Term 3 Newsletter, 13th September 2024
Acting Principal's Message
What a term it has been. It was a very busy term, full of events and community engagement. Thank you all for your participation with the school and making St Francis an amazing place to work and learn.
It has been amazing to welcome five new students to St Francis. Please remember that Mr. Red will be happy to show prospective families around the school for a tour if you have friends and families who may be curious about St Francis.
This week, I asked the students what their favourite events were. Ball games, 100 Days of School, Father’s Day, Book Week, making Stop Motion, Footloose dance, making solar ovens, windchimes, learning about heat, RU Ok Day, Kitty Cat writing and Grandparent’s Day all featured on the students lists! What about yours? It is wonderful that we have been able to do all these events and learning experiences here at St Francis.
Thank you all for a wonderful term. I have enjoyed my term as Acting Principal and am looking forward to our Term 4 learning in 4/5/6. We welcome Mr. Red back from leave in Term 4. He can’t wait to come back!
Term 4 is also action packed! Save the dates for:
4 October – Darling Downs Zoo Visit
7 October – King’s Birthday Holiday
10 October – Prep Transition Session 9.00am – 10.30am
16 October – Back Pains Speech Competition – Classroom Competition
19 October – Show and Shine at SFDS
22 October – 25 October - Year 5/6 Camp Maroochydore
26 October – Clifton Races
27 October – Family Mass
14 November – Prep 2025 Transition Day 9.00am – 2.30pm
Week 8 & 9 Swimming Lessons
23 November – Family Mass 9.30am
28 November – Swimming Carnival 9.00am – 11.00am
29 November – End of Year Awards/ Carols 5.30pm
3 December – Year 6 Transition to CSH
4 December – 5.30pm Graduation Liturgy, followed by dinner
5 December – End of Year Mass 9.00am; Shared Lunch 11.00am; Year 6 fun afternoon
6 December – Christmas Disco 9.00am – 11am
Mrs. Busiko
Prep/1/2/3 News
To round out the term we have been investigating heat in science. We have explored sources of heat, heat conductors and conducted simple investigations. Students predicted, used their senses to observe and explained their results with scientific thinking.
During math sessions we have conducted simple chance experiments and described our responses uses chance vocabulary- likely, unlikely, certain, probable, possible, impossible. Our favourite was the smarties experiment of course!
We have all written our speeches in preparation for the school speaking competition. Each student had the opportunity to conference one on one with an adult to complete their speeches. We now have plenty of time to practise, practise, practise. Remember speaking looks and sounds different to reading aloud. Try to use eye contact, gestures, expression and hook your audience with humour or interesting facts. Stay tuned for speaking dates to come.
We finished the term with some lessons on R U Ok day? This complemented our student safety and family like lessons nicely. For further resources visit Resources for Education Providers to ask "Are you OK?" | R U OK?.
Mrs. Skillington
Yr 4/5/6 News
Finally, we have made it to the end of the whirlwind that has been Term 3. We have been having a blast being creative Movie Makers, making our “Claymation smoothie advertisements”. They are all on Facebook and SeeSaw for you to see. I was so proud of how the students worked with their partners and overcame challenges and differences in opinion to create something fun and entertaining.
We also tried out our smoothie recipes this week which was a huge success and lots of fun and mess! The students brought in their ingredients, and we all had a taste of each other's smoothies. Some reviews the students gave them were...
“Theo and Harvey’s smoothie was really delicious. I loved the oats. Very nice! 1000/10!”
“Matilda and Chaz D’s was really good. Loved the flavour. Over all – delicious!”
“Henry and Chaz B’s was healthy and had a great after taste.”
“Rhys and Sophie’s had a wonderful taste and Marly and Hope’s was so tropical and fresh tasting”
Thank you to all the parents who came in for parent/teacher interviews. I will be back again next term for some supply days. I look forward to teaching your children again and seeing how they blossom as they finish up the year.
Mrs. Green
Solar Ovens
Middle Leader News
Parent Teacher Interviews took place in Weeks 9 and 10. It was wonderful to see the parents coming along to hear about their child’s progress. Remember, that we as staff are open to meetings during term time. If situations change at home, we appreciate being ‘kept in the loop’ so we can support your child with their learning.
In addition to meetings, Mr. Chris Byrne is our school counsellor. He is available to assist your child at various points in your child’s educational journey. After parent permission is given, he assists students to practise various strategies and provides a good listening ear. Please let your child’s teacher know if you would like your child to see Mr. Chris.
Next Term, we will launch into our Back Plains Speaking Competition! This competition has three stages –
- Classroom competition where all students present a persuasive text or an information text
2. The top two students are chosen to compete in the school competition
3. The top three students are chosen to compete at Back Plains State School.
Please note, all work needs to be completed by the students themselves. Parents are welcome to give topic ideas, but not write this for the students. At various stages, the speeches will come home to be rehearsed. Please assist your child with actions and voice projection etc.
Mrs. Busiko
Date Claimers
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