Dear St Anne's Community,

Week 5 is nearly over and the term is progessing well. Congratulations to all of our students who have represented the school, region or system in their respective sporting areas. We are always proud of your achievements. 

Social Evenings

I had the pleasure of attending the Year 7 and Kindergarten parent's social nights recently. It was great to be able to host these events, get to know our new families and catch up with our existing families. Thank you for attending in the spirit you did. 

High Impact Teaching Practices (HITP)

Last Monday, Lara Santi, a representative from a Mastery School in QLD and Bernadette from Catholic Education Canberra/Goulburn, visited us to work with our K-6 teachers on HITP. Lara provided demonstration lessons and extended discussion sessions with staff. We received great feedback on how far along our staff are with implementing HITP in their classrooms. We will invite Lara and Bernadette back in Semester 2, where they will work with both our Primary and Secondary staff. 

Director's Visit

Last Monday, Mr Ross Fox called in on his way back from St Mary's at West Wyalong to see the progress we have made with our new classrooms and toilet blocks. We appreciate his time and visit. 

Enrolments

We welcomed Michael into Year 9 last Tuesday. We look forward to seeing Michael and his family around the school. 

Principal's Retreat

Next week, I will be away at the Annual Canberra/Goulburn Catholic Education Principal's Retreat in Bowral. The schedule:

Tuesday afternoon- Western Region Principal's Association meeting

Wednesday- Catholic Leader's Day

Thursday & Friday- Retreat

While I am away, Mrs Geraldine Holland (Primary) and Miss Michelle Jamieson (Secondary) will be able to assist you with any questions or concerns.  

Parish Priest

Fr. Alex will be finishing up with us soon and he will return to Canberra to his previous responsibilities. We have been very lucky to have Fr. Alex join us while Fr. Sijo is overseas. Fr. Alex has made a huge effort to link the school and Parish together and he always made himself available to join our teachers in the staffroom or the classroom during RE lessons. We are not aware of Fr. Sijo's exact return date and therefore, we expect to have a number of relieving Priests in the meantime. 

The Resilience Project (TRP)

I encourage you to keep the conversation going at home. Please see the information further along in this newsletter for more information. 

Long Lunch Fundraiser

Our Annual Long Lunch fundraiser is fast approaching on Saturday 23rd March from 12-6pm. If you are yet to experience this event, it comes highly recommended by everyone, including myself. Tickets can be purchased through trybooking. Funds raised will go to new student seating options in the playground. We kindly ask that tickets are purchased by 10th March to ensure we can cater appropriatey for the event. 

Community Council AGM

We welcome new and exisiting members to come along to this meeting. Tuesday Week 7 at 7pm. All positions will be declared vacant.

Take care,

Grant Haigh

Principal

Project Compassion boxes:

Please continue to encourage your child to contribute towards the Project Compassion boxes. Donations are to be returned just prior to the Easter weekend. The money is collected to help vulnerable communities forge a path out of poverty. There are many amazing initiatives which your donation will support, among them are education programs, supporting initiatives of community health workers, vocational training opportunities, and providing life-changing water tanks for families. 

Year 8 & 9 Western Region Youth Ministry Conference in Cootamundra 

Year 9 will attend the Western Region Youth Ministry Conference on Tuesday 12th March with 

Mrs Jacqui Collins & Mr Brett Inch. Year 8 will be attending on Wednesday 13th March with Dr 

Lyn Vey & Mrs Louise Gaynor. Information with full details was sent home to families via 

compass earlier in the week. Please give permission for your child in Year 8 or 9 as soon as 

possible. This is a regular school day and attendance is compulsory. Please contact Mrs 

Collins should you have any queries or if your child has any dietary requirements, as indicated 

on the note on compass.

