Term 1 Week 1 2024

From the Principal

Dear Families,

Welcome back to the 2024 school year. I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas break and managed to spend some quality time with family and friends. What an amazing and interesting week we have had. Thank you to the families who were able to stay for our Coffee and Chat morning. It was great catching up with you all and hearing about your Christmas break. The students have all settled into their new classrooms and are learning their new routines and class expectations. I have visited all classes throughout the week, it has been wonderful to see how engaged and eager students have been to start 2024.  It's certainly not the first week of school without some sort of weather event. As we spend today preparing for the arrival of Cyclone Kirrily, please stay safe and look after yourselves. Please keep in touch and let us know how you are travelling. At this stage we are expecting to be back at school on Monday. If there are any changes to these plans I will communicate this with you over the weekend via Compass and our Facebook page. 

I posted these details from Townsville City Libraries on Facebook earlier today but am including them here as well for your reference. 

 Free e-book: Birdie and the Cyclone 
The Birdie series provides a fun way to help families prepare for, cope with and recover from natural disasters.
Birdie and the cyclone is a story to help young children:
- learn what happens during and after a cyclone
- work through sad or scary feelings
- understand they will feel safe and happy again.
 Access the free e-book, available in 14 languages, here: https://bit.ly/3U2oPOy

There is a great deal of important information included in the newsletter this week, so please take time to note dates and times of upcoming events as we kick off a busy start to the year.

Welcome

This week we have welcomed 34 new Prep students along with Jack, Taylor, Paige, Bella, Willow, Harry and Elijah and their families to our school community. We also welcomed two new teachers, Mrs Jaimie Hollingsworth (1/2B) and Miss Olivia Licciardello (3A). I trust that you will make these students, staff and families feel welcome when you meet them. 

This year we also welcome our new Guidance Counsellor, Felicity Griggs. Felicity will be a familiar face to many having been a past parent of St Francis and also having been the Guidance Counsellor at Burdekin Catholic High School for a number of years. Felicity will be at St Francis on Monday and Wednesday in 2024.

We are also pleased to welcome a new Service Team from Townsville Catholic Education. This team is made up of David McNeale (Education Consultant), Judy Bell (Religious Education Advisor), Nic Beltramelli (Curriculum Advisor) and Pelly Morganson (Indigenous Education Advisor). These wonderful four people help support our school and especially the leadership team as we work to make our vision for St Francis a reality. They will be visiting St Francis throughout the school year. 

Thank You

A huge thank you to Peter Pattinson, Mick Scuderi, Reeve Scuderi and David Pennisi for the massive amount of work they did with mowing and whipper snipping the school grounds to get them ready for students to return. It was an enormous job and on behalf of the school community I would like to thank them for volunteering their time to ensure our grounds looked wonderful for the first day of school. 

UR STRONG

This year we are implementing a new strategy in place of the Resilience Project. URSTRONG’s whole-school friendship strategy has improved the social climate in schools around the world, connecting over a million kids, parents, and teachers with a common language of friendship. We are proud to be a URSTRONG School and are committed to empowering your children with friendship skills.

You are invited to take advantage of a FREE Parent Membership to access hundreds of resources – including an 8 session video series. This will allow you to learn the same language & strategies being taught in the classroom through the Friendology 101 curriculum. We hope that, as a URSTRONG Family, you will reinforce the important messages of empowerment, self-compassion, & kindness at home.

As a next step, we would recommend:

• Click here to view an overview of URSTRONG.
• Activate your FREE Parent Membership and explore all the resources available to your family.
• Explore the hundreds of resources available to you!

We believe that empowering our students with these skills will create a culture of kindness at our school and we hope that, together, we can support your children to have healthy, feel-good friendships.

Uniforms

At the beginning of a new school year it is important that you are aware of our uniform policy and expectations. Please take the time to read the Uniform Policy. Some of the common things that we notice are incorrect earrings, hair accessories, shoes and hair styles. We thank you for your support in ensuring that our students are wearing their school uniform with pride and representing the school in our community in a positive manner.

Parent Information Evening

Parent Information Evening will be held on Tuesday 6th February. This is a wonderful parent engagement opportunity and a way of building a strong and productive partnership with your child’s teacher.  The program will be:

• 5:45 - 6:00pm - Gather in the Samaritan Centre for Prayer and staff introductions
• 6:00 - 6:25pm - 1st classroom session
• 6:30 - 6:55pm - 2nd classroom session (a repeat of the 1st session) 

During these sessions you’ll hear about what your child will be learning, their teacher’s expectations, how you can help your child with their learning at home, how you can become involved and much, much more.  

Volunteer Induction

We are very lucky to have so many volunteers working throughout our school.  Our staff and students greatly appreciate your help!  Our volunteers are such an integral part of the day to day life of our school. In order to be a volunteer you need to complete the Volunteer Induction which can be found on our school website as well as attend a school site induction. Our Site Induction for this term will be on Wednesday 31st January at 8:45am. 

If you have any concerns or questions throughout the year, please talk to your child’s teacher in the first instance. Please remember that during the day, teachers don’t always have the opportunity to check their email so if you have an urgent message, please contact the Office.  Teachers will endeavour to reply to emails within 48 hours.

