St Francis of Assisi News

Dear Parents & Caregivers,

Welcome to the first official newsletter of the new year! We have now entered the Noongar Season of Bunuru which occurs during February and March. It marks the transition between the hot and dry season of Djilba and the cooler and wetter season of Djeran. The word "bunuru" means "hot". Bunuru is a season of abundance and renewal, as it is when many plants and animals thrive. The Noongar people would take advantage of the warm weather to hunt animals like kangaroos and emus, and gather bush foods such as yams and zamias. Bunuru is a vibrant and energetic season that represents the Noongar people's deep connection with the land and their understanding of the cycles of nature.

PARENT INFORMATION SESSIONS FRIDAY 21 FEB

As outlined in a parent email and SeeSaw message last week, in response to some constructive parent feedback, we will be holding face-to-face parent information sessions on Friday 21 Feb in the classrooms for K-6 Parents. This will take place directly before the family fun night and the following arrangements have been made for supervision:

• K-2 children can access the K/PP playgrounds and nature play area with supervision from leadership
• 3-6 children are expected to attend the session with their parent

Electronic copies of the presentation will be sent to all parents following the sessions. We are hopeful that scheduling the information sessions prior to the Family Fun Night may increase parent attendance.

FAMILY FUN NIGHT

The annual P&F Family Fun Night will be taking place next Friday 21 Feb from 5-7pm and all children and families are encouraged to attend. We are fortunate that due to such overwhelming support from our families, this event is put on FREE by the P&F. It is a great way to start the year in welcoming returning families and also embracing new families and children into the SFOA community.

NEW FAMILIES

A big welcome to all the new families beginning at our school this year. Along with all our 3yo Pre-Kindy and Kindy children who are starting their St Francis journey, we have a number of new children and families who have joined our community:

PPB Lucas Moore

PPB Marie Rattew

PPW Arthur Smith

PPW Alan (Junior) Hewitt-Ockerby

YR 1W Arya Dangwal

YR 2W Hetvik Vyas

YR 3W Sienna Morgan

YR 3W Jonah Messiha

YR 3B Matteo Gullotto

YR 4B Max Rattew

YR 4B Matthew Webb

YR 4B La'Keysha Bak Anei

YR 4W Alyson Ross

YR 5W Sophia Hopwood

P&F OFFICE BEARERS AND CLASS REPS 2025

Welcome to all our existing and new P&F members this year and we look forward to working with parents to continue to support our children's facilities and experiences at St Francis of Assisi. In 2024, our official Office Bearer positions have been filled by the following parents. Thank you for volunteering your time for our community.

Chairperson - Rose Canzirri

Vice Chair - Meg Goldie

Secretary - Erin Hawes

Treasurer - Mel Benton

We also welcome the below parents to the role of Class Representative in 2025. This role acts as the conduit to the P&F and these individuals will work together to ensure P&F information is shared through class Facebook Pages:

Rebecca, Leteesha, Danielle Hayman, Christine (Kindy)

Teneeka Paige & Sarah Schulz (PP)

Natalie Cameron & Danielle Chambers (Year 1)

Rebecca Haddad & Christine Knowles (Year 2)

Danica McAllister & Emma Stratfold (Year 3)

Leteesha Magistro & Rachel Fox (Year 4)

Danica McAllister & Heidi Durer-Jones (Year 5)

Tania Willmers & Sarah Tangifua (Year 6)

SCHOOL ADVISORY COUNCIL (SAC) MEMBERS 2025

Once again our School Advisory Council will oversee financial matters within our school along with supporting us in our decision making around strategic matters in the school. Our strong financial governance can be attributed to the wisdom and expertise of our members of the SAC. In 2025, the SAC members will include:

Parish Priest - Father Darek

Chairperson - Tony Summers

Vice Chair - Jacinta Lynton

Treasurer - Craig Grantham

Secretary - Laura Hampson

P&F Rep - Stephenie Kunder

Member - Jevita Nilson

Ex-Officia - Jason Baker, Geoff Clarke, Sarah Kavanagh

SCHOOL FEE STATEMENTS

A reminder to all parents that school fee statements for 2025 have been emailed to all parents and ALL forms need to be returned in February. Regardless of your payment option, please return your form signed and dated with your choice of payment schedule by Friday 21st Feb. Fees can be paid in a single annual sum (1), quarterly (4), monthly (10), fortnightly (20) or weekly (40). All fees need to be finalised by 31st October, 2025.

