Link Up Term 1 Week 4 2022

A very warm welcome to all to our first Link Up and our 2022 school year together. I especially extend a welcome to those joining our community for the first time. We are excited to welcome our new Reception students and families, but also all the many new students and families from across other year levels in the College, with 130 joining our community. As recently shared with families, we also welcome 17 new staff, all of whom are settling in well and value adding to our community. We hope that for all our new community members; students, family and staff, that your partnership with the College over the years ahead is one of great reward for all.

Gratitude is the overriding theme I wish to convey to you at this point of the end of Week 4; as the start to our academic year has again presented us all with some significant challenges which have been met with strength, resilience and a spirit of support for each other, of which we should all be proud. Well done to our staff for their management of the hybrid delivery model in the opening weeks, achieving face-to-face learning for some year levels, whilst maintain a high quality online learning option for others. I am so very grateful for their great work, and would especially like to note the work of many non-teaching staff members who provided such enormous support in the supervision of the significant number of students who were unable to be supervised at home to access the online learning program. Thanks to our students for the way they engaged with the learning option available to them and adapted to the inevitable little problems that arose in the early days. Thanks also to our parents and caregivers for your work to enable it all to happen, in some cases doing drop offs in the morning before dashing home to get others online! It is so easy to find problems and inconsistencies in an undertaking as large as the Government’s return to school plan, but our families as usual took the challenges on with good spirit and a community mindset.

Similarly, we are grateful for the whole community’s commitment to keeping to the protocols that we continue to be asked to observe in the interest of the safety and wellbeing of all. It is not easy minimising attendance on site, especially for our newest families and those of our youngest students, or ensuring the various other expectations are met, but we remain grateful to you all for your continued support of each other and the College as we work together. This becomes even more relevant this week as the perhaps inevitable growth of cases amongst our community members has occurred. Adherence to the direction to ensure no one comes to school if even slightly symptomatic, has gone a long way to minimising the number of active cases present at school during their infectious period. Even so, we end this week with 33 staff on Rapid Antigen Tests each morning to be able to attend their workplace, and several year levels of students on symptom-watch classroom contact status. Together, we will work our way through the coming weeks.

I look forward to sharing with you in the very near future news of the appointment of a builder to undertake the final phase of development of our E-6 facilities, Stage 2B. The tender process is complete and in coming days a contract will be finalised for the build which will be undertaken between now and July.

The College Parent Community Group (PCG) has met this term and elected a new leader, Emma Peterson, mother of Tabitha in Year 1. We congratulate Emma on this important leadership role and encourage you to read her first Link Up article in this edition.

As previously emailed to families, please see in this Link Up edition, for your reference, a copy of the SA election “backgrounder” from CESA, outlining the key issues for which Catholic Education is demanding attention from the political parties. I have written to the four main candidates for the seat of Kavel seeking their response to these issues, and will share with you responses from them once received.

This week ahead is a significant week in our church calendar, with Ash Wednesday marking the commencement of the period of Lent, leading up to Easter. Lent provides an opportunity for us all to engage in a period of reflection and preparation, as we approach the most significant time of year when we acknowledge Jesus’ death and celebrate his resurrection. This week therefore also marks the beginning of the annual Caritas Australia Project Compassion appeal. Donations to Project Compassion allows Caritas Australia, the Catholic Agency for International Aid and Development, to work with local communities around the world to end poverty, promote justice and uphold dignity. The theme of Project Compassion 2022 is ‘For All Future Generations’ and reminds us that the good that we do today will extend and impact the lives of generations to come. It invites us to make the world a better place by working together now and finding long-term solutions to global issues. 

As we move in to the next phase of this first term, we offer our collective prayers at a local level for community members’ success in all aspects of their learning. Whilst doing so, our prayers at a global level naturally rise to the intense hope for peace and safety for the people of Ukraine. As always, the greatest power we individually have to impact global peace, is to ensure that we take every opportunity to build peace at our local level, in the relationships we build and hold with each other.

My best wishes to you and you families for the weeks ahead.

