Link Up Term 1 Week 4 2021

A very warm welcome to all for our 2021 school year together. I especially extend a welcome to those joining our community for the first time. We are very excited to welcome our new Reception students and families, and also all the many new students and families from across other year levels in the College. We hope your partnership with the College over the years ahead is one of great reward for all.

The opportunity presented itself to recognise these students at a number of key events in the opening month of this term, with our Year 7-12 students being presented with their Heart Badges at the College start of year Mass, and our R-6 students receiving theirs at the Hearts and Leadership Assembly. The presentation of these badges reminds us all of our commitment to the College’s seven Heart Values and is a very special way of acknowledging our new community members.

I am also pleased to be able to welcome three new staff to the College community. Trudy Watson who will be working with our Year 9 and 10 students in Science. Trudy has most recently been teaching at Banksia Park International School and also St Peters College, and past industry experience as an Analytical Chemist with SA Water Corporation will no doubt be an asset for creating real life context in her Science classes. Ryan Fleetwood has also joined us for Term 1 as Acting Deputy Principal - Learning whilst Sonia Nelson is away. Ryan has come to us from St Michael’s College Henley Beach where he is Director of Learning Technologies and Analytics, and he has previously worked at Blackfriars Priory School and Sacred Heart College in a variety of leadership roles. Travis Ireland is joining us for 2021 as part of the Equity and Inclusion ESO Team supporting student learning. Travis is currently undertaking a post-graduate teaching qualification, having completed a Bachelor of Social Work in 2015. We welcome these three staff to the College community and look forward to the contributions they are going to make in the time they are with us. I also wish to acknowledge the departure of Donna Marshall, who is leaving our Equity and Inclusion ESO Support Team where she has worked over the last twelve months. We thank Donna for her work in the College and wish her well in her new role in Adelaide.

The commencement of 2021 has been significant for our College of the opening of Alive (Mount Barker) Catholic Early Learning Centre on our site. The Early Learning Centre, which transforms us into a Birth - Year 12 community, is a source of great excitement for our community and the wonderful learning opportunities it’s going to provide to our preschool aged children. Our very best wishes to Early Learning Centre Director, Liz Schembri and her talented staff.

Thanks to all the families who made it a priority to join us in Week 2 for our R-12 Welcome Evening. It was great to be able to provide the opportunity for parents to have contact with their sons’/daughters’ Homeclass teacher, building the connection that will be so important in school and home working in partnership throughout 2021. It was also wonderful to be able to welcome on site all of our R-6 parents and caregivers, who have been waiting so patiently to see the new learning facilities. It was a joy to watch our R-6 students showing their families around with such pride and joy. I hope your experience in the new learning spaces was as positive as those being had by students and staff working within them.

Thanks to those families who also joined us for the Year 3-6 Swimming Carnival in Week 2. It’s always a lovely community event and the spirit of competition and participation this year was wonderful to see. The weather was not so kind to us, but well done to our organising staff and to all of our students who made the day a great success despite the dark clouds that gathered throughout the event.

The Year 7-12 community gathered together last week in one of the key celebrations in the annual calendar, our Academic Assembly. This great gathering of celebration, where we welcome back our highest performing Year 12 students from the previous year and their families, was again a great success. It was wonderful to be able to present the St Scholastica Dux Shield to our highest performing student of 2020 and College Dux Thomas Dee. Thomas's Australian Tertiary Admission Rank of 99.15 placed him in the top 1% of all students who completed the SACE in 2020 throughout South Australia, the Northern Territory and Asia. Thomas addressed our College community sharing his reflections of his Year 12 year: powerful words that I hope are truly valuable to our senior students entering the final phase of their secondary education. If you have not heard Thomas's speech through accessing the recording of the Academic Assembly emailed to families then I would strongly encourage you to read the text available via Latest News on our website.

