St Anthony's School Term 4 Week 6 2023

Principal's Report

Welcome to our second last edition of our school newsletter for 2023! It seems only yesterday we were returning for an action-packed term ahead and here we are looking at all things end of term!!

While the smell of holidays is in the air, our focus is still finishing the school year in a positive and productive way. 

As we’re now past the halfway point of this term, this can be a point in time where children may start to become tired. It is often a time where children require more support to regulate their behaviour and emotions. The heat we are likely to experience at this time of the year, may also be a contributing factor. This is an important time for parents to maintain predictable routines in homes around  bedtime and eating. Good routines, healthy diets and time spent with our families, really does support children to have the best day of learning at school. Likewise at school, where routines and expectations will continue to remain supportive and consistent.

2024 Class Structures and Staff

We are very excited to announce our 2024 St Anthony’s staff.  We don’t foresee any changes but know that sometimes circumstances change and if there are any changes, those affected will be notified via the Sentral Portal.

We are very excited to welcome Jacinta Rixon and Aaron Wells to our St Anthony’s community in 2024.

Jacinta has been a familiar face around St Anthony’s for a few years now.  She has held the position of our St Anthony’s TCKC co-ordinator and most recently a school officer.  Jacinta has recently graduated as a teacher, having completed some of her practicum placements at St Anthony’s.  Jacinta comes as a highly recommended teaching graduate, with a particular interest and passion for the early years.  Jacinta is looking forward to connecting with her students and parents next year.

We also welcome Aaron Wells, replacing Katie Hauser in 2024.  The following is our Executive Director’s announcement to all staff in our diocese following Aaron’s appointment:

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Aaron Wells, to the position of APRE at St Anthony’s School from January 2024. This appointment follows the Toowoomba Catholic Schools procedure for the recruitment and selection of school leadership positions. I would like to thank Louise Pfingst (Principal of St Anthony’s School),  Paul Murphy (Senior Education Leader), Angela Travers (Senior Leader:  Mission and Identity) and Leona Doherty (Learning Support Teacher, St Athony’s School) for their work in this process.

Aaron is currently a manager with Toowoomba Catholic Kindergartens and Care.  Aaron has  an extensive 17 year career having also held positions of Principal, Acting Principal, APRE and classroom teacher in various catholic schools in our diocese, such as St Finbarr’s School, Quilpie, St Joseph’s School, Chinchilla and St Thomas More’s School, Toowoomba. Aaron strongly values the importance of Catholic education and the vital role it plays within the mission of the church.

Aaron is very excited about joining the St Anthony’s community in this leadership role and is looking forward to contributing his experience and skills to work in collaboration with staff, students and parents to ensure the best learning outcomes for all students.

Please join me in welcoming Aaron to the role of APRE, St Anthony’s.

Congratulations Cooper!

The Mayoral Achievement Medal is awarded annually to one student from every school in the Toowoomba Region. It honours the efforts and achievements of students who have persevered to reach their educational goals, despite the adversity and challenges they face. The Mayoral Achievement Medal has been an important part of the Toowoomba Regional Council for over 20 years. I have attended several of these ceremonies now and it is an honour to be able to listen to the stories of the students across the Toowoomba region who have been selected. Some children face enormous challenges and hardship in their lives yet they continue on with their day with very little complaint. We can learn a lot from these special people. “Obstacles don’t have to stop you if run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it or work around it.” (MICHAEL JORDAN)

Year 6 Cooper Reeve is the worthy recipient of the Mayoral School Achievement Award for St Anthony’s this year.  Cooper has transformed into an engaged and persistent learner this year and has made significant gains in his learning. He is happy to come to school each day and his attendance has increased from 50% attendance last year to an average of 98% this year.  It is lovely to witness Cooper’s happy demeanour which is noticed by all and he is often heard saying a friendly hello and offering assistance to staff, visitors and peers. Cooper recently had a lead role in our Year 6 school musical.  Congratulations Cooper - St Anthony’s is so proud of you and you are so ready to tackle the challenges of high school next year!

2024 Classes

We are currently in the process of creating class lists for the 2024 school year and we aim to send these allocations out via the portal in the coming weeks. There is quite some thought and consideration that goes into finalising these allocations. The first stage is that the teachers of the current year level come together to commence a draft list. Consideration is given to a balance of girls and boys, a balance of learning styles, matching learning styles and requirements to teacher strengths and friendship groups. These draft lists are then provided to our learning support teachers to ensure a balance of learning styles and needs has been achieved. Mrs Hauser and I then complete a final check before families are notified.

Report Cards

Semester Two report cards will be uploaded to Sentral on Tuesday, 28^th November.  Just a reminder that we no longer send home hard copies of these reports. 

