Newsletter-Term 2-Week 4-Friday 24th May 2024

Principal's News...

Dear Parents,

Over the last two weeks, Miss Miles, Mrs Coster and I have conducted just over 60 interviews for our 2025 Kinder intake. Many of these children are siblings who are very familiar with our school and many more are new to our community. Your decision to enrol your children in our school is a decision that should have a profound impact on them for their entire lives. Being trusted by all of our parents to instill the values of Christ in our children in these formative years is a privilege our staff do not take for granted. It is unfortunate that we cannot take all of the families interested in enrolling their children into our school. We will send out first round offers on Monday next week and I wish all those who are not in the first round all the best in securing a space in one of the other great schools in our community.

At our School Community Group meeting last Tuesday night I explained the processes related to the collection and expenditure of the Fundraising Levy which is a component of your annual school fees. This money is used for such items as sports and grounds equipment, portable speaker systems, musical instruments, home readers and class guided reading sets. Once paid to the school, these funds become the responsibility of the school to manage. They are not available for the parent community to spend, but recommendations for the allocation of these funds can be made by parent representatives at the School Comminity Group meetings. We are constantly stringently audited for compliance to ensure all school funds are managed in accordance with conditions of the Education Act. If you do have any wonderful suggestions for resources that you feel our children would benefit from, please feel free to raise them at future meetings for consideration.

This week I was disappointed to have to speak to the boys about the state of the toilet block. Although these toilets are cleaned daily before school, a small number of children have taken to leaving the stalls in a less than acceptable state. We do have plans to refurbish the main toilet block, but in the meantime, I expect more respectful behaviour from our children. I would appreciate it if you could have a converstaion with your children about this to support our message.

We will be having our school photos on Thursday morning June 13th. A number of our children currently have inappropriate hair cuts that will need to be resolved if they are to participate in the photo shoot. Agreement to adhere to the haircut expectations and our school uniform policy as a whole is a condition of your child’s enrolment in our school and is not negotiable. Please ensure you respond to this promptly and respectfully.

Our school has a great reputation in the community, thanks to our Christian values, our high standard of expectation and the great support of our school families. I thank you for your continued support in ensuring this high standard is maintained.

Peace in Christ,
Dan Gubby

School Calendar...

Term 2

Assistant Principal Mission News...

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

This coming weekend's reading is from Matthew 28:16-20 - Jesus sends his disciples to make disciples of all nations.

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity is the weekend following Pentecost. This feast invites us to consider what we believe about God. God revealed himself to us in the Trinity - one God in three persons. 

As Jesus departed from his disciples, he taught them to go out into the world and continue to be the mission of the Church, to share in God’s love. 

As you gather as a family, remember your Sacrament of Baptism. Talk about the significance of your Baptism with each other. In this weekend’s reading, Jesus taught his disciples to baptise the nations in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Conclude by thanking God for sharing his life with us by praying together the Glory Be:

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.

As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be.

World without end. Amen. 

Source: https://www.loyolapress.com 

Sacrament of Holy Communion

Preparations are underway for our students completing their Sacrament of Holy Communion. The Sacrament will take place on Saturday, 1st June at the 5:30pm Vigil Mass. 

We invite our Sacramental students and all our families to attend the following Saturday night Vigils in preparation for the Sacrament of Holy Communion. 

• Saturday, 25th May at 5:30pm - Mass with Blessing for the Candidates followed by dinner at Cherry Street Bowling Club (if families wish to)
• Saturday, 1st June at 5:30pm - Sacrament of Holy Communion

Sports House Patron’s Day

This year, we will be celebrating the special people - the Patron’s of our Sports Houses with a Sports House Patron’s Day. To begin, this day will be for the students in each house only. We will look to provide a combined day later in the year. 

On the day the students will:

• gain a greater understanding and appreciation of our school’s heritage
• build and strengthen our school’s Sports Houses ‘Spirit’  through the forming of bonds and connections between students across year levels
• wear sun smart casual dress in their house colours

The day for each house will be a half day in the afternoon beginning at 1:00pm, where students will:

• Share / discuss the story of the Patron of the House
• Watch an Inspirational sporting video
• Share afternoon tea
• Participate in a Sports activity - team building games

The Sports Captains will lead the sessions and then feedback to the whole school at the following Assembly about their Patron and activities on the day.

