St Francis Xavier Primary School - Lake Cargelligo eNewsletter

During 2022 our educational focus will be to improve Literacy and Numeracy skills — staff, students and families working together so all our students achieve at least 12 months growth. Other goals for the year are:

Build a community that continues to learn - Implement system Literacy and Numeracy initiatives which will increase student assessment data.

Enhance and maintain the wellbeing of all - Continued increase of attendance rates and implementation of school-wide Well Being Policy.

Build a community that is connected - Increased promotion of the school Vision and Mission statements throughout the community and to continue to increase family attendance at school events.

My Principal's Award this week was awarded to Belle Bardawil.

Belle represented our school at the CWA Public Speaking Competition, held in Forbes this week. We are very proud of Belle's efforts, not only did she have the courage to compete against the best of many schools in our region and put significant time and effort into practising to ensure she competed to the best of her ability, Belle achieved success in achieving reserve winner in the Year 3/4 competition. Well Done Belle and thank you to Belle's family for supporting her in this event!

First Eucharist - First Holy Communion

Next weekend we will celebrate with our First Eucharist candidates as they receive their first communion. The word 'communion' means to be united with; we believe that in Holy Communion we are united in a special way with Jesus Christ.

At his last supper, Jesus said of the bread that he shared among his followers, "Take and eat, this is my body." When we receive Holy Communion, Catholics believe that in a mysterious way we are sharing in the body and blood of Christ.

Please join us as we celebrate with our parish, our school, our families and our students; Sophie, Ivy, Amelia, Beau, Seraya, Leonie, Tyrelle, Hayden, Margaret, Leigha, Tyson, Scarlet & Rose next Saturday evening at 6pm in our Lady of Lourdes Parish Church.

Friday night saw the four churches in our town, join together to celebrate the Christain Unity Liturgy. Many thanks to Ivy, Rose, Leigha, Belle and Beau and Gemma and Tildy from NPS who presented the Gospel. The students participated with respect and reverence and read beautifully. It was a fantastic opportunity to share our faith with others, both during the service and supper that followed. Big shout out to our families who, after a very long day, supported our student and joined in the celebration.

Holy Father, God of Love,

You are the Creator of all things.

We acknowledge the pain and shame of our history and the sufferings of Our peoples,

and we ask your forgiveness.

We thank you for the survival of Indigenous cultures

Our hope is in you because you gave your Son Jesus to reconcile the world to you.

We pray for your strength and grace to forgive, accept and love one another, as you love us and forgive and accept us in the sacrifice of your Son.

Give us the courage to accept the realities of our history so that we may build a better future for our Nation.

Teach us to respect all cultures.

Teach us to care for our land and waters.

Help us to share justly the resources of this land. Help us to bring about spiritual and social change to improve the quality of life for all groups in our communities, especially the disadvantaged.

Help young people to find true dignity and self-esteem by your Spirit.

May your power and love be the foundations on which we build our families, our communities and our Nation, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

TERM 2

Thursday 12th May - AECG Meeting @ Land Council 3.30pm

Friday 13th May - Pirate Day - preschool visit

Tuesday 17th May - School Community Council Meeting @ 6pm

9th to 20th May - NAPLAN for students in Year 3 and Year 5

Friday 20th May - Biggest Morning Tea at 11am

- School Mass @ 11.30am

- Assembly Kinder and Year 5/6 @ 12.30pm

- First Eucharist Information Session @ 1pm

Tuesday 24th May - CWA Public Speaking

Thursday 26th May - 5/6 League Day (Griffith) and National Sorry Day

Tuesday 31st May - Reconcillation Day

PLEASE NOTE - End of Term 2 will be Wednesday 29th June for students. Thursday 30th June and Friday 1st July will be additional Pupil Free Days.

St Francis Xavier School had a very special day last Wednesday to celebrate families. National Families Week celebrates the vital role that families play in Australian society. The theme 'Stronger families, stronger communities' highlights the important role that families play as the central building block of our communities and that community wellbeing is enhanced by family wellbeing.

Thank you to the families that joined us for breakfast cooked by 'Down the Track, that visited classrooms to see students learning or joined us for morning tea. Family involvement creates a more positive experience for children and helps children perform better in school.

Last Friday we had a beautiful sunny day for our Small Schools Athletics Carnival, with Euabalong West, Rankin Springs and Naradhan school communities. There were many smiles, successes and fun throughout the day. Many hands worked to ensure the day went smoothly ~ Euabalong West staff - who organised the day, staff and families of all schools that assisted in so many ways; setting up the oval and equipment, timekeeping, working at field events and in the canteen and assisting in the catering for the day.

Congratulations to Euabalong West for winnng the day. Congratulations also to all the students who participated in all the events and helped make the day a great day for all.

Champions on the day from St Francis Xavier -

Senior Boys - Benji Bartholoew

Junior Boys - Jay Hayward

Senior Girls - Leonie Dutton

Junior Girls - Leigha Brooks

This week in Kinder/1 we worked on fine motor skills with Mr K.

A huge Thank You to all families that cooked and helped in anyway at last week's carnival in the canteen, the school community council raised $679 for our school.

