St Francis of Assisi College - Term 1 Week 10 - 2023
Contents
- Acknowledgment of Country
- From the Principal
- Leader of Learning
- College Community Wellbeing
- Parish and College Mass
- Catholic Co-Educational Athletics Carnival - U/14 Placed Second
- Mountain Bike Trial
- Congratulations - Sophie Robertson
- Congratulations - Miss Newman
- Rowing Program Update
- 2:15pm Finish Last Day of Term - Friday 14 May
- 2024 New Enrolments
- Twentyfirst Street Road Closure
- RYT April School Holiday Program
- Rotary Youth Program of Enrichment (RYPEN)
- Shrek Jr April School Holidays Event
- Music Alive
- School Holiday Football Camps
- 'Come n Play Soccer'
- G1 Youth is Riverland Central Church’s NEW Youth Ministry
- Child and Adolescent Metal Health Services
- Murray Valley Encephalitis Virus
- Protect yourself and family from mosquitoes
- Applying Mozzie Repellent
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Holy Week – A Celebration of Life and Love
Last weekend we celebrated Palm Sunday, the Passion of the Lord and the beginning of Holy Week.
The three day period of observance made up Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday is known as The Easter Triduum and begins with the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday. We remember the night before his suffering and death when Jesus gathered to celebrate the Passover Meal with his apostles.
The Stations of the Cross on Good Friday are celebrated in our churches across the Our Lady of the River Parish. We are reminded that Good Friday is a day of both abstinence (refraining from eating meat) and fasting (eating less food).
At our Masses on Easter Sunday, we renew our Baptisms and are blessed with the Easter water before receiving Holy Communion.
Easter Weekend times:
Holy Thursday
Berri 7.00pm
Loxton 7.00pm
Good Friday: Stations of the Cross
Barmera 3.00pm
Berri 9.00am
Renmark 3.00pm
Easter Sunday
Barmera 11.00am
Berri 9.00am
Loxton 6.00pm
Renmark 11.00am
Stations of the Cross
The Stations of the Cross are a beautiful, traditional practice for Roman Catholics to take part in during the Lenten Season. We recall and meditate on the events of the Passion of Christ and are reminded of all that Jesus endured for our redemption, and how deeply he loves us.
Our students participated in a live recount of the Stations of the Cross after lunch on Holy Thursday as the last thing we did a school together before heading into the Easter Weekend.
2024 Enrolment of Students
I am very pleased to see that the College is experiencing significant demand in relation to enrolments. Current projections indicate our two year 7 classes will fill to capacity and parents planning to enrol their child are encouraged to do as soon as possible. To assist with our medium and long-term planning I encourage parents to lodge an enrolment form with the school as soon as they have decided to enrol their child at the school.
Should you wish to discuss this further please contact our College Registrar, Claire Smith (phone 8595 4500, or email claire.smith@assisi.catholic.edu.au).
St Francis of Assisi College – Stage 2 Build Program
Works have now started on the Stage 2 build program at the College, the initial scope includes:
Year 10 -12 Building
Two senior science laboratories
Technology Centre – metal machinery fit-out
Kitchen Garden
During term 2 there will be a range of opportunities for parents and families to see and hear more about the development.
Nathan Hayes, Principal
Leaders of Learning Workshop
On Monday 27th of March, the College hosted Leaders of Learning from across the Riverland Catholic Schools for a Leader of Learning Workshop on Assessment Task Design. From our Conference room the group was able to video link with Leaders of Learning from Catholic schools across South Australia, proving to be an excellent way of connecting, both face to face and virtually.
This workshop focused on the purpose of assessment and types of assessment. As a College, we are committed to supporting our teachers to becoming assessment literate and understanding the importance of ongoing assessment to inform teaching and learning. This will ensure students achieve the best possible learning outcomes and are able to regularly receive feedback, self-reflect and set goals for their learning.
Parent/Home Group Teacher/Student Conversations
Thank you to those families who attended this term’s parent/teacher/student conversations. We greatly value these conversations as it builds a strong relationship between families and teachers. These relationships allow parents and teachers to work together to best support the child’s learning and development. We also appreciated the involvement of students in the conferences, as they are at the center of what we do, therefore it is important for them to communicate and listen to their learning achievements. If you were not able to attend the interviews, but would still like to meet with a teacher, please contact the school on 8595 4500.
Natalie Meuret, Leader of Learning
Easter Egg Hunt
Cleo and Imogen (Year 9 – Ignis) organised an Easter Egg Hunt today for the whole school to join in on! This was done as part of their Religious Studies lessons and an excellent example of building community spirit and culture. The students were very excited this morning hearing about the hunt and finding eggs in between classes!
SLC Bake Sale
The Bake Sale was a resounding success on Wednesday! We managed to raise nearly $200 for Project Compassion. Thank you to the Student Leadership Council and their families for the donated baked goods and to the SLC students for manning the canteen!
