Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome back to Term 2! We hope you have enjoyed the Easter break and are feeling refreshed and ready for the busy term ahead.

Term 1 was an action-packed term at St Anne’s and the students and staff ‘hit the ground running’ with enthusiasm and purposefulness towards their learning, and all the opportunities and events at the College. There were many highlights over the 10 weeks, but an absolute stand out was the Passion Play presented by the Year 9 and 10 students and directed by REC, Jacqui Collins. The students played their parts in the re-enactment of the Passion of Jesus with great reverence and dignity. They are to be congratulated for making this such an impactful and memorable experience for the community

Please see more photos and a full report in the RE section of the newsletter.

ANZAC Day

Thank you for your support for the ANZAC Day ceremonies. The strong turn out of St Anne’s families was great to see and I am sure we all appreciated the opportunity to join with the Temora community to commemorate this important day.

School-wide Focus - Speaking in Sentences

Please join us in a focus for all students this term – Speaking in Sentences. Speaking in complete sentences is crucial for clear communication, improved language development, and enhanced social and academic skills. We believe this is an area where there is room for improvement where we can work together to support the students to achieve better outcomes. 

Please join us by encouraging the students to speak in complete sentences at home. When you may receive a one, two or few word response, ask your child to speak in a full sentence. We will be doing the same at school. Like anything, with practise, this will become a habit. And speaking in sentences is a habit which will flow on to positive outcomes in academic, personal and social realms.

In Conclusion…

St Anne’s students and staff have been giving thanks this week for the life of Pope Francis. What a great gift Pope Francis has been as our Pope over these 12 years. His humility, mercy and compassion are such an inspiration and beacon of light to us all. 

The Secondary students will compete in the Cross Country this coming Friday 2nd May at the Golf Club and a great morning of running is assured followed by a Sausage Sizzle.

And the St Anne’s Community Council will host the first ever Democracy Sausage Sizzle on Election Day, Saturday 3rd May at the front of the church opposite the Town Hall voting booth. Please support this initiative and let us know if you can assist during the day. Funds raised will be split to create a Maker Space at school for the Young Engineers Club Mr Inch is starting for Year 5 – 8 students, and to help with the Church fundraising project to install air-conditioning.

We pray for God’s blessing on our new term and on all members of the St Anne’s community.

With best wishes,

Louise Grant

Principal

St Anne’s Catholic College

Prayer for Pope Francis

Passion Play

Congratulations to the Stage 5 students for the respectful, mature and dedicated way in which they prepared and presented the Passion of Christ at the Passion Play on the last day of Term one. My heartfelt thanks is expressed to Elle Warren for the palms and whips, to Kath Derrick for the whip, to Mr Brett Inch for his technical support with the music, Mrs Louise Gaynor for videoing, Mrs Anne Cooper for photography, to Miss Jamieson for coordinating practice times, and to all of the staff who helped and were so flexible to allow time for Stage 5 practices. 

Sunday evening 5pm Masses

As these have proved popular, Father Alex has decided to continue to celebrate Mass each weekend with the additional 5pm Sunday evening Mass time for our Sacred Heart Parish.

Family and Community Masses

On Sunday 6th April we had our first Family and Community mass, at the 5pm Sunday evening mass.  Thank you to those families who made a special effort to attend, and to those students who played a special part in the mass by saying a reading, or doing the offertory procession.  We all enjoyed a sausage sandwich after mass.  We are aiming to have a Family and Community mass each term, towards the end of the term.  Please keep your eye out for the date of the next mass.  

Sacred Heart Parish Confirmation  

Please keep the Year 6 students in your prayers as they prepare for the Sacrament of Confirmation. This will be celebrated by Archbishop Christopher Prowse on Sunday 25th May at 10am. 

The Retreat Day is Thursday 22nd may in St Joseph’s hall for all Year 6 students of St Anne’s along with other candidates from the Parish.

Please return Project Compassion money/boxes:

A reminder to please return the Project Compassion Lenten Appeal money to the school office as soon as possible, if you are yet to do so. Thank you for your generous support which helps vulnerable communities forge a path out of poverty.  

Year 9 Western Region Retreat in Temora

The date for the Year 9 Western Region Retreat is 27th May. The CSYMI Youth Ministry CSYMI Team will be running the day at Temora Town Hall. Further details will be out shortly via Compass. It is a great opportunity to bring together our students with those from Sacred Heart Cootamundra and McAuley Catholic College Tumut. 

Year 10 Retreat

Year 10 will be attending their overnight retreat in Week 10 from Tuesday July 1st to Wednesday July 2nd. Further details will be received shortly via Compass. The CSYMI Youth Ministry team will be running the sessions on the first day. Father Alex is looking forward to accompanying the students and staff throughout the retreat.

Year 12 Early Entry 

Early Entry for the majority of universities are now either open or opening shortly. It is therefore an important time for our Year 12 students to be attending university specific information sessions and completing early entry applications.

Charles Sturt University has an online webinar next Tuesday May 6, 5.30pm, providing tips on writing their application. Students have access to the registration link for this session in their Careers Google Classroom.

Year 10 Work Experience

This term Year 10 students are being encouraged to approach employers and complete formal paperwork to get their Term 4 Work Experience arranged and approved. It would be helpful if parents and carers could encourage this process. Students have access to all the information and forms required on their Careers Google Classroom.

Work Experience dates for Term 4, 2025 are:

Weeks 7, 24th to 28th November 

Week 8, 1st to 5th December. 

All students in Year 10 complete Work Experience at this time.

Stephen Bleyer Cup 

On Thursday Week 10 our 5/6 Rugby Team played 2 matches showing impressive teamwork and resilience. Congratulations to Temora Public School for winning the Stephen Bleyer Cup. 

We are proud to show our respects to the Bleyer family each year. 

Thank you to Kris Dunstan for volunteering his time and coaching the boys during term 1.

Upcoming Events

• Friday 2nd  May WR Cross County in Batlow
• Wednesday 7th May Primary Schools Rugby 10's Championships
• Friday 9th May Paul Kelly and Tony Lockett Shield (year 5&6)
• Thursday 15th May Legends Gala Day Temora - Tackle & League Tag (year 3, 4, 5 & 6)