At St Francis of Assisi, we often reflect on our vision statement. “An engaged Catholic community, inspired by the Franciscan spirit, empowering all learners to reach their full potential”  This is our goal, it is what we strive to achieve and what we base our decisions around. In every classroom, the students are taught about our Catholic faith and this is modelled by our staff and religious when they visit classrooms. As educators, we strive to see the face of Jesus in everyone we meet; this means to see the good in everyone. We are very fortunate to have students and families from different faith backgrounds. This does not change the education we provide, our liturgical practices or our behaviour. St Francis of Assisi, our patron Saint lived his life as a man of faith and peace, with a deep respect for all creation. He based his life on the humanity of God. At the end of term, we will celebrate the Feast of St Francis of Assisi, a man who had the desire to follow Jesus’ example and who was a devoted follower of the Catholic Church. 

IT'S WHO WE ARE

Recently the Diocese of Wollongong produced a beautiful, short video, narrated by Bishop Brian Mascord, that describes who we are as Catholics in the Diocese of Wollongong. The video points to all of the good works of so many church agencies and the people of the diocese. Bishop Brian Mascord reminds us that, Together, we are one in Christ, seeking to be bearers of his saving love. I invite you to view the video. It showcases the wonderful people and works of the diocese that happen every day and often goes unnoticed.

Click here to watch the video (2mins 42 seconds)

Click here to find out about the making of the video

We give thanks for all the good works that change the lives of so many people, and indeed your very own children.

Mrs Vicky Davidson
Principal

Religious Education Coordinator Appraisal
Next Wednesday our Religious Education Coordinator Mrs Mandy Madaschi will undertake an appraisal process. The appraisal process is an enabling strategy for building leadership capacity and supporting school leaders in their individual professional growth. It is an important platform for reflection on performance and achievement in the role. It allows for successes to be acknowledged and affirmed, and areas for development to be identified. We thank Mrs Madaschi for her deep engagement in and support for the school and parish community. We wish her all the best for her appraisal.

Our school uniform identifies who we are and what we represent within and beyond the school.

Our school uniform policy states "all sports footwear must be a predominately white jogger style with white laces or velcro." Currently, we have students wearing bright orange, pink and other dominate colours. These shoes are great for home or other sports outside of school.
We understand that some parents may have purchased joggers at the end of last year that are not predominately white. A grace period will be allowed for the remainder of the year. Parents are requested to purchase predominately white joggers when your child requires new shoes or at the start of the 2020 school year, thereby adhering to the School Uniform Policy.
Pictorial examples of appropriate joggers.  

2020 - Sports shoes do not need to be expensive; they can have some colour on them but must be predominately white. Thank you for your continued support.

Change to Summer Uniform
Term 4 is nearly upon us; please be reminded that all students change into our Summer Uniform from Monday 14th October 2019. The weather forecast for the next few weeks is for some cooler days under 20 degrees. Those days over 20 degrees seem to be on days when the students wear their sports uniform. We encourage girls to wear navy socks instead of stockings on these days. Students may wear shorts on sports days. 

New Afternoon Dismissal
As you know in preparation for our building project on the frontage of the school we will need to make some changes, especially around afternoon dismissal. We are hoping to find out this date soon.

Parents Picking Up in Car Lines
It has been noticed that a few parents have been getting out of their car while dropping off / picking up students in the Drop Off / Pick Up Zone. This is not permitted under the NSW Road Laws, so a reminder to all parents to stay in their car or risk a hefty fine from Council Rangers or the Police. If your child requires any help getting into the car, the teacher on duty will assist. Thank you.

Mr Green
Assistant Principal

First Reconciliation
On Tuesday 10 September children from our school and parish will make their First Reconciliation at St Mary of the Rosary Parish, Berkeley at 7.00pm. We thank our leaders - Mel Beckhaus, Holly Madaschi, Maggie Duarte, Dona Eady and Sr Anna for volunteering their time to lead groups and prepare our students.

Please pray for Brae, Isabella, Lauren, Monica, Lara, Max, Julian, Savannah, Eva, Ryan, Felicia, Joseph, Jessica, Tevita and Chanel, our students from Year 3 celebrating this sacrament.

Feast of St Francis of Assisi
Our school will celebrate the feast of St Francis of Assisi on Friday 27 September, the last day of Term 3. This feast is in the school holidays so we celebrate early. The day will begin with Mass and this will be followed by activities related to St Francis. We will complete the day with the celebration of learning by Year 1. More details of this day will be in the next newsletter.

Mrs Madaschi
Religious Education Coordinator

Basketball Gala Day

Students from Years 3 to 6 will be attending the South Coast Basketball Gala Day on the 19-20 September. Students in Year 3 and 4 will play on Thursday, Year 5 and 6 students will play on Friday. The venue for this gala day is the basketball stadium in Hooka Road, Berkeley. Permission notes have been distributed to the students who have nominated to play on the day.