School Fees

Just a reminder to ensure that you are fully up to date with the payment of this year’s school fees by the end of the term. Chasing outstanding fees owed at the end of the year is a very time consuming exercise and places the school at a financial disadvantage when attempting to carry our building and ground maintenance as well as affecting our ability to purchase much needed resources for 2024. Your co-operation and support in the timely payment of fees and levies is always greatly appreciated.

As part of our financial management and guidelines, we engage a debt collector to assist with the payment of outstanding debts where there has been no attempt to engage with the principal, despite correspondence sent out to set up regular payments.

Our 2024 school fee structure is nearing finalization and will be communicated as soon as possible.

Remembrance Day

This Saturday, 11^th November all Australians will join together in many places to commemorate the anniversary of the signing of the Armistice, or Armistice Day as it was also known. We must never ever lose sight of this incredible moment in history, which we have come to know as Remembrance Day and the minutes silence we all observe and dedicate to those soldiers who died fighting to protect our nation is just one small way that we can remember them.

They gave their tomorrows

So we could have our today

For those who leave and never to return.

For those who return, but are never the same.

We remember………Lest We Forget

Christmas Concert And Fair

Thank-you to everyone who came to our PPF gathering on Tuesday evening.  We are all systems go for our Christmas Concert and Fair on Thursday, November 23.  This event is a highlight on our calendar each year and I thank the teachers for taking the time to co-ordinate class stalls in a time of the year that can be described no other way than hectic!!

Please consider signing up for a time to assist in some way on the night.  If we all do a little bit, we all get to enjoy the evening.  These rosters are now available on the portal.

Don’t forget to wear your Christmas attire on the night.  All students are required to be at the concert by 5.30pm.  The concert commences at 6.00pm.

I came across this little story below and thought it holds a powerful reminder to us all.  I’ll leave it with you………

Until next newsletter…….God Bless!

Louise

The newsletter will be an e newsletter emailed to parents on a Thursday every fortnight. Community and parent notices can still be included in the newsletter by emailing the item to the school stanthonys@twb.catholic.edu.au.

Middle Leader/APRE

Sacramental Journey

Home preparation lessons continue this week for students making their sacrament of reconciliation this term.  The next group preparation lessons are on the weekend of the 18^th and 19^th of November, either on Saturday the 18^th at 5pm before 6pm Mass, or Sunday the 19^th at approx. 10.00am after 8.30 Mass and community morning tea.  Candidates and families will be working through lessons 4 and 5 of the Reconciliation book.

We continue to keep the students and their families in our prayers as they  prepare for their Reconciliation in Week 8.

Year 5 Retreat

This week the Year 5 cohort travelled to the Micah Centre for a leadership retreat.  A retreat, as the name suggests, is an opportunity to step away from the ordinary to take time to stop, reflect and connect with ourselves, others and God.  

The theme of our retreat this year was Invicti.  The students reflected upon this special name given to soldiers in roman times who were inspirational leaders that others wanted to follow. Even though these soldiers were powerful and strong, what made them leaders was their ability to be courageous, honest, persistent, and determined.  They were respected by others as they looked out for everyone, not just themselves.  They knew that to go far, they needed to work together.  Their goals were about the group, not just about themselves.   

The students watched leadership qualities in action with movie clips and real life examples such as Brisbane young man Nick Marchesi who is the  founder of ‘Orange Sky Laundry.’ They considered how the values that we follow at St Anthony’s are touchstones of the ultimate service leader; Jesus.

Some students shared their thoughts about the retreat below.

Cooper S:             “I liked the bridge building activity and working as a team.  I learned that there’s not really one leader.  A leader needs to try and include all the team members.”

Khesharne:           “I liked watching the video clips and sitting as a whole group to talk about it.  I learned that people could grow into their leadership.  I also liked the paper throw activity.”

Betty:                    “I enjoyed getting together to hear other people’s stories and life experiences and build trust.”

Hayley:                 “I learned that walking in someone else’s shoes is really important.”

We look forward to seeing the Year 5 students grow their leadership skills

next year as they take on the role of leaders of our school.

St Vincent De Paul Christmas Appeal

As the end of the year approaches, we start to think about preparing for Christmas.  As we are a community that is led by the message of Jesus and guided by the touchstones on the St Anthony’s Way, we turn our attention to how we can help those who may not be as fortunate as us at Christmas time.  The Mini Vinnies group will be coordinating the St Vincent De Paul Christmas Appeal that we support each year and reminding students of how we can help.  Please find below the items we would love for students to contribute to the class hampers we will prepare.

Prep White & Prep Blue

Welcome to week 6!!  