A date for the Calendar

Please note that any student wishing to make their Sacrament of Confirmation is able to do 

so on the 30th June, 2024. To be eligible candidates must have already received their 

Sacraments of Reconciliation and First Eucharist in the Catholic Church. Please contact Mrs 

Collins for further details. N.B. There may be some Year 7 students who missed out on their 

Sacrament last year. Please email Virginia Bent at the parish office with an expression of 

interest for your child to be involved in the program. Alternatively please email Mrs Collins and 

she can pass your details on. 

Kinder: Finley Jayawardene, Nathaniel Chand, Ashton Coddington

Year 1: Jesse Overs, Angus Oliver, Khaleesie Wiencke

Year 2: Zoe Sinclair, Claudia Lancaster, Wilson Lim

Kinder: Ada Harris, Emmeline Allen, Molly Bush 

Year 1:  Jackson Bourke, Lucas Mattner, Ivy Taylor

Year 2: Leo Jayawardene, Peyton Derrick, Alby Swanston

Year 3: Bentley Combe, Evelyn Tait, Ruby Crawford

Year 4: Simran Singh, Stella Krause (absent), Audrey Wallace

Year 5: Edie Bett, Madison McCormack, Nate Swanston

Year 6: Michael Macauley, Eliana Adeyemi

Year 7

Archie Foster - Great participation in classroom activities in French Blake Matthews - Great pronunciation of his dialogue in French

Year 8

Jacob Bett - Great application in Maths Elora Octavio - Achieving 200% growth in her Maths Cycle test

Year 9

Grace Smith - Excellent application to Maths tasks

Year 10

Joseph Collins - A well developed response in History, Scarlett Connellan - supporting younger students on the playground, Lizzie Cooper - Respectfully expressing her political opinions in History and supporting younger students on the playground.

Lillian Oliver - A well informed and thoughtful response in History, Rommy Wilesmith - A detailed and thoughtful response in History & supporting younger students on the playground.

Year 11

Caitlin Watson - Her enthusiastic approach to English.

A reminder - This term the Primary classes will be holding fortnightly assemblies. 

This change will allow more time for classroom presentations.

For the remainder of this term assembly will be from 2.20pm-3.20pm.

Dates and classes presenting are listed below:

Friday 8th March (Week 6)  - Year 3 & Year 4

Friday 22nd March (Week 8) - Year 1 & Year 2

Friday 5th April (Week 10) - Kindergarten

We look foward to seeing you there.

Gratitude

This week’s presentation from The Resilience Project focuses on Gratitude.

Gratitude is paying attention to the things that we have right now, and not worrying about what we don’t have. We practise this by noticing the positives that exist around us.

Research shows that practicing gratitude rewires our brains to overcome the negativity bias (which can lead to anxiety and depression) and see the world for what we are thankful for. It is also shown to broaden thinking, and increase physical health through improved sleep and attitude to exercise.

View Part 2 of the series here:

Part 2 - Gratitude: https://theresilienceproject.com.au/2023-parent-carer-hub-inspire-hugh/

There are many ways in which you can practise gratitude, including starting a gratitude journal. You can simply use a notebook to list three things that went well for you each day or use a more comprehensive Wellbeing Journal, like those created by The Resilience Project.

Source: Psychology Today

For mental health resources and support information, visit The Resilience Project’s Support Page.

Practising gratitude helps us to be thankful and appreciate what we have in our lives, rather than focusing on what we don’t have or what we want.

Below you will find an activity you can do at home as a family. This is one of many ways you can practise gratitude at home. Even a simple question at the end of the day such as “What went well for you today?” can be a great way to implement daily practise.

Research & Benefits of Gratitude

St Anne’s Swimming Carnival 2024

In beautiful summery conditions, St Anne’s conducted its annual swimming carnival last Friday 16th February. Once again the attendance of students was very high and the atmosphere was very exciting at times.

