Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to Term 2! I hope you and your families enjoyed a joyful, restful, and holy Easter, filled with peace and renewal. As we begin this new term, we also reflect on the recent passing of Pope Francis. This has been a time of deep mourning for many, and as a school community, we have honoured his memory by praying the Angelus each day this week. This period of prayer has strengthened our faith and allowed us to come together in solidarity, remembering the Pope’s profound influence on the world.

Behaviour Notifications

Today, you would have received a letter from me via Compass outlining a change to the way we notify families about student referrals for Think times during breaktimes. Where possible, grade coordinators will manage these. I thank you in advance for your support of this change. A summary of the changes is included below.

Mother’s/Special Person Day

We are looking forward to hosting this event next Friday from 7:30am. Please see the flyer below for more information.

Community Garden Project

I congratulate Mrs Waltmann, who has applied and been successful in gaining an ACT Government Parent Engagement Grant to establish an Indigenous Sensory Garden. Jesse has been working very hard on this project and will continue to offer opportunities for parents to volunteer in the garden during dedicated class times this year. We thank the ACT government for its support of this project.

Open Community Council Meeting

I would like to invite all parents interested to attend our next Open Community Council meeting, which will take place at 6 p.m. on 12th May. Please register your interest below so we can host it in a location in the school that will accommodate the attendees. Some topics will include input into the Strategic Planning process for 2026-2028, the school fete in 2026, and proposed changes to how we handle student medications.

Enrolment Period has begun

The Catholic Schools' official enrolment period began this week and ends on Friday, 30th May. Our school & ELC open days are on Tuesday, 6^th of May and Wednesday, 21^stof May.

We will host school and ELC tours from 9:30-11 am and 3:30-6 pm on both days. You will now see road signs advertising our enrolment period. You do not need to book an appointment on these days and times. Just turn up for a tour and an information pack.   

We have already received many enrolment enquiries and applications for Kinder 2026, which have been submitted through our school website Enrol Now! @ St Francis of Assisi Primary School - Calwell.

I strongly encourage all families with siblings looking to enrol in kindergarten for 2026 to ensure we receive your applications ASAP so you don't miss out. If you are currently enrolled in a Catholic ELC, you must complete a new Kindergarten 2026 enrolment through the above link.

If you want to enrol in our Early Learning Centre for 2026, the enrolment forms can be found here: St Francis of Assisi Primary School ELC - Calwell.

Blessings and best wishes

Sean Rutledge

Principal

A Prayer for Pope Francis

Loving God, We give you thanks for the life and leadership of Pope Francis — for his humility, his courage, and his heart for the poor. For the way he called us back to the Gospel — to mercy, to justice, and to joy.

Bless his soul with eternal peace and rest in your loving presence. Strengthen your Church, O Lord, to continue walking in the light he helped us see. Raise up shepherds after your own heart, That our Church may be ever faithful, ever hopeful, and ever loving.

We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

SACRAMENT REGISTRATION

For those families who missed the Sacrament enrolment period, we are opening the Parish QKR! portal up again for ALL Sacraments. If you have a child who wishes to receive one of the following Sacraments in Year 4 (Reconciliation), Year 5 (Eucharist) or Year 6 (Confirmation) you MUST enrol them via the Corpuss Christi Parish QKR! App by FRIDAY 9th May.

CONFIRMATION PARENT INFORMATION EVENING

For those families who have registered for their child to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation there will be a Parent Formation Evening on either Wednesday 7th May from 5:30-6:30 OR Thursday 8th May 7-8pm (parents only need to attend one evening and children are not required to attend). Even if you have had an older child who has received the Sacrament of Confirmation in our Parish previously, attendance at one night is vital as we have a new Parish Sacramental Coordinator as well as a new Parish Priest and the process of the Sacraments and the formation that occurs alongside has changed. If there are extending circumstances and you cannot attend, please email Orla TuggeranongSouth.Sacraments@cg.org.au and myself to let us know and we will organise a time to catch you upon the missed information.   

Project Compassion

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who contributed so generously to our Project Compassion appeal during Lent. Our contributions will help make a difference to children around the world.

Third Sunday of Easter John 21: 1-19 Jesus and the Miraculous Catch of Fish

Every Sunday, we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. On this third Sunday of Easter we hear the story of Simon Peter, who recognised the risen Lord because of the abundant catch of fish that happened when Peter followed his directions. Peter had denied Jesus three times during his trial before the Jewish High Priest; now, in a most poignant scene, Jesus gives Peter the chance to insist three times that he does indeed love Jesus. Peter’s love is now directed by Jesus, the Good Shepherd, to feeding Jesus’ sheep. Jesus suggests to Peter what this new ministry of servant leadership will cost him, even the way he will die, a way like that of Jesus himself. 

