OPEN DAY

Last Saturday 9^th March saw hundreds of people visit St Francis to meet the staff, examine the facilities and hear our senior leaders speak about the future direction of the College, our approach to Pastoral Care, Teaching and Learning.

The feedback from the day was overwhelmingly positive. Prospective parents and students were impressed with the displays of student work, the demonstrations and vision for the future. We did very little advertising about the Open Day. Our existing parents have been our greatest advocates, recommending the College to their family and friends. Thank you for your ongoing support.

Families commented on the sense of welcome and I acknowledge the large number of students who volunteered to act as tour guides on the day. Their support of our new families added to the strong sense of hospitality. I also acknowledge the parents who provided assistance on the day. Having a large group of students and parents give up their precious time is a really a testament to our sense of community and sends a strong message to prospective families.

Thank you to Mrs Degabriele, Mrs Munro, Mrs Muiser, Mr Tabet, and Mrs Manno who were our parent volunteers. I really appreciate your commitment and support.

It was also great to have strong support from our local parish of Mary Mother of the Church, Macquarie Fields. The parish stand highlighted the various ministries that the Church is involved in to support our community. Thank you to Father Bosco, Mrs Pellicciaro, Mrs Santos, Mr Raisbeck, Mrs De Santis & Mr De Santis who volunteered to run the parish stall.

I would also like to publicly acknowledge the efforts of SFCC staff, all of whom gave their time on a Saturday so enthusiastically. It too, highlights that we have staff who go above and beyond to support the children of our College. Well done team!

We are now accepting enrolment applications for all years Kindergarten to Year 10 for 2020, and Year 7 2021. All applications are due to College Reception before Friday 12^th April (last day of Term 1).

STAFFING APPOINTMENTS

It gives me great pleasure to announce that the Catholic Education Office has appointed two additional teachers to support students of St Francis who have English as an Additional Language Dialect (EAL/D).

Miss Sandra Rahim been working as an Indentured Casual teacher every Monday and Friday. She now will be adding EAL/D support 3 days a week (Tues-Thurs) to her teaching load. Sandra has a passion for helping students and her ability to speak Arabic has been and will continue to be, an asset. Sandra will commence her EAL/D work with us this week. 

Mrs Nicole Martin has starting working this year as an EAL/D teacher two days a week at Mary immaculate, Eaglevale. She has already made a significant impact on building teacher capacity. She will continue in this role and will join us for two days to provide EAL/D support. 

We are very fortunate to have the support of the Catholic Education Office in employing both of these excellent teachers. They will work as a team with Mrs Alison Harris to provide extensive support to students who require assistance as a result of having English as an additional language. 

Have a great week

Mr Simon Abernethy, College Principal

As a College we have many notes go home that require parent/carer response in order for either permission to be given for a student to access an activity, or numbers/food selection to be submitted to cater for an event.  Unfortunately, it has been increasingly obvious to College Reception staff that not only are notes not being returned, but the College is having to re-photocopy notes time and time again.

Photocopying additional notes and making phone calls to parents is an additional impost on the time of our College Reception staff and additional photocopying has a negative impact on the environment.

As per last year, the following processes will apply regarding notes sent home from the College:-

• A note will only be sent home ONCE per family or per student.  St Francis sends notes home to the endest child only where a family response is warranted, or the note applies to the whole family, and individual notes home at all other times.
  
  
• To assist parents/carers, College Reception staff will maintain their practice of sending copies of notes on our Skoolbag app.  It is VITAL that all parents/carers have downloaded this free app as the College uses it as an important instant communication tool.
  
  
• The note will also be emailed to all applicable families.
  
  
• Notes WILL NOT BE RE-COPIED.  If your note is misplaced, please download it from the Skoolbag app or email and print yourself a copy.

Any note that is not handed in by the due date will no longer be accepted.  Unfortunately, this means if a student has not submitted their note they will not be permitted to participate in the relevant event/activity.

This policy is common practice in schools, particularly in schools with large student numbers, and will assist us with workflow and to reduce costs. Receiving notes promptly provides accurate numbers for events, also helping us to minimise costs.  It also means we can best determine transport and catering requirements and reduce waste.

Thank you for your understanding and assistance.

If you are interested in being a parent helper or you think you may be able to help in the classroom, in the Library, at a sporting event or on an excursion at some point during the year, you are required to attend one of our Parent Helper Induction Sessions on

Date:        Tuesday 19 March (Term 1, Week 8)
Location:  College Hall
Times:      at either 8:45am or 6:30pm

Sessions will run for approximately thirty minutes.

