Dear Parents and Carers,

Happy World Teachers Day to all our staff! On this day, I would like to acknowledge the great work that all our staff do in service of our community. They are all incredible people who make a significant difference in the lives of our students. Our community is blessed to have each and every one of them.

Last week, we held our observed Feast Day celebrations for our Patron and namesake, Saint Francis of Assisi, whose feast day fell in the school holidays. It was a day filled with reverence, fun, talent and delicious food. The day started with a special mass where we learned about the life and teachings of St. Francis. We were reminded of his love for all creatures, big and small, and his commitment to living a life of simplicity and kindness. It was a touching reminder of the values we strive to embody as a school community. During lunch, the staff and students shared a delicious pizza lunch. It was heartwarming to see the entire school come together to share a meal, just as St. Francis would have celebrated simplicity and community.

Our talented students showcased their skills and creativity in a remarkable talent show. From singing and dancing to magic tricks and poetry readings, our students wowed the audience with their diverse talents. I was lucky enough to see some of the showcased talents during the audition phase.

Finally, the afternoon was full of teacher swap fun, where teachers were randomly swapped amongst grades in the school to enjoy an afternoon of activities and fun.

I had several staff students and parents remark to me this week that a tremendous sense of unity and community permeated throughout the day. Our students, staff, and families came together to celebrate not just the feast of a saint but also the values he embodied - compassion, service, and a deep appreciation for the beauty of the world around us.

Thank you to all the staff, especially Mrs Thomas, who made this day successful. Let us carry the spirit of St. Francis with us in our daily lives, showing kindness to all beings and working together to achieve the impossible.

Catholic Leader’s Day

I have been away for the last two days, attending the Annual Catholic Leaders Day for Principals and CE staff. The focus for the day has been examining the need for a behaviour curriculum in schools and what this could look like in schools. It will be a system-wide focus and something we look to incorporate in our School Wide Positive Behaviour program, which we have begun revamping this year.

Renovation Works

We look forward to the first of 3 classes being returned to us on Monday. Year 4 will move in early next week, allowing for a facelift in the BASCA building before they begin the move back the following week. We are expecting the delivery of the Year 3 classes in Week 5.

Boorowa

It was very exciting to see the happy faces of our students on social media and after they returned on the Bus from Boorowa on Friday. I thank Laura Hay for coordinating the day and all the staff who joined her on the day to ensure it was a success. It was also so good to have such a strong commitment from our parent body to support students by managing coaching and refereeing teams. We look forward to attending in 2024.

Kinder Orientation

Our Kinder 2023 parents received communications this week via email regarding our Kinder orientation days. We again run two sessions for our new Kinder students to support their transition and familiarisation with the school. Details of these sessions are included below:

• Kinder Familiarisation Morning Tuesday 31st October. Please bring your child to the Kinder block at 9:30 am. Upon arrival, they will receive a name tag at the door and instructions on which classroom they will start in for the morning (Assigned by Alphabetical Surname). Please note this is not a confirmation of the class or the teacher your child will have in 2024.

During this session, 2023 Kinder teachers and Classroom Support Assistants will complete some activities with the children to gather some data on their fine motor, counting, social and emotional needs, as well as introduce them to the kinder space. Please bring a water bottle to this session.

 The session will go from 9:30 -10:30 am. Parents are invited to join members of the leadership team for light refreshments, the opportunity to network and participate in some essential Literacy/Numeracy Activities to support your child in the lead-up to Kindergarten.

• Kinder Orientation Morning Tuesday 21st November. Upon arrival at our Kinder Orientation at 9:15am, we will confirm your child’s class and teacher for 2024. Students will move to this classroom with their teacher to spend the orientation morning. The construction of classes is a complex task that takes into account preschool groupings and feedback, social-emotional needs, behavioural and learning observations. Simple movements upset this strategic balance in classes and I encourage you to contact me prior to the orientation if there are any considerations that need to be reviewed.

