Dear Parents/Carers,

Term 3 at St Francis is shaping up to be an action packed and busy term. Construction of the new Technology, Art & Science block will be completed and we will set up this huge building with state-of-the-art learning equipment. I look forward to Parents/Carers having an opportunity to tour the new classrooms in the later part of the term. 

As most would be aware, the construction of the new roundabout on the intersection of Jardine Drive & Poziers Road has now been completed. The civil contractors are now focusing on developing Vinny Road and Benzentine Road and will finally finish with the second roundabout on the intersection of Vinny Road and Poziers Road. This will complete all the roads around the College, improving traffic flow, parking and providing additional pedestrian paths and crossings. This work will be completed this term. I thank Parents/Carers for their patience. 

Tenders have gone out for the construction of the next permanent building, the Performing Arts Block, which will house music rooms and associated practice rooms, a room for the College Band, a fitness gymnasium, dance studio and drama workshop. Construction on this building will commence as soon as the Technology, Art & Science Block is completed. 

Our Family Community Partnership committees will continue this term.  These meetings have been a fantastic opportunity for myself and members of the College Leadership Team to hear from parents and students about how the College can be improved. This term we will consult more broadly with parents to develop initiatives in the areas of inclusivity, additional equipment and involving parents in student learning. 

On Wednesday last week, Years 8 & 9 spent the day with the NET Ministry Team, a highly trained team of young adults who encourage students to develop their faith and put it into action. The students were engaged in a range of fun activities and enjoyed the day. 

We kicked the term off with a very exciting fortnightly program of Mathematics challenge activities for Years 5 & 6 students. They were totally engaged in finding solutions to Mathematics problems and enjoyed the wide variety of games and tasks they had to work on in the Hall.  My thanks to Mrs Hughes, Miss Cox and the Maths faculty for their work on this. It was wonderful to see the students really enjoying their Mathematics learning. 

On Sunday, I attended the annual Campbelltown Catholic Club Community Mass and Luncheon. I am very grateful to Nereena S (pictured left) and Chris M, who represented the College at the Mass. The Catholic Club are fantastic supporters of Catholic education in our Diocese, making considerable financial donations to our Diocesan office and schools.

On Monday this week, Year 8 students started an exciting investigation of William Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet. Throughout this unit they will examine the tragic death of these two young people. My thanks to Miss Moore and the English faculty for developing this engaging unit of work which contains some exciting twists. 

On Tuesday, Kindergarten students celebrated their 100th day of attendance at St Francis by dressing up as 100 year olds. This was a great celebration and they really enjoyed the day. Many thanks to all the parents and grandparents who assisted in dressing the students.

On Thursday, Year 6 will travel to Mary Immaculate Catholic Church, Eaglevale. This is a wonderful opportunity for our Year 6 students to join other Year 6 students from schools in the Diocese to celebrate Mass with Bishop Brian Mascord. 

So as you can see, there is plenty happening and we still have Book Week, St Francis Has Got Talent, St Francis Feast Day celebrations and much more to come!

May God continue to bless you.

Mr Simon Abernethy
College Principal

As you may be aware, Years 5 - 9 students at St Francis are issued with red and green stamps as part of Positive Behaviours for Learning.

Merit stamps (green) are distributed by staff in areas such as classwork, participation, homework, behaviour and pastoral care.  Green stamps are tallied and contribute to the St Francis award structure. Additionally, students can earn points for their allocated house throughout the year. House points can be earned through academic, sporting, social and spiritual pursuits, thus all students can make a contribution to their house.

Conversely, red stamps are issued to students for inappropriate behaviours such as incomplete homework, uniform breaches, disorganisation and lateness etc.  The pastoral care teacher monitors both red and green notification stamps. If students are receiving a consistent number of red stamps each week, the pastoral teacher discusses this with the student and notifies their Stage/Year Coordinator.

Both red and green stamps provide valuable information on how a student is progressing and allow staff to identify areas that need to be addressed.  Additionally, they are a form of communication to parents which enables you to monitor the type of week your child has had.  It is important to monitor your child’s diary each week, have a conversation with them about why they are receiving red stamps and provide suggestions on how this behaviour or work habit can be improved. Furthermore, it is an opportunity to monitor green stamps and celebrate your child’s achievements.  

