A little more patience required... but the rewards will be huge!

Last fortnight the Catholic Education Office and I signed off on permitting Project Coordination Group (our builders) to complete the new Technology, Art & Science Centre Stage 2. The first $10 million Stage 1 is almost ready to hand over. Cabinetry has been fitted this week and the scaffold around the building will come down in the next fortnight. However, there are considerable advantages in delaying the opening of this building by another term.

Project Coordination Group have developed a program to deliver the $3 million Stage 2 of the building (a 6^th Science Lab, additional Food Tech Room, additional Woodwork Room, 2 x Engineering ‘Make It’ spaces, a Middle & Senior Walk Through Canteen, Full Hospitality Kitchen and Construction Workshop). They plan to deliver all this early Term 3, delivering facilities designed for Year 11 & 12, more than 12 months ahead of schedule and saving up tens of thousands of dollars. These savings will be passed on to the College in the form of a better budget for furniture, fittings and equipment.

There are several factors that contribute to these savings:

1. The builders are already onsite. There is a saving to be made on site setup costs, site offices etc.
2. Trades who are onsite already engaged in Stage 1 can continue with Stage 2.
3. The builders will not need to construct temporary walls to allow students to access a partially completing building
4. The builders will not have to deal with work restrictions, limiting noise while students and staff work in the same building.
5. The builders are also highly motivated to construct the complete building. They believe the design will be a showcase of their work.

This means that rather than having students move in for the beginning of Term 2, they will have access to the full $13 million building early Term 3.  I would ask for your extended patience here. Let me assure you that we are very happy with the contractors and that they have proven themselves to be able to deliver a project on time and on budget.

We are very excited that Stage 2 has already started. If you drive through carline you will notice the new construction has commenced at the end of the building.

NESA (NSW Education Standards Authority) Inspection

Last week inspectors from NESA visited the College, along with officials from the Catholic Education Office. They spent the day inspecting the College’s approaches to Curriculum, Learning & Teaching, monitoring of attendance, accuracy in roll marking and child protection compliance.

Whilst we do not get the official report until November, the inspectors left very pleased with what they had examined and acknowledged the good work we have been doing.

Enrolments Kinder to Year 10 2020, and Year 7 2021

Enrolment applications have been streaming in since our successful Open Day.

I remind all parents who are looking to enrol younger siblings that it will be essential to submit your enrolment application before the end of Term 1 (Friday 12^th April).

In previous years, we have accepted enrolments beyond the due date but this is unlikely to continue this year. There are several year groups in 2019 with waiting lists and I would anticipate that this will continue to be the case for 2020.

Please get your completed enrolment applications in ASAP.

Have a great week!

Mr Simon Abernethy, College Principal

To support our Project Compassion appeal in 2019, St Francis will be holding a GOLD COIN MUFTI DAY FUNDRAISER on Friday 5 April 2019.  

Students are invited to wear appropriate mufti clothes, with enclosed shoes and a hat (this does not need to be the College hat).  The College uniform policy regarding jewellery and hair expectations are still to be followed.

If a student wears mufti clothes we ask that they bring in a Gold Coin donation.  This money will go towards Caritas Australia's Project Compassion Appeal.

PROJECT COMPASSION FUNDRAISING APPEAL - UPDATE

Thank you to all students and their families who have supported our Project Compassion appeal this year.  For every dollar raised, the House group earns 1 point to go towards their total for the House Cup trophy.

Please see below for an update of current points tally (current as at 22 March 2019)

1st Place - Treacy (127 points)
2nd Place - Chisholm (119 points)
3rd Place - Mackillop (112 points)
4th Place - Wellington (94 points)
5th Place - Janssen (74 points)
6th Place - Clare (67 points)


HOW CAN OUR DONATIONS HELP?

Each week of Lent, Caritas profile another person who always gives 100%.

Here is one story about how your donations change lives.

For more stories go to lent.caritas.org.au/

MICHAELA FROM ALICE SPRINGS, AUSTRALIA

Twenty-one year-old Michaela is helping to build a social enterprise for people with chronic illnesses at The Purple House in Alice Springs. Featured in Project Compassion 2014, the First Australian-run Wellbeing Program, uses its profits to connect and care for dialysis patients who are far from home.

