Dear Parents/Carers,

Welcome to Term 4!

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the students on the way they have commenced the term.  It has already been a busy couple of weeks at St Francis.  We are extremely pleased that students have access to the CAPA building this term and are making full use of our music, dance and drama rooms.  We are also hoping that students will have access to the gym for Tuesday sport very soon.

Students from K-6 celebrated Book Week on Tuesday and with this year's theme being “Curious Creatures, Wild Minds”, the playground was very colourful and there was certainly a buzz of energy in the air.  It was great to see so many teachers also dress for the occasion. 

Year 9 students had the opportunity to complete the YAM Program (Youth Aware of Mental Health) which was postponed last term due to COVID-19 restrictions. 

Today, Year 7 participated in the Net Encounter Day which was run by the Diocesan Youth Ministry Team with the focus on Leadership.  

With some COVID-19 restrictions easing,  it means we have the potential to organise some excursions this term which is wonderful news. Importantly, Year 7 will be able to attend their camp, initially scheduled for Term 1 of this year, which is an important component of their Pastoral Care Program. 

Inter-school (MISA) Sports have been reintroduced with St Francis having representative teams in Years 7 and 8 Boys and Girls OzTag and Year 10 Boys Volleyball.  Students are excited to see these events and activities reappearing this term and we continue to pray that we will resume to a full sense of normality soon.

Green and Red Stamp Notifications (Years 5-10)

As you may be aware, middle and senior years 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 allowing all students to make a contribution to their house.

Red stamps are issued to students for inappropriate behaviours, 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.  

Whilst red stamps are a notification, students need to understand the significance of receiving them and accept responsibility for inappropriate behaviours.  Students 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.  Students from Years 5-12 who receive 3 or more stamps in any week will receive a consequence.  Middle Years students (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 Years 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 a reflection activity which encourages 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.

Have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Rita Agostino
Acting College Principal

Thank you to our families who have met their school fee commitment.

A reminder that the balance of fees is due by Friday 4 December 2020. Please note that fee credits will be processed this term.

If you would like to discuss your College Fees statement, please contact our College Finance Officer, Kerrie McDonald on 4645 3400 or via email to accounts_sfcc@dow.catholic.edu.au

St Francis Catholic College received the following major results at the CEDoW Christmas Story Art Competition.

Nikolas K (6B): Finalist

Nik's work Shining Bright Star, Lead the Way, has progressed to the next level of the competition where it will be judged against the best artworks from the Sydney Archdiocese and the Bathurst Diocese. Nikolas’ reflection is below.

Amber C (6B): Highly Commended. 

Amber’s work called “The Good Angel” was received very well.

Congratulations to the above students and their teachers in RE and Visual Art!!

Please find the Virtual Exhibition and Awards Ceremony in the YouTube link below:-

https://youtu.be/3B18fjjiRmM

Thank you for your support of this significant event which highlights the wonderful artistic achievement of students across our Diocese. 

Mr Sligar
Assistant Principal - Religious Education, Identity and Mission

On Tuesday 20th October, Kindergarten to Year 6 students dressed up for Book Week as a book character based on this year’s theme Curious Creatures, Wild Minds. They thoroughly enjoyed dancing and showcasing their costumes in the parade. 

Congratulations to the following students who were awarded the ‘Best Dressed Student’ for their grade.

Kindergarten - Ivy K
Year 1 - Marcus F
Year 2 - Owynn C
Year 3 - Nivan N
Year 4 - Alexia P
Year 5 - Tiarna P
Year 6 - Lyla D

The teachers of St Francis also enjoyed participating in this fantastic event and were very creative in their choice of costumes! The students thoroughly enjoyed seeing their teachers dressed up and promoting a love of reading.

After the parade, the students read and engaged in activities that were linked to shortlisted books to celebrate Australian children’s literature. We would like to share with you some of the wonderful creations made by the students.

Mrs Stephanie Wright
K-4 Literacy Coordinator

Throughout Term 3, Students at SFCC participated in the MISA Debating Competition which was held via Zoom. Our students competed against a number of schools in the zone . 

The following Year 7 and Year 8 students should be commended for their commitment to this competition and participation in after school practice. It was great to see both their confidence and debating skills develop this year. 

While they were a competitive team and achieved great results, unfortunately we did not make the finals. 

We congratulate the following students on being outstanding representatives for our College. 

