St Francis of Assisi College - Term 3 - Week 5 - 2022

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August 11th was the Feast Day of St Clare of Assisi.

Saint Clare is the founder of the Order of Poor Ladies and was an Italian saint and one of the first followers of Saint Francis of Assisi. Saint Clare of Assisi was born into a wealthy Italian family but soon shunned her luxurious upbringing to embrace the life of piety and poverty.

CESA Community LLL Perception Surveys

All CESA school communities are currently completing the Living Learning Leading Survey (LLL), with a version of the survey to be completed by all staff, students and the invitation for parents and care givers to complete the survey.

The Living Learning Leading Survey was developed in collaboration with Curtin University to help schools rate participants perceptions of school performance against the Living Learning Leading Standards. An important principle is mutual accountability, involving the shared agenda between the Catholic Education Office (CEO) and Catholic schools have in promoting Catholic identity and striving to create excellent educational outcomes for all students.

You can access the survey through this link: https://www.nsipartnerships.com.au/

The access code is: SFOACLLLP

Year 7 to 9 Enrolments 2023

I advise parents and caregivers that interviews have well and truly begun for 2023 Year 7, 8 and 9 Enrolments. Please contact Claire Smith to arrange an Enrolment Conversation.

Year 7 and 8 Student Retreat Days

Our year 7 and year 8 students will participate in their retreat days on Monday and Tuesday of week 7 respectively and further information will go out to families in the coming days.

This years retreat days will draw on our College Motto: Laduato Si’ and the program will focus on three parts:

                Care for Self

                Care for Others

                Care for our Common Home

Retreat days are important parts of our Catholic Education, and students will have meaningful input in continuing to develop our Catholic Identity, as a secondary College in the Riverland of South Australia.

St Francis of Assisi Wellbeing Model:

The Science of Building Wellbeing-Responsive School Communities

St Francis of Assisi College has partnered with the Life Buoyancy Institute to develop our wellbeing model, with an aim to build a sustainable wellbeing and trauma-responsive school culture.

Wellbeing responsive schools represent “connected thriving schools” whose members are equipped and empowered to work side-by-side together to:

• Understand the science of wellbeing, trauma, resilience, and growth
• Intentionally draw upon this science to build wellbeing outcomes personalised to individual and collective community members
• Intentionally blend science together with their existing local wisdom, strengths, and initiatives.
• Navigate the landscape of mental health and wellbeing and deliver school-based wellbeing solutions.

Nathan Hayes, Principal 

High Impact Teaching Strategies – Differentiation

For our peer observations this term, teachers have been asked to focus on a high impact teaching strategy. One of these strategies teachers have selected is differentiated teaching. Differentiated teaching methods are used to extend the knowledge and skills of every student in every class, regardless of their starting point. The objective is to lift the performance of all students, including those who are falling behind and those ahead of year level expectations.

Student Progress Updates

At the end of week 7, you will be able to access you child’s student progress report for each subject and home group through SEQTA engage. 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. If there are any concerns, please make contact with your child’s teachers, so that we can work to improve your child’s learning outcomes.

Natalie Meuret, Leader of Learning

LifeChanger held their third workshop with students during Pastoral Care this week. The focus for this session was Self. Mitch and Phoebe (LifeChanger facilitators) ran an engaging and active session focussing building an understanding of our self-identity.

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

Immersion Days

In Term 3, all Year 6 students enrolled in a Riverland catholic primary school have visited the College for their second Immersion Day. In the last two weeks we have welcomed stduents from St Joseph’s Barmera and St Joseph’s Renmark and provided the students with experiences in PE, Cooking, Woodwork and STEM lessons.

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 Transition Days in Term 4.

“Do. Or do not. There is no try.”
- Yoda

Luke Cotter, Leader of Wellbeing

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!

St Francis of Assisi College adheres to Catholic Education SA policies in relation to Child Safety. These policies are available on our College website and can also be accessed via links below.

Catholic Diocese of Port Pirie Child Safeguarding Policy

Responding to Online Safety Incidents in SA Schools: Guidelines for staff working in education settings

Keeping Safe: Child Protection Curriculum information for educators

Reporting Harm of Children and Young People Procedure