St Francis of Assisi College - Term 3 - Week 1 - 2022

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Thank You Ms de Winter

At the end of Term 2, we farewelled Nanda de Winter, our inaugural College APRIM, and celebrated her well-deserved new role as Principal at St Joseph’s School, Barmera.  Nanda began her time at the College in Term 4 2022, hitting the ground running and very quickly bringing to life our unique Catholic Identity, and educating our College community around what our Motto, Laudato Si’ looks like in practice.

Walking through the College, it is clearly evident we are a Laudato Si’ school with the stamp of Nanda’s creativity and deep Catholic faith evident throughout.  Nanda’s impact on our College community will ripple well beyond her time as APRIM, with a standard of excellence set around our Catholic rituals and celebrations, and faith formation of students and staff.

As principal, I have valued Nanda’s influence as a whole school leader, across all aspects of the College, in addition to her exceptional leadership in Catholic Identity and Mission.  Nanda’s school leadership experience and expertise was significant in (not limited to):

- outstanding transitions for individual students from their primary school, to the College;
- excellence in learning and teaching;
- collaboration with, and development of teachers;
- forming strong partnerships with parents and carers.

While Nanda’s leadership and teaching will be missed at St Francis of Assisi College, she will be outstanding at St Joseph’s School, Barmera, and we look forward to the continued collaboration as part of the Riverland Early Years to Year 12 Catholic education pathway.

Welcome Ms Amber Burgress

As part of replacing the teaching component of Nanda’s role, we welcome Amber Burgess to our College team for the remainder of the school year.  Amber will take on a 0.6FTE teaching role, picking up classes in the areas of Food and Hospitality, and English and Humanities.  Amber brings with her a wealth of experience and expertise from her teaching at Berri Regional Secondary College.  Amber will play a lead role in the development and growth of our years 7 to 12 curriculum in the Design and Technologies learning area, including Food and Hospitality, Child Studies, Textiles and the development of our kitchen / garden program.

Student Leadership

At our end of term 2 assembly, we thanked our year 7 and 8 student leadership team as we will install a new student leadership team for semester 2.  We could not have asked more from this outstanding group of students, who have embraced the opportunities and responsibilities involved with having the formal role of student leaders.  Achievements include leading the house naming process with Mr Cotter, welcoming visitors to the College and providing school tours and leading fundraising initiatives.

Lifechanger Foundation Partnership

Beginning in term 3, Year 7 and 8 students will participate in a series of 5 workshops with facilitators from the Lifechanger Foundation.  LifeChanger workshops are pre-emptive, holistic, and interactive sessions that support schools and communities by building thriving, resilient young people.

The evidence-based program centres on the Five Pillars of Health, Skills, Self, Purpose and Tribe to build emotional, social and resilience skills. Workshops are highly engaging and interactive; providing opportunities for participants to connect and collaborate with peers, mentors, and facilitators.

Key themes explored during the program include physical and mental health, mindfulness, goal setting, problem-solving, gratitude, self-awareness, resilience, and connection.

LBI Impact Program

We continue our work with Dr David Kelly from the Life Buoyancy Institute as we embed elements of the Impact Program across the College.  Impact is a flexible capacity building program that equips and empowers children, adults, families, and communities to understand and intentionally apply the science of wellbeing, intentional practice, trauma, resilience, and growth for themselves.

Nathan Hayes, Principal 

During Home Group this week, students have looked at using the ‘Examen’ as a form of prayer, using it to reflect on our we show care for self, care for others and care for our common home.

The Ecological Examen

This Ecological Examen is a tool for prayer, reflection and action as individuals deepen our call to care for creation and the most vulnerable.

The Ecological Examen asks us to reflect on our personal relationship with creation, and to promote ecological justice by standing in solidarity with those most impacted by environmental harm.

The following provocations provide the opportunity for us to reflect:

How present am I to the world around me? 

How do I show my love for God through my respect for creation and my neighbor? How does my environment shape who I deem to be my neighbor or part of my community? Who is left out?

How can I move away from a throwaway culture? 

How can I demonstrate care for creation and solidarity with my brothers and sisters and the most vulnerable?

Where are the most polluted areas of my community and in the world? Who lives there?

How do I use water throughout my daily life? 

How am I a responsible steward of this gift? How do my consumption patterns and demand for energy impact the availability of clean water for communities in my country and around the world? Who has access to clean water, a basic human right, and who does not?

“Am I aware that my use of power here disempowers another environment somewhere else?” 