Students need to understand the significance of receiving red stamps and accept responsibility for inappropriate behaviours.  They can use red stamps as a form of feedback and by reflecting on their behaviours it is anticipated the behaviours will change.  We make no apologies for setting high standards for our students in all aspects of their education, therefore moving forward, students from Years 5-12 who receive 3 or more stamps in any week will receive a consequence.  Those in Years 5-8 who receive 3 or more red stamps in a week for any reason will be issued with a time-out during Break 2, whilst senior students (Years 9-12) will be issued with an afternoon detention. Afternoon detentions occur on a Thursday afternoon from 2.50 - 3.50pm and are supervised by a Middle Leader.  During detention, students will complete activities which encourage them to think about how they can improve the behaviour. Parents will be notified of any afternoon detentions issued and will be required to pick up their child on the completion of detention.

We greatly appreciate your cooperation in supporting these College procedures. 

If you have any questions regarding the Merit/Notification system, please do not hesitate to contact Mrs Agostino or Mrs Vella at the College.

Rapid advances in technology have meant rapid changes to the way our children live their lives, and subsequently to the way we parent and educate. According to research, one in five young Australians are the target of cyberbullying each year, and 49 per cent of teenagers reported they had added people to their social networking ‘friends’ list that they had never met face-to-face. 

With that in mind, and with support from Google, the Alannah and Madeline Foundation has developed a ‘Digital Licence’ – an online education tool designed to help protect children from online risks. This engaging resource was designed with cyber safety experts, teachers, and industry leaders in education and technology.  The Digital Licence is the most comprehensive educational resource for online safety and responsibility. Three versions of the eSmart Digital Licence have been developed for different stages of learning and interacting online.

Here at St Francis Catholic College we endeavour to embrace the benefits of technology, and at the same time educate and protect our children from cyberbullying and other online risks. We implemented the Primary Digital license for all Stage 3 students in Semester 1. In Semester 2 students in Years 1-3 will commence the Junior Primary license and Year 7 and 8 the Secondary license. Students in Year 4 and 9 will complete other programs that will encourage them to be safe online. 

For further Information:  

1. Digital License http://www.digitallicence.com.au/about-digital-licence/
   
   
2. The article below by Kirra Pendergast Safe on Social's Tips for parents. She is the Director of Safe on Social Media Pty Ltd. and she has provided strategic advice to government and industry and held State Director level positions with key international business consulting firms in Brisbane, Australia. She has experience in the Australian and New Zealand Information Technology industries in Information Security and Business Consulting.

Following are a few tips on Social Media for parents:-

• Talk to children about online privacy issues, making sure they know to never to identify personal information such as their full name, address, age, school and don't ever post photos in school uniform.
   
• Check your child's privacy settings regularly.
   
• Don’t tag photos of your children at their school if your accounts are not set to completely private. This is a child safety issue as anyone driving past can search the school on Instagram and see all of the photos that have been tagged at the school, often by parents who have not set their account to private on Instagram. If your account is not completely private, anyone can see your photos of your child, their name, the name of the cat ,where you go on holiday, what your family does on weekends, when birthdays were and other information about your family and your life. Therefore a complete stranger could make up a story that could be very convincing to your child by using the information you have shared in a public forum of more than 500million users.
   
• Make sure your children know not to accept follow or friend requests from people they don't know. Check regularly particularly when they are in Primary school who they are connected to and how they know them.
   
• Make sure the apps you allow your kids to use are age appropriate. Make sure you sit with them and work through it together. Look for how easily they can connect with strangers through chat rooms or accepting friend requests.
   
• Ban devices from the bedroom from as young as possible. Set healthy boundaries around use.
   
• Consider the fact that children in the background of photos or videos you take at your child’s school may be on “no publish” lists. Some children are in protective custody or witness protection and an innocent photo posted on social media could be disastrous.
   
• Make sure you respect classification on games, they are there for a reason.
   
