Leadership & Management

Week 11 Term 4

St Fidelis School is committed to the care, wellbeing and protection of children , young people and vulnerable people in our community.

Dear Parents and Carers,

On behalf of the St Fidelis' staff,  I wish to extend a very special thank you to each and everyone of you for being such an amazing community. It's been terrific to have had an uninterrupted year of learning and to have enjoyed so many school community events, excursions and celebrations.

Thank you for all your efforts with your amazing children and working in partnerships with your child's teacher and our school leaders to ensure that your child is reaching their full potential. We sincerely thank you and we look forward to continuing our partnership in 2024 and beyond. 

God Bless you all and wish you a very Merry Christmas  and a safe New year

In the Principal's Message section today there is information regarding:

• Thank you Messages
• Staff leaving St Fidelis
• Graduation, Orientation news
• End of Year Mass Time and Date
• New staffing arrangements 2024  
• Sacrament dates
• Term One dates 2024
• Important Dates for 2024 
• School Fees 2024 (next page)

Thank you -St Fidelis' Staff 

I wish to thank all my Staff and the Leadership Team for everything they do for the children and parents of the St Fidelis' Community. They are a dedicated hard working group of teachers, Administration Staff and Educational Support Officers, who work tirelessly at school,  home and give up so much of their time outside of school hours to ensure they are giving your children the best education and opportunities that we can.  I wish them a very well deserved and restful break. 

Thank you -School Advisory Board

This year, the School Advisory Board met five times. The school Advisory Board plays a significant role in supporting the spiritual and educational welfare of students through the support of the Principal as delegated authority of the MACS board - the governing body and of the parish present as custodian of mission. 

This year, the School Advisory Board meetings formed small working groups to address some of the Areas for School Improvement. 

Special thank you to Mr Christopher Dickinson, our chair person who does an amazing job in keeping the meeting focused and on time. To all the other members of the School Board, I sincerely thank you for your input, suggestions and insights at all our meetings. To  Fr Linh Pham, thank you for attending our meetings in support of Catholic Education.

This year, we farewell and thank two members of the School Advisory Board as their last child completes their education at St Fidelis.

Thank you to Julie Fam for her invaluable contribution to the Board over the past five years, to Michael, Julie's husband, for his support with all the Working Bees and we farewell Penelope, their daughter as she completes Year 6 this year. 

Thank you to Christopher Archibald, who was the driver for all our Working Bees and maintenance, his contribution and organisation and commitment to improving the school was very much appreciated and he will be truly missed.  To Chris’s wife Bec, who has had a huge role in the Parents and Friends for many years. Bec was always available to support the school in whichever way was required. Farewell to Alex, their daughter as she completes Year 6 this year. 

Good luck and God bless to these families.

In the New Year, we will be seeking replacements for our School Advisory Board. More information regarding this will be communicated in 2024.  

Thank you - Parents and Friends  Committee

FUN RUN PICS TO ENJOY

The  primary goal of P&F, is to further establish friendships amongst our families and staff whilst encouraging active participation by parents in the life of our school through our many social and fundraising events. The P&F association is parents working side by side with the school to coordinate fundraising and social events for our families and students. 

This year, our P&F was led by Bec K and Josie S and I am grateful for their organization and ability to bring people together, new and existing. As we know it takes a team to move mountains and without the rest of the committee our P&F would not exist and more importantly our kids would not have our magnificent facility and the resources that we require to deliver a magnificent STEM Program where all our fundraising has been directed in 2023.

This year, we have used $35,000.00 of funds raised by the community to complete our beautiful Resource Centre (Library) and we celebrated a beautiful opening last Friday to name this room our STEM INNOVATION RESOURCE CENTRE. Parents in this community should be proud to know that the whole STEM Innovation Resource Centre was made possible due to the generosity of our parents community in 2021, 2022 and 2023. Thanks again to everyone.

Future Projects: 2024 

• Some soft furnishing for cozy reading 
• Upgrading of our picture book collection
• Upgrading of shelving and new take home books for the older children in the Senior Learning Area 

Future Projects include:

• Replacement of our Junior and Senior Playgrounds 
• Redevelopment of our play areas 
• Areas for growing more vegetables and composting
• Possibly a larger bike parking bay 
• Shade Sails 

The success of our P&F team is that everyone has his or her part to play whether big or small every little bit helps. As my mantra has always been “Many hands make Light work”, You should all be proud of how your contribution is assisting your children's education at St Fidelis.

