Dear families,
We are nearly at the end of term 2, which also signifies the end of the first Semester of the school year. It is a great time to reflect on the first 6 months and reset our goals for the remainder of the school year. Students will have the chance to do this when they receive their report cards next week. These reports are a summary of progress made towards achievement of the year level outcome, and provide information about what has been achieved and what needs to be a focus for the remainder of the year. Families will have the chance to meet with class teachers during the first 3 weeks of term 3, if they wish, to seek any clarification of what is contained in the reports.
Last Monday, St Francis hosted Ms Madhavi Nawana Parker. Madhavi is a well renowned author, public speaker and advocate for families, schools and young people and their wellbeing. She is also the founder of ‘Positive Minds Australia.” Those in attendance were treated to an entertaining, insightful and practical presentation around supporting students and developing their resilience and response to anxiety. As part of the school engaging with Madhavi, we submitted an application for a Parents in Education grant, and were successful in being awarded a grant, to support this work! My sincere thanks to Angela DeNadai for her organisation of the event and for working partnership with our wonderful P&F volunteers who provided a beautiful spread of savoury and sweet treats and served warm drinks! It was a truly collaborative venture and we are looking forward to green shoots sprouting as a result of this work.
Over the past few weeks, some exciting events have happened for students at St Francis. Last week, our year 5 and 6 bands competed at the regional schools Battle of the Bands competition. They were very successful, winning the Division 5 section, as well as Nicholas Cavanagh receiving the award for Most Entertaining Stage Presence! All the children were super excited and I am very proud of their achievements! Huge credit must go to Miss Olivia Bozzon and all of our instrumental music teachers, who have moulded these young performers beautifully!
Congratulations must also go to Mason Heatley, who was a member of the North Adelaide Rockets under 12 district Basketball team that took out the national title in Dandenong, for the first time for over 15 years recently! Well done to Mason and his family.
As families have previously been advised, Mrs Andrea Brown has completed her time with us at St Francis and has commenced her new role at St Columba College in Andrews Farm. Andrea was farewelled a couple of weeks ago by our staff and since then we have been going through the process of finding a replacement Enrolments and marketing manager. I am delighted to announce that Mrs Amanda Faulks has been appointed to the position. Amanda is currently in a similar role at St Patrick’s School in Mansfield Park, and will take up her new role at the beginning of term 3. Please join me in welcoming Mandy to our school community! In recent times we have also welcomed Ms Sarah Ryan as our new WHS coordinator. Sarah has been very busy already and it is fantastic to have her as part of the community.
During term 3 Nives Kresevic will be taking some leave to have some surgery on her feet. We wish he a successful operation and speedy recovery! During her absence, Angela DeNadai has been appointed Deputy Principal, while Corinne McKenzie will take join the leadership team as REC 4 days a week. We congratulate both Angela and Corinne on these significant appointments. I will inform the year 5 cohort of Corinne’s replacement in due course.
In recent times, our building project has seen some significant action, with concrete pours happening, and the lift shaft being built-finally we can begin to imagine what is coming! I expect to see considerable and obvious progress over the coming weeks and months.
Have a great weekend everyone.
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