Staff Development Day - Friday 7 June

Each year, the staff participates in professional development to support them in their roles as educators. This week's Staff Development Day's focus aligns with our annual improvement plan in Reading. It is a pupil-free day. Thank you to our parents and carers for organising care for their children on this day.

Confirmation
Confirmation will be celebrated in our parish on Thursday 20 June, at 7 pm.
Please continue to keep in your prayers the candidates who are preparing for the Sacrament of Confirmation.
Thank you to Magdalene Duarte for taking the Confirmation classes this week. 

Thank you, Aspire OSHC
Thank you to the team from Aspire for accommodating the set-up of the hall for the PJ Movie Night last week. The school community values the support and flexibility you provide. Thank you again.

Lost Property
Our lost property basket is overflowing. Items with names are returned, and those without names usually remain in the basket. At the moment, we have unclaimed jackets, hats, and drink bottles. Please ensure every item your child brings to school is labelled. Also, please take a few minutes to check your child's items. At times, the students can pick up another child's jacket, hat, etc. Thank you for your support. 

We are proud of our students who received Principal and Value awards last Friday at the Week 5 Celebration of Learning assembly. Congratulations! 

Semester One Reports - Kindergarten- Year 6
As you may be aware, the NSW Educational Standards Authority (NESA) have undertaken a comprehensive review of the NSW Curriculum, leading to curriculum reform and subsequent implementation of a reformed curriculum which commenced in 2023. In response to the curriculum changes, Catholic Education Diocese of Wollongong has made significant modifications to student semester reports for Primary schools to better reflect your child's academic progress at key points throughout the year and provide parents and carers with a clear picture of their child’s strengths and areas for improvement in specific subject areas.

The following changes will be evident in your child’s semester report from Semester 1 2024: 

• A ‘new look’ report format released via Compass reflecting the outcomes of the new K-10 English and Mathematics syllabuses providing a descriptor for each of the focus areas found in the respective syllabuses
• All Kindergarten students will now receive a written report in Semester 1 and Semester 2 with a three-point grade scale used to report student achievement using the following performance descriptors:
• Thorough
• Sound 
• Basic
• Students in Year 1 - Year 6 will continue to receive semester reports twice a year with a five-point grade scale used to report student achievement using the following performance descriptors: 
• Extensive
• Thorough
• Sound
• Basic
• Elementary 

Report formats are also available for students who are working towards outcomes by which a graded report will not accurately represent their learning progress. As an alternative to a graded report, a comment is provided for each Key Learning Area in line with the student’s goals identified in their Personalised Plan. These reports are only used following consultation between school and parents/carers. 

We look forward to this positive shift in our reporting system and appreciate your continued support in your child's educational journey.

Reports will be made available via Compass on Friday 28 June - Week 9. Parent/Student/Teacher Conferences (K-Year 5) will be held from Week 8-10. More information will be shared via Compass next week - Bookings will open on Tuesday 11 June.

Year 6 Parent/Student/Teacher Conferences will be held early in Term 3.

PB4L
This fortnight, our focus has been:

Be Responsible - Looking after our playground space. We have been focusing on keeping our eating areas tidy. After each break, students are reminded to check their areas. Being responsible means taking care of each area, and picking up rubbish even if it is not your own, without being asked. Teachers also support this by encouraging students and modelling responsible behaviours.

Our Social and Emotional Learning focus has been engagement. When students are invested in their learning and engaged in classroom activities and with their friends, they are more likely to feel happy to come to school each day.

Students have been reflecting on these questions: • What makes you look forward to school? • In other words, what do you feel most engaged with at school? 

We encourage you to have a conversation with your child about what they enjoy about coming to school and in regards to their learning and wellbeing, and what would make them more engaged.

Playground Equipment - Request for donations
As part of our review of playground areas, we are kindly asking for any donations of pre-loved play equipment from your homes if your children no longer use it. 
Some of the donation items could include:
- Matchbox cars, mini monster trucks, car mats, etc.
- Puzzles, board games, card games for wet weather
- Buckets, spades, sand toys for the sand area
- Lego or blocks
- Basketballs, soccer balls, handballs
- Marbles, marble run equipment
- Wool, craft items
Thank you in advance for your support. If you have an item and are unsure if it could be used please contact Mr Murphy to check. 
Thank you to the Stoikovski, Molter, Sherrell, and Di Fazio families for their generous donations so far; we all greatly appreciate them. 

