St Francis of Assisi College - Term 2 Week 8 - 2023

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Semester Reports

Semester 1 reports for your child will be available Friday 7 July on SEQTA Engage. This report will provide an overall achievement grade based on the Australian Curriculum and an indication of your child’s work habits. The College will not print and issue reports at the end of a semester unless a request is made to the school. Instead, student reports are uploaded to SEQTA. By accessing the Reports page, you will see your child’s report. Clicking on a Report icon will display a pdf record that you can download, view, save and print. Your PC or mobile device will need to be equipped with a pdf reader for you to be able to access your child’s reports. New reports will be added to the archive at the conclusion of each reporting cycle.

In today's digital age, we are witnessing incredible advancements in technology that are shaping various aspects of our lives, including education. Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools have become increasingly prevalent in academic settings, offering new possibilities for learning, research, and productivity. However, with these exciting opportunities come significant challenges, particularly when it comes to maintaining academic integrity.

Integrity is one of St Francis of Assisi College’s core values, therefore it is important as a community we actively address the challenges posed by AI tools and foster a culture of academic integrity, by providing a learning environment that encourages student to embrace ethical practices and take ownership of their learning.  Academic integrity encompasses principles of honesty, fairness, and the ethical use of information. It promotes the development of critical thinking skills and the cultivation of intellectual curiosity.

One of the main issues with AI tools is the potential for plagiarism. Plagiarism is the act of presenting someone else's work or ideas as one's own, and it undermines the integrity of academic pursuits. Students may be tempted to use these tools to generate essays or assignments, presenting the work as their own without proper attribution. This behavior is not acceptable as it not only undermines the educational process but also hinders personal growth and development.

The unethical use of AI tools includes:

• Plagiarism – using AI-generated content without proper citation or presenting AI generated work as your own. This is the same as taking a definition from Google.
• Assignment outsourcing – using AI to create assignments, essays or projects without any personal input or understanding. This undermines the learning process. This is same as a tutor or parent creating your work and claiming it as your own.
• Misrepresenting abilities – using AI to complete tasks that are beyond your understanding and presenting the results as your won. This is same as copying someone’s assessment and slightly changing it to look different.
• Improper Referencing Checking – using AI to source references without checking the validity of the information and relevance. This is the same as using Wikipedia.

It is important that together we provide students with appropriate education and awareness by providing students with clear guidelines and discussions on academic integrity, plagiarism, and the responsible use of AI tools. Together, we need to help students understand the consequences of dishonesty and the long-term benefits of genuine learning, to ensure that education at St Francis of Assisi College remains a meaningful and authentic experience.

Natalie Meuret, Leader of Learning 

Student Transitions

In week 7, we welcomed nearly forty Year 6 students from St Joseph’s School, Renmark for their first Immersion Day. The students were well-hosted by our student leaders and engaged in Science, PE, and Digital Technology lessons.

We look forward to our final Immersion Days in Term 3!

If your child is enrolled at a non-Catholic school, please contact the College on (08) 8585 4500 or via email info@assisi.catholic.edu.au 

Upcoming sessions

Friday June 30^th – Positive Body Image hosted by Holly Ranson (Mind, Body and Bowl Health Coaching – Dietician)

Join local dietitian Holly to discover how to build and maintain a positive body image. We will talk about what body image is and why it is important to young people. We'll look at what shapes our body image and how we can control these influences. And most importantly, we'll learn how to develop a more positive relationship with our bodies and how to support others when they are having a bad body day.

Bring your phone or laptop to participate in online games and quizzes.

You are guaranteed to leave feeling more comfortable in your own skin!

Students can register here: https://forms.office.com/r/5xP9QUbaTm

St Vinnie’s Winter Appeal: Walk-a-thon

What a fantastic morning we had raising awareness and funds for the St Vincent de Paul Society! Thank you to all students and family members who participated in what we hope will grow bigger and better each year!

Special mentions to the below students who exceeded expectations with their lap contributions!

Top 3 Most Laps:   54 - Seb (I), 47- Samual W (T) and Brodie H (I), 46 - Kaiden (T).

Monetary donations from sponsorships are due by next Friday 30th June. All monetary donations are to be handed to home group teachers in a labelled and sealed envelope along with their sponsorship forms.

 Thank you to all students and families who have already donated large amounts of food and items that provide warmth! We are accepting donations until Wednesday July 5th. Donations can include:

• non-perishable food items
• warm clothing
• rugs
• sleeping bags

Students can donate non-perishable items (e.g. soup cans, soup packets, spaghetti, baked beans, pasta, rice etc.) and warm rugs, sleeping bags etc. for the St. Vincent de Paul Winter Appeal. We are accepting donations until Wednesday 5 July.

Laudato Si’ Action Group

The Laudato Si Action Group are seeking to gauge interest for a Chess Club. If you would like a Chess Club at the College, please complete the form using the QR code below or click here: Chess Club Form

How do anxiety & depression arise?

Welcome to Part Two of Open Parachute’s series on Anxiety & Depression in teenagers. This week focuses on how we as adults and parents can reflect upon and identify our own anxious and depressive patterns.

You can access a video and reflections via the below link.

Open Parachute (openparachuteschools.com)

Just enter in your email address to log in for free and select ‘Parent Resources’. Navigate to the ‘Teenager’ tab and view the fifth lesson.