Year 7 -Thalia, Alina, Joban and Daniel, Habron

Year 8 -Nicholas, Honey, Sienna and Adalina

Well done SFCC MISA Debating teams! 

Mrs Sanchez, Mrs Kelleher, Mrs Vaga and Miss Shoard
Debating Coaches

How often does a Mathematics teacher get asked the question “when are we ever going to use this in life?”. Whilst there is no definitive answer, it is important for our students to understand that Mathematics is ‘real’.  In fact, Mathematics is everywhere; it is a lifelong skill. It has the potential to be intertwined into various elements of our lives in both direct and indirect ways. Therefore, by helping our students to understand the importance of Mathematics and its connections to the real world, we can teach them to value their mathematical skills as necessary life skills and not just rules and procedures needed to pass an exam.

Often a deficiency in Mathematics is the ability to problem solve.  Therefore, it is important to teach our students the skills that are necessary in order to problem solve.  Such skills may include, trial and error, working systematically, pattern spotting, reasoning logically and visualising.  Moreover, we can help students enhance their ability to problem solve through explicitly and repeatedly providing them with opportunities to develop key problem-solving skills.  For our students at St Francis, they are lucky enough to have this opportunity.

Semester two at St Francis has seen the launch of Terrific Tuesdays (for our Year 6 students) and Fun Fridays (for our Year 5 students).  Once a fortnight, our Stage 3 students have the opportunity to be exposed to a range of fun activities that require them to problem solve and reflect on the way in which they have done this.  Each student is partnered up whereby each pair rotates through a variety of problem solving activities.  Together, they collaborate and share their problem solving strategies. These activities are fun! They range in level of difficulty, but are accessible to all students.  Examples of activities include, Rush Hour, Gravity Maze, Number Pong, Block by Block and Jackpot,  just to name a few.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Mathematics teachers at St Francis for their contribution to making Terrific Tuesdays and Fun Fridays a success.  A special thank you must go to Miss Cox, the College Numeracy Instructional Coach, for her expertise and insights into the development of various activities.  I look forward to continuing working with our Stage 3 students for the remainder of the year as they uncover how ‘Maths is Real’.

Mrs Pauline Panagiotakis
Leader of Mathematics Years 5 -12 

Hi, I’m Xanthe from Year 5 and in Religion class, we focused on the topic of Creation and how Creation was a gift from God. For our assessment task, we had to create a pamphlet, which was based on either plastic pollution, deforestation in the Amazon, or animals in captivity.

We had to research our chosen topic and explain how Creation is a gift from God including possible solutions to go with it, as well as an explanation of ecological conversion and a thanksgiving prayer.

I chose the topic of plastic pollution as I knew that it was one of the most problematic misuses of creation, and I am passionate about stopping it.

Fun Fact: Starbucks uses around 8 million paper / plastic / styrofoam cups per day!

Please see my pamphlet below.

Xanthe - Year 5

The University of Wollongong would like to invite your students to LITTLE and EARLY LEARNING LABS, an academic enrichment holiday program.

This program targets students from Year 1 to 6 during 2020, who are passionate, self-motivated and curious learners.

Dates:  Little Learning Labs (Years 1 and 2): 13^th-15th January 202
            Early Learning Labs (Years 3 to 6): 19^th-21st January 2021

Venue: University of Wollongong (Wollongong campus only)

Applications close: 9^th November 2020

For more information on enrolments, please click on the link attached.

Miss Issa
Extension & Enrichment Teacher

The University of Wollongong would like to invite our Years 7 - 10 students to LEARNING LABS, an academic enrichment holiday program.

For further information about workshops and the application process
please visit the Learning Labs website, or contact the Learning Labs team
via email at learning-labs@uow.edu.au or phone on (02) 4221 5557.

From January onwards, there will be a number of School Opal cards expiring, as the physical card has reached its lifespan.

These are cards for students who will be in years 8 to 12 in 2021, and only those Opal cards which haven’t been replaced in the last five years.

Impacted students and/or their parent/guardian will be contacted directly by Transport for NSW via email or post. They will be asked to confirm their details online in order for a new School Opal card to be sent to the correct postal address in time for the new school year.

If contacted by Transport for NSW, details should be submitted online by December 1, 2020 at the latest. Affected students who do not confirm their details in time will have a new School Opal card posted to the address we currently have on file.