Term1 Issue #1

Dear Families

It has been a very smooth start to the year. The children have settled in well and the staff are all happy with their attitude and work ethic. The staff spent the first two weeks building positive relationships with the children and going through our core values of Service, Respect and Compassion.

SRC and House Leaders Semester 1

The SRC and House Leaders for Semester 1 have been finalised. Congratulations to all the children who have been selected.

Chisholm- House Leaders/ SRC Semester One

Jackson Cooper

Laura Fryer

Chloe McMahon

Xavier- House Leaders/ SRC Semester One

Sienna Bos

Jade Glover

Hayden Mumford

De Mazenod- House Leaders

Sophie Beckett

Isabel Gentile

Jordan Gloria

MacKillop - House Leaders

Carlo Barbaro

Ava Hudson

Grace McLean

Student Representative Council- Reception- Year 5 and OSHC

Sophie Stubbs, Wren Zito, Arlo Falkenberg, Eliana Van Rysbergen, Mayla Codispoti, Tom Oliver, Layla Brown, Jack Goldsmith, Amelia McKinnon, Brooklyn Gloria, Phoenix Hancock, Mila Moss, Thea Edom, Harvey Creasey, Ana Myroniuk, Oliver Rose, Ivy Mercan, Forrest White, Piper Newell, Lucas Owens, Camilla Herrmann, Clayton Paul, Ella Tuk, Elliott Ainslie, Zoe Mumford, Jayden Zito, Taylor Macklin, Kaiden Waters, Alyssa Romeo, Owen Knott, Eva Doecke, Darcy McMahon, Tahlia Watson, Charlie Ferguson, Alyssa Angelaras, Connor Rohrlach, Ruby Neal, Boston Pearks, Ellie Hender, Finley Holden, Arlo Williams

AGM

Just a reminder the school AGM will be held on Tuesday, 12th March at 6:00pm. We will be launching our School Values and the Parent Grievance Policy. It would be great to see some parents in attendance.

Enrolments

As we start to prepare for our future years could you please ensure you have all of your sibling children enrolled. This will require completion of the Application for Enrolment and payment of the enrolment application fee. The enrolment documents are available by emailing PA@sfx.catholic.edu.au or collecting application forms from the Front Office. Please dont delay as demand is high and  some year levels are filling fast.

Communication- Facebook weekly emails

Just a reminder that teachers are now sending out weekly emails for what is happening during the week. We also do a Facebook post on Friday for the week ahead. We pride ourselves on our communication and we feel it is important to keep you up to date with what is happening in and around our school.

Below is also a reminder of key dates for the term and year. Please note, Sports Day is now Friday, 5th of April as sent to you two weeks ago.

KEY DATES TERM 1 (still to happen)

Monday, 11th March: Adelaide Cup holiday

Tuesday, 12th March: AGM

Wednesday, 13th March: NAPLAN commences

Thursday, 28th March: Holy Thursday

Friday, 29th March: Good Friday

Monday, 1st April: Easter Monday

Tuesday, 2nd April: Parent /Teacher Conversations

Thursday, 4th April: Easter Mass

Friday, 5th April: Sports Day

Friday, 12th April: Last day of term

KEY DATES FOR THE YEAR- TERMS 2 - 4 (all dates subject to change)

Friday, 10th May: Mother’s Day / significant person Liturgy and Breakfast

Friday, 28th June Pyjackie/ Vinnies Day

Tuesday, 25th June: Young Performers

Tuesday 2nd and Wednesday 3rd July: Year 6 Production

Thursday, 8th August: Mary Mackillop Feast Day

Friday, 23rd August: Book Week Parade

Friday, 30th August: Father’s Day/ significant person Liturgy and Breakfast

Thursday, 5th September: School Disco

Friday, 13th September: Grandparents Day

Tuesday, 17th September: Music Cabaret

Friday, 29th November: St Francis Feast Day and Colour Run

Wednesday, 4th December: End of Year Mass

Tuesday, 10th December: Year 6 Graduation and Dinner

Wednesday, 11th December: Last day of school year

Community Portal

The community portal has been launched and 81% of parents have joined.

Once you have successfully registered, you will be able to:

• Access Finance Statements
• Make online Payments
• View Medical details
• View Emergency Contacts
• Access academic reporting (coming soon)

If you need the invitation resent or you did not receive an email, please email accounts@sfx.catholic.edu.au.

Molly update

As you would all know, Molly turned 1 today and we had a big party for her. Molly has been a blessing for our school and the children and staff absolutely love her.

Molly now has her red and green harness. When Molly is wearing her red harness, children and parents are not to pat her.

When Molly has her green harness on, children can ask to pat her.

