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- Birthday's to Celebrate
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Dear Parents and Carers
In last Sunday's Gospel, (Matthew 16:13-19) Jesus recognizes the disciple Peter as an important leader because Peter shares his belief that Jesus is the Messiah – the Son of God. Jesus praises Peter for this and commends his faith and witness.
Sometimes our faith is tested and we doubt, but Peter's faith and trust in God in this reading were so strong it enabled Jesus to describe Peter as the "ROCK" who he can build his church. At this moment Jesus gave Peter the keys to the Kingdom of God's love. We could ask ourselves; are we living the values of the kingdom? That is forgiveness, love, justice and compassion.
Q. How would you answer Jesus' question, 'Who do you say I am?'
Being grateful for the little things in life is so very important. Sometimes we forget to appreciate the everyday pleasures and simple things we come in contact with each day. We often look to God with our problems and difficulties and forget to be grateful for all that he has already given us.
Over the past few weeks, the staff and I have been speaking to the students about resilience. Resilience is a word that is used a lot these days, but what does being resilient mean? Resilience is the ability to cope with unexpected changes and challenges in your life. It's not always possible to prevent stressful or adverse situations, but you can strengthen your capacity to deal with these challenges. When we talk about resilience in children, we're talking about a child's ability to cope with ups and downs, and bounce back from the challenges they experience during childhood – for example moving home, changing schools, studying for an exam or dealing with the death of a loved one.
Building resilience helps children not only to deal with current difficulties that are a part of everyday life but also to develop the basic skills and habits that will help them deal with challenges later in life, during adolescence and adulthood.
School life is a challenge because learning in its essence is challenging. It wouldn't be learning if we already knew it, so by the very fact that we don't know something, we need to challenge ourselves and be resilient if we don't get it right the first time. Friendships can also be challenging because people don't always agree on everything so it is a skill to be able to learn to compromise so that everyone on the desired outcome.
Please find below an article by Michael Grose on 'Developing a Resilience Mindset.'
Mrs Vicky Davidson
Principal
St Francis of Assisi continues to maintain a COVID-safe environment, with a range of health and safety measures remaining in place, including increased daily cleaning, additional hygiene measures, physical distancing requirements, and strict infection control procedures.
It is important that we continue to work together and remain vigilant in our response to this virus. The following information was sent out to parents and carers on Tuesday 18 August.
Our first commitment is always to the safety and wellbeing of our students, staff and our broader school community. As parents and carers, you continue to play a vital role, in particular by:
- Keeping your children home when they are unwell, even with very mild symptoms
- Importantly, staff and students with flu-like symptoms including runny nose or cough are required to be free of symptoms and provide a medical certificate or negative COVID test which must be sighted by the school before they return to school.
- Practising social distancing during pick up and drop off
- Informing the school immediately if your child is self-isolating or undergoing testing, and informing us of the result as soon as possible
Thank you once again for your ongoing patience as we continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation in our community and make adjustments to the protocols and practices in place at St Francis of Assisi. Your ongoing support has been very much appreciated in Term 3. The safety of our community remains a priority.
UNSW / ICAS CompetitionsScience in Years 5 and 6
| BE SAFE | BE RESPECTFUL | BE RESPONSIBLE | |
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Mr Rodney Green
Assistant Principal
We celebrate Social Justice Sunday on 30 August. This year, the Australian Bishops’ Social Justice Statement is titled: To Live Life to the Full: Mental health in Australia today. The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the mental health of many members of our parishes, schools and communities. Understanding mental health will help us to be aware of those who need our support. The Bishops invite us all to reject stigmatisation, to work for the transformation of social determinants of mental ill-health, and to call for policies and service provision that meets the needs of the poorest and most marginalised members of our community. Please see the click on the link to this statement.
Reconciliation
This week all students who will be receiving the Sacrament of Penance on Tuesday 22 September at St Francis of Assisi Church received their notes. The note outlines the important information about the teaching of the program as well as changes to the number who can attend on the night due to COVID-19 restrictions.
