Dear families,
The end of the year has arrived! It has been a very busy and productive year at St Francis School, and I am very proud of the achievements of the students and staff, who have all worked extremely hard to create a community that grows together in faith, peace and wisdom. On behalf of all staff at St Francis School, I wish all families a happy and holy Christmas and rich blessings for the new year ahead. The following are extracts from my address to the Thanksgiving mass, and the year 6 Graduation:
Good morning everyone,
What a lovely way to end our school year together. My thanks to Mrs DeNadai and all who were involved in bringing the celebration together. It has been another year of change and growth, as well as another year of ‘unprecedented events.’ We have much to be grateful for, here at St Francis-a beautiful school, wonderful staff and students, and a supportive parish community. There is a very strong sense of being a family who grows together, in Faith, Peace and Wisdom and I am very grateful for having been blessed with the opportunity to be principal. 2024 will bring exciting new possibilities as we prepare to take ownership of our new buildings! I know right now things are messy and a bit uncomfortable, but I do know that it will all be worth it in the end.
I would like to say a special and sincere thankyou to all of our staff – teachers, ESOs, admin staff, finance and maintenance staff-for their fantastic work all year to create fantastic learning opportunities for all of you. We are very lucky to have such a dedicated team of people working here at St Francis.
With the end of the school year comes a time of farewell for some students, families and staff. I would first like to acknowledge and congratulate our year 6 students. Tonight, we will have the opportunity to celebrate their graduation together, with a Liturgy and a dinner. I want to sincerely thank Mrs Stoddart, Ms Gill and Mrs DeNadai for their organisation of all aspects of the evening – I am very much looking forward to it. We wish all our year 6 students every future happiness and success.
This year we say goodbye to some very special people. Mrs Beaufoy, who has been a teacher for 43 years, with many of them at St Francis, is retiring! Mrs Beaufoy has made such a wonderful contribution to our school community, and we are very sad to see her go. We wish Mrs Beaufoy every future happiness and hope to still see her from time to time!
We also say goodbye and thankyou to Mrs Harslett, who has made a great contribution to our school this year, working with our year 2 classes, as well as many other class groups during the year. We wish Mrs Harslett every future happiness. Mrs Diem Savy will be moving to Our Lady Queen of Peace school next year. We are very grateful for Mrs Savy’s work with the Receptions over the past 18 months and wish her every happiness at her new school. Ms Pawson has been a wonderful year 1 teacher this year and we sincerely thank her for everything she has done. We hope to see Ms Pawson regularly into the future. We are also saying goodbye and thankyou to Miss O’Dea who has done a great job with our new receptions this year.
In 2023 we will have some new staff join our community. We welcome Mrs Fernandez, Miss Auger and Ms Frost to our school community and look forward to getting to know them next year.
In closing, I would like to thank Fr Michael for being with us today. It is always great to have you share mass with us and your faith, wisdom and guidance are an inspiration to us all. I would also like to sincerely thank the Christ the King parish for supporting our school in so many ways this year, and for those families and parishioners who have joined in our celebration today.
Dear year 6 students,
My congratulations to you all on coming to the end of your primary school years. This is a significant moment for you and your families. You have all worked extremely hard over the past 7 years, and have grown into wonderful young people that your families can be extremely proud of. Although I have only at St Francis for 2.5 years, I have enjoyed the time we have had together, and have watched you as you’ve made your mark as community leaders in so many ways. A highlight for me was the way you lead our school tours. I have been very impressed with the learning you have exhibited during my time here at St Francis. I particularly liked your growth mindset, and your commitment to find new and interesting ways to showcase your learning. Another real highlight for me was our camp to Finniss. I was proud of the way you conducted yourselves during the camp, and very much enjoyed the time we had together.
Our regular fortnightly gatherings have been very well hosted by many of you this year, and I often marvelled at the confident way you engaged with the children, and kept those gatherings flowing! Your leadership has been seen and felt in many other ways too – through being wonderful buddies to our reception students, a variety of social justice initiatives, through being eco warriors who kept the school clean and tidy, in leading your teams on Sports day, helping out with Playgroup, running lunch time clubs and in the many and varied ways you were called to represent the school.
Year 6’s, I would also like to acknowledge and thank your teachers and your parents, who are gathered with us tonight. Firstly, to all parents and caregivers, my sincere thanks for your positive and productive engagement with our school community over the past 7 years. It really does take a village to raise a child, and your partnership with us has made a world of positive difference in forming the wonderful human beings graduating this evening! I would particularly like to thank and congratulate the following families who will be finishing their time at St Francis:
Ashima, Brown, Busolin, Cosenza, Costolloe, Cox, Fewster, Flinn, Fontanelli, Formato, Guidi, Harrity, Herrmann, Holton, Lewis, Machiste Guitian, Marrone, Mayo, McEvoy, Mezzino, Nuske, Palasis, Pegoli, Petridis, Robinson, Sharma, Sinclair, Spanagel, Speziali, Tomkinson, Westerhof, Williams, Youssef.
On behalf of everyone here at St Francis, I wish you all every future happiness. If your journey hasn’t yet ended with us, then I look forward to our ongoing partnership!
To our wonderful class and specialist teachers-those who are here and those who are at home – and more broadly to all teachers who have taught your children over the last 7 years, I say a sincere and heartfelt thankyou for your dedication and commitment to the children and their learning. While you may not immediately see or feel it, you have made a profound positive difference in these young people’s lives and they will, I’m sure, look back fondly on their time with you!
As you move on, now from St Francis, I thought it would be a good idea to remind you of some of the things St Francis himself said:
“Start by doing what is necessary, then what is possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible.”
“For it is in giving that we receive.”
“Remember that when you leave this earth, you can take with you nothing that you have received--only what you have given.”
“I have been all things unholy. If God can work through me, He can work through anyone.”
“Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace. Where these is hatred, let me sow love...” (The Peace Prayer)
“Preach the Gospel at all times. Use words if necessary.”
"The deeds you do may be the only sermon some persons will hear today."
"The only thing ever achieved in life without effort is failure."
"Do few things but do them well, simple joys are holy."
“A single sunbeam is enough to drive away many shadows.”
I hope these simple messages will stay with you in your lives!
So, now for my top 10 pieces of advice! Year 6 students, as you move on from our community, please remember:
- Being a leader is about setting the example; of showing integrity; of making the right decisions; of being a good human being first and foremost. You should all aspire to these things
- Love and care for your family-they have given you the best possible start in life – honour that by making your mark in the world
- Stay true to yourselves - The most important thing in your life is to live your life with integrity and to not give into peer pressure to try to be something that you’re not – be the person YOU want to be, and don’t let others get in the way!
- Empathy and kindness are the true signs of emotional intelligence. Care for others around you, and especially those who haven’t enjoyed the privileges you all have – make a difference in someone else’s life as well.
- Honour God – whether you believe, or question that belief. You can do this in many simple and tangible ways – an easy how to guide is to learn the Beatitudes, then live them in your lives.
- Love and care for the world you live in. Our shared home is a precious one, so look after it!
- Pursue what is meaningful not what is easy or expedient.
- Always tell the truth — or, at least, don’t lie!
- Assume that the person you are listening to might know something you don’t – and listen well.
- You can’t have a rainbow without a little rain. Sometimes things will go wrong-embrace that, be resilient-things will always get better-especially if you have a positive mindset!
- Have fun – life is for living!
I wish you all, every future happiness. I want you to know that you will always have a place in this community, and we all look forward to hearing of your future exploits!
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