Dear parents and carers,

Welcome to Book Week! Actually, I have learnt that at St Anne’s it’s more like Book Month, and there can never be enough time given to nurturing a love of books and literature. 2025 is a milestone year as the Children’s Book Council of Australia celebrates 80 years of Children’s Book Week! For 8 decades, CBCA has been dedicated to inspiring young minds to journey through the countless worlds that books offer.

Celebrations at St Anne’s commenced with the Book Fair and we would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your terrific support! (grandparents too!). Thanks to your enthusiasm in nurturing your child’s reading habits, the library will be able to order $1,585.00 worth of new books for the students to enjoy. Thank you!

The author Georgie Donaghey visited St Anne’s and the children learnt about the processes of writing and publishing. We hope some budding authors were inspired and empowered so that we soon can celebrate St Anne’s authors in print.

The students have enjoyed a whole range of activities in class too to deepen their appreciation for literature. And no Book Week is complete without a Book Character Parade. Well done Primary students (and parents!) for a fabulous parade – just look at the photos!

On behalf of the School Community, thank you very much to Mrs Nina Gaynor, our librarian extraordinaire for coordinating such an outstanding Book Month at St Anne’s.

Spelling Bee

Students from Year 3-8 were invited to participated in the Prime Minister's Spelling Bee this week. We look forward to sharing the results with you in the coming weeks. We feel confident that the results will reflect the strong and comprehensive spelling program, Spelling Mastery, the students experience at school.

Elevate Education

Students from Yr 9 – 12 experienced sessions with Elevate Education this week to help them to cultivate and sustain effective study skills. Please ask about the sessions as teaching someone else about what we have learned, helps to reinforce that learning so this will provide a great opportunity to revise. A little about Elevate Education:

“Since 2001, Elevate has been transforming the way study skills programs are run across Australia. Drawing upon over 20 years of research into the habits of the country’s top students, Elevate's high impact seminars & workshops help students improve their study techniques, increase motivation, build confidence, and lift exam performance.”

The students learnt all sorts of useful tips on planning a workable schedule that balances all aspects of their lives, the way to prioritise to aim high and achieve their goals, how to create a study group to save time and support each other and why we procrastinate and how not to.

St Anne’s and Sacred Heart Parish Community Masses

Over the past 4 weeks we have had three beautiful Masses celebrated with the whole College and members of the parish which have all connected us with our faith, history and heritage. We have celebrated Saints Anne and Joachim, Saint Mary Mackillop and the feast of the Assumption. Thank you to Mrs Gaynor for coordinating the Masses with Fr Alex who has celebrated them with such thoughtfulness, helping the students to connect personally with our patrons. Thank you also to the readers, altar servers, slide show operators and all those who have participated with respect and reverence.

In conclusion…

As well as being Book Week, this week coincides with Family Week when staff are encouraged to take some time out during our usual staff meeting time and focus on their own families. We also celebrate our St Anne’s Family this week, as reflected in the prayer in today’s Newsletter.

The Year 12 students (and Yr 11 VET Primary Industries) have now completed the trials. As the students prepare for the HSC exams which are just around the corner, we ask the community to remember the students in their prayers that they may give their best and achieve their goals.

With best wishes,

Louise Grant

Principal

St Anne’s Catholic College

Prayer

For My Family 

Lord God,

I give you all the members of our family. You know them all so well and love them all. I ask that you would cover us with a rainbow of hope. 

Hope that draws us together to work out our differences. 

Hope that helps us to celebrate together and care for one another. 

Hope that rides like a banner in our lives and watches over us where we go. 

Hope that overcomes adversity and gathers strenghth to overcome. 

Hope that guides us and gives us vision for our future alone and together. 

Hope filled with love. 

Hope that fuels faith. 

Hope that breathes peace. 

May our family live in you 

Underneath your promises.