St Anne's Catholic College - Temora eNewsletter

Dear St Anne's Community,

We are only three weeks away from the end of the term and I hope that for all of you, the festive season is a safe and happy time.

The school captain speeches and voting will be taking place next week. I wish all applicants the best of luck with their speeches.

If you are leaving St Anne's at the end of this year and you are yet to notify the school, please make contact as soon as possible. This will assist us with planning for 2021. Thank you

I sent an email earlier in the week with the following information.

"Congratulations to Mrs Nicole Miller and Mrs Sarah Overs who have both recently announced their pregnancies. We are very happy for them and wish them all the best next year. Mrs Overs is taking leave for the 2021 school year. Mrs Miller is working up until the end of Week 5 of Term 1.

Mr Dean Cartwright has accepted a permanent position at Matre Dei College in Wagga, starting next year. We will farewell him appropriately and recognise his contributions to the school and community, at the end of this year. As mentioned in the previous newsletter, Miss Simone Pope and Miss Lia Marin have both been successful in their applications for positions in Sydney and Leeton respectively. We will also farewell them and acknowledge their contributions at the end of this year.

After a recent panel interview process, I am pleased to announce that Miss Bridgitt Ryan was successful in her application for the position of fulltime/permanent classroom teacher here at St Anne’s. We congratulate Miss Ryan on her appointment. After a recent panel interview process, I am pleased to announce that Ms Jennifer Cutcliffe was successful in her application for the position of fulltime/temporary classroom teacher for the 2021 school year at St Anne’s. We congratulate Ms Cutcliffe on her appointment and look forward to introducing her to the community in the new year.

I have advertised for a Secondary Science/Maths teacher this week, to replace Mr Cartwright." Please spread the word.

2021- The first day of school for K-10 students will be Monday 1st February. Staff will be participating in Professional Development on Wednesday 27th, Thursday 28th and Friday 29th January. Because we are using an extra day (Friday 29th) in the first week of the term and so that students do not return to school on a Friday, we will not be holding a staff development day on the Monday in term 2.

School Community Council

On behalf of the school, I would like to thank the Community Council for their support this year. The Community Council have contributed in the following ways:

- Donated $10,000 towards the purchase of new furniture in the renovated classrooms.

- Purchased a new hat for each of our 2021 Kindergarten students.

- Purchased a new self propelled mower for the school. (photo to follow in the next newsletter)

- Agreed to financially support the school with playground improvements next year.

- They also provide valuable input into a range of matters.

Take care,

Grant Haigh

Christmas Eve Children’s Mass in the Park - We are very fortunate that we have the opportunity to once again celebrate this Christmas with our annual Mass for Christmas Eve in the Park. The letter requesting volunteers to assist with this Parish Mass will be emailed home today with a hard copy also sent home tomorrow to be filled in. You are strongly encouraged to nominate your child/ren to be involved in the various roles this year, hopefully with some extra families involved. It is a beautiful way to share some Christmas cheer with the community in 2020.

Sharing Mass (Liturgy) 2020 - For 2020 we will be having a Sharing Liturgy at school. While we are not having a full mass as usual, we are strongly encouraging our school families to give as generously as possible by contributing towards the St Vincent De Paul Christmas Appeal with donations of money. We appreciate that Christmas is a difficult time for a lot of families and any contribution that you can manage this year is greatly appreciated. The money is donated by the school to help with the purchase of food and gift vouchers which are then distributed to needy families within the Temora district.

We ask that you please return donations to the school office by Friday 4th December (or before school on Monday the 7th at the latest) for our Sharing Liturgy on Tuesday 8th December where our donations will be given to a representative from St Vincent de Paul. We thank you in anticipation of your continued support of our school’s efforts to support this wonderful local Catholic charity.

Year 10 Graduation - Year 10 Graduation Mass is 5:30pm on Tuesday December 15th.

A reminder that graduates are only permitted to invite 4 guests each.

First Sunday of Advent, Year B, November 29, 2020

Second reading: 1st Letter of St. Paul to the Conrinthians 1:3–9

Context for the second reading: Our Liturgical Setting: We wait for Christ in two ways. The early Sundays of Advent always carry on the end-of-the-world theme, from the last Sundays of the preceding liturgical year. In this theme, we wait for Christ to come again in glory, to judge the living and the dead. The later Sundays of Advent celebrate a different theme, the coming of the Messiah in the flesh, when Jesus was born of Mary.

The Historical Situation: Today's second reading comes from an early letter of Saint Paul, written while he and his audience were sure that Christ's second coming was just around the corner. Saint Paul reassures the people of Corinth who were a young, somewhat wild Christian community anxious about the imminent return of Christ to bring history to an end, by reminding them of the gifts that the Spirit of God has already given them. They're ready, and God will keep them so.

“...Likewise, the witness I bore to Christ has been so confirmed among you that you lack no spiritual gift as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will strengthen you to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Gospel Mark 13:33-37 - “Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.”

Reflection on the Gospel: The people of Jesus' time lived in the present, without thinking much about the future. Jesus feels an urgency about the works of God that remain unfinished, that can only be completed by the return of the Son of Man. Jesus tries to stir up that urgency in the hearts of his disciples with the message of this reading not unlike our own St Anne’s scriptural quote for 2020.