Gavin McGlaughlin
Principal

Who knows what tomorrow will bring?

The decade that will be remembered as the 2020s is certainly serving up some history making drama. From fires to floods, plagues to pandemics and who ever would have thought Melbourne would win an AFL Premiership? This decade has certainly packed a punch to date and there looks to be more in store for 2022.

The school year has begun in extraordinary fashion but all credit to the resilience of the St Francis de Sales College community for pivoting so adeptly in response to the imposed restrictions and conditions. With cancellations and postponements it is becoming more difficult to plan events and with restrictions continuing for the near future, 2022 is looking like a hybrid of the past couple of years of this decade of distraction.

The silver lining to the staggered start to the school year has been the successful commencement of the many new students and families to the College this year. Reception, Year 1, Year 7, Year 8 and Year 12 classes have been humming along since Week 1 and apart from the postponed events, teachers have been able to form important relationships with the students. For the other year levels, the return to classes in Week 3 was exciting and the energy around the schoolyard is returning steadily. The beautiful weather helps and it is great to see and appreciate the laughter and joy amongst our young people.

It is clear too that literally, behind the masks, there are many students who are experiencing anxiety and wellbeing concerns as they re-commence the school year. Our support structures have been bolstered this year with the appointment of Tahlie Jones, our College Social Worker. Tahlie works alongside Carol Jarell, the College Counsellor and is a key member of the Wellbeing Team who work in conjunction with the Homeroom teachers and Year Level Leaders to offer the best pastoral care we can provide. The Wellbeing Space at the College was opened in 2021 and is available daily for students to access.

With March upon us already, it is the perfect time for committing to a wellbeing challenge to kick off autumn. Perhaps your family could make the most of the final month of daylight saving with a focus on health, fitness and wellbeing.

Paul Fairlie
Deputy Principal – Community and Welbeing

What an adventurous start to the year we have had!

Our return to school to in 2022 was not our normal beginning, but students, families and staff have responded so graciously and positively to the situation. With many year levels undertaking online learning from day 1, it required a flexible and determined approach to make this work so successfully, especially for our new students and staff. The attendance figures were outstanding for both face-to-face and home learning engagement, which reflected the strong commitment from all involved in getting the year off to a solid (albeit disrupted) start.

Having everyone back for Week 3 was a real joy, and students expressed gratitude for the opportunity to be back in the classroom with their teachers and peers. I hope that it has been a good couple of ‘normalish’ weeks and that students have now settled in well, especially those new to our St Francis de Sales community. With government restrictions regarding visitors on site still in place, it is now more important than ever that communication remains strong between parents and staff. If there are any concerns about learning or wellbeing for your child, please contact the Home Class Teacher or other relevant staff members. We are here to holistically support your child and look forward to working with you and our students to get the very best outcomes for each of them.

Although our R-6 Hearts Assembly and 7-12 Academic Assembly have had to be postponed from their regular spots at the beginning of our Term 1 calendar, we hope to have news to your shortly about these events. Coming up later in the term are our R-12 Learning Reviews, which provide another significant opportunity for sharing information about the progress of your child and possibility for growth and improvement. More details will be sent to families shortly about these meetings, which will be conducted via MS Teams, as well as the early finish on Thursday 31 March.

Thank you again for all you have done to make the start of 2022 a positive one. Every blessing to you as we head into the Easter liturgical season, starting with Ash Wednesday next week. God bless and stay safe.

Sonia Nelson
Deputy Principal - Learning

A Settled Body

Yes, the start of our school year has been unsettled for many due to the COVID-19 restrictions, and for many it has caused discomfort and and a sense of anxiousness. As we move into Lent next week on Ash Wednesday, it is an ideal time to practice the art of ‘being a settled body’ and to perhaps develop this into a regular habit. Whether this is done as prayer or a wellbeing exercise, it will create a space for us to be open to positivity, calmness, and peace.