Assembly Dates Term 2

As you may have noticed, we have moved many of our Friday assemblies to the mornings. We will continue to trial this during Term 2 and ask for your feedback, if any, for improvements that could be made. There are some clashes on the calendar and other events that have been previously booked. Please see below for the assembly dates and times for Term 2.

Reminder about special achievements for assemblies
A reminder that this form is available if you would like us to recognise your child's achievement at our Friday assembly. This could be a sporting achievement, dancing, singing, performing achievement, martial arts, etc. Anything that your child has achieved outside of school. We would love to share the good news stories of our students. 

Playground Equipment
We are very excited to have the installation of new playground equipment, seating and storage for our grass and concrete playgrounds. The students are very excited about using the new equipment, and we hope it will improve their well-being and social skills. 
All classes have had explicit lessons with their teachers to outline the expectations for using the new equipment safely and responsibly. They are now enjoying using the new equipment safely, and it has been a big hit! Many parents have also expressed an interest in having a go—we may need to open it up one afternoon! 

Mr Brett Murphy
Acting Assistant Principal

In conjunction with Semester One reports, we will be holding 3-way conferences with students, teachers and parents invited to discuss their learning during Semester 1. 

These will take place in Weeks 8, 9, and 10 of this term. Bookings will be made through the Compass portal. Conferences will be open for parents to book from Tuesday 11 June.  Details will be sent out next week on how to create a booking, and bookings will then be opened to parents. If you are having issues creating a booking after this time, please see your child's class teacher or Mr Murphy for support.

Your child is encouraged to attend these meetings with you to have an input into their learning so far and be a part of planning learning goals for Semester Two.

Our continued commitment to working in partnership with families and students to support faith, learning, and wellbeing.

PLEASE NOTE that Year 6 Conferences will be held next term when Mr Gilmore returns. 

Thank you to our WEN student leaders and Mr de Vet for leading a beautiful liturgy yesterday for World Environment Day. World Environment Day is the United Nations' day to promote worldwide awareness and action for the environment. As a community, we are encouraged to make changes and desire to work together to save our beautiful planet.

Healing Our Throwaway Culture: A Focus on Plastics
Over the past 50 years, world plastic production has doubled. The world's population must work to address the plastic crisis if we are to control the climate crisis, improve the health of our air and oceans, and protect the earth's biodiversity and human health. How can we  respond to what Pope Francis calls "our throwaway culture?" 

One way our school community can make a change is through recycling plastic bottles. Many of our students are buying the new plastic drink bottles sold through our canteen. Thank you to Nicole from Lunchbox Express for her initiative. The school has set up a system where students can put these empty bottles into a special recycling bin. These bottles will be recycled through the Return and Earn Depot. Please help us to promote this initiative and educate our students on how to help the environment.

Congratulations to Year 4Blue on receiving the "Caring for our Common Home" award for displaying a responsible attitude towards recycling and composting.

Read through the commitments handout below and consider what further actions or commitments you can take on a personal and community level.

After another wonderful week of learning, our Year 2 students had the opportunity to showcase their achievements at our Celebration of Learning assembly. The students led us in prayer, read some amazing stories, shared their learning in Science, challenged us with some mathematical problems, and presented some of their artworks.  Thank you to Mrs. Matos, Mrs. Briscoe, and our Year 2 students for leading the assembly and presenting the awards. We loved seeing you celebrate all the wonderful things you are learning in your classroom!

The students are enjoying the new services of Lunchbox Canteen and all the fun treats and meals they can buy.  They are especially enjoying ordering online and Nicole from Lunchbox Express has been giving out prizes for online orders, which helps her with her planning and catering.  Thank you St Francis Parents and Students for supporting Nicole and thank you, Nicole, for joining our school community, we are grateful you are here!

We would like to thank and extend our gratitude to Peter and his team from Illawarra Handyman Services who installed the playground equipment on the grass playground. Their service was very prompt, efficient, and safety focus was their priority. Thank you Peter & Team!

Enrolment applications for Kindergarten 2025 are open ONLINE and are now due.  Please submit your application online following the details below or visit our school website.  Please do not hesitate to contact the School Office if you have any questions.

Click here to Enrol Online

At the end of Term 1, we had a large number of lost property items. These items do not have any names on them. Please check your child/ren's items are all clearly labeled so that we can return these when misplaced ie jackets, jumpers, hats, lunchbox, and drink bottles.

Please feel free to donate your preloved and outgrown school uniforms to the
School Office.  Thank you