Term 3 Week 9 2024

From the Principal

Dear Families,

It is hard to believe that we are almost at the end of another term with only 1 more week of school left until the school holidays. 

This week is Child Protection Week. On Monday we welcomed Krystal Stevens and Christie Sinclair from the Student Protection Department at Townsville Catholic Education to Assembly. Krystal and Christie spoke to the students about the 3 R’s - Recognise, React and Report. Students were encouraged to use their body clues such as butterflies in their tummy, sweaty palms, shaky legs as well as clues in the environment to recognise when they are in an unsafe situation. Students then react by yelling or removing themselves from that environment before reporting to an adult what has happened. These messages have also been reinforced across the week through the various activities that have been completed in classrooms. Students have reviewed their 5 safe people, that is the adults in their lives that they can talk to if something is wrong. Classes have also participated in Australia’s Biggest Child Safety Lesson which is provided by the Daniel Morcombe Foundation. I encourage you to talk to your child/ren about what they have learnt this week and reinforce this learning through your conversations at home.

Child Protection Week

What a fun filled morning we had this morning where the youngest members of our community were celebrated at our annual Under 8’s Day. Under 8’s is about acknowledging the importance of learning in the early years of a child’s life and is designed to embrace the joy of early childhood. The theme for 2024 was Connecting to Culture through Play. We were very fortunate to have many members of our local community join us for the morning. Thank you to our early years teachers and support staff for making the morning such a wonderful experience for not only our students but also children from our community.

We hope to see many of you tonight at our Family Movie Night. We will begin the evening with some disco music before settling in to watch the movie once it is dark. Don’t forget to bring your picnic blankets, chairs, dinner and drinks. We will have lollies and glow sticks on sale as well as selling raffle tickets to our framed Cowboys jersey and our Number Board. Please bring cash along for these items. Due to the weather we have had to move this event into the Samaritan Centre but it is sure to still be a wonderful evening.

Next Friday we celebrate Samaritan Day. This year we are introducing a new tradition where we will be acknowledging one student from each class with a Samaritan Award. This student will have been nominated by their classroom teacher and is someone who exemplifies the characteristics of the Good Samaritan and consistently demonstrates our Catholic Identity Model of Love of God, Love of Neighbour, Love in Action. These awards will be presented at the conclusion of our Liturgy on Friday morning. All families are invited to join us for the Liturgy which will begin at 9am.

Part of the work our School Board has embarked upon this year has been to review our end of year awards that are presented to Year 6 and bring them into alignment not only with our Catholic Identity but also our school directions. Beginning this year our Year 6 Awards will be as follows:

• Academic Achievement Award - This award goes to the student who has achieved academic excellence throughout their final year of primary school. This student has achieved the most consistently high academic standard across the year. This award is determined by academic results.
• Classroom Diligence Award - This award goes to a Year 6 student who has displayed consistent application and commitment to classroom activities and a positive attitude towards learning. They are a responsible worker who strives to achieve their best. There will be an award for each Year 6 class and is decided on by classroom teachers.
• Courtesy Award - The courtesy award is an award presented to the student with outstanding manners. Both staff and students have recognised these students in Year 6 who have displayed exceptional manners towards both their classmates, parents, visitors and staff in our school. There will be a boy and a girl recipient of this award and will be nominated by classroom teachers, specialist teachers, support staff who work in those classrooms and the Leadership team.
• Sports Excellence Award - This award goes to a student in Year 6 who has been outstanding in their sporting achievements at school, district, regional or state levels whilst at St Francis. This will be a self nomination process which will be discussed with the Year 6 students early Term 4.
• Good Sportsmanship Award - This award goes to a Year 6 student who not only encourages all to participate in sport and upholds sporting ideals but also displays good sportsmanship and fair play. The student is inclusive and committed to everyone getting a fair go in class sport, team games and in the playground. This award will be determined by the PE Teacher and Year 5/6 teachers from events such as Interschool Sport.
• CWL Community Spirit Award - The CWL has had a long history with St Francis and we value our relationship with them. The CWL Community Spirit Award goes to a Year 6 student who consistently exemplifies the school's Charism of Love of God, Love of Neighbour and Love in Action in our school and wider Parish and local community. This award will be a self nomination form and will be discussed with the Year 6 students early in Term 4. 
• St Vincent de Paul Award - This award goes to the Year 6 student who has displayed an outstanding effort in fostering Gospel values in our school community and consistently living out the values of St Francis School by treating everyone with fairness and respect. This award will be decided on by classroom teachers and the Leadership team.
• Cultural Award - Cultural Awards are presented to students who participate in a range of extra curricula or co curricular artistic activities in the fields of music, drama, visual art, technical production, singing or dance as a representative of the school. This award will be a self nomination process and will be discussed in Term 4 with students.

