Week 8 - Term 3

Dear parents & caregivers,

As we approach the end of term 3, preparations for our annual Sports day are well underway. It promises to be a day of fun and maximum involvement from all students, with a great mix of athletic and tabloid games that allow all children to be able to shine! We have identified our year 6 sports day leaders and they have been working on developing team and school spirit. Practices for chants has commenced and the excitement has been building. Additionally, sports lessons have featured run off’s and skills practices. We are praying for a fine day to celebrate both sports day and the end of term!

Children will be able to order a special lunch, from “the Cheeky Chook” with orders now available via QKR! On the day, there will also be catering options for adults attending.

As you would all now be aware, next Thursday 22nd September will be a one off Public holiday in memory of the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. We give thanks for a life of devoted and unwavering service and mourn the loss of one of the preeminent world figures of the last 70 years. All schools, offices and services will be closed on this day.  School will resume on Friday 23rd September and I urge all families to ensure their children return to school, to minimise the disruption to their learning.

As you will hopefully have seen by now, St Francis School has recently received accreditation as a ‘Playberry school.” This means we are officially accredited to deliver the Playberry Tier 3 intervention program for learners experiencing difficulties in learning to read and interact with the English language. Playberry is recognised as the Gold standard in Literacy intervention, nationally and globally and we are the first Catholic School in South Australia to receive this accreditation! In addition to our tier 3 program, led by Sarah Battistella and delivered by her and our ESO team, our Tier 1 (whole class) and Tier 2(smaller group) Literacy instruction is aligned with Playberry as well. This comprehensive approach to teaching Literacy means our learners have the best foundations for future learning success. I am extremely grateful for the work of Christie-Lee Hansberry and Sarah Battistella, along with the whole teaching staff for their dedication and commitment to implementing best practice for your children. 

Our OSHC service is experiencing increasing demands at the moment. This is a positive thing for our school community as it is an excellent service and the staff, led by Elena Redkin, do a fantastic job. A reminder though, that for After School Care, we are only licenced for 60 enrolments. Twice in recent times, that number has been exceeded and we have had to call families whose booking was received too late, informing them a place wasn’t available. I encourage you to book in well ahead of the cut off time (12.00 on the day) to avoid disappointment.

While on OSHC, my thanks to all who have completed the Vacation care Survey. We will now analyse the information and determine whether or not we can operate a viable service. The feedback has been encouraging so far, however given our imminent building program (early works commencing in December holidays) we are projecting our thinking towards the April 2023 school holidays as a possible trial period.

Families may have noticed that our communications app-Szapp-has been somewhat ‘intermittent’ in its performance recently. We have been working with the company and their app developers to iron out these technical issues and we sincerely hope things improve very soon!

As we move into term 4, families will begin to observe progress in relation to the building program. There are some significant ‘early works’ required to be ready to begin the build in 2023, not the least of which will be the relocation of the current transportable village. I will be writing to families separately, to keep you informed of the specifics of what will begin to happen, and to invite feedback. I am excited by these works beginning imminently, as the program will create a high class learning facility for your children for the years to come.

Have a great week everyone.

Phil Schultz
Principal.

Dear Families

Today I’d like to share a little of the reading I have been doing around powerful questioning for student learning.

As educators, for each students learning we interrogate data, discern learning directions, monitor change and adapt learning as change occurs to ensure optimal conditions for student success.

As parents, you are our learners first teachers:

“Parents and the broader community are important stakeholders, with parents and caregivers having roles critical to their children’s success.  More often than not, they don’t know the questions to ask their children… when they want to know more about how their child is doing in school.  So, we gave them a script.’ (Pam Betts, personal communication, 2017)

Here are 5 questions you can ask your children:

1. What did you learn today?

2. How did you do?

3. What did you do if you didn’t understand?

4. How can you improve on your learning?

5. What are you most proud of?

Hopefully, you will find these question useful in creating the opportunities for informative conversations with your children and in turn, helpful in leading conversation with your child’s teacher to support your child’s success as a learner.

R U Ok Day

Last Wednesday 8th   students and staff participated in R U OK day. A day when we check in with one another’s wellbeing and ask Are you ok? Activities were conducted in class from Reception to Year 6 highlighting students mental health and the powerful act of just listening - Never underestimate your ability to have a positive impact on someone s life.

Catholic Charities Month

This Friday the Year 6 classes will be hosting “Cardboard Arcade” and the following week there will be ‘Just Dance”, Finding a Treasure, colouring competitions and many more activities to raise money for Catholic Charities Month.

ReLAT(Religious Literacy Assessment Tool)

All Year 4 students in South Australian Catholic Schools will participate in ReLAT. This annual assessment has been developed by the Catholic Education Office and will take place during 19 September – 23 September.

Religious Education (RE) is a core Learning Area in all Catholic schools. It is a foundation for all learning and is integrated into the life of the school through prayer, liturgy and social justice programs.

ReLAT will focus on knowledge content which is core to the Year 3/ 4 Crossways Religious Education curriculum.

St Francis Feast Day

October the 4th is the official feast day of St Francis of Assisi, as this falls during the school holidays, staff and students will celebrate this occasion by attending Mass on Wednesday 28th September followed by various class activities.

Sports Day

We would like to congratulate and announce our 2022 Year 6 Sports Day Captains and Vice Captains.

Well done and good luck as you lead your teams on Friday 30^th September

Green

Captains –  Louis Papic, Ella Nicholson

Vice Captains- Sophie Luttrell, Jaida Manou

Red

Captains – India Varapodio, Alexander Pedisic

Vice Captains – Isabella Mazzarolo, Jameson Ayres

Gold

Captains – Kit Saracino, Shayla Tarca

Vice Captains- Eva Filipi, Izabella Zagari

Blue

Captains – Miriam Fisher, Michael Pegoli

Vice Captains – Airlie Aikman, Aria De Pasquale

School Soccer

With the 2022 school soccer season coming to and end on the weekend, I would like to take to opportunity to thank all team coaches, team managers, game stewards, lines persons and other volunteers for your dedication, commitment and passion that you have all shown so that the students can have the best possible time while playing and learning during the season. Without your assistance our teams wouldn’t even be able to be nominated. Thank you.

Well done to our U7 team featured below who had a fantastic year this year.

In the final few rounds of the season our U8 teams were programmed to play each other on a Saturday morning. The game was played in a very fun and friendly manner and both teams showed great determination and sportsmanship throughout the game.