you have a student who you wish to join the sacramental program, and you have not registered your interest with Sr Maria the parish coordinator, can you do so please. Students need to be in Year 3 and prepared to begin the journey. Students will prepare for Reconciliation this year, which will occur in November, followed by Confirmation and Communion in 2021.
Blessed Holiday
I hope all students have a restful holiday and families get a chance to spend some quality time together over the school holidays. Whether you have a great holiday planned or a restful break at home, I pray you get a chance to reconnect with the people, places and activities that bring light into your life. Stay safe!
Middle Leader News
To finish the term, we have been looking at the learning behaviour of Persistence. When the students were asked to describe what persistence looks like at parade this week, they gave some insightful answers. This learning behaviour has been a constant reference in the last couple of years as it links directly to our ‘You Can Do It’ lessons and the Learning Pit. Some student definitions of persistence include never giving up, trying and trying until something works and constantly learning. Another real-world example that students have referred to over the last few weeks, is that of Patrick Tiernan in the 10000m final at the Olympic games. Patrick spoke of this himself when he visited the students and described how he has displayed persistence not only in his Olympic final when circumstances became tough, but when constantly striving and working to improve his running ever since he was a small boy at St Anthony’s. Patrick shared with the students a piece of advice that he was given many years ago; Nothing worth having ever comes easy and you know you are on the right track to learning and improving when things get tough.
Another real-world example of persistence in our St Anthony’s community is the work that the teachers at St Anthony’s do to ensure that ALL students are learning and progressing. Over the last week teachers have met for Review and Response meetings and Student Support Committee meetings to discuss the progress, pathways and ongoing support needed for all students. These are just two of the processes in place to ensure that students are known, and their learning needs are being catered for effectively. At St Anthony’s we work collaboratively as a team to analyse student data and plan ways forward. Student data is considered in a wholistic way to ensure that we ‘put a human face’ to any discussion. We are incredibly lucky to have the support of two exceptional teachers, Mrs Ann Foster and Mrs Leona Doherty who work collaboratively with classroom teachers in differentiating curriculum, providing intervention and ‘in-class’ support. Our goal of knowing all students and progressing their learning demonstrates the persistence the students described above. It may not always be easy, it may become difficult, but we will never give up trying for the students in our care.
Love of Learning
Be engaged | Be curious| Be a communicator| Be persistent| Be proud
Prep KJ & SJ
Welcome to Week 10!! We have made it to our last week of the term. Firstly, thank you parents for attending our Parent Teacher Interviews last week. It was a great way to touch base and celebrate the fabulous achievements of your children as well as set goals for next term. This week was great fun as we attended swimming lessons at Glennie Pool. Thank you for helping your child be organised with everything that they needed for their lesson. Next term our focus will be on transitioning to Year 1. We will have a few changes with regards to where we eat and play, as we join the Years 1 and 2 in their eating and play areas. We will also start joining the rest of the school at Parade first up on a Monday morning. We hope you have an enjoyable and safe break, and we look forward to seeing you all next term.
kylie.jones@twb.catholic.edu.au
samantha.jaeger@twb.catholic.edu.au
jo.keleher@twb.catholic.edu.au
Yr 1 HS
The end of term is upon us and not a moment too soon for some. We are all feeling the end of term tiredness especially with swimming.
1HS has worked so hard this term and our assessments reflect this. In English students were required to write a retell of ‘The Very Brave Bear’ by Nick Bland. Students were then required to make a personal connection to the story. I loved reading the responses. Every student took great care with their work and this was evident in their samples.
I wish you all a safe and happy holiday break.
