From the Principal

Thank you to families who have joined us for Community Prayer on Friday mornings.  At Community Prayer you may have heard the liturgical season at the moment is ‘Ordinary Time’ and the colour that represents this season is green.  A new liturgical season starts tomorrow with the season of Lent. The liturgical colour is violet. During this liturgical season Catholic Schools focus on supporting Caritas with Project Compassion. The theme for Project Compassion this year is “Go Further Together”. What does ‘Go Further Together’ look like for you?

The Project Compassion Schools’ Launch happens this week and our school will be represented at the Caritas Just Leadership Day by three of our newly appointed Social Justice Leaders. On Friday they will spend the day at the Cathedral Hall along with students from other Catholic Schools. This is an opportunity for students to learn more about people living in poverty around the world and to consider how they can respond in both their personal lives and as young leaders within their school community.  Students will learn more about the people who are helped through Project Compassion and also begin to develop some ideas and plans for action back at school.

Ash Wednesday –‘Someone’s Trash is Someone’s Treasure’ Challenge.

You are invited to join us tomorrow in celebrating Ash Wednesday with a whole school Mass.  Lent is a special time of the year when we prepare for Easter by thinking about and making changes in our lives, as we learn to be more like Jesus.  During Mass ashes will be blessed and placed on our forehead as a sign of our desire to turn back to God, who is full of love and mercy. The ashes are the palms of last Palm Sunday and blessed olive branches. 

Project Compassion boxes will be given out to each family.  I encourage you to add loose change to the box for those less fortunate than us. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent so together with St Vincent de Paul Society I invite you to take up the challenge of filling up a plastic bag with items of clothing you no longer use, wear or need.  All clothes must still be in good condition. Please bring the items in the plastic bag to school and place in the blue bins provided. Our 2020 Mini Vinnies will monitor the donations by checking the blue Vinnie bins in each year level’s shared art space.  The bins will remain in that space during the 40 days of Lent.

Year 3/4/5 Family Mass

This  weekend our Year 3 and Year 4 students who are preparing to receive the Sacraments of Reconciliation, Confirmation and First Eucharist this year will participate in a Commitment ceremony together with their families and parishioners at the Family Mass. If you are a family registering your child to receive the sacraments please bring your registration paperwork and payment to the Mass. 

A Friendly reminder: Tonight Fr John will lead a ‘Parent Only’ meeting for Sacramental Families in the Resource Centre at 7pm.  Families will be reminded about the responsibility they accepted on the day of their child’s baptism to teach their child about God’s love. It is also an informative hour on the meaning of Sacraments.  If you don’t have a child registering this year, however may find this meeting interesting, please come along.

Josie Cochrane

Janine Gallomarino has been a long serving member of staff here at St Francis and indeed in Catholic Education for over 30 years. We offer our prayers and most sincere condolences to the family on Janine’s passing last week. Many of our long standing families would have known Janine and fondly remember her warm smile, generous spirit and positive attitude always evident in her front office role since 2004 here at St Francis. Janine had been unwell for an extended period of time and has now gone to God’s tender loving care. We wish her husband Raff and all the family every blessing at this time as they mourn the loss of their loved one. We will always share the wonderful memories of her life with her family and friends and work colleagues.  Janine has been a most valued member of our St Francis family and will always remain in our hearts.

Soccer is now being offered to students from Years 2 to Year 6 in Terms 2 & 3 of 2020 through ‘Eastern Zone Primary Schools Soccer Association Inc'.

Please read all the information for Soccer 2020 HERE.

Please be aware that registration AND payment is via the QKR app and needs to be completed by Wednesday 11th March.

Carnevale comes to St Francis of Assisi School

This term we will be celebrating the Italian language and culture with a Carnevale Day on Monday 16th March
On the day, students are encouraged to wear casual clothes in the colours of verde, bianco e rosso; I colori della bandiera Italiana (green, white and red; the colours of the Italian flag).

Please down load and read the attachment for all the details of the day

Call for Registered Volunteer Assistance

We require extra volunteers to help out with serving the pasta lunch on Carnevale Day. If you are able to spare a short amount of time on this day, please contact Mrs Rossi or Ms. Burford.

Parents & Friends invite our families and extended community to a dinner and movie night. Please join us as we enjoy a night out together.

The Paradise Hotel's regular adult and children's menu will be available so to make things easy please order and pay for your own meals and drinks at the counter on the night.

Please use Skoolbag to RSVP numbers attending to help The Paradise Hotel cater for our function. Large tables for seating will be set up for us on the night.

Two movies will be shown on the night, details of these will be available closer to the date.

So please save the date, RSVP on Skoolbag and looking forward to seeing you on the night.

Parents & Friends Committee

Dear Parents/Caregivers,

Our students have the opportunity to be involved in an exciting program: ‘Children’s University Australasia’ (CUA). 

