2023 Term 4 Week 7 Newsletter

Prayer Focus

From the Principal

Classes for 2024

The class teachers for 2024 will be as follows:

Staffing changes for 2024

We will bid Colette Harris a fond farewell as she embarks on a well-deserved break, traversing the landscapes of Australia in her van throughout 2024. Colette's last day at school will be Friday, 8 December. May her journey be filled with relaxation and wonderful memories. We look forward to seeing Colette back at school in 2025. 

In addition, congratulations are in order for Lauren Penfold, who has secured a position at Clarence Valley Anglican School (CVAS). We have every confidence that Lauren will continue to inspire and positively impact the young minds under her care.

Lastly, our heartfelt wishes go to Elyse Stuart, Lexie Jensen and Alee Isgro, all of whom will be on maternity leave in 2024. We extend our warmest congratulations on this joyous chapter of their lives and wish them abundant happiness, good health and precious moments with their newborns.

Student Leaders for 2024

We are proud to introduce our 2024 Student Leadership Team, which includes the addition of Sport House Leaders. We are excited to introduce two new sport houses next year: Bannon (yellow) is named after our founding Principal Sr Margaret Bannon and McAuley (green) is named after Catherine McAuley, foundress of the Sisters of Mercy.

Nature Playground help needed

The students are greatly enjoying our new Matrix play equipment.

Unfortunately, our Nature Playground is currently closed for safety reasons. Are there any parents in our school community who could help restore the Nature Playground it to its beautiful original condition? Please contact the school office if you can help. 

Caroline Lewis
Principal

Faith & Mission

St Francis Xavier Feast Day Celebrations

St Francis Xavier’s feast day is on December 03 and as such, we will be celebrating this important event as a school community on Friday, December 01. St Francis Xavier Day is a day where we gather as a school community to celebrate our patron saint and our wonderful school. All families are invited to join us for this special day. Please refer to the Compass communication shared on Wednesday for more detailed information.

Volunteers needed - Please contact the school office if you are available to help with:

• Cooking the BBQ
• Helping in the canteen
• ‘Colour Application Technicians’ for the Colour Run

Christmas Photo Fundraiser

Keen to have a professional family Christmas photo but dread the expense and the long lines? We have a solution for you that will also help to make Christmas brighter for others as well - win, win! Phone the school office to book your session between 9am and 11am on Saturday, 2 December. Photos are $10 (cash only) and will be delivered as a digital image for you to print and share. All proceeds will go to the Vinnies Christmas Appeal. 

Family Mass

Sanford travelled to the small island nation of Vanuatu with his family in early November. Whilst on the island of Efate, he visited the village of Eratap which has a population of about 800 and boasts a comprehensive school of about 100 children.  Having communicated with the school prior to travelling, Sanford and his parents learned that there was a need for writing books, pens, pencils, art supplies and teacher resources.  The school was most pleased to receive a suitcase full of school supplies from the Bullock family. In his visit to the school, Sanford met the principal to deliver the goods and tour the school.  Well done Sanford!

On Saturday 11 November, Bella represented So Fun Gymnastics, Woolgoolga at the State Competition in Sydney for the Special Olympics. Bella did an amazing job and she got a gold medal!  

Bella’s ribbons:

• Floor green score 14.45/20
• Beam blue score 18.55/20
• Bar red score 16.80/20
• Vault blue score 17.95/20

We are so proud of the hard work and training that you put into your preparation for this competition! Well done!

Katrina Ryan
Assistant Principal Mission

All Things Learning & Teaching

Semester 2 Reports

Student Reports will be available through COMPASS on Wednesday, 6th December 2023. All families will also be emailed when the reports become available.

This year the Semester 2 Reports will look a little different, with teachers reporting on what students can do and providing a learning goal or the next steps in learning required. This change of format is reflected throughout the Diocese. It is clear and aligned to the curriculum being taught.

As always each report is individualised and reflects what the student has demonstrated throughout the semester.

