Dear Families

This coming Sunday is Pentecost Sunday which concludes the 50 days of Easter. On this day, we are reminded of the power of the Holy Spirit and of the great gift of love that has been left to us through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

I encourage you and your families to attend mass this weekend at Holy Family Church, Gowrie to celebrate this Feast Day.  A reminder that children who are making their Confirmation this year will also need to attend a Commitment Mass over the next 2 weeks.

Enrolment Time 2022

A final reminder to those who are yet to return their enrolment forms for St Francis of Assisi Primary School. Your enrolment forms are due by next Friday 28 May. We will hold our final Open Day next Thursday 27 May between 9:30am - 11:00am and 4:00pm – 6:00pm. If you know of anyone who may be interested in enrolling here at school, please let them know or direct them to our Facebook page.

Those who think they may not be at St Francis of Assisi Primary School next year (Year 6 exempt) are also asked to let me know your intentions, via writing. My estimates regarding predicted numbers for St Francis of Assisi in 2022 must be submitted to the Catholic Education Office very soon. 

Compass

Our new student management system is now up and running. There are various parts to this new system which will be rolled out throughout the remainder of this year. For now, the teachers are using it for the roll. All rolls are marked at 8:55am. Any student who arrives to school after this time, will be marked absent. If your child is late, they MUST be accompanied by an adult and be signed in at the front office. We have a new sign-in machine (Compass Kiosk) which talks directly to our rolls. It is a legal requirement that all children are signed in by an adult. Please do not let students in through the gate and ask them to go to class. The children will be directed back to the Front Office by the classroom teacher if they have not presented them with a late card.

Disco

Last Friday night we had our first disco since 2019. It was a fantastic night with lots of children enjoying our dance festival. A huge thank you to Lisa Hyland and her band of volunteers for ensuring that the night was so successful. It was really great to see the children dressed up and enjoying a fun time at school. Thank you to Kathy and her helpers who manned the canteen all night. There were lots of lollies sold on the night.  

NAPLAN

We have recently finished the Online NAPLAN tests. Well done to all our Year 3 and Year 5 students who worked hard to complete all these assessments on this new platform.

Hats Off June and July

In June and July, hats go away! In Canberra, we have already started to witness daily UV levels decrease to what is considered “low” levels (under 3), during the morning and afternoon periods.

Cancer Council ACT does not generally recommend sun protection behaviour (ie hat wearing and sunscreen application) when UV levels are under 3 due to the low risk of potential UV skin damage. In Canberra UV levels drop and remain under 3, all day, around the June and July period and so the ‘End of May is Hats Off Day!’ 

Peace and Best Wishes

Kate Markcrow

Principal

Thank you to those families who have settled their Term 2 school fee accounts.

A reminder that Term 2 fees are due for payment by Friday 4 June 2021, unless paying by regular instalments.

Term 1 fees oustanding are well overdue and payment is required to ensure your account is up to date.

If you have any school fee related queries, please email me susan.rowell@cg.catholic.edu.au and I'll get back to you as soon as possible.

Kind regards

Susan Rowell

School photo day is on Friday 28 May 2021 and students are to come to school in full winter uniform.  No sports uniform on this day please.

Online ordering is the preferred method of payment.  To order online you need your child's unique 'shoot key' which is printed on their individual envelope.

If you require a shoot key, please call MSP Photography on 6255 9208 or email canberra.office@msp.com.au.

Spare envelopes and sibling envelopes are available at the front office.

Congratulations to all those students who qualified to represent St Francis of Assisi Primary School at the Tuggeranong Region Cross Country Carnival on Monday 24 May 2021 at Stromlo Forest Park.

Notes were sent home last week to the qualifying students, with all the details of the carnival.  Please return permission slips to school.  Payment of the $10.00 entry fee may be made on QKR.

St Francis of Assisi Primary School is again offering an Australian program called Seasons for Growth, which supports participants who have experienced change in their family because of a death, separation or divorce.  This program, which is designed by Good Grief and the Southern Cross University, explores issues such as change, loss, managing feelings, coping strategies and support networks.

Seasons for Growth is an eight session program which will be facilitated during school hours in Term 3 by staff who are trained Companions. It will conclude with an additional Celebration session. 

For more information and to access the enrolment form, please see the document attached below.

Seasons_for_Growth_Enrolment_form_2021.pdf

Please contact Lisa Conroy (Religious Education Coordinator) or Susan Harris (School Chaplain) if you have any questions in relation to the Seasons for Growth program.

Negative Self-Talk

It can be really hard when parents hear their child putting themselves down with comments like “I can’t do this, I must be stupid” or “I’m so bad at this no one will want to be my friend”. This negative self-talk is not only upsetting to hear but also if left unattended can impact on a child’s self-esteem and self-worth. To help transform this negative self-talk, here are a few statements that you can try and use.

When a child says “I can’t do”

If you would like to learn more about how to transform your child’s negative self-talk, take a look at Big Life Journal as they offer classes throughout the year and also have some good resources available.

https://biglifejournal.com/collections/parenting/ 

The Community Council would like to thank everyone who attended the school disco and we hope all the kids had a great time.  

A special thanks to the parents who were able to volunteer to make the night a reality and thank you to Kathy in the canteen for ensuring the kids were able to dance all night with plenty of sugar.  

We are looking forward to the next one! 

The Disco Committee 

Apologies for the delay in getting our Cookie Dough Fundraiser up and running online.

The St Francis of Assisi Primary School Fundraiser is now activated for online ordering - please head to cookiedough.com.au to set up your account and your online fundraising page.

Orders are now open and will close on Friday 4 June 2021.  The estimated delivery date for the cookie dough is Friday 18 June 2021.

Thank you for your support!

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