Newsletter Term 3 Week 4 (12.8.22)
Dear Parents
We seem to be going through a period of sickness for both staff and students. It has been difficult for us to secure replacements on some occasions and members of the Leadership Team have had to fill in at times. We are blessed in that we have some loyal regular casual staff who love coming to our school who are getting a lot of work recently. Many of the schools in the area, like many work places in the community, have been affected with staff shortages. Please be vigilant with keeping children at home if they are unwell with coughs and colds or gastric illnesses as these spread through classrooms rapidly despite our attempts to keep germs at bay with regular handwashing and extra cleaning. We have a number of students and staff who have compromised immune systems so we do need to be responsible in endeavouring to keep our school community as safe as possible. We have received another round of RAT tests so feel free to ask for a packet if you need some for home.
Congratulations to all students (62 of them) who received a Certificate at this morning’s assembly for their outstanding achievement in their school work for Semester 1. It was great to be able to acknowledge them for their hard work in front of their peers and in many cases their parents. It was also lovely to note how many of their classmates showed how delighted they were in their peer’s success. It was great to see so many achieving at a very high level. It shows that our mantra of our job at school to be the best learners we can be is paying off. Well done to everyone! We are so proud of you! We encourage everyone to keep striving to do their best.
We have certainly had a feast of sport recently and it has been wonderful to celebrate the successes of so many individuals and teams. We love to provide our students with lots of opportunities to be involved in a range of sports. Congratulations to those who have qualified to represent the Lismore Diocese at the Polding Athletics Carnival in Newcastle later this term. What a great achievement! We wish them all the best!
For the past few weeks we have had some Southern Cross University students spending a day each week immersed in our school, observing pedagogical practices, helping with small groups and learning how a school works. From all accounts they have loved this experience and have learned so much to help them in their studies towards becoming teachers. We at St Anthony’s are proactive in supporting student teachers and giving back to the profession. We expect a number of student teachers to do their placement in our school in the weeks ahead.
A reminder to parents that teachers commence duty at 8.15am each day. If your child arrives earlier than this, then we expect that they sit on a seat in the quadrangle area until a teacher comes on duty. It is not play time. Please remind your children of this expectation. No child should be at school prior to 8.00am – before school care is available. These measures are about keeping your children safe. Thanks for your support in this matter.
After months of being without some of our spaces in the school, it has been great this term to be able to use the library, music room and hall as well as the teachers’ professional meeting room once again. Much work has gone into replenishing these spaces, thankfully all being covered under an insurance claim. Unfortunately, mould has attacked a lot of our library books so they will need to be replaced. We still have the area around the toilets in the hall to be fixed. We are beginning to receive insurance money so we will be able to start replacing the sports, woodwork and maintenance equipment which were lost in the floods.
We are currently installing a ramp adjacent to the stage to enable easy access for wheelchairs. We then plan to replace the cross and make a sacred space area near it.
The new playground looks fantastic. It has taken a few years to get it but I think it was worth the wait. We saved some grant money for a couple of years to enable us to get something significant. We appreciate the Parent Forum’s generous contribution also as that ensured the parkcour was included. The playground has been very popular at lunch times. It has been designed for the primary students, Years 3 – 6, at these times, however the younger ones will get some opportunities to experience it when their teachers will supervise them. Children may use it after school as long as they are under parent supervision.
This week we celebrated the Feast of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, Australia’s first and only canonised saint. Mary worked tirelessly for the poor and marginalised. She believed that everybody had the right to an education, not just the wealthy. She established schools with her Sisters of St Joseph throughout Australia and New Zealand and beyond. She truly was a pioneer in the field of education in this country. She reminds us that “we are but travellers here” on this Earth and it is up to us to make the best of our time here and to find ways to make the world a better place.
On Monday we will celebrate the Feast of the Assumption of Mary the mother of Jesus, a Holy Day of obligation, so we will attend Mass as a whole school at 9.00am on Monday.
Yesterday Kindergarten celebrated their first 100 days of school. It took a bit longer to reach the magic number this year with the disruptions earlier in the year but everyone thoroughly enjoyed the fun and activities and the retreat in the morning. Well done Kindergarten!
Please keep in mind those who have a loved one who is struggling through sickness at the moment. We assure you of our continued prayers.
Have a wonderful weekend!
