Dear Parents and Community Members,

As we reach the midpoint of the term, I want to extend my heartfelt gratitude to our incredible teachers and staff who continue to inspire and support our students in their learning journeys. Their dedication and passion are truly the foundation of our vibrant school community, and we are so fortunate to have such an amazing team.

STEM Showcase

We have had the pleasure of hosting our STEM Showcase, which was a true celebration of learning, creativity, and innovation. The showcase highlighted not only our students' skills in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, but also their entrepreneurial spirit. It was wonderful to see their excitement and enthusiasm as they shared their projects and ideas with peers, parents, and staff. The event was a reminder of the limitless potential within each of our students when they are given the opportunity to explore, create, and solve real-world problems.

Thank you to everyone who attended and supported the showcase, and a special thanks to our students for their hard work and outstanding achievements. We are proud of what they have accomplished and look forward to seeing how they will continue to grow.

2025 Class Placements

As we approach the end of the year, we begin the important process of creating the 2025 classes. This is a carefully thought-out process, designed to ensure the best possible learning environment for all our students.

Students will be asked to select five friends who they feel support their learning. This is one part of the data that we input into our Class Creator program, which helps draft classes for the new school year. Along with the friend selections, we also consider various factors such as whether a student has a Personalised Plan for Learning (PPL), if they identify as EAL/D (English as an Additional Language or Dialect), and any children who teachers feel may not support each other’s learning. The program uses all this information to create the first draft of classes, ensuring that each child is placed with at least one of their chosen friends, while balancing the various needs across the classes.

The class creation process typically involves several drafts to get it right. We understand that a new year with new teachers can bring about some anxiety for both students and parents, and we ask for your trust in the process. Our teachers know how children learn and collaborate with one another to ensure the best outcomes for each child.

If you have submitted a request regarding your child's placement, please rest assured that we will take it into account. If for any reason a request cannot be met, I will personally contact you. If you don’t hear from me, you can be assured that your request has been actioned.

All our teachers are amazing professionals who work as a strong, cohesive team. Even when teachers are part-time, they plan together and have clear communication systems in place to ensure smooth transitions and consistency for the students.

Thank you for your continued support as we work through this important process. Together, we will ensure that 2025 is a successful and enriching year for all our students.

Yours faithfully, 

Catia Frasca 

The season of Advent is less than a month away. Our community would like to invite you to a Whole School Blessing of the Cribs Liturgy on Monday, 25th November to prepare for this season. This celebration will replace Community Prayer first thing in the morning.

As Christians, we look forward to celebrating Jesus’ humble birth and God’s promise to the world. The Adelaide Archdiocese and many parishes around the world celebrate the beginning of Advent with this blessing. Classes are making their own Nativity scenes to be blessed at the liturgy. If you would like to bring one from home, yours can be blessed too.

The four weeks of Advent invite us into meaningful prayer and reflection on our call to be a community of disciples. We hope you can join us.

May this birthday invitation inspire you to continually welcome Jesus into your life, so that the Gospel, through the witness of our words and actions, reach into our world with the Light of Life.

Birthday Invitation

You are cordially invited to attend a BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION!

Guest of Honour: Jesus Christ

Date: Every day. Traditionally 25th December, but He’s always around, so the

date is flexible.

Time: Whenever you’re ready…please don’t be too late, though; or you’ll miss out on all the fun.

Place: In your heart. He’ll meet you there…you’ll hear Him knock.

Attire: Come as you are…scruffies are okay. He’ll be washing our clothes

anyway. He said something about new white robes and crowns for

everyone who stays till the end.

Tickets: Admission is free. He’s already paid for everyone.

(He says you would not have been able to afford it. It’s cost Him

everything He had!)

Refreshments: New wine, bread and a far-out drink He calls ‘Living Water’,

followed by a supper that promises to be out of this world!

Gift suggestions: Your Heart. He’s one of those people who already has

everything else. (He’s very generous in return; wait till you see what He

has for you!)

Entertainment: Joy, peace, truth, light, love, real happiness, communion with

God, forgiveness, miracles, healing, power, eternity in paradise and

much more! (All rated ‘G’ so bring your family and friends.)

RSVP: Very important! He must know ahead so he can reserve a spot for you

at the table. Also, He’s keeping a list of his friends for future reference.

He calls it "The Lamb’s Book of Life.”

