Contents
- Acknowledgment of Country
- From the Principal
- Yr 7 Academic Excellence Awards 2022 - Recipients: Samuel De Palma & Georgio Loulas
- Yr 8 Academic Excellence Awards 2022 - Recipients: Riley Broad & Imogen Lyons
- Yr 7 Academic Effort Awards 2022 - Recipients: Chelsea Docking, Kaelen Greenhalgh, Jessica Grewal, Samuel De Palma, Georgio Loulas
- Yr 8 Academic Effort Awards 2022 - Recipients: Ael Atienza, Billie Augey, Henry Dring, Ali Finlayson, Marissa Finlayson, Yvette Kroon, Imogen Lyons, Riley Broad
- Tim Whetstone Award 2022 - Recipient: Riley Broad
- Barker Shield Awards 2022 - Recipients: Academic Achievement - Samuel DePalma, Community Service and Spirit - Aleesha Crosby, Student Leadership - Billie Augey
- Yr 7 College Values Awards 2022 - Recipients: Jessica Grewal, Jaxon Curtis, Blossom Kimberley, Chelsea Docking, Kaelen Greenhalgh
- Yr 8 College Values Awards 2022 - Recipients: Imogen Lyons, Henry Dring, Brodie Hunt, Billie Augey, Ael Atienza
- Yr 7 Laudato Si' Award - Recipient Eli McLeod
- Yr 8 Laudato Si' Award 2022 - Recipient: Riley Broad
- Leader of Learning
- College Community Wellbeing
- Focus Article
- Words of Wisdom
- Swimming Carnival
- National All Schools Track and Field Championships
- Lumination's Moonshot Award
- Yr 8B - Textile Class visit to St Joseph's Barmera
- Rowing Program
- Our Lady of the River Parish – Christmas Celebration (Renmark)
- College Uniforms
- Family Business Directory
- Australian Air Force Cadets
- Carers Peer Group
- Royal Life Saving South Australia - Holiday Swim Program
Advent
Advent marks the beginning of the Church’s new year and is a season of waiting and preparation. In fact, this season of Advent focuses on Christ’s threefold coming—past, present, and future.
• We await and prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ at Christmas.
• We hope and give thanks for Christ’s presence within us and in the Word and sacraments.
• We look to the future, waiting for Christ to come again.
Prayer for the Third Week of Advent
Joyful God,
As we wait this Advent, we celebrate Jesus’ good news: a message of life and healing that transforms even deep sadness into joy.
As we wait this Advent, we also pray: for all in our human family who, like Sita, have been unfairly treated because of their status or situation. Joyful God, help us share your joy.
Amen
Semester Two Reports
Student reports will be available to parents and caregivers through SEQTA Engage and Learn on Friday, December 16. 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.
Highlights and Reflections of 2022
This year I have had the privilege of interacting with staff and students at St Francis of Assisi College every day, and I have been consistently impressed and proud with what we, as a college community, have created for the Riverland. As a new college, St Francis of Assisi educators have worked towards building a collaborative and supportive culture to ensure we create a learning environment where our students can learn and be successful. Our students have been provided a myriad of engaging learning experiences throughout the year and teachers have employed a variety of methods to allow students to demonstrate their learning. Year 8 students have engaged in a variety of learning experiences throughout the year. These include orienteering in Outdoor Education, $20 boss in HASS, science demonstrations for primary school students, creating a Softie toy in Textile, designing a bushfire resistant house in STEM and writing a mystery story in English. Year 7 students have also been busy with their learning this year with Vinnies Christmas Appeal in RE, making a smart snack in Master of Meals, writing a spooky story in English, exploring coding using Micro:bit sensors and motors in Cyberology, creating a movie trailer in Media Arts and being involved in Lumination XR Challenge for Virtual Worlds.
