Community Council

What is the St Francis of Assisi School Community Council?

The School Community Council (SCC) is a crucial point of connection between the Principal, school leaders and members of the School community.

While the Council does not have governance responsibility or decision-making authority in relation to the School, the Council provides a means for members of the community to share their skills and talents for the common good, and a forum for the Principal and school leadership to draw on the collective wisdom and insights of the parent cohort.

All St Francis of Assisi parents and carers are part of the School Community Council. The Council is represented by an elected Community Council Executive who meet at least twice a term, to provide input and guidance to the school.

Parents and carers are invited to attend two open Community Council meetings each year, which will be advertised in the school newsletter and listed on the school calendar.

The Executive will also form working groups as necessary to support school activities such as fundraising and events. Working groups will be advertised in the school newsletter and all parents and carers are encouraged to join working groups as they’re formed to share their talents and skills.

The School Community Council works in close consultation with the school principal to achieve agreed objectives for the school, including:

Supporting the community of parents & carers, students and staff
Providing input to the consultative process for developing school annual improvement plans, strategic plans and master plans
Supporting and monitoring school fundraising events and enterprises including the canteen, second hand clothing pool and events like the fete
Assisting in determining the school expenditure priorities for funds raised through Community Council-led fundraising activities like the new school sports shed and equipment, new sensory items for the playground, books and library equipment and updating the kinder play space.

Further information about the role and responsibilities of the Council Executive can be found in the School Community Council Charter and School Community Council Guidelines (will be available shortly).

Minutes for previous meetings can be found here and information about previous Council projects can be found here (will be available shortly).

Current Community Council Executive

Contact the Council Executive: stfacalwell.communitycouncil@gmail.com

Chair

Deputy Chair

Secretary

Treasurer

Committee Members

Ex Officio

Staff Representatives

Megan Steele

TBC

Miranda Westhorp

Cecelia Wykes

Erin Steele, Shaun Haigh, Laura Gladwish, Bronwyn Wolthoff, Emma Schmid, Kylie Laverty, James Watson, Jaala Hamilton, Debbi Fluke, Jennifer Botticchio, Michael Hilton

Sean Rutledge (Principal), Fr James Antony (Parish Priest)

Annie McArthur (Assistant Principal) & Jesse Waltmann (Year 3 teacher)

To learn more about your SCC Executive members, click here.

2024 Council Events & Volunteering Opportunities

Even if you are not part of the Community Council Executive, there are still opportunities to get involved and volunteer.

When	What

Insert days of operation	Second-hand Uniform Shop Interested in volunteering?
Wednesday, Thursday & Friday - online ordering only	School Canteen Interested in volunteering?
15, 22, 29 November	Sensory garden working bees

CSPACG

Catholic School Parents Archdiocese of Canberra & Goulburn (CSPACG) is the peak body representing the interests of all Catholic school parents in the Archdiocese of Canberra & Goulburn and is the largest non-government school parent body in the ACT.

CSPACG is the body officially recognised by the Archbishop and the Catholic Education Commission to represent the interests of families of children in all Catholic schools across the Archdiocese.

A select number of representatives from each region’s parish school boards/councils attend the CSPACG meetings.

Page updated: 31 October 2024

Latest News

February 23 Newsletter

23 Feb 2024

Click here to view the February 23 Schoolzine eNewsletter!

October 21 Newsletter

21 Oct 2022

Click here to view the October 21 Schoolzine eNewsletter!

Compass Parent Portal

18 Oct 2021

Dear Families,

This is a final reminder that St Francis of Assisi Primary School is no longer sending emails and notifications through the SZAPP app.

All communication is now sent through the Compass Parent Portal.

Please ensure you login using the username and password sent to your email address. This can be done online and/or through the Compass app on your smartphone.

If you are having trouble logging into Compass, please email office.stfranciscalwell@cg.catholic.edu.au and we will be happy to help.

I ask that you please login to Compass and read the important information sent to all families on Friday. This includes the phased return to school for students, including completion of a survey where appropriate.

Regards,
Kate Markcrow
Principal

Pass the Ball Video

17 Sep 2021

Dear families

If you had trouble accessing the 'Pass the Ball' video, please try with this link:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zfIdeFP7eznaYgxMk9y1Mg_ICjwPg1Op/view?usp=drivesdk

Many thanks

Happy Holidays

17 Sep 2021

Dear Families

I wish to thank each and everyone of you for your amazing effort during this remote learning period. It has certainly been a testing time and full of challenges but what our community has achieved together is something truly remarkable.

To our students, thank you for engaging with your remote classroom. The teachers have assured me that you are doing an amazing job and are so clever with IT you could run the classrooms yourselves. The work that is being submitted by each of you is of a high standard and I am especially pleased to hear that you are listening to feedback and resubmitting work to ensure it is the best it can be. The kindness and helpfulness shown to each other is something I am really proud of.

To our teachers, thank you for the efforts you are going to in ensuring all our students are getting the best teaching possible. The hours of preparation, the late evenings, and the sleepless nights have not gone unnoticed. Your ability to change from a physical space to an online classroom and develop the necessary IT skills so very quickly have been remarkable. The students of St Francis are very lucky to have such dedicated teachers who are so selfless.

