Dear St Anne's Community,

Thank you for an amazing start to the 2023 school year. Students have been busy re-establishing routines or creating new ones and I commend them on their settled approach to school life. 

Community Council AGM

This week, we held the first Community Council meeting for 2023. The next meeting will be the Annual General Meeting and it is scheduled for Tuesday 14th March. We will confirm the date in the next newsletter and on Facebook. The Community Council finances will be sent off to the accountants shortly, for the annual audit process. The audit report is then presented to the community council and a copy is sent off to Catholic Education. We are calling for new members to join the Community Council. We will also be electing a new Community Council Chair at the AGM. I thank outgoing Chair Margo Townsend for her amazing work over the past 3 years and even longer as a member of the council. 

Welcome BBQ

Thank you to all that came along to our Welcome BBQ last week, it was nice to catch up with you all. Thank you to our staff for their work in preparing the evening. 

Swimming Carnival

Congratulations to all our students for their participation in the Swimming Carnival last Friday. We were blessed with a hot day and perfect swimming weather. Congratulations must also go to the Staff/Parent swim team for another successful campaign, defeating the Year 10 and 11 students comfortably. Thank you to Mr Hughes and Mr Tait for all their organisation, it is appreciated. 

New Students

A warm welcome to Jordan, Tayla, Caitlyn and their families who joined our year 10 student group last week. We wish them all the best as they settle into St Anne's. 

Staffing

After a recruitment process, Paula Godde and Kathryn Derrick have been successful in their applications for School Secretary positions at our school. I congratulate them and look forward to welcoming them to the team. 

Compass

Please do not hesitate to make contact with the school office if you are experiencing difficulties with the Compass Parent Portal. 

First Aid Training

This week, all of our staff completed their first aid certificate. 

School Canteen

We are always in need of volunteers to help out in the canteen. If you can spare a day a week or even a day a term, please get in touch with Canteen Manager Belinda Maxwell. If your child has allergies, we also encourage you to speak to Belinda about suitable foods.

High Impact Teaching Practice (HITP) and Catalyst

We have another 4 teachers completing 12 months of training on HITP this year. Miss Winkley, Mrs Hughes, Mrs Breust and Mrs Wallace will spend a number of days in Canberra conducting professional development sessions on evidenced based HITP.

Catalyst is a system wide approach that is informed by the Science of Learning and Science of Reading. Catalyst develops excellent Principals, Leadership Teams and Teachers in all Catholic Education Canberra and Goulburn (CECG) schools through evidence-based professional learning programs and resources. HITP is part of this program.

Morning Time

It is important that students do not enter school grounds before 8:30am of a morning. 8:30am is when we start providing supervision on the playground. 

Ash Wednesday (22nd February)

Ash Wednesday is one of the most popular and important holy days in the liturgical calendar. Ash Wednesday opens Lent, a season of fasting and prayer. Ash Wednesday takes place 46 days before Easter Sunday, and is chiefly observed by Catholics, although many other Christians observe it too.

Ash Wednesday comes from the ancient Jewish tradition of penance and fasting. The practice includes the wearing of ashes on the head. The ashes symbolize the dust from which God made us. As the priest applies the ashes to a person’s forehead, he speaks the words: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Alternatively, the priest may speak the words, “Repent and believe in the Gospel.”

Ashes also symbolize grief, in this case, grief that we have sinned and caused division from God. Writings from the Second-century Church refer to the wearing of ashes as a sign of penance.

Priests administer ashes during Mass and all are invited to accept the ashes as a visible symbol of penance. Even non-Christians and the excommunicated are welcome to receive the ashes. The ashes are made from blessed palm branches, taken from the previous year’s palm Sunday Mass. It is not required that a person wear the ashes for the rest of the day, and they may be washed off after Mass. However, many people keep the ashes as a reminder until the evening.

(Source: StAnneParish.org)

Take care,

Grant Haigh

Principal