The students preparing for Reconciliation will be given a workbook, and the class teachers will explain the activities in each lesson. The students will then need to work through the lesson with their parents and complete the activities. Parents you are asked to spend some time each week with your child as this would have been the normal procedure during the Parent/Child Parish program. The students will need to bring their book back to school every Friday so that the class teachers can discuss the work with the students.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, each child will only be allowed two other people to accompany them on the night. St Francis of Assisi Church is limited to only 100 people. The church requests that those attending on the night are registered before the date. In the note, there is a form requesting names of those attending. Please fill in the form and return it to your child’s teacher.
A copy of your child’s baptismal certificate must also be sent to school in an envelope clearly marked with your child’s name and the word Reconciliation along with the $10 cost for the booklet. Unfortunately, your child will be unable to make the sacrament unless the certificate is sighted.
Parish Sacraments
At this stage, please see the new dates for the 2020 Sacraments. Please be advised that these dates will also be dependent on COVID-19 restrictions and may be cancelled at any time.
The new dates for the sacraments are as follows:
| Sacrament | Date | Time | Church |
| Reconciliation | Tuesday 22 September | 7 pm | Warrawong |
| Confirmation | Wednesday 4 November | 7 pm | Warrawong |
| First Communion | Saturday 28 November | 10 am | Warrawong |
Feast Days
During the term, we will be celebrating some important feast days.
| 8 September | The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary |
| 4 October | St Francis of Assisi |
Mrs Madaschi
Religious Education Coordinator
Father's Day
Next Sunday, 6 September, we celebrate Father's Day. Father's Day presents each of us with the opportunity to focus our attention on our fathers, grandfathers and father figures and make them feel "extra special". Day in and day out, we probably do not appreciate all the little things that our fathers (like our mothers) do for us. Their love, their care and their guidance all go towards making our lives enriched. The thoughtful little deeds, the playtimes and fun times are all memories we cherish. This is the perfect occasion when you can tell your father about how special he is and thank him for all his help, guidance and support.
So we say THANK YOU, DADS, for everything you have done for us over the years, and we wish you all a very Happy Father's Day.
Father's Day Liturgy
In Australia, we observe Father's Day on the first Sunday of September. As we cannot gather at school with fathers, for our annual Father's Day breakfast or liturgy, a Father's Day Liturgy (video) will be presented to our students on Friday 4 September. At this time we will pray and celebrate all fathers. To bring special meaning to the liturgy, we would love to have memorable photos of our staff and students with their fathers, grandfathers or father figures as part of the presentation. If you would like to submit photos, then please email them through to the school email: info@sfawdow.catholic.edu.au OR send the photos to your child's class teacher. All photos are to be submitted by Friday 28 August.
Our Father's Day Liturgy will be shared with all our families.
Father's Day Stall
Special thanks to our P&F for ordering our Father's Day gifts. On Thursday 3 September our School Support Officers will run the stall. Please see the flyer below.
Congratulations to those students who received the Principal's and Values Awards for Term 3 - Week 5. Unfortunately, we were unable to have family and friends attend our awards due to the COVID-19 restrictions and processes our school needs to follow to keep everyone safe. This is always a special time for our school community.
We look forward to the time when we all can gather to celebrate these achievements.
| CLASS | Principal's Award | Value - Peace |
| Kindy Blue | Adam F | Chiara N |
| Year 1 Gold | Aaliyah S | Alira Stiles |
| Year 2 Blue | Anastasia M | Lucinda F |
| Year 3 Gold | Eva G | Ace T |
| Year 3 Blue | Zaynab R | Samuel A |
| Year 4 Gold | Celina Y | Savannah G |
| Year 5 Blue | Benjamin A | Shelby A |
| Year 6 Gold | Laila H | Ana Marija B |
| Year 6 Blue |
Willson A | Teleah S |
| Samuel | 3 Blue |
| Charlie | 3 Blue |
| Zaynab | 3 Blue |
| Sekne | 4 Gold |
| Olivia | 6 Blue |
Mrs Burrows
In Kindergarten we have been studying living things in Science and have been studying Artist Vincent Van Gogh to compliment our work on living things. Van Gogh often created artworks based around the beauty of nature and living things. In particular, we have been learning how to recreate the artwork 'Sunflowers' using oil pastels and also imprinting using foil. We hope you enjoy looking at some of these artworks from our talented artists in Kindergarten!