How can I be more conscious of the impacts of our demand for energy, be it increased carbon emissions from coal, oil and gas, increased deforestation, or the potential contamination of a community’s access to clean water. Could I live with less energy?

Do I recognize that eating is a moral act and that “how I treat my food is how I treat my home?”  

Do I take more than I can eat?” 10   Do I waste a lot of food when many around the world are hungry? Am I conscious of where my food is grown and under what conditions? Am I aware of the energy and water that went into the production of my food, and the impact on the environment?

Nathan Hayes, Principal 

LifeChanger held the first of five workshops with students during Pastoral Care this week. The focus for the first session was Health. Mitch and Phoebe (LifeChanger facilitators) ran an engaging and active session focussing on four areas of Health; Movement, Recovery, Nutrition, and Mind.

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:

Q&A with Scott Watters, LifeChanger

A huge thank you to all students who put forward an application for student leadership. We are currently working through the interview process and look forward to announcing the eight Student Leaders for Semester 2.

An assembly will be held mid-term to formally induct and bless the successful students.

Student Action Groups

Students are encouraged and invited to join one of our two Action Groups. Please contact the relevant students on the below flyers to register your interest.

Immersion Days

In Term 3, all Year 6 students enrolled in a Riverland catholic primary school will visit the College for their second Immersion Day. Students from non-Catholic schools can register their interest to attend the August 2nd Immersion Day. We welcome Year 6 students from OLOR next Tuesday.

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 

Collaborative Moderation

On Monday, 25 July, teachers participated in a collaborative moderation process as part of their professional development. This process involved teachers providing a students work sample portfolio, consisting of tasks from last semester. Together teachers analysed the sample of work and looked for the evidence against the achievement standard. Teachers also provided feedback to one another about task design. The process of collaborative moderation is valuable, as it strengthens consistency of teachers’ professional judgments of progress against the Australian Curriculum achievement standards using the A-E grades. It is a quality assurance process that ensures that the grades given to students are valid and reliable.  It also provides an opportunity for teachers to reflect on their initial learning design to ensure high expectations and achievement can be realised for every learner and it allows for teachers to work collaboratively to design learning and assessment tasks which intellectually challenge and engage all learners, therefore leading to higher standards of learner achievement.

Natalie Meuret, Leader of Learning 

Congratulations to our Year 7 and 8 Knock Out Netball Team who played at Karoonda this Friday.  Although they didn’t win they showed great sportsmanship and gained immensely from the experience.  Thanks to Miss Linnett and Mrs Meuret for their support and coaching.

This year’s theme was Get Up! Stand Up! 

NAIDOC Week celebrated and recognised the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. NAIDOC Week was an opportunity for all Australians to learn about First Nations cultures and histories and participate in celebrations of the oldest, continuous living cultures on earth. 

During Week 10 last term students in Global Perspectives celebrated NAIDOC week. Over the course of the week they explored the 2022 theme, the winning 2022 poster and artist, NAIDOC Week award winners, and other significant First Nations people, such as Cathy Freeman. Students worked together to produce several pieces of work to add to our communal NAIDOC Week wall in the 7-9 building.  

Students also had the opportunity to attend Kat Bell's art exhibition 'Threads' at the Chaffey Theatre during NAIDOC Week.  Kat is an Australian First Nation artist and writer based in the Riverland. Earlier this year Kat lead the develpment of our pelican masot and digital animation which featured during the College Official Opening.  Kat was on hand at the Chaffey to talk with students about her artwork and her inspirations, and to answer their questions.

In Term 2, students participated in Sport Education programs based on the sports of Touch Football and Netball (Year 7), and Soccer and Basketball (Year 8). These invasion games provided an opportunity for students to develop the transferable skills of creating space, defending space, offensive strategies, defensive strategies, teamwork, cooperation, sportsmanship, and resilience. They also developed their understanding of the specific rules and skills required for each sport. We ended the term with an award ceremony for each class, where the winning team was presented with a cup, along with a range of individual recognitions.

Fraser Sampson, HPE Teacher 

As we approach the commencement of our official Rowing Program, it’s with great excitement that we unpacked a delivery of 6 new rowing machines this week. These will support students enrolled in the program with their fitness, and also be of valuable use to the College when introducing new Year 7 students to the sport.

A very big thank you to Max Cozens for his assistance in unboxing and putting each machine together!

Stephanie Turnbull, Rowing Coach and Learning Support

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. 

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.