“Believe the whisperings of God in your own heart.” (Mary MacKillop)
God bless
Lynne
Thursday, 18th August - Science Fair
Monday, 22nd to Friday, 26th August - BOOK WEEK
Tuesday, 23rd August - Year 5 & 6 Tweed Zone Gala Day
Sunday, 28th August - Tournament of Minds
Friday, 23rd September - Staff Development Day NO SCHOOL
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/school-policies/
St Anthony's Parish | Retired in the Parish |
Parish Priest: Fr Paul McDonald | Fr John Darbyshire |
Finance Manager: Mr Paul Crouch | |
Parish Secretary: Marty Darragh | Pastoral Assistant: Catherine Holliday |
Phone: 0266 741 284 Email: parkings@bigpond.com |
Website: http://stanthonysparishkingscliff.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 4:00-4:30pm
SUNDAY: POTTSVILLE 7:00—7:25am
Current Office Hours: Tuesday - Thursday 9am-3pm
PARISH NEWSLETTER LINK: http://stanthonysparishkingscliff.org/news-events/
THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
Monday 15 August, we will be celebrating the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary with a Whole School Mass at 9:00am celebrated by Father Paul.
Holy Day of Obligation
This important feast day is celebrated to recognise the Assumption of Mary our Mother into heaven, body and soul, at the conclusion of her earthly life. Mary is a model of faithfulness, love and generosity in whom we should try to aspire our life.
This feast is a celebration of God’s great and special love of Mary, who was so faithful to the will of God, that upon her death, she received the fullness of God’s life in heaven. She was an ordinary woman who placed her trust so completely in God.
Through her life we see the great blessings that can come to us when we believe and trust in God’s way.
Confirmation Commitment Masses
Last Weekend we celebrated across the three Masses in our Parish the Commitment Pledge being read by our students preparing for the Sacrament of Confirmation. This celebration will take place on Friday 9th Sept. at 6:00pm at St Anthony’s Church, Kingscliff.
Tweed Zone Athletics Carnival
The Tweed Zone Athletics Carnival was held on Friday 29th July.
Well done to the St Anthony’s Athletics team who competed to an extremely high level on the day coming away with the champion school trophy.
Congratulations to the following students:
- Siena Teague runner up 12 Yrs Age Champion
- Harper Gallagher Junior Boy Age Champion
- Eden Usher Junior Girl Multi-Class Age Champion
- The Junior Boys came first in the 100m Relay (Harper Gallagher, Kaynan Behs, Derayne Kelly and Jesse Green).
Many other students achieved places at the carnival in their events. These students progressed to the Diocesan Carnival representing the Tweed Zone.
Thank You to Mrs Elise Gallagher who went to the carnival as the St Anthony’s manager to ensure the students didn’t miss any of their events, your time is greatly appreciated.
Lismore Diocesan Athletics Carnival
Well done to the following students who were selected to represent the Tweed Zone at the Diocesan Athletics Carnival on Wednesday 10th August in Coffs Harbour:
Callum Kelly, Lennox Stonefield, Eden Usher, William Middleton, Cate Thierjung,Jesse Green,Kahlani Gordon, Madeleine Preston, Kaynan Behs, Harper Gallagher, Derayne Kelly, Samara Lawrence, Mads Nielson, Addison Pope, Alex Todan, Eva Richards, Madison White, Ocean Loughland, Tom Mison, Serge Popov,
Beau Prendergast, Harper Richards, Siena Teague and Grace Floyd.
We had a number of students achieve excellent results and all competed to the best of their abilities.
- Harper Gallagher was named Junior Boys Age Champion.
- Eden Usher was named Junior Girl Multi-Class Age Champion.
Good Luck to the many students who were also selected to represent the Lismore Diocese at the Polding Athletics Carnival in Week 8.
AFL
Well done to our St Anthony’s AFL team who travelled to Ormeau on Monday 1st August to compete in the AFLQ StreetSmarts Regional Finals.
The team played well in their round games coming away with enough wins to progress into the semi finals. Unfortunately they didn’t come away with the win in that game but scored enough points to secure a 3rd place overall for the competition. What a fantastic achievement, the following students were part of the team:
Levi Gallagher, Beau Prendergast, Serge Popov, Harrison Dunn, Kade Brennan, Seth Leeson, Oliver deYong, Arlo Morgan, Sunny Tardent, Jack Rogers, Bohdi Barton, Remy Elliott, Max Caspersz, Xavier Caine, Joel Andrews, Max Dinnen, Alex Todan, Harper Gallagher and Dash Campbell.
Thank You to Mr Glenn Elliot who took time out to travel to Ormeau and coach the boys, your knowledge and support has been greatly appreciated. Thanks also to Mrs Falcke who went to the regional finals to manage and supervise the team.
