Dear Parents and Carers,

With Pentecost taking place a couple of weekends ago, it is fitting that our Yr. 6 students received the Sacrament of Confirmation at Holy Family Church this week.

Just like at Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles 50 days after the death of Jesus, in the Sacrament of Confirmation, we receive the same Holy Spirit. We too, receive the same graces, virtues, gifts, courage, and strength the Apostles received 2,000 years ago. Confirmation is the Gift of Strength; it "strengthens the divine life within us." It is the Sacrament that symbolises the coming of age in a young person's faith, a renewal of Baptismal promises by the candidates themselves rather than their Godparents.

After Confirmation, our students will be challenged to use the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which have been confirmed in them, to produce the fruits of the Holy Spirit in their lives. By using these gifts, students will see the fruits as virtues and graces in their lives, including charity, generosity, joy, gentleness, peace, faithfulness, patience, modesty, kindness, chastity, self-control, and goodness.

I thank all in the Parish community for their support and preparation of our students for this Sacrament; it is no small task with many hours behind the scenes to ensure it is a success. I want to thank Sharee Thomas and Anne Gowen for preparing the staff, students, parents and the church. I also thank the Archbishop for presiding over the Sacrament on Tuesday evening and Fr James and Fr Namora for their presence at all our masses this week.

Early Learning Centre (ELC)

Excavators have begun site preparations before our official soil turning, which will occur later this month. Enrolment interest has been very strong and a limited number of places are still available.

We are currently looking into the viability of supporting our ELC parents by looping in our BASCA service to extend the drop-off hours for our preschool students. This would allow parents to care for their children from 7:30-5:30 pm, something I know has been a real struggle for many families. We hope to be able to communicate more information about this service in the near future.

A reminder that the ELC attracts the Child Care Subsidy (CCS) benefits which can make the ELC affordable and attractive to more families.

A number of people could not view the Canberra Times article published a few weeks ago. I have included the full text below. My thanks to the Hicks family, who were the stars of the show and expressed how this ELC will help meet the needs of their family beautifully. 

Enrolments

Even though the official enrolment period has closed, we continue to receive enrolments and are happy to conduct tours with prospective parents upon request. Don't hesitate to get in touch with the office to arrange a time via email office.stfranciscalwell@cg.catholic.edu.au or phone 62924500.

Affordability is something that has been named as a barrier to many expressing an interest in a Catholic Education in this period of financial uncertainty and the rising cost of living. Catholic schools like ours have sibling discounts for multiple children, including those in systemic high schools such as MacKillop. We also have fee-help and support available to families and a process to apply for concessions to school fees and uniforms, if needed.

If you know someone who is considering a Catholic Education and is concerned about the fees, please encourage them to call the office to book a confidential appointment to discuss their needs and how we may be able to support their family.

A reminder that if any parents are experiencing financial hardship call the office on 62924500 to discuss the pastoral options we have available to support you.

The Tell Them From Me

The Tell Them From Me (TTFM) survey tool is live to our families via Compass and has been extended by an extra week to close on the 16^th of June. We currently have 41 responses and in 2022 we received 57 responses. If you have not already done so, please consider completing the survey.

Playground Upgrade

Our new Senior Playground is nearing completion and should be finished next week. We will hopefully have it ready for action in Week 9 after its settlement period. We have also taken the opportunity to fill in the unused space around our Jnr equipment with some additional equipment. See the photos below.

Renovation- ¾ Block

This project is on track for completion in October. Next week, we will provide a video update on Facebook and walk through the site. We will also see the structural steel craned in and block work for the extensions being laid. The new Inclusive Education Room Slab is also about a week away.

Cross Country

Congratulations to our runners who represented the school at the regional Cross Country Carnival at Stromlo running track. A big shout out to Taylor K (4N) who came first in his age group and will move on to the ACT carnival to represent the Tuggeranong region next week.

Blessings and best wishes

Sean Rutledge

Principal

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR CONFIRMATION CANDIDATES

On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings this week 21 of our Year 6 students received the Sacrament of Confirmation. On Tuesday we were lucky to have the Arch Bishop back in our Parish (after 3 years away due to Covid). He spoke about the connections between how a mob of Aboriginal people welcomed him to country through placing their warmed hands from the fire on his head, heart and feet and Jesus asking us to live out our catholic faith. Fr James and Fr Namora cocelebrated with the Arch Bishop and then celebrated the Wednesday and Thursday masses.

We congratulate the following students:

Sunday Gospel Reflection: John 6:51-58  Sunday Year A

My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.