The Sports House Patron’s Days will occur on the following dates: 

• Cole - Friday, 14th June (Week 7 / Term 2)
• Doyle - Monday, 24th June (Week 9 / Term 2)
• Power - Thursday, 4th July (Week 10 / Term 2)
• Murphy - Monday, 2nd September (Week 7 / Term 3)

Parent Workshop - Emotional Intelligence and Social Skills

We invite you to attend a workshop on Emotional Intelligence and Social Skills on Tuesday, 18th June. The evening will begin with dinner at 5:30pm and the workshop at 6:00pm.

The evening will be led by Janita Thomson and Karen Evans from the Catholic Schools Office Lismore and will cover the following:

• - help our kids develop emotional literacy
• - promote positive social skills
• - connect with other parents

Please register your attendance via the QR code on the attached flyer. We look forward to seeing you there!

School Community Group Meeting

Thank you to the parents who joined us for our School Community Group meeting last Tuesday evening. 

The minutes of the meeting can be found on our school website under the Parents and Families tab - School Community Group

Our next meeting will take place on Tuesday, 6th August at 5:30pm. Agenda items for this meeting are due to Stacey (sbriggs@outlook.com.au) by Tuesday, 30th July (one week prior to the meeting). The agenda will be sent via Compass to families a few days prior to the meeting. 

Light of Jesus Awards

Congratulations to the students who were awarded a Light of Jesus ticket at our last Assembly. They now receive a canteen voucher. 

• Penny Base - Kindergarten
• Samuel Goodlet - Year 2
• Shubham Singh - Year 5
• Nash Whitton - Year 5
• Makayla Washington - Year 6

Congratulations to the following students on receiving 10 or 25 Light of Jesus Tickets. They now receive a certificate and a blue or yellow armband plus a free drink voucher from Zarraffa's Coffee Ballina. 

• Poppy Ford - Year 1
• Moon Nguyen - Year 1
• Yindiana Pitt - Year 2
• Gurfateh Singh - Year 2
• Braxton Whitton - Year 4
• Lilla Morley - Year 5
• Shubham Singh - Year 5

Kasey Miles-Assistant Principal Mission

Parish News...

St Francis Xavier Catholic Parish of Ballina

• St Francis Xavier Church-47 Cherry Street, Ballina
• Holy Family Church-94 Ballina Street, Lennox Head 

Parish Mass Times

Learning & Teaching News...

PROFESSIONAL LEARNING

Last week our teachers across Kindergarten to Year Four had visitors from the Catholic Schools Diocese to observe and give feedback to our teachers teaching Initialit and Spellex in English. Both of these programs explicitly teach sounds (phonemes), letter names (graphs eg. b /digraphs eg. ay /trigraphs eg. igh), syllables, words, sentences, grammar and how to spell words by stretching them out (segmenting sounds) when writing (encoding sounds) and how to read them (blending sounds). Our teachers received lots of positive feedback to celebrate about implementing this whole school approach to teaching reading and spelling. We are grateful for our teachers’ ongoing commitment to excellence in supporting our students to succeed in these areas of English.

YEAR ONE WRITING

In Year One the students co-created success criteria to improve their writing. To be successful they needed to use correct punctuation, simple sentences, building up to compound sentences, using coordinating conjunctions, prepositional phrases and pronouns. The students needed to use this criteria to write about a week in their life. Check out their progress so far.

YEAR SIX BUMP IT UP WALL

In Year Six the students have co-created the learning intention and success criteria for a bump-it-up wall for writing. The co-creation of these success criteria ensures our students are assessment capable by reflecting on their writing and checking they have evidence of each item on the checklist. The students are intrinsically motivated to improve their writing as they have set individual learning goals for themselves based on the success criteria. One of our students achieved all elements of the success criteria and used the English learning progressions success criteria to set new learning goals.

St Francis Xavier Public Speaking Competition

Parent Information

Dear Parents and Carers,

As part of our English Syllabus, each child from Kinder to Year 6 is encouraged to speak in front of his or her peers. This is to give the children a purpose and an audience for speaking and listening, as well as to further develop their confidence and self-esteem.