The text below from the ‘Center for Action and Contemplation’ describes this sense of ‘a settled body’ beautifully:

“Few skills are more essential than the ability to settle your body. If you can settle your body, you are more likely to be calm, alert, and fully present, no matter what is going on around you. A settled body enables you to harmonize and connect with other bodies around you, while encouraging those bodies to settle as well. Gather together a large group of unsettled bodies­—­or assemble a group of bodies and then unsettle them—and you get a mob or a riot. But bring a large group of settled bodies together and you have a potential movement—and a potential force for tremendous good in the world. A calm, settled body is the foundation for health, for healing, for helping others, and for changing the world....”

Project Compassion

Our ‘service focus’ for Term 1 is the Caritas Australia Project Compassion Appeal. Please see the weblink below, which contains a great deal of information about the Appeal and prayer resources to use as a family. The theme for this year's Appeal is ‘For all Future Generations’. The Appeal will officially begin at the College on Ash Wednesday next week, and each year level will be participating in fundraising activities for the Appeal. The money we raise is much needed by people in poverty in Australia and Internationally. Your generosity is appreciated! As usual, the College raises money through the four House Teams and the total amounts per House is converted into points for the Community Shield.

Read more about Project Compassion at caritas.org.au/project-compassion/

Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday

In the interest of our community’s wellbeing during this time of COVID-19 restrictions, we will not gather as a whole-College community for Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday this year.

For Shrove Tuesday (1 March), we will not be cooking/serving pancakes, but students will experience and participate in a short liturgy in Home Groups on Tuesday morning, to share in a deeper understanding of the celebration and why it is important

Ash Wednesday (2 March) will be celebrated during Lesson 4/5 with all classes being in their Homeroom. The Ash Wednesday liturgy will be led by Fr Richard and through the use of MS Teams, the liturgy will be presented to the TV screens in each Home Group Classroom. This allows us to celebrate this very important Liturgical event in a meaningful manner, whilst maintaining as much physical distance between year levels as possible. Fr Richard will use the ashes as a symbol of our community being present to this important ceremony. I wish you well as we enter our Lenten Season, and I encourage you to practice with your family the skill of ‘being a settled body’, as a way of reflecting and praying during Lent and also for your wellbeing during these uncertain times.

In Peace.

Oreste Farrugia
APRIM

Welcome to 2022 everyone. The year has certainly started off a little different with some students starting back in the classroom on day 1, with others joining at the start of Week 3. This certainly affected my family with a Year 12 student attending face-to-face and a Year 11 studying from home.

As much as this made life a little tricky to manage for us and for many other families, the kudos needs to go to College staff. Everyone from our ICT staff to support staff, admininistration staff and of course our tireless teaching staff. From all members of the Board we thank you for the work undertaken to keep our children engaged and well educated. You are all rock stars in our eyes!

This year Board will continue to focus on supporting the College Leadership Team through providing strategic guidance to achieve long-term success. We have an excellent diverse mix of members on our Board and this makes for a strong and successful group.

The Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held in May this year and we have several vacancies to fill with some members completing their tenure. If you have an interest in joining us, please keep an eye out for the AGM notification in the coming months.

If you are interested, please feel free to get in contact with me via Lisa Andrew, Assistant to the College Executive.

Your College Board wish you the best of years and good luck to our Year 12s for a huge year this year. Study hard and the results will come.

David Kyriacou
Chair of the College Board

Reece gains school-based apprencticeship

St Francis de Sales College is very proud of have yet another Year 12 student who has been successful in obtaining a school-based apprenticeship. Reece Lovegrove has been employed by Murraylands Training and Employment Group Training Organisation that connects future apprentices and trainees with employers. We congratulate Reece on his recent success in gaining an apprenticeship in his chosen field of Automotive (Heavy Diesel) and we wish him all the very best with his career.