Jesus exhorts us to be always vigilant and this involves making sure that we have God in our soul in grace for we do not know when Our Lord will decide to call us unto Himself and when His Second Coming will be.
To be always prepared, and knowing that “even the just man falls seven times a day,” it is necessary to humbly, contritely and frequently approach the Sacrament of Confession to ask pardon from God for our sins and to receive His forgiveness, love, mercy and be reconciled with Him.

May we, this Advent, prepare ourselves to meet the Savior by opening our heart and life to Christ with a careful vigilance, firm faith, humble and sustained daily struggle out of love of God so as to immerse ourselves totally in Christ and share his light and everlasting joy with others.

https://www.catholicsstrivingforholiness.org/1st-sunday-of-advent-a-be-prepared-always/

http://www.lectorprep.org/advent_01_yrB.html

Science Room

The vinyl flooring will be laid this week and the new benches will follow in the next couple of weeks.

Wood/Metal Room

Pictured below are the new welding bays ready for installation and panelling.

At St Anne's, we believe that it is important to be well presented and neat in appearance. Your support with the below items, is greatly appreciated. If you have any concerns or questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Hair – Girls:
● Hair is to be tidy and neither grown, cut nor groomed in an extreme or exaggerated fashion.
● Hairstyles should be neat and well groomed.
● Where long enough to be tied back, then it should be tied back, using ribbons, bands or ‘scrunchies’ in St Anne's school colours.
● Hair should not obscure the face.
● No contrast in hair colours (naturally blended hair will be accepted).

Hair – Boys:
● Hair is to be tidy and neither grown nor groomed in an extreme or exaggerated fashion.
● Shaved heads, steps, undercuts and exaggerated layering are not accepted.
● Hair should not obscure the face.
● Hair should not extend beyond the top of the collar at the back, beyond eyebrows at the front or past the top of the ears.
● No contrast in hair colours (naturally blended hair will be accepted).
● Where long enough to be tied back, then it should be tied back, using ribbons, bands or ‘scrunchies’ in St Anne's school colours.

Kindergarten have had a jam-packed term with lots of events. They participated in Book Week, had their Athletics Carnival and are looking forward to starting the swimming program in a couple of weeks. It is safe to say that they are exhausted from all the wonderful activities they have participated in this term.

This week, has been another week full of learning. For Maths, Kindergarten are learning about length. On Tuesday they went to the park to collect some leaves. They ordered the leaves from shortest to tallest and stuck this on coloured paper. On Wednesday, we looked at our height and found out who was the tallest in the class and who was the shortest.

In Writing, this week we have been writing letters to Santa. We discussed all the toys that we would like Santa to bring us and thanked him for all the past gifts he has given. Kindergarten also had to plead their case and tell Santa why they should have a particular toy. We wrote a draft of our letters in our writing books and used the iPad to publish our letter. At the end of the week, we are going to walk to the post office as a class to post our letters.

In Sport, Kindergarten have loved learning how to skip. They enjoy it so much that they use the skipping ropes at lunch and recess most days. They are so proud of themselves when they beat their record of how many jumps they can do.

Lastly, Kindergarten have been learning about Creation in Religion. This has connected well with our wellbeing program as they have been looking at ways to be kind. On Monday, they discussed what kindness looks like and sounds like. They were able to show examples by drawing a picture.

This week Year 1 have been working on Procedural Texts in Writing. Today we tested out how good our ‘How to Make Fairy Bread’ procedure was. The results were very tasty!

The Stage 5 elective classes of Drama, Visual Arts, Wood and Metal Technologies recently displayed the skills they have worked on throughout the year through their major works.

For the Drama Students it was show time. They were able to present their major performance piece “Sherwood Shenannigans” by Marty Boyle, at the Temora Town Hall Theatre. Although not the usual ‘full house’, the audience certainly appreciated the show and the results of all the hard work our students put into giving a polished and highly professional show.

The Create exhibition showcased the amazing works of the Visual Arts, Wood & Metal students. The exhibition was set up in the hall and open for a few days for visitors to come and view the works. Congratulations has to go to all the students involved.

Book Fair

Thank you to everyone who supported our online Scholastic Book Fair recently. By supporting the Book Fair you have helped to raise $405 for our Library.

A reminder that if your child has not received their books from the Book Fair that these books have been ordered and they will be distributed to students as soon as they arrive.

Overdue Books

It’s that time of the Year when reminders about overdue library books are sent home. All library books are due back at school by Friday 4^th December. A reminder that lost books can be paid for via the QKR app. Student borrowing from the Library will end in Week 8 this term.

NAIDOC Week 2020

‘Always was, always will be’

To celebrate NAIDOC week our students participated in a variety of activities. On Tuesday we held a whole school liturgy via Teams which was led by our Aborginal and Torres Strait Islander students and Captains.

