Wow, where did the 2019 school year go!

Around this time last year, I was meeting the school community for the first time.

We began our school year welcoming a new Principal, new (Assistant Principal) Mr Rodney Green and new (Middle Leader), Mr Brett Murphy. Right from the start, it has been full steam ahead at St Francis of Assisi with staff and students engaged in many learning experiences and opportunities where they have come together in faith, community and learning. Getting to know Father Martin, the staff, students, school and parish community has been a wonderful experience. It feels like I have known them for so long.
We started the year with a Welcome BBQ and Opening School Mass. There have been many opportunities to come together as a faith and learning community. These days were always well attended. It takes all of us; staff, students and parents working together for these days to be successful.
I am often in awe of the wonderful things our staff do for the students and families in our school. Each term we gather for four days where we unpack all our student's data, discuss how our students are going, what they are teaching, set goals and talk about what we need to do for all our students moving forward in their learning. I have been thoroughly impressed with the work the teachers do for our students. They certainly know their students. As I have mentioned before when we believe in students and their ability to learn, they do better.
This year we have had many families in our community who have family members who are unwell and currently undergoing treatment for various illnesses. A lot of behind the scenes work goes into supporting these families. The school and the P&F work closely together to support our families and are guided by the needs of the family at that particular time. We thank everyone for their continued support. Please continue to pray for all the members of our community.
As you know the school has introduced a new student information system called Compass in the latter part of the year as well as a new Financial Management system, TechnologyOne.  This is an exciting transition for our school and will result in more efficient electronic financial management for our school office. I would like to take this time to thank Mrs Tracie Brabender and her team in the office for all they have done to support my role. Often we say Mrs Brabender runs our school, I know our school community appreciates all she does for us and so do I.
It has been my absolute pleasure and honour to be principal of St Francis of Assisi Warrawong. I thank you all for your support, your generosity of spirit and for sharing the educational journey of your children with me. Our mission is to create vibrant Catholic school communities where every student finds meaning and purpose in their life through experiencing continual growth in faith and improvement in learning. As Principal I recognise the need for quality learning and teaching and making this a focus of our professional learning. It is important that we all have that shared responsibility and accountability and setting high expectations for the whole school. 
Congratulations to all of our students for a great 2019 year. They have continued to embrace learning with enthusiasm and energy.
One of our 2020 School Review and Improvement goals is 'Parent Engagement and Participation in the learning'. We will look at some creative ways of not only having our parents help out within the school but how we will engage our parents in their child's learning. Watch this space!
Lastly, thank you for making me feel so welcome, I look forward to working in partnership with you all in 2020. Have a happy and Holy Christmas and a safe and enjoyable New Year with your family and friends.

Mrs Vicky Davidson
Principal

Year 6 Graduation 2019
Last night we celebrated the Graduation of the Year 6 Class of 2019. We remembered and gave thanks for the blessings of the last 7 years and looked to the future as these students take on the world and continue to stand in the light of God. A special thank you to our staff and parents for assisting with the organisation of the Graduation Mass and Celebration. We wish the class of 2019 all the best and may God continue to bless them and guide them in all that they do.

School Student Leaders 2020
We wish to congratulate our Student Leaders for 2020. We are extremely proud of all our Year 5 students and know they will enjoy their leadership roles next year.
Captains:- Daunte and Olivia 
Vice Captains:- Dylan and Ana Marija 
Sports Captains:- Andre, Hannah, James, Sienna, Willson, Tianna, Mohamed.E and Emilia 
Student Representative Council:- Cohen, Haider, Youssef, Sophie, Paige, Harry, Kitarni, Alexia, Xavier, Mohammad. C, Teleah, Mary, Hassan, Gabriel and Happy.
The newly elected School Student Leaders will be inducted at our Mass tomorrow. After this Mass, we will have our Christmas assembly where each class will perform two Christmas songs. This assembly will start at 10.30 am.

