St Francis of Assisi College - Term 2 Week 7 - 2022

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A Continuous Improvement Mindset

Supporting adolescents to develop a growth mindset helps them to see challenges as an opportunity to learn and grow.  Individuals with a growth mindset see mistakes as feedback and understand that practice directly leads to improvement.  The ability for young people to separate their achievements from their self-worth and knowing they can directly impact results in their life through their own efforts (known as self-efficacy) supports the development of a positive self-concept.

As a team of educators at St Francis of Assisi College, we take the same approach, and value timely feedback to ensure we are continuously improving.

In recent weeks, our educators have received feedback from all students they teach for each subject.  The feedback has been based on the AITSL Standards for Teachers, and teachers are using this feedback to inform areas of development for their teaching practice.  To support this further, educators will partner with a trusted colleague to observe aspects of their teaching practice and provide feedback on these specific areas.

Further to this, our Leadership Team and School Quality Performance Team have recently gone through a process of self-assessment and feedback.  The process of providing feedback and engaging in open conversations ensures that we continue to be at our most effective to support school performance.

SEQTA Learn and Engage

We have been receiving terrific feedback from parents about the effectiveness of SEQTA and the real time access to their child’s learning and progress updates SEQTA is providing for families.  This term teachers have been supporting students to set up and develop the habit of using their SEQTA Dashboard each day.  The dashboard provides an ‘at a glance’ overview of key information, including the weekly subject timetable, current homework, and a task list, such as assessment due dates.  Parents can also set up a similar dashboard in SEQTA Engage, and we encourage parents to regularly access SEQTA with their child to keep abreast with their learning progress.  If parents require support with accessing SEQTA, please contact one of your child’s HG teachers for support.

Student Pulse Surveys - Student Wellbeing and Agency at the core of our Endeavours

This week all students were asked to complete the CESA Pulse Check. This Check In has been designed to offer students an opportunity to provide information about how they are currently feeling about school.  The information provided by students will give our school valuable feedback to help our school improve it care for our young. I clarify that there were no right or wrong answers, but rather we were asking students how they are feeling about school - that is what we want to know about. Significantly this survey is designed to help us help our students to become, as per the mission of Catholic Education South Australia, a thriving person, capable learner and leader for the world that God desires.

Nathan Hayes

Principal 

In Luke 10, a lawyer talks with Jesus about how he might inherit eternal life. He knows he must follow the Jewish law – love your neighbour as yourself – and so he asks Jesus, “Who is my neighbour?”

When it was announced earlier this year that Australia’s most loved tv soap Neighbours will finish after 37 years, I joined in with the nation’s collective gasp of ‘no way!’

I don’t watch it anymore, but let me tell you, there was a period in my life when I lived for Neighbours. With its perfect blend of melodrama and sunshine, it was the medicine I needed for my not-so-perfect real-life. Scott and Charlene, Harold, Lou, Helen, Karl and Susan, Toadfish and many more.

Why were so many viewers drawn to it? It was bonkers and gripping and silly and thrilling. In one of its most famous storylines, Harold went missing presumed lost at sea, his glasses washed up sorrowfully in a rock pool. And then years later Helen Daniels stumbled into a Salvation Army op shop only to find him working behind the till under the identity of Ted, having lost his memory. It was pure and unrestricted escapism!

In true soap opera fashion, a feature of life in the tight-knit Erinsborough community was the unrealistic frequency with which characters’ paths crossed. Often one person would open the door to leave home only to find a neighbour on the doorstep just about to knock. Pop down to the local coffee shop, owned by one of the fellow Ramsay Street residents of course, and ‘what do you know?’ another neighbour already sitting at a table enjoying a cuppa.

One of the Bible’s most quoted verses must be ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’ (Mark 12:31). In many cases, before you can effectively love your neighbour, you must know you have neighbours.

A feature of the pandemic has been neighbourhoods and towns pulling together, solidifying contacts beyond a brief ‘hello’ as people longed for connection within the isolation. In the Bible we see time and time again that God created us to be in community with one another. So, the fact we long for community makes complete sense, we are created that way.

