St Francis of Assisi Primary School - Calwell
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120 Casey Cres
Calwell ACT 2905
Subscribe: https://stfranciscalwell.schoolzineplus.com/subscribe

Email: elc.stfranciscalwell@cg.catholic.edu.au
Phone: 02 6292 4500
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Principal's News Week 1

Dear Families,

Welcome back to Term 4. I hope you and your families had a chance to relax and take advantage of daylight savings. It is great to see all our students return in their summer uniforms and be ready to start an action packed term. We have so much happening: swimming lessons, Kinder orientation, reports, fete, Boorowa Carnival, Catholic Schools Netball Carnival, Carols Night, Kindergarten nativity, graduation etc etc. Busy term ahead!

It is most important that the children are settled and happy at school for their learning to be most successful in a supportive and caring environment. Please assist us in ensuring that frequent communication between home and school takes place and please do not hesitate to contact me should you have concerns about your child’s safety or well-being.

ST FRANCIS OF ASSISI FEAST DAY

What a wonderful celebration we had. Last term, we acknowledged our patron saint’s feast day (which is really the 4th October) with a day packed with fun and frivolity.  We started the day as a whole school community, with Father Praveen leading us in mass. It was a wonderful, prayerful liturgy and the children were so reverent in their participation.

After recess, the children participated in a mini-fair FUNdraiser where the children were able to donate money to Catholic mission and be involved in many fun activities. The children then had a lovely feast of pasta napolitana, followed by an ice block treat.

The weather was perfect for a celebration with everyone happy to be out in the sunshine. A big thank you to Ms Lisa Conroy for preparing the day and to the Year 6 teachers for ensuring the FUNdraiser was a brilliant success.

A big thank you must go to all our parents and canteen staff who managed to cook enough pasta and sauce to feed 460 children (no mean feat). With three different kitchens being utilised (BASCA, the old and new canteens) the chefs worked with boiling pots of water from 10am. There was plenty of food to go around, with the children coming back for seconds.

Thanks to all the other helpers who came in and helped serve and clean up. What a fabulous community we have here at St Francis.

CATHOLIC SCHOOLS NETBALL CARNIVAL

This Saturday sees children from our school compete in the Catholic Schools Netball Carnival. We have 6 teams competing at this event and I am very grateful to Michelle Aiken and Rachel Southwell for organising the teams and to those who are assisting on the day. Please see the article in this newsletter or the separate SZAPP notification for further information including teams and draws for the day.  Go St Francis!

SHOWCASE

Thank you to the many parents and children who attended the Showcases and Learning Journeys in Week 10 last term. Thanks also to the teachers for their amazing work in preparing the students. A Showcase gives students the opportunity to take responsibility for their own learning by sharing the process with a real audience.

UNIFORM REMINDERS

A reminder that this term all students are required to wear Summer Uniform. We have had some students return to school wearing incorrect socks, incorrect ear rings and mixing sport and school uniforms. Year 6 students can wear their ‘Leadership Shirt’ as their sport shirt on sport days only. Our full uniform policy is available under our school website. Click on ‘our school’, then ‘uniform’. Thanks for your understanding and support.

ST FRANCIS OF ASSISI PRIMARY SCHOOL FETE – FRIDAY 22 NOVEMBER 2019

Our major fundraising event of the year is our School Fete. Our School Fete is just 5 weeks away and is gaining momentum. Thanks for your support with our major community and fundraising event of the year. Please consider assisting in any way you can as the time approaches. We will need lots of assistance for this to be a community and financial success.

I understand it is difficult as a parent to find time to help at school. We all lead very busy lives and often it is difficult to make time to assist. Working parents can find it difficult to assist at the school during the week, however, one way you can be of help and actively involved in your children’s school is assisting in events such as Working Bees and Fetes. For busy parents, helping out on events like this gives you a great opportunity to contribute to our community and meet new people. Please assist! We need you!

CLASS ALLOCATIONS FOR 2020

During this term, we will be finalising our staffing arrangements for 2020. Below is a copy of the ‘Class Allocation Policy’ (available on our website) which aims to ensure there is a fair and just process in allocating students to classes for the upcoming school year. My firm belief is that teachers are in the best position to decide a child’s placement because they know all the children in their classes and have a view of the ‘big picture’. However, I invite parents to inform me of anything that you feel needs to be considered, for your own child’s well-being or development.

Could you please have a read and be aware of the following policy? As there are usually two or three streams of classes each year at St Francis of Assisi Primary School, there are different combinations of children in classes. When forming the class lists the following factors are taken into consideration: gender, special needs, work habits, cognitive ability, friendships, behaviour, health considerations, religion (to assist in achieving balance between classes, especially in Sacramental years) and common names.

Ideally we aim for an equal spread of both positive and challenging characteristics.

Where practical, parental requests based on educational concerns will be considered. At St Francis of Assisi, the staff and parents will follow these principles and guidelines when considering placement of students each year:

  • Every care will be taken to ensure that each child is placed in the best situation to enhance learning and social development;
  • Parents who wish to discuss particular concerns regarding the placement of their children in particular classes should put the concern in writing and address it to the Principal by Friday of Week 4 (Friday 8 November);
  • Parent concerns will be seriously considered during the process. It must be clearly understood, however, that no definite guarantees can be given regarding parent’s requests;
  • Where appropriate, advice will be sought from the Learning Support Teacher, School Counsellor, etc during this process;
  • Taking into account all of the factors listed above, the current class teachers compile class lists during the last week of November and hand to the Principal for confirmation;
  • Children will be informed of their class placement for the following school year in December (usually the last week of school) and the opportunity will be provided where possible for them to spend some time with their new class teacher;
  • A class lists will be made available for parents during the last week of the year. No changes are made after this time; and
  • Throughout this process the Principal, after appropriate consultation, reserves the right to make final professional decisions regarding the placement of children.

Please be aware that requests for particular teachers or for a particular gender of teacher will NOT be considered. Also, we do not accept friendship requests.

BOOROWA TOUCH AND NETBALL CARNIVAL

Next Friday 25 October, 130 students will represent St Francis of Assisi at the Boorowa Touch and Netball Carnival.

We have supported this carnival for many years and it’s always a great day. It not only supports two small schools in the bush, but gives our students an opportunity to play against other schools in a setting very different to our own.

Students are required to wear correct sports uniform – which includes their St Francis of Assisi School hat.

We wish our teams all the best next week and look forward to hearing reports of how they went.

A big thank you to Miss Kate Foley and Miss Sam Ryan for coordinating this event and to the many parents who are volunteering their time to coach, manage and support our teams. Please see the article in this newsletter or the separate SZAPP notification for further information including teams and draws for the day.

Peace and Best Wishes

Kate Markcrow

Principal