Our school wide focus in PB4L in Week 7 and 8 has been 'Being Respectful' - Treating others as we would like to be treated. Students have been learning about how to think of others in their words and actions, to understand the impact that what they say and do can have on others, and trying to treat others respectfully to make a positive impact on others around them.

At St Francis of Assisi, we value the importance of every person feeling safe and happy in our school environment. As with anything, these are important learnings for students as they grow and develop into respectful members of our community. 

Our Social and Emotional Learning focus has been around respecting the personal space of others. Students have learned about what personal space is, and how different people can have different levels of comfort with how much space they require. We have been teaching students about how to read the signs of when someone is feeling uncomfortable with you being in their personal space. 

These learnings have had a practical application in our classroom and playground settings, with observable changes being made in student behaviour. There are still instances where students make mistakes, or are still learning these skills. Teachers are always working to support students and look for teachable moments to reinforce these skills in practical situations. 

Finally, a reminder that our PB4L expectations state that no hat means no play. Especially as the weather begins to warm up, it is important that every student brings their hat to school each day, labelled with their name.

Christmas Art Competition 2023
Stage 3 has been busy completing their Religious Education unit around the Christmas story and art competition, this term. As part of this, every student created an artwork based on one of the Christmas Scripture stories they learned about.
This resulted in many quality and creative artworks being created and displayed for staff to judge. Each artwork also contained a written description and reflection on their artwork, which was included in the judging process. 

Congratulations to our selected finalists:
Year 5 - Mateo, Levi, Antonio

Year 6 - Eunique, Manee, Tahlia

These artworks will now be judged for Shortlisting at the Catholic Education Office. Best wishes to all of our students and we look forward to hearing about how they fare against the finalists from all schools in our Diocese. 

RSL and Schools Remember ANZAC Art Competition for 2024
The RSL and Schools Remember ANZAC Commemoration was first held in 1953 and co-hosted by RSL NSW and the Department of Education. Over the years the service has expanded to Catholic Schools NSW and the Association of Independent Schools NSW. Proceedings, held at the Anzac Memorial Hyde Park in April each year, are delivered entirely by school students including the Master of Ceremonies, keynote address, readings, and musical accompaniment. The Service also includes an Inspection of the Guard by the official party, The Ode, The Last Post, and Rouse.
The service aims to educate primary and secondary school students about Australia’s military history, whilst paying respect to the service and sacrifice of servicemen and women of the Australian Defence Force.
To mark the 71st Anniversary of this service in 2024, RSL NSW, the Department of Education, Catholic Schools NSW and the Association of Independent Schools NSW are launching an art competition for NSW school students. The theme of the competition is “Why Lest we Forget?”, inviting students to create an artwork that considers why we commemorate ANZAC Day. Two artworks will be selected for the cover of the 2024 service program and all finalists’ artworks will be displayed at the Anzac Memorial and included in the program.

More information including the guidelines, how to submit artwork, judging and FAQs can be found here.