St Francis of Assisi College - Term 3 - Week 7 - 2022

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Season of Creation:  Listen to the Voice of creation

“Praise be to you my Lord, with all your creatures,” prayed St. Francis of Assisi, well before the Season of Creation began. With this simple but profound prayer, he has encouraged believers of many generations to recognize creation as the fruit of God’s eternal Love.

Season of Creation is a time of grace that the Church, in ecumenical dialogue, offers to humanity to renew its relationship with the Creator and with creation, through celebration, conversion and commitment together.

In other words, the Season of Creation is the annual celebration of prayer and action for our common home.

For this year, the proposed theme is: “Listening to the voice of creation” with the symbol of the burning bush. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many have become familiar with the concept of being silenced in conversations. Many voices are silenced in the public discourse on climate change and the ethics of Earth conservation.

They are voices of those who suffer the impacts of climate change. They are voices of people who possess ancestral wisdom about how to live with gratitude within the limits of Earth. They are voices of a diminishing diversity of species rather than humans. It is the voice of the Earth.

Year 7 and 8 Student Retreat Days

This week our year 7 and 8 students participated in their annual Retreat Days, these are valuable opportunities in Catholic Schools, for students to take a break from their day-to-day lessons and focus on our unique Catholic Identity.  The theme of the Retreat Days centred on our College Motto of Laudato Si’.

Pope Francis has invited us through Laudato Si’ to praise all of creation; to be stewards of the talents we have been given, to share these gifts with each other and to walk gently on the Earth.  Laudato Si’ outlines a deep set of values centred around care for ourselves and each other, of the earth and its creatures, known as Integral Ecology. 

Integral ecology is concerned for the poor and marginalised as well as the environment in which we all live. It involves an understanding that the decisions we make affect not only ourselves, but future generations. It allows us to see ourselves in deep relationship with all of creation, and to see that all of creation is in a deep relationship with God.

‘Ecology’ means so much more than the ‘environment’. Pope Francis has invited us through Laudato Si' to praise all of creation. To be stewards of the talents we have been given and to give these gifts to each other. To walk gently on this earth and live gently with one another.

The program of the day had three main sessions following the three core themes of Laudato Si’:

• Care for Self
• Care for Others
• Care for our Common Home

CSPSA Parent Engagement Evening

Catholic School Parents SA (CSPSA) is pleased to present the first Parent Engagement Evening and welcomes all parents and carers of children in Catholic schools to attend. The event “Anxiety and Worry in Children and Teenagers” will be presented by Madhavi Nawana Parker and is described as follows: “All children experience some degree of anxiety and worry. This session will help parents and teachers learn to respond in a way that doesn’t further inflame the situation and reduce destructive thinking patterns and improve resilience and wellbeing.”

Free Online Registration via this link:

https://registrationcentre.cesa.catholic.edu.au/event-4941231 

R U OK? Day is Thursday 8 September 2022

It’s our national day of action when we remind Australians that every day is the day to ask, ‘are you OK?’ and start a meaningful conversation whenever they spot the signs that someone they care about might be strggling with life.

It can be confronting to start the conversation with someone you’re worried about. Chances are, if you’ve seen signs they might be struggling they’re likely to say they’re not OK. And that’s OK because you have what it takes to support them. It’s really important that before you ask someone if they’re OK you make sure you’re OK, that you’re in the right headspace and have time for the conversation. When you’re ready there are four simple steps you can follow and the first step is to ask R U OK? If they don’t live with you, find a reason to go and see them. Drop in for a cuppa or arrange a video chat over morning tea. Ask them if they can give you a hand with something, either in person or advice over the phone Pick your moment. If they can’t talk when you approach them, organise another time to try again. When you have a conversation, it can be helpful to let them know what changes you’ve noticed. For example you might phrase it something like this: “We missed you in town at the last meeting, how are things going?” You can also acknowledge that it’s a difficult time for everyone, with a conversation opener such as, “So how are you doing with everything that’s going on right now?

Clink on this link:  RUOK?

Mr Nathan Hayes, Principal 

Term 3 Student Progress Update Reports

Student progress update reports will be released through SEQTA on Friday 9 September. To access these reports, click on assessments and the relevant subject.

The aim of this report is to provide parents/carers feedback about their child’s progress before a formal grade is given in the end of semester report. Feedback enables a student to monitor their learning and focus on areas of improvement. It also provides a starting point, for parent/carers to discuss their child’s attitude to learning, to ask about your child’s strengths and how they can be enhanced, to ask which subjects are most challenging for your child and why, and to focus on your child’s learning growth and progression rather than the grade. We hope you find these progress reports valuable.