We were also delighted to welcome back to the College, as has been our custom in recent years, the College Dux of ten-year anniversary; 2010 College Dux, Lucy Caruana (nee Bozzetti). Lucy returned to help us celebrate and spoke to the College community sharing the story of her professional training and work as a lawyer across the last decade.

Our congratulations also to our students who were awarded the Dux award as the highest academically performing student in Year 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 in 2020. Our warmest congratulations to these outstanding students:

Year 7: Leni Newham
Year 8: Luella Korel
Year 9: Kiara McInnes
Year 10: Lucas Rutter
Year 11: Neva van Raalte

Finally, three things to keep an eye out for in coming weeks:

• The return of Breakfast Club, after an extended break through circumstances beyond our control last year,
• The opening of our Community Café in the foyer of the Meya Watta Building, which will be run by our Parent Community Group and provide the opportunity for family members to stop for a coffee and a chat in the morning,
• The Official Opening of our R-6 Learning Communities and Catholic Early Learning Centre, postponed from late last year due to COVID restrictions, where we will be welcoming the new Federal Minister for Education, the Hon. Alan Tudge, on the afternoon of Thursday 29 April (Week 1, Term 2).

Gavin McGlaughlin
Principal

As a new member of the St Francis community this term, I have been humbled by the warm welcome from staff, students and families. Whilst I do not live locally, I spend many weekend hours visiting the hills region exploring the small businesses and cycling and walking trails. Most school holidays I will try and spend some time away camping, fishing or just generally trying to relax a little with my family before getting ready for the coming school term. Prior to my current role at St Francis de Sales, I have taught and held various leadership positions at St Michael’s College, Blackfriars Priory School and Sacred Heart College.

Last week, we held our annual Academic Assembly where we celebrated the successes of our Graduating Class from 2020 and Year Level Duces from Year 7-11. On behalf of the College community, I would like to acknowledge the inspiring and heartfelt speeches from 2020 College Dux, Thomas Dee and 2010 College Dux, Lucy Caruana (nee Bozzetti). As we know, 2020 was a year like nothing we have experienced before on a global scale. As a school, we were not only able to cope and get through various challenges, but through our ability to live by our Heart Value of ‘Perseverance’ we discovered and conquered these challenges and it is something that we can all be very proud of.

Learning, itself is a lifelong process and is core to what we do as a College. Our staff are committed to ensuring that every student is able to grow and flourish throughout the year in all that they do. I often ask student in the yard or classroom to tell me ‘something’ that they have learned that day. Learning is an exciting and rewarding part of life, whether it be at school, home or elsewhere. Failure or making a mistake on the other hand, is something that many of us are afraid and not proud of, however, it is often followed by a period of personal or collective growth and can be a positive learning experience. Students need to take calculated risks in their learning, working with their teachers, peers and family and I encourage every student to try something a little different this term and step out of their comfort zone and essentially ‘have a go’ at something new. It could be as simple as reading a little more or learning how to use a new piece of software to improve learning outcomes.

As a staff, we are committed to our Vision for Learning and this year, part of our collective focus is on differentiation and how we can ensure success for all students during their learning journey. To achieve our goals as a community, we must ensure that we show compassion to each other, continue to work collectively and are accepting that each one of us is different and made in the image of our loving God.

All the best for the coming weeks and a successful Term 1.

Ryan Fleetwood
Acting Deputy Principal - Learning

A New Year Means New Challenges

The start to a new school year is usually one of anticipation and some anxiety. This is especially so for those who are commencing in a new school environment. This year we have had over eighty new students start at the College from Reception through to Year 11. Successful transition takes careful planning and despite the inconveniences of COVID last year, we have done our best to help the new students feel a sense of connection and belonging at their new school. Our Year Level Leaders, Fran Nicholls (R-2), Alice Taylor (Year 3-6), Jen Ness-Ferry (Year 7-8), Mark Andrews (Year 9-10) and Ros Mattner (Year 11-12) all work to support the wellbeing and academic concerns of the young people at the College. They are integral to the transition process and are committed to making all feel welcome and connected. So too are our current students who welcome the opportunity to meet newcomers to the College and many have been engaged as buddies to new members of the St Francis de Sales College community.

