Term 3, Issue 1

From our Principal, Jason Mittiga.

Dear Families

We are halfway through the term and there has already been so much happening and so much more to come!!!

CATHOLIC SCHOOLS OPEN WEEK

Catholic Schools Open Week is an important week for Catholic Education South Australia( CESA). At SFX we have two of our students; Chloe and Eden who's photos are on bus shelters and selected buses. We also have a School Tour where prospective parents come to our school and visit the classrooms and explore our environment.

I am very proud of all that our school offers and our children, teachers and parents are truly blessed to be at SFX each and every day.

At our school we value the intrinsic worth of each child and we provide quality learning in a Catholic context. We pride ourselves on educational excellence, nurturing each student and teaching the children about values and being the best person they can be. Working in partnership with you to educate and nurture your child is what we care about and make happen every day. SFX is truly the place to be.

Student Representative Council

Last week we announced the SRCs for Term 3 and 4, 2024.

Our SRCs had their first meeting this week and they are already making a difference, aiming to make our school a better place to be. Congratulations to our new SRC members. We have listed the names below with a photo to welcome our Semester 2 SRCs.

Max	Room 1
Halle	Room 1
Patrick	Room 2
Emilia	Room 2
Mia	Room 3
Levi	Room 3
Parker	Room 4
Skyler	Room 4
Sebastian	Room 5
Ivy	Room 5
Theodora	Room 6
Rossi	Room 6
Lila	Room 7
Harry	Room 7
Leni	Room 8
Chase	Room 8
Hayley	Room 9
Joshua	Room 9
Finn	Room 10
Christina	Room 10
Lyla	Room 11
Isla	Room 11

Annabel	Room 12
Angus	Room 12
Peyton	Room 13
James	Room 13
Amber	Room 15
Jude	Room 15
Addison	Room 16
Joseph	Room 16
Lilah	Room 17
Oliver	Room 17
Leo	Room 18
Mia	Room 18
Giacinta	Room 19
Eloise	Room 19
Tyson	Room 20
Sienna	Room 20
Evie	OSHC
Bryce	OSHC
de Mazenod	Year 6
Jordan	Year 6
Isabel	Year 6
Sophie	Year 6
Mackillop	Year 6
Carlo	Year 6
Grace	Year 6
Ava	Year 6

WELL BEING DOGS

Molly and Annie have settled in well to the new school term. Annie has been a great addition to our community and has already made a huge impact on our school.

Molly works 3 days a week and Annie works 1 day a week. Annie was introduced to the school during Week 1 and is now working each Thursday. Molly will continue her role on Monday's, Wednesday's and Friday's.

Molly and Annie aim to help our community to:

Increase attendance
Reduce anxiety
Improve peer-to-peer and staff-to-student relationships
Reduce behavioural incidents
Improve in social and emotional regulation
Improve capacity for empathy
Increase emotional literacy

SHENGFEI STUDENT VISIT TO SFX

This week we had our second round of visiting students from Shengfei Primary School, China. The students have spent all of this week in the Year 3 and 4 classes and were involved in many class activities, immersing themselves in our culture.

The Shengfei students are in Grade Seven and are quite proficient in English. The purpose of their visit was to continue to improve their language proficiency and to learn about Australian culture, while also becoming more interculturally aware.

The students travelled without their parents and have been accompanied by their Shengfei teachers. It is their first time away from China and probably the first time away from home for a lot of these students!!!

We look forward to continuing our partnership with Shengfei Primary School and we will keep you updated about plans for 2025.

APRIM Snapshot

Mary MacKillop Feast Day

We celebrated the Feast Day of Mary MacKillop, which is held every August 8th. On this day we honour Saint Mary of the Cross, MacKillop who is Australia’s first and only saint. The day marks her death on 8th August, 1909. We celebrated this day and recognised Saint Mary of the Cross, MacKillop’s enormous contribution to helping those in need with a whole school Mass.

Thank you to the Year 5 classes for hosting a beautiful Mass and to Father Kym for being our celebrant. Thank you also to our beautiful Liturgical Choir for making this celebration even more meaningful.