Student Parent Teacher Conversations

Student/Parent/Teacher conversations will occur Monday 19 September from 4pm-7pm. These meetings are a wonderful opportunity to discuss your child’s progress with their teacher. This term these conversations will occur with your child’s subject teacher.

Please view your child’s student progress update reports, as a subject teacher may have identified an interview would be beneficial to discuss your child's learning and to support their progress.

Bookings are made online through School Interviews

To log on, please use the link  http://www.schoolinterviews.com.au/code/se86y

If your child has a teacher for multiple subjects, could you please make one booking time slot with that teacher. This will ensure there is enough booking times available for all parents.

If you are unable to book an appointment but would still like to meet with a teacher, please contact the school on 8595 4500.  Please contact the College if you have any questions.

Mrs Natalie Meuret, Leader of Learning

LifeChanger held their fourth workshop with students during Pastoral Care this week. The focus for this session was Purpose. Mitch and Phoebe, alongside our student mentors, ran an engaging and active session focussing on how to live a life of purpose.

Last term, Riley and Ryan had the opportunity to chat with the founder of LifeChanger, Scott Watters, to get an overview of the LifeChanger program and find out a bit more about Scott himself. You can view a short snippet of their chat below:

LifeChanger Video

Transition Days

If you are thinking about your child’s educational future for 2023 and beyond, please contact the College on (08) 8585 4500 or via email (info@assisi.catholic.edu.au) to register for a tour of the College and to receive information about our Term 4 Transition Days on Thursday 1st December and Friday 2nd December 2022.

Ask R U OK?

The RUOK? website has a range of excellent resources to assist you in How to ask "Are you OK?"

The below video is a great resource to use with your children to help them in identifying how best to ask their friends if they are doing ok.

How to ask "Are you OK?"

Words of Wisdom

This week’s Words of Wisdom comes from Mark Twain. Twain was a famous author and journalist of the 19th Century, probably best known for his adventure stories of boyhood such as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

The words carry a strong link to our College motto, Laudato Si’, and the call to care for self and to care for others.

Mr Luke Cotter, Leader of Wellbeing

During weeks 4 and 6 all students were given the opportunity to experience some of our region's summer sports. Students spent time with coaches to learn more about baseball/ softball, cricket, basketball and tennis. This was a great opportunity for students to “come and try” local sports on offer in our region, as we transition to summer sports.

We encourage each student to consider playing an organised sport in both summer and winter. As learned in class, there are many great benefits of playing sport, both physically, socially, and emotionally while learning resilience and teamwork.

A special mention to local coaches Shane Goulden (basketball) and John Pick (tennis), Luke Prokopec (softball/ baseball) and Luke Cotter (cricket), for their time and effort throughout the program. Local support is a huge part of creating sporting opportunities for students.

Did your child bring home a sporting club contact form containing details about how to get in touch with your local sporting club/s?  If not, students can find a sporting club contact list located outside the 7-9 Staff Office – or simply contact our awesome front office team for a copy.

Mr Luke Prokopec and Mr Fraser Sampson

Mrs Burgess is organising a College Team for Relay for Life 

We're relaying because ....

We’re relaying to recognise and celebrate local cancer survivors, honour those going through a cancer experience and their carers, remember loved ones lost and raise money to help save future lives.

Please help us reach our fundraising goal!  Below is a link to our Team. People can donate or sign up to participate on Saturday 22 October 2022.

https://www.relayforlife.org.au/fundraisers/TeamSFoAC

www.relayforlife.org.au

St Francis of Assisi College is establishing a Family Business Directory and inviting families to be part of the Directory. 

The Family Business Directory is an opportunity for families who run businesses to promote their business through our College community, via our College webpage and Facebook page.

The Family Business Directory is also an opportunity for members of the College community to consider supporting businesses from the Directory when making their purchasing decisions.

The Family Business Directory is free of charge for current families of the College.

To be included, send the following information to inf@assisi.catholic.edu.au

Family Surname (not for publishing):
Business Name: Sample Family Business
Business Phone Number: 1800 SAMPLE
Business Email Address: sample@familybusiness.com.au
Business Website: www.sample.com.au

And your business logo or photo (small file size is fine).

We look forward to seeing many College families' businesses get involved!

Check out our Family Business Directory:      listings so far!