Dear Parents and Carers,

Just over three weeks ago I was sitting with my husband at the Melbourne Cricket Ground watching the T20 Women's World Cup Cricket Final with 86,174 people. Never in a million years, as they say, did I ever think that I would be writing a newsletter article about a pandemic. So much has changed in such a short time. Learning remotely, watching Mass online, encouraging people to stay at home and social distancing ourselves from each other, just to name a few.

We have heard the phrase “we are in unprecedented times” used on a daily basis since  Covid-19 started. It is true, we have never experienced days like this before, but it is also true that we have come through many tough times before. The end of the tunnel may be long and at times dark, but there will be a light and we will follow that light. It may take time, but we walk that path with our God.

Many of our students have been hearing a lot about COVID-19, from friends, on the news, and at home. While they might not know how to appropriately express their feelings about the situation, they might be holding on to some worries. It is hard for us - as adults - to keep up with the level of information that is being delivered through the media and relevant authorities. Not only are we having to manage the information but the implications of this information impact so many aspects of our lives. I am sure, that like staff, you are trying to cope with the rapid rate of change at the moment along with the stress and anxiety that comes with the ‘unknown’. I can't imagine what our students are thinking at this time. 

Here are some tips to support your child:

Be available to talk and reassure Limit news exposure Stick to routines and boundaries Acknowledge the worries Be mindful of your own worries Consider opportunities for exercise

We continue to pray for all those affected by the current situation and in particular the doctors, nurses, paramedics and medical researchers who are working tirelessly on our behalf. 

Lastly, please take care of yourself as we enter into the last week of term. It is important that we maintain the learning journey with the students, and it is even more important that we strengthen our family relationships and take care of each other.

Gracious God,
We give thanks anew for your providence and presence.
We prayerfully seek your grace, amidst COVID-19 here and overseas.
We pray for those in need of healing.
We pray for your peace with those who are anxious or grieving.
We pray you will continue to strengthen and sustain all those who are serving in response.
We pray for your Holy Spirit’s discernment amidst the many choices and decisions facing our nation, community and medical leaders.
We pray we each might see quickly what more we can do to help those who are vulnerable.
This prayer for our nation in the family of nations, with all that is on our hearts, we gather now and pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN.

Stay safe,
Mrs Vicky Davidson
Principal

Thank you
Please remember school is still open and offering support to our parents, caregivers and students. I would like to thank our parent community for the positive comments and emails we have received in recognition of the learning programs offered to our students. We are all in this together. In saying this, I would like to acknowledge the wonderful and generous staff of St Francis of Assisi. Our staff have gone above and beyond in their planning and deliverance of programs and provision of feedback for students. I also thank every one of them for the professionalism, work ethic and dedication they have shown. 

CEDoW COVID-19 Information
Please continue to log in to the Catholic Education Diocese of Wollongong COVID-19  information page on their website. (see the link below)
The Catholic Education Office is monitoring this situation closely, and this page is updated regularly. Staff, parents and carers, and others in our school communities are encouraged to visit the page for the latest information about our systemic response.

https://www.dow.catholic.edu.au/covid19

Thank you for your engagement in our Remote Learning. If the students are not able to get all their tasks done in a day that is okay. They can continue on from where they left off or start the new day of learning.

An attendance sign-in is required, this form can be found on each class page. Please ask your child/ren to sign in when they commence their learning for the day. This is the way we are tracking attendance.

Please use the same link to our school home learning site to log in each day. This link can be found on your Compass notification. We will post the link to the site again tomorrow morning on Compass. This website will be updated at 8.30 am daily with the students learning tasks for that day. It is important that each child reads the slides on their class page in order before they commence the task on Seesaw (K-3) or Google Classroom (4-6). Students need to read the instructions on the slide/s before they complete the task. 

If any assistance is required, please do not hesitate to email the class teacher or contact the school. We are here to help. 

Remote Learning Attendance
We advise the attendance in the Compass Parent Portal has been disabled due to the remote learning.  We are required to show attendance for remote learning and this is tracked by the students logging in to the SFAW Home Learning Site.  If your child is sick and not be participating in remote learning for that day, please email the class teacher or notify the school so that the attendance can be explained as "sick". For the moment this will be recorded manually from the office. Thank you.

Mr Green
Assistant Principal

Mrs Madaschi
Religious Education Coordinator

Dear Parents and Carers, 

Thank you for your support and patience over the last couple of weeks. It has been a challenging time for all of us with big changes happening without much notice. The students and families have embraced online leanring in such a short period of time and are so engaged with this. 

Please see below for a great list of sites and resources that you can use in addition to the daily class learning experiences being provided.

If you are experiencing any difficulty accessing or using the online learning resources please feel free to call the school or email me at MurphyB01@dow.catholic.edu.au to make a time to meet. 

We are in this together and we're always happy to help out however we can.

YEAR 1
Year 1 have actively been engaging with remote learning from the very first day, participating in English, Mathematics, Religious Education and many other learning experiences. Thank you to the students for your positive approach to learning, and to all of our amazing parents who are supporting them along the way. Your teachers have been extremely impressed with your efforts. Below are some snapshots of some of the work we have seen in Year 1.

YEAR 3
Students have been using their creative skills at home with their Easter Bunny artwork.

They have also sent in some photos of their learning as well of things they have been also doing at home.

YEAR 5
In Science & Technology, Year 5 have been learning about the inner workings of software; binary code. Throughout the term, children have been exploring how computers have a unique language of zeros and ones, and how various combinations of these zeros and ones combine to help send and receive commands in computer software. Recently, the children have used this binary coding to create various images using pixels. These are some of the images the children created using coding:

YEAR 6
We learnt how to draw a dragon using a guided video tutorial. By Ana & Jake. 

EASTER RAFFLE
The Easter Raffle will be drawn on Friday 3 April. Raffle tickets can be returned to the School Office and the winners will be announced via Compass.  Many wonderful Easter Egg Hampers to WIN!

Thank you to the P&F for organising our recent BBQ Lunch after the cancellation of the Cross Country. The children really enjoyed their BBQ lunch order. We are very grateful our parent helpers could accommodate this for our students. SFAW Staff