Newsletter - Week Seven

Dear Parents and families,

Thank you for the outpouring of support for the Trewella family this week following Emma's passing into new life with Christ. While incredibly sad for everyone, it has been outstanding to see the way the community has drawn together to support Wayne, Hannah, Eliza and Ben and the support people have shown to each other. We are truely blessed with a caring and compassionate culture at St Francis Xavier School and Parish, based on Gospel Values. Emma's funeral will be held at St Francis Xavier Parish on Wednesday 12 June at 10:30am, not 10:00am as incorrectly previously advertised.

Social Outreach Day

On Thursday we held our Social Action Day at St Francis Xavier School. Thank you to the Year Six children and their teachers for the leadership they displayed on the day, organising sessions and workshops for the children from Prep to Year Five. Special thanks to Adriana Bownds for her coordination of this annual event which is usually held in conjunction with our friends from Holy Trinity. In order to support the children, especially those in Ben Trewella's class, we kept the children here at SFX rather than travelling to Holy Trinity. This allowed us to put all our supports around the children, especially the Year Threes. The familiarity of their local environment was a comfort to them. We were also fortunate to be able to engage Kay Lock, our 2018 School Counsellor to support us on the day.

New Principal Appointment

As you will probably have seen on Flexi Buzz yesterday, the process of appointing the new principal has commenced. Fr Michael Sierakowski has assembled a dynamic panel of expert educators, parishioners, parents and others from diverse backgrounds to assist him in this process. Interviews will be conducted early in Term Three and the position will soon be advertised for commencement at the beginning of Term Four. At this time I will be leaving St Francis Xavier to take up the position of Primary Principal at St Joseph’s, Yarra Junction. While I am absolutely thrilled to take on this challenge, it will be with some sadness that I leave this wonderful school and community.

Parent/Student/Teacher Meetings

Our June Interviews are scheduled to be held on Thursday 27 June in the evening and on Friday 28 June during the day. A form will be sent to you via CareMonkey on Tuesday at 7:00am allowing you to book a suitable time. Please remember to leave a 15 minute gap between appointments allowing you time to get from one location to the next and to provide a buffer in the unlikely event that appointments have fallen behind. Out of respect to the person following, staff have been instructed to stick strictly to the 15 minute time allowance and will use a timer to keep things on track. If you require more time, an alternate meeting will need to be scheduled early in Term Three. While there are no formal classes happening on Friday, parents are requested to bring their child to the interview to allow for a three way conversation. It is hoped that this will be a really affirming and constructive process for the children, resulting in the formation of educational goals that will guide their learning throughout Semester Two.

Enrolments

Enrolment offers were sent out to families this week and it appears as though we are looking at two Prep classes in the low to mid 20s. We are thrilled that our school continues to enjoy a good reputation in the community and attract strong enrolments. We are constantly working to improve the educational experience for children and their families at St Francis Xavier and welcome feedback from parents on how we can best do this. There is always a member of our leadership team on Kiss & Drop in the morning and afternoon so please feel free to share your thoughts or just call by for a chat. If you are not around at these times feel free to drop me a line principal@sfxmontmorency.catholic.edu.au or call me on 0425736305.

We are working with our School Advisory Council at the moment to refine our Marketing Plan. We hope this will further strengthen our enrolments and help SFX become the school of first choice for Catholic families in the SFX catchment area and for people of other faiths. Once the Marketing Plan has been finalised, I will report to you on this in the newsletter.

Pupil Free Day - Monday 15 July

A reminder that we will be having a pupil free day on Monday 15 July for the staff to work on aspects of our School Improvement Plan. I will be reporting to you on our progress with this plan early in Term Three, including the initiatives we have undertaken this year and the directions for the remainder of the year.

Parent's Association Fundraising

We would like to thank our Parent's Association for their ongoing support of the resourcing of our curriculum. Several thousand dollars have been made available to assist us in the development of our literacy resources in recent times. We have placed an order for literature to support the teaching of phonics in the Junior classes. Decodable Readers have also been purchased to support the diverse learning needs of our middle school students and we have paid for access to an app to support the use of the Seven Steps to Writing Success approach in Years Three to Six. To find out about this resource click this link: https://www.sevenstepswriting.com/

We are also hoping to use of some Parent's Association funds to enhance the play areas surrounding the new oval and the funding of resources such as goal posts, new fencing, seating and picnic tables. We are also hoping to supplement this with money from sponsorship.

Please check out the Parent's Association tab in this newsletter for information about the upcoming Trivia Night, the major fundraiser for the year. Thanks to the PA for the preparations they are putting into this to make it a terrific fundraiser, but even more importantly, a great community building event.

Infrastructure Improvements

Works are set to commence in the coming days on our new oval, which are significantly funded by the money secured through the Pick My Project State and Local Government initiative in 2018. Works are expected to take six to eight weeks so the project should be completed part way through Term Three. We will keep you posted with progress throughout this project.

We are having a significant section of our fencing on the Eastern boundary of our property replaced this week. The works are being done by Scott Brown, father of Ruby in Yr 3. We are grateful to Scott for offering to do this at a very reasonable price. If you would like to check out Scott's work , click this link: http://tbearsfencinganddecks.blogspot.com/

Working Bee Reminder

A reminder that our Working Bee is coming up on Sunday 16 June. The focus will be the restoration of the deck outside the Year 5/6 Classrooms, adjacent to the tennis courts. This activity is being lead by Eugene Richards, our Works and Maintenance Representative on the School Advisory Council. Stay tuned for a FlexiBuzz from Eugene closer to the date letting you know further details.

Please click the link below to access the Working Bee Signup Sheet.

https://volunteersignup.org/F48LF

Please sign up for all or part of the event.

Thanks to Lisa van Camfort from the Parents Association for getting this online form up and going.

Tuckshop News

Tuckshop Open on Last Day of Term Two