Dear Parents & Friends,

I hope you enjoy reading this newsletter because it has been an action packed fortnight with plenty of significant events occurring. Last week we celebrated Catholic Schools Week. Staff attended the annual Diocesan Education Mass with Bishop Brian Mascord and our new Director of Schools, Mr Peter Hill. Teachers, support staff, clergy, administrators and Catholic Education Office staff from across the Diocese, gathered in Wollongong on Thursday evening.

Last Saturday was our highly successful Open Day. Enrolments for 2021 opened and we are in particular looking to enrol students in Kindergarten, Year 7 and Year 11. There are a small number of enrolment places available in some of our other year groups. We are also taking enrolment applications from current Year 5 students who would like to join us in Year 7, 2022.

Open Day was well attended by existing and prospective families who came to the College to tour the new facilities, watch student workshops and demonstrations and to hear about proposed developments for the future growth of the College. I thank our dedicated teaching and support staff who gave up their Saturday to give guests an insight into life and learning at St Francis. Thank you to over 100 students who volunteered to give up part of their Saturday to help promote the College. Students did a fantastic job of making families feel welcome and were proud to show their school to visitors.

I also wish to thank the parents who generously gave up their time to support us. Thanks to Ms Muscara, Mrs MacGregor, Mrs Deep, Mr & Mrs Marks, Mr Tabet, Mrs Simione, Mrs Parata, Mrs Shrestha, Mrs Mills, Mrs Warren, Mrs Hooper, Mrs Fonti, Mrs Sammut, Mr Lenh, Mrs Nasser and Mrs De Santis. Parishioners from Mary, Mother of the Church Macquarie Fields also gave up their time to promote the many ministries that are run through our local Parish.

Last week also saw Year 9 attend their camp at Tea Gardens and five of our students going through to the final of CDSA Public Speaking competition. Further details about these events later in our newsletter.

In relation to the College's current position to the COVID 19 Coronavirus, we are continuing to monitor developments, considering carefully the outbreak in China, Iran, Italy and now in other parts of the world.  We will continue to take precautionary measures, and be guided by advice from NSW Health and the CEDoW.

Current advice from the CEDoW is as follows:-

As the impact of the Coronavirus on children and healthy adults can be quite mild, there may be a tendancy to continue working and attending school and hence increase the risk of infecting others.  The advice from NSW Health is that schools should be very strong on sending home students who have the slightest sign of illness. This is not a time for soldiering on with coughs and colds.

Therefore, we advise that you maintain good hygiene standards as an important way to reduce the risk of acquiring and spreading respiratory infections.  We ask that our staff, parents/carers, and our students promote good hygiene including handwashing with soap as handwashing is the single most effective way to reduce the spread of germs that cause respiratory disease.

Hand hygiene includes:-

Applying an alcohol based hand sanitizer to the surface of hands.
Washing hands with the use of soap and water, or soap solution.

To keep yourself, the students and staff of the College healthy and safe, please promote healthy hand hygiene with your children, and do not send them to school if they are sick.

May God continue to bless you.

Mr Simon Abernethy
College Principal

At SFCC, the safety of our students and their families is a top priority. Therefore we have structures and procedures put in place to ensure student and family safety are being met.

Please read the following section to make sure you and/or the person/s who drop off or pick up your child/ren are assisting the College to ensure the safety for all.

• The only place you can drop your child/ren off is in the CAR LINE BAYS.
  
  
• It is not acceptable to drop your child/ren off in other parts of the car park, particularly near the crossing as soon as you drive in the gate.  Students have had instances when they are dropped off and then run across the crossing. This also holds up the traffic flow.
  
  
• It is not acceptable to drop your child/ren off when lining up for the drop off bay.  This has a huge impact on the traffic flow and is then causing cars to drive around to try and cut in. The traffic flows if everyone stays in the line and patiently waits their turn to drop off in the bay provided.
  
  
• In Carline NO students should be going behind the car to get their bags from the boot. Bags should be inside the car with the student/s. NO parents should be exiting the car to assist students.
  
  
• The car park is one-way. All cars MUST follow the clockwise direction of the car park.  No cars should be driving into the College through the exit lane to gain access to the bays in the first row. No cars are to drive against the flow of traffic.
  
  
• There are two crossings in the carpark.All students, parents and staff should be using these crossings. Do not cross anywhere else.
  
  
• There is NO RIGHT TURN out of the College from 2.45 - 3.00pm. It is not acceptable to ignore or be rude to the staff member on this duty.  This rule is in place to ensure effective traffic flow and safety during a congested time entering and exiting the College.
  
