Week 3 - Term 2

Dear parents and caregivers,

It’s week 3 already! I am thoroughly enjoying myself as I settle in to life at St Francis. I am constantly struck by the strong sense of pride and purpose shown by everyone in the community. The children have been wonderful-they have a very strong and clear understanding of the school’s vision and of their faith and they can articulate each of these things very clearly! I have enjoyed spending time with the children as they go about their learning, and have particularly enjoyed joining various classes during ‘Peace time’ each Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I continue to be very impressed with the professionalism and collegiality of all of the staff who work at St Francis. I feel blessed to be working with such committed educators.

Last week’s Mother’s Day celebration was fantastic. It was so nice to be able to welcome Mums back in this celebratory manner. Attendance was strong, and the children’s performances touched the hearts of those present! The morning tea was delicious and the prizes on offer in the raffles were impressive! My sincere thanks to Sarah McCabe and the Parents & Friends for the excellent organisation of the event, and the subsequent gift stalls. Our P&F met this week to discuss future fund raising and community building initiatives-more information to follow!

Last week was the celebration of Catholic Education Week in Adelaide, and while our celebrations were low key, I was impressed with the school spirit shown by our students in singing our school song at last Friday’s gathering. This shows me that our students have a strong sense of pride in their school, which is a lovely expression of the value of a Catholic education. In a couple of weeks, I will be accompanying 2 of our year 6 students, Sienna and Xavier, and Nives Kresevic to St Francis Xavier Cathedral for a Mass to commemorate 200 years of Catholic Education across Australia. Catholic schools have been the lived expression of the mission of the church in Australia, from the early beginnings of the colony, and currently there are 1746 Catholic schools educating over 764000 students across Australia, including nearly 48000 in South Australia! This underlines the importance of Catholic Schools in the educational landscape in Australia.

On Friday 11th June, there will be a Pupil Free Day, backing on to the June Long Weekend. I apologise for the relatively short notice of this day, however it will give me the opportunity to work with our staff on a number of key CESA initiatives. Our OSHC service will be running full day care for those families who need this support. Hopefully, this is an opportunity for some families to have a long weekend holiday!

As previously advised, NAPLAN assessments have commenced this week. Our thoughts are with our year 3 and 5 students as they undertake these important assessments, which will provide us with valuable information in planning for their ongoing learning success.

On Saturday May 1st, Nives and I attended a parish formation day, with other leaders of the Christ the King parish. We celebrated Mass together, as well as discussed how to ‘be church’ in contemporary society. An important part of the overall conversation related to strengthening our school-parish relationship. I would encourage all families to recognise that as a member of the St Francis school community, you are also a part of the parish community, and there are many opportunities to celebrate faith and fellowship with others! My thanks to parish Priest Fr Michael Trainor for his leadership of the formation sessions and his welcome and support for me as Principal.

A reminder to all families who use the Arcoona Ave entrance to our school, that we share this space with many residents. I have received some complaints from residents that members of our school community who congregate around driveways, sit on others fences, smoke, and allow their children to play on grassed areas. I would appreciate it if you could be mindful and respectful of the property of others.

God Bless,
Phil Schultz
Principal.

Dear Families,

This week, I’d like to share with you a little from a recent article I read in the Autumn SPELD newsletter. Madhavi Nawana Parker writes the following about Children’s resilience that you may find interesting or thought provoking?

“Resilience is a crucial life skill.  Resilient children can be easier to get along with, because of their more even temperament, psychological flexibility and ability to get on with things without kicking up more of a fuss than is necessary or constructive.

What is resilience?  Resilience is mentally and emotionally coping with and adapting to challenges in helpful, constructive ways in order to return to a healthy state of wellbeing in a reasonable amount of time.

Children can be resilient one moment and the next minute, unbuckle and unravel into a pit of emotional chaos.  This doesn’t make someone outright ‘resilient’ or ‘not resilient’.  Resilience is a lifelong process, growing with time, practice, encouragement, brain maturity and exposure to enough (but not too much) challenge and adversity that is supported compassionately and wisely.

Here are three ways you can help a young person build resilience.

