Term 1 Week 2 2025

From the Principal

Dear Families,

What an interesting start to our year. It was great to get back into the swing of things on Wednesday and looking forward opportunities for us to meet.

Next week we will look forward to catching up with everyone for our Parent Information Night. This commences in the Samaritan Centre for a quick welcome then moves into respective classrooms. Each class session will be repeated to allow those with more than one child a choice or two sessions.  More than two? Choose the years or staff member new to you and we will endeavour to get further information to you from those you are unable to attend.

FACE - another opportunity is to engage with our Family and Community Engagement (FACE) group. Much like a P&F we will catch up to discuss how we can make St Francis a thriving environment for all. Meeting times are coming soon.

As we continue to work through this weather event we are conscious that our little ones will be thinking about it in their own way. Two articles have been provided for your information that may help during this time.

Stay safe and I look forward to seeing everyone Monday.

God bless,

Lisa

Religious Life of the School

Welcome back, everyone! As we begin the second week of school, we want to take a moment to acknowledge the tough weather we've had. The heavy rain and flooding have caused some challenges, and we hope that all of our students, staff, and families are safe. Our thoughts are with anyone still dealing with the effects of this weather event.

Despite the weather, our students are settling back into their routines with enthusiasm. It's been wonderful to see everyone adjusting so well, and we're excited for the year ahead.

On Thursday and Friday Lisa and I attended the ESCI (Enhancing School Catholic Identity) conference in Townsville, where we learned more about the Religiosity Shift—a fascinating topic that we can’t wait to share with you all.  Stay tuned for more information on what we’ve discovered, as we believe it will positively impact our school community.

Catholic Identity Advisory Committee

As we continue to focus on our Catholic Identity in 2025, we will be resuming our Catholic Identity Committee. Last year, we took a break from regular meetings after finalising our mission statement, motto, and logo. This year, we are looking to welcome new parents to join our committee. Below is an overview of what the committee is about. Please take a moment to read through it, and if you're interested, feel free to reach out to me.

Rationale

The Catholic School Identity Committee/Team (CSIAC/T) is an advisory group within the school community that supports the work of the school leadership team.  The Committee/Team supports the development of a deeper understanding of how the school’s Catholic Identity is expressed and of how faith remains recognisable, credible and meaningful today.  The CSIAC/T affirms the renewed Christian profile, which is relevant within the current pluralistic culture, is enhanced and sustained.

Purpose

The Catholic School Identity Committee/Team reflects, perceives, imagines and expresses the distinctiveness of the Catholic Identity of the school so that specific school-based strategies are adopted and outcomes realised.

Expectations

The Catholic School Identity Committee / Team will:

• build the capacity of school leaders to enhance quality Catholic Identity by contributing to the interpretation of ECSI reports/data and the formation of recommendations
• assisting with strategic goal setting for Catholic Identity in the School Improvement Plan (SIP)
• enhance creativity and excellence in Catholic Identity
• optimise engagement with staff, students and families within the school community
• strengthen partnerships between the school and the parish.

The school will evidence shifts in the areas of

• Religiosity
• Hermeneutics
• Recontextualisation

Meeting Frequency

This committee meets a minimum of once per term.

Stay safe over the weekend.

God Bless,

Maria

Learning Corner

Welcome to an Exciting Year when every minute counts!

 How can I help my child succeed?

Last year the Grattan Institute released a 107 page report ; ‘The Reading Guarantee: How to give every child the best chance of success’ this report is about the state of reading in Australian and and guidelines for moving forward.

 The Grattan Institute is an independent body, taking the side of the public interest rather than interest groups. They receive no ongoing government funding and reject commissioned work to ensure this independence.

They are rigorous in obtaining the best evidence from their own data analysis and from published work.

They are practical in identifying what governments should do to improve the lives of all Australians.

They believe in free access to good information; their reports, events, and articles are available online without charge.

The report identified the following six sub-skills that are essential for a child to develop into a proficient reader.

1. Oral Language: Speaking and listening is the foundation for early reading success.
2. Phonemic awareness: This is about identifying speech sounds in spoken language. For example, a child can identify the sounds heard in a spoken word.
3. Phonics: This is the ability to connect speech sounds to letters to decode them. With this skill, children can read unfamiliar words.
4. Fluency: This is about quickly and accurately recognising and reading words with expression. It is through repeated reading of the same passage that fluency is developed. In the Early years children will have these passages included in homework to practise.
5. Vocabulary is about knowing the meanings of words so that when listening or reading, the language is understood and when speaking or writing the information is specific and appropriate.
6. Comprehension is the ability to understand what is being read, remembering it and communicating it to others.

 Talking (oral language- speaking and listening) with your child, regardless of age is an effective way of helping your child become a reader.

This means talking about what you are doing, the equipment you are using and why you are doing it that particular way e.g when you are repairing something or making something, including meals.

 When reading stories or watching television, your conversation could start with: ‘I wonder……..’,’ Why do you think………..?’  ‘What would you do………?’ ‘What could be done differently…..?’

 When your child speaks to you, model good listening by looking at them and responding to what they share.

This week in classes

 All classes have completed the PLD (Promoting Literacy Development) screeners and recorded the results.

Teachers have used these results to plan for the phonic needs of students to develop their decoding skills.. Students will complete another screener in Week 10 this term to monitor their progress and inform the planning of their next steps in learning. Children whose knowledge was below the expectations for their year level will be participating in individual/small group intensive lessons. Your child’s teacher will inform you if your child will be receiving this support.

Do You Have a Child in Years 3 and/or 5 ?

We look forward to seeing you at the Parent Information Evening at 5.45 pm on Tuesday, 11 February.

Rita Cranitch (Assistant Principal - Pedagogy and Learning)

Birthdays

Tuckshop

Tuckshop 2025

Dear Parents/Guardians,

This letter is to invite parents &/or grandparents to become part of the Tuckshop team in 2025.

The Tuckshop requires volunteers on Mondays to Fridays from 8:30am - 11:30am for First Break.

Working in the Tuckshop is a great opportunity to meet new parents in a friendly & relaxed atmosphere.  Please note: you will need to have completed your Volunteer Induction Online Training prior to assistance.

 Volunteer Induction Online Training can be accessed via our website: https://www.sfatsv.catholic.edu.au/about/volunteer-induction-for-parents-and-carers/

Once all modules and documents have been completed please email your certificate, paperwork to ayr@tsv.catholic.edu.au

Please return the from below to the school office at your earliest convenience. Any amount of time that you can assist will be greatly appreciated. If you have any further enquiries please feel free to contact the school office on 4783 2877.

I am looking forward to another exciting year in the tuckshop.

Thanks,

Kylie Farrell

Tuckshop Convenor

Term 1 Calendar

ASSEMBLY HOSTED BY 5B WILL NOW BE THIS MONDAY, 17TH FEBRUARY AT 2:15PM.