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Dear Parents and Carers
Last week, I attended the Principals’ Retreat in Bowral. Over the three days, we looked at Catholic Education system directions and initiatives, including that of the Science of Learning and Reading. We also spent some significant time thinking about and reflecting upon Christian anthropology and what that means for us as leaders in a Catholic school. This was facilitated by a Maronite Nun from Sydney, currently a principal of two schools. I thank Annie McArthur for running the school so capably in my absence.
NAPLAN
This week, our students in Years 3 and 5 have been sitting the NAPLAN tests. As of today, they will have completed writing, reading and grammar/punctuation. Then, on Monday next week, they will complete their numeracy test followed by catch-up sessions for any absent students.
The tests are an important snapshot of the students’ learning as a whole cohort and can be useful for identifying learning trends and areas that may need attention in the future. It is also useful for identifying learning trends over a period of time, and progress that has been made. It is important to remember, for any individual student, that it is one test on one day and many factors can influence their performance. As such, it may not necessarily be indicative of a particular students’ learning or progress. I thank the teachers and Mrs McArthur for supporting and preparing the students and instruments in the lead-up to NAPLAN.
2024 Enrolments
Although still relatively early in the year, we will shortly enter the enrolment period, which will begin early next term. You will shortly see signs in our feeder suburbs advertising Open Day tour dates. We know the best enrolment tool for the school is word of mouth from our parent community. Please consider speaking with friends, neighbours and/or family about the opportunities for their children at St. Francis. In the next Newsletter, we will have key dates related to our enrolment period for ELC-Yr 6.
Staffing News
Mrs Kelly Delaney has taken some leave to care for her elderly parents who are unwell, and will not return this year. We keep Mrs Delaney and her family in our thoughts and prayers. We are currently seeking a full-time classroom teacher, the position has been advertised via online channels.
Mrs Annie McArthur will take some planned leave during the last two weeks of school this term. After a successful EOI process, Mrs Sharee Thomas will be Acting Assistant Principal while Annie is away. Mrs Amanda Stevens will replace Sharee as Religious Education Coordinator for this period.
Fee Help
The current cost of living crisis and rising interest rates are having an impact on many people in our community. If you are experiencing difficulty or need support, please get in touch with me at school for a confidential chat about how we can support you during this period. We have a range of options available to support our community, from Fee Concessions based on an Income test to supporting families with extras such as Camp and Swimming. We all experience periods of financial uncertainty, which are often short but can be very stressful for families. Please reach out if we can support you.
AIP Goals
In the last few newsletters, I have been introducing our Strategic Plan and Annual Improvement Plan (AIP) Goals. This week I will focus on our first AIP goal:
Initiate a culture of excellence in teaching and learning.
After a number of years of implementing pedagogy aligned with the Science of Learning and Cognitive Load theory, we are working to refine and improve our practice with the delivery of programs to our students. These include Initialit (K-2), Spelling Mastery (3-6) and The Writing Revolution K-6).
We are beginning the implementation of scope and sequences in Literacy and Numeracy, which align with Archdiocesan directions and the Catalyst project. These scope and sequences utilise a number of High Impact Teaching Principles such as interleaved and spaced learning to support students in transferring knowledge to long-term memory.
Traditionally we would teach concepts in 2-week blocks where we assess student learning at the end of this time. We find a forgetting curve following this teaching where students forget what they have learnt as it has not been transferred into long-term memory. To support this, the new scope and sequences ensure students are exposed to the explicit teaching of concepts, and they are then revisited multiple times over the ensuing weeks and months to support transfer to long-term memory.
We are looking to support and target our Gifted and High Potential Learners by implementing a strategy and pathway for students identified through in-class testing and teacher observations.
We refine our intervention supports for students by Implementing interventions across the school to target specific students to intensify intervention and support student achievement. This is being delivered by classroom support teachers, Classroom Support Assistants, teachers and members of the Leadership Team.
BYOD Breaches and Consequences
As a staff, we have been looking at applying a consistent approach to the use of ICT equipment within the school and having consistent consequences for breaches of our user agreement. This document has had feedback from the Community Council and Teaching Staff. Next week we will seek input from our Student Representative Council. We hope to go live with this from the beginning of Term 2. The ICT user agreement will be updated to include this document. Students will be taken through the levels and associated consequences for breaches of the ICT user agreement by their classroom teacher.
Blessings and best wishes
Sean Rutledge
Principal
The Weekends Gospel Reflection: John 9:1-41
‘The man said, ‘Lord, I believe’, and worshipped him.’
So..... how have you all gone with the Family Challenge this week? Has it gotten easier talking about your best part of the day?
Across the school this week we have focussed on Gratitude.
