Link Up Term 3 Week 4 2024

Relationships

The holiday break allowed me the time to reflect on the incredibly special and privileged relationship that being in a school offers with my colleagues and with so many students and families. There are very few professions that allow you the opportunity to meet and be in relationships, true relationships, with so many people. With this opportunity also exists a very real and important responsibility to ensure that we consistently work hard to firstly establish and then maintain these relationships, particularly in the context of a Catholic school where our very existence should be underpinned by God’s love for us and in turn our love for one another.

Decision Time

In Term 3 these relationships provide the foundation for the critical life decisions that need to be taken by young people and their families. Our Senior School students are currently in the process of subject selection for 2025, whilst our Year 12 students will turn their attention to post-school life and the direction that they wish to take. These can be some of the most important decisions that we make, and it is crucial to be as informed as possible, to ask questions and advice, and for families to engage in constructive and positive dialogue. Of course, the staff of St Francis de Sales College are here to support and guide these decisions as best we can, however it is ultimately up to each student and their family to determine their pathway. I urge all families to actively engage with this process.

Enrolment Demand

As I have previously mentioned in the Link Up, we are experiencing unprecedented demand for enrolment at St Francis de Sales College. As such, I cannot encourage any family more strongly to ensure that if you wish to enrol your children in our College to do so immediately. Positions for many year levels in 2025 are very tight, and enrolment for 2026 and beyond is also filling fast. To give you a sense of the growth, in 2023 we had three classes of Year 7 students, in 2025 it will be at least five classes. This is terrific, as it allows us to offer a range of subjects and pathways in the senior years that may not be possible with fewer enrolments. With the addition of the Dell redeveloped classrooms, dance studio, music, drama and refurbished Performing Arts Centre, the facilities and offerings for our students is extensive and diverse. All credit to the staff of St Francis de Sales for the learning community they continue to build, and thank you, our families for your ongoing confidence and trust in us. The future is indeed very bright.

Feast of the Assumption

The Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary that we celebrated yesterday at our Community Mass is an opportunity to reflect on the lives of women in our College and Church communities. We are so fortunate to have had many positive female role models in our church beginning with Jesus’ mother Mary. More recently we have had amazing women who have influenced Catholic education in particular and who have lived out their union with Jesus with such clarity and conviction that we can learn so much from them about how to find where God is and who God wants to be for us. Inspirational examples of women in our Church who have had a remarkable impact include our very own St Mary of the Cross Mackillop “never see a need without doing something about it”; Catherine McAuley the founder of the Sisters of Mercy “The simplest and most practical lesson I know... is to resolve to be good today - but better tomorrow” and Mother Teresa “let us always meet each other with a smile, for a smile is the beginning of love”. The Feast of the Assumption is a reminder of the wonderful contribution that so many committed women make in our College, our Church and our world today, whether it be in formal positions of leadership, as teachers and as wonderful Education Support Officer staff, and also in the most important role as mothers of the young people that attend this school. We are indeed blessed by your presence, influence and care.

Andrew Baker
Principal

This week commemorates the national week of action against bullying, culminating on Friday with the official national day of action. This year’s theme, Everyone Belongs fits perfectly with our Heart Values. Students have had the opportunity in Pastoral Care lessons this week to discuss the theme and ways we can continue to celebrate diversity and promote belonging within our community.

It is also timely to remind the community of Stymie our anonymous harm reporting tool. Stymie empowers young people to ask for help when they need support, or if they are seeing or experiencing harm. Encrypted, anonymous notifications are delivered within seconds to authorised recipients, who respond according to the College’s wellbeing framework and personal responsibility procedures. Students can access the reporting tool via the SEQTA Learn splash page.

College Photos – Uniform and Grooming

Our sense of community and identity was palpable across the two days of College photos as students from Reception through to Year 12 showed immense pride in their uniform and personal appearance. There is overwhelming evidence that connects a sense of identity and belonging to improved engagement and learning outcomes. For this reason, taking pride in uniform and grooming doesn’t just need to occur on photo day! I encourage parents and caregivers to familiarise themselves with the College Uniform Requirements to ensure that your child is set for success each and every day.

This is a significant event for students and families, as well as logistically. Thank you to Sarah Sims (Marketing and Communications Coordinator) and Michele McDonald (Coordinator of R-12 Support Team) for their coordination of College photos across two full days. Catch Up Photo Day is scheduled for Tuesday 20 August for students who weren’t able to attend last week.