Our students amazing work and successes were showcased at the College’s first Community Open Night. It was incredible to see all the work that students had produced in their first semester at the College. An enormous thank you to all the parents and students who attended our first Community Open Night. We look forward to holding another Community Open Night in 2023. As a College, we are always very proud of our students’ achievements and acknowledge the effort each of you have gone to in producing your remarkable pieces of work throughout the year.
Finally, thank you to the staff for their commitment to supporting students with their learning and ensuring we provide an innovative and contemporary Catholic Education. Also, thank you to the wonderful families for the trust and support you have shown the College in educating you child. And most importantly, thank you to the first students of St Francis of Assisi College for your enthusiasm to learning. As you progress with your journey through the college to year 12, we hope that each and every one of you continues to develop a life-long love of learning.
Lastly, I would like to wish all our families a very Merry Christmas.
Natalie Meuret, Leader of Learning
A part of our leadership structure was to ensure every student had the opportunity to have a voice. The student leaders were integral to this and have been supportive of and led our student action groups. Through these groups, many students have become leaders in their own right by organising fundraisers and leading the development of student clubs ready for 2023!
I would like to thank the work of all staff members for their commitment to unconditional positive regard for all students. To all families, for your unwavering dedication to your child and the partnerships you have formed with our staff. And to our students, thank you for your kindness, integrity, compassion, and care to yourself, to others and to our college. You have all built a glorious and unique culture at St Francis of Assisi College that will grow and adapt as you lead us all through the next 5 years and beyond.
Lastly, to our students directly. Congratulations on your year, your engagement, your successes, your ideas and innovations, and most importantly congratulations on your failures without which, you would have not grown. It with this that I leave you to know that:
We hear you; we see you; and what you say matters to us all.
2023 Student Leadership Council Announcement
I am delighted to announce the following students as the Year 8 and 9 representatives for 2023 on the Student Leadership Council. We all look forward to your ideas becoming reality in 2023!
This term, we will share an article each newsletter that may be of benefit to our parent and caregiver community in raising a teenager.
In this edition, you can access an article from the Raising Children Network Australia. It focuses on Help pre-teens and teenagers develop healthy body image by talking, focusing on the whole person, and being a positive role model.
“A healthy body image in childhood can lay the foundations for good physical and mental health later in life. An unhealthy body image in childhood can have long-lasting consequences.”
Read more here: Body image: pre-teens and teenagers | Raising Children Network
Rupi Kaur, a Canadian poet, illustrator, photographer, and author, rose to fame through her poetry on Instagram. She has released 4 books of poetry and guided writing activities to date.
The team spirit on display yesterday at the College Swimming Carnival is a testament to the connections our students have formed across the whole College. Their willingness to support and celebrate the success of all is a delight to see!
Have a great Christmas, New Year, and summer. Let us remember that Jesus is the reason for the season. Go forth with kindness, compassion and love.
Mr Luke Cotter, Leader of Wellbeing
Congratulations to Sophie Robertson! Sophie created an amazing virtual world called ‘Water World’ and won the Moonshot Award for Lumination’s 2022 Catholic Education South Australia Extended Reality Challenge. She is pictured above with her trophy and prizes!
Sophie explained that ‘Water World’ is an “Earth Water City in 2050, when the land has gone underwater due to global warming.” ‘Water World’ consists of a hydroelectric power plant, solar panels, interactive garden, a school, sea bins to collect rubbish on the waters surface, an animal farm and space-saving apartments.
Well done Sophie, such a great achievement!
Our first year of College Rowing was a great success. Well done to all the students who took part throughout the year. I am incredibly impressed with how everyone handled some of the challenges that were thrown our way; wind, other river uses, and of course the high river and fast flows! We haven’t been able to do a lot of on water rowing, but students in the program continue to come to sessions with excitement and enthusiasm. And a big thank you to all the involved families, for supporting their children through this exciting, new venture. Looking forward to what next year holds.
Mrs Stephanie Turnbull, Rowing Coach
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