Dear St Anne's Community,

I hope this newsletter finds you well. 

Principal's Retreat

Last week, I had the pleasure of attending Bowral for the annual Principal's Retreat and Catholic Leader's Day. Fr. Timothy Raddcliffe led us in the retreat part on the Thursday and Friday. Fr. Timothy Radcliffe, OP, stands as a distinguished figure within the Catholic Church, acclaimed for his profound contributions as both an English Catholic priest and a Dominican friar. Born on August 22, 1945, Radcliffe's spiritual journey has been marked by a rich tapestry of theological insights, intellectual pursuits, and leadership roles. His commitment to the Dominican Order is evident in his tenure as Master of the Order of Preachers from 1992 to 2001, during which he provided guidance and direction to the global Dominican community. Beyond his administrative responsibilities, Fr. Timothy Radcliffe is widely recognised for his thought-provoking writings, engaging lectures, and a deep-seated commitment to fostering dialogue and understanding within the Catholic Church. Most recently he was chosen by Pope Francis in 2023 to lead the pre-Synod Retreat and as one of those chosen to provide regular reflections for the members during the Synod.

Community Council

Thank you to all the parents that attended the recent AGM. We have a new School Community Council and you can find further details in this newsletter. Thank you to Mr Duncan McCrone for his ongoing support as Chair of the SCC. 

Staffing

Mrs Bianca Matthews announced her resignation with St Anne's this week. Bianca will start finish up with us on Sunday 28th April. We will be able to thank Bianca for her service to St Anne's in an appropriate way before she departs. I have advertised a Primary Teacher position to fill this vacancy.

Miss Jordan Barrett has recently been successful in her application to gain permanent full-time employment with St Anne's. We look forward to welcoming Jordan next term (class TBC). 

Long Lunch

If you have not bought your tickets yet, I encourage you to jump onto TryBooking and support this great fundraising event. Tickets will close Tuesday night.

Naplan

This week, our Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 students sat their NAPLAN tests. I thank Mrs Holland and Miss Jamieson for their organisation and the teachers of the above year groups for supporting our students through these assessment pieces. 

Take care,

Grant Haigh

Principal

Dear Parents & Carers,

This week, the AGM was held for our School Community Council (SCC). I am pleased to announce that the following members of our school community, make up our newly elected SCC:

• Chair- Duncan McCrone
• Vice Chair- Karissa Roberts
• Secretary- Kristi Blachut
• Treasurer- Cassie Coddington
• Principal- Grant Haigh
• Parish Priest- Fr. Sijo Jose
• Parent Representative- Stacey Coleman
• Parent Representative- Amber Crawford
• Parent Representative- Nicole Crawford
• Parent Representative- Lauren Krause
• Parent Representative- Renae Sinclair
• Parent Representative- Eloise Warren
• Parent Representative- Vacant
• Parent Representative- Vacant
• Parent Representative- Vacant
• Parent Representative- Vacant

I would like to congratulate the above people on their support of the school and for their willingness to play an active role in the life of St Anne’s. Thank you to the outgoing members of the SCC for your support; Emily Watts, Dennis Sleigh and Kerissa Reardon. We have 4 spots still available and welcome any nominations for parent representative. Please find below a Role Description for the SCC, from the SCC Charter.

Please contact me at school if you wish to join this great group of people.

Yours sincerely,

Grant Haigh

Principal

3.  Role of the Council

3.1 The Council, in accordance with the authority entrusted to it by the Archbishop, is to assist the school to fulfill the school’s educational and evangelising mission in accordance with this Charter, the approved School Community Council Guidelines for the school and any applicable CECG policies.