Beyond the Classroom – Year Level Camps

Throughout Term 3 and 4, many students and staff in our community get the opportunity to learn beyond the classroom and immerse themselves in our natural environment.

Our Year 4 students have enjoyed their time at Mylor this week, while our Year 8s will journey to Mt Crawford later this term. We have the information session for the Term 4 Year 7 Canberra Tour next week, and planning is underway for camps in early Term 4 for our Year 5, 6 and 9 cohorts.

College camps form a key component of the curriculum, as well as provide critical opportunities to build a sense of school spirit and community beyond the classroom and the school gates. Information for these events will soon be in circulation and I encourage you to reach out to the respective Year Level Leader if you have any questions.

Screen Time at Home

A common topic of conversation that comes up in my interactions with parents is screen time at home. How much is too much? Do children miss out on opportunities for social interaction if they don’t get access to a device at home? These are challenging questions to answer, and the truth is, there is are no hard and fast rules. What is important though, is to keep on the look out for warning signs, and to co-construct healthy screen time parameters with your child.

The eSafety Commissioner has some excellent advice for parents and caregivers looking for guidance. Some key information is detailed below:

Signs that your child’s online activity may be having a negative impact on them or on your family include:

• less interest in social activities like meeting friends or playing sport
• not doing so well at school
• tiredness, sleep disturbance, headaches, eye strain
• changes in eating patterns
• reduced personal hygiene
• obsession with particular websites or games
• extreme anger when being asked to take a break from online activity
• appearing anxious or irritable when away from the computer
• becoming withdrawn from friends and family

Help your child manage their online time

Stay engaged and encourage balance

• Keep an eye on the games, apps and devices your child uses. Chat with your child regularly and help them stay aware of how much time they are spending on different online and offline activities.
• Include positive things outside the online world in your conversations, such as what they love in life, careers they are interested in and new hobbies.
• Join in. Play games together as a family, or explore some joint online projects. Rather than being just a solitary activity, online time can then become another way of strengthening connections as well as building social skills.
• Where possible, avoid limiting online time as a punishment as this approach may inflate its importance to children.

Create a plan

• Involve your child in creating a family plan for leisure and entertainment time that balances time spent sitting in front of screens — including time online and watching TV — and a variety of offline activities.
• Work out the plan together. Young people are more likely to respond to rules they have contributed to and see as being fair and consistent.
• A minor reduction each day or a ‘15-minutes to switch-off’ warning can help the transition to a more balanced use of time.

The full article is available here. One last piece of advice, is to always take an interest in your child’s activity online and make an effort to know what they are accessing. As always, please reach out for support if you have any concerns.

Wishing the community good health and wellbeing as we move into the wonder of Spring!

James Gill
Deputy Principal - Community and Wellbeing

Academic Assemblies

We were delighted to have our families join us for the R-6 and 7-12 Awards Assemblies held in Week 2. These celebrations were important occasions for our College, recognising the outstanding academic achievements of our students from Semester 1, 2024 and highlighting our College’s Heart Values. At the R-6 Heart Badge, SRC and Awards Assembly students received awards for Learning Excellence and Learning Endeavour and at the Years 7-12 Academic Assembly, students achieved Academic Excellence and/or Excellence in Endeavour awards based on their Semester 1 results. Another special part of these assemblies was the presentation of the College Heart Value awards, where a student from each year level was acknowledged for living out our 2024 Heart Value of Wisdom in their daily interactions with our community during Semester 1. We also welcomed a number of new students and staff to our College, presenting them with their Heart Badge. We congratulate all these award winners and acknowledge all students who are continuing to strive for excellence through their approach and dedication to their studies.

NAPLAN

Back in Term 1, students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 participated in the NAPLAN tests, which assessed students’ proficiencies in reading, writing, language conventions (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy at their year level. Here at the College, we use the results from these assessments to help monitor student progress in their literacy and numeracy skills, using the Australian Curriculum as a reference. NAPLAN reports were sent home during Week 4 to provide information to families about their child’s achievement at the time of these assessments. Whilst NAPLAN provides a snapshot of performance in literacy and numeracy, it’s important to remember that this is one element regarding students’ overall learning and achievement in literacy and numeracy. We invite families to contact the College if you wish to discuss your child’s results.

