Dear Parents and Carers

“Surely we are all forerunners? As parents, we are the forerunners of our children. As old people, the forerunners of the young. As the scientists and scholars of today, the forerunners of those tomorrow. As the politicians of today, the forerunners of those to come, who will scatter and suppress those of today.”

Karl Rahner SJ, ‘Making ready the way’

Last Sunday, we began the Season of Advent, which we celebrate each year, leading us into the high feast of Christmas. The late Karl Rahner, Jesuit priest and theologian, has written a reflection for Advent called ‘Making the ready the way’. A small quoted section has been included above. In summary, Karl Rahner's quote encourages us to recognise our roles as forerunners and to consider the impact of our actions on the future. During Advent, this reflection takes on a spiritual dimension, calling us to prepare the way for the coming of Christ not only in our personal lives but also in the broader contexts of family, society, and the world. Advent prepares the way for Christmas, so our actions and efforts at love ‘make ready the way’. They are never ends in themselves, but at their best, our efforts at decency and compassion, forgiveness and love, point to a reality greater than our own.

I want to thank the extremely dedicated staff at St Francis for their tireless efforts and commitment to the students this year. Working in a school is more than just a job; it is a vocation. Schools are not easy places to work in and require a real dedication to one's vocation to manage the complexities of educating, shaping, and forming young lives to be positive contributors to society into the future. I especially thank the staff who are moving on next year and thank them for their unwavering support of the community.

Semester 2 reports

Our teachers have worked tirelessly to produce our Semester 2 reports, which will go home via Compass today. Many hours are spent planning, teaching, assessing, moderating, collating/entering data and writing comments for our end-of-semester reports. I hope you find these documents useful records related to your child’s learning. The grades and descriptors on the report are a measurement of a child's learning assessed against the achievement standards outlined in the Australian Curriculum. This Semester, instead of PT interviews, there have been comments included in the report which outline key successes, challenges and future directions from the report.  If you have trouble accessing these reports, please contact the school office.

Meet and Greet

On Monday, our students will spend the afternoon in their new classrooms with their teachers and peers for 2024. The students will bring home a booklet with information about their teacher and a class list. I encourage you to be positive about your child’s teacher and the students within their class. Often, the best combinations for learning are not necessarily students' best friends, and classroom teachers, as professionals, have had input into which class students have been placed based on a range of factors outlined in previous newsletters. We are enthusiastic about the upcoming school year and look forward to partnering with you to ensure your child's successful and fulfilling educational journey. Thank you for your understanding and support.

Calander Link for 2024

We have moved to a digital calendar as our primary source of event scheduling for 2024. We will ask you to consult the digital school calendar and transfer dates to a paper calendar if this is how you operate. Below are some ways to access the School’s digital Calander:

The digital school calendar, is the most up-to-date representation of happenings in the school and is our one source of truth. There are a couple of ways to access this quickly:

• Through the Compass app or desktop webpage, by selecting the school calendar.
• The school Calendar tile on our School Webpage St Francis of Assisi Primary School - Calwell (stfa.act.edu.au) or the tab at the top of the website.
• Download a public .ical file to overlay the school calendar on your personal or work calendar. https://calendar.google.com/calendar/ical/saintfrancis.calwell%40gmail.com/public/basic.ics
• Directly visit the School Calendar browser public link https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=saintfrancis.calwell%40gmail.com&ctz=Australia%2FSydney

Principal Lunch Wednesday

We will have our Semester 2 Principal’s Lunch on Wednesday in the hall. Those students who have earned 90 ‘Gottchas’ for being caught living out our school's positive behaviour statements of being Safe, Responsible, Respectful, and a Learner. Those students who have achieved this have been invited through an Event invite on the Compass Parent Portal, which has more details related to the lunch.

Community Council Chair

I would like to acknowledge and thank our Community Council chair, Mrs Lisa Hyland, for her service to the school community as Community Council chair over the last year. Lisa has decided to step down from the Council after a period of 4 years. Lisa has been instrumental in the operation of the school Community Council and supporting me as the Principal making decisions for the school community. I thank Lisa for her support and wish her well in the future. We will acknowledge Lisa and her commitment to the school community at the graduation mass next week.

Next year we will put out an expression of interest for parents to fill positions of leaving members of the Community Council. The Community Council is a great way to be involved in the school and occurs outside school hours. Please let me know if you are interested or want to know more. Sean.rutledge@cg.catholic.edu.au.

STEM 3D printing

Two of our students were the Winner and Runner-up in the Makersempire 3D printing and design competition entitled Celebrating Chinese Australians. Details of their awards are below, along with pictures of their designs. They have won personal prizes as well as a 3D printer for the school. Congratulations, Darcy and Rory! We are so proud of your achievements.

1. Darcy Alexander was the ACT winner with their New year's dragon festival with the Chinese dragon with all the lucky colours
2. Rory White was the ACT runner-up with their Pipe and Gong

A full list of the staff for 2024 will be included in the Parent Memo next week. A reminder that the first day of school for all students in 2024 is Wednesday, 31^st January 2024.

Blessings and best wishes

Sean Rutledge

Principal

Welcome to Week 9 and our final week!

URGENT! St Vincent de Paul Christmas Appeal

We are calling for FINAL DONATIONS for the St Vincent de Paul Christmas Appeal. We understand that our fantastic community hs already given so much this year, but with so many families in need of help, we ask that you give what you can. Please see the list below for items that can be donated. Any donations can be bought to school and placed in the donation bucket in your child's classroom. We will collect all items up until Monday.

Thank you for your support this year- I wish you a holy and happy Chirstmas Season.

Have a great week!

Sharee Thomas

Advent 2nd Rite of Reconciliation.
Wednesday 20th December at 7pm at Holy Family Church Gowrie.

Please come along and take the opportunity to celebrate this beautiful liturgy and sacrament before Christmas. 

There will be several Priests in attendance.

Christmas Masses

Christmas Eve  Sunday 24 December

6pm (outdoors) at St Francis of Assisi School Calwell
(bring a chair or rug to sit on)

9pm—Holy Family Church Gowrie

Christmas Day   Monday 25 December

Midnight,   8am,   10am—Holy Family Church Gowrie