This Issue School Uniform Update P.1

Mission Week P.2

World Teacher Day P.3

Uniform Shop/P&F P.4

6V love to read P.8

Dates to Remember

Wednesday 24th October

Fun on the Foreshore 9.00am – 12.00pm

Friday 26th October

2W Assembly

World Teacher’s Day

Year 6 Nagle Orientation 9.00am-12.30pm

P&F Bingo Night

6.00pm

Wednesday 31st October Pre Primary – Yr 1

Transition Thursday 1st November Outdoor Classroom Day

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1 7 t h O c t o b e r

2 0 1 8

I S S U E

F O R T N I G H T L Y

N E W S L E T T E R

St Francis Xavier

Primary School

From the Principal’s desk…

Dear Parents and Caregivers Welcome back to all families and a special welcome to new families joining St Francis Xavier. The term promises to be a celebration of our children with many significant school events to focus on. In other school matters; Passing of a Principal Sr Raphael Porter who was the School Principal between 1985 - 1989 passed away during the holidays. As a Presentation Sister, she educated children in all regions of Western Australia for over 50 years. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family and the Presentation Sisters.

New Director The Bishops of Western Australia have appointed Dr Debra Sayce as Executive Director of Catholic Education Western Australia (CEWA), effective 1 January 2019.

God Bless

Ben Doyle

Principal

School Uniform Updates The School Board has been exploring several minor changes to the uniform over the past few months. Importantly, each decision is based on feedback from students and takes into consideration financial implications for families. Two outcomes of this process, I am pleased to announce two changes. School Shoes The decision has been made to remove black leather lace up shoes. Students will be able to wear their black sports shoes daily. This is to promote physical activity and comfort for students whilst reducing the cost of shoes to families. Importantly, as per the school uniform policy, it is a requirement that the sport shoe is black. Full black sports shoes are available at many retailers in different brands. Total Uniform has sourced new models to support St Francis Xavier’s decision.

Sports Shirt The sports shirt fabric will be changing. After extensive research, the new fabric will be more durable, easier to clean and provide greater comfort to students. Please note, this change will not be available until 2020 and both the old and new shirt will be able to be worn during the transition period.

Join Us

Saturday 20th October Year 2 Family Mass

6.00pm @ Cathedral

Wednesday 24th October Reconciliation

Parent/Child Meetings 3.30-4.00pm

Friday 26th October

4P Parish Mass 12.05pm

Sat 27th/Sun 28th October & Saturday 3rd November

Reconciliation Commitment Mass

9.00am

Tuesday 30th October Kindy Liturgy

9.30am

Friday 2nd November All Souls Day

Prayer Service 1.20pm

CHRIST Awards Lorena Sansone (5C)

Tom Sorgiovanni (5C) Amy Sellers (5C) Luke Warr (5C)

Isobel Ebsary (5C) Jack Scott-Ducas (5C) Evelyn Ralston (5C) Jye Zimmerman (5C) Toby Baldwin (5C) Chevy O’Brien (3B) Charlotte Boyd (3B) Breanna Smith (3B) Bonny Dean (PPR) Molly Dyson (PPR)

Aussie of the Month

Congratulations To:

Olivia Tutt (PPD) &

Sophie Crothers (3D)

With Christ as our light we aspire to nurture the whole person in a community centered on gospel values.

Discipleship

‘Every man and

woman is a mission;

that is the reason

for our life on this earth.’

Pope Francis

This Week’s Value

Honesty Honesty is a valuable trait in a world full of false promises. What makes an honest person? There are five qualities of an honest person: • They’re not concerned about popularity contests. Honest people don’t obsess over what peers think of them. They simply are who they are and other people can take it or leave it. • They stand up for their beliefs. Honest people don’t go looking for fights, but they also aren’t afraid to speak their mind , even if it is against the majority. • They are thick skinned. Not all people love hearing the truth, and when you dish out a fresh dose of reality, some are inclined to toss it right back with added venom. • They have close friends. Individuals who are honest often have rich, meaningful friendships. Others know their honest friend won’t complain about them

behind their back, and will face issues head on. Leading to greater trust. • They are trusted by peers. Peers will seek the aid of honest individuals, knowing they can count on them for true, objective advice. They will tell you how it really is, without sugar coating it or telling you what you want to hear. Which of these qualities do you need to work on?

World Mission Week Next week as a school we will be celebrating World Mission Week. Catholic Mission is the international humanitarian relief and development agency of the Catholic Church in Australia.

This year’s theme is “Healing a nation through education” and focuses on the country of Myanmar in south-east Asia. Catholic Mission are working throughout the poor areas of Myanmar to provide a better education for the young people. Schools are being built, resources provided and teachers being trained.