P&F Disco
Our recent P&F disco was a great success. The students had a wonderful time. Thank you to the large number of parents who assisted. I also wish to sincerely thank our parents and teachers for the engagement and enthusiasm displayed at these events. This is a great example of community and relationship building. 

Class Teachers for 2020
On Monday afternoon the students will meet their 2020 class teachers. A full list of the staff for 2020 will be included in an end of year bulletin on Tuesday. The students will receive their 2020 student requirements list on Monday afternoon. This was previously sent out in the report envelope.

School Reports
Congratulations to all our students on your end of year reports. It has been wonderful to see how you have experienced continual growth in faith and
improvement in learning. If you were unable to access your child's report on Compass please contact the office.

P&F AGM
Thank you to those parents who attended our P&F AGM last Friday. We had a record number of parents attend. Thank you to the outgoing P&F Committee:
President: Mrs Violeta Miseska
Vice President: Mrs Juli Gouveia
Secretary: Mrs Deborah Jankulovski
Treasurer: Mrs Anna Czerwinski and Mrs Natasha De Andrade
We have valued and appreciated all your time and support in 2019. 

Canteen 2020
We have been fortunate to secure the services of Fresh Start Canteens who service many schools in the Wollongong area. They will run our canteen in 2020 (three days a week). The service will also have an online ordering system available. A special thank you to Mrs Jane Gerada who has been managing the canteen on a voluntary basis for many years and supported by many generous parents who volunteered their time. 

Year 2 Celebration of Learning
Last week we had the opportunity to see Year 2 share their learning during their Celebration of Learning. Congratulations on your presentation and thank you to Mrs Madaschi, Mrs Grey and Mrs Agius for all of your hard work this year. 

Talent Quest 
Please join us for our Annual Talent Quest on Tuesday 17 December at 11.30am. It should be a great couple of hours of entertainment, featuring singing, dancing, jokes, as well as the wonderful Mr Gilmore and myself as the Masters of Ceremonies.

Thank You 2020
As this is the last newsletter of the year, I would like to thank all the students and families for their support this year. You have all made my transition to St Francis of Assisi a lot easier and successful. I hope you all have a happy and holy Christmas season.

Mr Green
Assistant Principal

Thanksgiving Mass
2020 Captain's Induction and Kindergarten Graduation Certificates
Tomorrow we will conclude our year with a Thanksgiving Mass. At this Mass, we will have the 2020 School leaders blessed and presented with their badges. Kindergarten will also receive their graduation certificates. This Mass will commence at 9.00 am in the Church. After Mass, there will be a Christmas Assembly at 10.30am. Please join us for these celebrations.

Parish Live Nativity
On 20 December the Neo-catechumenates will be hosting a live crib with camels and a re-enactment of the First Christmas. Carols from 8pm - Live Nativity from 8.30pm.

Parish Christmas Eve Children’s Mass
Thank you to all those who have volunteered their time to be part of the Christmas Eve Children’s Mass. Practice will be on Saturday morning 21December at 9am. Pageant will begin at 5.45pm and Mass at 6pm on Tuesday 24 December.

Welcome Mass 2020
Our Welcome Mass for 2020 will be Friday 7 February 2020 at 9am. Please add this date to your calendars.

Mrs Madaschi
Religious Education Coordinator

Parish Mass Timetable for Christmas 2019

Tuesday 24 December Christmas Eve

St Francis of Assisi Warrawong- 5.45 pm Christmas Pageant, 6.00 pm Children's Mass, 9.30 pm Christmas Carols, 10.00 pm Mass

St Mary of the Rosary Berkeley- 6.00pm

St Patrick's Port Kembla 6.00pm and Midnight

Wednesday 25 December Christmas Day

St Francis of Assisi Warrawong- 9.30 am 

St Mary of the Rosary Berkeley- 8.00 am

St Patrick's Port Kembla -10.30 am

Holy Family Windang- 8.30 am

School Swimming Carnival
Congratulations to all our students who participated in the School Swimming Carnival last Thursday. Everyone had a fun day and displayed great sportsmanship in every event. Thank you to our parents who supported the students and a big thank you to our staff who were very willing to jump in the pool to help with the rotational activities. The results of this carnival will determine who will represent our school in the Regional Swimming Carnival in 2020.