Meals are very important events. Not only do we physically need food and drink to keep ourselves alive, but we use meals to mark occasions and celebrate events: birthdays; weddings; dates; achievements; disappointments; reunions. There is a sacredness about gathering with friends and family and sharing a meal together. Stories are told; memories shared; the food is appreciated and more often than not there’s a drink to accompany the meal. Treating such occasions with gratitude – as blessed moments of grace – is living out the Eucharistic reality of welcoming Jesus into our lives and seeking to be more like him.

In the gospel passage, Jesus speaks a number of times about his followers eating his flesh and drinking his blood; ‘For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.’ In the Eucharist, we celebrate the ‘real presence’ of Jesus, understanding that bread and wine is changed into the body and blood of Christ. This change does not occur in a physical, observable way. The Church teaches that the ‘substance’ of bread and wine (what makes them bread and wine in essence) is changed but not the physical attributes. This is known as ‘transubstantiation’ – change of substance.

Adapted from reflection by Greg Sunter

EUCHARIST ENROLMENTS

A reminder that enrolments are open for those children in Year 5 who wish to receive the Sacrament of Euchrist which will be celebrated in September. Enrolments are open between now and FRIDAY 30th JUNE. If you wish to enrol your child, please complete the form on the Parish QkR! page. 

Have a great week!

Sharee Thomas

On Thursday Mr Hargraves and Mrs Thomas travelled to Sydney to attend the Resilience Project Teacher Seminar- a professional development event designed by educators, for educators, to empower teachers with tools to improve their students’ mental health as well as look after their own well being.

We were so privileged to be met at the top of the escalator by Martin Heppel- the legend we had only ever seen on our screen as part of Staff Learning Meetings and as the person who delivers our Parent Hub and On-line School Program. We can confirm he is exactly the same in real life as what he is on the screen!

While we had met Hugh Van Cuylenburg a few weeks ago at at The Imperfects Live Show, he still spent time with us personally at lunchtime, catching up on how the school was going as well as affirming what we are doing at St Francis in regards to mental health.

St Francis of Assisi Primary School is committed to student, staff and family well being and improving all stakeholders mental health using practical strategies, learning about Emotional Literacy, being connected and by showing vulnerability and empathy to each other. 

Our students complete weekly lessons from TRP and attached below is the second instalment of TRP Parent Hub. If you have ANY questions about the program, are interested in how you can include more strategies at home or would like to share how your family are implementing TRP at home, please contact me on sharee.thomas@cg.catholic.edu.au 

This week’s presentation fromThe Resilience Project focuses on Gratitude.

Gratitude is paying attention to the things that we have right now, and not worrying about what we don’t have. We practise this by noticing the positives that exist around us.

Research shows that practicing gratitude rewires our brains to overcome the negativity bias (which can lead to anxiety and depression) and see the world for what we are thankful for. It is also shown to broaden thinking, and increase physical health through improved sleep and attitude to exercise.

View Part 2 of the series here:
Part 2 - Gratitude: https://theresilienceproject.com.au/2023-parent-carer-hub-inspire-martin/

There are many ways in which you can practise gratitude, including starting a gratitude journal. You can simply use a notebook to list three things that went well for you each day, or use a more comprehensiveWellbeing Journal, like those created by The Resilience Project.

Source:Psychology Today

For mental health resources and support information, visitThe Resilience Project’s Support Page.

Reminder: We are collecting your bread bags! We will be collecting bread bags for the Wonder Recycling Program to earn rewards points for sports equipment for the school. The final day of collection is 16th June. 

Please click on the link for more information:

https://wonder.com.au/articles/what-can-you-recycle

Group music lessons are back at St Francis of Assisi where students learn a range of instruments including guitar, keyboard and flute. Students are currently working through their music books and on popular songs that we hope to perform throughout the year including Stitches, Flowers, We Didn’t Start the Fire and High Hopes.

We are always looking for more students to join in on the fun and learn an instrument at school. If you would like to enrol or for more information regarding the program, you can contact Musicorp on 1300 858 911 or enrol directly at https://rent.musicorp.com.au/tuition_online_eoi/ 

Danielle Blom

Instrumental Music Teacher

Hello everyone,

Volunteer opportunities for "Canteen Volunteers" are now open for Term 3.

Please click on the following web link (or copy it into your web browser if clicking doesn't work) to go to the signup sheet:

https://volunteersignup.org/XQYHX

To sign up, just follow the instructions on the page. It only takes a few seconds to do.

Thank you for volunteering!

Kathy Crosbie

Kathleen.Crosbie@cg.catholic.edu.au