2024 Term 2 Week 7 Newsletter
Prayer Focus
From the Principal
Feedback from 'Tell Them From Me Survey'
Your feedback is invaluable to us at St. Francis Xavier. It helps us enhance your experience with us. We would like to thank everyone who participated in the recent Tell Them From Me survey, which has provided us with valuable insights for future planning. Your responses included many affirmations and some suggestions for improvement, particularly in the areas of teacher feedback and access to the principal.
I want to reiterate our open-door policy here at St. Francis Xavier. Our dedicated teaching staff is committed to keeping you informed. As we near the end of Semester 1, teachers are diligently preparing reports to provide comprehensive insights into your child's academic journey. Following the reports, parent-teacher interviews in early Term 3 will offer valuable face-to-face interactions to further discuss your child's development.
We strongly encourage parents to contact teachers at any time with questions or concerns about their child’s progress or wellbeing. Our teachers wholeheartedly welcome these conversations. Please feel free to reach out and engage with us; we are here to support you every step of the way.
Teachers will do their best to find a suitable time for discussions, accommodating your preference for email, phone call, or face-to-face communications. For urgent matters, if the teacher is unavailable, or if you would like to discuss an issue with me personally, I am more than happy to schedule a meeting at your earliest convenience. I also enjoy connecting with parents at school events like carnivals, assemblies, and during drop-off and pick-up times. Please come and say hello, especially if we haven’t met yet!
Our monthly Coffee and Conversation sessions provide a dedicated time for feedback, raising concerns, and asking questions. At our next session on Friday, June 28, at 8:45 AM, we will share more information about the feedback collected from the Tell Them From Me surveys.
Other avenues for communication and feedback include the Parent Forum, Stage Parent Representatives, and our newly implemented suggestion box for both students and parents, located in the front office.
We welcome your ideas and input and value your partnership in creating a school community where our students thrive. This is our school, and we want to journey together to ensure that your children receive the best possible education.
Caroline Lewis
Principal
Faith & Mission
Staff Proclaim Event
On May 30, over 600 staff from Catholic Schools in the Clarence region gathered at St John Paul College for Staff Proclaim. The day was a wonderful success, with lots of opportunities to learn, pray, sing, connect, celebrate and contemplate how each and every one of us can contribute to the mission of the church in Catholic schools - to ensure that all our students know that they are cared for and loved by God, always.
First Communion
This Friday, the students who have been preparing to receive the Sacrament of First Eucharist will be traveling to St Augustines to participate in a retreat ahead of their special day this weekend. All families are welcome to attend and support our students at St Francis Xavier Church at 9am as they embark on this important step in their faith journey. The children are very excited to join the community as full participants in the Eucharist. Please keep them in your prayers this week and especially on Sunday.
St Vincent de Paul Winter Appeal
This year, St Vincent De Paul Winter Appeal is focusing on the issue of the working homeless. The lack of affordable housing and increased demand for rental properties in Australia means that even those working can’t afford a roof over their heads. As a result, more and more Australians are being forced into homelessness – ‘the working homeless’. The St Francis Xavier Mini Vinnies group needs your help to give a ‘hand up’ to the working homeless in Woolgoolga. Your generosity will bring warmth and happiness to people in need, in the Woolgoolga community.
How can you help?
This winter, we are asking for families to generously donate blankets, sheets and towels. To uphold the dignity of those receiving goods, please ensure items are in good, clean condition. We would love quality over quantity. If families could donate ONE good quality item that would be greatly appreciated.
The Mini Vinnies group will be collecting and sorting the blankets, sheets and towels until the end of this term, ready to deliver to the local Vinnies Op Shop. If you can send your items into school any time between NOW and the END OF TERM, that would be much appreciated. We ask that students bring items in a bag and give it to their homeroom teacher.
The following items would be much appreciated.
Good quality, clean:
- flannelette or cotton sheets
- blankets
- towels
NAIDOC Celebration Day
Katrina Ryan
Assistant Principal Mission
Learning & Teaching
This week, our Stage 3 classrooms have been fortunate to use Virtual Reality (VR) headsets for exciting learning experiences. In our Natural Disasters Science Unit, students have begun exploring the impacts of hurricanes, earthquakes, and volcanoes, even visiting a live volcanic crater. We're also bringing the benefits of VR to other subjects like English, PDHPE and Maths. We are thrilled to see how VR boosts our learning adventures!
Michaela O’Shea-Miller
Assistant Principal Learning and Teaching
A Focus on Inclusion
All Australian education providers have obligations to students with disability and additional learning and support needs.
