Dear Families

MOTHER'S DAY 

This weekend we celebrate Mother’s Day, a special day where we celebrate and pay tribute to all our Mothers who work tirelessly every day in ensuring we are happy and safe.

I look forward to seeing many families enjoying our Mother's Day breakfast together tomorrow morning here at school.  

Happy Mother’s day to all our Mums on Sunday. I truly hope you get spoilt.

Lord Jesus

You have known a mother’s love

and tender care, and You will hear,

while for our mothers most dear,

we offer this Mother’s Day prayer.

Protect the lives, we pray,

of those who have given us the gift of life.

May our mothers know from day to day

the deepening glow of joy that comes from Your presence.

We cannot pay our debts for all the love

that we have received;

but, You Lord, will not forget their due reward.

Bless our mothers both in earth and heaven

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen

ENROLMENT PERIOD

I would like to remind families that online enrolments for Kindergarten 2022 are to be submitted by Friday 28 May (siblings included). If you know families wishing to enrol for next year, please encourage them to collect an information pack from the front office. 

We adhere strictly to the enrolment policy of Catholic Education, which requires the school to show preference to applications handed in during the enrolment period. We already have a good number returned for Kindergarten 2022 and there is a chance places could fill.

We will hold our final Open Day on Thursday 27 May and ask that you mention to your friends that they are welcome to attend and have a look around our wonderful school.  Our biggest advocate for our school is you. It is great to hear the many positive comments and feedback that our parents have, when recommending our school to other families. Thank you!

HIGH SCHOOL ENROLMENTS

For Year 6 children enrolling in Systemic Secondary schools including St Mary MacKillop Catholic College and St Clare’s College, online enrolment forms need to be submitted to the school of your choice by Friday 28 May.

COMMUNITY COUNCIL GATHERING

On Monday 10 May, the Community Council will be hosting an informal gathering for all parents in the staffroom at 7.00pm. This will be a great opportunity to meet your council members and maybe suggest things that you would like to see at St Francis of Assisi Primary School.  Please RSVP to  office.stfranciscalwell@cg.catholic.edu.au. 

SEMESTER 2 REPORTS

Catholic Education has provided the following information to parents in regard to the Semester 1 Reports:

Reporting - Semester 1 2021

Our teaching team has begun the process of creating each child’s Semester 1 2021 report.

In Semester 1:

For Kindergarten students:

• Achievement in each subject will be reported using a four-point scale (Well Above Expectations, Above Expectations, Meeting Expectations and Working Towards Expectations).

For Year 1 to Year 6 students:

• Academic grades for each subject using a five-point scale from A-E will be reported using the Australian Curriculum Achievement Standards.

For all students:

• Strand Achievement will be reported in English, Mathematics, Humanities and Social Sciences, Health and Physical Education, and The Arts using a five-point scale (Excellent, High, Sound, Basic, Elementary).
• Engagement with Learning statements, which are taken directly from the Australian Curriculum, will provide specific information about your child’s Critical and Creative Thinking, and Personal and Social Responsibility, using a three-point scale (Beginning, Developing, Consistently).
• Individual student comments will not be used in the Semester 1 Reports.

Dialogue is an important feature of reporting. The Semester Report in this format encourages parent engagement and conversation about student learning. We want the report to be the entry point for parent-teacher interviews (K-2) and three-way conversations (Yrs 3 -6)  where we can engage in genuine conversation about your child’s strengths, challenges, effort and areas for growth. 

You are encouraged to attend these conversations in Week 10 of this term.  

The new approach to Academic Reporting is a developing process. Further work will be undertaken in the coming months to determine how progress and achievement is best reported based on what we know to be important information about a student’s learning and progress. 

CROSS COUNTRY

Unfortunately our Cross Country Carnival was postponed on Tuesday this week due to the rainy weather. We are unable to run another whole school carnival, however students from Years 2 to 6 will be running their races at different times next Thursday 13 May.  Please ensure that your child is wearing their sports uniform on this day.

Thank you to those parents who volunteered to assist with the carnival this week.  Due to the modified format, we will not need parent helpers next Thursday.

Thank you to Kathy Crosbie in the canteen for still pushing ahead with our sausage sizzle on Tuesday despite the rain. It is very much appreciated.

DISCO

We are all looking forward to our disco on Friday 14 May. Once again we will have a fabulous DJ, who will entertain the children throughout the night.  Please purchase tickets on QKR!  The cost is $5.00 per student.

Kindergarten to Year Two ~ 6:00pm – 7.00pm

Year Three to Year Six ~ 7:15pm – 8:45pm

Parent assistance is essential on the night to help with the various jobs required to make this a successful and enjoyable evening for all. At this stage we are very short of parent helpers. Many parents do attend this evening so I ask that you consider making yourself available to assist.

Please email office.stfranciscalwell@cg.catholic.edu.au if you are able to help and we will forward your details onto the organisers.

For the safety and security of every child, no child may arrive or leave without a parent or responsible adult in attendance. All parents/guardians are to park in the car park and bring their child to the check in desk in the hall foyer. The disco is for St Francis of Assisi Primary students only. Students from other schools are not allowed to attend.

A big thank you to Lisa Hyland for organising this wonderful community event.  We are looking forward to a great night!

STAFFING

It is with great sadness that I announce the resignation of Mr Jeff Alcock. Jeff has worked at our school for the past 3 years in both Maintenance and Learning Support roles. During his time with us, Jeff has completed his Cert IV in Education Support and has secured a job in disability support. We thank Jeff for his time with us and will miss him dearly. Jeff’s last day will be tomorrow. We are in the process of recruiting.

WARM CLOTHING

As we hit the Winter months, Canberra does become very cold. We are seeing quite a number of children coming to school without warm clothing. Please ensure that your child has a jumper on before they leave home. We do many activities outside and it can be quite unpleasant for children who are not appropriately dressed. Children may also wear navy blue coats and navy blue or maroon beanies, scarves and gloves during the colder months. 

Peace and Best Wishes

Kate Markcrow

Principal