Contents
- From the Principal
- Additional Pupil Free Days
- Bus Times – Pupil Free Day 14 April
- Religious Identity and Mission
- Leader of Learning
- School Community Wellbeing
- National Pet Day - Celebration and Blessing
- Year 8 Digital Tech Advanced
- Rowing Experiences
- Year 7 Outdoor Education - Wilderness Escape Excursions
- Principal's Twilight Tour
- Wakakirri Dance
- Royal Life Saving South Australia - River Safety Day
- Project Compassion - Fifth Week of Lent
Laudato Si’ – Prasie be to you, my Lord
Our College Motto, Laudato Si’ encompasses why St Francis of Assisi College exists, serving the Riverland community. Laudato Si’ is Pope Francis encyclical on caring for our common home and calls us toward sustainability in the spirit of integral ecology. An integral ecology is one where “everything is connected” (LS 91), and fundamental to this is the notion of care for self, others and Earth.
I am a believer that we learn by doing, and a significant aspect to living our College Motto, is through an intentional approach where we focus our energies as a school community. The seven Laudato Si’ goals provide a tangible guide to what living out this ecological conversation might look like:
- Response to the cry of the earth
- Response to the cry of the poor
- Ecological economics
- Adoption of sustainable lifestyles
- Ecological education
- Ecological spirituality
- Community resilience and empowerment
As Term 1 draws to a close, the influence of Laudato Si’ on our College community is fast becoming visible in many significant ways such as:
- College House Names
Ventus, Ignis, Aqua and Terra
- Student Action Groups
Laudato Si’ Action Group: Bookmark Creek and our Environment, Inclusion and
Diversity
Community Wellbeing Action Group – Peer Support, Arts Development
Partnership with Jacqui Remond
Jacqui is the Joint Coordinator of the Ecology Taskforce and has been working with the College Leadership Team to develop a strategic approach to living our College Motto of Laudato Si’. We look forward to sharing this strategy and consulting with the school community in a range of ways in the near future.
We look forward to continuing on this journey of ecological conversation with our students, staff and broader school community.
Student / Parent / Teacher Progress Conversations
Home Group teachers have recently engaged in progress conversations with students and their parents / carers. We have a vertical home group structure, meaning eventually, home groups will consist of students across years 7 to 12, and any siblings will be part of the same home group. The purpose of running these conversations with the home group teacher, was to attend to the ‘whole child’. That is, reflecting on the academic progress and any concerns and supports that may be needed, and also looking at how the students are travelling from a social and wellbeing perspective. While in person is always the preference, the use of Microsoft Teams to facilitate the majority of conversations proved to be very effective, and the initial feedback has been positive. We have a continuous improvement approach to all we do at the College, and any further feedback on the progress conversations process is welcomed.
These formal conversations form part of our overall approach to assessment and reporting, and the aspiration to provide ongoing academic progress feedback to students and parents / carers across the school year and our Learning Management System, SEQTA is our primary system used to achieve this, with the SEQTA Teach, Learn and Engage components of the system working together.
In summary, here are the key ways we provide ongoing feedback around student academic progress:
- teachers have ongoing assessment results and feedback released for students and parents available through SEQTA
- Student Progress Reports (released for each subject in week 6 this term)
- Student / Parent / Teacher Conversations
- End of Semester Reports released through SEQTA.
I take this opportunity to reiterate that while we have formal feedback opportunities such as those listed above, I encourage parents and carers to contact any of your child’s teachers if you have particular concerns, or simply want to check in with how your child is progressing.
Nathan Hayes
Principal
Pets Day!
We’ll be having a youth gathering to celebrate our pets. If you have a pet, bring them along after school on Friday 8th April at 5pm. If you don’t have a pet, that’s ok, there’ll be pets to share, just come along! We’ll meet in the multipurpose room and have some fun with the animals, including a pet blessing with Fr Hau as well as games and food. See you there!
Please let Mrs Claire Smith know if you’re coming and bringing a pet
As part of the Year 8 Digital Tech Advanced elective students have been given the open ended challenge to create a project using ICT to "do good". Riley and Billie chose to focus on the Laudato Si goal of "Adapting Simple Lifestyles", where their project is to encourage people to eat vegetarian meals. They have created a website which they will imbed with cooking videos. To make their project cost effective they offered homemade lunches for staff today. On the menu was Avocado Hero Salads and Tofu with Sweet Potato Bowls. I was extremely proud of how they both work together, showing initiative and independence! I can’t wait to see their final product!
Miss Linnett
Teacher
We’ve now had all classes visiting the Renmark Rowing Club and a number of students have had the opportunity to get out on the water. Each class has approached the sessions with enthusiasm and an eagerness to learn the skills required to row.
As a College we are learning how best to deliver these sessions and am thankful to have such a supportive student body who have been patient as we’ve worked through the logistics. We have had to contest with some not so favourable weather conditions and other river users, but the students have done well, and everyone has stayed dry!
We are looking forward to more students getting an opportunity to row throughout the remainder of Term 1.
Stephanie Turnbull
Rowing Coach and Learning Support
onday 21st - Wednesday 23rd March 2022
This term in Outdoor Education, our Year 7 students have been learning about the role that water plays as a resource in the environment. The focus has been on the ocean, with our planned 3-day camp scheduled to be at Port Hughes on the Yorke Peninsula. With COVID-19 restrictions on camps not allowing this to occur, we were very grateful that our camp providers Wilderness Escape were flexible. To ensure our students still experienced similar Outdoor Education experiences as they would have at Port Hughes, we conducted 3 x 1-day excursions around Renmark, based mainly around the Murray River.
This included participating in kayaking, raft building and fishing at Plush’s Bend, bike riding through Paringa Paddock, and rock climbing, billy carting, catapult making, and problem-solving games on the oval at our college. All these activities provided our students with the opportunity to develop the transferable life skills of teamwork, resilience, initiative, communication, cooperation, bravery, critical thinking, and the ability to push yourself out of your comfort zone.
Comments from students included:
When asked about their kayaking experience, Georgio said “I really enjoyed learning how to use the oars and I really liked just looking around and playing the games as well, I had never gone on a kayak before, and it was actually really fun giving it a go!”
Denver highlighted the importance of cooperation stating “It was important that we all worked together otherwise we would not have been able to complete the tasks that was given to us. Our billycarts would not have worked, and our rafts would not have been finished. I cooperated with our team leaders to make sure the tasks were done.”
I would like to thank all students for their efforts, all staff who assisted with supervision, and the Wilderness Escape team for their flexibility and providing our students with a great outdoor experience.
Fraser Sampson
HPE Teacher
On Saturday 23 April 2022, Royal Life Saving South Australia is hosting a River Safety Day at Bert Dix Memorial Park, Paringa.
Royal life Saving South Australia are the peak body for inland water safety education and drowning prevention. They have operated in SA for over 115 years, educating communities to be safe in, on and around water. Key activities in the community include:
- Engaging with local stakeholders to develop drowning prevention strategies
- Delivering swimming and water safety programs in key communities
- Educating communities in metropolitan and regional SA
- Upskilling residents with Bronze Medallion, First Aid and Pool Lifeguard training
The event is part of the ‘Make the Right Call’ campaign. It will promote the safe use of the river and other inland waterways. Details on the event are as follow:
Time: 9am - 12pm
Cost: Free
Activities:
- Safety demonstrations
- Water rescue demonstrations
- BBQ lunch and more
Social