Mary was born to Scottish parents, Alexander MacKillop and Flora MacDonald in Fitzroy, Victoria on January 15, 1842. Her influence in Australia has spread far and wide. She is recognised for her commitment to the poor, helping those who needed in any way she could.

“never see a need without doing something about it.” Saint Mary MacKillop of the Cross

With the encouragement of Fr Julian Tennison Woods, Mary worked in partnership with him in 1866 to initially establish the first Saint Joseph’s School in a disused stable in Penola. Soon, young women came to join Mary and this saw the commencement of the Congregation of the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, known by many as the Josephites or the Brown Joeys (on account of colour of the habits they wore), in that year.

Since those humble beginnings, the work of the Sister’s spread beyond Australia and currently, there are 600 Sisters of St Joseph’s living in communities in Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, Ireland, Peru, Timor-Leste, and Brazil. The Sister’s provide services in pastoral work as well as in professional roles which include teaching, administration, social services, law, psychology, nursing, aged care, community development, adult education, and support for new arrivals in Australia and New Zealand.

In June 1995, Mary MacKillop was beatified by Pope John Paul II. In February 2010, after evaluating the testimony of an Australian woman who claimed that her terminal cancer had disappeared after she called upon MacKillop in prayer, Pope Benedict XVI recognized MacKillop as a saint. She was canonized in October of that year.

Mary is a great example of St Francis Xavier’s core Christian values of Service, Compassion and Respect.

If you want to learn more about Saint Mary MacKillop of the Cross, you might like to visit our Mary MacKillop Centre.

Shengfei Primary School visit to SFX

In Weeks 1 and 5 of Term 3, we have been fortunate enough to have a delegation of Chinese students and teachers visit us from our sister school, Shengfei Primary School in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, from the East of China. We have had a teacher exchange program with Shengfei Primary School for about 8 years and we have finally been able to extend that program to include students visiting us from Shengfei. Shengfei Primary school has a student body of 2300 and over 200 staff members and was built in the late 1980's.

During the first week of this term, SFX had the honour of hosting 30 students and 6 staff members from the school. This visit coincided with our Intercultural Week, fostering an enriching cultural exchange between both schools.

The visiting students were aged between 10 and 12 years and were integrated into our daily lessons alongside our Year 5 and 6 students in Week 1 and with our Year 3 and 4 students in Week 5. This cross-age exchange promoted camaraderie and a comfortable learning environment through a buddy system. Both weeks have been filled with a wide range of activities that encouraged mutual learning and cultural sharing and fun between both sets of students.

Some of the highlights have been inviting Uncle Tamaru (Kaurna Elder) to our school to perform the Welcome to Country and Smoking ceremonies, participation in National Plant a Tree Day, where students planted trees and interacted with players from the Adelaide Crows Football Club and had the opportunity to kick a football, a culinary exchange with Shengfei students teaching dumpling making, and SFX hosting a traditional Australian BBQ. SFX students also selected the daily lunches for the Shengfei students. Educational sharing sessions occurred about the daily school life and what the school timetables looked like in both countries., teachers shared videos and information about what a day would look like for the students and the way our schools are structured differently.

We also exchanged gifts emblematic of South Australia and Chengdu, symbolizing the friendship and appreciation between the two schools including Aboriginal art, books and the South Australian delicacy- Fruchocs. Aboriginal art lessons where students learnt about boomerangs and the importance of the different types and their usages. Guest speaker Erin Aguis came to share the importance of healthy eating and what it does to the body through looking at authentic X-rays.

The experience has been mutually beneficial with the Shengfei students and staff and our SFX staff and students gaining much from the experience, culturally, personally, and educationally.

When I asked some or our students what they learnt from the experience there were so many positive comments such as;

"I realised how little I knew about kids from China. Now, I want to visit Shengfei Primary School and experience China for myself!"

"The Shengfei students are so generous and kind. They also showed me how amazing they are at maths!"

"It was great to share our culture with them and hear their thoughts on our school grounds—they were so impressed!"

The visit from Shengfei Primary School has significantly contributed to the global perspective of our students and has strengthened the bonds between our communities. We remain committed to nurturing this partnership and the enriching experiences it brings to our students and staff and look forward to future visits.

Roma Chiera-Garnelli

Teacher of Languages and Global Awareness Committee Coordinator

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