During these sessions, we will explain the requirements and expectations of being a parent helper. We will collate all expressions of interest and available times and these will be passed onto classroom teachers, the Sport Coordinator (Miss Flegg) and our Librarian (Mrs Forbutt) who will contact you when they need parent helpers.

These sessions are run annually and parents are required to attend one session each year in order to volunteer in the College.

Please note that all parents who help at the College are required to submit documentation including a Working with Children Check to the College prior to volunteering.

If you are interested please email College Reception on info@sfccdow.catholic.edu.au by Friday 15th March 2019, outlining your name, your eldest child's name and which session you will be attending (AM or PM).

We look forward to seeing you at one of the workshops.

Bishop Brian officiated the beautiful liturgy and spoke to the students about thinking about Lent differently. He encouraged students to think about what they could do more of during Lent to help build their relationship with God and with others, including spending more time with family or playing outside instead of being on devices.

The students enjoyed the opportunity to hear the wonderful initiatives that Caritas Australia support around the world, as well as sharing morning tea with their peers from across the Wollongong Diocese.

SFCC Project Compassion Appeal

At St Francis we are once again supporting the Caritas Australia Project Compassion Appeal. Each class has a project compassion box to collect donations.  This year we are collecting donations in house groups - for every dollar raised by a house they will earn them same number of house points Eg. If Janssen (purple house) raise $112 they would earn 112 house points towards the house cup!

I would encourage everyone to take some time to watch the stories on the Caritas Australia website, lent.caritas.org.au to see the different types of programs money raised helps support and the difference our donations can make to those who need it most.  If you are able to support this appeal, any donations will be warmly received.

Together, let's GIVE LENT 100%.

Miss Lisa Christensen
Leader of Religious Education, Identity and Mission

I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full (John 10:10).
This is what it means to be truly full of life - or LIVE.

Each year in the Diocese of Wollongong, each secondary school is blessed to have the Catholic Youth Ministry Wollongong (CYMW) team visit the school three times a year to run LIVE. The aim of LIVE is to draw young people into responsible participation in the life, mission and work of the Catholic Church and forge a strong sense of community.

On Thursday 28th February, students at St Francis were invited to experience their first LIVE event of the year, focusing on the theme “Who am I?”. The first part of LIVE was a lunchtime concert where the CYMW team performed live music under the COLA from their mobile stage. This lunchtime concert was open not just to our secondary students but also to our students in Years 3-6, one of the many benefits for students of a K-12 school.

After school, the second part of LIVE took place with our Year 7-9 students participating in an optional retreat afternoon where the theme “Who am I?” was explored in greater depth. Students were treated to afternoon tea, a game, live music, a talk, small group discussion, worship and dinner. We were pleased to have 99 students in attendance at this optional afternoon session. This group of students was the largest group the CYMW team has seen at a LIVE event. Being the school with the smallest secondary contingent in the Diocese of Wollongong, this is an excellent testimony to our students willingness to embrace our College motto of ‘Open Minds, Open Hearts’.

For our Year 7-9 students who want to ensure they are free for our remaining two LIVE events of the year, the dates and themes are as follows:

• Thursday 27th June (Week 9, Term 2) - Who is He?

• Thursday 7th November (Week 4, Term 4) - Who are we?

Additionally, for our Year 7-9 students who enjoyed LIVE and want more before Term Two, the CYMW team run a non-school affiliated event called LIVE Local - a youth group for Year 7-12 students which runs from 7-9pm each Friday night of the school term at St John’s Campbelltown.

This term, LIVE Local will culminate with an Easter celebration on Friday 12th April.

Finally, as Pope Francis reminded the young people in attendance at the final Mass of World Youth Day in Panama earlier this year -

We are on a journey. Keep walking, keep living the faith and sharing it.
And do not forget, you are not the tomorrow, you are not the ‘meantime’, you are the Now of God.

Student Feedback On the Year 7 Pastoral Day:

I enjoyed:

“Learning about mindfulness, time management, the brain and technology”

“I enjoyed learning about mindfulness & wellbeing, as it's something that I have an interest in. I liked how we got different strategies and tips, to feel a sense of calm and serenity such as the apps recommended, a handful of which I have downloaded. I also found the time management lesson very helpful”

“Doing the different workshops”

“talking to people”

“Learning about how to manage my time, learning shortcuts on my computer, learning about the brain and brain breaks”

Student Feedback from the Year 8,9 Pastoral Day

“On the pastoral day I enjoyed having Chris come to our school and teach us about happiness and life. That love is important and fairness is too. I really enjoyed being able to engage with others for the activities and learning all sorts of things. My favourite part was singing and dancing.”

