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Dear Parents and Carers,
Welcome to Term 3! I hope you and your family found time to rest and relax over the school holiday period. Our students have returned very settled and ready to learn, and I have had the pleasure of observing excellent teaching and learning in classrooms around the school this week.
Next Thursday, we will have our annual visit from Mr Ross Fox, Director of Catholic Education. During this visit, he will also have the opportunity to see the excellent teaching and learning taking place and discuss our progress on our Annual Improvement Plan (AIP). We will also host some local MPs in September ahead of the ACT election.
NAPLAN
Students and Yrs 3 & 5 received their NAPLAN data this week. The students have worked hard and should be proud of their efforts. Don't hesitate to contact your classroom teacher with any questions regarding these reports. A note that NAPLAN is a snapshot of one day in your child's life and is not the be-all and end-all of educational performance. At SFA, we utilise various assessment processes and procedures to measure academic achievement and growth. These are triangulated and cross-referenced to give a more accurate picture of a student's progress. Please celebrate this report with your child and be proud of their achievements.
We have started the high-level analysis of the NAPLAN reports, which will form a piece of the data set we use to develop our 2025 Annual Improvement Plan (AIP). I will share some of our achievements in the upcoming newsletters.
NAIDOC Week
NAIDOC week nearly always takes place during the school holidays, so we celebrated NAIDOC early in the last week of term 2 with a prayer celebration organised by Mrs Thomas. Today, our Indigenous students attended the Archdiocesan NAIDOC Mass for schools, at St Christopher's Cathedral, Manuka. Sharee Thomas, Kaylee Warren and I attended with the children.
New Office Manager
Courtney Djerke has been successfully appointed as our Office Manager. Courtney comes to us with years of business and administrative experience and is a current kinder parent in the school. She will be a valuable asset to the school community, and we look forward to welcoming her as a staff member later this term. Courtney will begin with us in Week 6. I thank Ann Parker, who has agreed to continue to support us in the office until Courtney begins.
Ring Road in the morning
This is a reminder to please do not park on the ring road between 8:30 and 9 a.m. We have several parents pulling up outside the BASCA gates to let children out or walk them into the school. This causes traffic chaos outside the school as cars try to pull into the school and then need to merge into one lane. Please respect this arrangement. Members of the leadership team will be out speaking with parents to remind them of these arrangements.
Toilet Renovations
These began over the holidays and have been fully demolished. Please see the progress photos below. This project should be completed by the end of the term.
Enrolments
We still have limited places available for 2025 in some grade levels. If you know of anyone interested in seeing the school and what we have to offer, please encourage them to contact the school sooner rather than later. We do have active waitlists for some grade levels in the school for 2025.
Your School Community Council
As I have previously written, we have a new School Community Council (SCC) model, which has been implemented across all 56 Catholic Schools with the Archdiocese of Canberra & Goulburn. As part of the implementation of this new model, we have appointed the maximum number of parents allowed on the Executive council. The SCC Executive members are:
Megan Steele (Chair), Miranda Westhorp, Cecelia Wykes, Erin Steele, Shaun Haigh, Laura Gladwish, Bronywn Wolthoff, Emma Schmid, Kylie Laverty, James Watson, Jaala Hamilton, Debbi Fluke, Jennifer Botticchio, and Michael Hilton.
We are currently preparing a "Get to Know Your Council" feature to introduce you to these members, which will be shared later this term.
We are fortunate to have such an engaged parent community willing to serve through the Community Council Executive. I extend my gratitude to these members for their dedication and efforts in making SFA the best it can be.
Under the new School Community Council model, all parents are considered community members and are welcome to attend and contribute to Community Council open meetings, held twice yearly. Our next open meeting is scheduled for Monday, August 6th, at 6 PM. At this meeting, we will have 2 guest speakers from Catholic Education to outline the new SCC model, answer questions, and discuss parent and community engagement opportunities. Please indicate attendance by completing this form so we can select the most appropriate location in the school to conduct the open meeting https://forms.office.com/r/xQJjBjSDEQ
We look forward to your participation in this important community event.
Carpark Works
The pothole filling and tree stump removal in the car park have been delayed and should occur by the end of next week.
Blessings and best wishes
Sean Rutledge
Principal
Sunday Gospel Reflection - John 6:1-15
16th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)
Jesus feeds five thousand
Today we are reminded of God’s providence. We live in a world that feeds us and shelters us and supplies us with everything that we need to grow and to thrive, and all of this comes to us from the hand of God. It is usually when we are in desperate straits that we become painfully conscious of our dependence on God, but this dependence is always there. God does not merely intervene when we are helpless; God's providence operates in our lives at all times.
Living in a society that promotes individualism, we sometimes undervalue the communal dimension of life. God certainly cares passionately for each of us (not even a sparrow falls without God knowing it), but God's concern is for the whole people. We are first and foremost members of a people. We would never have seen the light of day, we would not endure or develop, without others. As unique as we may be, we are a unique expression of a communal reality. God created a race; God formed a people; Jesus died for the world. By the grace of God, we belong to the community.
As members of the people of God, we are called to a way of life that is noble, not selfish. We are to live with each other in humility and gentleness, with patience. We are to bear with one another in love. Through baptism we all live by the same Spirit of Jesus; we are all united through the bond of God's love. The bread that we receive from the hand of God is the bread of full life, life in all its dimensions, life in Christ.
Adapted from Dianne Bergant CSA
EUCHARIST COMMITMENT MASSES - DATE CHANGE
Due to Fr James wanting to be back from his time away for the Eucharist Commmitment Masses, these dates have now changed to the following weekends.
3rd & 4th August as well as the 10th & 11th August. You may attend any mass (6pm Saturday, 8am, 10 or 6pm Sunday) on either weekend. Please fill in your commitment form and bring it with you. You child will also need to write their name omn the bottom of the prayer cards provided and hand them out to Parishioners at the end of Mass.
Any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the parish TuggeranongSouth.Sacraments@cg.org.au
Have a great week!
Sharee Thomas
REC
Today Mrs Thomas, Miss Warren and Miss Green took 24 of our First nations students to the Catholic Education NAIDOC Mass which was celebrated at the Cathedral in Manuka by Archbishop Christopher Prowse. We stared the celebration by having our faces painted in traditional ochre for ceremony and walked through the smoking ceremony into the Cathedral where we celebrated Mass. The children participated so reverently and were in awe of the magnitude of the Cathedral and all the different saints they could see in the stained glass windows. Some of the comments from the children on the way back were that the mass was just normal, but it was so good to see so many Aboriginal and Torres Starit Islander people there, like us, gathering and celebrating and really living up to the 2024 theme "Keep the fire burning, Blak, Loud & Proud!"
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
Paul Macdonald Evening Postponed
A message from Tuggeranong Valley Football and Netball Club:
This year TVAFNC will be helping end period poverty! Please donate period products to help someone in need this August to support ‘Share the Dignity’.
TVAFNC will have a collection point for sanitary products at the Calwell netball courts on Saturday’s for the month of August. We will also be holding a cake stall in Round 11 - (17th August 2024) with all proceeds going to registered charity 'Share the Dignity’.
Help us cover the perimeter of a netball court with period products!
Menstruating isn’t a choice but those experiencing period poverty often have to choose between purchasing period products or other essential items just to get by. They shouldn't have to choose...
We accept unopened packets of pads, tampons, menstrual cups, period undies, reusable pads and incontinence aids.
Help us, help those in need this August.
Violin Lessons available for $46.15 per week. Please contact Peter Thorne on 0413 106 584.