Term 4 Week 2 2023

From the Principal

Dear Families,

This week is Queensland Mental Health Week (7 - 15 October). Queensland Mental Health Week encourages all of us to think about our mental health and wellbeing, regardless of whether we may have a lived experience of mental illness or not, and encourages help seeking behaviours, when needed.

The week also gives us the opportunity to understand the importance of mental health in our everyday lives. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices.

The theme of ‘Awareness, Belonging, Connection’ reflects the important factors that help people maintain positive mental health and wellbeing.

• Awareness is about understanding the things we need to maintain and boost our mental wellbeing, and knowing when we need to reach out for help and where to get it.
• Belonging is about looking out for each other, ensuring we feel safe and supported, and understanding that however we feel, we’re not alone, and that there are others going through the same thing.
• Connection is about our relationships with our friends, families, and those that we care about, as well as the groups, clubs, and networks around us that we rely on to help keep us happy and healthy, wherever we live, work, or play.

Taken from Queensland Mental Health Week Website

This week our staff have engaged in a number of activities for Queensland Mental Health Week. Our week culminated this morning with staff gathering to participate in Christian Meditation.

Staffing News

I have a number of staffing announcements to share with you this week.

• Chappy Giovanna has decided to retire at the end of 2023. We will celebrate Giovanna and thank her for her commitment and dedication towards staff, students and their families later in the term. For now please join me in wishing Giovanna all the best as she moves into this exciting next chapter of her life. 
• In some exciting staffing news, a huge congratulations to Melinda Gianni who is expecting her first baby in April. Melinda will be with us for the first half of Term 1 before beginning maternity leave. During this time she will be supporting teachers in classrooms during literacy and numeracy time and doing internal relief work to allow teachers to attend professional development. 
• Danielle Zollner is expecting her third baby in early March and will be continuing her leave for 2024. We congratulate Danielle and Josh as well as Matilda and Lucy on becoming big sisters.
• Emma Castelanelli and Erica Arboit will also be continuing their leave in 2024.

Step into Prep Days

Next Friday is our first Step into Prep Day for our 2024 Prep students with the second day being held on Friday 3rd November. We look forward to welcoming all of our enrolled students to St Francis as they begin their transition to school. Step into Prep runs from 9am - 2pm and students need to ensure that they are wearing sun safe clothing and have closed in shoes. They will also need their lunch, snacks, water bottle and hat. The teachers have some wonderful activities planned for these two days.  

2024 Class Lists (repeat from last week)

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. Should you have any educational reasons to be considered when allocated classes for your child, please email me directly (ajones16@sfatsv.catholic.edu.au) so that requests may be taken into account where possible. Emails must be received by Friday 20th of October for consideration. If you have any other questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Mission Statement (repeat from last week)

After receiving feedback on our current Mission Statement throughout the School Renewal Process we have been working on developing a new Mission Statement over the past six months. This work has been done in consultation with Staff, the School Board, Catholic Identity Committee and the FACE group. In today’s newsletter you will find three draft statements. You are encouraged to read these and think about whether they encapsulate our school. We invite you to provide feedback by emailing me directly (ajones16@sfatsv.catholic.edu.au) or coming into the Office next term and sharing your thoughts. Our draft statements will also be displayed in the Office for your consideration. It would be wonderful to have this feedback by Friday 20th October.

Have a wonderful week

Take care and God Bless

Amanda

Religious Life of the School

Week 2 and we are in full swing of Term 4. Thank you to all the families who helped support our Crazy Sock Day last Friday. The students had a great day in their very colourful socks.  

Month of the Rosary

October is the Month of the Rosary. It is a special time in the Catholic tradition dedicated to the devotion of the Rosary, a form of prayer that uses Rosary beads and honors the Virgin Mary and the life of Jesus Christ.

During this month, Catholics are encouraged to pray the Rosary more frequently, reflecting on the mysteries of the faith, and seeking the intercession of Mary. It is a time of spiritual reflection, renewal, and deepening one's connection to the Blessed Mother and the teachings of the Church.

If praying the Rosary is something you have not done before and would like to give it a go there are many online resources you can find on the internet.

