Saint Francis Xavier - Principal's Report

Term 4 - Week 5

Dear Parents and Friends of St Francis Xavier,

It is hard to fathom how fast Term Four seems to be moving - there are now only 28 school days remaining for the year!

I would like to acknowledge our Grade 6 students who this Sunday will be receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation. Confirmation, which is the final Sacrament of Initiation, is a beautiful expression of personal faith, as each child reaffirms the promises made during Baptism and embraces their role as a follower of Jesus. We celebrate and support our students as they take this important step, praying that they feel empowered and inspired in their faith.

Please keep the following students in your prayers this weekend;

Lincoln, Eva, Gianni, Mackenzie, Ashirin, Allira, Marsarlina, Holly and Carmen.

School Advisory Council

A big thank you to our wonderful School Advisory Council - Rose P, Carolyn, Shaunie, Isabel and Petrina, for their ongoing support and the time they have given throughout this year. This group plays an important role in offering advice, sharing perspectives, and helping to guide the direction of our school. Their contributions make a real difference in strengthening the partnership between families, parish and school, and ensuring the best outcomes for our students.

As we look ahead to 2026, we’re looking for one, possibly two new members to join the Council. If you’re interested in being part of this great team and contributing to the future of our school, please send me an email – I’d love to hear from you. It requires a commitment of 5 meetings per year, which are held on Thursday evenings.

No Operoo in 2026

We wanted to let families know that Operoo has decided to no longer support its services in Australia from 2026. This means we’ve had to look for a new platform to manage student medical details, permission forms and other communication needs moving forward.

After exploring a range of options, we’ve decided that nForma is the best alternative. From next year, parents will use the nForma app to:

Access school reports
Submit student absences
Provide medical information
Receive alerts and notifications from the school
Give permission for excursions, sports activities and camps

In the coming weeks, we’ll share further information, including clear instructions on how to download and set up the app if you haven’t already done so. Thank you for your support as we make this transition – we’re confident nForma will be a smooth and effective solution for our school community.

School Fees

After consulting with our School Business Partner and the School Advisory Council, the school fees for 2026 have now been set. Please read through the attachments below which explain how the fees are decided upon. The school continues to make every effort to keep fees as low as possible and we continue to have one of the lowest fees of all Catholic Schools in the local area.

Can I also ask that if you have any outstanding fees left for 2025, that these please be settled by the end of November.

Student Showcase of Learning

We’re excited to invite all parents and carers to our Student Showcase of Learning on Thursday 4th December from 2:00 – 3:30pm. Just like in Term 3, families are welcome to visit the school during this time to celebrate not only the wonderful achievements of your own child, but also the learning and creativity of all our students across the school.

These afternoons are a great way to see what your children have been working on and to share in their pride and enthusiasm. Moving forward, we’ll be running a Showcase of Learning at the end of every term – a regular opportunity to come together and celebrate the great learning happening at SFX!

Christmas Carols

We will be holding a Christmas Carols afternoon at 2:00pm on Thursday December 11th. All classes will perform a couple of Christmas carols in front of the school. Students can wear Christmas clothes to school and parents are most welcome to attend.

School Camps

Our Grade 3/4 students are very excited about their upcoming school camp. On Monday 17th November, they will be taking the short bus trip to Don Bosco Camp in Safety Beach, where they will spend two days of fun together at what is a wonderful beachside camp.

For the first time, we have decided to bus the Grade 3/4 students to and from camp. Hopefully this makes managing work and other tasks slightly easier for parents, compared to past years where students have had to be dropped off and collected from 3/4 camp.

As School Camps for 2026 have already been booked in, I thought now would be a good time to share the dates with families.

Grade 5/6 Camp

Wednesday 29th April - Friday 1st May @ Camp Rumbug in Foster

Grade 3/4 Camp

Thursday 25th + Friday 26th June @ Camp Manyung in Mount Eliza (Last 2 days of Term 2)

Key dates remaining for 2025

Friday 7th November Grade 3-6 Water Safety Day at PARC

Sunday 9th November Grade 6 Confirmation 12:00pm start

Monday 17th November Grade 3/4 Overnight Camp at Don Bosco Camp

Tuesday 25th December School Assembly at 2:30pm

Thursday 27th November School Disco evening

Wednesday 3rd December St Francis Xavier Feast Day- whole day of activities

Thursday 4th December Student Showcase of Learning 2:00pm - 3:30pm

Monday 8th December Final School Assembly + Awards @ 2:15pm

Tuesday 9th December Year 7 2026 Orientation Days for Grade 6 students

Grade P-5 'Meet your 2026 teacher' activity at 12:00pm.

Thursday 11th December Christmas Carols Afternoon (2:00pm, parents welcome)

Friday 12th December Grade Six Big Day Out

Monday 15th December Grade Six Graduation evening

Tuesday 16th December Whole School End of Year Mass (1:45pm)

Last day for Students, who will be dismissed at 3:15pm.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Steve Peart

School Principal

Community

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