Dear Families,

We are getting very close to the end of the year with still many events to come.  

KINDERGARTEN CONCERT

Our Kindergarten children will tell the Nativity story tomorrow with a special concert. They have been rehearsing every day to ensure this is a memorable event. Not only does it tell the story of the birth of Jesus but it allows us to see the incredible growth our Kinder students have made over the year.  It is an event that all parents, grandparents and special visitors look forward to. The Kinder Nativity will be held in the hall tomorrow at 11:30am. Everyone is welcome. 

YEAR 6 GRADUATION

On Wednesday evening we celebrated the Year 6 Graduation. This is a major celebration for our Year Six students who, after seven years in Primary school, move into the big world of High School. On behalf of the school community I wish all the best to our Year Six students. Farewell too to our many families who move on from St Francis of Assisi Primary School after many years here with us.

The Graduation dinner was a great success. A big thanks to the Susan Jones and her committee who organised the night and ensured it was a great success.

FAREWELL MASS

Our Farewell Mass will be held next Wednesday in the school hall, commencing at 9:30am. We encourage you to come along and celebrate a great year as we farewell many staff, students and their families.

CANDLE CEREMONY

Our Year 5 and 6 Candle Ceremony will be held at 2.00pm next Tuesday 17 December. This is a special ceremony where we recognise the Year 6 students who have been our student leaders for 2019 and hand over the light of leadership to our Year 5 students- our new leaders for 2020.

During this ceremony our 2020 School and House Captains will also be announced. You are all most welcome to attend - it is a very moving and special ceremony.

ICE BLOCK SALES

Next Tuesday 17 December we will be selling all left over ice blocks from the fete out of the old canteen. We have a variety of Paddle Pops for $2 and Zooper Doopers and Lemonade Twists for $1. Items will be available at recess and lunch or until sold out.

COMMUNITY COUNCIL

The last St Francis of Assisi Community Council Meeting for 2019 was held a couple of weeks ago. I would like to thank all members of our Community Council for their hard work and contributions during the year. Our Community Council members are Kate Markcrow (Principal), Tiffany Reedy (Assistant Principal), Wayne Young (Staff Representative), Sandy Scensor (Council Chair), Kristen Lumley, (Deputy Chair) Christina Knobel (Treasurer), Alison Bond (Secretary),  Belinda Duffy and Sarah Chifley. This year the council has been very productive in both leading community events and in working with the staff of the school. I thank them for their time and effort throughout the year. 

Our council sees many outgoing members this year and I would like to thank Alison Bond, Belinda Duffy, Kristen Lumley and Wayne Young for their contributions to the school community over the last couple of years.

I would also like to acknowledge Sandy Scensor whose time at St Francis has come to an end after 13 years. Sandy has been an invaluable asset to our school, she is the outgoing chair of our Community council and has been the fete convenor for at least 6 years. She is involved in all aspects of our parent body, from BBQs, fundraising, graduations, classroom helper, even playgroups. She has been a wonderful support to myself and the school. We need more parents like Sandy to help our school move forward. We will certainly miss you.  

Our new council will be commence their work early next year. Congratulations to our new council members; Christina Knobel and Sarah Chifley are returning to continue all their hard work and are joined by Jessica Cotton, Lisa Hyland and Amanda Lenard. We still have one more position vacant, if you are interested in nominating, please email me before the end of the term.

STAFFING NEWS

Last week, Mr Jamie Kemp was fortunate to secure a teaching and learning position at the Catholic Education Office for 12 months.  Jamie has been a staff member at St Francis for 8 years now and a valued member of the Leadership team. His 12 months at the office will allow him to learn more skills to bring back to our school in 2021. I am sure you join with me as I wish Jamie all the best for the 2020 year.

Congratulations to Mr Peter Collins who has been appointed Acting Coordinator for the next 12 months.

REPORTS HOME TOMORROW

The reports distributed tomorrow have been prepared in line with the school’s Assessment and Reporting policy and also the Australian Government funding requirements and associated legislative regulations. The teachers have worked extremely hard throughout the year to ensure assessment strategies are implemented to develop clear and fair assessment tasks; to make consistent and reliable judgements about a student’s work; to ensure effective, explicit teaching has occurred and that assessments are placed within those parameters; to ensure that the assessment process is known by the students prior to being conducted; and that assessment data is utilised to inform teaching and learning programs.

When reporting, the teacher is awarding a grade to the student taking into account knowledge, skills and understandings covered up to the point when the judgement is made. This means the staff are making an ‘on balance and professional judgement’ of student progress and attainments.

I hope that you found your child’s Semester Two Report beneficial in providing information related to their learning and progress at school. Thank you for working in partnership to support your child’s education. This partnership between home and school will be healthy and enhance our children’s learning if it is fostered in a positive way.

Thank you also to the staff who have literally spend hours and hours over the past few weeks writing reports and completing assessments. They are a very committed and dedicated group of people.

ST FRANCIS OF ASSISI STAFF 2020

CLASS LISTS

Every year at about this time, the talk starts! Who will be my child’s teacher next year? My question is ….. does it really matter?

I often wonder why parents have certain views about different teachers. Is it based on previous experience or gossip? St Francis of Assisi Primary School is fortunate to have a wide range of talented teachers. We have a fabulous reputation in the community for providing excellence. We have experienced and early career teachers. We have teachers with a passion for Maths, for Literacy, for the Creative Arts, for Technology and the list goes on.

Over 7 years at primary school a student will experience a wide range of teachers and gain valuable skills and knowledge from each and every one of them. Parents cannot always shelter and protect their child or choose their teachers for them. A big part of life is learning to deal with a range of people, whether it be other children or adults. It is about building skills and resilience that can be used in later life. Sure some students may not like a particular teacher, but how do they really know if they have never actually been taught by them.

I do not know how many times a student (and parent) has been apprehensive about a teacher, only to find that they then have a great year. How your child responds to the news of their class teacher for 2020 will largely depend on your own response. Whether you are satisfied or not, you need to be positive and encouraging. If your child sees that you are upbeat, then they will be confident and optimistic about the future.

Our staff members are currently in planning mode for next year. Their thoughts are being occupied by class placements. They have been very careful in placing each child into a class for next year, taking into consideration the following:

• Gender: We aim to achieve an even split of boys and girls (this is made easier by the fact that our school does not lose boys in great numbers to single sex schools in the Primary Years).
• Ability: We believe that children learn from each other and that applies to the more and less abled child. Classes operate most effectively when children learn cooperatively from each other, the learning may not just include academic areas but social growth as well.
• Friendship Groupings: This is always problematic because Primary- aged children move in and out of groups on a regular basis, and as you know from adult life mutual friendships can sometimes be one way on occasions.

An additional layer of complexity in this process is the placement of teachers on grade levels. Our teachers work in teams so it is crucial to have the right mix of team members on each year level. Once again we aim to spread the experience and gender of staff across the grades. We also take into consideration the preferred teaching levels of staff and a need to keep staff fresh by moving them regularly across different grade levels. In short putting classes together is somewhat of a giant jigsaw puzzle but at the heart of the jigsaw must remain the needs of the child. Our staff appreciates the huge trust that you place in them to get the jigsaw right!

Tomorrow, each individual student will get to go to their new classroom for 2020 and spend a little time with their new class teacher. They will bring home a list of their class - so you will know who is in their class.

Thanks for your understanding.

Peace and best wishes

Kate Markcrow  

Principal