Christmas Card Competition

Archbishop Patrick O’Regan’s 2024 Christmas card design competition is open. If your child is interested in entering this competition, please click the link below to find out more. All entries must be handed in to me by Friday, 15th November. Please ensure your child’s name, address, school and age is on the back. Alternatively, you can mail or hand the entry in to the Southern Cross by Wednesday, 20th November. https://thesoutherncross.org.au/schools/2024/10/30/12997/

Year 5DM have immersed themselves in quality literature this year, written by a range of renowned children’s authors such as R. J. Palacio (Wonder), Morris Gleitzman (Once), Louis Sachar (Fuzzy Mud) and Steve Worland (Paper Planes).  Students have individually read and listened to these rich, inspiring stories.  They have also been fortunate enough to have viewed some of the novels released as motion pictures.

Whilst reading, students have practised the range of strategies that good readers use include activating our prior knowledge, summarising and visualising.  In addition, students made the connection between reading, visual arts and the improvement of their general wellbeing.  The photos below show students representing the images they have formulated in their mind, after reading, discussing, and reflecting on different parts of the novel, ‘Fuzzy Mud.’

Our 2024 Carols Night on Friday, 29th November is shaping up to be a beautiful and festive end-of-year celebration for our school community!

From 4:00 – 6:30pm, we’ll gather on our school grounds for dinner and fellowship with multiple food trucks offering a variety of delicious meal options. Snacks and drinks will also be available from our canteen. Please refer to the attached list of food options for more details.

As we embrace the spirit of giving, we invite you to contribute to our Giving Tree, where we will be collecting non-perishable Christmas meal items to support those less fortunate. Donations will be passed on to St Vincent de Paul, and some examples of suitable items include nuts, crackers, chips, biscuits, puddings, desserts, canned fruit or veg, sauces, and condiments.

Of course, the highlight of the evening will be watching our students perform! We can’t wait to be entertained by their Christmas songs and dances. Children should meet their class teachers at 6:15pm to prepare for their 6:30pm performance.

This term in Science our Reception students are learning how our five senses make us amazing scientists!! We have been learning how to make scientific observations and questioning the world around us.

Using four out of five of our senses (ask a Reception student why we do not use taste in the science room) we went on a scavenger hunt around the school yard. We made some predictions of what we thought we would find in the yard, and we spoke about how to make observations safely, like not touching an insects or animals we saw.

Take a look at our photos to see us diving into Science as budding scientists.

Catholic Schools Athletics Day

On Friday 1st November Whitefriars sent our super talented Athletics team to the annual Catholic Schools Athletics Carnival. Whitefriars are in the very competitive and tough Division 2 against 8 other schools from around Adelaide. In all, 45 athletes represented the school in a range of track and field events at the SA Athletics Stadium.

We had students come home with a range of ribbons for their efforts but the best aspect for me was the continued encouragement they offered each other and offered students from other schools throughout the day. All the students did their very best and did our school proud.

Congratulations to Madeline R for winning the Age Champion for the Year 4 girls, a feat our school hasn’t achieved in a long time. Our Year 4 girls team also dominated their age group and won the coveted Year 4 Age Champions pennant.

A massive thank you to Bianca Osborne and Selene Brown who assisted the carnival all day, their help and support was greatly appreciated. Thank you to all the parents and grandparents who came out to support the students, it really does create a community feel within our school.

SASPASA AFL

Our school is part of the Western District zone for the State Championships in School Sport. Each year we have talented students going to the trials for a range of sports vying for selection against students from other schools in our area. To be selected to go to the State Championships students need to be dedicated, skilful and a team player.

During week 2 this term the AFL girls State Championships were held at West Beach. Whitefriars had 5 girls selected, our most selected in years. The team won 6 out of 9 games with the girls playing a major part in the success of the group.

Congratulations to Mila D, Ava M, Zara D, Opal G and Nahla N. You represented our school and yourself exceptionally well.

2025 After School Sport Nominations

The nominations for After School Basketball and Netball for 2025 are now open. These are open to all students from Year 2 – Year 6 for 2025 (i.e. current Year 1 - Year 5 students).

Nominations for 2025 can be made through the QKR App from this week and students will be placed in teams early next year. The nominations will be open till the first week of Term 1 next year. We are usually able to place all students into teams however if we have a full team, with some additional students still wanting to play, the students who currently play will be given preference followed by students who entered their nominations first. 2025 teams will be allocated with an emphasis on fair and balanced teams with considerations given to friendships.

