Dear Parents and Carers,

In preparation for Easter 2022, Pope Francis has released his annual message, reflecting on St Paul’s epistle to the Galatians: “Let us not grow tired of doing good, for in due time we shall reap our harvest if we do not give up” (6:9-10). The Holy Father writes that, “Lent invites us to conversion, to a change in mindset, so that life’s truth and beauty may be found not so much in possessing as in giving, not so much in accumulating as in sowing and sharing goodness.” Pope Francis connects Paul’s words to the Galatians to the traditional Lenten practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. In this season of conversion, he reminds us, the soil of our hearts “is prepared by fasting, watered by prayer and enriched by charity,”. The St Francis of Assisi Peace Prayer exemplifies the Holy Father’s Lenten message “for it is in giving that we receive”.

The full text of the Pope’s Lenten Message can be found here: https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/messages/lent/documents/20211111-messaggio-quaresima2022.html

This year the first week of the holidays is Holy Week, culminating in Good Friday and Easter Sunday on the middle weekend of the holidays. We will be celebrating the Easter story next week, which will be led by our REC, Mrs Sharee Thomas. Thank you, Sharee, for all your preparation in leading this story of the retelling of Jesus’ life that led to his crucifixion and resurrection.

Pupil Free Day

Next Term, students will not start back to school until Wednesday 27th of April. This is due to ANZAC day on Monday 25th and a Pupil Free day on Tuesday 26th April. This day will see staff participate in Staff Development around High Impact Teaching Practices with other teachers from the dioceses as a part of the Catalyst Teaching and Learning project. BASCA will offer a care program for the Pupil Free day from 7:30-5:30 pm; please contact BASCA for more information.

Covid Restrictions

There was some slight relaxation of restrictions last week which saw us able to have whole school Cohorted assemblies. We began our week with an assembly outside on the hardtop, where I was able to address the whole school for the first time this year. It was nice to give out this week’s birthday stickers and award students blue bands. We will have another assembly next week. I am working to catch up on any birthday stickers that were missed before this week’s assembly. 

Staffing

Like many of your workplaces, we have had a number of staffing challenges and absences this term due to Close Contact isolation requirements. As I flagged earlier this term, we have utilised every resource in the school to maintain the continuity of teachers this term, including calling in Catholic Education staff to take classes. I want to publicly thank the staff who have worked tirelessly this term to provide the best quality educational experiences possible for the children in their care. It has certainly not been an easy term, and the staff have done an extraordinary job covering classes and taking extra students as needed, often at very short notice. Catholic Education has launched a nationwide campaign to attract teachers to the ACT, which we hope will pay dividends next term.

Playground Update

Our new playground is due for completion and certification next week and will be ready for use by BASCA Holiday care students over the break and next term for senior students. We are currently undergoing a process to work through what is needed to get our junior playground serviceable and back in circulation.

Enrolment

We are fast approaching enrolment time for 2023. This week our Yr 6 students were visited by Mr Michael Lee and his team from MacKillop, including some ex-students. Next week we will have St. Clares Principal Dr Ann Cleary, and some students address our Yr 6 girls. These visits are to give our Yr 6 students information related to upcoming open days.

We are finalising our school enrolment period for 2023 and have locked in dates for our open days, being Monday 2nd May and Thursday 26th May. More details will follow. You will soon see signs out advertising these days as well as our Enrolling Now! Fence wrap, which is going up over the holidays.

By far, the most significant contributor to enrolments in the school is our current parent body’s word of mouth. Can I please ask you to like and share our material on Facebook during this period and encourage any parents who might be interested in potential enrolment to come along to one of these days? We can also accommodate visits on other days, with notice, if these days and times are not suitable. The Catholic Schools’ official enrolment period is from 2^nd-27^th May.

Carline

A combination of parents taking my advice to come a bit later to carline and the teachers/student knowledge of routines has seen our carline procedures running smoothly the last couple of weeks. We will move our starting time back to have more time in the classroom from the beginning of next term. Please see our new times below:

Yrs K & 1 + Siblings – 2:50pm

Yrs 2, 3, 4 + Siblings – 3pm

Yrs 5 & 6 plus walkers- 3:05 pm.

Again, I encourage anyone who has been arriving right on their time to go and get a coffee and come back as you will find our carline has had no wait time from 3:10 pm onwards—a reminder we are on duty until 3:30 pm each day.

Morning Drop-off

We have had a successful induction period for new families and Kinder students into the school, and our morning carline is also working well. Our school day begins at 8:55 am, and as of next term, teachers and support staff will move inside to start the school day at this time. After this time, any students dropped off will need to be signed in by an adult through the Compass Kiosk in the front office.  

Wishing you a safe and happy Easter Period.

Blessings and Best Wishes

Sean Rutledge

Principal

Chief Minister’s Reading Challenge

Every year, tens of thousands of students across the ACT participate in the Chief Minister's Reading Challenge. The Challenge aspires to allow every young person in the ACT to discover the joy reading can bring. St Francis of Assisi is proud to have Kindergarten to Year 6 children registered in the Challenge. 

All children in Kinder- 3 will complete using a paper copy.  Years 4-6 can fill in a paper copy, google form, or word document found in the Library Google Classroom.

The 2022 Chief Minister’s Reading Challenge Ambassadors are local authors Jack Heath, Tracey Hawkins, Irma Gold, Harry Laing, Stephanie Owen Reeder, Tania McCartney, and Emma Batchelor. CMRC Ambassadors will share their experiences as writers, storytellers, and readers. The Challenge is grateful for the support of the event sponsor, Paperchain Bookstore-Manuka.

To find out more about the Challenge Ask your teacher, CMRC Coordinator: Debbie Cossettini or go to: bit.ly/ChiefMinChallenge.

Return all completed forms to the library.

Borrowing SORA Ebooks and Audio Books!  

You can borrow Ebooks, Audiobooks, and Magazines using an app called SORA. Below are the steps to install it on your device.

For more information please contact debbie.cossettini@cg.catholic.edu.au

Place your order for hot dogs via the QKR app before 9am on the 1st April 2022 as orders for hot dogs close after this time and no late orders will be accepted.

The Canteen will not be open for Recess or Lunch orders on Wednesday 6 April 2022

The Community Council is running an Easter Egg Competition. Children need to guess how many Easter Eggs are in their year levels jar. The jars will be displayed within the library. It will cost $1 per guess, eg $4 = four guesses. Children will need to visit the library to make their guesses. Winners are announced Friday Week 10.