“I enjoyed doing activities as a group and strengthening our bonds with our friends. I also loved having the talks because Chris Doyle was very funny and made it enjoyable.”

“Having a break from work and learning in a new and fun way with my peers.”

“The team building exercises because we got really creative and it was this rare bond.”

“Being able to have fun with my grade and year nine, while singing songs and learning about how important our faith and life in itself is.”

Parent Feedback:

“I want to take this opportunity to thank you for organising the Chris Doyle Pastoral day. My daughter could not stop talking about how enjoyable and yet thoughtful her day was. It’s been one of her best days at school. “

On Tuesday 5^th March the St Francis Catholic College primary swimming team took part in the Primary Western Region Swimming Carnival at The Gordon Fetterplace Aquatic Centre.  The following students were involved:

Harrison B, Sam T, Accalia A, Tanisha S, Mitchell B, Amber C, Zach H, Zoey S, Stephanie G, Paige M, Aidan N, Noah P, Gabriella S.

The St Francis team showed that what they lacked in numbers they made up in heart. They showed grit and determination in everything they competed in, and achieved some magnificent results in highly competitive events,  with many swimmers making it through to next level, and the St Francis Girls swim team placing 3^rd overall on the day.

The team all showed true St Francis school spirit with many students competing in up to 7 events on the day, and others stepping out of their comfort zones taking part in events they had never competed in before the carnival.

Congratulations to the following students who made it through to the next level:-

Special mention goes to Stephanie G and Zach H. Stephanie was overall 12 years Female Age Champion, and was selected into the Diocese of Wollongong team to compete at Mackillop Trials on Wednesday 27th March. Stephanie will represent in the 100m freestyle, 50m freestyle, 50m backstroke and 200m medley.  Zach H was overall 11 years Male Age Champion runner-up.

Well done to all who represented the College at the Carnival.  

SPLICED is a project run in Catholic Schools in the Diocese of Wollongong.

It has been designed to provide differentiated units of works for learners identified as intellectually gifted.

SPLICED stands for Stretching Potential Learning in Interactive Challenging Environments in the Diocese of Wollongong.

Students involved in this project are selected based on testings, observations and recommendations from the school. Students are invited to join the program and must choose their own open ended topic based on the annual theme which results in a powerful manifest with an accompanying creative work. This year the theme is “The Good, The Beautiful and The True.”

On Monday, St Francis Catholic College sent 6 students to attend a workshop for SPLICED in Studio 5 Campbelltown. Our Year 6 students included Tejas A, Sneha S, Jacob T and Sebastian O, along with Ellie M from Year 5 and Jiya K from Year 4.

Sneha has decided to write a script based on Mindfulness and how each individual has the ability to control their own thoughts. She aims to get her message across to everyone by creating an artwork in video mode. Sneha will have the opportunity to work with a professional artist to create her artwork and also a professional writer to help script her work.

Jiya is working on a traditional Indian dance called Bharatanatyam and the meaning of each of the actions in the dance. She hopes to create a slideshow with a speech about the beauty, truth and goodness of this dance. Jiya too will work with a mentor to help her achieve her goal.

Jacob wants to compose a poem that explains how a supernova occurs and the stages involved. He will show the beauty of the supernova through an artwork to support his poem. He was able to spend time with a poet to help develop his ideas into verses of his poem.

Ellie wants to develop a project that shows others the range of emotions that they can go through when dealing with sickness and death in a family. She hopes that people will take comfort from her work and will see the beauty in having deep relationships with others. Ellie spent time with an artist at the workshop to help her create one of her four paintings.

Sebastian aims to share with people his own belief that there is amazing potential in every human - you just have to believe. He aims to compose a poem that represent hopes and dreams and wants to create an artwork that visualises this.

Tejas wants to compose a poem with multiple verses that explains how the Greek Gods have influenced and built our world. He wants to create a symbolic artwork to complement his poetry.

The students’ topics are varied and all very interesting. I look forward to seeing these projects develop over the year with further workshops, hard work, editing and making use of the feedback from their mentors.