See you rested and refreshed in term 4!
holly.sheehan@twb.catholic.edu.au
Yr 1 KS
Greetings from 1KS. The last week of term has arrived and 1KS are ready for the holidays! The children have been working really well but are now very tired and ready for a break. This term we have studied Bear Series of books by Nick Bland and have enjoyed the stories of the Cranky, Hungry, Brave, Noisy and Sleepy Bear. We have written and drawn many stories and pictures about them all. We have continued with our numbers to 100 and with simple addition and subtraction as well as measurement. Many of children can be pleased with what they have achieved this term. Have a restful and safe holiday! See you for Term 4!! 😊
Kathy Spencer
kathleen.spencer@twb.catholic.edu.au
Yr 4/5 RS
Dear Parents,
What an enjoyable fortnight we’ve had! Our congratulations go to the brave students who auditioned for ‘St Anthony’s Got Talent”. We’ve had swimming, visited our Prep KJ buddies, watched “The Lorax movie” and compared it to our book study. Bella visited, we saw her arm in a cast and it was great to see her in good spirits.
In Science, we used our knowledge of materials and packaging to create a sustainable lunchbox that kept something hot, something wet, something dry and something sweet separated after shaking it. Some people were more successful than others in keeping their food in compartments. Year 5 created and presented a shadow puppet show with very interesting results.
It was great to catch up with many parents for our Parent/Teacher interview. Thank you for your openness and support.
Wishing everyone a very safe and happy break and will see you for Term 4 on Tuesday, 5th October.
Every kind wish,
Barbara and Robyn.
robyn.smith@twb.catholic.edu.au
barbara.hair@twb.catholic.edu.au
Yr 4 SC
Year 4SC have enjoyed a wonderful fortnight of learning. We are beginning to convert fractions to decimal fractions to two decimal places. We continue to develop our skills in solving short division with and without remainders. We wrote information reports about an animal of interest and presented our history projects as a speech about Indigenous Australians and their sustainable practices. In Science we used our knowledge of materials and packaging to create a sustainable lunchbox that kept something hot, something wet, something dry and something sweet separated after shaking it. Some people were more successful than others in keeping their food in compartments. Our congratulations go to the brave students who auditioned for ‘St Anthony’s Got Talent’. We wish Puondak, Summer and Lauren success! Wishing all our families a safe and relaxing holiday; making new memories, sharing experiences and being together as a family.
sharon.cox@twb.catholic.edu.au
Yr 5/6 TN
Welcome to the end of Term 3. I can’t believe that in just 9 more school weeks we will be saying our farewells to our Year 6 students.
A big congratulations on a big finish to the term. The students have shown a great deal of time management and commitment to their learning by completing multiply assessment tasks at once. You should see our amazing planets that the Year 5 students have created and the volcano assignments that the Year 6 students completed.
Year 5 have been busy this week recording their shadow puppet shows for media and the Year 6 students are all a buzz about camp in Week 1 of next term.
A HUGE thank you to Year 5/6TN for my surprise birthday party last week. I faintly remember a conversation months ago with the class when they discovered my birthday is Christmas and they were horrified that I have never been able to celebrate my birthday at school. So, to my surprise these beautiful children organised behind the scenes a Christmas inspired birthday party (I think Mrs Winters may have had a hand in keeping this from me).
Please enjoy your holidays and spend them making memories with your loved ones.
Until next term, stay safe.
Mrs Terri-An Nolan
YR 6 LW
We have spent a busy few weeks completing all manner of assessment, and at last we seem to be reaching the end of this activity. The English narrative unit reminded me just how many keen writers there are in the class, and I was very impressed with the quality of the work that was produced.
Much of the conversation this week has centered around the upcoming camp to Tangalooma. We are going at a perfect time of year to a beautiful location, and I’m sure everyone will return full of anecdotes about the various activities they undertook.
Wishing everyone a relaxing and uneventful school holiday before the bustle of term 4 takes over!
OPTIMINDS
Well done to both teams on their excellent results in the recent regional competition. The Science and Engineering team was awarded honours while the language and Literature team was awarded a well-deserved first place.
Science & Engineering
Language and Literature
Readers Cup
Thank you to all students who participated in the Readers Cup. It was a great success. All students had amazing book knowledge and a great deal of excitement came from the competition.
