St Anthony's Primary School Girraween

On Tuesday we held our Open Evening for 2022 enrolments. Approximately 50 new families have toured the school over the last week. The applications are rolling in and we have started interviews to meet potential new families to our school community.

This week we celebrate Catholic Schools Week and this enrolment time of the year is a perfect time to give a shout out to all members of our school community.

Our Year 6 student leaders led the school tours for the open evening, as always they are the best marketing strategy for our school, a living example of what it looks and sounds like to be a St Anthony's student. I received a handwritten letter from a parent at the open night commending our school leaders for providing "an outstanding tour of the campus and their enthusiasm, knowledge and conscientiousness are a credit to the school".

During the open night and interviews, such a large percentage of new parents told me that they have been referred by current families! Positive word of mouth recommendations from our parents who currently have children at St Anthony's are honestly the best review I could ask for and we are so grateful that you are sharing the news about what makes St Anthony's such a great place to be.

Our teachers are committed and generous with their time and energies, 10 staff members volunteered their time at the open evening to be the face of welcome and community that we all know so well.

As the Catholic School community of the Parish of St Anthony of Padua we are proud to celebrate Catholic Schools Week 2021.

Next Friday, we will celebrate the Feast Day of St Joseph.  We are especially acknowledging this feast day this year, as Pope Francis has invited the whole Catholic Church to observe a "Year of St Joseph".  St Joseph is a model to us all, not only as a guardian and protect of Jesus, but as a spiritual protector of the Church.  We celebrate St Joseph's care for Jesus and Mary, his faithfulness to God, and his courage to follow God's will.  We pray that we may display these same qualities in our own life.

Thank you to everyone who is supporting Project Compassion through donations at school, joining in the guessing competition run by Mini Vinnies, or by using the family box at home.  Please return your family's box to church at Easter time, or to school by Monday 22 March.

Mini Vinnies is well under way for 2021. Thank you to all our Year 5 and 6 students who have volunteered their time to be part of the team. This year, the Caritas theme for Project Compassion is, Be More. The quote

“Aspire not to have more, but to be more,” by Saint Oscar Romero fits beautifully with our new RE curriculum where we encourage each child to ‘flourish’ to be the best person they can.

In the photo above, Our Year 6 team are sorting Project Compassion boxes and posters that were distributed to all the classes on Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent.

Today, the students in Year 5 Mini Vinnies watched a Caritas film, Project Compassion 2021 - Caritas Australia on Vimeo to ignite their thinking about how they can BE MORE.

Caritas Australia is the international aid and development organisation of the Catholic Church in Australia, and is part of one of the largest aid and development networks in the world. 

The students will learn to deepen the connection between the Project Compassion stories and the Lenten traditions of fasting, praying and almsgiving. By making explicit links, students are encouraged to see how their actions support the work 

of the church through Caritas Australia and are an extension of their faith.

Today, as part of their Lenten promises, the students committed to one way they can 

Be More Loving

Be More Green

Be More Just

Be More Aware.

A reminder that Term 1 Fees are due by Wednesday 17th March.

If you are having difficulties with your school fee payment, please contact the office for a confidential discussion.

The schools within the Parramatta Diocese are in the process of becoming cashless, therefore the preferred payments are BPay, BPoint, AustPost Bill Pay or Eftpos (available in the office). The office will still accept cash payments during the transition. 

Constable El-Jamal from Cumberland Police visited our Year 5 and Year 6 students earlier this term to discuss pertinent information around safe behaviours when interacting online. As we are aware, the Internet and social media are part of the lives of many people and provide them with the opportunity to connect and communicate with people from all over the world. Just as we teach our children appropriate behaviours in social contexts, online technology and new modes of communication mean that we also need to be better educated in how we teach our children to engage in safe, respectful and responsible behaviours when online.

The students found this experience to provide them with valuable information that will assist them to engage with others online in safe, respectful and appropriate ways.

“We learned how to be safe online. It is important to think before we say or post anything online. He taught us to do the Granny test - would you like your grandma to see what you post online?” - Olivia Year 6

“It was a great experience to learn about cyber bullying and the appropriate ages that you should be on social media platforms. He taught us how to report stuff by using online organisations like beyond blue etc.” - Annah Year 6

“Someone who was trained to be on the lookout for cyber safety issues came to inform us to be on the lookout for different signs. Don’t talk to strangers.”  - Valencia Year 6

Wow.....thank you to your amazing support of our biscuit fundraiser! 

We have many families requesting additional boxes to sell. If you know that you will be unable to sell all or part of your allocated biscuit box, we ask that you send these back to school on Monday 15 March so they can be redistributed to other families.

A reminder that all money or unsold boxes are due by Friday 19 March, 2021. Reminder messages will be sent out to families after this date.

There has been a great start to library borrowing this year, and it has been great to see some year 3 students practicing and using their newly learned skill of choosing a non-fiction book using the dewey decimal system. It has also been good to see year 5 doing some interesting  book reviews as part of their literacy lessons.

This week all students should have received a note with their username and password for Premier’s Reading Challenge, along with instructions for accessing books. Hopefully we can build on the 89 students that completed the challenge than last year.

Students also should have received the brochure for Issue 2 of Book Club this week.  If you want to ensure that you get your purchases before the end of term,  don’t forget to order online  before next Monday.

St Anthony's normal uniform shop opening hours:

TUESDAYS  & THURSDAYS 8:30-9:15am            WEDNESDAYS 2:15-3:00pm

Outside of these times, orders can be placed in person through the front office if the size of the item is known.

See our school website for uniform requirements and price list.

MENUS - check out the St Anthony's menus at melstastybites.com/menu

CANTEEN ACCOUNTS - consider opening a canteen account to minimise cash handling, see information on our website

BIRTHDAYS - Canteen options are available for a child to celebrate their birthday with their classmates. 

* Animal Pops Bucket - $1 each ice block

* Cupcakes with frosting - $2 each cupcake (72 hours notice required)