• Parent pickup is from the under COLA. Students on parent pickup should NOT be asked by their parents to wait under the Carline Marquee. 

We ask that you please continue to support the College in ensuring the safety of our students and families.

Mrs Melissa Vella
Assistant Principal - Teaching and Learning

Dear students, families and school communities,

Thank you for your participation in Catholic Schools Week from 1-7 March.

It's a wonderful opportunity to celebrate and showcase many of the fantastic things happening in your school every day, and in all our Catholic schools across the Diocese of Wollongong.

We thank you for working together in partnership with us to help make your school community such a vibrant, nurturing place of learning, faith, belonging and hope.

If you or a family member or friend would like to enrol your child in one of our schools, please download an enrolment package here.

Have a look at our Catholic Schools Week video below, celebrating what our students across the diocese love about their Catholic school. Can you spot the students from our College?

Dear Parents/Carers

Thank you to those families who have commenced payment of their College Fee accounts. 

A reminder that if your family is paying fees in regular instalments over the course of 2020 and you have not returned a College Fee Agreement form, please contact the College Finance Office to receive a copy of the form and return it to us ASAP.

Payments are to commence as soon as possible. The balance of College fees are due by the end of November 2020. 

I will be emailing statements to parents/carers on a monthly basis.  If you have not received your statement that was emailed on 6 March please contact me via email to accounts_sfcc@dow.catholic.edu.au to update your details.

Attention:  Families with a 1st child in Yrs K - 6

There is an error in the Tuition description on your statement. It reads 2019 Tuition Fee instead of 2020. Unfortunately this description cannot be changed however the amount is correct.

Regards

Mrs Kerrie McDonald
College Finance Officer

Congratulations to all of our Award recipients
at our Junior Years Assembly on 10 March 2020.  

We would like to recognise in particular, our Bronze and Silver Award recipients:-

Silver Awards
Zara M

Bronze Awards
Annabelle P, Zara A, Zoe H, Valentino M, Divyesh H

Ebony C

Recently, our ballerina Ebony C was successful in the Joan & Monica Halliday RAD Classical Ballet Awards Competition.  She competed in the semi finals and was ranked in the top 36 ballerinas in the competition.  

Ebony was also successful in gaining a place in the Macarthur Youth Ballet production of Swan Lake late this year.

Congratulations Ebony - we look forward to seeing you on the stage in the near future!

Stephanie G

Well done to Stephanie G of Year 7 who recently won a bronze medal in both the 200m Butterfly and 200m Backstroke at the NSW Metropolitan Swimming Championships.

Stephanie also placed in the top 10 in the 200m IM, 200m Freestyle, 100m Butterfly and 100m Backstroke.

Well done Stephanie!!

We are extremely proud of all the students who competed during Round 1 of the Catholic Schools’ Debating Association (CSDA) Public Speaking competition, which was held on Friday 6 March at Good Samaritan Catholic College.  16 schools were in attendance.

Students were asked to write and present a speech on one of the following topics:  

• Things fall apart
• Life is a cabaret
• My country
• The grass is greener on my side
• Great expectations
• Tick tock

The following students proudly represented St Francis Catholic College:

Year 10 - Courtney J, Oscar L
Year 9 - Elliana V, James K
Year 8 - Honey P, Cheryl S 
Year 7 - Irene D, Thalia S

It was a tough competition as there were at least 10-12 students competing in each room (with 2 rooms per year group).

Only 6 students were chosen from each year group in years 8-10 and 8 students in total for year 7. 

We are excited to announce that the following students were successful and have progressed to the Zone final! 

Year 10 - Courtney J
Year 8 - Honey P, Cheryl S
Year 7 - Thalia S, Irene D

The Zone final will be on Friday 13th March at Aquinas Catholic College, Menai. 

We wish the best of luck to our Public Speakers!

Ms Ramos & Mrs Kelleher

A group of students from Years 3-6 recently represented St Francis at the Western Region Diocesan Swimming Carnival on 3 March 2020. Despite the cool and overcast conditions, the day saw great emphasis on participation, competition and cheering.

Students showed their school pride as they put forth their best efforts in swimming a range of heats across the four strokes.

In particular, congratulations goes to Zac H, who has progressed to the 2020 Diocesan Swimming Selection Trials with the following results:-

Male Open 100m Freestyle - 2^nd Place
Male 12 Years 50m Freestyle - 3^rd Place
Male Senior 50m Backstroke - 2^nd Place
Male Senior 50m Butterfly - 3^rd Place
Male Senior 50m Breaststroke - 3^rd Place
Male Senior 200m Medley - 4^th Place

Kind regards

Miss Jessica Cordina
Primary Sport Coordinator (K-6 Gala Days)