National Science Week and National Vocations Awareness Week

We have recently celebrated both National Science Week and National Vocations Awareness Week. This year the Science Week theme of Species Survival – More Than Just Sustainability highlighted the importance of science and innovation in ensuring the survival and thriving of different species in our ever-changing world. Our Year 7 students headed to Monarto Zoo to study animal habitats, ecosystems and classification, the Year 8s went on excursion to Science Alive at Wayville Showgrounds, providing them with an opportunity to experience a wide range of STEM careers and interactive exhibits and workshops. And our Year 9s experienced a variety of workshops run by the University of Adelaide.

National Vocation Awareness Week occurs at a time when our Year 9-11 students are beginning their thinking about 2025 subject selections and considering their pathways through and beyond schooling. The recent SACE Information Evening for Years 9-11 students and their parents was a great opportunity to explore this in more depth and it was terrific to see so many students, parents and carers there on the night.

Year 7-11 Subject Selection and Counselling

Preparations are well-underway for 2025 subject selections for our current Year 7-11 students. Over the coming weeks students will engage in subject information sessions, and subject counselling will be offered to assist students and families with understanding the specific requirements of SACE and the subjects offered at various year levels. The aim is to ensure everyone is well-informed when making subject selections for 2025. I invite students and families to contact their Homeroom Teacher, Kerin Tinnion (Director of Students 7-12) or Rosslyn Mattner (SACE Coordinator) if further guidance is required.

Book Week

Next week is Book Week, where we celebrate the power and benefits that reading has from an educational perspective. The 2024 Children's Book Week​ theme is Reading is Magic, and we look forward to celebrating by reading books and better understanding the amazing power books have to transport minds and induce curiosity about the wonders of our world. Throughout Book Week, as always, we encourage our students and their families to enjoy the magic of reading and partake in the wonderful conversations that can stem from engaging with the author’s message, the wonder of the illustrations and the powerful way language can embrace and enthral us in a good story. We hope that you have a great Book Week and enjoy the opportunity to ‘escape’ into a good book, or two or three.

Upcoming Learning Reviews and Tours of Learning

In Week 7 (Tuesday 3 and Wednesday 4 September) Senior School teachers are looking forward to conversations about your child’s 2024 progress during our 7-12 Learning Reviews. Likewise, Junior School families will have an opportunity to attend R-6 Tours of Learning during Week 9 (17 September). These are significant opportunities for teachers, students and parents to collaboratively celebrate successes, review areas for growth and support students in their agency and ownership of their learning. We encourage all parents/caregivers to book times for these events in line with the documentation that has been sent home.

Paul Wadsworth
Deputy Principal - Learning

Mary challenges us to be Wisdom People

Welcome to Term 3! It was pleasing to begin our term gathered as a whole-College for the Mary MacKillop Mass. Being our first Australian Saint, Mary MacKillop has much to teach us about living our Heart Values and following in the footsteps of Jesus.

At the Mass we were blessed with the presence of Sr Mary Ryan, a Sister of St Joseph, who gave a wonderful and insightful presentation, reflecting on our Heart Value of Wisdom and the wisdom of Mary MacKillop and how we can learn from her actions. The parts of her reflection that resonated with me are:

“WISDOM… what does this word mean? A WISDOM, or a WISE person… is a responsible person, someone who is sensible, a thoughtful person, someone who shows good judgement or makes smart decisions, because they’ve thought before they acted. I’m sure that you’ve met lots of WISE people, young and old, and that all of you ARE trying to be WISE and share your gift of WISDOM too! I call Mary MacKillop my WISDOM WOMAN! She was WISE… a responsible person, a sensible, thoughtful person who showed good judgement and made smart, WISE decisions.

I’m sure that Mary often asked herself questions like these, so that she could make WISE decisions.

• Who will be affected by my choice/s or actions?
• Will my choice or action make me happy or sad?
• How will my choice or action affect anyone else? 
• Will someone or some others be sad or happy because of my choice?

