Term 3 Week 6
Weekly 5 with Leadership
Gullarn ngheeree - Welcome to this beautiful place,
‘47’ was an important number discussed with our students this week. It was the number of plastic straw wrappers (from poppers) that were picked up by our Year 5 Waste Warriors team following a recent lunch break. It sounds like an incredible number, and indeed it is! Our students were quite astounded and were quick to action and rectify this. The proceeding days have seen a vast reduction to virtually nil. I will of course, continue to incorporate our commitment to the ‘small stuff’ rubbish in the coming weeks and our collective responsibility for the waste products in our lunchboxes.
It reminded me of story once shared about a taxi ride. When chided by a taxi driver as a woman disembarked the cab for leaving a food wrapper on the seat, the woman referenced a discarded soda bottle left on the cab floor (by a previous customer) as the rationale for her inconsiderate decision. At first glance, this is a ‘small stuff’ action, however, the rationale behind the choice lends itself to a call to self-reflection.
- Who is responsible for the decisions I make, even the ‘small stuff’?
- Do my ‘small stuff’ decisions impact others positively or negatively?
- What is my daily contribution to the ‘small stuff’ culture in the community/family/workplace where I live and work?
Our school expectations understand the ‘flawed’ nature of people, we are not perfect, and there are days when we flounder, but always, the message is: “Every day we have the opportunity to learn, to be safe, to be respectful and to be thankful.” Every day, we strive to be the best version of ourselves.
A gentle reminder to our families that the dismissal of students is at 2.45 pm. It is an expectation that in that transfer of supervision from 2.45 to 3.00 pm students are either at Kiss and Drop or meeting their parents in the undercover area. The Undercover area is not a play space during this time, ensuring children are safe and supervised.
God’s blessings upon your weekend,
PAX et bonum - Peace and all goodness,
Meredith Grove
(Principal 2024)
From Libby's desk - APRE
This week St Francis Catholic Primary School celebrated the Feast Days of St. Maximillian Kolbe, St. Clare and St Rufino. These three special people show us how to be strong in our beliefs and to know that God is always with us, even when times are tough. We celebrate these saints after whom our sports houses are named.
Feast Day 14th August
St Maximilian Kolbe lived only 100 years ago, born in Poland in 1894. He had a deep love for God and when he was 16, he joined the Franciscan friars and moved to Rome to studying at the Gregorian University. After seven years, he returned to Poland where he worked in both Japan and Poland for the rest of his life. Maximilian Kolbe dedicated his life to Mary and began an organisation to share love of Mary across all the world. They wrote newspapers and magazines, which were very popular, to tell the world of Mary’s love. His followers became the largest Franciscan Community in the world.
World War II began, and the Nazis demanded that he use his newspaper for their messages of hate. When he refused, he was taken prisoner. Maximilian Kolbe was a man of hope, and he encouraged people to pray.
One night, a prisoner escaped from the camp which made the guards furious! Ten people were to be executed – one of them was a man who had a wife and children and did not want to die. Kolbe stepped forward and asked that they kill him and let this man live. He became a saint in 1982.
Feast Day 11th August
St Clare (Chiara Offreduccio) was a young woman who wanted to follow your example. In 1212 she left her family and joined St Francis. Although wealthy and very beautiful, she was not interested in being popular because of her beauty; she cut off her hair and wore simple clothes. She founded the order of sisters, the ‘Poor Clare’s’: Poor in the eyes of the world but princesses in the eyes of Jesus.
Feast Days Thursday to Saturday in the last week of August
St Rufino (Rufinus) lived over 1000 years in the 3rd century. At that time, Assisi was under the control of Roman Emperor and Christianity suffered great persecution. St Rufino was a part of this Christian community with a deep love of God. He became the first Bishop of Assisi and converted this community to Christianity. His teachings and love ‘Made Jesus Real’.
All three of these saints are wonderful role models for our school. They have all given their lives to serve Jesus and to make Jesus real with the people that they met and worked with. We pray that we too may be more like them.
Book Week - Week 7 Friday 23 August
Reading is magic every day, but especially in Book Week! Conjure up some magic for your costume in our Book Week parade on Friday 23 August at 8.45 in our undercover and hall area!
Bush Dance Prep - Yr 2
Howdy partner .... dust off your dancing shoes and cowboy hats and get ready to show off your best bush dancing moves in the Prep to Year 2 bush dance on Friday 6 September.
Swimming Carnival - Wed 20 November
Parent Teacher Conversations
Booking for parent teacher conversations are now open via the Parent Orbit App.
Please contact the office if you need instructions on downloading the Parent Orbit app.
Tuckshop Volunteers
Can you spare 30 minutes or a few hours on a Tuesday or Friday morning to volunteer in our tuckshop?
Our lovely tuckshop staff will provide training. Volunteers need to have completed our school Volunteer Induction session.
P&F Group News
Get excited for our upcoming Family Movie Night!
Entry will be via gold coin donation for the family. Bring your pillows and cuddly toys, snuggle up in your PJ’s, and enjoy a movie shared with our school community.
This year we will have hot dogs, soft drinks and delicious hot chocolate for sale from the tuckshop, or families are welcome to bring their own dinner to eat before the screening starts.
To finish off with some sweet treats, we’ll have Poppalicious food truck onsite selling popcorn and fairy floss.
Next week our children will have the opportunity to vote for which movie they’d like to see at the movie night.
See you there!
Father's Day Gift Giving
To help celebrate the special Father Figures in our children's lives, this year the P&F Group has organised a Father’s Day Gift Giving. There won’t be a stall for students to choose a gift from, instead the eldest child of each family will receive a gift to bring home for their father figures.
You can expect these gifts to come home on Thursday 29th August.
Next Parents & Friends Group Meeting
We welcome all new and old faces along to the next P&F meeting to be held on Tuesday 27th August in the school staffroom from 6:30pm to 7:30pm.
Around our Community ...
Port to Park Fun Run - Sunday 18 August
Bella the Brave - Cirque du Cure