Kind Regards,

Jason Mittiga

Principal SFX

Week 0-Regional Mass Gathering

The staff of St David’s Parish School, Our Lady of Hope School and the SFX staff gathered here at St Francis Xavier's Catholic School for a Regional Staff Mass to begin the 2024 School Year. This gathering offered us a valuable opportunity to connect as one community. As a united community, we prayed for each other and asked God to strengthen us all as companions on a journey towards a common vision and purpose, that will empower us for the good of all God’s people. All staff were blessed and commissioned as educators of Catholic Education by Father Kym who was our celebrant. We thank him for his prayers and support for the journey that waits for our staff and students.

Beginning of the Year Mass

Last week we celebrated The Beginning of The School's Year Mass with Father Kym as our celebrant. We also had the privilege of commissioning our Year 6 Leaders. Thank you to all the families who joined us to witness these special blessings. We are looking forward to watching our students grow as leaders in 2024.

The theme for 2024- Serving with Compassion

St Francis Xavier’s Core Values

In 2023, during our 40^th year of SFX, the staff, students and community undertook a journey of understanding the charism of our school and how we started. We looked to our inspirations, St Francis Xavier’s, St Eugene De Mazenod and John XXIII to develop St Francis Xavier’s core values-

Service-The notion of service calls individuals to set aside their needs for the needs of others. It is also an important value for all social relationships. It shows that meaning is found in service rather than in self-centredness.

Compassion- Compassion, which is rooted in love, takes on the suffering of others, but with the hope that some positive good will emerge from this shared suffering. Showing compassion is a way to display empathy, help others, and demonstrates God’s love.

Respect- Jesus loves everyone one of us and wants us to show love. We recognise each other’s differences and to show consideration for one another and the environment.

Each year level has been discussing and exploring each core value within their classroom. You will begin to see each core value displayed across the school and in documents as the year progresses. As our theme for 2024 is focusing on ‘service’ each class has created a service goal. Staff have also created a service goal for the year.

Shrove Tuesday

To celebrate Shrove Tuesday, Leadership prepared pancakes for staff and students on Tuesday of Week 3. Shrove Tuesday is the last day before the period that we call Lent. It is tradition to eat pancakes on this day.

Why?

Lent is a time of giving up things. Pancakes were traditionally eaten on this day to use up ingredients before the 40-day fasting season of Lent.

Ash Wednesday

The Ash Wednesday Whole School Liturgy reminded students about their responsibilities during the season of Lent. Thank you to the Year 2 classes who hosted this reflective Liturgy. Each class was given a Project Compassion Box during the Liturgy which will be placed in their classroom during Lent; students have been asked to contribute where possible.

Project Compassion-For Future Generations 

The Project Compassion theme reminds us that what we do today can have an impact for all future generations. This message invites us to step up for those who do not have the essential resources they need for their survival and those whose needs at this time are far beyond ours. By putting compassion into action, we can make a difference today, for all future generations.

To learn more about Project Compassion this Lent see the link below-

How can I help?

• Place any donation amount in the Project Compassion box in your classroom.
• Our Tapitas Water Wall in the Front office

Your family can add a droplet to the wall by donating $5 to Project Compassion. Write your name, and even add a prayer if you choose, before adding the droplet to the display wall.

Please see Vickie or Tanya in the Front Office to support Project Compassion and to donate.

Take a moment to watch a video featuring our RE Committee to learn more about this project. 

Project compassion Video

The Premier’s Reading Challenge (PRC) is a literacy engagement program that was introduced to encourage a love of reading and to improve literacy skills.  The Challenge has now commenced for 2024 and students should have or will soon receive a PRC reading record form from their class teacher. If they have not received one as yet or would like another copy, please come into the library and we’d be happy to give them another copy.

A couple of things to note...

1. To complete the Challenge, students are required to read 8 x PRC books of their level and 4 x other books of their own choice.  If the 4 free choice books also happen to be PRC books, then they can add these to the free choice section of their Student Reading Record.
2. PRC sticker colours the students should be looking for are ...  Reception to Year 2 Orange; Year 3 - 5 Green; Year 6 - Yellow 
3. If students wish to read books above their level, then they are most welcome to do so and can include those books on their Student Reading Record, however reading below is discouraged depending on the reading ability of the student.
4. If one book in a series is on the PRC book list, then all other books in that series are also considered PRC books.  While there are no restrictions to the number of books by an author or in a series, we encourage students to extend their reading and try to include a variety of books on their Student Reading Record.
5. While library staff do what we can to ensure we display relevant coloured stickers on each of the books in the library, this list changes regularly so some may fall through the cracks.  The PRC website provides a list of the books included in the challenge. This is a public site so anyone can access it, however students are welcome to ask library staff to check the list for them.

https://premiersreadingchallenge.sa.edu.au/

6. The onus is on the students (with the assistance and support of parents/caregivers) to complete and return their completed forms to the library before the close date. Students will receive ample reminders and encouragement throughout this time and we strongly encourage all students to complete the challenge.