If we wish to be WISDOM PEOPLE, we too, need to ask ourselves questions like these. Think about them! I believe that we can ALL be WISE - or WISDOM PEOPLE - if, like Mary MacKillop, we stop and think before we act or make a choice. Mary, our WISDOM WOMAN, wrote lots of letters to many people. In one of her letters to the Sisters of Saint Joseph, she wrote some very WISE words: “Find happiness in making others happy.” And she did just that! If we can, by our choices and actions, make others happy, we too, like Mary MacKillop will also be very happy WISDOM PEOPLE! And that will definitely make our school, or families, Mount Barker and our part of the world a better place!  

Let’s all choose to be WISDOM PEOPLE!

Giving and receiving Mercy

Term 3 is our time to deeply focus on our Mercy Heritage and raise awareness of, and funds for, Mercy organisations who are working with those in most need. We focus on our Mercy Mission Appeal at this time.

Our staff and students will be immersed in all things Mercy in a unique manner this year. Earlier this week, our teaching staff had the pleasure of listening to a presentation by Maddie Kelly, who has an amazing story inspired by her Mercy upbringing at St Aloysius College for her secondary schooling.

At the end of 2016, shortly before completing her degree, Maddie saw St Jude’s School featured on a television show and decided to apply for a role as a communications officer in the school’s Tanzania-based marketing team. She was awarded the position and moved to Tanzania in May 2017 to commence a two-year contract at St Jude’s. At the end of her two years, Maddie felt immersed in the Tanzanian culture and did not feel ready to leave, so Gemma Sisia, the school’s founder, gave her the opportunity to transition into a new role and launch the school’s Alumni Association. Over the next three years, Madeleine accompanied Gemma on two promotional tours of Australia, and later took on the role of communications and editorial specialist.

Maddie spoke with our staff about how “Mercy is about truly being present to someone in that moment – totally focused on that person and ‘seeing them’. Mercy becomes a two-way exchange.” During her time at St Jude’s School, Maddie experienced and witnessed many people in deep poverty and in desperation to receive quality education. She was part of a team in Tanzania who worked tirelessly to support young people and families to achieve their educational goals, which would hopefully lead them to live a life of freedom and choice. Maddie said “I felt I was shielded by what I knew of Mercy during my upbringing. St Aloysius College gave me so many experiences of social justice, where I was exposed to people in great need and I was able to respond to the young people at St Jude’s School in a manner that helped them to ‘be seen’”.

This presentation by Maddie, was an introduction for our staff, to the Staff Reflection Day that we will attend on 6 September. This Staff Reflection Day is quite special, as it is the first time that the staff from all three Mercy affiliated schools in South Australia will be gathering together for a such an event. The theme is Mercy focused and we will be reflecting on our histories, our current realities, and the potential connections with each other as we move into the future. We look forward to this time of reflection and connection with people who share our Mercy charism.

We are very fortunate to have Maddie Kelly and Sr Meredith (a Sister of Mercy) facilitate our Year 8 Reflection Day, which is being held in Week 6. The Year 8s will explore what Mercy means in their life, take part in a walk in Adelaide which will highlight key agencies who are doing works of mercy, and put together care packs for Mercy care agencies to use with those in need.

Students, families and staff are encouraged this term to donate non-perishable canned food items to our Mercy Mission Appeal. Our focus on Mercy will culminate on Tuesday 24 September, which is International Mercy Day. On this day, each year level will gather with all of the canned food they have collected and work at building a creative 3D Artwork with the cans. This will be fun, energising, healthy competition and provide an opportunity for awareness-raising of Mercy works. After this event the canned food items will be donated to Mercy care agencies.

Year 10 Reflection Day

Student Reflection

On Tuesday 6 August the Year 10s went to The Village Well at Aldgate for their Reflection Day, focusing on making meaningful connections and living to our full potential. The day was run by two presenters from Real Talk. The day was broken into three sessions addressing different themes and topics.

The first session was on relationships with others, yourself and your body. This session allowed for us to contribute and share ideas. We were also asked to reflect on what stood out to us and to discuss this in small groups.

The next session involved students competing in a scenario-based learning activity. Situations like consent, alcohol, parties, and safety were covered. We were able to talk through what you do in dangerous situations and share opinions on the matter whilst also competing against others to get the most points. 

In the third session, we were split into two groups. The girls wrote letters about what they admired and appreciated about each other, and then later followed by discussions on issues that arise with social media becoming a rising normality. Whilst this was happening the boys discussed similar topics of social media and ran a competition to further elaborate on this topic.

