Term 3 Week 1 2024

From the Principal

Dear Families,

Welcome Back to School!

I hope this message finds you well and refreshed after a relaxing break.  It has been great to see all the smiling faces this week and hear about the adventures that were had throughout the holidays. The upcoming months promise to be filled with learning, growth, and exciting opportunities for our students as well as plenty of opportunities for families to be involved in our school community.

This term we welcome Miss Chelsea Hawke to our school family. Chelsea is teaching in 1/2A alongside Chiara Oar and also teaching Prep - Year 4 PE. Please join me in welcoming Chelsea to our St Francis family.

Important Dates

At the end of last term you would have received the calendar for Term 3.  As you would have seen it is already jam-packed with events.  If you didn’t receive the calendar, please check your spam folder or contact the office to have a copy sent to you.  You will also find it at the end of the newsletter this week.  Please keep an eye out in the Newsletter, on our Facebook feed or Compass messages for any updated information in regard to the calendar. Please mark your calendars and ensure that you are up-to-date with all upcoming events and important dates throughout the term

We have our Athletics Carnival next Thursday and Friday. We will have Cat from Cat’s Coffee here for you to purchase coffee. We will also be running a number board with a voucher to the value of $200 from Rose Bay Resort up for the winning. Numbers will be $10 each and all money raised will be going towards our Senior Playground upgrades.

Week 3 is Catholic Education Week and as per our tradition we will be celebrating with Founders’ Day on Friday 26th July. This event will be held at BCHS and is a wonderful celebration of Catholic Education. On this day the three Burdekin Catholic Schools come together to share the story of the founders of the religious orders that established each school and take part in activities to celebrate our unique communities. You will have received a Compass message this week about Founders’ Day. Please ensure you complete the Compass permission for your child/ren.

Get Involved

We believe that parental involvement is crucial to a student’s success. Whether you can volunteer your time, attend school events, or support your child’s learning journey at home, your contribution makes a significant difference. Thank you to those families who have already replied to our FACE Survey that was sent out on Monday. I would appreciate families taking a few moments to complete this survey so that we can ensure our FACE Meetings are targeted towards engaging families in our school. 

Thank you also to those families who were able to attend our FACE Meeting on Tuesday evening where Pam and Karolien from our Marketing Team presented our new school logo. Over the past several months they have also worked with a small working party of parents around ensuring the new logo tells the story of St Francis. I would like to thank the parents who have been involved throughout that process. Your contributions have been greatly appreciated. Pam and Karolien also worked with students and staff during the day to collect feedback on the logo and the story it tells. This feedback will be collated and form part of the final consultation around the logo. It is a very exciting time!

Stronger Smarter

I am currently attending the Stronger Smarter Leadership Program which is being run at St Teresa’s College at Abergowrie. The program began yesterday (Thursday) and runs until Sunday afternoon. The Stronger Smarter Leadership Program aims to challenge and support participants to improve outcomes for Indigenous students by facilitating learning opportunities to challenge their assumptions about school culture and practices, enhance their leadership capacity to achieve school transformation and join the Stronger Smarter network of leaders creating positive changes in Indigenous education. I look forward to sharing my learning with you soon.

Safety and Well-being:

The safety and well-being of our students and staff are our top priorities. With so many nasty viruses around, I ask that you keep your child/ren home if they are unwell. This ensures that we can continue to provide a safe and healthy learning environment for everyone. 

As we embark on this new term together, let us embrace the opportunities for growth, learning, and community that lie ahead. Thank you for your continued support, and we look forward to a successful and fulfilling term at St Francis.

Have a wonderful week.

Take care and God Bless

Amanda

Religious Life of the School

Dear families,

Welcome back. I trust you enjoyed the break from routine and are looking forward to a busy Term 3. We have Catholic Education Week in Week 3, which will be a busy time and many Masses and liturgies throughout the term.

During the holidays, I was fortunate enough to spend some time in Singapore. Singapore is often celebrated for its impressive skyline, bustling economy, and world class infrastructure. Yet, one of its most remarkable strengths lies in its diversity. This vibrant city is a melting pot of cultures, ethnicities and religions, creating a unique tapestry that enriches the lives of its residents and sets a powerful example for the world.

Singapore's multicultural essence is evident in every corner, from the colourful streets of Little India to the aromatic food stalls of Chinatown. The nation is home to a harmonious blend of Chinese, Malay, Indian, and Eurasian communities, each contributing their rich heritage to the social fabric. This diversity is not just about coexistence; it is about mutual respect, understanding, and the celebration of differences.

Cultural heritage is an important part of a Singaporean's identity. Since World War II it has not been an easy road for Singapore to be as it is today, but I am sure that it is the Singaporeans' embrace of cultures that has given it the strength to be the vibrant city it has become.

I believe that the world and even Churches can learn from Singaporeans and the respect they have for the differences of all cultures and each other. The experience made me reflect on my embrace of cultures and how I can do more than just coexist with others. How can you do more to embrace the culture of others around you?

God Bless

Nicole

Learning Corner

HIGH EXPECTATIONS

Is 15/15 for our spelling test something to celebrate?

A decade or so ago, it was. But we have come to realise and accept that learning lists of words does not work for every child. Some children can be very good at remembering and getting every word correct, but when it comes to using those exact words in a piece of writing, they are usually written incorrectly. So, was learning a list of words effective?

Spelling is about using letters (graphemes) to represent the sounds (phonemes) that make up a word so that others can read it and they can understand what we are trying to say. It is about making grapheme choices, as different graphemes can represent the same phoneme. Once children have a strong knowledge of these choices and use them effectively, they become proficient spellers. They may write the word inaccurately but correctly represent the sounds so readers can still understand what was written.

In the early years, children notice words and how they are written. They make connections between similar sounds and how they are represented in different words.

As they learn to ‘spell’, children listen to the sounds and identify and name the letters representing each sound. They find words in books and use them in sentences.

As children progress through the grades, they are expected to have mastered the match between phonemes and graphemes as they focus on word origins and meanings. They learn where the words originated and how their spelling and usage have changed. My son often told me how his knowledge of Latin and Greek roots, prefixes, and suffixes helped him determine the meaning of unfamiliar words and spell them. This involved identifying the morphemes in words. Morphemes are the shortest combination of letters that have meaning in a word. To learn to spell in the upper classes, children search for words based on a Latin root, for example, ’porto’, and by adding ‘bound’ morphemes, they can spell and understand multiple words without having to learn them from a list.

Enjoy exploring words with your child (children)

Rita

Athletics Carnival

Class in the Spotlight - PA

This week in Prep A has been super exciting! In math, we've been exploring various methods to represent numbers, and in English, we're continuing to develop our reading and writing skills. We were thrilled to visit the library again and couldn't wait to borrow more books. And guess what? We dressed up as 100 year olds to celebrate 100 days of school - it was so much fun!

PA

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