This year we are making use of resources from The Learning Curve organisation. Their emphasis is on positive education and The Learning Curve resources will be used in pastoral care classes throughout the year. The Year 3-6 Planner and the Year 7-12 Journal contain a range of activities for students to access that are geared towards mindfulness, gratitude, respectful relationships, building resilience, showing empathy and being healthy in mind and body. Positive Education strategies are designed to impact on the social and emotional growth of young people and reinforce the notion of a growth mindset. Please take the time to flick through your child’s planner or journal .

Login details to The Learning Curve online resources is available on our SkoolBag App.

The upcoming weeks offer many opportunities for the students to enjoy the remaining warm months and with two long weekends this term and daylight saving until the end of March, it is the perfect time to enact the first St Francis de Sales Wellbeing Challenge for the year. Forty Minutes a Day of activity that gets the heart going. It could be walking the dog, a run at the park, a swim, bike riding or participating in an organised sport. Get the family involved and make the most of being outdoors before autumn descends.

Paul Fairlie
Deputy Principal - Community and Wellbeing

The ‘Jolt’ we need!

As a College community, we entered into the Lenten Season very differently to the way we usually do. COVID-19 safety precautions guided a new way for us to celebrate Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday. There were no pancakes being served, and only a small representative group of the College community received ashes on their forehead on our behalf. I was reflecting on this, and observed that for some people this change to our ritual really ‘jolted’ them. For some people, their response to their experience of it may have been, “This is not how we normally do this!” or “It doesn’t feel right doing it this way!” On reflection, this brings up two insights for me.

The first, is that many members of our community are deeply connected to the meaning and significance of our Catholic rituals. The way that we participate in the Catholic Church rituals connects us as a worshipping local community and also as a global Catholic community. This is a heart-warming realisation of the importance of deep relationship through ritual. The second insight is that this change or ‘jolt’ in the way we celebrated the beginning of Lent, has put us in a situation where we need to intentionally reflect upon why we do certain rituals as Catholics. In a way, its forced us to evaluate the reasons behind why we participate in Church rituals and evaluate what it means to us as individuals and as a community.

Ironically, this ‘jolt’ is exactly what Lent is about! The purpose of Lent is to ‘jolt’ us into a mind-set of stopping; awareness; reflection; and action that leads to ‘fullness of life’. Jesus’ ministry on Earth was all about ‘jolting’, as he was presenting a way of being that was so counter-cultural in that time, and perhaps still is. During Lent we are called to focus on the relationship we have firstly with ourselves. Which of your habits or behaviours are not good for you, and what steps will you take to make change in this area?

Secondly, the relationship you have with others. Are there individuals or groups of people in your life who you need to forgive or treat more respectfully? What small steps can you take to make this change happen? Our Caritas Project-Compassion Appeal may be an avenue for you to help others in need. This year the Project Compassion theme is “Be More”, which is based on a quote from Saint Oscar Romero, which is “Aspire not to have more, but to be more”. May we be encouraged to ‘Be More’ in our own lives, and in the lives of others.

Finally, your relationship with God and Jesus. God is always with us in every moment and in every situation. Often, we don’t take the opportunity to tap into God’s presence. How will you incorporate in your daily schedule a quiet, reflective time to tap-into God’s presence and have a conversation with God? In essence, prayer is a genuine and honest conversation with God. Like with any relationship, regular conversations need to happen to keep them growing.

I wish you well on your personal Lenten journey, as you strive to be the best version of yourself, whilst assisting others to do the same.