Staffing

Mr Simon Hargraves has successfully secured a transfer closer to home in 2024. Next year, Simon will join St. Matthew’s in Page on a one-way transfer. We will miss Mr Hargraves and thank him for his dedication to the school over the last five years. After an interview process, Kayla Murray will be joining us in 2024. Kayla has been a staff member at St Clare of Assisi for the last few years and we look forward to welcoming her to the school later this term.

With the ELC coming on board next year, the Inclusive Ed team, namely Kristy, will support ELC students. To support this, I have asked Lauren McDonald to come off class next year to coordinate Literacy interventions in the school. Lauren will manage her current Literacy portfolio and oversee our Literacy Intervention model. She will handle the assessment, tracking of students and coaching of our CSA’s in Minilit, Corrective Reading, Spelling Mastery and provide opportunities for our gifted and high-potential writers. I thank Lauren for agreeing to take on this important portfolio to support our students in the school. After an interview, Kaylee Warran has successfully gained a classroom teaching position for 2024. Kaylee is currently teaching in Year 4. I wish Kaylee all the best and congratulate her on her position.

Counsellor on Leave

I thank you for your patience, as our Counsellor, Tessa has been unwell and on leave over the last few weeks. We are expecting her back in Week 5. In the interim, we have the following supports in place for students and families that may need support:

1. Parent Anxiety Support Program see attached flyer dates are flexible and we can run a dedicated St Francis group if there is a current need.
2. Urgent Support- Please email me if you need an urgent referral or support and we can work with CatholicCare to utilise the Family and Relationship program at one of their locations.
3. We will look to add extra days in 2024 to support students who have missed out at the end of 2023.

Disability Access

In the Staff Carpark, we have designated parking spots reserved exclusively for users with valid disability permits, and they must be available for those who need them.

It has come to our attention recently that vehicles without disability permits have been parked in these designated spaces. While we understand that parking can sometimes be challenging, it is essential that they are not used unless you have the proper permit to ensure the well-being of our entire school community. If you do not have a valid disability permit, please utilise the regular parking spaces in the school car park to ensure that everyone has a fair and equitable opportunity to access the school.

We appreciate your cooperation and understanding in this matter. By working together, we can create a more inclusive and considerate environment for all members of our school community.

Classes for 2024

Shortly, we will begin the process of examining class lists for 2024. As you can imagine, this is quite a complex process and I have included some of the considerations teachers, as professionals, consider when looking at placements. When forming the class lists, the following factors are taken into consideration for all students:

• Additional Needs
• Work Habits
• Cognitive ability
• Friendships
• Behaviour
• Gender
• Health considerations
• Religion (to assist in achieving a balance between classes, especially in Sacramental years)
• Common names

Ideally, we aim for a balanced and equal spread of both positive and challenging characteristics. Where practical, parental requests based on genuine educational concerns will be considered.

Parents who wish to discuss particular concerns regarding the placement of their children in specific classes should put their concerns in writing and address them to me via email by Friday, 3^rd November, Week 4 (Term 4). All Parent concerns with genuine educational considerations will be examined and seriously considered during the process. However, it must be clearly understood that there is no guarantee that these can be honoured.

Blessings and best wishes

Sean Rutledge

Principal

Dear Parents and Carers,

After recent feedback from the school community, we recognise that we have asked too much of the community in relation to fundraising and acknowledge the insufficient scheduling of events and items during this challenging time of the cost of living crisis.

First and foremost, we want to extend our sincerest apologies to our entire school community for the unintended consequences of our fundraising efforts. It is our belief that a school community should be a place of support and understanding, and it has come to our attention that our fundraising activities have had an unintended negative impact on some community members. We acknowledge that our efforts to raise funds for our school have led to a feeling of fundraising fatigue, and for this, we deeply regret any inconvenience, stress, or discomfort that this may have caused to our students, parents, and staff. We understand that the cost of living crisis has placed additional burdens on many of our families, and the last thing we want is to exacerbate these challenges.