Our Prep classes have been busy consolidating our learning as we prepare for assessing for the end of the year. In English we have been making predictions about stories and working hard to write letters to different characters, we now know that letters need a greeting and to be signed off with our names. In Maths we have been learning about sharing quantities into equal groups and subtraction.    

If you would like to order book club, orders are due online by Friday, the 10^th of November. 

This Friday the 10^th of November will be our final Pre-Prep transition day. Thank you for all your support in assisting children to adjust and settle into the Friday routine of starting their days in the library.  

Thursday the 23^rd of November will be our whole school Christmas Concert. It will begin at 5pm and finish at 8pm and this is a fantastic and fun event where classes will perform a Christmas song. Our grade will be selling donuts to assist in fundraising if you are able to help, we are still looking for volunteers for the stall. Please email your class teacher to let them know your availability or check the parent portal to sign up.

Both Prep classes have been working hard to memorise their lines for our Prep Nativity play which will be held on Wednesday the 28^th of November at 9am. Families are invited to attend.  

Kind regards 

Siobhan and Katelyn 

Yr 1 White

Welcome to the end of Week 6. Wow just over 15 days of school left. We have been using our mathematical skills and strategies each morning to count down how many days are left of school, as well as how many days til Santa appears.

In class, we have been consolidating our English persuasion skills with our story “The Day the Crayons Quit” through writing letters and having a short performance in front of the class, discussions on how the crayons feel about being used by Duncan, the crayons owner. The students also created their own puppet based on one of the crayons to use in their persuasion performance.

In Mathematics, we have been continuing with our problem investigations, doing examples and practise questions before we do the investigation. We have also been practising our number writing skills and number puzzles with the use of a 1-120 board that the students have previously filled in themselves.

In handwriting, we have been extending our handwriting skills based on different themes. The theme we have been writing about over the past few weeks has been based on Halloween. The students have used their imagination to create the sentences that they then write into their books.

If you have the opportunity to donate a toy/game or other object towards the toy raffles for the Christmas Fair, these would be greatly appreciated. Raffle tickets for the raffles will be sold at school in the following weeks and on the night. We have some amazing toys that have already been donated, and thank those that have brought these in.

Till next time

Jacque Houghton

Year 1 Blue

This term in year one blue we have really enjoyed working in maths groups. One challenge we have been undertaking is completing puzzles with numbers to 120.  The students have had to work out a variety of number patterns to solve the puzzles.  These have created quite the challenge and the students have loved trying to complete them with all the missing numbers!

Yr 2 White

2 White Scientists had a blast on Friday making their very own lava lamps. If you’re not following the St Anthony’s FB page, be sure to check the rest of the photos out!! We discovered that certain liquids will not mix, while others do, and we decided that those that mix are “friends”. It was great to see our scientific brains watching the magic of chemical reactions. We then used our knowledge of procedures to write about what we did and explain how it all happens.

Reminder: sport uniforms are Mondays and Tuesdays. Library books are due back this week and only desk books will be borrowed until the end of the year. I look forward to enjoying the next few weeks with year 2 as we are over the hill and heading towards a well deserved Christmas holiday break.

Yr 2/3 Blue

Hello from 2/3 Blue.  The last two weeks have been full of excitement and new learnings as we have welcomed Miss Ali Gardiner into our class.  Miss Gardiner is a Pre-service teacher from the Australian Catholic University and is currently undertaking her second practicum. 

We have been enjoying having her in our room and she has taught some interesting art lessons exploring the elements of Art, Maths lessons in which we have planned and made maps from a “bird’s eye view”, shape transformation and patterning  and writing lessons in which we have enjoyed sharing our ideas for narratives.  She has also taken on responsibility for Reading Rotations and Lunch Time duties.  The children are lucky to have such a dedicated and caring adult working with them. 

Reminders for end of Term:

PE continues on Mondays

Library books need to be returned by next Monday.

Children will be performing at the Christmas Fair on Thursday 23^rd November.

Enjoy your week.

Kathy and Ali

2/3 Blue

Yr 3 Gold

In English we have been completing our poetry analysis. In Maths we have continued to explore the likelihood of events and conducted several chance experiments. In Religion we have explored the Glory Be prayer and revisited psalms.

Just a reminder as well to check the Portal to sign up to help on the stalls at Our Christmas Fair and Concert. Many hands make light work. 

Yr 4/5 White

Yr 4/5 Blue



3 Weeks to Go!

As the holiday season approaches, we are excited to remind you that the Christmas Fair is just around the corner, and we can’t wait to spread the festive cheer throughout our community. This much-anticipated event is a wonderful opportunity for all of us to come together and celebrate the spirit of the season.

The Christmas Fair, however, is also about community participation. Can I please encourage you to consider volunteering and making a positive impact on this event. Your involvement can make a significant difference in ensuring the fair’s success. Please refer to the Portal for Sign-up sheets.