Parent Code of Conduct

Parents are the most important role models for a child. As parents and carers, there is an expectation that you will work with the school, the staff and other parents to contribute to a positive and collaborative learning community. These expectations apply while on school grounds, attending school events, using social media which is related or could reasonably be connected to your role as a parent/carer at the school or communicating with staff, parents or other school community members. The expectations are clearly outlined in our Parent Code of Conduct which applies to all parents and carers of children who attend Townsville Catholic Education schools. The Parent Code of Conduct is attached to the newsletter this week for your information.  I would encourage all parents/carers to read this document carefully.

Have a wonderful week

Take care and God Bless

Amanda 

Religious Life of the School

Welcome

Welcome back for a new school year, one that I hope is filled with joy, peace and love. It was lovely to see so many smiling faces on Monday as everyone returned to school. A special welcome to the families and students who are new to our school. I look forward to getting to know you throughout the year. From what I have heard from students, everyone seems to have enjoyed the break and is looking forward to a busy year of learning.

I am feeling very blessed to now officially hold the position of Assistant Principal, Religious Education (APRE) and I am looking forward to further working with you all over the next several years. 

During the January PD Week, our classroom teachers worked on planning and using the K.I.T.E. model. The K.I.T.E. model for teaching scripture is an educational model developed by Barbara Stead. It is an acronym and has a four step approach: Know the text, Inspire the imagination, Translate to life and Express the heart. This is what we will be following for our Religion units this year, engaging teachers and students with sacred texts and allowing them to have an authentic religious experience within the classroom.

Teachers practised using the model with the parable of the Good Samaritan scripture. This parable has special significance for St Francis as the Good Samaritan Sisters were the founders and first teachers of our school. They are one of three charisms of our school which we used to frame our Catholic identity model; love of God, love of Neighbour and love in action. 

Over the first two weeks of school the classes will focus on our Catholic Identity model. Students will learn about the Good Samaritan Parable, St Francis Xavier and Marcellin Champagnant, identifying ways that they can also demonstrate love.

Take care and God bless

Nicole

Learning Corner

Welcome to Term 1, the beginning of what promises to be a fantastic year based on the achievements of staff during the pupil free days last week!

As a staff, we used the TCE ( Townsville Catholic Education) Student Learning Datahub to examine data on student learning and progress at school, class, and individual levels. 

At the school level, we examined the NAPLAN results over several years and noted the areas we need to work on and the areas of success. Identifying these areas is not enough as we need to identify the reasons for the results. We observed that there was room for improvement in Mathematics therefore this year we are using the resource, ‘Learning Through Doing’ which has a heavy emphasis on learning through hands-on activities across all year levels.

Our writing results showed a marked improvement. Our approach of daily writing with feedback on a particular writing skill was definitely successful. This approach will be refined and continued to maintain this growth pattern this year.

At the year level, we identified the areas of strength and those requiring focused attention in Literacy and Numeracy. This was done using the PAT M and PAT R results. A point of discussion was an obvious increase in the number of children who completed these online tests in a fraction of the time provided. Could this be due to the speed that children practice when responding to requests on devices and therefore do not read the task closely? A challenge for teachers this year is to develop the skill of reading carefully and critically closely for each child, paying attention to detail, and checking responses.

At the individual level, class teachers examined the assessment data and notes from previous teachers to identify learning areas that require close monitoring to ensure progress, ways the child learns best, and the adjustments that support the child in accessing the curriculum. Students who require extension in particular learning areas were also identified.

If you would like specific information about your child’s learning and progress please do not hesitate to contact your child’s teacher.

If your questions are general about curriculum please send me an email or call the office and I will return your call.

May we all share a year of growth, challenges, and celebrations.

Rita Cranitch

APPL (Assistant Principal Pedagogy and Learning-Acting)

Inclusive Practices Teacher.

Guidance Counsellor

Guidance Counsellor Introduction

Wadda Mooli!

I am excited to be working as the Guidance Counsellor at St Francis this year, and for
many of you I will be a familiar face as a previous parent. I began work as a Guidance Counsellor for
Townsville Catholic Education in 2013, after relocating to the Burdekin from Central Queensland.
Since then, I have worked across Burdekin Catholic High School and St Colman’s School, Home Hill.
Prior to receiving my Masters in Guidance and Counselling in 2011 I was a Secondary Teacher with
Education Queensland.

Every school in the Townsville Catholic Education diocese is supported by a Guidance Counsellor as a
part of the Student Wellbeing and Pastoral Services Team. Guidance Counsellors seek to support
students in achieving appropriate educational outcomes, and this is accomplished by assisting
students and staff in the removal of as many barriers as possible (academic, social, emotional,
personal or behavioural barriers). Supporting students may involve meetings with teachers and/or
parents, individual counselling, academic and behavioural assessments, or facilitating group
programs. Referrals are completed by the classroom teacher in collaboration with the Inclusive
Practices Teacher (Rita Cranitch). Please always contact your child’s teacher in the first instance with
any concerns you have.

Felicity Griggs

Tuckshop

Dear Parents, Grandparents and Friends,

I’m reaching out for Tuckshop volunteers and bakers for 2024.

If you can spare any time to volunteer in the Tuckshop or prepare baked goods, please reach out to me on 0428 559 818.

Any assistance would be much appreciated. Thank you to those who have reached out already.

Looking forward to seeing you in 2024!

Thanks,

Kylie

Community