Teaching and Learning

Rosina Gemmill, Deputy Principal Learning and Teaching

Buongiorno a tutti e Benvenuti a Term 2

Well..... where have those two weeks gone! As we near the end of Week 4 students are nearing the end of their first units and are completing their assessment tasks.

We are in the process of setting up our Semester 1 reports for staff to complete.

Winter sports are underway and the plans are in place for our swimming week 10.

Our artist in residence Mrs Baker is organising the pieces for our annual Nathalia Show display and in Italian the students have been looking at the culture of Italy and Italians. We looked at the differences between the North and the South of Italy and how as we move down the boot the Italian people can get shorter and darker. One of our learners, determined that Mrs Gemmill must therefore come from the South......... I’ll leave it at that!

Enjoy the last of the Autumn sunshine as we move closer to Winter.

Ciao for now!

Rosina Gemmill

Learning Diversity

I am very happy to be back as a part of the St Francis team as the Learning Diversity Leader. My role is to coordinate and support teachers and learning support staff in delivering a differentiated curriculum that ensures all students are learning and developing based on their diverse needs.

I love this poem by Andrea Chesterman-Smith. It offers an insight into some of the daily experiences, emotions, and challenges faced by children living with ADHD. It highlights their strengths, kindness, and individuality. This poem encourages empathy, understanding, and inclusion. It is a good reminder that children with ADHD are doing their best and are far more than a label or diagnosis. At St Francis we hope to foster supportive learning environments where all students feel seen, valued, and understood.

Katie Barnes

Foundation

What a busy fortnight in the Foundation classroom!

In English, we have been busy learning news sounds, using these sounds to read and write 2 and 3 letter words. The introduction of some tricky words created much excitement in the classroom as it meant that we were able to take home decodable readers that we can read ourselves.

In Maths, we are able to identify numbers on a 5 and 10 frame and can state how many more to make 10. Using the concrete materials like 10 frames and double-sided counters has been a huge help in understanding this concept.

We also celebrated our Mums last fortnight with the class drawing beautiful portraits. We created a wall display that is currently up on the window of the classroom if you have missed it.

Year 1

Today the Grade One's celebrated the students who have recently achieved the milestones of 25 and 50 nights of reading.

Reading every day is a great habit to build, helping our students develop their confidence and reading skills.

Year 2

This term the grade 2 students have been learning about telling time in Maths, making connection while we read and writing stories, have a look at our favourite things this term.

I liked cooking the pizza scrolls - Jason, Liy, Dusty, Margot, Billie, Hendrix

I liked cooking because we got to bake - Sam B

I like cooking all the yummy food - Arlo

I liked playing a new game in sport - Bill

I liked playing new games in sport - Nixon and Sam K and Georgina

I like learning new things Numeracy - Sam H

I like doing sport and cooking - Sam K

Please have a look at home for any library or reader books, students need to be bringing their blue reader bags to school each day.

Year 5/6

Literacy

In the past fortnight, students have successfully written a factual recount on the 1967 Referendum! We are continuing to read our novel Us Mob Walawurru and will soon write a character analysis on the main character!

Numeracy

In the 5/6 classroom, students have been working closely with 3D objects and decimals. To assist with their learning, each student has been given some Play-Doh which has been an exciting addition to our regular OCHRE slides.

Winter School Sports

Last Friday, 4/5/6’s had Winter Sport against Numurkah PS. Below some of the students who played netball and footy have given their thoughts on each game.

St Francis had a great game on Friday, and everyone had a go at the ball. Even though we had a great game, Numurkah slipped through and got the win. Everyone had lots of fun and everyone tried their best. Written by Bodhi Bourke and Ryder Vearing.

The Grade 4/5 netball team lost 6-9; the girls who played were Meabh, Maddie Daniel, Riva. Hannah, Ava and Matilda. We were short a few players from Numurkah came onto our team. Ava got three goals Maddie Daniel got one goal and Taylah got two. Even though we lost, we all still played a good game. Written by Matilda Sanders.

The Grade 6 netball team won 13 – 3; the shooters were Chelsea Dealy, Taylah Moon, Millie Bourke, Emily Nutall, and Harper Coutts. They all played a fantastic game. Our defenders were also great, only allowing Numurkah to score three goals! Aimee Rankin and Abigail Daniel were our main goal defenders , with many other girls helping out in WD. The Numurkah team were very tall, but the girls still jumped for the rebound, chased after the loose balls, and did their very best. Since we didn't have anyone bench, everyone all played amazing four 7-minute quarters. We look forward to a great season!

Written by Aimee Rankin and Millie Bourke.


Monday 18th May	Parent's & Friends Meeting @ 2.30pm
Wednesday 20th May	St Francis Open Day @ 9.30am
Thursday 21st May	School Photo's
Wednesday 3rd June	Grade 6 Transition Day - SMOTA
Friday 5th June	Student Free Day (Professional Learning Day)
Monday 8th June	King's Birthday - Public Holiday


Term 1	30th January - 2nd April
Term 2	20th April - 26th June
Term 3	13th July - 18th September
Term 4	5th October - 18th December

School Information & Dates

Term 2 DATES

2026 DATES