Term 3 Week 7 2022
From the Principal
Dear Parents and Carers,
What an amazing morning we had this morning at our 2022 Book Week Parade. It was great to see students and staff getting into the spirit of the morning with some amazing costumes. Thank you to Miss Tatnell and Mrs Felesina for organising our parade. Keep an eye out on Facebook for photos in the coming days.
Parent/Teacher Interviews will occur across Week 9 and 10 of this term. While these interviews are optional, I would encourage all parents to make the most of this opportunity for the following reasons:
- It provides parents an insight into their child’s classroom
- Helps parents understand their child’s progress and areas they still need to work on
- It allows teachers to provide positive feedback to parents
- It is another opportunity for you to raise any concerns you may have
- It helps to build partnerships between the school and home
Further information will be sent home to families later this week.
Our Year 6 students are heading off to camp on Wednesday at Action Challenge. We wish them (and their teachers) all the best and hope that through the challenges they face on camp they come to learn something new about themselves and each other. I will be looking forward to hearing about their adventures when they return.
We have a big week coming up next week. On Wednesday we have our Father’s Day Stall. Please remember to send some money with your child/ren so that they can purchase something for their Dad or father figure. On Thursday we have our professional photo shoot. All students are required to be in their formal uniform on Thursday. Please make sure that all hair accessories and jewellery adhere to our uniform policy. On Thursday evening we have our Superheroes theme disco from 6pm - 7:15pm. We then finish the week with a Pupil Free Day on Friday 2nd September. On this day teachers will be engaging in professional development from QCAA (Queensland Curriculum Assessment Authority) around the new version of the Australian Curriculum and will also work with Learning and Teaching Advisors from TCE on developing students' writing skills.
Have a wonderful week.
Take care and God Bless
Amanda
Religious Life of the School
In Jesus’ ministry, meals shared with friends and followers often formed the backdrop to some important teachings of Jesus about the values of the kingdom of God. Jesus showed no favouritism but welcomed all in the community to share the meal, a practice which is carried on today when we join together around the altar to listen to God’s words and share the Eucharistic meal at Sunday mass. In Luke’s Gospel (Luke 14: 1.7-14) Jesus reminds his listeners that everyone must act with humility and see themselves as the servants of the community rather than those whom the community might feel honoured to serve. Around the Lord’s Table, there is a state of equality for all are equally there by God’s invitation, grace, and mercy.
Jesus used table fellowship as a way of reconciling and building communion with his followers while teaching them how to live as God wanted them to. Thank you to all the children and their families who joined us around the Lord’s table last Sunday and participated by reading and singing. We were also introduced to some of the children who are participating in this year’s Sacramental program and who will make their Confirmation and First Communion in October
PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR STUDENTS WHO ARE PARTICIPATING IN THE SACRAMENTAL PROGRAM
Reeve, Will, Lara, Cara, Sam, Bailey, David, Chase, Cooper, Leeson, Jorja, Xavier, Oliver, Charlotte, Rocco, Addison, Dylan, Ryan, Kyran, Jax, Cruz.
Loving God, Pour out your blessing
Upon our beloved children,
That during this time of Sacramental preparation
They may grow closer to you,
And come to know your special love for them.
May this time of preparation be a time of blessing
For our families and our community,
And unite us all in your great love.
Amen.
God Bless
Mary
Aiming for Excellence
Ready Set Write!
Our focus this week is on sentence structure. When we write an imaginative, informative or persuasive text, we use different structures for our sentences. Children practise using different types of sentences. The beginnings of sentences are varied and are a mixture of simple, compound and complex are used as a text is written.
AUSTRALIAN CURRICULUM Version 9
The first version of the Australian Curriculum was released in 2010. Subjects were added and updated until 2015, when all subjects were revised as an outcome of a 2014 independent review of the curriculum. At this time, ACARA ( Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority) was also reviewed, and the recommendation was made that the curriculum should be reviewed every six years.
Minor updates and adjustments continued to be made to the Australian Curriculum.
In 2020, the latest review commenced.
In 2021 the proposed changes were shared for public consultation and in early 2022 all Australian Education Ministers endorsed the F-10 curriculum with a new Australian Curriculum website going live. It has a totally different layout to the earlier version as it was designed to meet the accessibility requirements requested by teachers.
On Friday, September 2, all P- 6 teachers in Townsville Catholic Education schools will watch a presentation by QCAA (Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority) that will explain the changes and implementation process of the revised Australian Curriculum (Version 9)
The changes are mainly a refinement ( to clarify expectations) and realignment ( when knowledge, skills and understanding of concepts are to be addressed) of what was in Version 8.4. Some terminology used was refined to become explicit.
An example of the changes seen below comes from the Year 2 Phonic Knowledge section of the English Curriculum.