Oreste Farrugia
Assistant Principal - Religious Identity and Mission (APRIM)

A great start to 2021 and Wellbeing Wednesday

“The best leaders have a high consideration factor. They really care about their people.” Brian Tracy, motivational speaker

This year, a large part of the Student Leadership team’s vision for 2021 is focused on Wellbeing Wednesday. Wellbeing Wednesday encourages all of us to take a break from the sometimes stressful, busy, and repetitive school days, and simply look after our wellbeing. Last week’s Wellbeing Wednesday, 10 February, was an enjoyable experience for all. The activity was an opportunity for the Reception to Year 3s to participate in a colouring in competition based around St Valentine and Valentine’s Day, with the Senior Student Leaders having an opportunity to engage and interact with the Reception to Year 3 community.

“Working with the younger students of the college was very enjoyable. All of them were extremely enthusiastic and willing to give the colouring their best shot. We all had fun together.” Macy Fox, Year 11, Student Leader.

The students all enjoyed the activity and many friendships were formed between the senior and junior students. We are all looking forward to engaging with our whole College community through our exciting plans for future Wellbeing Wednesdays! It has been truly remarkable seeing our leadership team work together so well. All of us are discovering who we are as a team, who we are as individual leaders with unique passions and interests, and what it means to lead others.

“A leader to me means being a role model to those around you and inspiring others to be their best selves.” Sophie McCallum, Year 11, Student Leader and FIA Vinnies Leader.

Neva van Raalte and Kayla Riddle
College Captains

On Wednesday, 10 February we hosted our first Hearts and Leadership Assembly for the year. This provided an opportunity to formally welcome the newest members of our College and provide them with a Heart Badge. The Heart Badge represents all of our College Heart Values of Faith, Perseverance, Compassion, Integrity, Respect, Wisdom and Justice. All of these Heart Values provide us with a connection to our patron, St Francis de Sales who we feel is with us in all that we do here at the College. We hope that these badges will serve as a reminder to each of these students that they are truly welcome and belong in our community and we will all help them to strive towards being the best they can be.

We were expertly guided through the assembly by our two Junior School Captains, Anneliese and Mitchell who received their badges alongside our 2021 House Leaders from Year 2; Mia, Eamon, Xavier and Georgia, and House Captains in Year 6; Alex, Emerson, Taylah and Andrew.

The assembly also served as recognition for those who were selected as S.R.C (Student Representative Council) members for their various classes. Student council is all about giving students a voice. Through Student Council students can cause change, impact the school in a positive way and raise school spirit.  

Thank you to all of the members of the community who were able to attend this event and provide a wonderful community spirit.

Rowan Thomas
E-6 Director of Learning

Our 7-12 College community gathered on Wednesday, 10 February to recognise and celebrate our top academic achievers of 2020. At this assembly we acknowledged our high academic achievers; whose achievement is all the more significant as it was attained in year that presented so many challenges.

It was wonderful to welcome Jake Rutter, Shelby King, Madison Violi, and Jackson Rendall back to the College and recognise their outstanding commitment and academic success as our SACE High Achievers.

Likewise, we had the opportunity to recognise our 2020 College Dux, Thomas Dee, who was presented with the St Scholastica Award and has his name etched on our St Scholastica Award perpetual shield. Reflecting on his education, Thomas gave a thoughtful and inspiring speech about his time at St Francis de Sales College, and honoured those who had supported him along the way.

We also heard a special address from Lucy Caruana (nee Bozzetti), our 2010 College Dux, who delivered a stirring reflection on how the heart of education; the pursuit of growth, has enabled her to succeed and persevere.

Finally, we recognised our Year Level Duces; students who attained the highest grade point average in their year level: 

Year 7: Leni Newham
Year 8: Luella Koral
Year 9: Kiara McInnes
Year 10: Lucas Rutter
Year 11: Neva van Raalte

The Academic Assembly is a wonderful showcase of the students at our College, and has swiftly become one of our College community's most anticipated traditions.

Jacob Robson
7-12 Director of Learning

Upcoming Dance Performance - Let's Love

Wednesday, May 26 and Thursday, May 27 are the dates to mark in your calendar for the Semester 1 Dance production – Let’s Love. This performance will showcase the talents of the Dance Minis, Dance Crew, Year 8, Year 9 and Stage 1 and 2, Semester 1 Dance classes, all presenting their choreographed routines.