Liturgy

Thank you to the families and friends who joined us for our mission liturgy on Monday. It was great to be able to use our new projectors and sound system.

Save The Date

31st October, Burdekin Catholic Parish Celebration, 5:30pm

1st November, Whole School Meditation

6th November, Remembrance Day Liturgy, 2:15pm

24th November, Thanksgiving Mass, 9am

1st December, Final Farewell Liturgy, 11am

God bless

Nicole

Learning Corner

How do you describe this?

Thursday and Friday, I was fortunate to attend workshops on developing quality assessments in English and Mathematics in the Australian CurriculumVersion 9.0.

Assessment tasks show teachers and parents what the children know, understand and can apply.

We were shown how to ensure that all children can show what they know without the barrier of access to the task. The emphasised focus was on achievement and future directions for progress, not on the child’s shortcomings in learning. This is our current focus across all year levels, and we will continue to build on this.

Our starting point for assessment tasks is always the expected learning at a ‘C’ standard, which is expected at each year level to move learning forward successfully.

Our ‘A’ and ‘B’ standards are achieved when the student shows that they thoroughly understand the concepts accessed. Their responses are detailed and justified. It is more about how well they understand the concepts rather than knowing more.

Parents significantly influence helping their children move from a ‘C’ to a ‘B’ or ‘A’. Parents help their children develop the attitudes needed for ‘A’s and ‘B’s. When you ask your child to complete a task, is ‘near enough’  accepted as ‘good enough’ as long as it is done? Children do bring these attitudes with them when they engage in learning tasks.

Learning is moving from learning answers to understanding and applying what has been taught.  Each day,  find a few moments to ask your child what they learnt and their day's highlight.

Do not be dismayed if their response is ‘Nothing!’. Just keep asking every day. The answer will eventually become detailed.

Let’s help our children move from ‘can’t’  to ‘can’ and ourselves to look at their learning achievement as ‘half full’ instead of ‘half empty’. 

Rita Cranitch,                                                                                  

Learning and Teaching Adviser

Inclusive Practices Teacher

Guidance Counsellor

In this edition of SchoolTV - UNDERSTANDING ADOLESCENCE

Adolescence is the transitional stage of development that is usually associated with the teenage years. In 2018, the Australian Curriculum Assessment Authority, redefined adolescence as affecting young people aged between 10-24 years. During this time, they experience rapid physical, cognitive and psychosocial growth which affects how teenagers feel, think, make decisions and interact with the world around them.

During adolescence, a child's brain can be considered as being “under-construction”. The rate at which this progresses will vary depending on the individual and also their gender. As a result, some parents may view adolescence as stressful or difficult. However, it does not need to be. Setting boundaries, implementing consistent monitoring and maintaining a strong and loving connection will help families adjust during this time.

It is also an important time to keep the communication lines open through clear and age appropriate conversations. Speak openly about changes that they are experiencing and be conscious of their mental health as many of the conditions people confront in adulthood, can begin to manifest in adolescence.

In this edition of SchoolTV, adult carers can learn how to guide and best support their young person as they transition through adolescence.

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 Understanding Adolescence edition of SchoolTV
https://sfatsv.catholic.schooltv.me/newsletter/understanding-adolescence

Class in the Spotlight - PB

This week has been busy in Prep B! 

This term we started a new morning routine where we get to go and play out on the oval before school starts. We have loved playing with the big kids! 

In English, we have started learning about predicting and recalling. We have been watching Minuscule videos all about cheeky insects. We have to try and predict what happens next after Miss Tatnell pauses the video. We have also been working on our sound substitution by identifying which sound in the word needs to change in order to make a new word. 

In Maths we are learning about collecting data by asking yes or no questions. We enjoyed using our Yes/No lollipops to show our answers. We have been practising making inferences from our data by identifying which has the most and which has the least.

In Technology, we have learnt the functions of Google Slides. We created a poster about our favourite animal and had to copy and paste pictures to our poster.

We had our first Water Safety Lesson this week. It was a lot of fun getting to ride on the bus and hopping in the pool with Lisa. We certainly can’t wait for next week’s lesson. 

To finish our week, we participated in Fun With Maths with Geoff. We loved using our Maths brain to solve all of the different problems.

Prep B

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