In the realm of education, creativity is one of the most cherished aspects, and it’s been a delight to witness our students’ remarkable creative talents during their end-of-year assessments. From captivating poetry that touches the heart to stunning visual arts that dazzle the eyes, our students have truly shone in their creative endeavours.

Until next time, stay well.

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

4/5 Gold

Welcome to the final weeks of Term 4! This means that we only have a limited number of days in which to focus on teaching, learning and assessment before the year winds down. Some important dates to remember include:

• Remembrance Day assembly this Friday at 12.45 in the hall
• Christmas Fair and concert – Thursday, 23rd Nov from 5 – 8 pm

An email has gone out asking for parents to volunteer to fill time slots in our roster – please consider helping with the BBQ or selling drinks in the tuck-shop for a short while. Your help would be appreciated!

Congratulations to the Year 5’s who participated in the Leadership Day on Monday – they had a wonderful opportunity to learn new skills, develop teamwork and share their ideas.

Yr 6 Blue

I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to the wonderful families who have already expressed interest in assisting with the fairy floss stall that we are holding at our Christmas Fair. Your support is invaluable!  However, we still have vacant timeslots from 6:30 PM to 7:00 PM and from 7:00 PM to 7:30 PM. If you haven't had the chance to volunteer yet, we kindly ask for your consideration. Your contribution will play a vital role in ensuring the success and smooth operation of the stall.  We truly can't do it without your help.  Follow the link to volunteer your time: https://forms.office.com/r/RBE8ATLV5Y

Over the past fortnight, our students have been busy exploring the enchanting world of watercolours, creating some truly stunning artwork. In the realm of science, we've delved into the exciting world of circuits, sparking curiosity, and generating endless fun. 

Tuesday was an exciting day for us. We had our Healthy Drinks Expo where students made delicious smoothies. We were able to taste test all smoothies on offer and then we put our writing skills to the test by reviewing our choice. This was lots of fun! Thank you to all the families for helping students get their ingredients to school to make this successful.

Thank you for your ongoing support, and let's look forward to another wonderful fortnight of learning and creativity!

Until next time,

Mrs Kingsford & Year 6.

Library News

Learning Support

Emotional Intelligence

Emotional responses are the feelings that arise in reaction to different situations, events, or stimuli. They can vary in intensity, duration, and complexity, depending on the person and the context. Some examples of emotional responses are:

• Feeling happy when you receive a gift or a compliment.
• Feeling angry when someone insults or hurts you.
• Feeling sad when you lose a loved one or a pet.
• Feeling disgusted when you see or smell something unpleasant.
• Feeling fearful when you face a threat or a danger.

To describe emotional responses of themselves and others, people need to be able to:

• Perceive the emotions that they and others are experiencing, using cues such as facial expressions, body language, tone of voice, and words .
• Understand the causes and consequences of different emotions, and how they relate to their own and others’ goals, values, and beliefs .
• Manage their own and others’ emotions in appropriate and constructive ways, such as expressing them, regulating them, or coping with them .

Some benefits of being able to describe emotional responses of themselves and others are:

• Developing empathy, which is the ability to see things from another’s perspective and feel their emotions . Empathy can lead to compassion, kindness, and helping behaviour, and reduce conflict and prejudice .
• Emotional intelligence can improve personal and social skills, such as self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, communication, and relationship building .
• Promoting mental health and well-being, which are influenced by the balance and regulation of emotions . Positive emotions can boost happiness, resilience, and creativity, while negative emotions can signal the need for support, change, or growth .

Have a great week.

The Learning Support Team

St Anthony's Uniform Shop

The uniform shop is located at St Anthony's, near the school office. 

Opening Hours

Monday 8:30am - 12:30pm

Wednesday 2:00pm - 4:00pm

Friday 11:30am - 3:30pm

Parenting Support and Information

Parentline

Parenting can be tough. But you don’t have to do it alone. When things
become challenging, it’s important to know that you can always talk to
someone about what’s going on.

If you’re a parent, carer or family member living in Queensland or the Northern
Territory, you can call Parentline from 8am – 10pm seven days a week, for the
cost of a local phone call.

St Anthony's Outside School Hours Care

Our Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) services provide the opportunity for children to grow and develop their social skills in a leisure based environment nurtured by our Catholic ethos.  

The services offer a combination of before school, after school, Pupil Free days and vacation care led by a team of qualified educators.   Our educators work with all children to create fun and recreational experiences so that a child’s wellbeing, learning and personal development are a priority. The services provide a variety of indoor and outdoor activities to support the diverse interests of all children.  

St Anthony's OSHC Toowoomba

Phone: 0458 937 154 or 0458 897 293

Email: ANTcare@tckc.qld.edu.au