Welcome

Dear members of the St Raphael's school community,

School Closure Day

A reminder that the school will be closed on Monday 6th November.

Chris Daicos Parent Information Session

Thank you to the parents who attended last night's parent information session with Chris Daicos. The feedback has been extremely positive and we hope that the parents who attended received some valuable advice and tips on the difficult job of bringing up children in today's world.

Absolutely Brilliant !!!!! Not only did Christine manage to engage the entire audience, her presentation was able to resonate with all of us. I write this as a pledge to push myself, even if uncomfortable as to model behaviours and encourage my own children to give it a go. This willingness to try new things assists them in building their own self worth and arms them with skills to combat life's challenges.Chris is an amazing speaker and I would love the opportunity to participate in another of her workshops. A very big thank you to the staff that organised for such a fantastic speaker to attend our school, it is really appreciated, I got so much from it. Thank you.

Last night's speaker was great and very informative for parents . Thank you so much for organising it.

Biggest "take away" points for me from last night:

Let them fail... Give them the opportunity to do so... And then support them trough it... Success doesn't come from not failing... it comes from trying - over and over again.

Loved the session - all so logical and relevant... sometimes I/we just need reminding!

A fast-paced articulate survey of what matters most in building resilience in modern kids and how to add to your tool set all delivered with hilarious wit and numerous all too familiar examples - lighten up and remember, if they can work a mobile phone, the dishwasher and washing machine are a snap - get them involved in making home life work and reducing screen time - good enough is perfect - 3D FaceTime with listening focus pays dividends - teach them to problem solve

What a great night! Chris Daicos’ information session should be promoted as part education, part stand-up comedy. Her positive delivery, masterful storytelling and common sense approach left me feeling uplifted, inspired and ready to get my kids to unpack the dishwasher! Thank you for organising such a delightful speaker.

I found Chris' presentation so captivating, insightful and real, it left me in stitches. It was so refreshing to confirm that a little tough love and a little failure can lead to great success. I will definitely put in place the processes that Chris has suggested so that my girls can grow up to be independent and resilient young women.

If you would like more information or advice on parenting in today's world please visit The Family Peace Foundation: https://familypeace.org.au/

What a Great Night!

What a fabulous night last Friday evening at the Bushdance - "The Country Comes to the City". The children loved the animal farm, pony rides and whip cracking demonstrations. The bush dance was so much fun and it was great to see the children participating in the dances they had learnt at school in the Phys-Ed program. It was also wonderful to see children, parents and teachers all up dancing together.

A big thanks to Annie McNaughton for co-ordinating and teaching the children the bush dances. Thank you to the wonderful band, The Bushwackers; to the staff who gave so generously of their time once again to support the children's learning; and to Chris Young who always donates the wonderful sound and lighting to our school events. All of these events could not happen without the generous support of these people.

The best dressed prizes went to the following:

Student: Aaliyah Fernadez who rode into school on an inflatable horse

Family: the Talarico family for their outfits

Thanks to the people who donated raffle prizes on the night - Annie McNaughton's husband, Norm, for the log splitter, blower vacs and bench saw and to Simon Colosimo for the Nike soccer ball.

1st Prize: Log Splitter (valued at $300): Eboli Family (Valentina FS)

2nd Prize: Bluestone Restaurant Voucher for two (valued at $200): Fahkry Family (Sienna 3/4M & Bruno 5/6R)

3rd Prize: Table Saw (valued at $100) Villela Family (Sabine FS)

4th Prize: Fifa Quality Pro Nike Premier Team Soccer Ball (valued at $80): Varvarigos family

5th Prize: 2 x tickets to the St Raphael's Comedy Night (valued at $70): Urli Family (James 1/2M & Nathan 5/6B)

6th Prize: Blower Vac (valued at $50): Villella Family (Veronica 3/4E and Antonio 1/2M)

Uniform Changes

Over the last 18 months there has been a large amount of work behind the scenes on the reputation and branding of our school. The school engaged an international educational marketing expert, Dr. Stephen Holmes, to work with our school's leadership team to identify aspects of our school which are unique and are a point of difference when compared to local government and Catholic schools.

Last year we worked on developing the brand and reputation of St Raphael's. This was achieved with the input of members of our staff, students and School Education Board. Last year we created a new promotional video to celebrate the initiatives and programs we offer in our school; local advertising and signage for school open days and community events throughout Preston; developed a shared vision for what we believe our school is - progressive, engaging and comprehensive; school uniform review; and the beautification of our school grounds and play areas.

One of the significant discussions was around our reputation as a school and how we can continue to celebrate 81 years of St Raphael's education.

The St Raphael's formal school jumper carries the colours of our school - Green, Purple and Gold. These colours were chosen by the founding Good Samaritan Sisters. We are proud of this heritage and endeavour to carry on that proud tradition. Around 10 years ago the current gold polo shirts, girls winter tunics, blue and white check summer dresses were introduced to replace the old uniform of green and white checked summer dresses and grey school shirts for the boys.

This decision has been made over an extended period of time and in consultation with staff, members of the SEB and the parent volunteers who do a fabulous job sourcing quality uniforms and providing the uniform shop service. These Uniform Shop volunteers are also your parent representatives who have helped source quality new items of clothing and maintained the costs to ensure there is not an extra financial burden on parents. The two year transition period is the standard amount of time that most schools take when changing aspects of the school uniform. Once again, this timeframe was decided in consultation with the parent representatives from the Uniform Shop. We will review this transition in 2019.

The new uniform is now available for purchase from the Uniform Shop.

We are confident that this subtle change will make our children really stand out in the crowd and be proud to carry on the tradition of St Raphael's Catholic Primary School, West Preston.

Parent ICT Information Session Postponed

With such a busy term we have decided to postpone the upcoming ICT Cybersafety Parent information Session scheduled for Wednesday 8th November until early in the new year.

We thank you for your understanding.

Comedy Night

A reminder to all parents to come along and support the upcoming Comedy Night in our school hall on Friday 17th November. This night is for adults only and is a great way to meet other parents in our school community and enjoy some great comedy.

Tickets are still available at: http://comedyforacause.net/tc-events/str/

Uniform Shop

Open Days for Term 4 / 2017