First Eucharist Retreat Day in 4/5/6! Over the last few weeks we have been preparing for the upcoming Eucharist. We made unfolding flowers that represented God’s love for us and had our own ‘Last Supper’ with cordial and fairy bread. If there were sprinkles in Jesus’ time he probably would have had them on his bread too! Many thanks to Miss Corcoran for supporting the students with this day.

In Library with 2/3, we read the book ‘Sorry Day’ by Coral Vass and talked about the importance of National Sorry Day. The beautiful 2/3s discussed that by saying 'sorry' and taking action we create hope and change. Reconciliation is more than a word.

Reconciliation Australia’s theme for 2021, More than a word. Reconciliation takes action, urges the reconciliation movement towards braver and more impactful action.

2021 marks twenty years of Reconciliation Australia and almost three decades of Australia’s formal reconciliation process.

National Reconciliation Week (NRW) is a time for all Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures, and achievements, and to explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia.

The dates for NRW remain the same each year; 27 May to 3 June. These dates commemorate two significant milestones in the reconciliation journey— the successful 1967 referendum, and the High Court Mabo decision respectively.

We all have a role to play when it comes to reconciliation, and in playing our part we collectively build relationships and communities that value Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, histories, cultures, and futures.

Year 5/6 students will visit our preschools next week to share some activites and celebrate together. Miss Corcoran and Mrs Elwin will accompany the students to Lake Early Learning Centre on Monday and Murrin Bridge Preschool on Wednesday. We are looking forward to these special opportunities. Students will walk or travel on the school bus.

Staff from SFX will be hosting the biggest morning tea/ light lunch next Friday the 7th of June at 1.30pm following the Kinder/1 assembly. Gold coin donation, all money raised will go to the Cancer Council, ALL families welcome. More info to follow on our school facebook page.

Students, families and staff were invited to provide feedback on their experience of our school using an online survey. The surveys are an important part of our whole school evaluation and planning process.

The Tell Them From Me (TTFM) Partners in Learning survey will close for families today. As we value the role of families within our school community we would greatly appreciate your feedback. The information you provide will be used to maintain our commitment to working together in partnership to further improve student learning and wellbeing at St Francis Xavier School.

The survey is anonymous and will take approximately 20 minutes to complete. You are able to access the family survey on your computer or mobile device by using the URL below:

The link is http://tellthemfromme.com/s9t22

We would appreciate you completing this survey by today, Friday 11th June.

Murrin Bridge Preschool visited us last Wednesday for National Simultaneous Storytime. National Simultaneous Storytime held annually, enables libraries, schools, and pre-schools to read an Australian picture book simultaneously across the country. Mrs Elwin read the book "Give Me Some Space" by Philip Bunting to the preschool and school students. After enjoying the story all students made a breath fueled rocket, causing lots of fun and smiles for staff and students alike.

Last week the lucky 2/3 class were the first in the school to crack out the brand new ukuleles!! ? They began learning 4 different chords and showed amazing talent! Wayne was our official 'Ukulele Expert' showing his friends how to play the chords correctly. Marley was our 'Drumming Expert' and dropped us a few "sick beats" on our brand new cajon drum. We are looking forward to them showing their expertise at their assembly in a couple of weeks!

Reporting - Semester 1 2021

Our teaching staff has begun the process of creating each child’s Semester 1 2021 report.

In Semester 1:

For Kindergarten students:

Achievement in each subject will be reported using a four-point scale - Well Above Expectations, Above Expectations, Meeting Expectations and Working Towards Expectations.

For Year 1 to Year 6 students:

Academic grades for each subject using a five-point scale from A-E will be reported using the NSW Common Grade Scale.

For all students:

Strand Achievement will be reported in English, Mathematics, Human Society and its Environment, PDHPE and Creative Arts using a five-point scale (Excellent, High, Sound, Basic, Elementary).
Engagement with Learning statements, which are taken directly from the Australian Curriculum, will provide specific information about your child’s Critical and Creative Thinking, and Personal and Social Responsibility, using a three-point scale (Beginning, Developing, Consistently).
Individual student comments will not be used in the Semester 1 Reports.

Dialogue is an important feature of reporting. The Semester Report in this format encourages family engagement and conversation about student learning. We want the report to be the entry point for family-teacher interviews where we can engage in genuine conversation about your child’s strengths, challenges, effort and areas for growth.

You are encouraged to book a parent-teacher interview in Week 10.

The new approach to Academic Reporting is a developing process. Further work will be undertaken in the coming months to determine how progress and achievement is best reported based on what we know to be important information about a student’s learning and progress.

Belle represented our school at the CWA Public Speaking Competition, held in Forbes this week. Belle achieved reserve winner in the Year 3/4 competition.

Year 4,5,6 have been working on their Mincraft skills building master pieces and writting stories.

Term 3 will commence for all students and staff on Monday 12th July. St Francis Xavier Staff will participate in a Spirituality Day on Friday10th of September. This will be a Pupil Free Day for all students - there will be no one at school on this day - Friday 10th September.

The School has been ask to supply a luncheon for the Car Rally on Sunday 6th June. We are asking if families could help for this major fundraiser. We will need:-

- volunteers on the day - to cook and help out

- Volunteers on Saturday to set up the Boat Shed, and

- cooking of slices, cakes etc for dessert plates. If anyone is able to help in any way please contact the School or Sharna Hayward.