A Junior school matinee performance will be held on Wednesday, May 26 in the Performing Arts Centre at 2pm, with two evening performances for parents and friends on Wednesday and Thursday at 6:30pm. The format for the performances will be slightly different this year due to social distance seating, therefore it is expected that there may be family and friends who miss out on a seat at the live performance due to limited numbers. Unfortunately we can only accommodate for one person per student performer to attend the production (this is over the two nights and NOT one person per student, per night) as we must adhere to the government regulations of numbers allowed in the space. Please understand that this is completely out of our control and will be strictly monitored through booking a seat (as per instructions on Consent2Go) and also a check system on the night to ensure we are keeping everyone safe. To accommodate for this, or for those who may not feel comfortable (given the COVID situation) attending a live performance, we will stream the recorded performance of Let’s Love which will be available for a limited time via a private link which will be emailed to all performers.

As Sir Ken Robinson stated, 'dance allows students ‘who need to move to think’, and in providing Dance as part of the curriculum, we allow them to do just that!

Peta Bojanic
Senior Dance Teacher

Year 3-6 Swimming Carnival

On Thursday, 4 February our Year 3-6 students walked over to the Mountain Pool to participate in the Annual Swimming Carnival. Unfortunately the weather was not too friendly and our day had to be modified and adapted to suit the condition. We started with our formal races, with students across all year levels competing in Freestyle, Backstroke, Breaststroke and Butterfly. There were a number of outstanding swimmers who produced excellent results. These students will have the opportunity to represent our College at the Courier Cup event in Week 5 with more information to follow. We then participated in a number of novelty events which included tunnel ball, hose collecting and wading. All the students enjoyed competing in a fun and friendly environment. Unfortunately we had to abandon these events early and rush back to school to get warm and dry. Padua were awarded the House Sports Cup and Geneva were awarded the House Spirit Cup. A huge thank you to Lyall Murphy, Kate Thomas and all staff for helping making the event a success.

Conquer the Summit

On Sunday, 21 March the annual community event will be held where participants can run or walk their way to the top of the Mount Barker Summit. There is a 10km option to get to the top or there is a 20km return trip option. This year there is an opportunity for schools to enter a team, at a reduced cost. If any families are interested, please send an email to Nadia Honner. There is also a website where you can find further information.

Knockout and Interschool Sporting Opportunities

Throughout the year we have a number of opportunities for students in Years 6 to 11 to trial for school representative teams. As these teams are nominated the coaches will place notices in SEQTA Notices with the relevant information for students. Parents can also keep an eye on SEQTA notices through SEQTA Engage. If you ever have any questions about these activities, please send an email to Nadia Honner.

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

Open Boys Knockout Cricket

Game 1: St Francis 132 def. Mt Barker High School 60

We won the toss and decided to bat first and got off to a flying start. An opening partnership of 64 from the first 6 overs between Oscar Y and Harry B was just what we needed. Some tight bowling by the opposition and some quick wickets saw the game evenly poised at the half way mark with St Francis at 3/76. Another great partnership between Oscar T and Aiden S saw the score race to 3/116 before Oscar was dismissed for 88. Regular wickets then fell and eventually we were bowled out for 132. In reply, Mt Barker didn't get off to a great start with some tidy bowling from Oscar T and Aiden S seeing the opposition 3/20 off the first 5 overs. Nathan S was then introduced into the attack and took a bag of 5 wickets which saw Mt Barker High bowled out for 60.

