St Francis of Assisi Primary School

Dear Parents and Carers,

We had an excellent turnout at our Parent Information Night (PIN) last week. It was so nice to have parents again visiting classrooms and sharing a meal together as a community. Thank you to all those who were able to make it. We have also had many parents in during this week to meet with teachers about Personalised Plans (PP) and goal setting and any other parents who wished to meet with their child's classroom teacher.

We celebrated an excellent opening school Mass in the church at Holy Family this week where we were able to present our Yr 6 leaders to the school community. My thanks to Sharee Thomas for her organisation of the Mass and Fr James and Fr Namora for their concelebration. Thank you to the parents who were also able to join us.

Ash Wednesday

Next Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of the season of Lent. Lent is a Church season that focuses upon a sense of self-denial (traditionally comprising of some personal self-sacrifice, like giving up chocolate for Lent, for example). The school will observe this special occasion in the life of the Church next week.

Reporting Process changes

This term, we have changed our reporting schedule in response to community feedback. Many parents reported last year that the compulsory interviews to begin the year were ineffective. An outline of the updated reporting schedule is included below:

Term 1	Week 2	Meet and Greet at PIN parents to view classrooms.
		Term overviews and grade information are sent via Compass.
		Microsoft form sent via Compass to collect responses from parents related to their children. This data will go directly to teachers and include important information you would like to share with your child's teachers, including any goals, likes, interests etc.
	Week 3	Personalised Planning (PP) Meetings and Parent Teacher meetings for those who wish to meet with their child's teacher.
	Week 7	Interim report sent via Compass to include information about engagement with learning, effort, and behaviour. Also, an opportunity for teachers to flag a meeting with parents if required.
Term 2	Week 9	Semester report sent to parents via Compass
Term 2	Week 10	Opportunity to meet with teachers to set learning goals for Semester 2.

ELC and ACT BSK update

I received a letter yesterday confirming we were successful in our ELC funding application through the ACT Government's Better Schools for Our Kids: Non-Government School Infrastructure Upgrades Program (BSK). We are working with Catholic Education on a project plan and hope to be able to communicate shortly a program of key dates for the establishment of an ELC at St Francis of Assisi Calwell. This is exciting news for the school community that will be welcomed by many of our families.

Strategic Plan 2023-2025

Last year many families would recall we undertook a process to develop our Strategic Plan for the next three years using quantitative and qualitative data to inform our work. The strategic plan went to the Community Council and staff last year for consultation and is ready to be presented to the community. I spoke briefly about this at our Parent Information Night (PIN). I encourage all families to read and see what is on our school improvement agenda for the next three years.

Strategic_Plan_Overview_2023_2025.pdf

Strategic_Plan_Overview_2023_2025 _pdf 190.85 KB

Some key points:

Post covid we will focus on rebuilding and connecting our community. Strong evidence and vast quantities of research correlate parent involvement in their children's school life with future academic success. We will be prioritising opportunities to get parents connected and involved in their child's schooling. This will include integrating the Parish and also ELC community.
We will prioritise our community's mental health and well-being by establishing The Resilience Project (TRP) and committing to running programs for students and parents such as Cool Kids and Cool Mini Kids.
Students have missed significant time at school over the past few years. We will be working with parents to reduce absences wherever possible. Even small absences can add up to significant time lost very quickly, often causing students to become anxious about the work they are missing.
We are prioritising the well-being of staff and their workloads. The current teacher shortage across Australia is accurate, and many schools in the ACT are not fully staffed and trying to find teachers for classes. The reality is that there is an extreme shortage of teachers to draw upon if we lose teachers to the profession for whatever reason. Our staff are our greatest resource in a school, and supporting them will be a major focus. One small change you will see is establishing an agreement on when teachers will view and respond to emails. This has been included in our signature blocks and is a major step in prioritising the health and well-being of staff.
Continued focus on excellence in Teaching and Learning underpinned by the Science of Learning and guided by High Impact Teaching Practices (HITP). We have already adopted a number of programs that focus on Explicit Teaching and Direct Instruction, such as Initialit, Spelling Mastery and The Writing Revolution. Our goal is to have High Impact Teaching Practice evident in every classroom every day.
We have invested heavily in our learning environments and will continue to renovate and upgrade our facilities to provide optimum learning spaces for our students. Projects to be delivered are renovations to our Yrs 3 & 4 classrooms, new Learning Support rooms, Early Learning Centre, playground and toilet upgrades.

Over the new few weeks, in the newsletter, I will include our Annual Improvement Plan goals. These goals are the first slice of our Strategic Plan and will be updated each year to reflect progress on our Strategic three year goals. I look forward to sharing these with you in the coming weeks.

Uniform

We have had a period of settling in and time for parents to replace items of school uniforms to reflect our school uniform policy. I have asked teachers from next week to speak with students about any items of uniform that are not in line with school policies. Our school uniform is one way we represent our school with pride and helps to create a sense of belonging and identity for the community. If you are having any issues sourcing uniforms or need support financially, please do not hesitate to contact the school office who will be able to assist. Our Uniform guidelines, including how to source them, can be found here St Francis of Assisi Primary School - Calwell (stfa.act.edu.au)

Absences

As outlined above in our Strategic Plan, getting students back to school and engaged in learning after a difficult and disruptive few years will be a focus for the school. Can I please ask parents to assist us by scheduling appointments outside school hours, where possible, to maximise classroom contact time. This includes planned holidays during the school term. Consideration should be given to the continuity of your child's learning and the impact absences may have on their progress before scheduling planned leave. We know that illness can not be avoided and ask you to keep your child home if they are unwell.

One of the trends to have been left behind in all schools post Covid is an increase in school refusals and students who have regular time away from school for various reasons. I have included some strategies below to help parents who may be experiencing this with their children. If you need support getting your child to school, please don't hesitate to contact your child's teacher, who can work with you on a plan to get them to school.

What to do if your child is showing signs of school reluctance or refusal

Talk to them when they are calm, there is privacy and no distractions, and try to understand the reasons for their behaviour.
Use active listening and open questions (that don't require a 'yes' or 'no' answer) where possible.
If they do open up, acknowledge their feelings. Express empathy, even if you disagree with them, and don't dismiss or minimise their feelings.
Address underlying causes, work collaboratively with your child, their school or other professionals.
Let your child know that attending school regularly is expected of them and is important for their mental health and well-being. If needed, support your child to strengthen their relationships with friends and teachers at school.
Praise and reward your child's effort. Be careful not to make them feel guilty, as this can worsen anxiety or depression.
Seek professional support early.

The Voice of Kinder

This week we spoke to some of our Kinder students to find out how their first few weeks of Kindergarten is really going!

Evelyn (KD):