Principal News

Dear Members of the St Raphael's school community,

In this edition:

• Covid Update
• Pentecost Sunday
• Living together in peace – through the lens of Fratelli Tutti
• Working Together: Effective Communication
• Formative Assessment Research
• Webinar: Supporting Young People

Covid Update

Following advice from the Victorian Chief Health Officer yesterday, the following face mask requirements apply to schools.

• School staff must carry a face mask at all times and wear a face mask indoors when at school, including when attending an Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) program, unless a lawful exception applies.
• Children under 12 years of age and students at primary school are not required to wear face masks when at school, or when attending an OSHC program.
• Teachers and education support staff are not required to wear face masks while teaching, but those who wish to do so, can.
• Visitors and parents must also observe face mask requirements.

Whilst the recommendations do suggest that parents may continue to visit the school we ask parents to refrain from entering the school buildings until further information is collected by the authorities on the extent of the current outbreak.

As a school, we are located in close proximity to some of the known Tier 1 hotspots and we are conscious of keeping everyone in our school community safe. Please only enter the school office if your matter is urgent and a face mask must be worn on entry. 

At this stage, school camps and excursions in both metropolitan and regional Victoria can continue if face mask requirements are followed. This may impact the upcoming Foundation excursion to the Melbourne Zoo next week, however, at this stage, this excursion will continue.

Other school activities can continue with existing COVIDSafe restrictions in place, including interschool sport. There are no changes to existing density rules.

Schools must continue to follow the COVIDSafe principles as outlined in the updated School Operations Guide, reinforcing key behaviours such as staying home when unwell and supporting regular hand hygiene.

As we all know from experience, the situation can change quickly and we ask for your ongoing patience and support.

School Closure Day

Yesterday, the staff participated in a professional development day with a focus on teaching writing with respected literacy expert and educator, Deb Sukarna. The day was held out at Parade College, Bundoora and we thoroughly enjoyed the day in a beautiful environment. It was great to see some of our ex-students who caught up with our staff throughout the day. They are turning into fine young men.

Pentecost Sunday

Last Sunday we celebrated the Feast of Pentecost, one of the great feasts of the Catholic Church.

The Feast of Pentecost is about God’s presence with us. In the story of Pentecost in the Acts of the Apostles, the disciples experienced the Holy Spirit entering each one of them and then drawing them together.

On that day, the first Christian community was born: a community of forgiveness, cultural diversity, sharing, equality, mutual support and benefit, and understanding and trust.

As for every year, Pentecost is an invitation to us to open ourselves to the Holy Spirit living in us and in the world around us – to open ourselves to the Spirit’s ‘prompting and prods’ in our hearts.

Living Together in Peace

Living together in peace – through the lens of Fratelli Tutti

By Helena Goldsmith, Education Officer – Catholic Mission and Identity, Catholic Mission, People and Culture, Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools.

Two celebrations from the past week offer a vision of a ‘promised land’. The International Day of Families (15 May) and the International Day of Living Together in Peace (16 May) urge us to idealise a better, more loving, more compassionate engagement within our human relationships. These are followed by the celebration of Pentecost (23 May) and our response to the Holy Spirit and the apostolic spur to action.

These celebrations are important prompts for us because we live in a world that is not always equitable, peaceful or loving. However, it is also a world where:

Although the wind

blows terribly here,

the moonlight also leaks

between the roof planks

of this ruined house 

(Shikibu circa 10th century, cited in Hirshfield 1990).

Significantly, these days invite us to recognise that even though we often wall up our ‘house’ and might stay dry as a result, we also stay ‘moonless’. We have to let life into our lives, let others into our lives and let the suffering world into our lives. We need to let the light of Christ flood our house – to see, think and respond to the world as people filled with the spirit of Christ.

It is a mission of Catholic schools to see the world from God’s perspective, in all its complexity and need, by educating and forming school communities. This is the world to which the Father sends the Son and it is the world in which the creative, healing and gathering work of the Holy Spirit is always present. Through all our efforts, God is drawn ever more deeply into our world.

Within the great tradition of Catholic social teaching, the corporal and spiritual works of mercy are the starting point, but we can expand and move beyond these principles to achieve the common good.