CUA aims to encourage high quality out of school hours activities for children aged between 5 and 14 years, engaging the wider community as learning partners in this process.  The most important principles of CUA are that participation is voluntary and activities must take place outside the normal school day during lunch, after school, weekends and holidays.  CUA is not compulsory and the children choose what to do and when, and the learning always has a link to something they could do at a ‘grown up’ university.

In partnership with The University of Adelaide, we aim to raise aspirations and develop a love of learning by issuing students enrolled in CUA with a ‘Passport to Learning’,which records their    individual learning journey.  After 30 hours of learning, the children are rewarded for their  participation with certificates at a graduation ceremony to be held at the University of Adelaide.   Participating students have access to activities at school and also in the wider community (Learning Destinations). These activities have been validated by CUA trained staff as good learning experiences. A full list of Learning Destinations can be seen at: www.cuaustralasia.com.

CUA members are also able to earn 10 hours from Regular Restricted Activities. These are external organisations of which students are paying members and attend on a regular basis (e.g. sporting clubs, dance studios, swimming centres etc.).  In order to earn hours, students who participate in these activities must obtain an appropriate ‘Review’ form from their CUA school coordinator. Alternatively students will also be able to submit ‘Review’ forms via the online portal.

Students are enrolled in Children’s University when they receive their Passport to Learning.The annual fee for 2020, is $33.00 (inc GST) with any and all replacement passports incurring a fee of $5.50 (inc GST).

Log onto the QKR App. to complete enrolment and payment by 26th March 2020.  Please contact Carmela Panetta the CU coordinator (cpanetta@sfoa.catholic.edu.au) at St Francis of Assisi P.S. if you have any queries.

Please also down load and complete the permission for photos.

Please follow the link to the latest edition of the Southern Cross Newsletter 25th Feb 2020

n valuing our Franciscan heritage of sustainability, the school’s communication, commencing 2020, will be constructed to eliminate/reduce the amount of paperwork being sent home.

While making some changes to achieve this, there will be no change to the importance & value of clear concise communication in the partnership between the school and parents/caregivers.

To ensure that you receive all the information that you require it is important that you have access to the following: -

1. SKOOLBAG APP – how to download this is available in the school website  - www.sfoa.catholic.edu.au – news/events – Skoolbag.             
2. SEESAW- class/student information access – information can be obtained from the class teacher as to how to access this.
3. EMAIL: Please ensure that your email address is kept up to date. You can use the “contact us” – “Update information” email on the school website to update your email address or any other information.
4. QKR APP: This is the app for making financial payments but also holds the forms associated with those payments, e.g. permission notes and order details. Details of how to  download the app is also on the school website – www.sfoa.catholic.edu.au – News/Events – QKR

While this sounds like a lot of things to look at, it can be easily managed.

Newsletter: The newsletter is published each fortnight and contains school happenings, school calendar, event updates and information from Leadership.

SeeSaw: A quick look at SeeSaw each day will provide you with any updates from your child’s teacher and information on his/her studies.

A Skoolbag notification will come up on your phone should the school need to advise you of information urgently or remind you of closing dates etc.

Emails: It is assumed that if you have an email address you check it on a regular basis and therefore any information sent to you via email will be read in a timely manner.  

Parent -Teacher and Teacher to Parent: Please be advised that teachers are not required to respond to emails, seesaw or any other form of communication before 8:30am or after 4.30pm on a school day or during holiday periods, including weekends.

If you wish to have a face to face conversation with your child’s Teacher, please make an appointment for this. Conversations in the classroom at drop off or pick up time, are not appropriate as the teacher cannot give you the required attention as they have students to attend to.  If you make an appointment, the conversation is focused, and the teacher can be prepared with any information you may require.

St Francis of Assisi School

January 2020

TERM 1 2020

Week 5

· Tuesday 25th February - Shrove Tuesday pancakes

· Wednesday 26th February - Ash Wednesday Mass, 9.30am

· Wednesday 26th February - Project Compassion begins

· Friday 28th February - Community prayer, 8.55am - 3/4D

· Sunday 1st March - 1st Sunday of Lent Family Mass & Sacrament Commitment Mass for Yr 3/4s - 5pm

Week 6

· Monday 2nd March - Assembly 2.30pm

· Friday 6th March - Community prayer, 8.55am - 3MF

Week 7

· Monday 9th March - Adelaide Cup Public Holiday

· Tuesday 10th March - Student Free Day

· Friday 13th March - Community prayer, 8.55am - 1/2LE

· Friday 13th March - Catholic Schools Swimming Carnival

Week 8

· Monday 16th March - Carnevale Day

· Tuesday 17th March - Parents and Friends Meeting, 2.30pm

· Tuesday 17th March - St Francis of Assisi School AGM, 7pm

· Wednesday 18th March - Principal’s Tour, 9.15am

· Thursday 19th March to Friday 20th March - Year 5 Camp

· Friday 20th March - Community prayer, 8.55am - 1/2G

Future Dates

Week 9 - Parent /Teacher Interviews 

Parents and Friends Dinner and Movie night - 28th March

 Week 11 - Thursday 9th April End of Term 1, early dismissal at 12.30pm.