Students are asked to prepare a speech at home using the tips provided below and the marking criteria. The speeches in each Stage are required to go for the following amount of time:

• Kindy: 1-1½ minutes
• Stage 1: 1-1½ minutes
• Stage 2: 2-2½ minutes
• Stage 3: 3-3½ minutes

Time-line for Public Speaking Term 2 2024

• Weeks 5 - 8: students prepare and rehearse speeches at home.
• Week 6 - 9: students can rehearse their speeches in the Hall at lunchtime on Thursdays and receive feedback and support from Mrs Conte.
• Week 9 (Monday, 24th June - Friday, 28th June). Class heats occur and five students across each Year level will be chosen to go in the finals.
• Monday 1st July 2024 - School Finals held in the Hall from 9-9.30am (K-2) & 9.30-11am (Years 3-6). Two students from each Stage will go on to the Diocesan Coastal Public Speaking Finals in Tweed Heads on the 8th of August 2024 in Week 3 of Term 3. Eg: 2 Kindergarten finalists; 2 finalists from Stage 1 in either Years 1 or 2; 2 finalists from Stage 2 in either Years 3 or 4; 2 finalists in Stage 3 in either Years 5 or 6. Parents will need to transport their students to this event and I will meet them there.

Please guide your child to choose a topic that they feel confident talking about.

Speeches should begin with the appropriate introduction – either with a simple introduction (a thought-provoking statement or humour) and then acknowledging the Chairperson and audience OR begin with Chairperson, Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls. We encourage students to know their speech by heart, but palm cards may be used.

Please do not hesitate to contact us should you require any further information.

Judging Score Sheet and Criteria                                     

Public Speaking Tips:

• Try and grab your audience’s attention in the first 30 seconds. To begin you could use either of these strategies:
  • A quote.
  • An imagined scenario.
  • What if scenario.
  • A question.
  • A statistic.
  • A powerful statement.
  • Silence.
  • Humour.
• Write your speech down.
• Put it on palm cards. Early Years could use picture cue cards.
• Memorise one part at a time.
• Nervous is normal, practice and prepare.
• Practice in front of the mirror.
• Practice in front of a friend.
• Practice on the stage with a teacher at lunchtime on Thursdays.
• Video yourself and watch it back. Give yourself feedback.
• Use your voice and hands effectively, by using expression, pauses and gestures when needed.
• Stand confidently tall and still.
• Smile.
• Be confident.

Lisa Conte

Leader of Pedagogy

School Photo Day-Thursday 13th June...

• Your child would have come home with a photo order envelope this week. If you require another envelope, please come into the school office to collect.
• Orders can be placed online at https://www.theschoolphotographer.com.au/ or by cash (no EFTPOS) at the school office. If paying by cash, please make sure that you have correct money in the sealed envelope.
• SIBLING PHOTO ENVELOPE-All sibling photographs are to be paid either using the sibling envelopes provided (please collect from the school office) with cash or online. Online payments for sibling photos will temporarily close one working day before Photo Day.
• All cash orders need to be into the office by Wednesday, 12th June 2024 at 9am.

Sports News...

Diocesan Rugby Union Trials

On Friday, 17th May St Francis Xavier had two students, Vincent Benfield and Maverix Thomas, travel to Grafton for the Diocesan Rugby Union Trials at Hay Street Rugby Union Fields in Grafton. The purpose of this Diocesan trial was to select Diocesan representatives to attend the Polding Rugby Union Trials to be held in Forbes on Sunday, 30th June & Monday, 1st July. 

Both boys played well on the day but, unfortunately, were not selected for the Polding trial. Congratulations on reaching this level on the representative pathway Mav and Vinnie.

Polding Tennis Trials

Earlier this year on the 9th of February in Coffs Harbour, Gali Amit gained selection in the Polding Tennis Team to compete at the NSW PSSA Tennis Championships. These Championships were held last week in Newcastle and Gali performed extremely well on the court throughout the week. When Gali was playing for a position in the NSW State Team his nerves got the better of him and was, unfortunately defeated in the match however, is a reserve player for the NSW Team. Congratulations Gali on an outstanding achievement. You should be proud of your efforts.

Update from the Polding Tennis Team Manager:

Gali was the number one seeded boy in the Polding Team. He is to be commended for the fantastic way that he played tennis, singles and doubles and the excellent sportsmanship and leadership he showed whilst playing his tennis as part of the Polding Team.

Gali was an instrumental member of the Polding Team winning eight out of eleven matches that he played in against the best junior players in NSW at the championships. Gali’s efforts saw him finish in 8th place overall out of 65 players in the boys standings.

Gali’s efforts helped the Polding team achieve the excellent result of 6th place overall out of 13 other regional teams that were participating at the PSSA Championships. Well done on your excellent efforts whilst playing at the PSSA Tennis Championships Gali, great work! 