We are hoping that you will join us in attempting to reach our goal of 100% completion, by encouraging your child to enter the details of the books as they read them and then return their completed form to the library once they have completed their reading.  Students have until Friday, 6^th September, 2024 to complete their reading for the Challenge and to hand in their forms to their class teacher or to one of the library staff members before the close date. Certificates and medals will be awarded in November.

Overdue/Lost/Damaged books

Unfortunately last year we continued to have issues with overdue, lost, and damaged books.  Please note that student loans are for 14 days and books need to be returned to the library within that time. Students may extend the loan for an additional 14 days, however they must bring the book(s) into the library and ask a staff member for a loan extension.  

Reminder notices are emailed to parents/caregivers each Monday afternoon advising any books due to be returned in the coming week – this will include the due date.  Overdue notices are also emailed on Monday afternoon.  Should you receive an email from the library advising that your child has books due to be returned or already overdue, could you please ensure that they return them to the library as a matter of urgency.  Should books fail to be returned after reminders have been sent, an invoice may be sent home requesting payment to replace these books.  If the books are then found, please urgently return to the library, otherwise payment will be required.  Invoices may also be issued where a student returns a library book that is damaged beyond repair.

Please note, students who have any overdue books cannot borrow resources from the library until the overdue books have been returned or the invoice for lost books has been settled. 

Thank you for your support

Library staff

From the Wellbeing Team

The Resilience Project

The Resilience Project is committed to teaching positive mental health strategies to prevent mental ill-health and build young people’s capacity to deal with adversity.

Teachers and students will engage in weekly lessons and activities around the key principles of Gratitude, Empathy, Mindfulness (GEM), and Emotional Literacy to build resilience.

Check out their website for more information:

The Resilience Project

And check out TRP@HOME; a place filled with inspiration and activities for the whole family, to help improve your wellbeing and build resilience.

TRP@HOME

What’s the Buzz

During Term 1, The SFX Wellbeing Team will be running What’s the Buzz, a unique social thinking program that encourages children to think about how to get along with others and explore the benefits of developing new social skills.

Sessions will occur once a week in Term 1 with the focus on building students’ social and emotional thinking. This will take place within a small group and will be delivered through direct teaching, role-play, quizzes, and fun in the context of an encouraging group. What’s the Buzz aims to teach primary aged children ‘how-to’:

· Meet people, be friendly and hold a conversation

· Give compliments and show care

· Seek attention in constructive ways

· Understand their own feelings

· ‘Read’ the feelings of others

· Take turns, be calmer under pressure, handle loss and disappointment with poise

· Deal with worry

· Thoughtfully respond to rejection and bullying

· Always apply positive thinking to fix problems

· Cope more resiliently with the inevitable emotional highs and lows that life offers.

What's the Buzz? is an evidence-based program now used in more than 130 countries to teach young people social and emotional intelligence. It is based on the S.A.F.E. criteria, which permits maximum opportunity for the skills taught to transfer across into other situations.

For more information on What’s the Buzz, see What's the Buzz? - Home (whatsthebuzz.net.au) or contact Mr Hughes (shughes@sfx.catholic.edu.au)

This is a reminder that St Francis Xavier is an allergy aware school. We have numerous children across our school who have severe allergies to items (foods) such as tree nuts, peanuts and, if exposed, can become extremely ill. Many of you will know someone who is affected by anaphylaxis, a life threatening allergic reaction. Our school does its best to be an allergy aware school. Staff have had training in severe allergy management and we have implemented numerous strategies to help keep students at risk of anaphylaxis as safe as we can. While we cannot eliminate nuts products in our school, we seek to minimise, under our duty of care to our students, potential exposure and reactions. To support students with allergen needs we are asking parents that any peanut or nut containing products (for example – peanut butter, Nutella, some muesli bars) are not sent to school with your child in lunch boxes and or as snacks that will be eaten in the classroom, during play or during school activities.

As many products also state foods may contain traces of nuts, we discourage the sharing of foods between children to minimise student risk and highlight safe practices such as washing hands after eating.

We thank you for your support and understanding in ensuring the safety of all students at SFX.

We are so proud they are part of our SFX community.

Follow us on our social media platforms; Facebook and Instagram, for more staff introductions and stay up to date with what is happening at our beautiful school!

Let’s celebrate the unsung heroes of St Francis Xavier's Catholic School by nominating them across nine categories for the Catholic Education Awards 2024!

If your family or child fosters a huge appreciation for a member of the SFX staff and/or volunteer supporter, then here is your chance to help us give them the recognition they deserve!

Their contribution to the mission of Catholic education in South Australia is a commitment of service, compassion, and respect.

Independence Day is every Wednesday morning starting this week (28/2).

The purpose of this day is to promote resilience and independence amongst our children.

Drop your child(ren) at the school gate. Staff and the Year 6 Leaders will be there to support any children who may be feeling anxious.

Thank you for your encouragement and support.