Term 3 Week 10 2023

Prayer

From the Acting Principal

There are thousands of books written about different parenting strategies. One of the topics to consider is choice. As parents, we sometimes face these questions:

• Will our children be given options to choose or will that freedom come when they are older?

• Will the consequences of choices always be distributed fairly, or will parents be lenient under certain conditions?

Each family will approach these questions differently, but in general, parents hope that their children will grow to make good choices that lead to good consequences.

On Sunday, we celebrated the 109th World Day of Migrants and Refugees. This year, Pope Francis wants us to think about the choices we have in life and imagine what it is like to walk in someone else's shoes. 

In our human world, there are so many who face uncertainty, fear, poverty and distress. Sometimes their conditions call for tough choices in order to preserve life and wellbeing for individuals and families. In an ideal world, Pope Francis says, the “decision to migrate should always be free”. In reality, many are forced to make choices that are not fair or safe and take any option that is available.

Everyone wants to be safe, healthy and happy. But some people need to make a choice about the best place for their family. Sometimes people decide to travel to another country or another part of the country. Others decide to stay at home even when it is difficult or to return to their homes. We want everyone to be free to choose the best place for a good life.

As a community, we can choose not to judge, but to respond with generosity.

We can create spaces of human dignity and flourishing.

We can provide welcome, hospitality and means to earn an income.

We can show love and build pathways towards hope and healing.

We can support those who choose to return.

Pope Francis says that ”the chance to live in peace and with dignity” is not yet a right, but “must be seen as a shared responsibility”.

We remember how hard it is for people to travel to a new place and we celebrate the wonderful different cultures that we have in Australia. When we all share our gifts and talents, we create a better world for everyone. We give thanks for all those in our community who’ve come across the seas to share their gifts and culture with us to enrich us and our nation.

Below is a short video about two girls, Fariba & Fatima who came to Australia as refugees. Please have a look…

As we conclude Term 3, I’d like to wish everyone in our school community a safe and restful holiday. We need these periods of time to recuperate after a full and busy term. This is a chance to slow down and recharge the batteries, ready for the final term of the school year.

Wishing you a safe and happy holiday.

Paul Mannion

Acting Principal

Farewell Fr Fidelis

 Thank you for everything you have done for the St Anthony’s community. We will miss you.

Wyniss Performance

On Wednesday 13th September, we had some amazing musical visitors to our school. "Wyniss" is a Musica Viva Australia  production, showcasing traditional music and dance from the Torres Strait culture.

They travelled all the way from one of the Torres Strait Islands (Mua Island) to perform some traditional music and dance for the students in Early Learning through to Year 6.

The traditions of music and dance in the Torres Strait are significant aspects of Torres Strait culture. The skills that are involved in singing, playing music and dancing are gradually developed over many years and passed down through the generations.

The members of the group decided to call themselves Wyniss after an exotic lizard found only on their island. They feel that they’re all a bit shy, but just like the lizard, they are very colourful and exotic!

The students had a wonderful time and were eager to participate!

Bianca Templar visits St Anthony’s.

On Friday 22nd September Aboriginal Sharer Bianca Templar visited some classes to continue our learning about her culture. In Grade 5/6B students learnt about colonisation then learnt how to make rope with some students in Grade 3/4R. After lunch Bianca visited Grade 2 to teach them about ochre painting.

Assembly 5/6 B

In 5/6B we have been looking at the different ways people migrate to Australia. As part of this learning we did a small group activity called the Suitace activity. We were given 2 minutes to chose an item each to pack in our suitcase to leave the country. We were then talked through scenarios that challenged us to think how our items helped us or how we would lose them. For assembly we created a play to show the results of our learning in this activity. This has allowed us to build empathy for asylum seekers.

Student Achievements

Jeremiah Pratt - National School Futsal Championships

Congratulations to Jerry who is currently competing in Queensland at the 2023 National School Futsal Championships, after being selected from the Tasmanian regional School Futsal Titles. This tournament has 1700 players across 180 teams from across all states. Jerry is in the Under 10s - Yellow. You can find the fixture and results here.