Diocesan Cross Country Championships

On Tuesday, 21st May St Francis Xavier had thirteen students compete at the Diocesan Cross Country Championships held at McAuley Catholic College, Grafton. The purpose of these Diocesan Championships is to give students the opportunity to compete for a place to attend the CPS Cross Country Championships. 

Runners who finished in the top 8 were selected to compete at these Championships which are to be held at the Sydney International Equestrian Centre on Wednesday 5th June 2024. 

Congratulations to all of our runners who were wonderful ambassadors for our school:

9 Yrs Boys

• 9th Braxton Whitton
• 17th Teo Amit

11 Years Boys

• 1st Luke Dogan - Age Champion
• 15th Oscar Donald
• 26th Vincent Benfield
• 27th Mason McMahon

12/13 Years Boys

• 11th Gali Amit
• 20th Thomas Briggs

9 Years Girls

• 24th Winnie Gordon
• 26th Madison Aslin

11 Years Girls

• 17th London McGregor
• 18th Jessica Aslin

12/13 Years Girls

• 28th Sophia Davy

Overall Zone Points

• 1st Tweed 125
• 2nd Richmond 120
• 3rd Clarence 113
• 4th Hastings 82

St Francis Xavier 1500m Races

St Francis Xaviers 1500m Races will be held after school, date to be confirmed. Races will commence at 4pm and finished by no later than 5pm. 

Junior Boys and Girls will run first followed by 11 Years Boys and Girls and Senior Boys and Girls.

There is no nomination form for this event.

St Francis Xavier Athletics Carnival

Our annual Athletics Carnival will be held on Thursday, 6th June at Chickiba Park, East Ballina. A Compass Event will be sent home early next week. Please complete the consent prior to Wednesday, 5th June.

A timetable of the day is included in the Compass Event. Please remember that all times are approximate.

We will require parental assistance with timekeeping. If you are interested in assisting with the timing of 100m and 200m races please let Mr Wilde know via email at patrick.wilde@lism.catholic.edu.au

The wet weather back-up date is Thursday, 4th July (Week 10).

Richmond Zone Athletics Carnival Event Qualification Numbers:

• 100m -Top 3 students x 8yrs, 9yrs, 10yrs, 11yrs, 12yrs, 13yrs
• 200m -Top 3 students x Jnr (8-10yrs), 11yrs, Snr (12-13yrs)
• Long Jump & Shot Put, 800m & 1500m -Top 2 students x Jnr (8-10yrs), 11yrs, Snr (12-13yrs)
• Relays -1 Snr (11-13yrs) and Jnr (8-10yrs) Relay Boys & Girls

Touch Football Clinics

On Tuesday of this week Kinder and Year Six participated in free Touch Football Clinics offered by NSW Touch Development Officer Bede Aquilini. The boys and girls had lots of fun playing games that focused on the skills of running, weaving, passing and scoring tries.

A massive thank you to Bede who resides in Tenterfield and travelled to Ballina to run a variety of free clinics over the course of three days. Year 6 and Kinder were extremely appreciative of his visit.

Paddy Wilde

Sports Coordinator

Canteen News...

We Need Volunteers for our School Canteen

We are looking for volunteers for the canteen. If you are able to spare a couple of hours, between 9am and 11:30am -Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday, once a month please contact the school office or Kristie on 66863370  and let us know what day suits you.  Volunteers MUST sign into the school via the school office.

Canteen Roster-Term 2

Week 5

Monday, 27th May - Friday, 31st May

Canteen Roster-Term 2

Week 6

Monday, 3rd June- Friday, 7th June

Canteen Special Day-Thursday

Thursdays will now have normal menu available as well as special. 

Sushi Day-Thursday

All special orders need to be placed by Tuesday at 8:45 am. 

 REMINDER

Canteen is  CLOSED on Wednesday's

Student Awards...

Congratulations to all of our students who received a

Learning or Class Award!

Happy Birthday...

Wishing all of our students a wonderful birthday!!

Friday, 24th May  March  to Thursday, 6th June 2024

Parent FAQ's...

• Q-When should a parent/visitor sign into the school?
• A-All parents/visitors when entering the school grounds, for what ever the reason, MUST sign into the school via the Ipad in the front office or via the QR codes at our gates. There are no exceptions. This is to ensure we are keeping our students safe whilst at school.

