Term 2 Week 2 2024

From the Principal

Dear Families,

Thank you to all of those students who joined us for the ANZAC Day March yesterday.  It was a very moving ceremony and our students did a wonderful job of paying their respects.  While on ANZAC Day we remember the landing at Gallipoli, this day also recognises the involvement of all Australians, men and women, in all wars, conflict and peacekeeping operations. The endurance, courage and mateship demonstrated by the ANZAC’s forged the legend of the ANZAC and it is those same qualities that members of the Australian Defence Force live by today and are also qualities that each of us can apply to our everyday lives.  

As many of you would be aware, my husband is in the Army and is currently posted to Puckapunyal (central Victoria). This year he travelled to Canberra to attend the ANZAC Day services at the Australian War Memorial. He has kindly sent me some photos to share with you all. Being an army wife is a journey filled with both triumphs and tribulations. It's a role that demands strength, adaptability, and resilience as each day can bring a mix of emotions. There is pride in supporting your partner as they serve their country with honour and dedication. During deployments and long stints apart there is an undercurrent of worry and uncertainty. However, it is about learning to embrace change, forging new connections and being flexible. Over our 23 years together my husband and I have been fortunate to have had very few location changes, although we have been through a number of deployments throughout that time. Some of these deployments have been peacekeeping missions while others have occurred during war time.  Each of these trips have varied in length from between 4 and 8 months. Some of the places he has been deployed to include Bougainville, East Timor, Iraq (twice) and Afghanistan (twice). Over the years I have had the privilege of attending welcome home parades through the city streets of Brisbane and along The Strand after some of these deployments. During events such as these parades and ANZAC Day services the profound pride I feel for my husband is something that I cannot describe. Being an Army wife is a journey of ups and downs but at the end of the day it is about cherishing every moment we spend together and embracing the unique adventure that is life as a Defence family.

Australian War Memorial

What a glorious morning we had on Wednesday for our Cross Country. It was wonderful to see students trying their best and cheering on their teammates. Congratulations to our age champions and those students who have made the District Cross Country Team. Thank you to Miss Lynch and the Sports Committee for organising this event. 

Today our teaching staff are participating in important professional development focusing on the English Curriculum of Version 9 of the Australian Curriculum. Throughout the day, teachers developed their understanding of the changes within the curriculum, ways that they can meet the diverse needs of their students and  how to continue to foster a culture of improvement and excellence when teaching English. 

With Mother’s Day fast approaching, our hard working committee that is organising the Mother’s Day stall are calling for donations for both the stall and the raffle. They will also require helpers to run the stall. If you are able to help, please let the office know. Our Mother’s Day Stall is something that the students look forward to each year and is only possible due to families being willing to assist with both donations and a few hours of their time. Thank you to Gen and Teena for stepping up and coordinating this event for our students. 

At the FACE Meeting this week we discussed our Mother's Day Stall, the BBQ that we will host at the upcoming Max Place Market on the 25th May (we would love to see you all at the Market) as well as our Family Movie Night that we will be holding on September 6th. Keep an eye out for more information about these events in the upcoming weeks. We also took a tour of the refurbished Prep classrooms. If you would like to have a look through the classrooms, please pop into the Office and a member of the Leadership Team would be more than happy to show you through. 

Have a wonderful week

Take care and God Bless

Amanda 

Religious Life of the School

Dear Families,

It has been an unusual week with different events and days off. This week has felt like many in one. It was great to see many families support ANZAC Day marches and services yesterday, thank you to everyone who could make it.

One of the most noticeable things I witnessed yesterday was tradition. Traditions of the dawn service, marches, flags, songs and speeches. Have you ever thought about how this ANZAC tradition has stayed the same and also changed over time? Many think of tradition as something that must remain the same and never change, but it does change, it has to. Tradition is never static. Tradition is customs and beliefs passed on from one generation to the next. For these customs and beliefs to stay relevant to the society of the moment they need to change in some way. Tradition therefore is about development and growth as it recontextualises to fit the society of the day. There are elements that we keep, to prevent us from living in our time and place only, such as the stories of the diggers and the time of the dawn service. What other traditions or symbols in your life have changed in some way to recontextualise so they are more relevant to today’s society?

Anzac liturgy

Thank you to 5/6B for the ANZAC Day liturgy on Monday and to those who joined us. 5/6B explained that the Last Post is the call that sounded at 10 pm each evening to inform the soldiers that they should be inside their quarters for the night. It signified the end of the day’s activities and meant that they must now rest and be quiet. It is traditionally sounded at military funerals and at special times to indicate that a serviceman or woman has completed their life and is now at rest.

Have a wonderful week

God Bless

Nicole

Learning Corner

HIGH EXPECTATIONS

Hear→See→ Speak→ Read→Write

This is the path most children take to reach a skilled literacy level. 

If one step is missed or presents challenges, becoming literate becomes difficult.

The Australian Curriculum in English Version 9.0 has been adjusted to ensure that all students reach the level of literacy required to participate effectively in society. Emphasis has been placed on oral language and understanding the meaning, use, and representation (spelling) of words as the basis for children to become skilled users of English and communicate clearly in both oral and written forms.

Student development in the foundational skills for literacy is tracked, and extra practice is provided to ensure there are no gaps in their learning. At St. Francis, we trialled and, after seeing the results, have now adopted the strategies and tracking process of the resource, ‘Promoting Literacy Development’. 

On Friday, teachers spent the day reviewing literature that provided insights into how children can be guided to become successful language users. They closely examined the Australian English Curriculum expectations for their year level and planned how their students could meet those standards.

Parents often ask how they can help their children. The answer is simple but challenging to do.

Firstly, Involve your children in conversations where information, thoughts, and opinions are shared. Have them expand their responses with a reason for their response. Explaining the ‘why’ helps them develop their thinking on a topic.

Secondly, read to and with your children. Primary school children are never too old to listen to stories or read picture books, especially when you talk about the book to discover the ‘heart ‘ of the story and why the author wrote that book and presented the story in that particular way.

Lastly and probably most importantly, replace some screen time with paper book reading time.

I would love to hear about your successes and challenges.

Rita Cranitch

APPL (Assistant Principal Pedagogy and Learning-Acting)

Inclusive Practices Teacher.

Guidance Counsellor

A SPECIAL REPORT: Trauma Recovery

Trauma in children significantly disturbs their sense of safety and normalcy, leading to substantial emotional and behavioural changes. Such disturbances often result from exposure to traumatic events, which may be exacerbated by continuous media coverage. This exposure can trigger stress, anxiety, and trauma, with varying recovery timelines due to the unpredictable nature of trauma's impact. Observing young people grappling with these effects can be highly distressing for parents and caregivers.

It's important to establish a nurturing environment to help restore a child's sense of security to help promote resilience. Active involvement in their recovery is essential, as is recognising the unique, personalised needs of each child in responding to trauma. Depending on their age, children may present with different symptoms, such as regressive behaviours in younger ones or withdrawal and agitation in older children and teens. It is important to monitor and manage the type of information children may access to reduce their emotional distress.

The brain stores traumatic events as powerful emotional memories, influencing behaviour through mechanisms beyond a child's conscious awareness. By providing young people with support and equipping them with coping mechanisms to handle uncertainty, parents and carers can greatly enhance a child's capacity to recover and build long-term emotional resilience.

This Special Report will help you identify a child experiencing trauma and how you can support them to overcome it. If you do have any concerns about the wellbeing of your child, please contact the school for further information or seek medical or professional help.

Here is the link to your special report:
https://sfatsv.catholic.schooltv.me/wellbeing_news/special-report-trauma-recovery

Eisteddfod

Community