3.2 The Council has a key role in supporting the community of parents, students and staff at the school.

3.3 Specifically, the role of the Council is to, according to local priorities:

1. support the Principal and Parish Priest to develop and promote Catholic Identity, the ethos and mission of the school;
2. support the Principal to make strategic decisions relating to the school as part of the consultative process outlined at 3.4 of this Charter; c) promote the school in the local community;

• support the Principal and the school to raise funds for the school through community led fundraising activities, with Council Working Groups operating to co-ordinate the delivery of these activities;
• 
  provide support to the Principal and the school to foster relationships and connections within the school community by developing and delivering community building activities; and

School Community Council Charter;

1. provide support to the Principal to foster Parish-school connections.

3.4 The Principal will consult with the Council on:

1. the Annual Improvement Plan,
2. the School Master Plan,
3. the School Strategic Plan,
4. school expenditure priorities particularly as they relate to funds raised through Council led fundraising activities,
5. any substantial changes to school policies, uniforms, school enterprises (such as school age care, canteen, uniform pools) or school start and finish times, and  
6. other matters identified as relevant to the Council as determined by the Principal or Parish

3.5 The Council is not a discrete legal entity and:

1. has no authority over the day-to-day operation or management of the school;
2. cannot enter into contracts and/or loans or commit the operational funds of the school.

Scholastic Book Club

Issue #2  of Scholastic Book Club was distributed to students in Kinder to Year 6 last week. 

Orders are due by Wednesday 27^th March 2024. 

To place an order please visit scholastic.com.au/LOOP or download the LOOP app. 

St Anne's Catholic College does not accept cash as payment for Book Club orders.

Orders take up to 2 weeks to arrive and will be sent home with students when they do arrive.

Please remember that if you are purchasing books as gifts for your child/ren to contact Mrs Kite in the Library and the books will be put aside and you will contacted when they arrive. 

Thank you 

Thank you for supporting our school through your Scholastic Book Club purchases in 2023. Each time a purchase is made our school receives points. Our points from last year have been used to purchase a new Whiteboard Activity Centre for our Library. It has already been put to good use by staff and students. We were also able to purchase new books for our Library which students are already borrowing, reading and enjoying.

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.

Western Region Swimming Success

Seven swimmers represented Western Region in Week 6, term 1 at Boorowa. All swimmers are to be congratulated on their amazing efforts. Results were: 

Elvie Crawford 5th in 50 back, Annabelle Gray 1st 50 free, 2nd 50 back, 2nd 50 breast, 4th 50 fly, 1st 50m fly, Spencer Lynch 9th 50 free, Rylee Overs 7th 50 free, Georgie O’Connor 1st 50 free, Abby Watts 4th 50 free, 5th 50 back, 1st 50 breast and Knox Wooden 7th 50 free. Annabelle, Abbey and Georgie will now compete in Sydney at the MacKillop trials and we wish them the very best of luck!

Our Secondary students travelled to Queanbeyan on Tuesday 5th March to compete in the Canberra Goulburn Swimming Carnival. All were wonderful representatives of our school and came away with plenty of ribbons and a runner up Age Champion for Hunter Connellan.

We had 4 students attend the Canberra Goulburn touch trials in Wagga on the 27^th of February with all students performing exceptionally well.

Rommy Wilesmith was successful in being selected in the girls opens team.

Lenny Lancaster, Indy Wilesmith and Lani McCrone all trialled for the hotly contested 15’s and under teams with Lani McCrone gaining selection in the girl's team. 

Rommy and Lani will now compete in the Canberra Goulburn/Wagga combined teams who play at the NSWCCC Championships and Trials in Tuggerah on the 9th & 10th April 2024.

St Anne's had two students George Morton and Henry Prentice attend the Southern Country AFL trials in Wilton on Thursday 29th Feb. 

In what was very hot trial conditions George Morton was successfully selected and will compete at the Southern Country AFL Team who will compete at CCC Carnival in Wagga later in year. 

Kinder: Edward Coleman, Hugo Keith, Maggie Breust, Amity Gebhardt, Hudson Miller, Lucas Oliver.

Year 1: Darcy Maguire, Jake Morton, Charlie Crawford, Rupert Coleman, Olivia Purcell, Kendrea Willara Arachchige.