And lastly, congratulations to the winners of the Guess the Jar Competition!
Jar |
Actual Amount |
Winning Guess |
Winning Entrant |
Skittles |
265g |
265g |
Henry Dring |
Sultanas |
283g |
300g |
Mrs Burgess |
Sour Patch Kids |
400g |
400g |
Mrs Burgess |
Snakes |
60 total |
55 |
Alexander Foley-Jennings |
Freckles |
97 total |
68 |
Mitchell Walker |
Laudato Si’ Action Group
If any students are interested in joining the Laudato Si’ Action Group, please complete this form using the QR code above, or click here
Laudato Si’ Action Group |
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Bookmark Creek Inclusion and Diversity Student Clubs |
Peer Support Arts Development Community Outreach |
Wellbeing Article
Exploring Depression
Tony Attwood and Michelle Garnett are internationally recognised experts in autism and have a combine experience of over 70 years as clinical psychologists, authors, researchers and consultants.
In this weeks resource, you can access free audio recordings from Tony and Michelle who lead through some awareness and relaxation activities to assist with self-regulation. A valuable resource for not only families who live with autism but also for anyone wishing to find some time to relax and be more in tune with their emotions and body.
Depression is common among people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and has particular features and causes.
Below are a variety of free audio recordings to accompany the highly regarded book and resource on depression, Exploring Depression, and Beating the Blues.
“Integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is watching.”
– C.S. Lewis
Have a wonderful easter break!
Luke Cotter, Leader of Wellbeing
The whole school and members of the Parish came together on Wednesday to celebrate Holy Week Mass. Fr Hau brought in palms from Palm Sunday and handed them out to all the students and blessed them. Thank you to Class 9A for hosting the Mass!
Congratulations to our whole team and particularly to our under 14 athletics competitors who finished overall second in Pool B (250.5 points) of the Catholic Co-Educational Athletics Carnival. A mere 2.5 points behind Xavier College!
This is a mamoth achievement given the newest and size of our College, competing against long established metro and regional based schools across South Australia. And it follows up a great under 13 performance of last year when we won the shield.
Students enthusiastically participated in 30 minute trial on the College mountain bike track on Wednesday. Congratulations to all the riders and a big thanks to the volunteers who helped keep riders safe. What an awesome event and we super proud of the sportsmanship shown by everyone!
Overall winners covered a distance of 9.5km at an average of 18kph through some heavy traffic and soft corners. Selection have now been finalised for the State Mountain Bike Challenge on Friday 12 May 2023.
RESULTS
Year 9
1st. Ryan Prokopec
2nd. Blake Francis
3rd. Ethan Thomas
Year 8
1st. Harry Pfeiffer
2nd. Armaan Kahira
3rd. Max Cozens
Year 7
1st. Jenson Sheene
2nd. Lewis Brown
3rd. Seb Coote
Overall Winners
1st. Jenson Sheene
2nd. Harry Pfeiffer
3rd. Ryan Prokopec
4th. Louis Brown
Recently Sophie came to the aid of a teacher from St Joseph's Renmark, who had been bitten by a snake near the Renmark Rowing Club, where Sophie had been attending rowing training.
Sophie was formally recognised during an St Joseph's School Assembly with a Champion Citizenship Award.
Sophie Robertson
Awarded for her extreme bravery and competency when
administering first aid for a snake bite.
She showed great care whilst supporting and reassuring the causality.
Her ability to provide this level of care is truly exceptional and real credit to her,
she should feel very proud. We feel very honoured and thankful for her
service to our community.
This week our Rowing Program students took part in their final ergo testing for the season. Nine out of the twelve students pushed themselves through the 1km race yesterday, with the final three to be completed next week. We undertook the test by connecting all the machines, simulating a race environment. See short video of their ergo testing HERE
This test is a great indicator of all the hard training this group have committed themselves to over the past few months. All nine produced outstanding results, smashing their PB's! This really demonstrates their growth in fitness, strength, understanding of how to row hard and efficiently, but most importantly how to push themselves to achieve great things!
Congratulations to all!
Students currently attending the College do not need to re-enrol.
Renmark Paringa Council advise that Twentyfirst Street remains closed to the public as the bridge is not safe to be re-opened.
For safety reasons Council has taken measures to prohibit access and are requesting the public find alternate routes to school during the closure.
Applications for the Rotary Youth Program of Enrichment (RYPEN) are now open!
Open to ALL High-School aged young people.
A safe, fun, engaging Christian Youth Group.
For more details contact the Riverland Central Church Office on: 0478243685 or message through our FB, Insta pages. Or parents can turn up on the night to register your young person(Emilie Menadue G1 Youth Leader).
RIVERLAND CENTRAL CHURCH, 11 Mortimer Road, Berri SA 5343
Information about Murray Valley Encephalitis virus (MVEv) can be found here and at You’ve Got What.
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