Principal's News
Dear Parents and Carers,
“Start by doing what is necessary, then what is possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” - St. Francis of Assisi
Happy Mothers’ Day to all our mums for last Sunday. I hope that you all enjoyed a very good day and were treated accordingly. We were thrilled to be able to conduct our Cross Country and Mother’s Day breakfast last week. The community atmosphere was electric and personally it was so nice to meet parents face to face and not through a car window. A big thank you to Mrs Reedy for her coordination of the day and to MacKillop for working with us to find a solution so our students could participate in their come and try day.
Open Days & Enrolment Period
We are currently in the official Catholic Education enrolment period which runs until Friday 27th May 2022. We held our first Open Day last week with tours of the school led by our very capable Yr 6 leaders. Our Open Day was very popular and we had a large number of people come through, which is exciting.
Yesterday, we sent home enrolment packs to students who believed they had a sibling looking to enrol in Kinder 2023. A reminder that all enrolment is completed online and links to the portal can be found on our school website or via this link Primary ACT | St Francis of Assisi Primary School (stfa.act.edu.au)
We know the greatest contributor to new enrolments in our school is the word of mouth from our parent community. We have information packages available for parents who may like to pass these on to a friend or neighbour. Please contact the office to organise the collection of one of these. We would also ask you to like and share our material on the school’s Facebook page as this helps to spread the word about our beautiful school.
Being a part of a Catholic system allows our school to illustrate our holistic approach to educating children who personify Catholic values and serve their communities. At St Francis, we are extremely fortunate to have strong connections with Catholic Secondary Colleges creating a complete K-12 Catholic education pathway.
We can accommodate people outside our open days for tours and to answer any questions. Please encourage those interested to contact the office to arrange a time to come in and see us.
Tuning Into Kids
We are extremely fortunate to have the Tuning Into Kids program running for our Parent community free of charge this term. The program, being facilitated by our School Counsellor and CatholicCare, is an excellent opportunity for parents to further develop their toolkit to be more aware of your child’s emotions. As a parent myself, I am excited to attend this workshop, we all know kids do not come with manuals and parenting is not an easy gig. More information provided by Sharman is below including a video featuring parents who have completed the program. Please register your interest in this event via the following link-
Where: STFA Library
When: Begins Wed 25th May 5:30-7:30 pm for 4 consecutive weeks.
NAPLAN
This week, our students in Years 3 and 5 are sitting NAPLAN tests. The children have entered the spirit of the tests in a very positive and engaged frame of mind and are keen to try their best. Children who miss some of the tests this week due to being away will have the opportunity to do make-up sessions next week. Many thanks to Mrs Reedy and the Yr 3 & 5 teachers and classroom support assistants for their support of our students.
Year 6 Leadership Day
Last week our Yr 6 students attended B.Firm for their first leadership day for the year. B.Firm offers our students the opportunities to improve their teamwork, build resilience and generally use and develop skills to assist with their problem-solving abilities, all the while having fun and being physically active. It is an excellent experience for the children and a great way to build leadership capacity in our students. You will see a nice collage of photos on our Facebook page. I apologise to parents for the washing, one student commented to me they had never seen so much mud in their life!
Staffing News
On Monday, we welcome Ann Jenvey who will join us teaching in Yrs 4 and Yr 6. Ann joins us from the ACT Ed system after completing her teaching practicum in the school more than 10 years ago and is very excited to rejoin our school community.
Take care in the week ahead.
Blessings and good wishes
Sean Rutledge
Principal