When teenagers can see that anxiety

and depression are normal patterns that

we all fall into to varying degrees

throughout our lives, they feel safe to

look at these patterns in themselves.

Reflect on your own anxious and depressive patterns:

What negative thoughts come up for you when you are down or stressed?
What unhelpful patterns do you fall into?
What often triggers these patterns?
What helps you come out of these patterns?

Share as much of these patterns with your teen as you feel comfortable sharing. The goal is to create a normal conversation about our human vulnerabilities so that they don’t fear these patterns in themselves.

If this has raised any concerns for you or your child, you can contact LifeLine on 13 11 14.

At St Francis of Assisi College, we have a well-rounded Wellbeing team with broader access to professional support. Please get in touch with Mr. Luke Cotter (Leader of Wellbeing) if you wish to seek support for your child.

Wellbeing Webinars

In exciting news, we have partnered with Wellio this year to support student wellbeing through the delivery of lessons in Pastoral Care.

Wellio helps students proactively improve their mental wellbeing using research-backed habits and techniques. Their programme supports students in improving their sleep, managing social media use, building healthy relationships, improving physical well-being, and reducing anxiety. 

Alongside their work with students, Wellio will be delivering a webinar each term to parents. The upcoming webinar next term is titled “Phone Addiction & Social Media”. Drawing on the latest psychological science, this webinar helps you guide your child to better habits and beat back phone addiction.

If you would like to attend, you can register here: https://www.wellioeducation.com/en_au/webinars. 

Wellio will record the event, so please register if you can't attend but want access to the recording.

                               “Let go of who you think you’re supposed to be and embrace who you are.”

                                                                                                                               – Brene Brown

Luke Cotter, Leader of Wellbeing

In HASS, the Year 8s explored the rise and fall of the Khmer Empire. Students had to work in small groups to create a series of code crackers to showcase their understanding of the topic. The groups then swapped and tried to solve each others code crackers for peer feedback!

Isabella Trudgian, Teacher

In English, the Year 8s completed a novel study on the book Once by Morris Gleitzman. It is the story of a young Jewish boy who is determined to escape the orphanage he lives in to save his Jewish parents from the Nazis in the occupied Poland of the Second World War. 

Students completed a “one-pager” to demonstrate their understanding in a creative and abstract way. This was a challenging task where students had to draw on examples from the book whilst thinking outside the box."

Isabella Trudgian, Teacher

In Week 8 Mrs Trudgian, Miss Fenwick and Mr Hayes took a team of Year 7 and 8 girls to compete in the School Sport SA Knockout Netball Competition. The team travelled to Karoonda to compete in the first round of the competition.

The team versed St Joseph's Murray Bridge, Unity, Murray Bridge  and Mannum High Schools. The girls came out strong and won the first game against St Joe’s MB 32-4. Unfortunately the girls lost the next three games, so did not progress to the next round.

The girls played well as a team, and put effort into the trainings leading up to the competition. The team’s performance was an improvement from last year, so Mrs Trudgian is looking forward to how Netball will evolve and grow here at SFoAC!

Isabella Trudgian

Earlier this week our College completed in the Riverland 9-a-side football carnival in Renmark held at the Renmark Oval.  We had a great representation with 39 students participating from Year 7-9!

Congratulations to Via and Tyler on winning the Good Sports Awards for our College!

Thank you to Mr Sampson, Mr Prokopec, Mrs Turnbull and Miss Gibbons for their support.
 

Year 7 Rowing Video - click here

Year 7 Rowing Video - click here

Year 7 Rowing Video - click here

Students and staff are well underway in their preparation for this year's Relay for Life. The event is in October and due to a large number of student interest we have decided to participate in our house teams. We have also been working closely with Dean from Cancer Council SA who has provided our students with an information session and we greatly appreciate his support to staff involved with planning. Our first fundraiser was held on 17 June at Mitre 10 cooking up sausages. We raised over $300 and Mitre 10 donated a wheelbarrow full of goods. Everything we needed for the Sausage Sizzle was donated by wonderful community organisations: Warburton Meats, Woolworths and the Paringa Bakery.  We have plans for an upcoming quiz night with raffle, a school-wide PJ day and students are also encouraged to fundraise independently with their friends and family.  

Amber Burgess, Teacher

Our College was very 'chuffed'  when our uniform was selected as the front page feature for Trutex's Glossy National Catalogue!! 

The catalogue included a one page information sheet on the College, the background to the uniform design and the partnership with Trutex. 
 

United Chemists Renmark are recruiting for two junior pharmacy assistant positions available to start immediately.

We are seeking applicants from 14 yrs with a positive and friendly and mature outlook to join our team.

The role will include customer service, stock maintenance and general housekeeping duties.

Industry training will be provided.

The role includes after school and will include weekend shifts averaging approx. 12 hours or 2-3 shifts per week.

Yates Menswear supply our College uniforms directly to families.  Jenny, from Yates, has let us know they have the following knitwear and softshell jackets available:

Softshell jackets sizes: 10, 12,14,16, XS, S, M and L

Rugby knit jumper sizes: XS, S,M,L,XL and XXL

Knit jumper sizes: 12, 16, 18, 20 and 22

A number of other winter uniform items are due for delivery to Yates in two - three weeks time.