• Q-Where do I find my School Fee Account details?
• A-Parents are emailed a statement from Catholic Schools Office at the end of each month with all account details. Or alternatively you can access your Compass account to check your fees. 

• Q- What do I do if my child is absent? 
• A- If your child/ren are absent from school you must follow the following steps:
  
  • Reply to the text message that is sent via Compass before 3pm (preferred method)
  • Add an attendance note via Compass; or
  • Email the school office on balp@lism.catholic.edu.au
  • All absences must be received in writing. If your child/ren are absent for 3 days or more due to a medical illness, you are asked to supply a medical certificate. This can be uploaded onto Compass or emailed to our school office. 

• Q-When is the School Assembly?
• A-School Assemblies are on a fortnightly basis, in line with our Newsletter. They are advertised on the School Website and in the Newsletter. Assemblies start at 2:30 pm. Please arrive from 2:20 pm so you don't miss out on the beginning of the assembly.

• Q-When does the School Newsletter come out?
• A-We publish our School Newsletter on a fortnightly basis.  The newsletter will be published in Week Two, Four, Six, Eight and Ten of each Term.  All important notices and events will be communicated via Compass on a regular basis.  Our school Facebook page will be updated regulary with exciting events that have happened at school.

• Q- Where do I find out information about Events that are happening at the school?
• A- If it is an excursion or an event that takes your child off school grounds you will receive an Event notification via Compass. You are able to access this on your app via the dashboard or the more button on the home screen. If it is an event happening within the school grounds, it will be on our school calendar on our school website. There is also a calendar in the school newsletter each fortinght. Compass notification may also be sent to parents. 

• Q-What are the School Bell Times?

Please note- Supervision of students begins at 8:30am and finishes at 3:30pm.  Please do not drop your child earlier than this and remember that after school care arrangements need to be made if your child cannot be picked up before 3:30pm.

• Q-How do I get a message to my child during the day?
• A-If you need to give your child a message regarding a change to arrangements for after school transport, please ensure you phone the school office prior to 1:45pm to ensure the message can be delivered in time. Unless it is an absolute emergency, we are unable to ensure messages can be delivered at such short notice and PLEASE NO EMAILS to notify your child of any changes, as we cannot guarantee that the message will be delivered in time to your child. All after school care arrangements should be relayed to your child prior to arriving at school and in the case of infant’s children, the teacher should also be notified of any change to arrangements, particularly in relation to bus travel, by a written note/email. As you can appreciate the school is a very busy place at home time, so your assistance and consideration in this regard would be greatly appreciated.

• Q-What do I need to do if my child is late to school?
• A-Parents MUST come into the school office to drop their child off. This gives the parent the opportunity to provide the reason for the late arrival at that time.  Your child needs to collect a late slip from the office. Parents are reminded not to enter a late note in Compass for their child. To be compliant with the attendance SOP, we need to ensure that child safety is maintained as far as possible. 

• Q- What if I need to collect my child early from school? 
• A-Parents must come straight to the office upon arrival, please do not head to the classroom or playground to collect your child. Your child will need to be signed out at the office with a valid reason. If your child needs to be collected in the lunch or recess break, please let the office know prior to collection. 

Student Travel...

Bus - Children are to sit in bus lines and wait for teachers’ instructions to board their bus.  Bus pass forms are available online.

Bike - Students are to move quickly to their bikes or scooters and walk these to the gate at the front of the school.  They must not ride these on school premises and they should take the shortest and safest route home.

Walking - These children should leave through the front school gate without delay.  Any child needing to cross Swift Street should wait at the crossing and be directed by the Crossing Supervisor.

Pick up - Children being picked up should wait in the School Hall with the supervising teacher until collected and then leave with their parent or guardian. Students should be collected no later than 3:20pm. 

Parents are reminded not to ask their child/ren to wait outside the school fence or in an unsupervised area. This is for the safety of the child/ren. All students MUST be collected from the School Hall or Martin Street Gate.  

Road Safety Around the School

In order to keep our students safe, please adhere to the road safety rules around St Francis Xavier when dropping off or collecting your child.

All roads surrounding and adjoining our school are signed and subject to School Zone Road Restrictions from 8am to 9:30am in the morning and 2:30pm to 4pm in the afternoon on all school days. Ballina Shire Council enforces these road rules and does issue penalties, particularly for double-parking.

Community News...