Term 2 Week 7 2024

From the Principal

Dear Families,

On Saturday we held our sausage sizzle at Max Place Markets. A huge thank you to Kylie for taking on board all the organising for the morning and Bevan Klaka for being our cook. Thank you to Nicole and Nick as well as Dom, Kellie and Aaron for coming down to help. It was great to have so many families come and visit us at the markets. It was a wonderful morning all around and we are looking forward to potentially running the sausage sizzle again in the future.

We are going to hold a short FACE meeting on Thursday 13th June at 2pm. This meeting will only go for about 45 minutes and the purpose is to gather ideas from families about how we can increase family engagement in our school community. I hope that you will be able to join us for this meeting.

Just a reminder if you or someone you know has a child starting Prep in 2025 that we have our Prep Open Days on Friday 7th and Monday 10th June. This is a wonderful opportunity to come along and learn about Prep at St Francis. The Prep team has put together a wonderful morning for families. Enrolment forms for Prep are due by Monday 17th June and interviews will be held early in Term 3. I am looking forward to meeting all of our 2025 Preppies over the coming weeks.

Over the past week we have had several students wearing the incorrect socks to school. As per the uniform policy, girls should be wearing short blue socks and the boys long school socks. For Prep and on PE days socks are to be plain white (no ankle socks). Also as the weather gets cooler and the mornings are chilly please ensure that students are wearing the correct jumper to school. Plain navy blue or maroon jumpers are part of the uniform policy. I ask that you help us reinforce high expectations by ensuring that your child/ren are wearing the correct uniform. 

Over the past few weeks, many members of our St Francis family have been unwell with a variety of illnesses.  When our teachers are away we always try our best to maintain the same relief teacher in a room, however, at times this is impossible as relief staff are often booked at other schools or are sick themselves. Please remember if your child is unwell to keep them at home, this is the best way to ensure that not only do they recover quickly but it also helps keep the rest of our school healthy. Unfortunately a casualty of illness this week was our Coffee and Chat with the Leadership team. Due to a number of existing commitments, this event will be postponed until Term 3. 

We had our first harvest out of our veggie gardens this week and there is a lot more produce coming on. We are hoping to have a market stall here at school to sell produce to our families once it is ready to go. Keep an eye out on Facebook and Compass for more information.

Have a wonderful week.

Take care and God Bless

Amanda

UR STRONG

Signs a Child is Struggling with an Unhealthy Friendship

Has your child lost their spark? Do you feel like something is up on the friendship front? Watch for these signs.

I would guess that a large percentage of adults, especially women, would admit to having at least one unhealthy friendship in their lives. Often times we hear this friend referred to as the High Maintenance Friend (HMF). This person requires more than you can give, takes up a lot of your time/energy, and stresses you out. After you spend time with this friend, you maybe feel less accomplished, bad about yourself, or downright exhausted.

But, that doesn’t stop you.

Even though you don’t answer the phone when this person calls or you cringe when you see a text from him/her, after a while, the guilt sets in and you feel obligated to reach out.

Well, this experience is not unique to adults – kids are the same. The difference is that children have much less control over their relationships and, in some cases, have to spend ALL day EVERY day enduring these unhealthy friendships at school.

Children often ‘put up’ with an unhealthy friendship for a long time before seeking help from an adult. They desperately hang on to the hope that one day they’ll revert back to the ‘Good Ol’ Days’ when their friendship was easy and fun! This is especially the case (with an even tighter grip) when their HMF is considered “popular”, making it that much harder to let go and accept that the friendship has changed.

If you have a feeling the child in your life is dealing with an unhealthy friendship, you’re probably right. Along with that gut instinct, here are a few signs that a child might be coping with an unhealthy friendship:

• They don’t want to go to school or seem less excited/interested than they used to.
• They are spending a lot of time in their room or by themselves.
• They seem less confident, maybe even saying negative things about themselves.
• They have been complaining of stomach aches or headaches.
• They’re not performing as well in school.
• They seem distracted.
• They don’t want to attend birthday parties, sleepovers, etc.
• Their friendship circles are getting smaller.
• They don’t talk about their friends.
• They start to ask strange questions, like: “Do you think I’m bossy?” or “Do you think I’m weird?“
• They make decisions that aren’t aligned with their core personality.

If a child is showing one or many of these signs, it’s time to step in. Some children do not innately know strategies for making relationships healthy again and they need your help. Here are a few tips to get you started:

1. Tune in and ask direct, specific questions. For example, “How are things going with Lisa? Is she a good friend to you?” Or, “I noticed you haven’t mentioned Jason lately. Are things still cool with you two?”
2. If you’ve attended one of our workshops, ask them where this friendship would be on the Friend-o-meter and get them to explain. Let your child know that you care and you’re there to help.
3. Share your experiences when you were their age so they can relate to you on a personal-level and view you as someone who knows a thing or two about the rocky roads of friendship.
4. Encourage them to spend time with friends who make them feel good and treat them with respect. Let them plan a playdate or something fun like a Movie Night with friends that are in the green zone of the Friend-o-meter.