Something that stood out to me was the presenter’s ability to convey messages in a variety of ways, from showing people’s perspectives on the same issue with a game of charades, sharing experiences to build confidence and linking everyday issues to topics that are more applicable for our age group. I really enjoyed how this Reflection Day linked into our current religion assignment addressing topics about how to live life to it’s fullest and the big idea’s of life.

Overall this was an educational experience that allowed us to learn about relationships and life in a very creative way.

Rayna Adams

Sacramental Program

We will soon start our next Sacramental Program, which is a faith-formation journey that spans from August 2024 through to June 2025. Within this program, the participants will be formed by Fr Philip Marshall, Sandra Lloyd (Sacramental Program Coordinator), and Oreste Farrugia (APRIM).

You are invited to consider if you would like your child or children to begin their preparation for the Sacraments of Reconciliation, Confirmation and First Holy Communion.

Please read the below letter, which contains more detailed information. If you have any questions, please contact one of the members of the team who will be able to assist you. You may also wish to register your child to be part of the program, using the QR Code below:

> Letter to families

Working together as a Community - thank you!!

A sincere thank you to all who generously contributed to the fundraising for last term's Vinnies Winter Appeal, which included the Vinnies Sleepout.

At the Sleepout, amongst other team building and reflective activities, we were blessed with the insights of two guest speakers from Vinnies (Tom Mead and Carla Leversedge) who outlined the facts and data about homelessness, and explained how we can assist Vinnies to assist others in need. The final activity of the evening was the shelter building competition. The participants constructed their sleeping shelters out of cardboard boxes, and slept in them outside of the Reception classrooms on the Junior School Deck  – it was cold!

I congratulate the following students and staff members who braved the cold to be in solidarity with so many homeless people in our community. It gave us a small glimpse of some of the challenges that homeless people face on a day-to-day basis.

The student participants were Livinia Waide, Grace Waide, Josip Horvat, Erika Bonehill, Roary Bonehill, Tayla Byrne, Imogen Jones, Erin Irudayaraj, Christian Kyambadde, Amali Fennell, Anthony Pham, Gracie Semple, Abigail Van Gameren, Olivia Crowe, Qchloe Aliguyon, Rache Alegre, Layla Wadey, Sarah Morley, Toris Bynoe-Kinsley and Charlotte Evans.

Staff members who joined me and ‘sleptout’ were Paul Wadsworth, Devan Chalmers, Stephanie Hocking, Jade Pace and Bianca Evans. Sr Shiji and Alisha Fleming generously arrived at the College at 7:30am the morning after the Sleepout to facilitate Breakfast Club for the participants. We thank Teagan Rickman and her Year 11 class for making the delectable soup which was dinner at the Sleepout. As usual, the Maintenance Team did their wonderful work in the background and sourced the many boxes we needed for the shelter building.

We were able to raise a significant amount of money through the Sleepout event - $8,149. Also, as a College community we donated more than 1,500 items including food, toiletries, clothing, and toys. Our local Mt Barker Vinnies Conference will use the money raised and the donated items to support those in need in our community. A huge thank you to all involved!

Now cast your mind back to Term 1, when we were in the midst of the Caritas Project Compassion Appeal. We have just been notified by the head office of Caritas, that St Francis de Sales College raised the highest amount of money for Project Compassion 2024, out of all schools in the whole of Australia!!! This is such a magnificent achievement for our community and emphasises the enormous generosity that is part of our culture. As a College we raised a whopping $21,783.95 for Project Compassion in Term 1 this year! Well done everyone!

As we start to see glimpses of sun in our days, let us be reminded of the changing seasons and what the symbol of Spring means for us, in relation to renewal and new-life in our own lives.

In peace

Oreste Farrugia
APRIM

R-6 Heart Badge, SRC and Semester 1 Awards

Our R-6 community celebrated the Heart Badge, SRC and Semester 1 Awards on Wednesday 1 August. The Heart Badges are a wonderful tradition at our College and are presented as a symbol of welcome to every student and staff member who join our community. The Heart Badge symbolises the foundational values of our College: Faith, Perseverance, Compassion, Integrity, Respect, Wisdom and Justice. It was lovely to see so many new students and staff be officially welcomed into our R-6 community and receive their Heart Badge at the presentation.

