Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to Semester 2 and Term 3! We trust St Anne’s families have enjoyed the school holidays and hope that there was the opportunity for you and your children to spend some quality time together.

On behalf of the community, I would like to extend a warm welcome to the new families joining St Anne’s this term. We are delighted to welcome new students to Yr 7, 8, 9, and 10. We hope you will soon feel very much a part of the family.

Term 3 Commencement

The staff participated in Spirituality Day on Monday, and the theme of the day was “Pilgrims of Hope”. We explored how we can incorporate hope into our daily lives and be agents of hope to our students and our community. We also identified and celebrated all the many examples of hope within our St Anne’s environment. We are privileged and grateful for our students who are beacons of hope for each other and for the staff, and no doubt for you as parents and carers too.

The first day back for the students commenced with a NAIDOC Liturgy and Welcome Back Assembly in the Church. Our thanks to Mrs Gaynor for preparing the Liturgy and giving us the opportunity to come together in unity and prayer at the commencement of the term.

Effective, Engaged and Enthusiastic Learners – Parents and Carere help required!

It is our goal to ensure all students at St Anne’s have the skills and the conditions to become effective, engaged and enthusiastic life-long learners. As mentioned in the last newsletter of Term 2, to achieve this goal, during Semester 2 a more robust Home Reading Program will be a feature in the Primary school and a more structured approach to homework will be implemented in the Secondary school.

In Secondary, we will be building on the Homework Policy outlined in our Secondary Handbook(P9) by introducing a more formalised approach to homework starting Week 2. This will mean that all students from Year 7 to 10 will have homework to be completed every week; this will be in addition to any revision they need to complete for tests and any assessment task work being completed. 

Each class will have weekly homework in both English and Maths, with other subjects being allocated a week during each term where formal homework will be given. We will notify in the newsletter what KLA areas will be the focus for the upcoming weeks. Ms Jamieson AP Secondary will be providing further information with regards to homework expectations next week.

For the Primary students, home reading will be supported through the Reading Stars initiative, which will enable students to go to the library between 8:30am and 9:50am on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and read with students or primary staff members. In the classroom, staff will be asking students to return their reading folders on a daily basis. There will also be a more rigorous checking of home reading logs, with the expectation that all reading logs are signed and returned each Friday.

We look forward to your help and assistance in supporting and encouraging the students. 

St Anne and St Joachim and Grand Parents Day – next Friday1st August

We look forward to welcoming the students’ Grandparents to school next week for our most important celebration of the year. Please see the program below. Please note, the Canteen is happy to accept orders for Grandparents as well as the children on this special day. This can be done by adding to your childs order using your childs profile in QKR.

NAPLAN Student Reports

We are pleased and proud of how the St Anne’s students performed in the NAPLAN assessments earlier this year.

Please note that the Student Reports from NAPLAN 2025 will be distributed to parents and carers via the students on Monday 28th July. Please make sure you check with your child to ensure the report is safely received.

More on NAPLAN and the achievements of the St Anne’s students in an upcoming newsletter.

In Conclusion…

As always, we have a busy and exciting term ahead, and I’m especially looking forward to experiencing my very first St Anne’s Showcase at the end of the term. We are off to a flying start and readers can expect reports from the Year 7 and 8 snow excursion, which departed early this morning, and the celebration for the 100 Days in Kindergarten milestone happening next Monday in the next newsletter.

Please stay tuned for all the wonderful stories and updates throughout the term!

With best wishes,

Louise Grant

Principal

It is with great sadness that we advise of the passing of Dennis Sleigh overnight in Wagga Wagga. Dennis was a respected educator and former principal of St Anne’s Central School (Temora), St Peter & Paul’s (Garran), and St John the Apostle (Florey).

We hold Dennis’ wife Margaret, children Paul, Tim, and Anne-Maree, and granddaughters Beth, Dan, and Rose in our prayers at this time.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon him.
May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen. 

Further details regarding funeral arrangements will be shared when available.

About Dennis Sleigh

Dennis contributed to Catholic education for more than 40 years, beginning his teaching career in Albury in 1965 and serving in seven schools, including five as principal. His career also included roles at the Catholic Education Office (Wagga, 1980), Catholic Education Office (Canberra, 2004–2006), and Australian Catholic University (1991–1992).

He held an impressive academic portfolio, including a BA, three Graduate Diplomas, two Master’s Degrees, and significant doctoral studies. Dennis published extensively, authoring and co-authoring several books, including Summer Before Teacher and Teaching Tricks, and contributing over 220 articles to professional journals.

Dennis was a sought-after speaker, keynote presenter, and educator, known for his expertise in legal and administrative matters. He served at senior levels in several professional associations and was honoured with the ACPPA Service Award (2002) and Fellowships with both the Australian College of Educators and the Australian Council for Educational Leadership.

His commitment extended beyond education into community service, notably as President of the Ryder-Cheshire Foundation (ACT) and a Director of Ryder Cheshire Australia, and Temora Shire Councillor.

Dennis’ pedagogical passions included teaching Italian, storytelling, and mentoring colleagues to grow in their careers.

May we remember and give thanks for his lifelong dedication to education and service to others.