Gratitude
Working on gratitude helps us to be thankful and appreciate what we have in our lives, rather than focusing on what we don’t have or what we want. When we practise being grateful, we start to scan the world to look for positives – this only takes 21 days! Practising gratitude every day increases our levels of energy, helps us to feel happier and more focused, determined and optimistic. It even helps us have a better sleep, lowers levels of anxiety and depression and we are less likely to get sick. So many benefits – let’s all try to be grateful for the things and people in our lives every day!
This week we have a whole family activity and a reminder of the habit that we are trying to instil into our family life.
Whole Family Activity:
Gratitude Scavenger Hunt
- As a family create a scavenger hunt list of things that make you happy or you are grateful for, you can make your own list or use the examples below:
- Something that makes you happy
- Something you love to smell
- Something you enjoy looking at
- Something that is your favourite colour
- Something you like in nature
- Something that is useful for you
- Each member of the family uses the list, and has to find as many things as they can.
- You can hunt for things inside or outside, or both. You can hunt for real things, or you can also do this using magazines or pictures from the internet.
- After a set amount of time hunting, come back together, have a look at what each person collected and let them explain why they are grateful for each item.
Family Habit Builder:
Every night at dinner, have each person talk about their favourite thing about that day.
Don't forget to let me know how you are going with the challenges or any other feedback you have from TRP, even if it's what your children are saying each week!
Tuesday the 21st of March is Harmony Day. Harmony Day celebrates cultural diversity focussing on inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging for everyone. This aligns perfectly with our School Vision Together we are Peacemakers who grow and learn in the footsteps of Jesus.
We will be celebrating Harmony Day at StFA on Tuesday with a assembly led by Year 2. The assembly will be held in the school hall at 2pm and everyone is welcome to come along and celebrate diversity in our community.
The children will also be encouraged to dress in orange, black and white or wear clothes that are traditional to our children’s cultural heritage or a team that they belong to.
While we are wearing different colours and some traditional attire on Tuesday, please ensure your child has appropriate footwear for school (runners, school shoes or shoes with covered toes) and that their clothing is appropriate and sun safe (shoulders covered and no midriff items). Hats will still be required on the playground.
For more information about Harmony Day, please head to https://www.harmony.gov.au
Open Library
Remember that this year the library is open to parents and siblings on a Wednesday afternoon between 3pm and 3:45pm (except for Wednesday 29th March). You are welcome to browse the shelves, read with your child/ren and borrow some books for home reading. Some parents have already taken advantage of this opportunity. Remember our theme in the library this year is "Our library has all sorts of books for all sorts of people". Hopefully you can help your child find books that they LOVE to read.
Book Club
Last week your child should have brought home a Scholastic Book Club - Edition 2 newspaper. Please order online using LOOP by this Sunday (19th March) or return cash orders to the Front Office by 9am on Monday morning (20th March). All orders benefit the school, as Scholastic gives the school 15 % back as reward points. These points are used to buy more resources for the school.
Do you love books and helping out?!
The library has lots of brand-new books that need covering before they can go on shelves! If you think you can help, please send me an email and I will send your child home with a stack of books and some contact. It seems silly to have books sitting on a back shelf when they could be being read!
Scholastic Book Club helpers are also needed from next term. If you think that you can help with ordering and sorting books from Book Club please let me know (this occurs twice a term). I've just learnt how to do this and it's not TOO hard!
If you are interested in helping in either of these ways, please send Alison Bond (teacher librarian) an email: alison.bond@cg.catholic.edu.au
Alison Bond
St Francis of Assisi Primary School
Teacher Librarian
As of Term 2, students will be required to wear Winter Uniform.
If you need any extra winter uniform, please come and see us at the clothing pool and have a look at what we have available.
For further information about the winter uniform, please check the school website or the April page of your school calendar.
Uniform Shop Opening Hours:
Wednesday 8:45am - 9:30am
Thursday 2:45pm - 3:30pm
Friday 8:45am - 9:30am
Try a Day: Wednesday 3 May, 9.00am to 3.00pm
We invite prospective Year 7, 2024 students (current Year 6 students) to join us for the day to experience the exciting and enriching opportunities that our College has to offer.
Open Evening: Thursday 4 May, 4.30pm to 7.30pm
Open Evening is an opportunity for families to look through our facilities and talk to staff and students.
Register today!
A reminder that the Ray White Easter Colouring Competition closes in less than 2 weeks!
If you would like to enter, please print the attachment, make it beautiful and then email your entry to dan.cooper@raywhite.com
Please do not return your entries to school, we can not submit them for you.
All entries need to be emailed by close of business Thursday 30th March. the winner will be announced on Monday 3rd April.