Fratelli Tutti

In his recent encyclical, Fratelli Tutti (2020), Pope Francis offers suggestions of positive actions we can take, which begin with small steps but have an impact on a larger scale. More importantly, Pope Francis reinforces our freedom to create change and to bring about good – with vision, purpose and faith.

As people of faith, our actions contain joy and possibility because we are collaborators with God. This very Ignatian way of looking at the world with the heart and the intellect (Hanvey 2020) is an ongoing practice that builds our spiritual strength to respond to the deep pull of goodness inside the heart, like moonlight leaking through the planks of a ruined house.

Pope Francis frames the encyclical with the parable of the Good Samaritan from the point of view of Christ, who recognised the face of the ‘other’ and appreciated people for who they were. If Fratelli Tutti is calling us to genuine ‘friendship’, then our approach must be the same – one of open hearts and minds, aware of the fragility and the mystery of the world in which we live.

Inspired by the Spirit of Pentecost, we can contribute to transformative political and economic reform. In the process, we can rediscover what it might be to live in a world at peace with others and also with all life.

In Fratelli Tutti, Pope Francis gives special attention to those who are deliberately or inadvertently excluded because, in God’s world, a humane society will seek to protect and care for the vulnerable and powerless. The Old Testament presents a remarkable vision of God and the society that God wants for us, for example: ‘Justice, and only justice, you shall follow, that you may live and inherit the land that the Lord your God is giving you’ (Deut 16: 20).

One of the most prevalent themes in the Old Testament is God’s concern for the poor, for justice: ‘what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?’ (Mic 6: 8). Furthermore, the obligations of the elite are not to govern only for themselves, or to exploit the poor and the powerless, but to provide for them and defend them: ‘Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, and plead the widow's cause’ (Isa 1: 17). Only in this way will society flourish.

These themes are further explored in the New Testament by Jesus’ actions. In Matthew’s Gospel (8–9), there are a series of healing stories that tell us how Jesus heals all sorts of unclean and excluded people by touching them with transformative love. Jesus’ love and compassion includes everyone, sinner and just person alike, in a reconciled community that heals the wounds. Even those who put Jesus on the cross receive forgiveness (Lk 23: 34).

On fraternity and social friendship

This time of living through the COVID-19 pandemic has helped us to live our faith and social ‘friendship’ in a variety of authentic ways. There has been a real generosity which has come to the surface and that is a grace. Either online or in the daily routines of living and working, we experience the reality of community and are thereby gathered into the presence of God.

Our contemporary culture, whatever some may say, is not a God-free zone. God cannot be excluded because society prefers God’s absence. As educators in Catholic schools, we are missioned to go into our culture confident in the joy of our ability to recognise God’s love for us. This overarching theme of Fratelli Tutti is about finding a way of proceeding to repair a fractured world and to live peacefully together.

In the Spirit of Pentecost, we let the joy of a timeless spiritual truth sink in our hearts: we are loved by God and have received much. Among the gifts we have received is Christ who inspires us to move out of our narrow private realms and respond to urgent public needs. The Spirit of Pentecost is a wellspring that brings peace and hope for a world where all may have life – in abundance.

Working Together through Effective Communication

It is critically important that all communication between parents and the School is open and honest but also respectful and professional to ensure that the children are best supported during their education journey. In the absence of due respect and effective communication, it is difficult for all parties to support your child on their education journey. 

Accordingly, I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate the School’s policies and expectations around behaviour and communication, to ensure that all dealings between parents and the School are conducted respectfully and productively and reiterate the School’s unwavering commitment to upholding these expectations for all. 

I would like to draw your attention to the St Raphael’s Parent Protocol Policy which details the expectations of all members of the school community in maintaining positive and respectful relationships in all manner of dealings with each other.

It is critical that parents who enter school grounds and communicate online, are mindful of their behaviour and respectful of others, and that school staff and students are protected from aggressive behaviour. 

I trust that you understand and accept the Schools firm stance on these issues and that all communications will continue to be undertaken in accordance with these policies.

There has never been a more important time than now to create a culture of respect for schools as core social centres, where families feel a sense of belonging, are welcomed and valued as members of a community that includes their children.

During 2020 we all became small, isolated communities as our extended families were not able to spend time together, adults and children were not able to socialise and the opportunities for nurturing relationships went online, which as we know is not the same as meeting and interacting in person.