In the Acts of the Apostles, a completely separate document, we see what will bring Peter to his death: witnessing to Jesus despite heavy physical punishment and threats of death. The power of the Spirit given to the apostles at Pentecost is seen when, despite being flogged, Peter and the other apostles rejoice at being able to suffer dishonour for the sake of Jesus’ name.  A transformation indeed! Today is a good day to pray for faith like Peter’s. 

From God’s Word, Daily Reflections, 2025

Good day everyone,

I hope that you are having a great term 2. My name is Kate and I have taken over running the school canteen from the amazing Kathy. 

The canteen will reopen on Wednesday in Week 2, and I will be trialling some new and exciting menu items that I hope that you will enjoy.

There will be some fresh new menu items on each day the Canteen is open, which will still remain Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Something that will be new and exciting will be that the canteen will now be open for counter sales at recess. This will be on a cash basis at this stage, Wednesday, Thursday and Fridays and I hope that the students will enjoy coming to the canteen to pick something from the new menu.

The canteen window will also be open briefly for ice-cream sales during the lunch break.

I am hoping to put the call out to the school community for volunteers. If you have a spare hour or two and would be willing to help, you would be very welcomed. 

Please feel free to email me katherine.murphy@cg.catholic.edu.au to volunteer.

Kind regards

Kate

Reminder that our Mother's Day Breakfast (provided by the Community Council) will be next Friday morning. See the flyer below for more details.

RSVPs have closed so if you haven't completed this please contact the community council on stfacalwell.communitycouncil@gmail.com 

Each Friday afternoon during the term, classes will be spending time in our new sensory garden. During this time, they will be creating native seed balls. If you have a green thumb or a bit of time to spare, we would love to have volunteers. All you need is a WWVP card. To join in, please sign in at the office and meet the class in the garden, behind the junior equipment at 2:15-3:00 PM.

Walk Safely to School Day is coming up next month on the 16th of May. This year St Francis of Assisi will be joining this day by walking from Calwell shops to school. We will depart around 8:20am, and walk to school with an expected arrival time of 8:40am. We encourage all interested students (and their families) to join us as we walk. With our Cross Country Carnival later in the day, it will be a perfect way to warm up for the events ahead.

The walk will be supervised by Mr Stevens from 8am to leave at 8:20am sharp. If you are late, we won’t be able to wait for you at the shops, but feel free to (safely) drop your child off as we walk past and they can join us at any time along the journey.

If you are interested, please let us know by filling in this form. This will allow us to plan for more staff if needed. It also makes it easier for me to contact you in the event of wet weather/cancellation. If you forget the form, that’s okay, you can still walk on the day.

https://forms.office.com/r/rG7kkKEkjv

As it is ‘Walk Safely to School Day’, we ask that children not ride bikes, as they move a lot quicker than walkers and are quite bulky on the footpath. Our suggestion would be to either make alternative arrangements for the afternoon or bring a scooter instead. Scooters are easier to carry and less likely to get in other’s way.

With thanks,
Jeremy Stevens

? BREAKING NEWS ALERT ?

Billy G’s Gourmet Cookie Dough fundraiser is coming to St Francis of Assisi Primary & ELC! ? Over the next few weeks, we will be selling dough-licious cookie dough to fundraise for many exciting additions and upgrades to our school.

? Please keep an eye out for an order form that will be sent home on how you can get involved. 

Make sure you follow the simple instructions in your order form to get started with Billy G's Cookie Dough! You can start selling tubs of dough-lightful cookie dough online from May 9th. ?

If you have any issues setting up your childs account, please contact the coordinator on sfoacc@outlook.com

This Term, as part of our Parent Engagment with TRP Sessions, we will be offering a 'Connected Parenting Webinar' run by TRP and Lael Stone. 

This webinar will be offered online from Tuesday 13th May and once registered using this link you will have access to the webinar for 2 weeks so you can watch it at your leisure, take notes, pause, rewatch sections, wait to watch with your 'other half' while the children are occupied or gather a group of friends together to watch and discuss over a nice cheese board.  

If you have any questions about the webinar, please do not hesitate to contact me here at school or via email on sharee.thomas@cg.catholic.edu.au 

Please find below a flyer of all Term 2 CCSP FREE Webinars. If you would like more information about any of the webniars, please feel free to email sharee.thomas@cg.catholic.edu.au and I will send through individual flyers. If you are interetsed in any of the webinars, please register via the QR code.

The Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn is holding a competition for students to design artwork celebrating NAIDOC Week 2025.

The winner will have their art made into an acrylic block and will be featured on the NAIDOC Mass booklets.

Entries must include the NAIDOC Week theme, The Next Generation: Strength, Vision & Legacy and the Jubilee 2025 theme: Pilgrims of Hope..

Submissions close Friday 30 May June.