From the Principal
Celebrating Our Catholic Schools!
Forming lives – Catholic education seeks to provide the young with the best kind of education possible, one that fosters a formation of the whole person that is deeply and enduringly humanising.
Faith, hope and love – Catholic education forms individuals with more than just skills, but with the virtues to live life as transformative agents in our communities. By cultivating a maturing of faith and the intellectual life through the modelling of good relationships, Catholic students are prepared for living fruitfully in the world.
In the light of Jesus Christ – Christ is our inspiration, the very life of our purpose as Catholic educators. Everything we do is illuminated by this.
This is the purpose of the MACS 2030 Strategy and one that we embrace at St Francis de Sales. We certainly are a high performing school, our results support this but we are far more as a Catholic school we want our children to be transformative agents in the community, to walk in the light of Christ and make a positive difference in the world around them.
On a fortnightly basis, Angela and I meet with each one of our planning teams to discuss the way the unit of inquiry and Religious Education is progressing. We look at the way children are making meaningful connections between their life and their faith. We discuss the way forward so that we have team clarity and so that the teachers can plan meaningful engaging tasks. This dialogue is robust and rich. I am so impressed with the work of both our teachers and our students this term. As we get closer to Holy Week and reflect on our Lenten journey, we can be proud of our actions to make a difference and walk in the light. Maybe you may be alert to little acts of kindness by your children being amplified. If you do notice, it would be great if you can give them some positive affirmation if they made your day. Together we can celebrate Catholic Education and the way our children are learning and growing.
As one in Faith we Learn and Grow
Enrol Now for Prep 2024
Please submit your enrolment application for a sibling by Friday 17 March 2023.
Interviews for siblings to commence school in 2024 will take place in April, Term 1.
Please inform neighbours and friends who will have a child eligible to start school in 2024 to book a tour.
Word of mouth stories about our great school community is the BEST promotion.
St Patrick's Day
Catholic Education Week was celebrated in a big way at St Francis de Sales on Friday 17th March - St Patrick's Day. We were all dressed in green or at least had a touch of green. We had 10 Year 6 students who were accompanied by Rozetta and Ursula represent our school at the Catholic Education Week Mass at St Patrick's Cathedral. They were also able to attend the concert in the park after the Mass. Thanks to: Samarrah , Reyon, Charisma, Pudamsee, Livinia, Michaela, Denis, Joshua, Stanford and Lucas for being great ambassadors and senior leaders representing our school at the celebrations in Melbourne.
Children back at school watched some of the Mass live and were amazed to see the beautiful cathedral packed full of so many students from around Melbourne Archdiocese. We had children's art work on display at the Catholic Schools Art Show. Our juniors were able to participate in the Positive start shadow puppetry workshop. It was a great day.
It was great to see everyone get into the spirit if the day by wearing a splash of GREEN!
Happy St Patrick's Day!!!!
Naplan
Our Year 3 and 5 students have completed the first two of four Naplan tests. This week they completed the Writing test on Wednesday 15 March. The Year 3's completed this on paper, while the Year 5 student's did it online. On Thursday both Year 3 and Year 5 students did the adaptive test online.
In 2023, all schools have transitioned from paper-based to computer-based assessments. Online NAPLAN tests provide more precise results and are more engaging for students. One of the main benefits is tailored (or adaptive) testing, where the test presents questions which may be more or less difficult depending on a student’s responses. Tailored testing allows a wider range of student abilities to be assessed and measures student achievement more precisely. A student’s overall NAPLAN result is based on both the number and complexity of questions they answer correctly. Children should not be concerned if they find questions challenging; they may be taking a more complex test pathway.
NAPLAN tests are one aspect of each school’s assessment and reporting process, and do not replace the extensive, ongoing assessments made by teachers about each student’s performance.
We are very pleased with the way our students embraced the challenge of this testing process and participated to the best of their ability. Well done to all. Next week our students complete the Conventions of Writing and Numeracy Tests.
Results will arrive earlier this year, so they can be used to support learning for Semester 2. This year new proficiency standards with 4 levels of achievement for each year level will replace the previous 10-band structure that covered all 4 levels tested and the old national minimum standard set in 2008 when tests were on paper. The 4 levels of achievement are:
Exceeding
Strong
Developing
Needs additional support.
The new proficiency standards include a baseline benchmark to identify students who are likely to need additional support. Further information about NAPLAN can be found on the website: www.naplan.edu.au.
Website
We are in the process of updating our School Website. The new website will have easy access to electronic forms to enrol or book a tour. We are in the process of training currently and we look forward to launching our new platform in coming weeks.
Happy St Patrick's Day
Regards,
Christine White
Principal