Our R-6 Semester 1 Awards was also a fantastic opportunity to officially acknowledge the special efforts and achievements of students who demonstrated excellence in one or more of the award categories. Selected students in each class received Semester 1 awards for Learning Endeavour and Learning Excellence. One student from each year level was awarded the 2024 Heart Value Award - Wisdom. We congratulate all our award winners for Semester 1.

Finally, we recognised the Semester 2 SRC students who will be leading student initiatives in the College over the Semester. We congratulate all students who have stepped up to this leadership position for the second half of the year, and recognise the work of students in Semester 1, who did a great job during their tenure.

Year 4 Camp

This week, the Year 4 students headed off to their three-day camp at Mylor Baptist Camp. The students had an amazing experience at their first camp, enjoying lots of fun and adventurous activities that foster personal growth, teamwork, collaboration, and problem solving. The Flying Fox and Giant Swing are always a big hit, and a big challenge too! It was fantastic to see our students grow and flourish, while spending time developing and solidifying positive relationships with their peers. There will be some tired children at home tonight!

Alice Taylor
R-6 Director of Learning

Year 7 Monarto Zoo Excursion

Year 7 students recently visited Monarto Safari Park as an outdoor learning experience to enhance their understanding of the Science topic Ecosystems. Students were taken on a guided tour focusing on how Monarto Safari Park has worked on providing a natural simulation of habitats and animal enrichment. The highlights of the bus tour were seeing the development of the new elephant habitat, spotting the newest born giraffe and the hyenas getting very close to the bus. Students were able to walk around to closely observe the behaviour of meerkats, rock-wallaby’s and chimpanzees. The keeper information talk at the chimpanzees inspired students to think about how recycling mobile phones can reduce the need to mine for minerals that would otherwise destroy the habitats of the chimpanzees.

Year 7 Science Teachers

Science Alive

On Friday 3 August the Year 8 students attended the Science Alive Big STEM Day out at Wayville Showgrounds. Students were able to choose their activities and participated in a range of hands-on learning experiences, including the Australian Electronic Sports League Competition where they learnt about safe online competition and social groups while playing against each other and students from other schools. Some students participated in the bridge building competition and others in the catapult competition. Along with lots of other interactives the Year 8s experienced the importance of environmental sciences and conservation while interacting with living animals, insects and snakes and virtual reality tours snorkelling the Great Barrier Reef. Finally, students immersed themselves in future technologies and careers, programming robots, flying drones, and learning about the electric cars, the industry that supports them and the future careers opportunities.

Year 8 Science Teachers

Stage 1 Earth and Environmental Science Flinders University Groundwater Excursion

On Friday 3 August, the Stage 1 Earth and Environmental Science students embarked on an excursion to Flinders University to participate in a groundwater experiment. The day began with a Careers in STEM presentation by the Flinders University STEM Outreach Team, where students discovered a wide range of career opportunities in Earth and Environmental Sciences. After the presentation, we moved to the Earth Science laboratory, where students engaged in a collaborative experiment using a groundwater model. This hands-on activity allowed students to gather and analyse data, investigating the movement of water through an aquifer and examining the effects of pollution on groundwater. Students were able to apply their classroom knowledge to real-world scenarios, enhancing their understanding of how groundwater systems function and the environmental challenges they face. Overall, the trip provided a valuable and engaging learning experience, inspiring our students to consider future careers in STEM fields and deepening their appreciation for the importance of environmental science.

Amy Ashley
Stage 1 Earth and Environmental Science Teacher

2024 MASA Quiz Night

On Wednesday 14 August a group of our students participated in the highly anticipated annual Maths Association of South Australia (MASA) Quiz Night. The event challenged teams with a range of general knowledge, mathematics and problem-solving questions. It was an evening filled with intense thinking, collaborative teamwork, and plenty of fun and laughter.

A big congratulations to all participants, with special recognition to Finley Bennett, Louis Moran, Elijah Schembri and Christian Kyambadde for securing first place in the Junior Maths competition, and to Gabe Cregan for claiming first place in the Senior division.

Amy Ashley
Learning Area Specialist - Mathematics

Semester 2 kicked off with a BANG where our Music Department certainly hit the ground running, with Nicole Moxham’s junior vocal group Piccolo Voce performing Katie Perry’s hit song Roar at the R-6 Heart Badge, SRC and Awards Assembly, and like the name of the song suggest, they certainly ROARED.