To address this issue, we have taken the following steps for 2024 onwards:

Revised Fundraising Strategy: Moving forward, we will reassess our fundraising strategies and ensure they are more considerate and sensitive to the financial circumstances of our school community members. We also recognise the need to promote further the fruits of community fundraising efforts over the last few years and into the future. Attached are some photos of the results of our fundraising during the previous 3 years. These have seen the installation of a new junior playground in 2021, a senior playground in 2022 and 2023, a relocation of our sports shed and an updating of the equipment for use during lessons and break times.

Transparent Scheduling: We acknowledge the need for better scheduling of our fundraising activities. We will create a clear and transparent calendar for future fundraisers to minimise overlap and ensure the timing is more suitable. This will be distributed to families in 2024 and will aim to spread fundraising efforts over a two-year cycle.

Listening and Feedback: Your input is invaluable to us. We encourage you to share your concerns, ideas, and suggestions on how we can improve our fundraising efforts and scheduling. We will establish a channel for open communication to hear your voice. A short questionnaire will be available next newsletter to get your feedback on fundraising events and items so we can prioritise and schedule events in the future.

We deeply regret any distress caused and thank you for your understanding and patience as we work through this issue. Our school community is a vital part of our identity, and we are committed to ensuring that our actions align with the well-being and comfort of our students, parents, and staff.

If you have any questions or require further assistance, please feel free to contact any Community Council member. We are here to listen, learn, and collaborate with you to create a more supportive and empathetic school environment.

Once again, we apologise for any inconvenience and distress, and we thank you for your continued support of our school community.

Regards

Community Council

Sunday Gospel: Matthew 22:34-40, 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A

You shall love the Lord your God and your neighbour as yourself.

The Catholic tradition  is founded on love. Actually, life itself is grounded in love. We may not always feel this love, but if we allow ourselves to reflect on life, we will realise this truth. We have been called into being by God’s love; and we will only be happy if we live in that love. Thus, when we are directed to love God and love one another, we are not being asked to do something contrary to our nature. Rather, we are being told to live in accord with that nature. We come from God who is love, and so it is in our very nature to love and to be loved.

We may sometimes think that it is easier to love God than to love others. It may actually be just the opposite. Other people are tangible. We can see and hear them, interact with them. Their influence in our lives can permeate our consciousness. That is not the way it is with God. Like Moses on the mountain, we can only see the traces of divinity as God passes by. However, we show that we love God in the way we love our neighbour.

Love, the foundation of the reign of God, is contagious. When we love others, the reign of God spreads throughout the world. The compassion that we show toward others is a form of evangelisation. It proclaims much louder than any words that the reign of God has been established.

Gospel Reflection by Dianne Bergant

SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION

For those children who are enrolled to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation, your last chance to attend a commitment mass is this weekend. You and your child need to take your commitment form to one of the weekend masses (6pm Saturday or 8am, 10am or 5pm Sunday)/ If you have lost your form, please don't worry, there will be pares in the foyer at each mass. If you are unable to attend Mass this weekend and you and your child haven't made your commitment, please contact Anne Gowan, the Sacramental coordinator on TuggeranongSouth.Sacraments@cg.org.au

At Monday morning's assembly we will be acknowledging those students who competed in Maths Olympiad this year. Year 5 and 6 will receive certificates of achievement for their involvement, while Year 3 and 4 will be acknowledged at morning assembly, but will not receive certificates. The questions this year were quite tricky and challenged all students but it was wonderful to see our students show resilience, teamwork and problem solving skills in these challenging situations. We would like to congratulate all students involved in the Maths Olympiad for their success.

We also wish to acknowledge three of our 5/6 students who achieved in the top 25% of all competitors in the Maths Olympiad Competition:

Rachel Way

Millie Aiken

Niamh Giorgio

This is no mean feat given the difficulty of the questions, so well done girls on your success.

Raffle books are due back at school next Friday 3rd November!

Reminder: All books MUST be returned or a Statutory Declaration MUST be completed.

Thanks for all your support of our fete fundraiser!