Dear Parents and Carers,

I hope you have had a great week. We have had several visitors to the school in the last two weeks who are all eager to observe and learn about the excellent teaching and learning happening here every day. Last week, we were visited by a contingent of teachers from Brisbane Catholic Education schools to come out to see the Explicit Direct teaching we have in our classrooms underpinned by the science of learning.

Yesterday, Greens Education spokeswoman Laura Nuttal, MLA, visited our school. Laura was eager to see the intervention process we have in place and the extra support we are offering students. She toured classrooms to see whole-class instruction and visited our beautiful ELC. Finally, Laura was grilled by our Student Representative Council, who had a range of predeveloped questions to find out what life is like as a politician. I thank Laura for Taking the time to visit our school and meet our students.

Corroboree Culture Day

Congratulations to Sharee Thomas for her work organising and leading the Corroboree Culture Day at UC today. The event will welcome up to 1000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families, school groups, and sporting groups for a cultural celebration and fun day. I know many hours of preparation and planning have gone into this event and our school is proud to be a part of it. Well done, Sharee!

Split classes today

We have fared remarkably well during winter, having only split classes sporadically this term. Today, however, a number of staff members are away due to illness, planned leave, and professional learning. As a result, we have had to split a couple of classes across the school. I thank the teachers for their work supervising extra students in their classes today. We should be back to full complement next week.

First Communion

Many Year 5 students will celebrate their First Communion (or First Eucharist) this weekend. This Sacrament is one of the most sacred and significant events in a Catholic’s life, marking the first time they receive the Eucharist. As our Year Five students take part in this important Sacrament, please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

Term 4 Dates

Please be aware that Term 4 will begin for all students on Monday, October 14th. The last day for Term 4 is Week 10, Monday, December 17th, 2024. (Monday week 10 is correct and has come about due to the 11-week first term this year).

ACT Pupil Free Days for 2025

Catholic Education has informed us that in 2025, Pupil-Free Days will increase from 5 to 8 days in the school year. Effectively, this will be the first and last day of each school term.

Given the ongoing shortage of teachers nationwide, the 2025 term dates and pupil-free days have been developed to increase the opportunity for employees to participate in high-quality professional development aligned with Catalyst and faith formation. Employees will also have time to manage their administrative, compliance, and teaching commitments.

School Term dates for 2025 are below:

Enrolments for 2025

We do have waitlists in several year levels for 2025. If you do not intend to be at St Francis in 2025, please advise the office as soon as possible via email at office.stfranciscalwell@cg.catholic.edu.au. It is a legal requirement that you provide the details for the school your child will be attending, even if it is interstate, so that they can be updated on the student movement register. Early notification supports us with staffing and resource allocations for 2025. Next term, I will call for parent considerations for 2025 classes.

Blessings and Best Wishes

Sean Rutledge

Principal

FIRST EUCHARIST CELEBRATIONS

This weekend concludes the Parish celebrations of the Year 5 students receiving the Sacrament of Eucharist for the first time. Last weekend 2 more students received Christ for the first time and this weekend we have another 23 students joining them in celebrating their First Eucharist. First Eucharist, that is, sharing in the body and blood of the Lord at Mass for the first time, is the climax of the initiation process. Eating and drinking with the rest of the community at the Table of the Lord is a sign of belonging fully to that community.

We congratulate the following students:

Henry Akhurst                      Zoe Annan                         Syena Aoun

Amelia Assenheim                Felix Botticchio                   Monica Comandari 

Ethan Ferguson                    McKenzie Gates                  Tahlise Haines

Vivienne Katindoy                 Jennifer Kennedy               Taylor Kontny

Geogre McCamish                 Lana Muongsene                Lupe Redmond

Madelyn Roach                     Benjamin Ryan                   Aiden Saunders

Alexander Smith                   Rory Swanston                   Jacob Thomas

Liana Time                           Isaac Villella                        Rory White

Isabelle White                      Jaylin Wray

SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION

This week I sent an email out to all Catholic year 4 families who had not registered their child for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. If you have not actioned that email, I ask that you do so before the end of term. A reminder and 'SAVE THE DATE' that parent formation evenings will be held for the Sacrament IN WEEK 2 TERM 4 on Wednesday 23rd October (5:30-6:30pm) OR Thursday 24th October (7-8pm). Late nomination forms sent home via email this week will be accepted at either of these evenings. 

REC Retreat

On Wednesday and Thursday I was fortunate to participate in the annual REC Retreat, held in Galong NSW. Paddy McGrath, the foundation Principal of StFA describes Galong as a place with a thin veil. What he means by this is that this beautiful part of our country has a thin veil between it and heaven and he is absolutely right. REC's from across our Archdiocese spent time in prayer, reflection and discernment, taking time to stop and instead of asking Jesus questions, listening to the quiet and what Jesus is asking of us as REC's. I am so grateful for for Sean and Annie for their support to afford me the time to attend and spend this quality time in prayer.  

Sunday Gospel Reflection - Mark 9:30-37

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

Jesus teaches that to rank first, disciples must serve all.

Last week’s gospel, in which Jesus asked his disciples, ‘Who do you say I am?’ marked a turning point in the gospel of Mark. Having established in the minds of the disciples that he is indeed the Messiah, Jesus now begins to explore with them what that really means and also what it means to be a follower – a disciple – of the Messiah who must be put to death. Having finally come to some level of understanding that Jesus is the Messiah, the disciples have latched on to a very limited understanding of Jesus’ Messiahship. They have assumed that being Messiah meant that Jesus was going to lead a triumphant victory over all the woes of the Jews – it was a common understanding and expectation of what the Messiah would do. With this in mind, the disciples begin to argue amongst themselves about who will hold positions of respect and power in the aftermath of Jesus’ great triumph. Despite what Jesus had just said about being put to death and rising again, the disciples simply couldn’t grasp what he was saying and fell back onto a familiar picture of the Messiah.

To really shake up the disciples and try to make them pay attention to what he was saying to them, Jesus put his arms around a small child and told the disciples they had to welcome little children in his name. Like so many gospel images there is more going on here than meets the eye. Children were regarded as complete nobodies in the culture of the time. They had no status and absolutely no authority. Jesus is saying to the disciples, don’t argue about who will be the greatest; this child – this nobody – is greater than anyone who lords it over others. If you treat a nobody like this with respect, you treat me with respect.

Adapted from Greg Sunter

Have a great week!

Sharee Thomas

REC

Best of luck to a few students who will be representing ACT in the Futsal Nationals up in Brisbane next weekend 27th-30th. They were handpicked by ACT futsal from the futsal school Gala day that we attended earlier in the year. 

William Steele 
Jackson Fluke
Eli Borg-Caruana 
Bassam Nchouki 
Spencer Wolthof

Event Details:

• Date: Sunday 20 October 2024
• Time: 10:00AM – 2:00PM
• Location: Viking Park, 4 Amsinck Street, Wanniassa