Week 3 - Term 3

Dear parents & caregivers,

Term three has had a somewhat rocky beginning! The recent COVID lockdown has called us to be agile and resilient in everything we do. I must say how delighted I have been with the way our school community has coped with the last three weeks. The staff have done an amazing job of ensuring continuity of learning and well-being for the children. I have been very grateful for the way our parent community has accepted and worked with, the restrictions put in place to keep us all safe. Our children have been brilliant in managing a set of circumstances completely out of their control.

With the ‘state of play’ being as it is in SA and nationally, a number of school events and activities which may be impacted by restrictions – eg Book Week, Father’s Day, Sports day in term 4 etc. We are planning hopefully, however we have contingencies in place as well.

As you would no doubt be aware, the road ahead is uncertain, and so I am asking that you continue to observe the current restrictions conscientiously for the foreseeable future. Like you, I am looking forward to the easing of these restrictions and for us all to return to some sense of normality.

Next week, our intrepid year 5 students will venture down to Wirraway for their annual camp. There had been uncertainty regarding the camp going ahead, but thankfully, restrictions have eased just enough for the camp to go ahead. My thanks to year 5 teachers Richard Bailey and Rebecca Pawson, as well as Nives Kresevic, Andrea Edwards and James Daley for leading the camp. We will look forward to hearing about their adventures upon their return.

Later this term, Christ the King parish celebrates its 60th year anniversary. St Francis is a parish School and was established around the same time! This is indeed a momentous occasion for the parish and school. Significant planning is taking place to ensure the occasion is marked appropriately, and our school children will be actively involved in the Liturgy, which is to be held on Sunday September 12 – COVID restrictions notwithstanding. I encourage all families to mark this date in your calendars and to strongly consider coming along to celebrate! After mass, there will be food and activities for all, and it promises to be a great day! Further information will be distributed in due course.

Next week, Catholic Education SA celebrates Catholic Schools open week. Our schools have had to significantly adjust the various ways in which we engage in this week. However there are plenty of signs of the celebration! We have bus shelter advertisements, on Henley Beach Rd and in the city, as well as adverts in local business directories. We were to host a school tour next week as well, however that has been postponed. You may have seen the Magazine insert in last week’s Saturday Advertiser as well!

Recently we circulated an email outlining an invitation for families to participate in the “Living, Learning, Leading” survey being conducted by Catholic Education SA and Curtin University. It is a perception survey designed to find out families perception of our school. I encourage you to complete the survey, which will be open for the next couple of weeks. Staff and students from year 2-6 have also had the chance to complete the survey. The data will be valuable in helping inform our current actions and future developments.

Speaking of developments, today we hosted the first of four visits from architects, who have been invited to submit proposals to develop a Master Plan for school development. This is an exciting time for our school community as we look to consolidate our existing facilities as well as create contemporary new facilities to allow for continued interest and growth. Once an architect has been appointed, there will be opportunities to provide feedback in the design phase – stay tuned!

It has come to my attention that morning drop off on Henley Beach Rd has been a little problematic. Families are reminded that children should be dropped off at the front of the church, to walk to the school. No cars are able to drive down the driveway and up to the school gate to drop children off as this creates a safety issue. I ask that you please observe this protocol in the interests of student safety – NB-OSHC drop off and collection can take place out of normal hours – before 8.10am and after 3.45pm.

Have a great week everyone – go the Crows!

God bless,

Phil

Dear Families,

Every year, all schools in Australia participate in the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD). The NCCD process requires schools to identify information already available in the school about supports provided to students with disability. These relate to legislative requirements under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the Disability Standards for Education 2005, in line with the NCCD guidelines (2019).

Information provided about students to the Australian Government for the NCCD includes:

• year of schooling
• category of disability: physical, cognitive, sensory or social/emotional
• level of adjustment provided: support provided within quality differentiated teaching practice, supplementary, substantial or extensive.

This information assists schools to:

• formally recognise the supports and adjustments provided to students with disability in schools
• consider how they can strengthen the support of students with disability in schools
• develop shared practices so that they can review their learning programs in order to improve educational outcomes for students with disability.

The NCCD provides state and federal governments with the information they need to plan more broadly for the support of students with disability.