Put on your ‘Coach hat’ and give them tips and suggestions for how to manage this unhealthy friendship. Do what you can to offer love, support, and encouragement so that your child will feel safe opening up to you and be sure to check out our Resources for lots of ways to help them!

Written by Dana Kerford
Friendship Expert and Founder of URSTRONG

Religious Life of the School

Dear families,

Week 7 is over and we are on the countdown to the holidays. We have one Class Mass left to go which will be Wednesday, for Years 3 and 4. They have been learning about the Trinity so their mass will focus on this sacred mystery which embodies the unity and diversity of God's love, wisdom, and power. Last Sunday (the Sunday following Pentecost) was the solemnity of the most Holy Trinity.

The Most Holy Trinity

The Most Holy Trinity is a central doctrine of Christianity that describes one God in three distinct persons: the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit. Despite being three distinct persons, they are of one essence and are co-equal, co-eternal, and consubstantial, meaning they share the same divine nature.

The Father: Often referred to as God the Father, is the creator of heaven and earth, the source of all life, and the loving and paternal aspect of God.

The Son: Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, who became incarnate, meaning He took on human nature to save humanity from sin. His life, death, and resurrection are central to Christian faith.

The Holy Spirit: The third person of the Trinity, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit is seen as the presence of God in the world today, guiding and sanctifying the faithful.

The concept of the Trinity is a mystery of faith, which means it is a belief that goes beyond human understanding but is accepted through faith. It highlights the relationship and unity within God, serving as a model for human relationships. The Trinity is foundational for understanding the nature of God and the work of salvation.

God Bless

Nicole

Learning Corner

Time to Celebrate!!

We are barely a term into the introduction phase of the Writing and Creating section of the Australian Curriculum, English Version 9.0, and we are seeing great results with student writing. There has been a noticeable increase in interest, enthusiasm, experimentation, and creativity in writing.

With literature as a focus and starting point, children spend time discussing the what and why of the text, the literary devices the author used to create the text, and the illustrations used to support the written word.

Children then applied what they had learnt about expressing their ideas to write on a topic they chose to show their understanding and use of what they had learnt. Drawing, talking about their topic, and listing words they could use are all part of preparing to write. Writing focuses on sharing our ideas clearly so others can understand what we want to share. Although templates may be used to support our most hesitant writers, writing to a recipe will not be the base for writing.

As you view our gallery of writing in action across the year levels, you can see writers using their phonological knowledge and ranges of literary devices. The photos are examples of children learning to express ideas for different purposes, not polished products after teacher corrections.

If you missed out on seeing children’s writing during the Learning Breakfasts, do try to visit your child’s classroom before or immediately after school to celebrate their journey as authors.

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This week, teachers met to moderate student work. This process compares students' work to the Australian curriculum standards for each subject. Teachers check that their interpretation of the standard is the same so that all children displaying the same qualities in their work receive the same grading for each task. Additionally, teachers examined all the work completed and progress made by each student across the semester to determine an overall result for the Semester Report.

A  ‘C’ in the report means your child meets the standard for their year level.

If you have any concerns about your child’s learning please contact your child’s teacher sooner rather than later. If you would like information about the curriculum, approaches to teaching and learning and meeting student needs, please call the office and I will return your call ASAP.

Rita

Class in the Spotlight - 6A

We have all had an exciting week in 6A.

In English we have been reading the poetic narrative ‘The Way of Dog’ by Zana Fraillon and analysing the language features and topic-specific vocabulary she uses. We have loved reading each chapter and summarising the key events. It is a heartwarming story of a dog named Scruffity and his owner ManPup and their search for a place to call home.

We wrote our own poetic narrative based on ‘The Way of..’ our chosen animal. There were some excellent poetic narratives written about many different animals including ‘The Way of Horse’, ‘The Way of Cat’ and even ‘The Way of Spinosaurus’. 

In Mathematics we have been collecting, organising and presenting data in many different forms. We worked in small groups to pose questions that were asked to the whole class and collated this information into a column graph. On Thursday we went outside to see how many vehicles drove past school every two minutes. We used this data to create a line graph. Did you know that 10:26 - 10:28 was the busiest time on Edward Street? 

In PE, we put our throwing, catching and teamwork skills to the test and played a little game of cricket; backyard rules of course. Everyone got the chance to showcase their bowling, batting or fielding skills. It was very impressive. 

6A

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Students of the Week

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