Term 4 Week 5 2022

From the Principal

Dear Parents and Carers, 

On Friday we welcomed our 2023 Prep students to St Francis for their first Prep Readiness Day.  There were lots of excited faces and all of our new Preppies were eager to participate in classroom activities and learn about what happens in a day at big school.  They will join us again this Friday for their second readiness day and I know that they are all looking forward to January.

On the weekend I had the privilege of watching our 2022 Sacramental students complete their initiation into our Church as they received the Sacraments of Confirmation and First Eucharist.  Congratulations to these students on such an important milestone in their faith journey.  It was a wonderful celebration with Bishop Tim, Fr Manoj and Fr Daniel.  

Next Wednesday evening we will be holding our final FACE Meeting for 2023.  This meeting will be held in the Staff Room at 6pm.  I encourage all families to come along as we will be discussing events for 2023.  If you have anything to add to the agenda for this meeting, please email it to me by this Friday 4th November.

The St Francis Primary School Board is currently seeking applications from current and new members of our school community to fill positions on the School Board for 2023.  If you are interested in joining our School Board or would like further information, please send me an email at ajones16@sfatsv.catholic.edu.au or pop into the Office for a chat.

Compiling class lists each year is a complex and time consuming process.  A lot of thought is given to balancing abilities, needs, behaviours, personalities etc across the classes.  Requesting a teacher based on an older child’s experience or hearing certain feedback about a teacher is not grounds for a request.  Consideration will only be given to a significant situation that the teachers are not aware of already. Teachers know their students very well and always strive to place them with other students and a teacher who will help them grow and develop as a learner.  Our teachers are very professional and always have the students’ best interests at heart.  If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know.

There seems to be a number of nasty bugs and viruses going around again at the moment.  I have heard of both Covid and Chicken Pox being in the Burdekin once again.  If your child/ren are unwell, please keep them at home.  It is important that we work together to keep our school environment as healthy as we possibly can. 

As we wind down to the end of the year I ask for your patience.  The last few weeks of the term are hectic as we have so much to fit into a short time frame.  With people working hard and with so much to accomplish before we finish in a few weeks, we need more than ever to be aware of our needs and the needs of those around us.  Be patient and generous whenever we can and when we find ourselves at the point of frustration, try to remember that others are dealing with life challenges themselves.  As we enter this last stage of a busy and successful year, try to give each other time, support and understanding. 

Have a wonderful week

Take care and God Bless

Amanda

Religious Life of the School

FEAST OF ALL SAINTS:  Today on the first day of November, we celebrate the Feast of all Saints. A Saint is someone who has dedicated their lives to God and whom the Church believes is in heaven with God.  Wrongly, we often think Saints are perfect, but in fact their greatest witness is how they coped with the ordinary difficulties of life and how their love, sacrifice and fidelity inspired others to follow Jesus. Sometimes, we can look around us and see people who are living a holy life, finding blessings within their daily lives and demonstrating the extraordinary power of God working in them through their words and actions.  

WHOLE SCHOOL CHRISTIAN MEDITATION: Today our school came together at the beginning of the day for Christian meditation. Christian meditation is silent, contemplative prayer aimed at being with God and listening to God. All classes practice Christian meditation throughout the week and it is an opportunity for students to take time out of the busyness of life and sit quietly in the presence of God.  Christian meditation is a calming, silent time for students and the benefits include; better self-awareness, improved concentration, a sense of community and well-being, and a deepening relationship with God.

Dear God, thank you for the example of the Saints.

Please help us follow in their footsteps,

May we be strong in faith and love,

seeking Your will in all things, as the Saints did.

Help us to devote ourselves and all that we do,

to the service of our neighbours.

Our Lady Help of Christians, pray for us

Jesus, teacher and healer, pray for us

St Marcellin Champagnat, pray for us

Bishop Bede Polding, pray for us

St Francis Xavier, missionary, pray for us

St Mary MacKillop educator, pray for us

All you holy men and women, Saints of God…

ALL SOULS DAY: On Wednesday, we celebrate All Souls Day. All Souls day is a Catholic Day of Remembrance which we celebrate the day after All Saints Day. We remember and pray for friends and loved ones who have passed away, we pray particularly for the souls of those in purgatory waiting to be received into heaven. The Feast of All Souls reminds us of our obligation to live holy lives so that our souls too, may one day be received into heaven. Students may be talking about friends and family who have passed away in our families as they touch on this topic in Religion lessons. At the thanksgiving mass last week, each class received a special candle they can light if they have someone in their families needing a special prayer.