Sharon de Dassel
Assistant Principal Learning and Teaching

Communicating Diversity

Diwali Celebration

A huge thank you to our families for making this year's Diwali celebration a huge success! Students and staff members were treated to delicious Indian foods made and delivered by generous volunteers. A talented dance team provided us with a stellar performance again this year. Everyone from Kindergarten to Year 6 participated by making decorations to brighten up our school for Diwali.

We will be putting together a committee to help plan and celebrate Diwali in 2024. Please contact the school office if you are interested in helping in any way. 

We are so grateful and so blessed to be in this wonderful, diverse community!

Laura Cooke
Leader of EAL / D

A Focus on Inclusion

Transition to new school year 

For some students, particularly students with a disability, moving into a new school year can be a time of worry and uncertainty. At St Francis Xavier School, we understand that it is important to support students to make the transition to the new school year as calm and stress-free as possible.

There are many parts to our transition process: 

• Staff gather information about children to share with the next year’s teachers. 
• This year’s homeroom teachers meet with next year’s teachers to share information to help them support children in the new school year.
• Classes are organised to ensure students' academic, emotional, social and spiritual needs can be supported.
• Students move to next year’s classroom spaces for one session in the last part of the school year. During this time they will see their learning spaces, some of the staff who will be working in the space and some of the students that they will be working with. 
• Students who need a little extra support with change are given multiple opportunities to have informal visits to their classroom space for the next school year. 
• Each family will receive digital copies of transition stories. These stories will show that some things will stay the same for the next year and some things will be different. This will include photos of next year’s homeroom teachers. 
• Your child will come to school at the beginning of the year for a one-on-one maths assessment interview. This will give your child an opportunity to spend some time in the classroom space that they will be working in.

If you have any information that would be helpful for your child’s teacher to share with next year’s teacher, please email or call your child’s teacher for a chat. 

Fiona Jupp
Leader of Inclusion

Sporting Roundup

Whole School Swimming Carnival

This year we will be holding the school Swimming Carnival for all students to participate in. Although the Carnival is held in Term 4 2023, students will be swimming in their respective age groups that they would be in for 2024. For example, if your child has turned 9 years old in 2023, then at this carnival your child will be swimming in the 10 years age group as they will be turning 10 in 2024. 

The Carnival will be at Woolgoolga Pool on Wednesday, 6th December. There will be a Compass Event shared in the coming weeks for payment and consent. Please carefully read the information that will be provided in the Event as there will be a range of activities and times depending on the age of your child. 

We are looking for parent volunteers to assist with timekeeping, if you are interested please contact me via email sarah.jennings@lism.catholic.edu.au or phone on 02 6654 1981. 

Sarah Jennings
Leader of Sport

Mini Vinnies

Christmas Hampers

Mini Vinnies would like donations for Christmas Hampers.  The Hampers will be given to needy families in the Woolgoolga area and will be filled with non-perishable Christmas treats.

We would greatly appreciate donations of the following items:

• Biscuits
• Christmas puddings/cakes
• Pavlova Shell
• Bon bons/Christmas decorations
• Mixed fruit & nut

Please ensure all food items have a ‘best before date’ of later than 25 December 2023.

All donations can be left at the school office or in the classrooms.

Thank you for your support.

Helen Hunt & Michelle Henry
Mini Vinnies Team

Certificates of Recognition recipients

Congratulations to this week's Certificate of Recognition winners! 

Gold Token winners

Well done to all token recipients this week and congratulations to the Gold Token winners!  Keep up the great work everyone.

Parent Forum

The Parent Forum Annual General Meeting (AGM) was held on 6 November.  Please see the minutes from the AGM below together with the general business minutes.

The next Parent Forum Meeting will be held on 19 February 2024 at 6.30pm in the library where we look forward to welcoming and including new families to our school community.

Canteen News

Canteen Roster

If you would like to volunteer in the Canteen on a Wednesday or a Friday from 9am-10.15am or 10.15am-11.30am please contact the school office on 66541981.

All volunteers will receive a free morning tea and coffee!