I will be away next Thursday and Friday as I need to have a minor procedure done. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Nicole O’Connor. If I don’t see you tonight at Movie Night or throughout the beginning of next week, I hope that you all have a happy and safe holiday. Thank you for your continued support of our school. It is an absolute privilege working in partnership with you to help your children grow academically, spiritually and as the wonderful human beings they all are.

Have a wonderful week

Take care and God Bless

Amanda

Religious Life of the School

Dear Families,

It doesn’t feel like there have been nine weeks since the last holidays. It has been a term full of liturgy and masses. We still have one last liturgy to come on Samaritan Day at 9 am and all are welcome. This year our Samaritan Day will look a little different for our students. Our wonderful teachers will be offering various activities for our students to engage with throughout the day. The purpose of this day is to acknowledge our school's charisms and the history that makes us who we are. We celebrate the Good Samaritan Sisters founded by Bede Polding, St Marcellin Champagnant who founded the Marist Brothers and St Francis Xavier the namesake of our school. We are looking forward to this important school celebration and the last day of Term.

St. Mother Teresa

September 5th marked the feast day of St. Mother Teresa. I know she was a person who was often in the media throughout my childhood and into my adulthood and was always thought of as an amazing and strong woman. Next week we welcome the Sisters of Charity who will be visiting St Francis on Wednesday morning. The Sisters of Charity are the order that St. Mother Teresa began, whose primary task was to love and care for people nobody was prepared to look after.

St. Mother Teresa (1910–1997) was a Catholic nun and missionary known for her selfless work with the poor and sick. Born in Skopje as Agnes Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, she founded the Missionaries of Charity in 1950, dedicating her life to serving the most vulnerable, particularly in the slums of Calcutta, India. She gained international recognition for her compassionate care of those who were often neglected, including lepers, orphans, and the dying.

Mother Teresa received numerous awards for her humanitarian efforts, including the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. She was canonised as a saint by the Catholic Church in 2016 for her extraordinary life of service and deep faith. Today, her legacy of kindness and charity continues to inspire people around the world.

God Bless and have a wonderful last week of Term 3.

Nicole

Learning Corner

What if we had a crystal ball and could see the future of education?

Schools would focus on learning and mastering literacy and numeracy skills. Children would know about and practice the General Capabilities of Critical and Creative Thinking, Digital Literacy, Ethical Understanding, Intercultural Understanding, and Personal and Social Capability. These capabilities are part of all the learning that takes place in the classroom. Version 9.0 of the Australian Curriculum has clearly shown each capability links to the skills being taught in the different subjects. We at St Francis have the added advantage of linking it to our Catholic Identity of Love of God, Love of Neighbour and Love in Action by following the path of the Good Samaritan.

We will no longer be expected to add extra programs to our busy days to solve society's problems because the way we learn and interact will result in a better world.

The subjects we currently teach in class will no longer be separate, with students changing from Mathematics to Science to English. Rather teachers will be addressing the skills of reading, comprehension, research and writing within the context of all other subjects. Their information report on a science topic will inform teachers about the literacy skills the students have mastered. The way they explain how a mathematical problem was solved is an opportunity for the children to demonstrate their literacy skills in communicating clearly and precisely, adding the appropriate details. We will see explicit teaching, re-teaching and practice of the skills required to demonstrate what they have learnt in all subjects.

No longer will there be assessments as we know them today. Rather, we monitor students’ learning daily. Parents can ask about their child’s learning progress at any time, but at certain times, a formal report may be written to describe the child’s achievement across all subjects.

Yesterday, teachers in Prep - Year 2 met with the Curriculum Adviser and Speech Pathologist from TCE to review the student results in the  TCE Literacy and Numeracy post tests.

We looked at each child’s learning growth since the pre test earlier in the year. We identified students who will require extra support as their learning growth was below the expected 0.4 and those who will require extension as they achieved maximum results. We identified the areas that needed improvement across the entire class group. These areas will be a focus for next term. We discussed the practices that resulted in excellent learning growth and questioned why some areas showed less growth. Strategies to improve these areas were chosen.

The positive impact of PLD was obvious due to the way it was implemented. This reinforced what research tells us: explicit teaching, reteaching and practice is effective but only when the cognitive load we place on children matches their age and ability. If we overload children, they will become frustrated and give up on learning.

As you meet with teachers next week, celebrate the achievements of your child/children and discuss the next steps to progress their learning.

Enjoy the weekend!

Rita

P.A.T.H

Class in the Spotlight - 1/2A

• We worked hard this week in 1/2A on adding adjectives into our writing! We read Under the Southern Cross and spotted lots of adjectives to use in our writing all about the Sydney New Years Eve fireworks.
• In Design and Technology we designed an insect and we used recycled materials to bring it to life!
• Our favourite part of the week was Under 8’s Day when we got to paint!

1/2A

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