VET students from across the Adelaide Hills train at St Francis de Sales College

On Tuesday 15 and Wednesday 16 February, we welcomed Vocational Education and Training (VET) students who are studying a Certificate III in either Early Childhood Education and Care or Individual Support. Students were from Eastern Fleurieu R-12 School, Mount Barker High School, Heathfield High School, Cornerstone College, Birdwood High School, Oakbank Area School, Hills Christian Community School, Temple Christian College, Murray Bridge High School and of course our very own St Francis students. Both VET courses will be delivered here at the College in our Trade Skills Centre by two trainers who are employees of MADEC (a Registered Training Organisation). We would like to warmly welcome our trainers, Carmella Orlando and Lisa Schinella to the St Francis de Sales College community along with all of our new VET students.

Both the VET trainers and their students will be onsite every Tuesday and Wednesday for the duration of the year, and will soon be on work placements throughout the Adelaide Hills region. If you work in the Early Childhood Education and Care or Aged Care industries, I invite you to contact me if you are willing to take on students for their work placements.

We would also like to acknowledge all the second year Health Services Assistance students who are currently studying at the TAFE SA Mount Barker Campus. These VET students re-commenced their training on Wednesday 16 February and are continuing on from 2021. They too will be soon commencing their final placements and finishing their Certificate III course by the end of the year.

We wish all of our VET students a very productive 2022 and look forward to seeing them all in their chosen career pathways in the near future.

Branden Hill
VET Coordinator

It has been lovely to welcome all students across R-6 back to school this year, albeit at different times for different students. We would like to particularly acknowledge and welcome new students and their families to the College in 2022. We really look forward to getting to know all the students in our classes and working in partnership with families to best support the young people in our care. Our new staff have also well and truly settled into life at the College and have worked hard to get to know and make connections with everyone in our community.  

This beautiful weather brings lots and lots of opportunities for us to play and learn outdoors this term and it is such a treat to see our students enjoying our beautiful College grounds and nature play spaces. Wellbeing is a core aspect of our work here at the College and we particularly spend lots of time with students ‘setting up for success’ in class by focusing on and developing positive relationships, growth mindsets and tools for learning. Our classroom spaces are designed to assist with catering to the different modes of learning, ensuring students get to experience their learning in lots of different ways.  

As you know, there have been changes to some beginning year events that would normally take place. We are looking forward to potentially celebrating assemblies and Masses in an online format this term and are hopeful that as circumstances change, we may be able to adapt and modify other events as they arise.  

We would like to especially thank all families involved in online learning at the beginning of this year for your patience and support, and we appreciate the hard work you put in on your end to ensure a successful start for your child or children. We are certainly very thankful to be back to face-to-face learning for all of our students and we look forward to a fantastic year ahead.  

Alice Taylor
R-6 Director of Learning and R-6 Literacy Leader

Hello to all in our St Francis de Sales community!

My name is Tahlie Jones and I am thrilled to be appointed as the College Social Worker and Youth Minister for 2022.

I am excited to return to this wonderful community following my placement as social work student as both part of the pastoral care team and as an addition to our expanding wellbeing team. I am looking forward to working in partnership with students, families, staff, allied services and community to enhance the wellbeing and strengthen the relationships not only within the St Francis de Sales community but with our local community and those in need.

I am passionate about our heart values and mercy tradition remaining foundational to approach to wellbeing, utilising PERMA+, positive psychology and growth mindset frameworks to support our young people in building the skills to manage their wellbeing throughout their life's journey. My work will take place across all year levels working with students one-on-one, in groups, classes and as a College community.

If you are concerned about a young person, please contact their Homeroom teacher or Year Level Leader or encourage them to do so themselves so we can work collaboratively to meet their wellbeing needs. Students may locate me in the Wellbeing room in the McAuley building during the day. I look forward to getting to know our College community better and working in collaboration to better the wellbeing of our community.

Tahlie Jones
Social Worker and Youth Minister

2022 has started with great excitement, enthusiasm and a really good ‘vibe’ in all of the Dance and Drama classes. Despite the strange start to the year with online learning for the first two weeks for most year levels, the Year 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 Dance students have started working through some of the intense technique that is associated with the genre of Commercial Jazz taught at the College. However, they have also ‘got their groove on’ as we start to develop a funky dance feel to the choreographed routines toward our 2022 Semester 1 theme for Dance. We will again be presenting our Dance production at the end of the semester – keep an eye out for further information regarding times and dates! Our Dance students promise to deliver a fun and exhilarating performance in Term 2.