STAFFING  FAREWELL NEWS

Graham Troy  will be leaving St Fidelis at the end of the year. Graham has been a staff member at St Fidelis since 2019. Graham has taught Year 3/4 & 5/6 at his time at St Fidelis. Graham has always had the best interest of his students and has always given his  best to his students and families. Graham will take up a position at St Carlo's in Greenvale in 2024.

Michelle Casmento has been on leave for 12 months in 2023. Michelle has informed me that she will be resigning from St Fidelis.  Michelle  has been a classroom teacher and valued staff member for the past 20 years. Michelle  has taught across the Junior and Senior areas of the school during her time at St Fidelis and has spent the last few years in the Senior Learning Area. We wish Michelle all the best as she takes a slower pace in her teaching career and life. 

Aoife O’Flynn  will be leaving St Fidelis at the end of the year. Aoife only started with us this year and has made a huge impact in her short time at the school. Aoife has decided to experience more travelling and working. We thank Aoife  for her short time at St Fidelis, and wish all the best with her future. 

Isabella Frazzetto began with us as the Out Of School Care Coordinator with TheirCare in 2021 and has been an Education Support Teacher since 2022. Isabella has now qualified as a teacher and will be taking up a teaching position at St Peters in East Keilor. We thank Isabella for all her hard work and  wish her  all the best as she begins her teaching career. 

Family Farewells

We have a number of families who have their youngest child finishing at St Fidelis or are moving onto other schools in 2023. We wish them luck and hope to welcome them back to any of our school events in the future. 

Finally, thank you to all the wonderful St Fidelis' students. You are the reason all the teachers get out of bed in the morning. Thank you for being great children. It has been a pleasure being your Principal and I wish you a safe and relaxing holiday break. 

On behalf of Fr Linh and Fr Tho and the staff we wish everyone a very Happy and Holy Christmas. Enjoy the Christmas break with your family and I look forward to working with all the families again in 2024.

Year Six Graduation Mass & Awards' Night

On Saturday night, we celebrated the Year Six Graduation Mass and awards'

 evening. It was the perfect way to finish off the Year Six students' time at Primary school.

Thank you to the Year Six teachers for preparing the students for this special event, Ms Olivia Sargent, Ms Aoife O’FLynn , Mr Graham Troy and Mrs Annette Gasbarro for organising the Liturgy and all the teachers who assisted in many other ways. 

A special thank you to Father Linh who celebrated a wonderful ceremony. 

After the awards, the Year Six students and their families enjoyed an evening of celebration at Melrose Reception. Thank you to the parents who organised this fantastic evening for the children and their families. These memories will be cherished for a long time. 

Whole School Orientation-Mon Dec 11th

The students met their new teachers and classmates for 2024 today. This is always an exciting day for all students - meeting their new teachers, moving to new learning spaces and making new friends. Teachers took the time to get to know your child a little today and talk to them about your child's hopes and dreams for 2024.

END OF YEAR MASS & ASSEMBLY-Fri Dec15th

All parents and carers are welcome to attend our end of year Mass of Thanksgiving at St Fidelis church at 9:15am.  After Mass we will gather in the school hall for our final Students of the Week and to formally farewell our teachers and Year 6 students. 

School Concludes on Friday Dec 15th  at 3:30pm

STAFFING FOR 2024

We welcome the following New Staff to the Community of St Fidelis for 2024

Ms Vivian Boggis -Year 1/2 Teacher

Ms Sarah Hogan -Year 3/4 Teacher

Ms Madeline Comrie -Year 5/6 Teacher

Ms Bernadette Parnis -Literacy Leader (Tues, Wed, Thurs ) 

Ms Erika Pansino -Educational Support Officer  (Part Time)

SACRAMENT DATES FOR 2024 

TERM ONE: RECONCILIATION

• Parent & Child Reconciliation workshop - (Thursday March 14th 7:00 pm)
• Reconciliation Celebration (Thursday 21st March 7:00 pm @ St Fidelis Church)

TERM TWO : CONFIRMATION

• Parent & Child Confirmation workshop (Tuesday May 21st @7:00pm) 
• Confirmation Celebration (Sunday June 2nd @ 3:00pm) 

TERM THREE: FIRST EUCHARIST 

• Parent & Child First Eucharist workshop (Thursday July 18th @7:00pm) 
• First Eucharist Celebration (Saturday August 3rd @ 6:00pm)

2024 SCHOOL START DATES  FOR STUDENTS 

St Fidelis acknowledges that our school is on the land of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation and pay our respects to their elders, past, present and future.