A squad of 29 swimmers qualified for Western Region selection trials at Cootamundra on Thursday 22nd February, they were: Archie Block, Adelen Crawford, Elvie Crawford, Adelen Crawford, Leo Drenovski, Clancy Gibbs, Flynn Gilchrist, Annabelle Gray, Joey Guymer, Elsie Keith, Spencer Lynch, Michael Macauley, Bailey McCormack, Ella McCrone, Charlie Minchin, Skyla Morton, Chad O’Connor, Georgie O’Connor, Mack Oliver, Rylee Overs, Bayley Piggott, Bodhi Reardon, Mailee Reid, Evie Smith, Noah Swanston, Harriet Talbot, Barney Taylor, Abby Watts and Knox Wooden.

A number of records were broken once again, they are:

Ironpersons

Congratulations to our many Ironpersons, a very difficult award to achieve in swimming-well done.
Primary Ironpersons were: Mack Oliver, Audrey Wallace, Elvie Crawford, Quinn Crawford, Abby Watts, Annabelle Gray, Elsie Keith, Georgie O’Connor,
Secondary: Judd Oliver, Hunter Connellan, Hayley Kite, Brodie Gray, Grace O’Brien, Harvey Drumore, Zali Sinclair, Blake Matthews, Lana King, Livvy Blackwell, Jarvey Crawford, Lani Summerfield, Adelaide Gaynor & Isabel Fairman

Western Region Swimming Carnival

St Anne’s sent a squad of 26 swimmers to Cootamundra last Thursday, 22nd February, to compete for Western Region honours. In very hot conditions all swimmers represented themselves and their school with distinction. Annabelle Gray won the 11 year age champion, an excellent effort. Six students will travel to Boorowa next Monday 4th March, to represent Western Region, they are: Elvie Crawford, Rylee Overs, Knox Wooden, Spencer Lynch, Abby Watts, and Annabelle Gray. We wish them all the best.

Upcoming Primary sport:

4/3/24 - CECG Primary Swimming Boorowa

4/3/24 - K-6 AFL visit - all students can wear their sports uniform if they choose.

12/3/24 - Canberra Goulburn selection trials for Rugby League & Netball in Canberra. We wish Lucy Beurckner, Grace McCrone,  Mailee Reid, Addie Warren, Barney Taylor, Michael Macauley, Joey Guymer, Matthias Lancaster the best of luck at their trials.

8/4/24 - St Anne's Primary Cross Country at Nixon Park. This will be run during PE lessons.

3/5/24 - Western Region Cross Country trials  at Adelong- first 5 places in our cross country, boys and girls for each age, will qualify.

9/5/24 - Paul Kell Cup AFL for boys and girls- a Compass event will be created soon to give permission to your child if they have indicated they want to play.

16/5/24 - NSW Cup Netball at Young for all students in Year 3-6- All students are expected to compete in this mixed netball carnival, and a compass event will be created soon for parents tp pay and give permission.

This is the design we are pursuing for our new tracksuit pants. We welcome any feedback. Please contact the office directly. 

NAPLAN 2024 Parent and Carer Information

Each year the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is undertaken by students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. Students will participate in tests for writing, reading, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy.

NAPLAN 2024 will take place from Wednesday 13 March to Monday 25 March.

NAPLAN is just one part of our school learning assessment programs. The tests assess literacy and numeracy skills your child is already learning at school.

In preparation for NAPLAN, our school will undertake activities to help students become familiar with the format and functionality of the online tests. These activities are not an assessment of student ability and will not be marked. Excessive preparation for NAPLAN is not required nor recommended. The public demonstration site (https://www.nap.edu.au/online-assessment/public-demonstration-site) is available to see the types of questions, tools and functions used in the NAPLAN tests.

Further information about NAPLAN is available on the NESA website (https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/k-10/understanding-the-curriculum/naplan/parent-information).

If you have any questions about NAPLAN, please contact your child’s teacher. If you wish to withdraw your child from sitting NAPLAN this year, you will be required to sign an exemption form that is available from the Principal.