Our Senior Music group of Ethan Honner, Lachlan Anderson, Toris Bynoe-Kinsley and Hayley Paterson, under the guidance of Sarah Dodd, belted out a great version of The Beatles’ classic, Come Together at the Years 7-12 Awards Assembly… and then in Week 3, our College pop group Seven Hearts staged a mini-concert as part of our The Music Lunchbox series of lunchtime concerts. Seven Hearts comprising six vocal students from Years 4-7 certainly had the big crowd singing, dancing and clapping during their choreographed three song set.

Sarah Dodd’s Stage 1 Music class were given a taste of what tertiary music studies are all about when visiting Tabor College in Adelaide as they presented their Muso For A Day program. This gave our students a valuable insight in what options are available to them post Year 12 if they were to look at furthering their musical studies.

The second half of Term 3 is certainly not going to ease up for the Music Department…

As our Instrumental Music program continues to grow, nearly doubling in number over the past 3 years. This year we will be staging three Instrumental Music Parties, with the first two on Wednesday 18 September in the Function Room, with the Junior Instrumental students taking to the stage from 5:30pm-6:30pm and Senior Instrumental students from 6:45pm. Our vocal students will be featured in a stand alone concert in Term 4 with details for all of our concerts to be advised via Consent2Go in due course.

Tuesday 24 September sees our hard-working Festival Choir, under the direction of our R-6 Music Teacher and Choir Leader Nicole Moxham, join other Catholic schools and colleges as they take to the stage at the Adelaide Festival Theatre for the annual Catholic Schools Music Festival. This is a huge event on the Catholic Schools calendar and this year we are being represented by a dedicated group of Year 5 and 6 students who will have the powerful experience of performing in front of some 2,000 people at the Festival Theatre and we are certain that they will represent St Franics de Sales with great pride. Tickets are now on sale through Ticketek or for more information visit musicfestival.cesa.catholic.edu.au. 

We certainly couldn’t do what we do musically without our Music families and our great College staff who continue to support all that we do in the sphere of Performing Arts.

…and as the great band U2 lyric says, “It’s a beautiful day, don’t let it get away”, we at St Francis de Sales College Music promise to keep it that way.

Sarah Dodd, Nicole Moxham, Fern Cox and Aleks Bojanic
The Music Team

Senior Basketball

In Week 9 of Term 2 our Basketballers had a fantastic day at the State Division 1 Finals for Year 7/8. Our girls who only scraped through to the finals on percentage did a great job finishing 6th overall but had some amazing results including a win over Trinity who went on to finish 2nd overall. Results were:

SFdS lost to Sacred Heart 11-31 (Eventual Winners)
SFdS defeated Trinity 18-14
SFdS lost to Cabra 15-17
SFdS lost to St Michaels 31-45 (5th vs 6th Playoff)

Our boys had an amazing day being our first Division 1 Basketball side to make a Grand Final for quite some time with some great results against big Adelaide schools. They unfortunately fell short in the Grand Final to Rostrevor by just 2pts with a shot on the buzzer not going our way. Results were:

SFdS drew with Pultney 18-18
SFdS defeated Cedar 29-22
SFdS defeated Henley High 26-24
SFdS defeated Cardijn 40-34 (Semi Final)
SFdS lost to Rostrevor 33-35 (Grand Final)

This was an outstanding achievement and thanks to all the helpers on the day with Elliott Duffield and Jacob Matthews coaching the boys and Amanda Williams and Vanessa Formby coaching the Girls.

Senior Football

On Monday of Week 2 our 7/8 Boys and 7/9 Girls travelled to Murray Bridge to compete in a round robin AFL competition. The girls were coached by parent Brett Dodson and considering there were a number of players new to the sport as well as some injury woes, they had a fantastic day. Our boys played against Unity College, Riverland and Murray Districts (combined schools) and Easter Fleurieu School. There were some tight contests but in the end the boys won all matches and made it through to the next round. We wish them every success when they play Woodcroft and Reynella East in Week 6.

5-6 Basketball

On Tuesday of Week 4 we hosted a School Sport SA Basketball Carnival with schools attending from all over the state. Our boys competed hard and produced some wonderful plays but were unfortunately unable to progress. Our girls played exceptionally well and are now off to the state finals day in Term 4.