• Make sure the young people in your care know that under no circumstances they should go and meet up with anyone they meet online. Stranger Danger rules apply because they are now literally on digital steroids and 24x7.
   
• Talk regularly to your children about online safety and that if they see anything scary, upsetting or anything sinister online or someone is asking personal questions that they know they can speak up and tell you without judgment if they have sworn at a stranger in retaliation. One of the most common things we hear in our talks with children is a fear of speaking up after they have sworn at someone who has asked for too much personal information, inappropriate photos etc. Children are often too scared to speak up for fear of getting in trouble for swearing.
   
• Understand things like how to manage the Snap Map privacy function and that on Instagram they can and do receive messages from complete strangers often.
  
  

Kirra Pendergast 
CEO - Safe on Social Media Pty Ltd 

St Francis has introduced its first official buddy program, Better Buddies. The Alannah & Madeline Foundation's Better Buddies Framework is an initiative designed to create a friendly and caring school community where bullying is reduced.

Through Better Buddies, children in their first year of school are buddied up with older students and learn the values: caring for others, friendliness, respect, valuing difference, including others and responsibility.

The students learn these values through formal and informal activities, including their interactions with the mascot Buddy Bear, our giant, fun-loving and caring purple bear. 

Better Buddies enables younger children to feel safe and cared for while older children feel valued and respected.

Last week, students in Years 5 and 6 met with their Kindergarten buddies for the first time. This meeting was based around the students getting to know each other, with the older students having prepared a question cube for the younger kids. Kindergarten students had a reading book to share with their buddies. 

All students were highly engaged in the activities, learning lots of new information along the way.  It was a great first start to what will be a fantastic opportunity for all students involved.

Mr Tim Stibbard

Stage 3 Coordinator

Kindergarten Celebrate 100 Days of Learning!

On Tuesday 30th of July, Kindergarten students celebrated 100 wonderful days of learning at St Francis. Kindergarten kicked off the celebrations with a fancy dress fashion parade. The students certainly looked older and wiser with their wrinkles and grey hair!

Throughout the day we created some colourful glasses, we thought like mathematicians to create groups of 10 to get all the way to 100, and we spent the afternoon with our Year 5/6 buddies.  Kindergarten then listened to a special story about memories and we reflected on the memories of their first hundred days at big school.

Kindergarten, you have grown into enthusiastic learners and thoughtful friends and we are so proud of you. Congratulations! We are looking forward to the next 100 days of growing and learning with you all.

Keep shining!

Mrs O'Beirne, Miss Sultana, Miss Small, Mrs Shuker
Kindergarten Teachers.

"Francis Fest" is being held during Week 10 of this term and there are a number of events planned during for the week.

One of these events is an initiative by our Student Leaders, St Francis Has Got Talent. This will be held on Thursday 26th September during school time. Students will need to audition to make it into the final showcase, each student that auditions will receive points for their House.

Not all acts will progress to the final showcase from this audition process, the acts selected will be made by the student leaders and some staff. This is an important conversation for our parents/carers to have with their children, so they are aware of this when entering this event.

We are also very lucky to have secured some famous musicians to support us on the day as guest judges!

Watch this space!!

Ms Tania Kolar
Pastoral Care Coordinator

Congratulations to Nikolas K, from Year 5 (pictured below with Mrs Agostino) who was awarded St Francis Catholic College's first ever Gold Award at our Academic Assembly at the end of Term 2.

This is a huge achievement for Nikolas, and we congratulate him on his efforts.

Well done to Nikolas K and Michael F who were part of Wollongong Diocese teams who won a team gold medal at the NSWCPS Mackillop Trials and NSW Combined Catholic Colleges Cross Country events in Term 2. These two gentlemen were presented with their gold medals at our recent Academic Awards Assembly.

Nikolas and Michael also both competed at the NSWPSSA and NSWCCC Cross Country Championships on Friday 26th July.

SFCC have teamed up with the WOODiWiLD organisation to raise money to create a better waste management system and herb/veggie garden in addition to supporting the environment.

The SFCC forest is located south of Wagga Wagga in western NSW. WOODiWiLD is an organisation that has been created with the sole purpose of re-planting trees on farms across Australia to provide habitat for our threatened wildlife and to help address climate change. 

