Term 3 Week 6 2022
From the Principal
Dear Parents and Carers,
Our District Athletic's team competed at the District Carnival on Friday. Congratulations to all of our students who competed and a special thank you to Mrs Eathorne for coordinating our team. Congratulations to Bonnie, Xavier and Lily who will compete at the NQ Trials at the end of August. While all of our students did an amazing job, a special mention goes out to Nate for his display of sportsmanship. At the start of the 800m, a student from another school tripped over. Nate stopped and helped him up and as a result was then in last place. He worked his way up throughout the race and managed to come in third. This display of sportsmanship and care for others goes to the very heart of our school charism and everything that we are working to instill in our students. Nate demonstrated the qualities of the Good Samaritan during this race as he helped his neighbour before worrying about himself. Congratulations Nate. We are so very proud of you.
With Book Week just around the corner, we are getting excited for our 2022 Book Week Parade. Students are invited to come dressed as their favourite character from any book that they choose. We will be celebrating with a parade in the Samaritan Centre and hope that you are able to stay and enjoy the parade.
Just a reminder that Friday 2nd September is a Pupil Free Day. On this day the teaching staff will be exploring Version 9 of the Australian Curriculum and working with curriculum advisors from Townsville Catholic Education to continue enhancing and developing skills in the teaching of writing.
The eSafety Commissioner provides free webinars to give parents and carers the knowledge, skills and tools to support their children to have safe online experiences. There are 2 webinars in the coming weeks. You will find more information regarding these further in the newsletter.
- Popular apps, for parents and carers of young people aged 8 to 13
- Online sexual harassment and image-based abuse, for parents and carers of young people aged 13 to 18
This Wednesday to Friday I will be at the Term 3 Principal’s Meeting. Please contact Mary Ferguson if you have any questions or concerns during this time.
Take care and God Bless
Have a wonderful week!
Amanda
Religious Life of the School
In Sunday’s gospel (Luke 13:22-30) Jesus was asked if many will be saved at the end of time. Jesus told the man that God will welcome all those who are ready, who have goodness and love in their hearts and have shown by their actions and words they are ready for God’s kingdom. Jesus showed us the way, so we can follow his example.
We encourage our students to greet each day in a positive way. One of the most effective and simplest ways is to greet the day and then each person encountered with a smile. Smiles are contagious and spread from person to person. Caring about themselves and others means they think about treating everyone and everything with respect. Showing kindness and respect is ‘love in action!’
Please note the change of the class mass date for years 1,2 and 5 from Week 6 to Week 7 at 9 am on Thursday 25th of August
Next Sunday, 21st August, there will be a school youth mass at the 5:30 pm mass. Any students who would like to take a turn reading, bringing up the offertory, singing or just coming along to celebrate with our parish community please let Mrs Ferguson know.
Lord, joy is a gift meant for sharing
To spread warmth and happiness around
Bless me with a cheerful heart
That looks at the bright side of life
Bless me with a cheerful disposition
With a ready smile on my lips
To bring new life, hope and courage
To the hearts of the weary and overburdened
A smile costs nothing but creates much
For it is something of no good to anyone
Till it is given away.
Should I meet someone too tired to smile
Let me give him one of mine
For nobody needs a smile so much
As someone who has none left to give.
Amen.
God Bless
Mary
Aiming for Excellence
Ready Set Write!
Our focus this week is on ideas. When we speak about ideas in writing, we refer to the child expressing their thoughts in written form.
How often do you speak with your child?
How often do you read to and with your child?
These are questions most teachers would be able to answer for you simply by observing your child’s interactions with peers and staff and their involvement in learning.
Oral language is the key to success in reading and writing. Children constantly engaged in literature are rarely short of ideas for writing. They need to be involved in conversations that start with ‘I wonder.....................’, ‘What would you do?..........?’. The conversation is not about one-word answers, but the child being encouraged to share their thoughts.
Unfortunately, one of my saddest experiences was when a child responded with, “I don’t know”, when asked about a text being read to the group. My most rewarding experience was when children would interrupt (politely) with: “I wonder……….”, “What if………..” and “That reminds me of when……….” This group was engaged and excited about stories, their ideas when writing were free flowing, and they did not require prompting to begin writing.
We can stifle creativity by emphasising neat writing and correct spelling. Neatness, accurate spelling, and punctuation are part of the editing process.
If we want our students to be ‘excellent’ writers, we need to give them experience with a range of quality literature to learn how authors share their ideas. They need the time to talk about their own ideas and listen to those of others and the freedom to choose how they express their ideas on paper. Can we accept that not everything a child writes needs to be polished?
