Principal's Report
Saint Francis Xavier - Principal's Report
Term 4 - Week 4
Dear Parents and Friends of St Francis Xavier,
Staff Farewells
It is around this time where news starts to come through of staff who will be leaving us at the end of the year. Sadly for us at S.F.X, we have three staff members who will be leaving us at the end of 2022.
Miss Naomi, Miss Judy and Miss Ella will all be leaving S.F.X at the end of the year.
Just about every family in the school will have had the privilege of dealing with Miss Naomi over the years. Naomi has held the role of Learning Diversity and Wellbeing Leader at St Francis Xavier for the past 6 years and prior to this, had been a classroom teacher in various levels throughout the school. It is hard to put into words the impact Naomi has had on our entire school. She has provided her knowledge, guidance and wisdom to support the social, emotional and academic development of so many students and their families. Naomi has been a simply outstanding Learning Diversity Leader and we wish her all the best with her future endeavours. I am extremely pleased however, to announce that Miss Erin will be taking over the Learning Diversity Leader from the beginning of 2023.
Miss Judy has decided that now is the right time to enjoy a well-earned retirement. Judy has worked at S.F.X since 2004 and like Miss Naomi, has had such a huge impact on our school community over the years. In her time at S.F.X, Judy has been a classroom teacher across various year levels, was the school Education in Faith leader, music teacher and choir leader. Judy, along with her unbelievably talented family, also regularly provided the live music at Sacramental celebrations each year. I wish to thank Judy for everything she has done for our school community. Now for a happy and relaxing retirement - it is certainly well-deserved!
Finally, I would like to thank Miss Ella for the contribution she has made to our school as an outstanding Learning Support Officer. Although Ella has only been with us for one year, she has been a breath of fresh air working in our Grade 1/2 area. The staff and students have all greatly benefited from Ella's expertise, calm manner and ability to respond to the individual needs of our young learners. Best wishes in the future Ella and thank you for your work at S.F.X in 2022.
Walk for Epilepsy Day
Thank you to all the students who wore a splash of purple on Tuesday afternoon to celebrate our 'Walk for Epilepsy' day.
I would like to mention how proud our staff were of Harper (Grade 4), who addressed the whole school just before our Beauty Park walk. With the help of her wonderful family, friends, Miss Naomi and Miss Becc, Harper put together a video which provided an insight to our students on what it is like living with Epilepsy. Despite the challenges Harper faces and the impact epilepsy has on her day to day life, her resilience, spirit, courage and positivity continue to be an inspiration for us all.
Cooking Club
I wanted to share some photos with our school community of our amazing cooking club. Led by Miss Becc, this group of students come together each week to cook some delicious, mostly healthy snacks.
The teamwork, communication and positivity that is present in every one of these sessions is an absolute joy to watch. It is also a pleasant surprise when on the odd occassion, extra food is cooked and some of the teachers get to sample the finished product. This week, Father Chinua couldn't help but to sample some of the kids potato and sweet potato fries!
School Playground Update
Although the weather has unfortunately pushed back the expected finish time of our new junior playground, slowly but surely work is progressing. As you can see in the photo below, eating time in the Prep-2 classrooms often sees the workman draw a crowd of potential 'future tradies', who love nothing more than watching how everything is coming together.
Although the weather for the next week looks average according the forecast, we are still hopeful that a November opening is achievable. I look forward to welcoming all our families to pop in and visit what is going to be an outstanding playground/ outdoor learning space.
Collection of students after 3:30pm
Could I please remind families that students need to be collected from the Green Gates as close to 3:15pm as possible. Although a teacher is timetabled to supervise the area until 3:30pm, we are finding that a large number of students are being collected between 3:30pm and 3:45pm. This is simply too late. It is causing staff to arrive up to 15 minutes late to staff meetings due to having to supervise students who have not been collected on time.
If you cannot collect your children before 3:30pm, then please contact Camp Australia to organise after school supervision.
Also, I would like to remind families of the importance of having students arrive at school no later than 8:40am. Over the past 2 weeks, we are averaging 15 late passes every morning. This is extremely disruptive for both the learning of these students and their classmates. If you are arriving to school late on a regular basis, please have a look at your morning routine and see if there is a way you can speed things up to ensure your child/ren are able to enter through the Green Gates and line up with their class each morning.
School Fees
Just a reminder that School fees need to be paid in full by the end of November please.
The fees structure for 2023 will also be communicated in the next newsletter
Not Returning to St Francis Xavier in 2023?
If you are not returning to St Francis Xavier next year, could you please let us know in writing as soon as possible? This will help us as we begin to make plans for the 2023 school year. Thank you.
Student Free Day Monday + Tuesday
As has been the case for many years now, the Monday before the Melbourne Cup is a student-free day at school.
Tuesday is a Public Holiday for the Melbourne Cup.
This means that next week is only a 3-day week for students (Wednesday - Friday)
Have a fantastic 4-day weekend everyone!
Steve Peart
School Principal