Dear parents and caregivers,
Today is the last day of the 2021 school year and it is an opportunity to give thanks for what has been another extraordinary year, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. As we all did last year, we pray for 2022 to be a year of returning to some sort of normality.
Today’s Thanksgiving Mass was a wonderful opportunity to farewell our year 6 and departing students, and to say goodbye to Mr Bailey, Mrs Noonan and Ms Wilsdon-Smith. We wish them all every future happiness and success. For our year 6 students, their Graduation Liturgy and celebration was a high point in what has been a long and happy journey at St Francis. My sincere thanks to Ms Wilsdon-Smith, Mrs Thomas and Mrs Stoddard for their excellent organisation of the event.
As I promised in last week’s edition, today we are launching our brand new school communications app! It is called ‘SZapp’ which is short for schoolzine app. SZapp is our ‘one stop shop’ for everything related to life at St Francis. Beginning in the new year, we will be using our app for:
- Whole school messaging - instant messages directly to your mobile device
- All forms will now be online - no more paper forms lost in school bags!
- Absentee reporting - fill out an easy form any time of day/night
- School calendar - sync it with your personal calendar if you wish!
- News and information about everything at St Francis at the touch of a button – sports, music, OSHC, information about volunteering, our latest newsletter and more!
Along with this newsletter, you will receive instructions on how to download and install the app on your mobile device – it only takes a couple of minutes and you’re ready to go! I encourage all families to download SZapp today, to both benefit from familiarising yourself with where to find everything on the app before the school year commences, as well as enabling us to communicate with our families during the holidays, as necessary. Another added bonus of downloading SZapp now, is for any families who are yet to have completed necessary paperwork (e.g. 2022 Fee Agreement, Basketball/Cricket/Netball consent, Local walking area excursion consent etc.) - you can complete and submit during downtime over the holidays.
Commencing in 2022, St Francis will become a paperless environment. Our three apps will be:
- SZapp - whole of school communication, forms, etc-as per above
- Seesaw - all class and learning related communications
- Qkr! - all financial transactions.
Once you download the app, you will be able to see, in the Feed, a video message from me, welcoming you to SZapp!
We are pleased to be able to better partner with our families in 2022, through streamlined and efficient communications.
On behalf of everyone at St Francis, I wish you all a safe and happy Christmas and new year period and look forward to seeing you all in 2022!
God bless,
Phil Schultz
Principal.
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