THE LUNCHBOX HUB (LOCAVORA) 2025

Our first week of lunch orders this week has transitioned smoothly. Please note that lunch orders are available every day this year (Mon-Fri) and the existing company has had a re-brand. If you are new to the school or have an existing account, you will need to reset your password via the link below. Instructions have been attached.

www.lunchboxhub.com.au

RUNNING CLUB - BEGINS FRIDAY 21 FEB

Mr Rebeiro is excited to begin our Running Club next Friday 21 Feb. Parents are welcome to join their kids for some morning exercise from 7:45 - 8:15am. We look forward to seeing you there.

CLASS TRANSITIONS - WEEK 3 ONWARDS

It has been great to see the kids transition smoothly into their new year level. We continually encourage the children to carry their own bags and get themselves organised before and after school to help with their organisational skills and independence. From Week 3, parents are asked to wait in the collection area before and after school to allow their child the independence to walk up to, and from class.

2025 PUPIL FREE DAYS AND TERM DATES

Please see below the relevant holiday and Pupil Free days for the year. A reminder to parents that should you wish to take your child out of school during term time for a family holiday or other extended leave, there is an Extended Leave Form on our website that needs to be completed. This is required as documentation for the Department of Education to record students whereabouts if they are away for an extended period not due to illness.

Have a great fortnight ahead and we look forward to seeing all families and kids at the Parent Information Sessions and Family Fun Night next Friday!

Best Wishes

Jason Baker

Principal

Welcome back to all our families, and a special welcome to all our families who are joining us for the first time. It's lovely to see so many smiling faces around the school.

2025 Year of Jubilee

2025 is a special year for the church as it is a Jubilee year. This only takes place every 25 years and the theme is 'Pilgrims of Hope'. This event is of great spiritual, ecclesial, and social significance in the life of the Church. Pope Francis has designated the 2025 Holy year as a time to renew ourselves as "Pilgrims of Hope."

The Jubilee logo is focused on the cross of Christ to show that hope cannot ever be abandoned because we are always in need of hope. The figure represents humanity from the four corners of the world. The figures embrace one another to illustrate the solidarity between all people.

Sacramental Information

Important dates regarding the sacraments of Reconciliation, First Holy Communion and Confirmation have been sent out to families in year 3, 4 and 6. Please send back expressions of interest to the office as soon as possible and email any questions or queries to sarah.kavanagh@cewa.edu.au. We look forward to these special celebrations throughout the year.

Congratulations to the Kovac family

Sending a special congratulations to Emma and Luka Vocac who received the Sacrament of Baptism over the school holidays.

God Bless

Sarah Kavanagh

This year we have welcomed some new staff to our school community and I thought I would take the opportunity to introduce them via the newsletter each fortnight. This week's spotlight is on Mr Chris Rebeiro, our new Physical Education teacher:

1. Hidden talent we should know about? I can finish a can of soft drink in under 10 seconds.
2. If I could invite 3 people around for dinner (alive or dead!)? Nic Naitanui, Derrick Rose and Tupac Shakur.
3. Song most likely to get me on the dance floor? In the right situation, Mr. Brightside by the Killers.
4. Something that irks me a lot? Being spoken to with a mouth full of food.
5. If I wasn't a teacher, I would be...mowing lawns, ideally on a golf course or lawn bowls club.

Welcome Mr Rebeiro! I'm going to assume 'soft drink' can be replaced with any carbonated beverage, which would provide the 'right situation' for your Mr Brightside dance moves!

Dear Parents,

2025 school fee statements were emailed out to all families. Thank you to those families who have already sent in their payment option forms. Please be reminded that ALL payment option forms need to be handed in by Friday 21st February. All payments for school fees should commence by no later than Friday 28th February.

Please remember to send in your current Centrelink concession card to continue receiving the discount for 2025.

Kind regards,

Geneve Bastian

We have hit the ground running this term in Physical Education, with students bringing a positive attitude to their lessons. This term our Year Six students will take part in Beach Safety, beginning in Week 3 through until Week 5 on Tuesday mornings. Beach Safety will provide our Year Six students with skills to ensure they remain safe while at the beach which is a vital skill as we are lucky to have so many great beaches surrounding us.

On Tuesday, March 18th, students from Year Four, Year Five and Year Six will be invited to participate in Swimming Trials. The trials will take place during the school day from 11:00am until 1:00pm at Waterponyz in Merriwa. At the trials, students will have performed timed laps and selections will be made for Interschool later in Term 1 based on the recorded times. Students will be bringing home a copy of their letter following their next sport lesson and if you have any questions please feel free to send me an email.