Dance Minis (R to Year 3) and Dance Crew (Year 4 to 7) after school Dance classes have not been able to commence as yet but Tayla Ward and Aaliyah Ferreira will again be instructing the students every Thursday afternoon during the term when we are able to commence. Keep an eye out for further information regarding enrolments for Minis and Crew as numbers will be limited to 30 students in each class.

Year 8 Drama has started on a high note with an incredibly enthusiast group of students. Participation in Drama games has proved a great beginning point in developing camaraderie within the class. Students have been exploring focus, movement and space, allowing students to develop individual confidence and skill.

Peta Bojanic
Dance and Senior Drama Teacher

Our Music team has grown this year and we have been working together to grow and enrich the music experience offered by the College.

There are many ways that students can be involved in music at the College such as classroom music, learning an instrument and extra-curricular bands and choirs. We believe that music is for everyone and that it is essential to a full life and adds great benefit to other academic areas of learning.

With the challenges of the past 2 years due to the constraints of COVID, our dynamic Performing Arts Department still managed to ensure that our students were able to experience the joy of performance, be that in front of a limited live audience or by being able to share what they have achieved throughout their learnings on streamed/digital platforms, something that we will continue to grow in 2022.

This year our talented musicians and vocalists will take part in numerous events, including the high profile Catholic Schools Music Festival and also the now ‘world renowned’ festival, Generations in Jazz, which will be experienced in a hybrid live/digital format.

We look forward to being able to share many fantastic Musical experiences with our wider College community this year and will continue to update our calendar of events.

Aleks Bojanic
Music Support

A warm welcome from the new Chair of the Parent Community Group (PCG) Emma Petersen. 

The PCG are very enthusiastic to be back at school for 2022. The last couple of years have proved to be quite different due to restrictions, but the PCG has still managed to continue to meet and implement some ideas throughout the school terms.

On a personal note, I am very excited to be following in Sue's footsteps as the new Chair, and hope to continue grow and build the PCG. Aligning with the PCG vision statement I will hope to support and encourage the whole of the St Francis de Sales community through building relationships with other parents and staff members with participation in events and activities that build a flourishing College community.

Having only been part of the College community for a year, I am a self proclaimed “newbie,” not only to the College, but to the position of Chair. With this in mind, I would love to move forward this year with trying to build up membership with some fresh faces and ideas. The PCG meet monthly to discuss future opportunities for fundraising and College events. We welcome new members (mums, dads and caregivers) at any time throughout the year and we are always looking for new ideas.

Our next meeting will be held in March, and we are very open to any new proposals or suggestions for the future goals and running of the PCG. My inbox is open.... flick me an email and let's chat!

Contact us at PCG@stfrancis.catholic.edu.au if you would like to be involved, have some fun, meet some great parents and help in any way!

Emma Petersen
"newbie" Chair of the Parent Community Group

Loose parts are tactile, versatile and open-ended materials that can be easily manipulated moved around and combined in different ways allowing children to explore and find out more about their physical world and engage in social and imaginative play. Loose parts include materials such as boxes, sheets, buckets, rocks, hay bales, wooden planks, bamboo poles, tyre tubes and pallets. Loose parts include both natural and recycled materials and can be used by children of all ages.

Next time you are in a toy shop look at what is on offer. Some toys can be very one-dimensional with opportunities for creativity and imagination limited as they have a predetermined purpose. Due to the open-endedness of loose parts the possibilities can be endless and offer a wide range of benefits such as enhancing cognitive skills, encouraging focus, boosting natural curiosity, developing critical thinking, creativity and problem solving, supporting the development of more complex communication and promoting imagination.

It has been exciting to see children of all ages explore these materials and observe the rich learning that has been occurring.

Alyce Tanner
Padua Educator (2 Year Old Program)