St Francis Catholic School - Hughenden eNewsletter

From the Principal

Welcome to a New School Year!

It has been wonderful to welcome our students back to school, and it’s been heartening to see so many smiling faces after a restful holiday break. A special welcome to our newest Prep students—Kalyn, Maggie, Elijah, Mason, and Alexa! We are so pleased to have you join our school community and look forward to watching you grow and learn.

We have been fortunate to start the year with some beautiful weather; however, we keep our northern friends in our prayers as they face the devastating impacts of recent storms, which have caused significant damage to homes, businesses, and schools. Our thoughts are with them during this challenging time, and we hope for some much-needed rain in our own region as well. As one of our insightful Year 2 students reminded me this week—his cows need some grass!

Next week, I will be away participating in our ECSI (Enhancing Catholic School Identity) Professional Development. This intensive two-day course is designed to help schools recontextualise their faith and deepen their Catholic identity. I will be exploring Theology and Religiosity, with the goal of upskilling our staff over the next 12 months. I am eager to engage in discussions and learning with Dr. Teresa Brown and Dr. Robyn Horner, whose expertise will help guide our journey.

While the first two weeks of the school year have been relatively quiet, the rest of the term is quickly filling up with activities and events. We have sporting trials, special visitors, the season of Lent, NAPLAN, and the highly anticipated Year 5/6 camp all on the horizon. It promises to be an exciting and busy term, and we look forward to working together as a community to make it a successful one!

Wishing everyone a fantastic start to the year!

Sharn Greenaway

Principal

School TV Topic of the Week- School Transitions

In this edition of SchoolTV - School Transitions

Whether it is starting school for the first time, moving up to a higher grade or embarking on a journey through secondary school, there is no doubt that any school transition is a very exciting time for children and parents. It means your children are growing up!

However, transitioning is an ongoing process. It can continue long after students have entered their new environment and may encounter difficulties at a number of different stages. These stressors may appear as anxiety and frustration and result in negative or disruptive behaviours. Such behaviours can become problematic making the transitioning process even more difficult for children and parents.

In this edition of SchoolTV, parents will learn practical strategies to assist your child during the transition process and reduce stress and anxiety levels.

We hope you take time to reflect on the information offered in this edition of SchoolTV and we always welcome your feedback. If you have any concerns about your child, please contact the school counsellor for further information or seek medical or professional help.

Here is the link to the School Transitions edition of SchoolTV
https://sfsh.catholic.schooltv.me/newsletter/school-transitions

Student Of The Week

Week 1

P/1: Hamish Westcott

2/3: Mason McClymont

4/5/6: Morgan Hamilton

Week 2

P/1: Jack Krogh

2/3: Sophie McNamara

4/5/6: Shaira Ligsay

Elias- December 22nd

Danica- January 10th

Hamish- January 13th

Miranda- January 14th

Morgan- January 21st

Arley- January 28th

Prep/1 Happenings

Prep/1 Update – A Fantastic Start!

Wow! The past two weeks have flown by, and our Prep/1 students have hit the ground running!

In Science, we’ve been exploring forces and motion through hands-on experiments. We built boats to test movement in water, created ferris wheels to see how they turn, and even discovered how to make a flat rock roll using a ramp!

Friday’s PE session was a highlight, with our Gross Motor course providing plenty of fun and skill-building. Developing gross motor skills is essential for everyday activities like walking, climbing, and even dressing independently.

It’s been a busy and exciting start to the year—bring on the next adventure!

Miss Brown,

P/1 Teacher

SCIENCE

GROSS MOTOR

Year 2/3 Happenings

Two weeks have flown by in Year 2/3, and we’ve been working hard while having lots of fun! Our days have been filled with engaging activities designed to strengthen our knowledge and skills in exciting ways.

In phonics, we’ve been using Sounds-Write on the smartboard to deepen our understanding of letter-sound relationships and become more confident readers and spellers. In writing, students have been practicing generating and organizing ideas to create some truly impressive pieces.

Math has been all about place value! We’ve been using games, hands-on activities, and charts to build a strong understanding of numbers. It’s been fantastic to see students challenge themselves and grow in confidence.

We can’t wait to see what the next few weeks bring!

Miss Allison,

Year 2/3 Teacher

Year 4/5/6 Happenings

The first two weeks of Term 1 have been full of excitement and learning in Year 4/5/6! We’ve hit the ground running in English with our focus on Morphology—the study of words, how they are formed, and how they relate to other words in the same language.

Students have been exploring root words, prefixes, and suffixes, discovering how small changes can completely transform a word’s meaning. From turning happy into unhappy or teach into teacher, they have enjoyed experimenting with different word structures to deepen their understanding of meaning.

Through word games and discussions, students have been building on their vocabulary and developing a greater appreciation for how words can convey meaning.

Miss Rowe,

Year 4/5/6 Teacher

Library

📚 Library Adventures This Week! 📚

This week in our library lessons, we had an exciting time exploring Sora—our amazing online library that we can access anytime, anywhere (even from home)! We also discovered other fantastic resources like Britannica, which helps us find interesting facts and stories at the click of a button.

Our Prep and Year 1 students had a special lesson all about taking care of our library books and learning how to borrow responsibly. The Preps even got creative and made their very own library bags—ready to carry their next great read!

Happy reading, everyone! 📖✨

Miss Margy

SFSH Chaplain

Welcome back to a new school year! I hope you all had a restful and joyful break. It’s wonderful to see our students back and ready for an exciting Term 1.

I’m pleased to share that our Breakfast Club is up and running again, ensuring that every student has a great start to the day. A huge thank you to our generous local businesses for their ongoing support and donations—it truly makes a difference!

This year, each term we will be raising funds for different charities through a variety of fun activities, including icy block sales, competitions, raffles, and more. For Term 1, we are supporting Caritas – Project Compassion, which helps those in need both here in Australia and around the world.

To kick off our fundraising efforts, Zooper Doopers will be on sale again starting this Friday at 2:45 PM for just $1.00 each. All proceeds will go towards our charity efforts, so don’t forget to bring a gold coin to enjoy a refreshing treat while supporting a great cause!

Thank you for your support, and I look forward to a fantastic term ahead!

Miss Howie,

Chaplain

Zooper Doopers