Version 9 | Action taken | Version 8.4 |
Use phoneme–grapheme (sound–letter/s) matches, including vowel digraphs, less common long vowel patterns, consonant clusters and silent letters when reading and writing words of one or more syllables, including compound words AC9E2LY10 | Refined Realigned from Language strand and Phonics and word knowledge sub-strand | Use most letter-sound matches including vowel digraphs, less common long vowel patterns, letter clusters and silent letters when reading and writing words of one or more syllable (ACELA1824) |
ICAS: Congratulations to all students who completed the assessments for English and Science. The Mathematics assessment will be completed on Wednesday, August 31.
Rita Cranitch
Learning and Teaching Adviser
Inclusive practices Teacher
Science Challenge
The Good Samaritan's P.A.T.H.
Over the past 3 weeks we have been introducing our whole school expectations for P.A.T.H. Students have been loving receiving a P.A.T.H. award for demonstrting appropriate behaviours at school. Last week we focused on the 'T' in P.A.T.H. or Treat all with Respect and teachers were on the look out for people to receive a P.A.T.H. note. Our lucky winners are Kendall, Chase and Tahlia. Thank you to Red Rooster for donating vouchers for our P.A.T.H prizes this term.
This week we turn our focus to Help your Neighbour. The rules are:
- Be kind in words and actions
- Be forgiving, fair and just
- Show care, patience and help others
Now that we have finished exploring the whole school expectations for P.A.T.H. we will be reviewing these rules over the remainder of the term. We encourage you to talk about these at home with your children. Please see a reminder of our rules below.
Persist with Learning
- Participate fully and try my best
- Be resilient and learn from your mistakes
- Follow directions first time everytime
Act Safely
- Keep hands and feet to yourself
- Use walking feet
- Make SMART choices
Treat all with Respect
- Use manners with others
- Listen to staff and peers first time every time
- Be mindful of people and things around you
Help your Neighbour
- Be kind in words and actions
- Be forgiving, fair and just
- Show care, patience and help others
From the Guidance Counsellor
In this edition of SchoolTV - TRAUMA
Children and teens will experience events during their lives that will affect them emotionally and physically. How they react to these events depends on their age, personality and past experiences. Children can experience strong feelings of fear, sadness, guilt, anger or grief, making it difficult for them to cope with everyday life.
There are a number of ways that parents and care givers can support children after a traumatic event. Your reaction to an event, will impact your child’s ability to cope and recover. Children will look to the adults in their lives to help them better understand a traumatic event so it is important to ‘tune in’ to their fears and provide them with the comfort and support they need.
In this edition of SchoolTV, parents will learn how to gain a better understanding of trauma and how it affects children of all ages.
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 Trauma edition of SchoolTV
https://sfatsv.catholic.schooltv.me/newsletter/trauma
Students of the Week
Library
Book Week Begins
Book Week Competition in the Library. Congratulations to Sari Oar from 5A, who guessed the closest to the number of dog treats in the jar. Sari guessed 235 and the correct answer was 246. Sari was able to choose 5 prizes and also decided to keep the dog treats for her Nonna’s dogs. Sari’s friends were very excited for her and watched eagerly as she chose her prizes.
Let's Read Together
We started off with a book about Book Week and one of the Book Week books in Let’s Read Together this morning. The Burdekin Library have kindly lent me their puppets again.
Water Festival
Calling all St Francis Superheroes!!!
Burdekin Water Festival Procession and Mardi Gras
This year St Francis has a Junior Ambassador entrant in the Burdekin Water Festival, Miss Claire Horan. As part of the celebrations St Francis School will be entering a float into the water festival parade prior to the Mardi Gras event and is open to all members of the school community. This year the procession and Mardi Gras will be held at the Ayr Show Grounds on Saturday 3rd September, 2022.
This year the theme for the Burdekin Water Festival is “My Super Hero” and St Francis School are looking for children to dress up as superheroes (any type, Marvel, DC, generic etc) and ride on the float during the procession. Kids of all ages and year levels are welcome. Representatives of the school will be walking beside the float to maximise safety of the children.
Float decorating
Claire’s family have designed the float “St Francis Superheroes” and are looking for helpers on the morning of Saturday 3rd of September to assemble and decorate the float in the school carpark area. If you are able to come and lend a hand (or some strong muscles) could you please let Rebecca Horan know on 0427834568 or bec.horan@hotmail.com.
Riding on the Float
Please let the school office know if your child is interested in riding on the school float on Saturday 3rd September. You will be required to bring your child dressed to the McKenzie Street entrance of the Ayr Show Grounds by 3.30pm sharp for float judging and collect them from the same area at the end of the procession time. Let’s show the community how wonderful and supportive our school is!!
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
Community
CWL 60TH ANNIVERSARY MASS AND CELEBRATION this Friday Evening 6pm in the Marcellin Centre. We would love to see teachers, parents and students join us for this Celebration. CWL has had a long history of involvement with the St Francis School. At this Mass we will remember all our past members, some of whom would have been past students of the school and have given generously over the years to the well being of the school. Our present members are still involved and feel a part of St Francis community. Our men folk are invited too. We would welcome a RSVP as per official Invitation but if you can come at the last minute please do come.
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
