Newsletter Term 2 Week 1 (28.4.23)
From the Principal
Dear Parents
Welcome back to Term 2 for what is shaping up to be a very busy term with lots happening!
We finished last term with a very reflective and solemn liturgy around the events of Holy Thursday and Good Friday. Students were particularly respectful throughout as our Year 6 students read and acted out aspects of the story. Mrs Ballantine led a group of students who sang throughout and an atmosphere befitting of the occasion was established.
We began this term with prayer in the hall as we remembered the events of Easter Sunday and Jesus’ Resurrection. The Easter season runs for a few more weeks. Easter is a joyful happy time and is about being renewed in our own lives. We are all called to be “Easter people” – to live joyful and peaceful lives. The Good News is we do not need to be buried in despair, discouragement, doubt any more. The Resurrection frees us from this. Jesus suffered and died but then he rose again to ensure we have eternal life. As Christians we are called to live each day knowing that the risen Lord is in our hearts and we show this to others by the way we treat them through love, compassion, mercy and service.
We appreciate all those students who came together on Anzac Day to represent our school at the local march and service. We were so impressed with the turn out and the respectful way that students were able to remain unflustered by the changeable weather. Well done! Thank you to those who made a special effort to be present at Mass that morning and to our school captains for carrying the Anzac wreath in the procession to the altar at the start of Mass and from the church afterwards. They did a great job of carrying it down town and during the march and placing it at the cenotaph during the service.
Today’s assembly led by year 5 focused on Anzac Day. It was a simple yet powerful reminder of the sacrifice of those who have served our nation in the defence forces and how we must never forget. Students are to be congratulated for the respectful way they responded today.
It was great to have lots of parents take the time to visit the classrooms this morning and get a taste of the learning and how things are done. Students love to have their parents visit so they can show things to them.
Congratulations to Scarlett Mison and Finn Carroll-Cinque who participated in the Polding team at the PSSA swimming championships at the end of last term. What a great achievement. Well done to both of them. Finn has now been selected in the NSW state swimming team for the National Championships to be held next term. We wish him all the best as he continues training for this event. Please see the notice about how we can support Finn.
Next week parents will receive a notification about participating in the survey Tell Them From Me. We encourage all families to take the time to respond. We would like to get a good sense of how parents feel about our school. Older students will have the opportunity to take part in a survey also, as will staff.
From 24th - 26th May we will have a group of people here reviewing all aspects of our school. They will be using the National School Improvement Tool which has been developed by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) and which the Lismore Diocese is now using to review all its schools. The external reviewers will talk with the Leadership Team, teachers and ancillary staff, students and parents to get a comprehensive picture of our school. After the three days they will provide us with a report and recommendations to assist us in developing our school improvement plan for the next three years.
At St Anthony’s we continually promote our motto of Love and Service and what that looks like in our school. We talk about being St Anthony’s people and how we are expected to behave. We are very fortunate at our school to have minimal issues of bullying and misbehavior. However, because we are human we are not perfect and children need to be taught how to respond in situations where they feel they have not been treated well. Children often have moments where they need to be reminded about how to be kind and inclusive of others and what our expectations are. All teachers in every class spend time helping children to understand this. They learn to own their behaviour and acknowledge when they have made poor choices. They learn to say “Sorry”, and they learn about forgiveness. We constantly remind students that they must let their teachers know if they feel left out or have been treated unkindly. Teachers work with students to make things right again. We call this a Restorative approach. If your child comes home and tells you about something that has happened, please let their teachers know so that they can investigate things and help make them right again. Please be mindful that often you will only get one side of things from your child’s perspective – which is valid, however as adults we must ensure we know the full story hence why it is important to touch base with the teachers. Little people can be very egocentric and it is our job to help them see things from all sides. Don’t hesitate to make contact with the teachers if you are concerned about your child’s wellbeing.