Mrs Beckhaus
Kindgarten Teacher
This term Year 4 have been looking at ways to improve their writing, we have had a focus on peer-editing and providing effective feedback. It's not about just getting your friend/s to read what you have done, although that too is good! It's about considering and asking reflective questions. "Who could I ask to read my work that could give me some effective feedback?". This has allowed for some great discussions and led students to be aware of the strengths of others around them. Effective feedback during peer editing goes well beyond comments such as 'Well done' or 'Good work'. It is designed to improve students learning throughout the learning process, enabling them to set their own goals in their writing.
MakerSpace
The entry into remote-learning derailed many things planned, one of which was the MakerSpace/LEGO Robotics program run at school. Thankfully, with a return of students in Semester Two, the students from Year 4 have had the chance to enjoy the building and coding experience. It took a while to get all the LEGO sorted and ready for building, but all groups have been building for a few weeks now!
Science and Technology STEM Unit - Up, Up and Away!
All students from Stage 2 have been working hard to learn about aerodynamics while connecting with the paper plane building process. Time is running out for competition entries. During the testing phase, we have had some students reach or get close to the goal
On Monday all students had the final opportunity to enter. They had three opportunities to have their throws videoed. We are in the process of analyzing the videos. Stay tuned to hear what happens.
Photos below show students experimenting with different launch angles.
Mr Gilmore
4 Gold Class Teacher
A special thanks to Mr Gilmore for organising this unit of work and for the staff who have supported this program.
PUPIL FREE DAY
CANCELLED
Friday 25 September 2020
Due to the updated COVID-19 restrictions, this will now be a school day for all staff and students.
Online games can be great fun for your child, but make sure you can help them manage the risks.
Many games can improve your child’s coordination, problem-solving and multi-tasking skills, as well as help build social skills through online interactivity with other players. But it is also important to understand what might go wrong and have a negative impact on your child.
https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/big-issues/gaming
Here are a couple of extra online articles if you would like any further reading.
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Tips for parents to keep their child safe while playing online games 
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From Fortnite to Call of Duty: How to tell if a game is appropriate for your child
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Staff and Student Birthdays
Happy Birthday to the following students and
staff who are celebrating their birthdays in September:
Olivia.A, Luke.C, Zaid, Ronan, Kendall, Aidan.O, Joseph.S, Levi, Zeinab, Zaynab, Daunte, Isabella, Abdul, Tahlia, Genevieve, Mrs Andraos and Mrs Beckhaus.
All students are required to attend school unless they are unwell. Students should arrive by 8.30 am and finish at 3.00 pm.
Daily attendance recording in the Compass Parent Portal notifies parents of their child being absent. Parents are required to record their explanation in Compass by completing the link they receive via text or by logging into the Compass parent portal.
All absences must be reported by parents with an explanation and or a medical certificate if required.
COVID-19
Please remember not to send your child to school if they are unwell and to seek medical advice from your doctor. Please keep the school informed and add explanations to your child's absence in Compass. This is important to keep our school community safe.
Appointments
Please make appointments outside school hours, where possible. If your child needs to be collected early for an appointment, a note explaining this is required to be given to the class teacher by the student on the morning of the appointment.
If your child is sick, stay home, visit the doctor
and notify the school.
Dear Families, please remember...
- Write your child's name, class, and order clearly on the lunch bag and amount of money that is enclosed.
- Online ordering is preferred
- Breakfast items cannot be ordered, purchased from the canteen at 8.15 am-8.30 am only.
- The following lunch order items are to be collected directly from the canteen: Noodle cups, Ice blocks and recess orders.
Thank you.
Fresh Start Canteens
Please donate pre-loved school uniform items to the School Office. These are in need for the school Clothing Pool. Thank you.
School photo day will be held on Wednesday 4 November. Students are to wear their full summer school uniform (no sports uniform). Please note, hair must be neat and tidy and the girl's hair tied back.
Orders previously placed in Term 1 will carry over. Orders can be placed online as follows:
Visit: - www.advancedlife.com.au
St Francis of Assisi Advancedlife online order code is CZF PZ6 2FX