Children must be taught the conventions of language so the texts they want to share are polished and easily understood by any reader, but ideas always need to come first and be valued if we aim to nurture excellent writers.
ICAS: Wednesday, August 17, some children will be participating the ICAS English assessment. This is an an opportunity to challenge themselves beyond what they just cover in class and to tackle questions that have a competitive level of rigour and an international standard. All these students are to be congratulated for accepting the challenge.
SEE YOU ON FRIDAY at 9.00am in the Samaritan Centre for the Science Quiz followed by class visits.
Rita Cranitch
Learning and Teaching Adviser.
Inclusive practices Teacher
The Good Samaritan's P.A.T.H.
Over the past week, we have continued to award students a positive praise note, also known as our PATH awards. If a student is found demonstrating the appropriate behaviours at school, they will receive a positive praise note. These notes are then placed into the boxes in the office and winners are drawn at our school assemblies. Last week we focussed on the second letter of P.A.T.H. ‘A' is for Act Safely. Teachers looked at the following rules for 'A': Keep hands and feet to yourself, use walking feet and make SMART choices. Our lucky winners are: (Prep A), Ronan Thomas (3A) Chase Pennisi and (5A) Jake Dabelstein Congratulations!
This week we will focus on the ‘T” in P.A.T.H which is for Treat Others With Respect. The rules are: Use manners with others, listen to staff and peers first time everytime and be mindful of people and things around you.
From the Guidance Counsellor
In this edition of SchoolTV - MINDFULNESS
Evidence based research has found that there are many benefits to mindfulness which has prompted schools across the nation to implement this practice into their daily routines. This is one of my favourite topics ☺
Mindfulness can be described as attention training for your brain, enabling you to focus on something without judgement and to stimulate curiosity. Mindfulness can be practised in a number of ways and is something that can be done by everyone - no matter what your age!
Mindfulness helps improve memory, engagement and performance. Its positive effect on the brain can improve immunity, mental wellbeing, learning ability, emotional health and even, time management. It is especially important in this era of information overload as our attention is constantly being pulled in many directions making us more distracted.
In this edition of SchoolTV, parents can learn the best way to introduce this mindfulness to their children, implementing it into their daily lives to have an overall positive impact on family relationships.
We hope you take time to reflect on the information offered in this edition of SchoolTV and we always welcome your feedback. If you have any concerns about your child, please contact the school guidance counsellor for further information or seek medical or professional help.
Here is the link to the Mindfulness edition of SchoolTV
https://sfatsv.catholic.schooltv.me/newsletter/mindfulness
Students of the Week
Library
Book of the Week in the library
Students are invited to enter their name into a weekly draw to win a book. A book is displayed for students to share why they like reading the selected series/genre. Below is our next collection of winners.
Jump Rope for Heart
Jump Rope for Heart kicks off this term at St Francis!
Jump Rope for Heart is the Heart Foundation’s primary school skipping challenge that helps kids move more, have fun and raise funds for lifesaving research and programs.
This year is the 40th year of Jump Rope for Heart! To celebrate this milestone, we’ve got an audacious goal to see our student Heart Heroes at St Francis log 40 hours of skipping throughout the program!
Register your child online, so they can receive the full benefits of the program and participate in online fundraising, simply follow the link below to get started. www.jumprope.org.au/parents
Students will be skipping throughout the remainder of the term in PE lessons, in brain breaks and playtime. During this time you can share their online fundraising page with family and friends to help raise money for this great cause.
We will hold our school Jump Off Day on Tuesday 6th September. This will mark the end of the program and is a chance for everyone to come together to skip and show off their newly learned skills. Further information will be sent out regarding the details of the Jump of Day.
Thank you for supporting the Jump Rope for Heart program!
If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact Mrs Eathorne or the school office.
Fathers Day Stall
Lost Property
Please call in to the school office if one of these items belong to your family. School jumper sizes: 4, 8 & 10.
Community
CSPA 2022 Parent Survey on Student Wellbeing and Learning
Have your say on what matters regarding the wellbeing and learning of your child.
For example, has COVID or your partnership with the school affected your child’s wellbeing and learning?
If you are a parent or carer with a child in a Catholic school, CSPA would love to hear from you.
Click on the survey link and share your feedback to assist CSPA in reporting to the Federal Government and Catholic education.
Your feedback will remain anonymous.
Click here for CSPA Parent Survey