They need our help to continue this important work to improve the future for the people of Myanmar. There will be several events held during the week to both educate the students about the plight of children in Myanmar and the work Catholic Mission are doing, and to help raise money to support the work being done. We have a guest speaker from Catholic Mission coming to speak to the children, a school prayer service will be held and a crazy sock day to raise money to ‘sock it to poverty’ in Myanmar.

St John’s School being built by Catholic Mission in Myanmar. If you want more information go to WMM2018.cm.org.au

Social Justice Statement The Statement challenges us all to confront Australia’s growing rate

of homelessness and unaffordable

housing. You can view the statement at www.socialjustice.catholic.org.au/publications

Compassion ⸭ Honesty ⸭ Respect ⸭ Inclusivity ⸭ Self-control

Merit Awards

(from Friday 21st September)

PPD Evelyn O’Brien, William Royce

PPR

Molly Dyson, Darcy McPherson

1A Jacob Linguis, Emily

Whitmarsh

1S Bryce Petrie, Amber Iaria

2S

Sanuth Witharana, Charli Pascoe

2W

Kenah Rigter, Charlotte Lanza-Cariccio

3B

Sylas Jeffery, Kayla Fehlauer

3D Miles Bunter

4P

Lucas Holdsworth, Brodie Marsh, Caye McKeeman

4R

Makenzie Chatley, Clare Gardiner

5C

Amy Sellers

5H Imogen Clark, Max Winton

6P

Madison Jones, Daisy Keeffe

6V Connor Ramage, Ashleigh

Fishwick

State Swimming Championships

Image courtesy Geraldton Guardian

Several St Francis students competed in the 2018 Swimming WA Junior Short Course State Championships last month. Abbey C (Year 6) took home five gold and four silver medals setting personal bests in every contest. She took out nine club records and eight WA Country all-time records, one of which included the 100m backstroke record held since 1992. Abbey won gold in the 400m, 200m and 100m freestyle, as well as the 200m and 50m backstroke; silver medal in 50m butterfly, 200m and 100m individual medley and 100m backstroke. These results reflect why Abbey has been selected for the 2018/19 Swimming WA Performance Pathway Programme. The Programme underpins Swimming Australia (SAL) and the WA Institute of Sport (WAIS) to provide an integrated pathway for athlete and coach development for prolonged success within the State. Awesome results Abbey!! Alex T (Year 4) had a great competition winning bronze for his debut State appearance in the 100m freestyle. Alex also claimed six personal bests across 10 events. His brother Mathijs T (Year 5), competed in eight events and managed four personal bests. While Kaley L (Year 5) competed in five events and took out three personal bests. We are very proud of all the students and congratulate Head coach Angela Scott, on a successful meet. We look forward to following their achievements.

Learn to Swim With swimming pools and beaches a part of the Geraldton lifestyle, ensuring your children can swim competently and safely is a must for all families. This is why the WA Government subsidises the interm swimming program for rural students. If you wish for your child to continue lessons over the school holidays, look out for VacSwim details later on in the term. Children need to be five years on the first day and under 18 years on the final day of the selected program. World Teacher’s Day World Teachers’ Day is celebrated on the last Friday in October, a day that we acknowledge the professionalism, dedication and expertise of those responsible for educating our students at St Francis Xavier. As many parents know instinctively, the impact individual teachers have on a child’s education can be great. Teachers are central to learning and, while there are other important factors, including the quality of the curriculum, school environment and student ability and commitment, it is teachers that breathe life into what is being taught and who engage and motivate students. As a Catholic school we recognise that parents are their children’s first teachers, during the course of school it is often individual teachers that enliven education and cause students to identify what is most exciting and rewarding. Each one of us, if asked, could most likely name one or two special teachers that made what was being studied engaging, lively and relevant and who sparked an interest and passion for learning that was life changing. Teachers in Catholic schools, given their faith-based nature and commitment to the Church’s teachings, are especially important. Teaching is a vocation, a calling from God, not just a ‘job’. We encourage you to take the time to personally thank your child’s teacher on World Teachers Day.

We are committed to providing an education that empowers all to become life-long learners.

Learning

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P&F News

Uniform Shop News The uniform shop is open each Wednesday from 2.30-3.30pm. The shop is in need of uniforms of all sizes, please drop your donations to the front office.

P&F Minutes The latest P&F Minutes are available on the school website at www.sfx.wa.edu.au/pandf.html

Compassion ⸭ Honesty ⸭ Respect ⸭ Inclusivity ⸭ Self-control