Term 3 Week 9 2025

From the Principal

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

What a big week it has been at St Francis!

Our Year 5 and 6 students started the week with camp, where they had an absolute ball. It was wonderful to see them learning important leadership skills while making new friends and strengthening existing ones.

I also had the opportunity to attend the Principal’s Conference, where we were updated on new guidelines and processes from the Non-State Schools Accreditation Board, Child Safety, First Nations education, and much more. These areas are vital for ensuring the continued growth and safety of our students, and I look forward to keeping families informed as new initiatives are rolled out.

To finish the week, I had the joy of experiencing my very first St Francis Under 8’s Day and what an absolute highlight it was! Nearly 100 families joined in the fun alongside our students, who engaged in a wide range of hands-on activities. It was beautiful to see our Year 6 buddies guiding and supporting the younger children, creating such a positive sense of community. We were also blessed to have so many local organisations come along to share their knowledge and showcase the valuable services that help make the Burdekin such a special place.

A very heartfelt thank you to Miss Megan Tatnell and our dedicated staff, whose hard work ensured this was a truly memorable and successful event for everyone.

God Bless,

Lisa Fitzsimmons

Religious Life of the School

Dear families,

Here we are at the end of Week 9, with just one week left in the term and one final term ahead of us for the year. It’s a great moment to celebrate the effort, learning, and community spirit that have shone throughout the term, and to look ahead with excitement to all that next term will bring.

1/2B Assembly

 A big thank you to 1/2B for their beautiful Assembly, which reminded us just how special and amazing our dads are. We hope all our dads enjoyed a wonderful Father’s Day and felt truly celebrated and loved by their families.

Samaritan Day 2025

We will celebrate Samaritan Day 2025 next Friday 19th September. This special day is an opportunity for our school community to honour the charisms and traditions that shape our identity. We remember the Good Samaritan Sisters, founded by Archbishop Bede Polding; St Marcellin Champagnat, founder of the Marist Brothers; and St Francis Xavier, our school’s patron saint.

Our celebrations will begin with a Liturgy at 9:00 am, followed by the presentation of the Samaritan Awards. These awards recognise one student from each class who demonstrates our Catholic values through Love of God, Love of Neighbour, and Love in Action.

Students will then enjoy a variety of engaging and meaningful activities, led by their teachers. These experiences will bring our school charisms to life and provide opportunities for us to connect and mix together as a St Francis community.

We warmly welcome parents and families to join us for the Liturgy and the Samaritan Awards ceremony in the morning.

Change of Date – Thanksgiving Mass (Term 4)

In Term 4, we will gather as a school community to celebrate our year with a Thanksgiving Whole School Mass.

Please note that this celebration has been moved from Friday, 21st November to Thursday, 20th November.

We warmly invite all families to join us and ask that you update your calendars with this new date.

Every blessing for a wonderful week,

Maria

Learning Corner

LEARNING and TEACHING

Every minute counts!

Imagine if we were all the same?

We would look, walk, talk, and think in identical ways. If both our teachers and students were the same, there would be one lesson plan for everyone, and everyone would participate in the same activity in exactly the same manner, resulting in the same outcome. 

It is our uniqueness that brings life to our environment and adds variety to our school. Each of our classes is different because we each think, teach, and learn in our own specific ways. 

However, some aspects remain constant. Each class is required to cover the expected curriculum for their grade level and must demonstrate that they have achieved the necessary learning outcomes. Although the content remains the same, the methods of teaching and the ways in which children express their understanding can vary from class to class, as teachers adapt to the different interests and learning styles of their students. The goals may be the same, but the paths to achieving those goals differ from class to class. 

Parent-teacher meetings are excellent opportunities to discuss your child's uniqueness and learn about their progress toward end-of-year goals.

Last Friday while teachers were becoming familiar with the QCAA P-10 Planning App which is intended to ensure all aspects of the curriculum is covered in each  subject and ease the teacher workload of planning, our School Officers from the Burdekin Catholic Schools learnt more about the roles they play in classrooms and the different strategies that guide our students to become independent learners.

People are not supports is a great explanation to understand the role of school officers in a classroom. It comes from a series called Five Moore Minutes delivered by Dr Shelly Moore who lives successfully with a common disability. (skip the Ad) I hope you enjoy it!

Have a wonderful week ahead

Rita

R U OK?Day

P.A.T.H.

Students of the Week

Community