Year 2: Harriet Talbot, Bree Puertos, Wilson Lim, Josie Bush, Spencer Lynch.

Year 3: James Broad, Harrison Pham, Erin Octavio, Frances Moroney, Isabella Irving, Peyton Wiencke.

Year 4: Samuel Moroney, Dusty Karn, Ned Hale, Olive Coddington, Archie Block.

Year 5: Addison Gilchrist, Evamaria Jenin, Lucy Taylor, Noah Swanston, Primrose Minchin, Annabelle Gray, Abby Watts.

Year 6: Charles Minchin, Adelen Crawford, Elsie Keith, Lilah Caldwell, Mailee Reid, Barney Taylor

Week 6

Year 7 - Joey Cotton: His contribution to discussions during our visit to the Church. Blake Matthews: His enthusiastic approach to Religion. Judd Oliver: Excellent effort and application in Science. Clementine Tillman: Her effort and application in Religion.

Year 10 - Joseph Collins: Amazing answers in English. Kayla Edwards: Her participation in classroom discussions. Lillian Oliver: Great participation in classroom discussions. 

Year 11  - Thomas Mattner  - His amazing answers in English.

Year 12 - Zoe Bent  - Using feedback to improve her primary research.

Week 7

Year 7 - Oscar Block - his pronunciation of numbers in French. James Chalmers - Great recall of visual techniques in English. Hunter Connellan - Accurately writing numbers in French. Ava Derrick  - Speed and accuracy writing numbers in French. Mathias Lancaster  - His written accurancy and use of accents in French. Harry Swanston  - His great pronunciation of numbers in French.

Year 8 - Ella Matthews  - for achieving 200% growth in her Maths Test

Year 9 - Morgan George - for excellent application to Maths tasks

Year 11 - Lucy Edis - for showing great initiative

Our year 12 students are busily conducting research for their Personal Interest Projects (PIPs)!!

A PIP is a 5000 word research project or mini thesis where students can select a topic of their choice and explore how this topic has changed over different cultural groups and societies. They then submit their research for marking as part of their HSC grade.

If you are a Gen X’er born  between 1965-1980 and would like to help them with their research please click on the link below to complete their questionnaires, they should only take a few minutes. As you can see they have some exciting topics underway!

Beauty standards and the impact of social media - https://forms.gle/VSXDCGsMjfKD9xKQA

Body image and the impact of social media - https://forms.gle/QjxbPw5mPoDbjoW57

The meanings of love songs throughout time - https://forms.gle/WKtGu43HN9ACUsJC8

Year 11 Student Tom Mattner is pictured with his chair that he made in Construction class this term. This chair can be seen in our front office over the next week.

Well done Tom - keep up the good work. 

Empathy

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

Working on empathy helps us to identify, understand and feel what another person is feeling. When we show empathy or we do something kind for someone else our brain releases oxytocin. This leads to increasing our self-esteem/confidence, energy levels, positivity and overall happiness.

A message from our Canteen Manager:   

As Monday and Fridays menu are different, if students need to cancel their lunch orders, that order will be held over until the same day of the following week (or date you nominate). ie if you cancel a Monday Order, it will be held over until the following Monday. 

Friday 15^th March :   Stacey Derrick

Monday 18^th March:  Sally Cassidy, Marna Crawford, El Warren

Friday 22^nd March:    Rochelle Caldwell

Monday 25^th March:  Kirsty Oliver, Liz Oliver & Carissa Bett

Friday 29^th March:    No Tuckshop Good Friday

Monday 1^st April:      No Tuckshop Easter Monday

Friday 5^th April:        Megan Maguire

Monday 8^th April:      Kerissa Reardon, Rochelle Caldwell, Danielle Haigh

Friday 12^th April :     TBA 

There has been some reported issues with Android Phone users. This has now been resolved, parents/users can now download the App from the Google Play Store.

Apologies for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience.

Regards

The Qkr Team