From the Principal
Igniting the Mind
Our learning philosophy has ensured we are a high performing school and our recent NAPLAN results which were the BEST in our local area, placing us in the top 25% of Victorian schools, confirms we are successful.
At St Francis de Sales we have always held the child at the center of all that we do. It is our purpose and our goal to equip all learners with the skills, dispositions and attributes that will genuinely enable every learner at St Francis de Sales, to step with confidence, not only into the future, but also into the now. Our staff target learning so that it is tailored to each child's point of need. Learning is not meaningless repetition or one size fits all. Children are engaged in productive, timely and important learning and are not wasting precious learning time doing something that is too easy or too hard.
“Children are always throwing out sparks of knowledge, curiosity, and inquiry and adults must be ready to catch those sparks. When the children are investigating and researching….this is what is like, little tiny sparks. You have to be ready to catch them as a teacher and blow on them to encourage them to grow bigger and ignite them further.”
Annalisa Rabotti, an educator in Reggio Emilia
At St Francis de Sales, we fuel the sparks and ignite the minds of our children across our curriculum by the experiences provided, the questions asked and the critical thinking tools utilised to depth discovery. The opportunities for children to explore their interests and be co-designers in the inquiry process leads to deep not shallow learning and understanding. We support our students to go further, apply their learning and to take action that make a difference. We ignite and fan the fire so that our students
- Increase their ability to deal with change & innovation
- Learn multiple processes
- Think and solve problems differently
- Enhance collaboration skills & ideas
- Feel more confident in creating.
As we head into the second half of this term, we invite you to share in your child’s learning journey at St Francis de Sales. Engage in dialogue with your children and with our teachers. There are many ways we are amplifying our communication. Take up the opportunities. When parents engage in partnership with the school even in a small way, they can make a profound difference to their child's learning. At the end of this term there will be an opportunity to attend a Parent /Teacher interview. Take the time to visit the school and engage with us about your child. Save the date 29th March 2023.
Prep Welcome Supper
To celebrate our Preps first FULL week at school, we held a 'Prep Supper' on Tuesday 28th February before the Junior Reading evening. This was a great opportunity for staff and parents to catch up in a relaxed atmosphere. It was a great time to chat and really get to know each other. We warmly, welcome our new Prep families to our school community and look forward to getting to know them more and more in the years ahead.
This was a very successful evening. It was a buzz of sharing, eating, drinking, fun and laughs.
Junior Reading Night
It was great to see so many parents attend our Junior Reading Night on Tuesday 28 February. Thank you for engaging with us to learn about your child's current reading level and ways you can help their reading development. We appreciate you taking the time. Thanks also to our teachers for all their time and effort to prepare resources and organising this event. We are so fortunate to have such a professional team. Extra BIG thanks to Joanna our Learning & Teaching Leader, for her meticulous attention to every detail to ensure the evening was a great success.
Enrol Now for Prep 2024 at St Francis de Sales
If you have a child (sibling) due to start school in 2024, please submit your enrolment application by Friday 17 March 2023. Thanks to the many parents who have already submitted their application.
We will be completing interviews for siblings wishing to commence school at St Francis de Sales in 2024 this term. Earlier than previous years.
Please inform neighbours and friends who will have a child eligible to start school in 2024 to book a tour. We have tours nearly every morning at 9 am. We will be commencing interviews for new families at the start of Term 2.
Help promote our school and share stories of the great learning and extra curricula opportunities we provide.
Word of mouth stories about our great school community is the BEST promotion.
Building Update
Work has commenced on the kitchen cabinets!!
The ply for the walls got delivered on Wednesday.
Next week their will be a detour on Paterson Drive between 9:30am and 2:30pm for drainage works. The interruption to traffic will be outside of school hours so most families should not be impacted. The works will be completed by the 24 March.
St Patrick's Day - 17th March 2023
Wear a touch of GREEN!
Regards,
Christine White
Principal