Term 2: Week 6 2024
Don’t forget school closure on 10th of June for the King’s Birthday.
Principal Message….
Dear Parents/Carers,
We have had a busy few weeks conducting Prep 2025 enrolment interviews. It has been a pleasure for myself and our Deputy Principals to reconnect with existing families and meet new families and students wishing to join our community. Enrolment offer letters will be going out in the next fortnight and we are looking forward to working with all our Prep 2025 students and their families later in the year as part of transition.
We continue to keep our confirmation candidates in our prayers as the prepare to receive the sacrament with Bishop Martin next weekend. Fr Jude has been excited seeing all the candidates at mass these past few weekends as they are presented to the Parish community.
Our assemblies this year have transitioned to online during eating time for our students. They are being prerecorded by our school captains and student leaders and streamed across the school. Congratulations to the students pictured below for their achievements through the past couple of weeks, and the recognition of these achievements via our Disposition and Friendly Franciscan Awards.
You may have heard the recent announcements of the $400 School Bonus that is being issued to all families with children attending state schools. MACS have developed a letter being sent to local, state and federal members of parliament to ask them to reconsider their stance and ensure equity for all students regardless of the education system they are enrolled in. MACS are asking for families to support them in downloading a copy of the letter and sending it via your personal email to support the action they are trying to take.
Last week some leaders attended the MACS Vision for Instruction Professional Learning where we discussed the Explicit Instruction model. It was affirming to hear what was being discussed as a system and knowing that we are already on the path of engaging with these strategies to improve our student learning. I hope your kids have been coming home and talking to you about the different ways that they are being taught this year and the impact this is having. We will be holding some Parent Forums in the near future to give you a better understanding of our new approached to teaching and seek feedback on how we are going.
It is with a mixture of sadness and excitement that we announce the retirement of our Bursar, Margaret Mangani. Marg has been an integral part of the St Francis community from its beginning in 2012. She worked alongside foundational staff to establish the school you see today. We are excited for her to be retiring and the opportunity this affords to spend more time with an ever growing number of grandchildren, but we will also be sad to see her go as she has been an invaluable staff member. To celebrate Marg’s long career in catholic education and her 12+ years at St Francis we will be having a mass and morning tea in her honor. Details of the event are in today’s newsletter. Please RSVP if you are intending to join us, we hope to see some familiar faces to farewell Marg at the end of this term.
Lastly, we successfully navigated school review last week. A special thanks to those parents who volunteered their time to sit with our Reviewer and give a parent perspective on the school, its strengths and our next goals for improvement. The final report and recommendations will be sent to the school in Term 3. Once we have this information we will share it with our community to celebrate our successes and set goals for the next improvement phase.
Enjoy the week ahead as the cold weather well and truly settles in,
Michelle
Our Award winners this week
Advocate for Your Family
We need your support! The Victorian government is offering a $400 bonus to students attending state schools, but families who send their children to our Catholic school are currently not eligible.
We believe all students deserve equal support, and we encourage you to advocate for this by writing to Dylan Wight MP, the State Member for Tarneit. Your voice can make a difference in ensuring that our students receive the same benefits as those in state schools. Click on this link to get a copy of the letter that can be emailed or sent to Dylan Wight. His email is Dylan.wight@parliament.vic.gov.au
Mother's Day Breakfast
We were delighted to see so many mums and families enjoying the Mother’s Day breakfast! It was wonderful to witness the community coming together to celebrate our Mums and social peoples in our lives on this special day.
A huge thank you to everyone who attended and contributed to making the morning a great success. Special thanks go to our dedicated teachers who came in early to help cook and set up, and to the dads who cooked the bacon and eggs on the BBQ. Your efforts and enthusiasm truly made the event memorable for everyone.
Thank you all for making this Mother’s Day breakfast an event to remember!
Exciting New Garden Project - Here’s how You Can Participate!
We are thrilled to announce our new garden project, aimed at creating a beautiful and sustainable landscape for our school. This project will not only enhance our school environment but also provide a wonderful learning opportunity for our students. We are hoping to be the first Primary School in Melbourne to have a certified organic urban farm.
You can be a part of this exciting initiative by purchasing plants to donate to the project. Please click on this link to see the list of designated plants. By contributing plants, you are directly supporting our new landscape design and promoting native flora. If you purchase plants please bring it into the front office in the next two weeks to be part of the planting process.
Children whose families donate plants will have the special opportunity to plant them at the school, making it a truly hands-on and memorable experience.
Let's work together to create a vibrant and green space for everyone to enjoy! Thank you for your support.
Dear Families,
On Thursday 13th June, the SFA PIP Team will be running a NEON themed School Disco fundraiser. Students are able to dance the day away with DJ Christos from Eight Entertainment and they can come to school wearing Neon (bright) coloured clothes.
The Prep to Year 2 students can purchase a glow stick and Entry Ticket for $5.00 in Qkr and they will be getting their groove on from 2:10pm to 3:10pm.
Then the Students from Year 3, Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6 are invited to come back to school to dance the day away in the Year 6 De Piro space by purchasing a $10.00 Entry Ticket and disco pack in Qkr, which includes a soft drink, glow stick & popcorn.
Please note that ticket sales in Qkr will close on Friday 31st May at 4pm.
We are very grateful to our wonderful PIP Team for organising this awesome event for our students. More parent support is required from 4:00pm - 5:30pm, so if you have a current Working With Children Check and you are able to help out, please let Andrea know via email at amansour@sfatarniet.catholic.edu.au as soon as possible.
Kind Regards,
Andrea Mansour.
Religious Education & Parent Community Partnerships Leader.
At St. Francis, we have introduced the Spelling Mastery program to help our students improve their spelling skills. Spelling Mastery builds dependable spelling skills for students in grades 1-6 through a highly structured method that blends the following approaches:
Phonemic approach - helps beginning spellers learn the relationships between spoken sounds and written letters and then apply them to spelling
Morphemic approach - exposes advanced spellers to prefixes, bases, and suffixes
Whole-word approach - gives spellers at all levels the meaning and root of a word and shows how the word's spelling is influenced
In Spelling Mastery these methods are mixed together based on each student's level. The program uses clear lessons, careful word choices, and lots of practice to make sure students become good spellers, readers, and writers. We have chosen the Spelling Mastery program because it offers a structured and effective way to develop essential spelling skills. By using this method, we aim to provide our students with the tools they need for academic success.
Wyndham City Council is offering this great program to families. Tuning in to Kids is an 8-week FREE parenting program that focuses on the emotional connection between parents/carers and their children. Tuning in to Kids is best suited for parents/ caregivers of children aged between 5-11 years of age.
This evidence-based program has proven to be successful in improving parenting, parent-child relationships and children’s emotional competence and behaviour.
To express interest and for further information please email middleyearscounselling@wyndham.vic.gov.au
Do It For Dolly Day
The 10th of May was “Do It For Dolly Day”, a day focussed on addressing the impact of bullying, anxiety, depression and youth suicide, through education and direct support to young people and families.
As the digital landscape evolves, it's crucial for parents to have open conversations with their kids about online safety. The eSafety Commissioner has reported a rise in young children (aged 7-8) reporting abuse online. They have also seen a shift from predominantly social media-related complaints to a quarter of reports involving SMS and direct messaging.
The Beacon app is a reliable source of information about cyber safety in the palm of your hands. This app equips parents with the knowledge they need to navigate their children's digital behaviour confidently. With evidence-based eSafety content featured, Beacon is a valuable resource for parents and carers.
For resources to help nurture positive online practices in your family and start the conversation, visit: eSafety.gov.au/parents