I’m sure I’m not alone in hoping that in a post-pandemic world we’ll take a little more trouble to spend a little more time together. As the theme tune to a certain soap opera puts it ‘neighbours should be there for one another’. That’s true, however diverse our ages, our circumstances, and our backgrounds. The soap itself may be finished, but there’s a chance its spirit can live on in us.

With a little understanding and, crucially, a lot of prayer, good neighbours could become good friends.

Nanda de Winter

Assistant Principal Religious Identity and Mission 

Immersion Days

The College will share further communication via your child’s classroom teacher at all four catholic primary schools. 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 

LifeChanger Partnership

LifeChanger Mentor Training (via Zoom)

Thursday June 23^rd

3:30 – 5:00pm

Please contact luke.cotter@assisi.catholic.edu to register your interest.

“It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”

Albus Dumbledore

Luke Cotter
Leader of Wellbeing

Semester Reports

Semester 1 reports for your child will be available Friday 8 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.

A graded semester report is only one part of the College’s assessment and reporting practices. Throughout the semester, parents also receive feedback about their child’s learning progress through;

- student progress update reports

- parent/student/teacher conferences

- continuous reporting on SEQTA which focuses on timely and targeted feedback for specific subject assessment tasks. 

More detailed information about your child’s learning and assessment is always accessible on SEQTA Engage. If there are any concerns, please contact your child’s teachers, so that we can work in partnership to improve your child’s learning outcomes.

Homework – SEQTA Dashboard

The use of SEQTA at the College provides a connected learning community, involving the teacher, students, and families. It enables learning and progress to be visible, including homework. As a parent, you can view the homework set for your child through SEQTA, by accessing the dashboard.  Similarly, students are able to access this through their SEQTA learn platform.

St Francis of Assisi College is now welcoming enrolments for Years 7, 8 and 9 for 2023. Please contact Claire Smith, 8595 4500, if you, or families you know, are interested in enrolling at the College. 

College Information Packs and enrolment forms are available from the Administration Office. 

College blazers are an optional uniform piece.  They are available to order from Yates Menswear.  Blazers are not a stock item so a minimum of three are required to place an order, with an approximate delivery time of three weeks from time of order. 

Parents/caregivers can measure their own child for size, or Yates are happy to measure up and size your child. 

Price depends on the size ordered:

Girls Size

Y4 – Y10             $109.95

W9 – W12           $119.95

W13 – W17         $134.95

W18 – W28         $144.95

Boys Size

4 – 10                    $109.95

11– 17                   $119.95

18– 22                   $134.95

24 – 30                  $144.95   

In Global Perspectives 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."

In our first ever Knockout game, our Year 7/8 Boys put up a great challenge to the bigger boys from Faith Lutheran College. Only down by 3 points at 3/4 time, our boys unfortunately went down 50 to 32 in the end.

All players contributed well throughout the game, with Samuel De Palma a clear standout best player.

Thanks to Faith Lutheran College for the great contest, Waikerie Community Sports Centre for hosting, Frosty Seekamp for coaching the team and running training sessions, and Toby Johnson for being our referee.

In week 6 a group of students participated in Cross Country at Oakbank Racecourse. Students braved the cold to experience running with hundreds of other students within their age groups. Students gave it their best go and all improved their times from our school cross country event which happened a few weeks prior. 

Well done to the students and thanks to Miss Linnett for managing the team on the day.

St Francis of Assisi College is recruiting for a range of teaching positions, commencing January 2023. This is an exciting opportunity to be a part of the inaugural team during the initial period of rapid growth.

Full details available at:  https://www.cesa.catholic.edu.au/working-with-us/positions-vacant/job-detail/81494/teaching-multiple-positions-

Applications close:  5pm Friday 22 July 2022

The Clare Valley will soon host the very 1st Rubik Cubing event in regional SA, run by the WCA - the World Cubing Association! This event has been organised by local students. Students can be any age and any ability to compete.