To our Green Room Team, thank you for the extra support you are offering to our students. I have not heard of another school who is going to as much effort as you to ensure that students learning is staying on track for our return later next term.

Finally, to our wonderful supportive parents, thank you for ensuring your children are participating and staying engaged. Our classrooms would not be able to work without you sitting beside your child and guiding them gently through this new space. From juggling your own work commitments to taking the time to send through emails of appreciation, I thank you. I am very blessed to lead such a vibrant, supportive community who work together to make the unimaginable happen.

We will inevitably have challenges but it is how we support each other that truly matters and that is clearly evident at St Francis of Assisi Primary School. Click the link below to witness our connectedness with each other in our 'pass the ball' video:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kv7bPsDzMeE0IRNbS9AUJUuDqs7TZdW/view?usp=sharing

Finally, I would like to wish everyone a happy and safe holiday. It is very disappointing that we will not be able to see each other in person at the beginning of next term, but it does mean that we will have something truly wonderful to look forward to.

A reminder that after today, all notifications will be sent through the Compass Parent Portal so please ensure you have the app downloaded and you have checked that you are able to log in.

Keep safe and well and I will see you all in your virtual classrooms again next term.

Peace and Best wishes.
Kate Markcrow
Principal

Enrolment for Sacrament of Reconciliation

17 Sep 2021

Dear Year 4 Families

Please see the attached note from the Corpus Christi Parish office, about the Sacrament of Reconciliation for Year 4 students.

Enrolments open on Monday 20 September and close on Monday 11 October. Please enroll through the Parish QKR! app.

If you have any concerns of questions please do not hesitate to contact the Parish Office on 6291 6688 or email tuggeranongsouth@cg.org.au.

2021_Reconciliation_Letter_to_Parents.pdf

Kind regards
Lisa Conroy
Religious Education Coordinator

Compass Parent Portal App

16 Sep 2021

Some families have had issues when trying to log into the Parent Portal through the smartphone app.

When you search for our school, you need to have a small o in the ‘of’ – our name on the app is St Francis of Assisi Primary School – Calwell

If issues persist, please email office.stfranciscalwell@cg.catholic.edu.au and we will do our best to help!

Adding Attendance Notes in the Parent Portal

16 Sep 2021

Dear Families,

Hopefully by now you have been able to log into the Compass Parent Portal with the login credentials that were sent to you earlier this week. Please email office.stfranciscalwell@cg.catholic.edu.au if you are having trouble logging in.

Unexplained Student Absences

We ask that you add an 'attendance note' to explain any unexplained absences for your child within the Parent Portal.

This is done as follows:

Parents will be notified on the right hand side of their Compass portal through My News for any outstanding unexplained absences/late for their child.
By clicking Click here for more information parents are taken to a new page displaying all unexplained absences or late for their child.
To explain an absence or late for their child the parent must click the check box to the left side of the absence they wish to explain and then the Explain with Attendance Note button.
The Attendance Note Editor Box is generated and parents select a Reason for the absence/late and write any supporting comments.
It has now turned an unexplained absence/late into an explained absence/late.

Alternatively you can email the school office.stfranciscalwell@cg.catholic.edu.au with details of any absences and we can add these for you.

Many thanks

Regards,
Kate Markcrow
Principal

Last call for pass the ball videos

15 Sep 2021

Last call for pass the ball videos!

Please submit your video no later than 4.00pm today (Wednesday 15 September).

********

We want to see if we can 'pass the ball' all around our school community virtually!

This means that you and your family can be creative and 'pretend' to catch the ball from someone and then 'pretend' to pass the ball to the next person.

Use any type of ball to throw through a hoop, roll, catch or bounce. Even a trick shot using family members.
Make sure the ball comes in from the left and exits out the right
This must be handed in by Wednesday 15th September by 5 pm
Video will be released for viewing Friday

Please post your video using this Google Form:

https://forms.gle/n99ffoN7pdTrexoD6

(use your child's school email to log in if needed)

Thank you for taking part!

Friday Fun Day

15 Sep 2021

Dear Families,

This Friday is the last day of term. As such we have decided to put pencils down and close the computer and have a day of learning activities that do not involve the computer or iPad. We are hoping that this will be a positive experience for all our students and give them a fun last day of term.

We ask that all children wear their Footy Fever clothes on this day. This could be a hat or jersey or even their colours of their favourite team. It doesn’t even have to be football, how about soccer, netball or any other sport!

Day Plan for Friday

9:00am – Check-in for teachers to mark the roll

9:10am – Assembly for all students – Term awards will be presented

9:40am – Teachers will supply fun activities for students to participate in during the day.

Children to take a photo of them participating in their favourite activity and send in for Facebook - please submit your photos using this google form:

https://forms.gle/ZUDvpviVxgaWv9fXA

1:00pm – Check-out. Teachers will share a video with students – ‘pass the ball’ and wish the children a happy holiday.

Afternoon is free time for families.

Please note: There will be no Green Room Activities on this day.

We wish you all a happy and safe holiday break and we thank the teachers for all their hard work over the last 5 weeks.

School will return remotely on Tuesday 5^th October.

Kind regards

Kate Markcrow