Principal's Report
Literacy Evening
I would like to congratulate Mrs Margy D'Rozario and Mrs Irene Greenway our Literacy leaders, for an outstanding evening on Tuesday. We had over 50 families in the hall and it was a very informative session for all. The session included information about the way we teach Literacy at St. Finbar's and an introduction to the programs we use - VCOP, SMART Spelling and our Phonics Program.
Upcoming School Closure Days
Please note that the following days are official school closure days:
Friday 6th March - Staff Professional Development in SMART Spelling
Monday 9th March - Labour Day Public Holiday.
The St. Finbar's Out of School Hours Care program is available to families on Friday 6th March. Please refer to the Outside School Hours Care page in this newsletter for more information.
Working Party
In previous newsletters I have asked for volunteers to form a working party to review our girls summer uniform options. If you are interested please contact me directly at school by the end of next week (13th March) to be a part of this important group. Kate MacKenzie our Board Chairperson and Tiffany Clark our P & F President are also available to contact should you have any queries.
Mobile Phones and Smart Watches
I have noticed that there has been a recent influx of Mobile Phones and Smart Watches with our students. I would like to remind all families that our school policy is that all phones and mobile devices, including smart watches, MUST be given to the classroom teacher at the start of each day and can be collected at the end of the day. These devices can become an unnecessary distraction during the day and also an expensive exercise if they become lost or broken. No responsibility is accepted by the school for lost or damaged devices.
Open Days
The first open day for the year was held today, and I received a lot of complimentary feedback on how wonderful our school is. The feedback was focused on how inviting our classrooms are and how respectful our students are. St. Finbar's School is in high demand in the Brighton / Brighton East / Bentleigh / McKinnon community! Special thanks to our wonderful Year 6 students who were our tour guides today.
Our next open days are scheduled for:
Thursday 12th March
Wednesday 25th March
Monday 20th April
(Or by appointment)
All sessions will be from 9:00am – 11:00am
Sibling Enrolments for Prep 2021
I believe I now have all of the sibling enrolments for 2021 and have booked in interviews. We currently have 25 siblings enrolled for next year. This means we have approximately 25-27 places to offer to new families. If there are any late sibling enrolments in our community for Prep 2021 can I please ask that they are sent to the office ASAP as I would not like any current families to miss out on a place next year.
National Walk/Ride to School Day
This year St. Finbar's will be participating in the National Walk/Ride to school day on Friday 13th March. All we ask is that, if possible, all St. Finbar's Families walk or ride to school on this day. The Year 6 SRC Captains will be distributing Special stickers at the Wallen St. Gate on this morning and will conduct a school wide survey to collect data. We have been an official part of this program for 4 years and have been able to attract special funding for our bike shed 2 years ago ($5,000.00). Don't forget to use the tag on system on this day to assist with our data collection.
School Uniform Shop
I would like to acknowledge the amazing work of Mrs Liesl Willcocks over the past year and a half in our school uniform shop. Liesl has decided to focus on her role as a Learning Support Officer (LSO) at school and I am pleased to announce that Mrs Catherine Davies-Gray will be taking over the management of the Uniform shop from this week. Catherine will also be taking on some LSO duties at St. Finbar's during the year.
The hours of opening will remain the same:
Monday - 8:30am - 9:00am,
Wednesday - 8:30am - 9:00am
Friday - 3:00pm - 4:00pm
Online orders are available as usual as well.
School Athletics & House Banners
Our annual School Athletics Carnival is scheduled for next Friday 13th March. Who will be our winning house this year!?!
Special thanks to Yvette for organising our fabulous new house banners at the end of last year! The sports captains and I enjoyed working out how to assemble them! :)
St. Finbar's Football Jumper
The results are in and it is a landslide victory for the Blue and Green option! Thanks to everyone for your input to this important decision. Special thanks to Alan Contreras for organising this for us.
Annual Principals Conference
Next week from Wednesday 11th March to Friday 13th March I will be attending the annual South Central Catholic Primary School Principal's Conference. In my absence, Mrs Cathy Ferrari and Ms Michelle Hill will be Co-Acting Principals. Both Michelle and Cathy have my full support and gratitude to take on this role.
God Bless,
Pat Berlingeri
Principal