We are very lucky to have such a wonderful community of volunteers. Our After School Sports program would not be so successful without them. Next year, like in previous years, each team will require a coach and team manager. If there are no volunteers then teams cannot be entered. If you are interested in being a coach or team manager please indicate that on the QKR form. No experience is needed just a current Catholic Clearance and willingness to apply for one through our front office. Doing this before our summer break would allow the clearance to be done before games start next year, so if you are slightly interested in volunteering, please start the process before the end of the year.

All games are played at St Clair Recreation Centre with games times varying each week between 3.50pm and 5.40pm

Game days at the moment are: Year 2/3 Basketball – Monday

Year 4, 5/6 Basketball – Tuesday

Year 2/3 Netball – Wednesday

Year 4, 5/6 Netball – Thursday

If you need any help or support with using QKR please see Mr Brigden or the front office staff.

On Thursday 31st October and Friday the 1st of November, many of our families celebrated Diwali. Diwali is an Indian festival of lights celebrating light and goodness triumphing over darkness and evil. Families decorate their homes with flowers, colours, diyas, lights and rangoli.

To celebrate this festival some of our students made paper diyas, lanterns and drew rangoli designs in the playground. We wish all families celebrating this festival a very happy and prosperous Diwali. 🪔🎆🎇

Hope Builders

Mental health challenges are at unprecedented levels among our children. Recent research published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) shows that anxiety, depression, and self-harm are on the rise. Around 40% of girls and 20% of boys have anxiety. (That’s about 8 girls and 4 boys in every school classroom around the country.) The pressures of school, social media, friendships, and family uncertainties are taking their toll.

But amid these challenges, there’s a powerful tool we can equip our kids with; one that inoculates kids against anxiety, takes down depression, and softens stress.

That tool is hope.

In this week’s Insights article, ‘Hope Builders’ Justin discusses how parents need to be hope-builders, by nurturing their children’s goals, empowering them to find pathways, fostering their agency and equipping them with the resilience and optimism they need to thrive. Justin delves deep into this topic and shares ideas to support children of all ages.

For more parenting information, visit the Happy Families website: https://happyfamilies.com.au./

Thank you.

Grace Loizos

Wellbeing Leader

gloizos@whitefriars.catholic.edu.au

• Week 5 - TERM 4
• Monday - 11th November - Help Needed
• Tuesday - 12th November - Anne Vu
• Wednesday - 13th November - No Help Needed
• Thursday - 14th November - Tina Bodjo/Helen Burns-Clarke
• Friday - 15th November - Help Needed

• Week 6 - TERM 4
• Monday - 18th November -Help Needed
• Tuesday - 19th November -Anne Vu
• Wednesday - 20th November - No Help Needed
• Thursday - 21st November - Tina Bodjo
• Friday - 22nd November - Help Needed

We have over 280 registered volunteers who help our school in so many different ways, contributing to our school and supporting children and staff.  Registered volunteers contribute to the school community in just some of the following ways:

• School Board 
• Parents & Friends events
• After School Sports (Coaches and Team Managers)
• Canteen
• Learning Assistance Program (LAP)
• Reading with children
• Assisting at excursions

All volunteers are required to obtain appropriate clearances, including a Department of Human Services (DHS) Clearance and Catholic Clearance.

Once submitted, clearances may take up to 6 weeks to process.

When you receive your clearance or card please bring this into the office for us to update to the Volunteer Register.

If you would like to volunteer, please see staff in the front office for a Volunteer Information Pack and support in registering as a volunteer.

Please see below for current volunteers wanted in our school.

Lowes have a sale coming up this month, what a great time to stock up on your uniforms for 2025 and reap up the saving.

Click here to order now!

Dear Families,

We are currently conducting Term 3, 2026 student enrolment interviews.

Term 1, 2027 interviews will be scheduled in Term 1, 2025.

All interviews are usually scheduled 2 years before commencement date.

PLEASE ENSURE ALL SIBLINGS ARE ENROLLED FOR ALL FUTURE YEARS.

Thank you 

RCIA Introduction Meeting 

Tuesday 3 December 7pm in the Parish Office

Invitation for those interested in becoming Catholic. 

Weekly meetings on Tuesdays at 7pm from January to March.

 Sacraments will be received during the Easter Vigil April 19th 2025.

Enrolments open for the 2025 Sacramental Programme

Children need to be Baptised, and in Year 3 or above in 2025.

Enrolment forms available through the School or Parish.

For more information, please contact the Parish Office on 8346 0944 or hello@croydonparkparish.com.au

We acknowledge and pay our respect to the Kaurna people as the traditional owners of the land of Mikawomma on which Whitefriars Catholic School is located.  We come with open hearts and minds to listen and learn from Elders - past, present and emerging.