SAPSASA Representatives

In Week 4 of this term the following students in Year 5 and 6 were selected to represent the Barker District in Soccer. This is a fantastic achievement and we would like to congratulate them all.

Mitchell Munro, Ryan Lindsay, Davi Dias Ferreira da Silva, Amelie Rymer, Charlotte Rymer and Mya Dempsey

Auskick

This term has seen the start of our Annual Auskick program. We have 50 super keen Reception to Year 3 students attending each Thursday night where they are led by our Year 9-10 coaches. They are practicing their skills, demonstrating team work and having a whole lot of fun!!

Nadia Honner
Learning Area Specialist - Health and Physical Education and Specialist Sport Coordinator

Our College is pleased to share that students will be able to access private Psychology services with Tom Parkin, Psychologist, from Term 3 onwards. This service adds to the existing range of Allied Health services families may access onsite. If you are interested in accessing private Psychology services with Tom at the College, please refer to the information below:

Visiting Psychologist
Tom Parkin (TD Psychology)

Availability
Mondays, during school hours

To make a booking
Please ring the office at TD Psychology to make a booking and discuss payment, referrals and any other matters.

Contact Details
Telephone: (08) 8269 1818
Email: tdpsych@bigpond.com

Office Hours
Monday - Friday, 9am - 5pm

Payment
Invoicing is arranged through the TD Psychology office.

Costs
Therapy sessions: $234
Assessments: $1000

Rebates and Claiming
Parents/carers may be able to use a Mental Health Care Plan (please see your GP or Paediatrician to arrange) to claim some rebates.

Private Health funds may offer rebates – please contact your fund to confirm.

NDIS clients are billed through NDIS.

Melissa Symonds
Director of Equity and Inclusion

All RRHAN-EC certificates obtained prior to 29 April 2024 are due to expire 31 December 2024. It is a requirement to have an updated RRHAN-EC certificate to continue volunteering with the College.

If you have updated your RRHAN-EC certificate please forward a copy to info@stfrancis.catholic.edu.au attention Michele and Kelli so we can update our records.

If you are yet to update your certificate please remember to do so via the link in the below information.

New RRHAN-EC Courses – Now Available

The updated RRHAN-EC courses were released on plink on Monday 29 April 2024 and, for most of us, completion of the online update will need to be done before 31 December 2024 when our current certificate expires. You need to complete the new RRHAN-EC online update unless you already have a current certificate with an expiry date of 31 December 2027.

To access the online update please use this link to login as ‘Non Department for Education staff login’ OR if you don’t already have a plink login, register here.

If your RRHAN-EC has already expired or you are new to education, please refer to the following guide which will help you to determine which course you need to do.

Which course is right for you?

My certificate expires on 31 December 2024 – do the online update only (takes about 2 hours).

My certificate is expired – start with the fundamentals. If you also work directly with children and young people, do the masterclass after you’ve finished the fundamentals course.

I am new – start with the fundamentals. If you also work directly with children and young people, do the masterclass after you’ve finished the fundamentals course.

I did the full day ‘Safe Environments through their eyes training’ in the last 3 years – select fundamentals, and then option 2 for the bridging course.

If you’re not sure if you need to do the masterclass, answer some questions to find out.

The Training Needs Analysis for CESA Staff also provides all CESA staff with a reference to the course requirements and the link to the plink site.

Please email the CESA RRHAN-EC Helpdesk at RRHANEC@cesa.catholic.edu.au if you have any queries.

Catholic School Parents SA (CSPSA) presents Stronger Families: A Positive Parenting Conference.

This one-day event is tailored for parents and professionals involved with youth, offering a platform where prominent parenting experts from Australia come together to share invaluable insights on modern-day challenges affecting children and teenagers.

Featured speakers include Maggie Dent presenting Help Me Help My Teen, Paul Dillon presenting Teens, Parties, Alcohol, and Vapes: What Parents Need to Know and Madhavi Nawana Parker presenting Maintaining Calm Amidst Parenting Challenges.

The details of the event are below:

Date: Saturday 31 August @ 9:30am to 3:00pm
Location: The Sanctuary Adelaide Zoo, 1 Plane Tree Drive, Adelaide
Cost: $25 + Booking Fee per person. Light lunch included
To book: www.events.humanitix.com/stronger-families-conference