From the Principal

Many Hands Make Lights

It was a perfect sunny day on Saturday and so wonderful to see the many cars that drove into the carpark right on time at 9am to join our last working bee for 2025. The large group of parents came ready and willing to do whatever task was required. In no time, we had teams weeding the veggie garden and others attacking the garden beds around the hall. Mulch was delivered and this was spread with great precision in the community garden. A team took on filling the skip with items that were by the rubbish pen. An enthusiastic group supported by some delighted children took control of topping up the sand pit with new sand. Our chickens will not go wondering off for some time as a new layer of fencing was expertly placed under our current fence. We will look out for chickens getting new escape ideas!! Do not tell them about "The Shawshank Redemption." Jobs we had listed were completed in great spirit. There was even time for some fence repairs and cobwebs dusted off the learning spaces!!!

It was soon time for scrumptious BBQ sausages. Move over BUNNINGS , we have the BEST cooked sausages thanks to Gail and Melissa. We all enjoyed the time to admire our work, have a chat while enjoying a drink and a sausage or two. Thank you to the sensational group of parents who did an amazing job and had our school looking beautiful. You are all STARS!!

School Fees for 2026

At St. Francis de Sales Primary School, our primary focus is for every child to flourish. We are proud of the high achieving results we achieve. To continue providing the high-quality education and supportive environment your children deserve, we must maintain a strong financial foundation capable of adapting to increasing costs across many areas of our school operations, as well as a changing, broader education sector funding environment.

Catholic schools obtain 80% of their funding from Federal and State Governments. This funding is determined by parents Capacity to Contribute (CTC). Parent income for a school determines a score Direct Measure of Income (DMI). The DMI is a method that uses a school's parent or guardian median income to calculate its CTC score, which then affects the amount of base recurrent funding the school receives from the government. The DMI score for St Francis de Sales is 97 which places us close to the middle of the range of scores, which is a good place to be. The balance 20% of funds is collected by school fees and levies.

At St Francis de Sales we have kept these fees  and levies low compared to other like schools with similar DMI scores. We have had moderate increases of fees and levies to keep up with rising costs of running a school. Behind the scenes as with household income we are prudent with our spending and ensure it is well targeted to student programs and school improvements. Careful cost management and how we set school fees  are central to efficiently managing the costs of operating our school.

We are also paying off four loans on our school buildings. Archdiocese of Melbourne Supplementary Capital Fund (SCF) Established in 2000,  has provided loan assistance and continues to do so to our school. In 2022 we were successful in getting a SCF allocation of $4M to build our hall. An SCF allocation is not a grant, but is financial assistance for the annual capital repayment on a capital loan. In addition, to the SCF annual allocation, a capital levy has been paid by each family since the school commenced. This levy has remained unchanged for several years despite extra capital works but has needed to be adjusted for 2026. 

Until now Catholic schools in Melbourne have had one family fee no matter how many children are in the family. So this means that a family with one child at the school pays the same fee as if there were three children at the school.

Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS) has analysed other Catholic school systems, sought information from over 50 of our schools, and gathered input from economic experts assessing our current fee model - where families pay the same flat tuition fee no matter how many children they have enrolled - against alternatives.

The recommendation is to move to a tiered family fee.

With a tiered family fee model, the total fee a family pays are adjusted according to how many children they have enrolled at the school.

Tiered family fees has the following benefits:

• Fairness – It ensures that school fees are distributed more equitably across families, with each child’s enrolment contributing to the resources and opportunities they receive.
• Sustainability – It allows the school to continue meeting rising costs and to invest in high-quality programs, staffing, and facilities for all students.

• Consistency – It is in line with the common practice across most Catholic schools, which helps provide clarity and transparency for families. This model is proven and currently already used by many MACS schools.

   

What a tiered family fee means for families at our school

Our school will be moving to tiered family fees beginning in the 2026 school year. Our school fees will still remain lower than other schools with similar DMI.

The 2026 family fee for an additional child will be $10 more.

• The Family Fee for 1 child is $1825
• The family Fee for  2 children is $1835
• The family fee for 3 children is $1845 

The increase of the adjustment for family size has been designed to be manageable.

As in previous years, 2026 levies reflect an increase in costs in some areas to reflect cost increase of goods and services. e.g excursions, stationary.

Please see the table below: 

Discounts for participating in 2 X 3 hr Working Bees or paying fees in full in Term 1 will still apply.

Our commitment to supporting you

A decision to adjust tuition fees is never made lightly, nor without careful and thorough consideration of our students’ needs and our school’s capacity to provide excellent educational experience. 

We are also cognisant of the financial pressures that many families have experienced this year. Please be assured that all existing arrangements and discounts for families holding valid cards (including Health Care Card) will continue and we will work compassionately with any family experiencing financial difficulty.

We are here to answer any questions you may have, and I warmly invite you to contact me directly to discuss your family's specific circumstances. My email is principal@sfslynbrook.catholic.edu.au or please call 87736700 or come and see me. We are committed to supporting you and child/children attending St Francis de Sales, Lynbrook.

Class Placements for 2026

Our teachers have commenced the complex tasks of deciding class placement of students for 2026. Thus it is important that you have informed the school if your child will not be returning before we commence the task of placement. Please email principal@sfslynbrook.catholic.edu.au to inform us of your plans at your earliest convenience. We would appreciate an email by Friday 24th October or earlier if this has already been decided.

Teachers consider a number of factors when developing preliminary Learning Space and Home Group lists. They consider academic ability; special skills, needs and talents; social competencies; students who work well together and students who may not work well together. Skills needed for building new relationships are also an important part of our educative process. Our children will get asked to name three friends and we will consider their requests and place them with at least one friend in their learning space. 

Parent input based strictly on student learning needs, is also considered.

Parents who have specific concerns about their child's learning needs for 2026, are invited to provide written information via email to the principal. Please be aware that parent request for particular teachers will not be accepted.  Please email principal@sfslynbrook.catholic.edu.au by 3pm Friday 24th October 2025.  

A request is taken into consideration with other factors but is not guaranteed. Please note that we are not able to consider information received after the 24/10/2025, as once class list are made up they are extremely difficult, if not impossible to change. 

The ultimate responsibility for student teacher allocation rests with the Principal. Our school processes are most comprehensive and professional with decisions always made in the best interest of our students.

Parents will be informed about their child's Home Group Teacher in the Semester two report in December. Students will meet their Home Group teacher for 2026 on Tuesday 16 December at our whole school orientation morning.

School Uniform

In Term 4, we move to wearing our summer uniform. Children are reminded to wear a hat when playing out side and add sun cream to protect them from harmful UV rays. The P&F have a second hand uniform shop that is available at school and open on Thursday mornings or afternoons. All items are $5 and support the P&F fundraising for the school. Alternatively new items of uniform can be purchased from Beleza in Hallam.

Getting children to school and home safely is everyone’s job!

• Think before you park, drive, drop off and pick up.
• Be careful around schools, follow signs and obey the road rules.
• Slow down and be alert! Children can be unpredictable.
• DO NOT reverse on to nature strips. 
• Be respectful of our neighboring properties.

Christine White

Principal