Regards,

Chris Rebeiro

Sports Teacher

Welcome back SFOA Families.

If there are any medical conditions we need to be aware of please fill out relevant forms (see forms below). Asthma, allergy, medical care plan and anaphylaxis action plans to be updated annually.

Ventolin inhalers, Epi-pens and antihistamine please ensure these are within the expiry date.

If short term medication is required, please fill out the short term medication form (see below)

Regards,

Kym Stanley

School Nurse

We trust that everyone enjoyed their holidays and are back in the swing of the school routine.

For those of you who aren’t aware we have a new P&F committee for 2025. The committee consists of Rose Canzirri as Chairperson, Meg Goldie as Vice Chairperson, Melanie Benton as Treasurer and Erin Hawes in the position of Secretary.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the wonderful ladies who have taken on the roles as Year Group Representatives for this year. We appreciate all of your help and we look forward to working with you all throughout the year.

Lastly we would like to remind everyone of our Family Fun Night next Friday 21st of February between the hours of 5pm - 7pm. With lots of fun FREE activities for the kids to enjoy this is an event not to be missed!!

The Australian Government Department of Education (the Department) requests all schools to provide the Department with information regarding each student's residential address. Please see information regarding the collection. If you have recently moved and changed your address can you please let the school office know ASAP.

Happy Birthday to the following students who recently celebrated their birthday and who are celebrating their birthday over the next two weeks:

Arlo Spedding, Maisie Gibb, Dakota Church, Grace O'Connor, Jack Roberts, Elijah Crosby, Brayden King, Artie Smith, Sebastian Quiceno, Ava Goodwin, Eliza Hommel, Elisha Patrick, Grace Maggiotto, Noah Hughes, Erana Davis, Darina Domkoc, Piper Bradley, Anisa Hargrave, Pranshi Bulgannavar, Elliott Guelfi, Josephine Lauridsen, Mack Lynton, Dennis Korzhov, Sebastian Gauvain, Anger Ajo, Sahara Makawa, Nevada Weko-Hauraki, James Curran, Samarra Dock, Siara Westerhout, Piper Morrison, Vivienne Liron, Poppy Hicks, Destiny Cooper, Ryu Uriarte, Gabriel Atuer, Chase Carrara, Alexandra Tangifua.

We wish you all a wonderful day!!

Friday 14 February - Merit Assembly (8:45am) / Class Rep morning tea

Monday 17 February - Playgroup

Tuesday 18 February - Year 6 Beach Safety

Wednesday 19 February - All Sacraments Parent Info Night at St Andrew's Church (6:00pm)

Friday 21 February - School Census / Year 5 Performance Assembly (8:45am) / Parent Information evening (4:30pm) / P&F Family Fun Night (5:00pm-7:00pm)

Saturday 22 & Sunday 23 February - Reconciliation Commitment Masses at St Andrew's Church

Monday 24 February - Playgroup

Tuesday 25 February - Year 6 Beach Safety

Friday 28 February - Year 6 Class Mass (8:45am)

Sibling Discount Scheme Application form

If you have a child/children attending both St Francis of Assisi Catholic Primary School and Irene McCormack Catholic College (IMCC) you may be eligible for a discount on tuition fees at IMCC. Please see information below. Application forms need to be filled out by a parent and returned to SFOA office and we will then forward the form onto IMCC. Application forms need to be received by no later than Friday 28 February 2025.

Please see below the latest newsletter from Camp Australia.

The Uniform Shop is open on Mondays from 2:45pm - 3:30pm during school terms.

Where: Operating out of the demountable at the rear of the school!

Ph: (08) 9204 1701

Email: mailto:sales@jfe.net.au

Address: 1/85 Guthrie St, Osborne Park 6017

Mon-Thur: 8:00am - 4:00pm

Friday: 8:00am - 3:30pm

Email: admin@stfrancisbutler.wa.edu.au
Website: www.stfrancisbutler.wa.edu.au
Location: 1051 Connolly Drive, Butler WA, Australia
Phone: (08) 9562 9500
Facebook: facebook.com/stfrancisbutler

Instagram: https://instagram.com/stfrancisbutler

Email: standrewsclarkson@gmail.com

Website: http://www.standrewsclarkson.com/
Location: 53 Belleville Gardens, Clarkson WA, Australia
Phone: (08) 9407 7512
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/standrewsclarkson/