This term all students will have the opportunity to experience being on stage when they participate in Verse Speaking at the Murwillumbah Festival of Performing Arts. This year it will again be at Tweed Heads Civic Centre. Years 6, 5, 2 and 1 will perform on Wednesday 14th June and Years 4, 3 and Kindergarten will perform on Thursday 15th June. Put these dates in your calendar!
Today we farewell Ellen Field who has been our canteen manager for the past eleven years. We appreciate all that Ellen has done for our school during this time and we will certainly miss her. Ellen has always been helpful and cheerful and such an easy person to get along with. Thank you Ellen and all the very best to you and your family.
I would like to congratulate Beckie Twomey who will take over the running of the canteen from next week.
To die for a cause is heroic; to die for peace is greater still, but to live in peace is the greatest hope of all.
We look forward to sharing lots of wonderful occasions throughout this term.
God bless
Lynne
Safety Issues
Please DO NOT drop your children off in the Church car park of a morning and then think it is OK to turn right in front of the buses. We have had some near misses again this week. Please be respectful of this request in the interest of safey for all.
Thank you
Important Dates & School Information
Term 2 2023
Monday, 8th May - Didjeribone Indigenous Performance
Wednesday, 1oth May - Parent/Child Meeting for First Communion @ 6pm
Thursday, 11th May - Mother's Day Stall
Friday, 12th May - Mother's Day Assembly @ 8.40 am
Sunday, 14th May - Mother's Day
Friday, 19th May - Grip Leadership for Yr 6 Leaders
Sunday, 21st May - School/Parish Mass 9:00am Holy Communion Commitment Mass
Tuesday, 23rd May - DIO Cross Country
May 24th to 26th - School Review
Monday, 5th June - MSP school photos
Monday, 12th June- Public Holiday - NO SCHOOL
Tuesday, 13th June - St Anthony's Day - MASS at 9am
Wednesday, June 14th - Verse Speaking at Tweed Heads - Yrs 5, 6 2 and 1
Thursday, June15th - Verse Speaking at Tweed Heads - Yrs 4, 3 and K
Sunday, 18th June - School/Parish Mass 9:00am First Holy Communion Weekend
Tuesday, 20th June - Athletics Carnival
Monday, 26th June - Primary Choirs - Murwillumbah
Thursday, 29th June - Infants Choirs @ Murwillumbah
Thursday, 29th June - last day of Term 2
Friday, 30th June - Staff Retreat - NO SCHOOL
Monday, 17th July - NO SCHOOL
TERM DATES 2023 - pupil free days etc to be advised
Term 1: Friday, 27 January to Thursday, 6 April
Term 2: Wednesday, 26 April to Friday, 30 June
Term 3: Tuesday, 18 July to Friday, 22 September
Term 4: Monday, 9 October to Tuesday 19 December
Child Protection Policy can be found on our School Website under Information/School Policies: St Anthony's Primary School Website or in the following link: https://www.kngplism.catholic.edu.au/policies
Parish News
St Anthony's Parish
Parish Priest: Fr Paul McDonald
Finance Manager: Paul Crouch
Parish Secretary: Marty Darragh
Pastoral Assistant: Catherine Holliday
Phone: 0266741368
Email: parkings@bigpond.com
Website: http://stanthonysparishkingslciff.org
WEEKEND MASS TIMES
VIGIL: KINGSCLIFF 5:00pm
SUNDAY:POTTSVILLE 7:30am
KINGSCLIFF 9:00am
WEEKDAY MASS TIMES
TUESDAY: POTTSVILLE 9:15am
WEDNESDAY: KINGSCLIFF 8:00am
THURSDAY: KINGSCLIFF 9:00am
FRIDAY: KINGSCLIFF 8:00am
RECONCILIATION TIMES
SATURDAY: KINGSCLIFF 5:00-5:30pm
SUNDAY: POTTSVILLE 7:00—7:25am
Current Office Hours: Tuesday - Thursday 9am-3pm
PARISH NEWSLETTER LINK: http://stanthonysparishkingscliff.org/news-events/
Sports News
Polding AFL Trials
Well done to the following St Anthony’s students who travelled to Bateau Bay at the end of last Term to represent the Lismore Diocese for AFL: Jack Rogers, Remy Elliott, Xavier Caine and Harper Gallagher.