WOODiWiLD have set a goal to plant 1 million trees over the next decade with the help of Australian schools. 

WOODiWiLD is teaming up with St Francis Catholic College to achieve this goal. SFCC has set a goal to plant 400 of these 1 million trees! 

But how do you get a tree in the St Francis Forest?

All you need to do is click on the SFCC WOODiWiLD webpage and follow the link to add a tree to the SFCC forest. The planting of a tree costs $10 and for every tree planted in the SFCC Forest, our school will receive $2. Our target is 400 trees which will see a return of $800 for SFCC to develop a better waste management system and spruce up the herb/veggie gardens.

You receive a unique map reference for your tree and can follow the growth of the tree in the SFCC forest. The website also has some great resources to educate our students about threatened species, different types of tree species and how trees are an important part of our ecosystem in capturing carbon dioxide.

We encourage all to get involved and purchase a tree in the St Francis Forest to support the environment and raise funds for our school along the way.

SEALS Committee

The SEALS Committee have noticed a lot of rubbish amongst the playground. Most of that rubbish being plastic wrappers and packaging. As a team, we’ve discussed different ways we can minimise rubbish waste at SFCC. We have decided to bring back NUDE FOOD DAY!

We will be starting Nude Food Day in Term 3. Each week, the SEALS Committee will pick a day for class and pastoral teachers to check if students have nude food. Nude Food Day will be a day randomly selected each week!

If students have all contents in their lunch box with no plastic packaging, they will receive three house points on their chart/diary. 

There are also class rewards up for grabs! Each week when nude food is checked, for every 5 students in the class that have nude food, the class will receive a ticket in the nude food raffle. For example, if one class has 16 students with nude food, that class will receive 3 raffle tickets for that week into the Nude Food Raffle.

The Nude Food raffle will see one class win a prize towards the end of Term 3. 

WHAT IS NUDE FOOD?

Nude food is simply food that is not wrapped in foil, plastic or commercial packaging. The best type of nude food consists mainly of fresh food, so that it is healthy and nutritious PLUS environmentally friendly. Promoting Nude Food empowers our students to make conscious choices about what they eat, and encourages them to think about their impact on the environment (and their health). You might be amazed with how enthused your child can become on this! Please ensure that any containers are labelled with your child’s name and class so if they are misplaced, they can be returned. 

HOW TO PACK A NUDE FOOD LUNCH BOX

Cutlery from home is better than throwaway plastic cutlery.
Plastic or metal drink bottles are recommended for refilling water.
Reusable containers for putting all snacks and lunches into.
Lunch boxes that have separate sections are helpful.

THINGS TO AVOID

Zip-loc or plastic bags, plastic wrap or aluminium foil.
Single use plastic cutlery.
Pre-packaged food ie. biscuits, snack bars and chips

The SEALS Committee are looking for parent helpers to support us in sprucing up our herb & veggie gardens.

We’ve started tidying one of the plantar boxes but have since realised it’s quite a big job. 

We know that many hands make light work, so we’re hoping we can have a few members of our St Francis Community to help with this project.  

If you can spare some time on Tuesday afternoons from 1pm to support the SEALS Committee in rejuvenating the herb and veggie gardens, we would greatly appreciate it.

We are hoping to have an afternoon at the beginning of Term 3.

If you would like to be involved, please contact Miss Jasmina Cox via email (coxj08@dow.catholic.edu.au).

SEALS Committee

Last year we collected bottle tops for a College project (see picture below). Some of our current Year 2 students helped us begin this project.

We are now in need of more plastic bottle tops for this project to continue. If your family are able to collect any plastic bottle tops and send them along to College Reception, they will be gratefully received. All sizes and colours will be accepted.

Please send them in (washed and in a zip lock bag) to College Reception. 

There will also be a basket near the Return & Earn bins so that before placing the bottle in the bin, the bottle tops can be placed in the basket. 

Thank you for your help!

Miss Amanda Marshall

It was great to see so much improvement over the session - keep practicing everyone!!