Under the Disability Standards for Education (2005) all principals and teachers have legal obligations to ensure that every student is able to participate in the curriculum on the same basis as their peers through rigorous, meaningful and dignified learning. The Disability Standards are Australian law under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1992.
This does not mean every student should have the same experiences.
On the same basis means that students with disability should have the same opportunities and choices in their education as students without disability.
This may be achieved by making reasonable adjustments to suit each individual student's education needs and may include any reasonable adjustments to the learning program or to the school's physical environment – and the provision of additional support – to assist each student fulfill his or her potential.
“Interaction Institute for Social Change | Artist: Angus Maguire.”
interactioninstitute.org and madewithangus.com
Fiona Jupp
Leader of Inclusion
Sporting Roundup
Parent Handbook - Athletics Carnival
Click on the link below for all information regarding the upcoming Athletics Carnival on Friday, 21 June.
Long Distance Events Nomination Form - Athletics Carnival
Click on the link below to nominate your child for the long distance events at the Athletics Carnival.
Jump Rope For Heart
Polding Cross Country
Well done to Max, Ned, Kalani, Mia, Sam and Ava who competed at the Polding Cross Country Trials in Sydney last week with some amazing results! Five students placed just outside qualification for State with the top six placings going through. Max and Ava's age group teams both placed first overall!
Congratulations to Ava who placed 5th and qualified to compete with the Polding Team at the PSSA NSW State Cross Country Championships in Sydney on Tuesday 23rd July. Best of luck Ava!
Hannah Haworth
Leader of Sport
Parent Forum
The next Parent Forum meeting will be held on Monday, 17 June at 6.30pm in the school library. There is a Zoom link below for those who are unable to attend in person.
At the most recent Parent Forum Meeting, a representative from the Catholic Schools Office presented two models for future options for parent engagement in our school. Click on the link above to read the Minutes of this meeting. Please refer to the flyer below to see the two options and to respond to a survey indicating your preference.
Certificates of Recognition
Congratulations to all Certificate of Recognition recipients at the Week 6 Assembly. Keep up the great work!
Pen Licences
Well done to all students who have received their Pen Licence this week!
Gold Token winners
Well done to all token recipients this week and congratulations to the Gold Token winners!
Head Lice
Recently there have been a number of cases of head lice reported.
If you find any eggs or lice in your child's hair please commence treatment as recommended.
Further information on head lice is available on the NSW Health website.
Parent Workshops
Technology and Screens & How to create a peaceful household
Tuesday 18 June at St Augustine's Primary School, Coffs Harbour
Register by scanning the QR code or clicking on the link in the flyer below
Trivia Night at SJPC
St John Paul College (SJPC) Year 12 cohort are hosting a Trivia Night at the College on Friday 21 June to raise money for two charities, The Vinnies Van and Life House Pantry. SJPC would like to extend an invitation to parents and carers of our school community to attend the event. Teams consist of 10 players ($15 per person).
For further information please contact the College at sjpccoffs@lism.catholic.edu.au or on 66533155.
Greetings from WA!
I thought I would share a little update on our lap of Australia with the SFX community. My husband (Kelvin) and I are blown away at the size of our country - we feel like we could be on the road for years to be able to see all of the amazing places.
We hit the road on January 15th and thus far have travelled over 12,500 km. The plan was to zip through NSW and Victoria and slow down in South Australia as this was the only state we hadn’t ever visited. During the 7 weeks in the York and Eyre Peninsulas, we spent time fishing off rocks, climbing mountains, shucking oysters (yum!), visiting lots of vineyards and enjoying the white sandy beaches. While it is a small state, there are so many more places to visit and we are putting it on the list to return to for a longer period of time.
Feeling the need for warmer weather, we started our drive to WA heading across the Nullabor at the beginning of March. This drive included an unexpected adventure as we drove through torrential rain which nearly shut the road down before we reached WA. Luckily, the water across the road was no match for our big truck! This state is simply stunning and brings a variety of landscapes - from red sand to white, from barren land to lush green pastures. The colours of all WA beaches are simply indescribable! Along the journey, we have seen emus, kangaroos, dingoes, goannas, cattle, echidnas and countless birds (the wedge-tail eagle and bustard sightings were super special). Our fishing expeditions have filled our freezer with squid, blue swimmer crabs and taylor fish. We enjoyed a coffee while watching the local emus in Monkey Mia and the quokkas on Rottnest Island.
We are looking forward to the adventures to come and I cannot wait to share it with you all when I return to SFX in 2025.
I hope you are all enjoying a fabulous Term 2.
Take care everyone!
Colette Harris x
