Dear Families,

Welcome to week 7 or Sabbath Week. It is where we get to spend time doing family things and resting rather than spending time on homework. I hope you all managed to get some 'connection' time as a family this week.

Staff also get to recharge and prepare for the reporting period by not attending any meetings this week. It is important for us all to slow down and rest.

School Wide Positive Behaviour

The school is currently updating and revamping our School Wide Positive Behaviour program. This includes updating our 'gotcha' system and promoting following the expected behaviours we like to see our students showing consistently and with integrity. Ask your child to tell you all about it.

We will be focusing on a rule and the expected behaviour attached to the rule and sharing this with you via the newsletter. Please keep an eye out and use the language at home. This will help build communication and support between school and home.

Along with this we are focusing on our Be Safe rule that has the behaviour expectation of we keep our hands and feet to ourselves. The staff and students have been asked to keep an eye out and all 'hands on' behaviours are being referred to the school leadership team to conduct a 'thinktime' without a warning or timeout with a teacher.

A thinktime is not a punishment. It is the school's chance to work through mistakes with students in a restorative manner. It is important that students acknowledge a mistake, own their behaviour, discuss ways to make amends, apply this thinking and hopefully learn how to better deal with the behaviour that occured the next time it arises.

We are not tolerating violence from students at school, either in or out of the classroom. We want our students to understand that there is always another way to deal with situations that make them feel angry, frustrated or annoyed and that hitting, kicking, punching, pushing or slapping is never an option. Children, however, make mistakes, as do adults. This is why we use the thinktimes to make amends in the first instance. If students get three thinktimes we will contact parents to come in for a meeting to discuss ways to support both students and families. Please have a look at our behaviour support procedures that can be found on the school website for more detail about this (this is also being updated and the new version will be live on the website soon). You can always contact your classroom teacher or myself for further clarification. We do appreciate your support of this.

Reporting Period

The staff are currently working hard on compiling the school reports for Semester 1. Please note the following timelines for the coming weeks:

Week 9 - Reports will be published on Compass on Friday 28th June @ 4pm

Week 10 - Parent interviews Monday, Tuesday and/or Wednesday. Information about this will be sent home via Compass in week 9. Please look out for the News Item on how to book in a conference.

Sunsafe - no hats in June and July

Because the Cancer Council ACT does not recommend sun protection in Canberra during June and July, StFA does not enforce the wearing of hats during this time. Beginning this week the “no hat, no play” rule is shelved for the next two months. Bring on that Vitamin D!

Resignation of Sharon Aksila

Last week we received Sharon's letter of resignation effective 27th June 2024. Sharon has been with us at St Francis for more than 15 years and has been the face of the school during this time.

I thank Sharon for her contributions to the St. Francis community and wish her continued success in her future endeavours.

Parking

Another reminder, please do not park on the grassed area around the ring road in either the morning or the afternoon. This is very dangerous as it blocks views to people walking across the crossing. Students will not be allowed to cross the crossings without parent supervision. If the carpark is full you can use the Calwell courts and use the bus gate to enter and exit the school grounds, or you can utilise the pickers drive through. We thank you for your assistance with this request.

Please have a read of the following behaviours that we expect our students to show at St Francis or when representing our school. We focus on these in classrooms that align with our weekly rule and behaviour expectations.

Each week in the newsletter we will focus on one that will be broken open and this will help you as parents to use the same language we use at school at home.

Please contact your child's classroom teacher or Mrs Annie McArthur if you wish to discuss any of these. 

All the SWPB is currently being revamped. Please keep an eye out for a parent engagement session coming soon and items on our school website.

Mark 4:26-34    “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field.”

The Gospel reading for this Sunday is the Parable of the Mustard Seed. In this Parable, Jesus compares the kingdom of God to the mustard seed, the smallest seed on Earth. This story teaches us that great things can start with small beginnings.

As parents, care givers and educators of our young ones it is important for us to remember this lesson as we guide and support our young ones in their faith journey. We do not need to have all the answers in order for us to pass faith on to our children. Taking time for the little things, enjoying quality time together, and finding moments of peace in our families can be enough to start a small conversation about God’s love that might lead to a whole life lived in the glow of God’s love. All we need is a little faith.

Sacrament of Confirmation

Please pray for our Year 6 candidates who are receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation on Tuesday night. The Confirmation Mass is being held at Holy Family Church, Gowrie at 6:30 on Tuesday 18^th June.  All are welcome to attend.

Parish Assembly

On Saturday 15th June from 9:00 a.m. Fr James is inviting all people in our parish to attend the Parish Assembly. Fr Rob Galea will be at the assembly which is a very exciting part of the day. He was the ‘singing priest’ on the Factor in 2015. We hope to see you there.

Chief Minister's Reading Challenge

Lots of children have read 30 books and completed the Chief Minister's Reading Challenge.

It is great to see the positive impact this has on children's reading confidence.

If your child hasn't completed this yet - there is still time!!

Your child has until Friday the 5^th July to hand in their Reading Record.

Spare Reading Record sheets are available in the Library.

Scholastic Book Club

Scholastic Book Club Issue 4 was sent home with students last week. Children, parents and friends have the opportunity to buy books for home reading or gifts. All orders benefit the school, as Scholastic gives the school 15% back from purchases, as reward points. These points are used to buy resources for the school. 

Please remember that only online orders will be accepted. These need to be completed via credit card through LOOP (visit scholastic.com.au/LOOP) or you can download the LOOP app. 

 LOOP orders for Issue 4 close THIS Sunday the 16^th June in order to be delivered to students before school holidays.

Open Library

Remember that parents, grandparents, carers and friends are more than welcome to visit the library on Monday afternoons with your children (between 3-4pm).  Lots of parents and grandparents are taking this opportunity to help their children and grandchildren find books that encourage their love of reading. We also have a new books section of the library that includes lots of new books that are currently trendy in the book world!

Alison Bond

St Francis of Assisi Primary School 

Teacher Librarian

Year 3 prepared their own school newsletters this week in class. Have a look at some of them below:

Dear Parents and Caregivers.

Last week The Resilience Project in conjunction with Lael Stone held a Connecting Parenting Webinar online. I know lots of our community attended the session and have been raving as to how good it was. I also was online and gained so much insight from the webinar.

After hearing about how beneficial the webinar was, several parents have reached out o see if they can access the link. If you would like to view the webinar please follow this link and view at your pleasure.  .

Please note that this link will expire on the 18th June.

If you do watch the webinar, we would be delighted if you could please spare a couple of minutes to fill out online survey, as we would really appreciate your feedback.

If you have any questions, as always, please feel free to contact me here at school or via email.

Have a great day!

Sharee  
sharee.thomas@cg.catholic.edu.au

Dear parents and caregivers,

This year St Francis of Assisi will once again run the Seasons for Growth Program. 

Seasons for Growth offers children and young people a safe space to come together, and share their experiences of change and loss. Seasons for Growth aims to strengthen the social and emotional wellbeing of children and young people (aged 6-18) who are dealing with significant life changes by:
• Exploring the impact of the  change and loss on everyday life
• Learning new ways to respond to these changes

Who is it for?
Anyone who is living with the effects of change and loss. 

Who is it not for?
Any child who has completed the program in the past 12 months OR any child's whose loss or changed happened less than 6 months ago. 

What now?
If you believe that your child/children would benefit from participating in this program, please fill in the below nomination form, no later than COB FRIDAY 2nd August.

https://forms.gle/poppL8BD9iHPG1Jf7 

If you have already filled in this form, you do not need to do it again.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me here at school or via email.

Sharee Thomas

sharee.thomas@cg.catholic.edu.au