Congratulations to the following Age Champions for 2019:-

House Colour Champion
1^st- Yellow.     2^nd – Green.   3^rd – Red.    4^th – Blue

Congratulations to Samuel, Lucinda, Antonio, Narmin and Seth on the completion of their Reading Recovery intervention.  I am so proud of your efforts and hard work.  Well done and happy reading!

Ms Maitland
Reading Recovery Teacher

We were very lucky to have Mr Ben Woods from the Catholic Education Office visit us in Kindergarten this week.  Mr Woods taught us how to use a new App called "Clips".  We had so much fun learning to use the video, talk to text and sticker features in the App.

We used "Clips" to explain our artefact from our memory boxes and we cannot wait to try using it for other activities in our learning into the future.

Thank you Mr Woods, for visiting us!

Mrs Beckhaus &
Kindergarten Blue 

On Monday 2 December, Year 5 along with their teachers Mr Gilmore, Mrs Matos and Mrs Adams visited the Illawarra Multicultural Aged Care Village and Port Kembla Hospital to sing Christmas carols to the residents and patients. 

The students performed a variety of traditional and fun Christmas carols with many of the residents and patients joining in. The students also gave them a Christmas card each and had a little chat with them which brought many a smile and a few joyful tears as well.

It was a wonderful experience for all and we are very proud of our students.

Mrs Matos

PB4L News
Please remind your children, that our school rules BE RESPONSIBLE, BE RESPECTFUL, BE SAFE are especially important as we approach the end of the term. As an extra incentive, you can let them know that Santa is watching to see who’s naughty or nice!!

Kid’s Corner
A reminder, that either before or after Christmas if you are doing a sorting of toys and have any board games, puzzles or colouring books in good condition that could be donated as resources for this quiet playing area, please send them into Mrs Matos. Resources are low and students would be quite thrilled to have new games to play with next year.

Mrs Matos
PB4L Team leader

The Volunteer Morning Tea
Our Volunteer Morning Tea was held on Tuesday morning as a sign of our appreciation to all our parents and friends who have volunteered throughout this year.
Thank you to our wonderful volunteers for their patience and time in supporting our school community.
You have worked tirelessly in the canteen, supported our infant classes with reading and helped at the discos, barbecues, sporting events and special school events, just to name a few. We are extremely grateful for your time and dedication.

Dear Parents and Carers, 

Moving into next year, we will begin using the online consent and payment options on Compass for school events your child may be attending. Please see the photos for screenshots of detailed information on how this process will work. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to make a time to meet Mr Murphy.

Semester 2 Student Reports - Compass Parent Portal Online

Please see the information flyer below that went home last week with information regarding access to your child/ren's school report online via the parent portal. 

P&F AGM
It was so wonderful to see many parents attend and be involved in our school Parents & Friends AGM last Friday afternoon. We welcome the following who have joined the P&F team for 2020: -

CHRISTMAS RAFFLE
Tickets for the Christmas raffle are 1.00 each.  Three hamper prizes in the raffle to WIN and also a  prize is drawn for each class.  Please return the tickets by Friday 13 December. The Raffle will be drawn on Wednesday 18 December.  Thank you for your continued support. 

CHRISTMAS DISCO & MUFTI DAY
Thank you for your support.  The children had a wonderful time on both occasions and it has been a wonderful way to finish off a great 2019 at St Francis!

MERRY CHRISTMAS
Thank you for your support this year.  We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and look forward to working together again in 2020. 

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.