As a Purple House trainee, Michaela completed a Certificate IV in Business Management. She was also recently promoted from administration trainee to permanent employee, working on The Wellbeing Program.

The young Alywarr woman cares for patients as they receive dialysis and helps them to feel at home and remain hopeful during treatment. Patients in turn pass on traditional knowledge to Michaela.

The program is run by the Western Desert Nganampa Walytja Palyantjaku Tjutaku Aboriginal Corporation, with support from Caritas Australia.

First Australians are twice as likely to experience chronic kidney disease, and four times more likely to die from it than other Australians*.

With the help of staff like Michaela, the Aboriginal-controlled service gives patients the opportunity to stay connected with their culture. They do this through traditional healing practices and income-generating activities, such as making bush balms and soaps.

Profits are invested back into supporting patients receiving remote care and help to get people on dialysis back on country.

In addition to completing her studies, Michaela has obtained a driver’s licence, is building her leadership skills running workshops solo.

“Hope means having something to look forward to.
I enjoy building relationships with the patients and learning from them.   If we keep our culture alive we can feel strong.”

Miss Lisa Christensen
Religious Education, Identity and Mission Coordinator

As we are fast approaching Easter, we thought it would be a good time to talk about Easter Eggs. As a College, we have made the decision that Easter Eggs will not be handed out until after we return from the school holidays.

Lent is a time for giving something up or abstinence.  As we lead in to Easter we will be remembering the events of Holy Week, leading up to and including Jesus’ crucifixion.
Holy Week is a time of reflection and contemplation.  It isn’t until Easter Sunday that we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus.

Students in Year 5 conducted first hand investigations to determine the viscosity of different substances.

Please see photos below of our students having a great time conducting these experiments...... 

Dear Parents/Carers,

We are really excited to let you know that due to the overwhelming expression of interest numbers the booking portal for Code Camp at St Francis is now open.

To register your child for Code Camp at St Francis these school holidays please visit the following website www.codecamp.com.au/sfcc

Code Camp requires a minimum of 20 students for each session to be run. There are two sessions which are available for you to register your child for:

Little Heroes (ages 5-6)

• April 23rd & 24th
• $239 ($139 after the creative kids rebate)
• Creative kids rebate ($100) available
• Students are able to borrow the school iPads for the two days

Spark (ages 7-13)

• April 23rd, 24th and 26th (code camp will NOT be running on the 25th of April)
• $349 ($249 after the creative kids rebate)
• Creative kids rebate ($100) available
• Students will be required to BRING THEIR OWN DEVICE
• Limited devices will be available to hire

For a Code Camp session to run these school holidays, we need at least 20 students registered for a session to run by Friday 29th March.

For any questions about the program, you can visit www.codecamp.com.au, email hello@codecamp.com.au or contact Miss Issa on issas01@dow.catholic.edu  

Kinder Green made St Francis very proud collecting lots of recyclables for the College recycling competition. Our class ended up collecting the most in the whole school! As such, Kinder Green were treated with a pizza lunch and had a fantastic time eating, dancing and celebrating their win.

Miss Sultana
Kinder Green

Semi Final (22/3)

SFCC vs. Clancy Catholic College
Score: 2-2 Draw

Congratulations to the following secondary students who represented St Francis at the Diocesan Swimming Championships on Thursday 14th March:

Congratulations to Michael F in Year 8 who competed at the NSW Little Athletics State Championships recently. Michael won gold in the U/14 800m and 1500m races and placed 7th in the 400m.

Michael was also successful earlier in the year, taking home gold in the U/15 800m and 1500m races at the NSW Junior Athletics Championships.

Well done Michael!

2019 NSWPSSA Athletics Representative Team

Attention primary parents: If your son/daughter is a state or national level athlete in the sport of athletics, please read the attached document.

If your son/daughter meets the age and qualification criteria and they would like to be considered to attend the selection trials please complete the documentation.

If you have any questions please contact Miss Flegg on 4645 3400.

Kind regards
Miss Jessica Flegg, Sport Coordinator