While at home, having been asked to support their child's learning while juggling work and other responsibilities, parents were able to be an active partner in their child's learning. They had a connection with the teachers and felt more connected with their children and their daily lives as a student.

However, since a return to onsite school, parents now need to trust that the school will continue to prioritise and nurture your child’s academic, emotional, social and spiritual needs. This is our core responsibility as educators.

Whilst we appreciate that it is only a small minority of parents who behave in a way that is threatening to school staff, unfortunately, there have been increased incidents of verbal, physical and emotional aggression from parents both onsite and online towards school staff across all school sectors. 

In response to this uncharacteristic behaviour, the Acting Victorian Premier, James Merlino, announced on May 4 new legal powers for principals of schools to ban parents from school grounds for up to two years and face possible fines up to $10 000 for unacceptable aggressive behaviour towards school staff. https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/new-laws-make-schools-safer-everyone

As for all workplaces, schools must be safe places for students and staff to effectively learn and work. A recent Worksafe television advertising campaign highlights the need to stop unacceptable behaviours that people are currently experiencing in their workplace and online. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJznJlFgPr8

We remind all parents in our school community that your online comments and behaviours can be used as evidence of unacceptable behaviour. We thank those parents who have recently brought this to our attention and encourage others to call this behaviour out, especially on social media platforms. 

The School encourages any parent who has witnessed derogatory posts, comments or misinformation to take a screenshot and forward directly to: principal@srprestonwest.catholic.edu.au 

This will then be dealt with confidentially and, if required, forwarded to the appropriate authorities.

Leading by example for your children is so important, especially when it comes to developing positive relationships with their teachers and their school. The best lessons you can give children is through your actions, which then means there will be no need for laws to prevent parents from entering school property.

The School would like to take positive steps towards developing strategies and communication guidelines to ensure that we are supporting students and parents moving forward. The first step in this process will be a parent voice forum in the coming weeks where we will engage the services of a communications expert to receive your feedback on how the School can more effectively communicate with our parent community.

We would like to encourage all parents to continue to engage with the school, particularly with teachers, in a positive and respectful manner, so that you are able to continue to be a part of the Catholic community and your child's learning. In response to staff feedback, the parent members of the School Advisory Board developed the Email Communication Guidelines which outline the processes and expectations of email communication between the School and parents.

We also urge all parents to prioritise reading the fortnightly school newsletter. As the main source of communication between the school and home, the school newsletter contains a wealth of information relating to your child’s learning, how you can best support your child’s learning at home, important dates, events, reminders and general information regarding the day-to-day operational management of the school. 

In the coming weeks, there will be an updated School Enrolment Agreement form sent electronically via Operoo. This new School Enrolment Agreement is part of the recent governance changes in Catholic Education throughout Victoria and details the updated terms and conditions of your child’s enrolment in a  Catholic school. This form will need to be read and signed by all new and existing parents as a condition of your child’s ongoing enrolment at St Raphael’s.

We look forward to your ongoing support as we work together to provide your children with the best possible educational opportunities.

Formative Assessment Research

The Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO) has recently published four evidence guides to support teachers' ongoing professional development by summarising key practices that can rapidly improve learning outcomes for students. The first of these articles is on Formative Assessment. 

Formative assessment refers to the variety of methods teachers use to gather and interpret information about student learning as learning is taking place. 

Formative assessment allows teachers to monitor student learning and to adapt their teaching to meet student learning needs. One example of how we gather formative assessment for our children at St Raphael’s is the mathematics pre-test which gives the teachers valuable insights into what the children already know and then what they need to learn. Our staff then work closely with our leading teachers of literacy and numeracy to improve and deepen their understanding and use of formative assessment to ensure that we are meeting the learning needs of every child.

The following article provides an overview of AERO’s formative assessment professional practice and what our teachers are implementing across our school.

Webinar: Supporting Young People

Supporting Young People with mental illness, a guide for families and carers

The Mental Health Foundation of Australia is offering the upcoming webinar on Thursday 27th May from 1pm - 2pm.

Dr Alberto Veloso will be sharing his insights on 'Supporting Young People with mental illness, a guide for families and carers'. This webinar will be a 30-minute presentation followed by 15 minutes of Q & A session. 

If you have any questions in advance for the speaker, please feel free to mention them at the checkout. 

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact  P: 1300 643 287 and E: admin@mhfa.org.au

Register here