MJR @ St Anthonys

Making Jesus Real (MJR) is what St Anthony’s is all about. It is not a program but a way of life with Jesus as our mentor. Jesus has shown us how to love God and our neighbours. This requires us to be fully aware of our actions, attitudes and thoughts towards others like Jesus did.  We have to ask ourselves constantly  “What would Jesus do?

Recently we had the pleasure of having Marty Ogle from MRJ spend a day in our school. He took the Grade 5/6 students for a session called ‘Crossing the Line’

1. What does this mean?
   To behave in a way that is not socially acceptable, to go beyond what is proper/ acceptable
2. What happens when you are aware that you have crossed the line?
   Maybe at home back chatting? Please ask your children about this as it is a habit that can be controlled.
3. How do you know where the line is?
4. What can be the cost of crossing the line?
   Too many students forget about the repercussions
5. Think of where you have crossed the line…

• failed to read the cues/clues and kept going, maybe with your sense of humour.

• Social media: Tik Tok, Snapchat etc

• In the classroom

• At home

• With a friend

• Sport

• Manners

Marty said the students were amazing with their questions and how they know that they can and must improve in some areas.

He also took the Year 5’s for a session on ’Leadership’ and they explored areas that they need next year as the ‘Big kids in the school. They also came up with the following acrostic focussing on leadership areas.

Lastly, Marty  worked with the Year 1 / 2’s on areas they can improve on and the major area was saying ‘Okay- with a smile’ when they are asked to do chores at home, get off computers or get up/or go to bed.

They sang a super song to Mr Mannion and the Office staff called ‘Live Jesus in your heart’ and it certainly put a smile on everyone’s faces and brought great joy.

NAPLAN Report 2023

This year, there were a few changes to the NAPLAN test. These changes included:

• The test was held in March (Term 1) instead of May (Term 2).
• Individual results are now reported against four levels of achievement, not the previous 10 'proficiency bands'. The four levels of achievement are:
• Exceeding: the student’s result exceeds expectations at the time of testing. 
• Strong: the student’s result meets challenging but reasonable expectations at the time of testing. 
• Developing: the student’s result indicates that they are working towards expectations at the time of testing.
• Needs additional support: the student’s result indicates that they are not achieving the learning outcomes that are expected at the time of testing. They are likely to need additional support to progress satisfactorily.

In Year 3, our students participated in their first NAPLAN. Our results were:

* = significantly higher

This impressive performance indicates that the implementation of Catholic Education Tasmania’s (CET) Literacy Learners for Life initiative last year in the Early Years is starting to pay dividends as we build strong foundational skills in literacy. This initiative focuses on improving literacy for every student, in every subject, every year. In addition, the introduction of CETs Insight Project will help to further improve the learning achievement of every student in Catholic schools.

In 2024, St Anthony’s Catholic School will commence a focus on Numeracy using evidence-based and engaging programs to enable students to increase their fluency and achievement in Maths.

These excellent results are a testament to the hard work and commitment of our students, the expertise of our teachers, and the support of our parents.

We do acknowledge however that some students have not reached the new NAPLAN benchmark and we will work with these students to improve in the areas identified by the NAPLAN testing as they continue their journey through the primary school.

The challenge is to build on these solid foundations and put the students into a position to demonstrate solid gains in all areas when they are tested again in 2025.

Student Free Day - Monday 16 October

Please note that Monday 16 October is a Student Free Day for teachers to participate in Statewide Professional Learning.

Students will return to school on Tuesday 17 October with the Athletics Carnival.

Athletics Carnival

Our Athletics Carnival will be held on Tuesday 17 October (first day back for Students) at Windsor Park. Parents and spectators are very welcome to attend.

Below is the schedule for the day.

Crazy Sock Day - Wednesday 25 October

  Students are encouraged to wear colourful socks and bring a gold coin donation. Money will be collected by the classroom teachers.

 All money raised will go to Catholic Mission which will help provide essential support for key projects in countries right around the world, including remote Australia. It’s the normal everyday contributions that allow us to make an extraordinary difference.

Vacation Care