MacKillop Athletics Championship
Congratulations to Savannah D (Yr 6), who will be attending the Mackillop Athletics Championship at Homebush on the 16th September. She will be representing the Wollongong Diocese in the 100m and the senior girls High Jump. Good luck, Savannah!

Mrs Briscoe
Sports Coordinator

IMPORTANT 2020 SCHOOL FEES UPDATE
Please find below a letter from the Catholic Education Office Wollongong explaining the school fee system.  A new Instalment Arrangement is available, this is replacing the current School Fee Agreement.

School fee statements are 30-day accounts, unless you complete the attached Request to Pay by Instalment and email to instalments@dow.catholic.edu.au.  A schedule of payments will be prepared by the Catholic Education Office and issued to you.  It is encouraged fee payments are made online via the Parent Compass Portal or by Bpay.  Direct debit plans are preferred to be updated to the fee payment instalment plan via Bpay. 

The attached Request by Instalment can be completed and emailed this term in preparation for 2020.

Reading is my secret power!!! We are all so amazed at the amount of time spent on preparing costumes, teachers preparing works of art, students preparing iMovie trailers on the books, the list goes on. We had a spectacular day and so much fun was had by all.

We loved hearing students different secret powers that they had - words like, curious, imagination, friendship, generosity, belief, family, supportive, loving! What an incredible array of talents and powers we have at our little school.

During this term in the Library Stage 3 have been busy creating iMovie trailers for some of our Short Listed Books. The students were encouraged to choose a book within their groups and create a book review using the platform of iMovie Trailer. Some of the end products were viewed during our Book Week parade. All the students and staff were very impressed and proud of the final products. Well done Stage 3!  Please view these book trailers below.

Mrs Burrows

"Rainbow Bear"

"Cicada"

"Here Comes Stinkbug"

Well done to our Kindergarten students who presented at our Week 5 Celebration of Learning Assembly. They were amazing!!

Congratulations to the following students who received awards at this special assembly:

Our next Celebration of Learning Assembly will be held
Friday 27 September at 2.10pm
In Week 10 and the last day of Term 3.
Year 1 will be presenting this special assembly.   

We hope you can join us!

Over the next couple of weeks, we will be having 12 of our Years 3 to 6 students participating in the University of New South Wales / ICAS Assessments. These are voluntary online assessments that the students signed up for earlier in the year.

The assessment timetable is:
Week 7 - Digital Technologies and Science
Week 8 - Writing and Spelling
Week 9 - English and Mathematics

We raised over $500.00 from The Cupcake Day!

The Mini Vinnies Team presented Mrs Maher from St Vincent de Paul with a cheque for $500.00 at the Kindergarten Celebration of Learning assembly. This donation will be used to support families in need in our local community. The local St Vincent de Paul community were overwhelmed with our school’s generosity. Thank you again to all our Mini Vinnies students for providing the cupcakes.

We also had another special presentation to make to Mrs Maher, the Giorgio family spent their evenings making scarves for the homeless. The scarves were made of wool using a loom band holder. Special thanks to the Giorgio family!

Premier Illawarra, our local bus service, offers bus service to and from our school each morning and afternoon. We have a few students utilising this service already and it is there for everyone who has an NSW Government School Opal Card. The card is easy to apply for online at Transport NSW.

The route is:

Departing at 8.05am from Hopman ( (turning right) Warwick (turning right)  Nolan (turning left) Gallop (turning left) Winnima (turning left) Barnes (turning right) Flagstaff (turning right) George (turning left) Northcliffe (turning left) Jackson (turning right) Stuart  Walker (turning right) Northcliffe (turning right) Lake Hts (turning right) Flagstaff (Drop off Warrawong High In Flagstaff Rd) (turning right) Cowper (turning left) Greene (turning left) Third (turning left) Bruce Rd (turning left) Flagstaff Rd. Arriving at St Francis at 8.31am.

Departing St Francis at 3.17pm Flagstaff - PICK UP WARRAWONG HIGH SCHOOL - (turning left) Lake Hts Rd Arriving at St Francis at 8.31am (turning left) Northcliffe Dr (turning left) Walker (turning left) Stuart (turning left) Jackson (turning right) Northcliffe (turning right) George (turning right) Nanawilli (turning left) Barnes (turning right) Winnima (turning right) Gallop (turning right) Nolan (turning left) Hopman (turning right) Warwick to Nolan Arriving at 3.42pm.

There is also the Transport NSW App, which allows you to track the bus in real-time, so you know exactly where it is and when it will arrive.

Mr Green
Assistant Principal