1. Try and avoid making resilience sound easy or minimise a child’s problems…
A child’s perception and experience of a difficulty is often perceived in a magnified way, because of their developing brain…It can help to say something like ‘it looks like you’re having a hard time’ and ‘I can see this is hard for you’.  These words reassure a child you acknowledge their experience is tough for them and that you care about that.  Be careful not to over empathise though- just genuinely show you take their feelings seriously.  Resilience grows from having a space for all your feelings and not being made to feel like something is wrong with you, for having them.

2.  Help children develop confidence through competence…
Children need to know they can do things on their own and that they are coping for their age….while we all need people in our lives who care about us and are willing to help when we need it, helping more than is necessary is not helpful for resilience. Try and avoid doing too many things that they can do for themselves.

3.  Encourage healthy risk taking…
Taking healthy risks is about being able to give something a go without a guarantee of success…. Being willing to take risks that aren’t guaranteed success is an important part of building resilience and wellbeing because it allows a child to practice courage and vulnerability which help you be more confident through the ups and downs of life.

Resilience takes time, growing through day to day experiences that allow children to see they are loved and supported through adversity, yet capable and competent to go the distance themselves.”

You can read more in Madhavi Nawana Parkers latest book, “The Resilience and Wellbeing Toolbox 2nd Edition”, which is available through the SPELD SA Shop.

God Bless,
Nives Kresevic
Deputy Principal

After celebrating Easter with our families, we returned to school on a warm and sunny Tuesday in Week 11 to celebrate Pasquetta with our school community.  Pasquetta is what the Italians refer to as Easter Monday.  In Italy, Easter is celebrated during springtime.  It is a time when the Italians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, after the sombre event of Good Friday.  Traditionally on Pasquetta, the Italians will enjoy the company of family and friends by driving to the countryside for a picnic-style lunch and play games such as calcio (soccer), bocce or briscola (an Italian card game).

The students at St. Francis School began their morning with a combined Italian/English Easter  liturgy.  Students then spent the morning with their buddies participating in a variety of rotational Easter/Italian-themed activities.  These activities included: bocce, Easter relay, egg and spoon race, sack race, limbo (to Italian music), Il palio di Siena (an iconic horse race which takes place in Siena, Italy), pin the face on Pinocchio, pin Mount Vesuvius on Napoli, tombola (bingo), the making of Italian chatterboxes and Italian card games.  After participating in the above activities, the students laid out their picnic blankets to sit and eat their lunch with their buddies.  

In the afternoon students were able to order and enjoy a Gelista gelato and support a local business.  It was a wonderful way to begin our last week of Term One and it was beautiful to see the interactions and connections between the students, buddies and teachers throughout the morning.  Many thanks to all the parents who offered to help distribute gelato to the students.  Your support is greatly appreciated, not only by the Languages Team but especially by the students! 

Grazie molto! (Many Thanks!)
Connie Lopresti & Gia Perin
The Languages Team

School Soccer

Last weekend our school soccer teams took part in Round 1 of the season. With a cold and wet forecast ahead of the players, coaches and spectators, all teams still got out there and enjoyed themselves. A reminder to all adults attending to make sure they are following the outlined COVID Safe Plan which include checking in and scanning in via the QR code. Team COVID Marshalls need to maintain social distancing at 1.5m apart and ensure that no more than 4 spectators per player are present at any game. This include parents, siblings and grandparents.

Good luck to all players and coaches as we lead into round 2. The next instalment of the program can be found by following this link. U6-U11 Season Program

SAPSASA Cross Country Trials

On Thursday 6th of May 33 students from Years 4-6 attended the SAPSASA Airport Cross Country Trials. Our students showed some fantastic efforts and represented our school well with their running achievements. From each race the top 6 runners will be offered a place in the district team to go on to compete at Oakbank on June 10th. We await the final results to notify our successful runners.

SACPSSA/SAPSASA Athletics Trials

In the coming weeks students in Year 3-6 will begin to take part in our school Athletics Trials. These trials are used to select our SACPSSA and SAPSASA Athletics Teams who will compete at the school carnival days. Each year level will be informed prior to the days they are trialling to ensure the students are prepared.

James Daley
Sports Coordinator