Throughout the week each class also spent time completing activities to broaden their knowledge of Aborginal and Torres Strait Islander culture. Infants students watched an episode of Little Jay and Big Cuz and talked about their connection to country or the land. Meanwhile, Primary read the story ‘Welcome to Country’ and learned about Didiree, a form of Aborginal meditation where you lay and listen to the sounds of nature around you. Both groups then created some artwork on boomerangs using Aborginal symbols. Students did an amazing job as you can see from the pictures below!

In Secondary, students watched the documentary ‘The final quarter’ which discussed the treatment of Adam Goodes in the final years of his AFL career. Students then discussed the issue of racism, where it comes from and how we can change it. All students collaborated in small groups to develop an anti racism agreement which will ensure that St Anne’s is an inclusive and respectful place for people of all cultures and backgrounds.

To end the week all our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students enjoyed a recess together under the tree creating some artwork and reconnecting to country with a relaxing Didiree session.

If you identify as Aborginal and Torres Strait Islander and would like your child to further their knowledge of culture and be included in our celebrations please call the office and let us know.

Week 6

Kinder

Academic Excellence - Ned Hale and Evie Keith. Good Samaritan - Archie Block.

Year 1

Academic Excellence - Jax Walden and Amra Nirupan. Good Samaritan - Zephanie Lancaster.

Year 2

Academic Excellence - Billy Cassidy and Hannah Pham. Good Samaritan - Dallas Gibbs.

Year 3

Academic Excellence - Meg Ruskin and Hailey Kite. Good Samaritan - Billy Townsend.

Year 4

Academic Excellence - Will Maxwell and Jake Bett. Good Samaritan - Marley Block.

Year 5

Academic Excellence - Adelaide Gaynor and Izzy Crawford. Good Samaritan - Hugh Perry.

Year 6

Academic Excellence - Matilda Reardon and Scarlett Minchin. Good Samaritan - Milly Kelly.

Week 5

Yr 7 - Josie Crawford for excellent achievement in Science practical assessment. Lily Guymer for excellent achievement in Science practical assessment. Alexia Lancaster for excellent achievement in Science practical assessment. Malle Morton for excellent achievement in Science practical assessment. Charli Momot for excellent written and creative work in English. Rachael Thompson for consistent effort in all areas of English. Evie West for persistence in practical tasks in Science.

Yr 9 - Wilson Gaynor for working independently in Science practical. Jordan Meyer for consistent work in Mathematics. Peter Thompson for independent work in Science.

Yr 10 - Will Matthews for progress in Science class work and revision.

Week 6

Yr 7 - Josie Crawford - for a great French fashion assessment. Alexia Lancaster for an exceptional liveability report. Milly van Egmond - for a great French fashion assessment.

Last Thursday our Year 10 students had the opportunity to take part in the Rotary mock interviews. They were interviewed by amazing people from a wide range of occupations and all agreed it was a great experience. A big thank you to everyone for giving of their time and to Rotary Club of Temora for giving the students this wonderful experience.

All events have been finalised for the Athletics carnival. The results were: First: Pats on 231, second: Joes 218, third Pauls 207 and fourth Johns 186. congratulations to Pats and well done to all competitors in the carnival.

With so little sport this year and therefore no opportunities to progress at a representative level, only the swimming, cross country and athletics carnival can be used to determine sporting awards for the year.

Although 5 months out of season, St Anne’s conducted its annual Athletics Carnival at Nixon Park on Friday 4^th November. In quite hot conditions, all students competed with enthusiasm and skill to the best of their abilities making for a very enjoyable day.

A huge thanks also goes to our teachers who had to run each event without our usual help from parents, thanks to Covid!! Many students helped out too as they progressed around the various events.

Primary Athletics Age Champions:

9s girls - Imogen Baldock, 9s boys - Matthias Lancaster

10s girls - Lani McCrone, 10s boys - Darcy Reardon

11s girls - Annabelle Palmer, 11s boys - Lenny Lancaster

12s girls - Maisy McCrone, 12s boys - Jimmie Harper

Secondary Athletics Age Champions:

13s girls - Alexia Lancaster, 13s boys - Daylen Coleman

14s girls - Bea Balon, 14s boys - Noah Harper

15s girls - Sophie Dunstan, 15s boys - Jordan Meyer

16s girls - Abbey Reinhold, 16s boys - Charlie Bent

St Anne’s was represented by one girls Tag team and one boys League team at the annual Trent Barrett Shield in Young last Wednesday.

In very warm conditions all players played exceptionally well, particularly our players who don’t normally play Tag or League.

The girls Tag team won 4 of their 5 games, defeating St Mary’s Young 16-8, Murrumburrah 24-0, Young Public 20-4, drawing with Temora Public 8-8 and being beaten 16 to 8 by Temora Public. The Tag player of the day was Lani McCrone who was inspirational in leading her team around the field.

The boys were undefeated in their 5 games beating Murrumburrah 28-16, Berinbah Public 28-0, Young Public 28-20, St Mary’s Young 12-0 and Sacred Heart Coota 4-0. St Anne’s best league player of the day was a very tenacious George Morton.

Congratulations to all players for their fantastic spirit and skill displayed in very trying conditions and thanks to Lou who was “Super Coach“ of the girls as well as the bus driver.