LEADERSHIP DAY: This Thursday, year 5 will be traveling to Alva Beach to participate in the annual Leadership Day at the Surf Lifesaving Club. Students will be engaged in activities designed to help them reflect on the qualities important for being good senior leaders. There will be fun activities as well as we do some of the activities on the beach. Students will be discussing the importance of working together as a team to support each other in their leadership role in 2023. During the next few weeks students will undertake a process of nominating for leadership positions, giving speeches and voting for students they believe will be good at leading the seniors next year. Please pray for our year 5 students as they move through the process.

God Bless

Mary

Aiming for Excellence

Ready Set Write! 

Our focus this week is  to use descriptive language to build an illustration to ignite  the reader’s imagination.

 AUSTRALIAN  CURRICULUM V9.0 UPDATE  ( Part 2)

Another feature of the refined Australian Curriculum is the focus on clarity and alignments.

The introductory information about each learning area has been updated and organised under the same sections across all eight learning areas. The first Australian Curriculum was written as separate subjects at different times and the layout and organisation of the subjects differed from one another. The organisation of content into strands and sub-strands has been streamlined and made more consistent across the eight learning areas. In Verision 9, the format is consistent meeting the goal for clarity.

 The revision has ensured that the subjects work together and do not duplicate skills thus ‘decluttering’ the current version of the Australian Curriculum. As a result some content has moved from an earlier to later year level to ensure children can meet the learning demands successfully.  Many of the year-level descriptions and achievement standards have been revised to focus on the core concepts and clearly align to the expectations of learning in that year level.

 Prep has its own clear expectations for all eight learning areas, making clear the expectations for students in the important first year of school.  Some subjects are currently ‘banded’ in that the content is to be covered over a few years. The refinement emphasises the importance of the first year of formal schooling. It also acknowledges that it is a transition from Early Years Education begun in Kindergarden bridging Early Years pedagogy (way of teaching) to Primary School Pedagogy.

PM BENCHMARKS

After a Professional Development Day with Consultatnt from Cengage who publish PM readers and the PM Benchmarking kits we reviewed  our PM Targets for each year level.

The emphasis for assigning levels  was on the child’s ability to retell what they had read and demonstrate an understanding of what they had read by accurately answering comprehension questions.

Expected achievement levels at St Francis

PM benchmark expectations by END of year (in keeping with recommendations from Cengage)

Home Readers are to be two levels below the level that children are working at in school as the focus for reading at home is enjoyment and fluency.

Next time your child reads to you, ask them to retell the story. How thorough was their retell? Were they attentive to the details?

If you have any questions or concerns about your child’s reading please contact your child’s teacher.

SAVE THESE DATES

NAPLAN 2023   The dates for NAPLAN 2023 are March 15 to 27. The final 5 days are available for catch - up tests. The writing MUST be administered on Day 1. More details on timing will be provided as it becomes available.  By Week 7 we plan to finalise the adjustments required  by students to access NAPLAN.

R.O.& B.M. COLLS Memorial Lecturette Competition

Two Year 6 students will be competing in the above competition on Wednesday, November 2 commencing at 7.15pm at Home Hill State School Performing Arts Centre.

Rita Cranitch

Leaning and Teaching Adviser

Inclusive Practices Teacher

The Good Samaritan's P.A.T.H.

This week's P.A.T.H. winners: Danyon Chalkley, Xander Botha, Harrison Sutton, Darcy Sutcliffe, Henry Condon (collected by Charlotte), Dylan Timms (collected by Connor).

Guidance Counsellor

In this edition of SchoolTV - SCHOOL TRANSITIONS

Whether it is starting school for the first time, moving up to a higher grade or embarking on a journey through secondary school, there is no doubt that any school transition is a very exciting time for children and parents. It means your children are growing up!

However, transitioning is an ongoing process. It can continue long after students have entered their new environment and may encounter difficulties at a number of different stages. These stressors may appear as anxiety and frustration and result in negative or disruptive behaviours. Such behaviours can become problematic making the transitioning process even more difficult for children and parents.

In this edition of SchoolTV, parents will learn practical strategies to assist your child during the transition process and reduce stress and anxiety levels.

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 School Transitions edition of SchoolTV
https://sfatsv.catholic.schooltv.me/newsletter/school-transitions

Library

Book of the Week Winner

Students of the Week

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Tuckshop

Swimming Carnival

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