Netball Gala Day
The annual Netball Gala Day at Arkinstall Park was held on Tuesday 2nd August. St Anthony’s had over 70 students attend the competition from Years 3-6. We had 2 mixed competitive Year 5 / 6 teams who had a successful day.
Thankyou Mrs Bianca Prendergast who coached and umpired 1 of these teams. This team played off for 3rd and 4th place at the end of the day and convincingly won this last game.
Our other Year 5 / 6 mixed competitive team who was coached by Miss Alex Field made it to the semi-finals. Unfortunately they didn’t come away with the win but played to the best of their abilities. Thankyou Miss Field and Mrs Prendergast for your time and support of these 2 teams.
We had two other Years 5 / 6 mixed non-competitive teams and four Years 3 / 4 non-competitive mixed teams participate in the day. Emphasis was on fun and teamwork with a bit of competition added in for a challenge.
Huge thanks to all the parents who helped and came to support the teams on the day.
Special mention to the following parents who helped run a team:
Mrs Bianca Prendergast, Mrs Nicole Popov, Mrs Narelle Tate, Mrs Brooke Scharkosi, Mrs Simone Pietraszkiewicz and Ms Sam Carroll. Without their support we could not have entered 8 teams.
Thanks also to the teachers who came to coach and run teams on the day: Miss Field, Mrs Wallis, Miss Midson, Mrs O’Grady, Mrs Plunkett and Mrs Croker
Finally Many thanks to Mrs Barlogio who in the months leading up to the gala day spent almost every lunch and recess coaching all the teams and helping them to improve their skills and understand the positions required in netball, your time and knowledge is greatly appreciated.
Todd Woodbridge Tennis Gala Day
On Thursday 4th August, 30 students from Years 3 and 4 participated in the annual Todd Woodbridge Tennis Gala Day in Murwillumbah. Students participated in mixed teams of 8 on mini courts. Larger, low bounce balls are used and emphasis is on fun, participation and skill development.
Congratulations to our two Year 4 teams who placed 3rd and 4th on the day. Points were close and both teams narrowly missed out on playing in the final.
Well done to all the students who attended in regards to both your participation and sportsmanship.
Year 4 students: Kaynan Behs, Aria Boyle, Reef Bridges, Malia Cadman, Summer Dean, Leyla Edwards, Lola Forrest, Harper Gallagher, Flynn Horton, Derayne Kelly, Luke Thierjung, Mads Nielson, Josie Moloney, Jax Nash, Ellie Neaves, Kalani O’Connor, Sophie Ozolins, Sidney Pitfield, Chelsea Plowman.
Year 3 students: Jesse Green, Michael Gallagher, Trey Maynard, George Hewitt, Nathan Hunt, William Middleton, Ky O’Grady, Laura Ozolins, Archie Plunkett, Rehmi Sandhu.
Thank You to Mrs O’Grady who went with the students to the Gala Day, your support of our students sporting interests has been greatly appreciated.
Fiona Croker
Sports Coordinator
Dear Parent/Caregiver
The ‘Seasons for Growth’ program offers children who have experienced grief, loss or change in their lives the opportunity to talk to other children, of similar age, in a small group about their similar experiences.
‘Seasons’ was initially launched over 20 years ago and there is evidence indicating the program makes a very positive contribution to the social and emotional wellbeing of thousands of children and young people in Australia and overseas.
With the framework ‘Seasons’ provides, children are encouraged to focus on what they can do to make these changes or losses easier to live with. Each group operates with a trained adult companion, during school hours, on a weekly basis for about ten weeks.
St Anthony’s is very pleased to be able to offer this program again in our school and will commence in week 7. If you feel your child would benefit from ‘Seasons’ please complete the attached return slip.
Yours sincerely
Lynne Pull
Principal
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Seasons for Growth
I/we give permission for my child _______________________ to participate in the ‘Seasons’ Program
Signed ……………………………………………………………. Date …………………………..
SINGING LESSONS!!!
It’s really fun! You can do singing lessons at St Anthony's in a group or individual classes! Get your friends to Enrol if you want to be in group (min 3 max 6) and get confidence and skill from beginners to stars! For more info and/or to book, call or text Miss Jo on 0405368871.
Jo is an AMEB (Australian music examination board) certified teacher qualified to teach contemporary voice and music theory. Jo also Graduated in 2017 at Southern Cross University -Bachelor of Contemporary Music majoring in Music theory, Singing Teaching and Vocal Performance. Miss Jo also teaches song and dance musical theatre classes, songwriting and confidence building! Limited spaces enrol now to avoid disappointment.