Top Performers: Oscar T - 88 and 2/13, Nathan S - 5/19, Joseph P - 2/4

Game 2: St Francis 7/108 def by Urrbrae 6/109

After winning the toss again we decided to bat first. Unfortunately it wasn't to be the fantastic start as when Oscar T was dismissed in the 6th over for 27 the score as 4/44. A strong partnership between Harry C and Aiden S saw St Francis post a respectable score of 7/108 off their 20 overs. With Nathan S opening the bowling and taking a couple of early wickets we were well in the match with Urrbrae struggling at 3/48 off 7 overs. Unfortunately drop catches cost us in the end and some smart batting by Urrbrae saw them pass the total with 6 overs to spare.

Top Performers: Oscar T - 27, Harry C - 27, Aiden S 20 and 1/16, Nathan S - 2/24

Mark Billingto​n
Open Boys Cricket Coach

Vacancies in the Instrumental Program

Instrumental tutoring is now in its third week, but it’s not too late to join us! We have vacancies now in fife, clarineo, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, flute, trombone, bass guitar as well as piano and guitar.

More information is available on our website, refer to Beyond the Classroom or email Music.

New Instrumental Team Tutors

We are delighted to welcome Ebony Bedford and Aidan Foyel to the Instrumental Team.

The Music Department is delighted to welcome two new tutors to the team for the new year!

Ebony Bedford is a violinist in her second year studying classical performance at the Elder Conservatorium under Elizabeth Layton. Ebony discovered her love of violin when she began lessons at the age of four. While on her own musical journey, she has sought to help others discover their own passions for music which led to teaching her first student in 2017. She began undertaking AMEB examinations at the age of nine, and achieved a high distinction for her certificate of performance in 2018. She was a member of the Adelaide Youth Orchestras from 2016 to 2019, and in January of 2020, was accepted to be a participant of the Australian Youth Orchestra’s National Music Camp. As a new violin teacher at St Francis de Sales, she is looking forward to helping students find a love for music by teaching them technique and note reading in fun and engaging ways.

Aidan Foyel is a passionate and dedicated singing teacher, who started performing at the age of 5. Throughout his school years, he was the only male soloist in both 2005 and 2006's Festival of Music concerts, a support act in 2011's Catholic Schools Music Festival as well as participating in an American Jazz music tour. Aidan studied a Bachelor of Music: Classical Voice at the Elder Conservatorium of Music, but regularly does performances in Contemporary, Jazz and Musical Theatre styles. He was also selected to be a part of the backing choir for Adele’s Adelaide leg of her Australian tour.

Aidan is heavily involved in Adelaide's choral scene and regularly performs with many of Australia's finest choirs (both here and interstate), including Festival Statesmen Chorus, Adelaide Hills Chamber Choir, Adelaide Chamber Singers and the National Youth Choir of Australia. He is also a Vocal Coach and Mentor with Young Adelaide Voices’ Male Vocal Group.

Yours in Music,

Emily Lovelock
Music Support

Alive Mount Barker has now been open for three weeks. This has been such an incredibly rewarding journey. As part of onboarding of staff at Alive we had induction week, this also included orientations sessions for children and their families. This induction week was a wonderful way for the staff to get to know each other, build relationships and immerse themselves in the Alive vision.

As educators it is such as privilege to be a part of each child’s life and to walk in partnership with parents in educating their child. Throughout this week we took the time to reflect on the enormity of our role. We explored our ‘WHY’, (why we do what we do) as this helps us to understand our purpose and gives us direction. This led into starting to explore our goal across Alive for 2021. One of the Alive goals is to redevelop the Alive Philosophy. During the induction week we started the exploration of our belief and values and how they are enacted and lived through everyday practice. We will continue to unpack and build on this as well as seek feedback and input from children at our centre, families and the community.

Staff were involved in a number of team building activities including the Marshmallow challenge. You can find out more about this by viewing, ‘Build a Tower Build a Team’ by Tom Wujec on YouTube. This allowed us to explore how we can contribute effectively to a team environment. As we are all learners it was also useful way to remind us that reflecting on our challenges and mistakes is an important tool for growth. It has been wonderful to work with and get to know this dedicated, knowledgeable and passionate group of educators.

Liz Schembri
Head of Early Learning