Mrs H Lyons, Diverse Learning Teacher

SACRAMENT OF CONFIRMATION
Enrolment Information and Important Dates
(for Year 6 Students and over)

CONFIRMATION ENROLMENT PERIOD
Sunday 10 March 2019 to Sunday 31 March 2019
Enrolment forms available from the Church foyer during these dates

Tuesday 2 April 2019 at 7.00pm
Parent Information Meeting

Sunday 28 April 2019 to Sunday 26 May 2019
Lessons every Sunday 11.30am to 12.30pm 
held in the Parish's Logos Centre

Friday 31 May 2019 at 6.00pm
Reconciliation for Candidates

Sunday 2 June 2019 (time to be advised)
Confirmation Mass

*********************************************************************************

SACRAMENT OF FIRST RECONCILIATION
Enrolment Information and Important Dates
(for students at least 8 years old, and/or in Years 3, 4, 5 or 6)

FIRST RECONCILIATION ENROLMENT PERIOD
Saturday 29 June 2019 to Wednesday 31 July 2019
Enrolment forms available from the Church foyer during these dates

Tuesday 6 August 2019 at 7.30pm
Parent Information Meeting

Tuesday 13 August to Tuesday 17 September 2019
Lessons every Tuesday night at 7.30pm
held in the Parish's Logos Centre

Friday 20 September 2019 at 7.30pm
First Reconciliation

*********************************************************************************

SACRAMENT OF FIRST HOLY COMMUNION
Enrolment Information and Important Dates
(for students at least 8 years old, and/or in Years 3, 4, 5 or 6)

FIRST HOLY COMMUNION ENROLMENT PERIOD
Saturday 29 June 2019 to Wednesday 31 July 2019
Enrolment forms available from the Church foyer during these dates

Tuesday 24 September 2019 at 7.30pm
Parent Information Meeting - First Holy Communion
Depending on numbers of enrolments, the meeting is scheduled to be held
in the Logos Centre, next to the Presbytery

Tuesday 15 October 2019 to Tuesday 19 November 2019
Lessons every Tuesday night at 7.30pm
held in the Parish's Logos Centre

Friday 22 November 2019 at 7.30pm
Reconciliation before receiving First Holy Communion

Sunday 24 November 2019 at a time TBA
First Holy Communion

*********************************************************************************

SPECIAL NOTES

1. To enrol, your child must be at least 8 years old and/or in Years 3 - 6 at school.
2. An enrolment form needs to be completed and submitted along with his/her Baptismal Certificate and a recent passport sized photograph.
3. At least one parent/guardian is required to attend all lessons with their child/ren.
4. At least one parent/guardian must attend each of the parent information nights.  The children are not required to be at these information nights.

Any further questions please contact the Parish Office on (02) 9605 6169
or the following contacts:

Sacrament of Confirmation:  Tina Bantug 0400 843 073
Sacraments of Reconciliation and Holy Communion:  Alan Raisbeck 0400 243 307

A big thank you to all the parents who purchased school shoes and sports shoes at the Athlete's Foot Narellan and Macarthur Square stores.

Last week Jazmine Thomas from The Athlete's Foot came to present a cheque to the College for $595.00 as part of the 'Schools Rewards Program'. 

The following information sessions are being presented by visiting Theologian, Fr James McEvoy

OUR CHILDREN - ENGAGING AND GROWING IN GOD'S LOVE

Our children are precious to us and to God - made in His image.  As parents, grandparents, catechists and sacramental program leaders, how do we encourage and nurture our children as they grow in this awareness?  These sessions will reflect on the process of growth in faith, how children are actively involved in their own social and spiritual development - sometimes for the good and sometimes through suffering and hardship.

Information Sessions are being held as follows:-

Tuesday 26 March 2019 from 7.30pm to 9.00pm
Ingham Room, Xavier Conference Centre
38 Harbour Street, Wollongong

Wednesday 27 March 2019 from 7.30pm to 9.00pm
Phillip Room, Campbelltown Catholic Club
20 Camden Road, Campbelltown

Parents who would be interested in attending, please RSVP to Helen Bennett at the Office of the Bishop, on (02) 4223 2403 or email to helen.bennett@dow.org.au 

Thank you for joining our Catholic Education Diocese of Wollongong (CEDoW) schools across the Illawarra, Macarthur, Shoalhaven and Southern Highlands, and Catholic school communities across NSW, in celebrating Catholic Schools Week for 2019.

It's been a wonderful week of open days, activities, masses, liturgies and other special events - including the Diocesan Education Mass, which was a significant highlight of CSW. Read more about the Mass and listen to Director of Schools, Peter Turner's speech here.

Catholic Schools Week has showcased some of the fantastic things happening in our schools every day, and has very much highlighted our local Catholic schools - including yours! - as vibrant places of learning, faith, hope and opportunity. Thank you for your involvement.

We'd like to share with you our small Catholic Schools Week video that has been promoted throughout last week. Can you spot the students from your school in this video?