From all reports, the manager of this team was very impressed with the participation and effort displayed from all the players, commenting that it was a very competitive and strong trial.
Congratulations to Jack Rogers and Harper Gallagher who were selected in the Polding team as a result of their performance at these trials. They will attend the NSW state championships later this year, good luck Jack and Harper!
NSWPSSA Swimming Championships
Congratulations to Scarlett Mison and Finn Carroll-Cinque who travelled to Homebush at the end of last Term to compete at the NSWPSSA Swimming Championships.
Scarlett swam in the 10 Years 50m Freestyle placing 19th in a field of around 40 swimmers. Well done Scarlett, amazing achievement at that level!
Finn qualified for the finals in his events and achieved the following results in the 10 Years Boys:
50m Freestyle - 4th, 50m Backstroke - 8th, 50m Breaststroke - 8th and
200m IM - 3rd. He has now qualified to represent NSW at the Australian Swimming Championships in Homebush in August in the 200m IM, 100m Freestyle and the 50m Freestyle. Great achievement Finn and good luck!
Motocross
At the end of last Term, Rusty Killick of Year 6 competed in Round 2 of the Sunshine State MX Series at Toowoomba. It was the first time Rusty has competed in a full Motocross series and he finished with impressive results. He came 1st in C grade and 9th overall for the championships. He competed against 40 riders from his age group and shaved 4 seconds off his quickest lap time from last race. He will now progress to the State Championships later this year.
More recently, Rusty competed in rounds 3 & 4 of the Australian Off-Road Championships (AORC) in conjunction with the Queensland Off-Road Championship (QORC) over the weekend. He achieved awesome results positioning him 4th in the Australian Championships standings, while taking home 2nd and 3rd place in these rounds of the Queensland championships. Rusty is heading to Victoria in July for rounds 5 & 6 of the AORC to defend his current championship standings.
Congratulations and good luck Rusty!
Water Polo
Well done to Luke Thierjung of Year 5 who represented the Gold Coast at the U/12 Boys Water Polo QLD Championships at the end of last Term. His team played well during their round games and made it to the quarter finals of the championships. Good luck Luke in your future Water Polo competitions!
It’s great to learn about all the different sports our students are playing outside of school.
Hook Into Hockey - Try a New Sport!
Do you have a child aged U/8 or U/6 that would like to get into a new sport?
Have you considered hockey? Tweed hockey is running a Hook into Hockey program which is designed for beginner players, boys and girls, focusing on basic skills in a fun and safe environment.
There are a few options for time poor families who can’t commit to weekends with midweek sessions being run at the Casuarina Hockey Field at 4:30pm on Wednesdays and at Kingscliff Hockey Fields at 4:00pm. There is also a session every Saturday morning at the Tweed Hockey Centre in Murwillumbah at 9:00 am. Players can do either midweek or weekend sessions or both!
For more information please contact Mrs Croker at sapkings@lism.catholic.edu.au.
Support a Champion
We are thrilled that Finn Carroll-Cinque has been selected in the NSW Primary School State Sports Association Swimming team to compete at the National Swimming Championships in August. To assist Finn and his family with the costs entailed in this significant representation please consider pruchasing a raffle ticket for $5 for a chance to win.
1st Prize: Apple iPad Pro
2nd Prize: $500 Rebel Vouchere
3rd Prize: Fitbit Versa 2
4th Prize: JBL Flip 5 Bluetooth Speaker
5th Prize: JBL Flip 5 Bluetooth Speaker
(Drawn: Monday 19 December)
Tickets available at the front office
Canteen Volunteers needed
Volunteers needed for the canteen especially on Fridays.
If you can help please let the office know.
MOTHER'S DAY Stall and Raffle
Tickets can be purchased from the front office
MISC