The NCCD will have no direct impact on your child and your child will not be involved in any testing process. The school will provide data to the Australian Government in such a way that no individual student will be able to be identified – the privacy and confidentiality of all students is ensured. All information is protected by privacy laws that regulate the collection, storage and disclosure of personal information. To find out more about these matters, please refer to the Australian Government’s Privacy Policy.

Further information about the NCCD can be found on the NCCD Portal .

Parent Fact sheet information.

If you have any questions about the NCCD, please contact your child’s teacher or myself.

Celebration of the Sacraments of Initiation Confirmation and First Communion

God invites every one of us to be a living sacrament, a living symbol of God’s presence, love and grace to all we meet.

We were blessed to celebrate the sacraments of Confirmation and First Communion with the Vicar-General, Father Philip Marshall, who was complimentary of the candidates and the liturgies.

The candidates especially appreciated Father Philip calling them by name and having a conversation with them.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the families of the candidates for their support of the ‘common good’ in observing the requested protocols to facilitate the liturgies.

Congratulations to the candidates and their families who celebrated Confirmation and First Communion on June 27.

Mason Care, Olivia Chetcuti, Ava Esposito, Eva Filipi, Miriam Fisher, Samika Formato, Amelia Francesca, Jaxon Friscic, Lucas Germinario, Sophie Luttrell, Jaida Manou, Alessio Marrone, Alexander Pedisic, Joseph Rapuano,  Ethyn Renfors, Connor Robertson, Miley Sparrow, Lily Sparrow, Shayla Tarca, Valentina Vorrasi, Isabella Zagari and Alira Zollo.

Social Justice Teaching calls us to have a social conscience, to be instruments of change and to work towards justice of God’s Reign.

As a Catholic school we participate in the Church’s mission, “to bring Good News to the poor” (Luke 4:18), forming students’ minds, hearts and consciences to give witness to a faith which does justice with love.

‘Homeless Jesus’ –Timothy Schmalz

Inspired by Matthew: 25:35 “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,” this sculpture is a representation that suggests Christ is the most marginalized in our society.

The Christ figure is shrouded in a blanket.

The only indication that it is Jesus is the visible wounds on the feet of the sculpture.

The life size version of the work has enough room that someone is able to sit on the bench to ‘be with’ the sculpture.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rAys_ON8rg

Many South Australian primary school aged children are directly supporting the important work of South Australia’s Commissioner for Children and Young People, Helen Connolly, as active participants of her annual Student Voice Postcard initiative, currently being rolled out to all schools across the State. Students from Year 3-6 at St Francis School have participated in this initiative since its inception.

The initiative is helping Commissioner Connolly gain a clearer understanding of what is important to primary school children.

She is asking this under-represented group to respond to four simple questions that invite them to tell her what matters to them most, what aspirations they have, what worries them, and what they would change to make their lives better.

All responses are anonymous. No personal information is collected.

The Commissioner will use the postcard responses to inform her advocacy work to improve the lives of SA’s children and young people.

Learn more about the Commissioner’s Student Voice Postcard initiative at their website.

It was a great year for the 2/3s basketball side making the grand final considering 5 of the team had never played basketball before. The boys did a great job developing and improving there basketball skills throughout the season and really started to play as a team by season end.

The Grand Final was against Whitefriars and considering at the start of the year they beat us 24-2 to be 12-8 down at half time and eventually get beaten 22-12, it was a lost closer game than the scoreline suggest, just proves the improvement they made throughout the year.

Thanks to Kelly for assisting me with the coaching and my many helpful scorers it really did make my job easier.

Finally thanks to the boys your a great bunch to coach cheers Woz.

NATIONAL SCIENCE WEEK - August: 14-27

School theme - 2021 : “Food:  Different By Design”

This year, the theme for National Science Week 2021 is “Food: Different by Design” - incorporating both the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables and the International Year of Creative Economy for Sustainable Development.

“Food: Different by Design” covers a broad range of areas in food production and sustainable agriculture, enabling students to explore topics such as where different foods come from, food technology and laboratory-developed foods. Students will spend time investigating, researching and understanding just how food transpires from the paddock to our plates.