From the Principal

Feeling Immensely PROUD!!

This week we had Stephen Russell an independent reviewer spend Monday and Tuesday at our school as part of our whole school review. Stephen is a National Curriculum Services (NCS) allocated reviewer for our St Francis de Sales school review. 

There was a very busy agenda for these two days. Stephen spent this time interviewing the leadership team, all staff, our SRC, Parent representatives from different year levels and Fr Fabian. He also spent a considerable amount of time in the Learning Spaces to see our teaching and learning in action. He was incredibly thorough in his investigations.

Stephen took the time to probe deeper into our evidence in order to verify what progress our school has made since the last review. 

Stephen was incredibly impressed with what he witnessed in the Learning Spaces. He was very complimentary about the extensive planning and preparation our teachers put into their programs. This planning was clearly evident in the quality of the teaching he saw. Stephen loved our learning spaces and the engagement level of our children. He was delighted to speak with our SRC and loved their mature and insightful comments about the school.

Stephen shared slides of his analysis of some of our data and his findings. He told us that we should be very proud and ensure our parents know what great results our school achieves. Stephen was impressed that our results continue to get stronger each year despite factors that for other schools a decline would occur. We value add in a consistent way and he praised the work we do to achieve at such a high performance level. He said we were a very good school with a very good reputation in the area.

Stephen will now write a report about our school. He will return on the 16th October and will be joined by MACS staff. The leadership team will be presented with the report and the recommendations that will form our next School Improvement Plan. This is a dialogue session as we determine the directions for our school. 

It was great working with Stephen. I thank parents, staff and students for their feedback. I look forward to sharing with you the three priorities and focus strategies for our School Improvement, once I receive the report in Term 4.

We definitely feel very affirmed and  PROUD as a staff and leadership team. We are highly motivated to continue to offer the BEST learning opportunities for our students.

Save the date

Preparing for 2026

We are commencing the process of making arrangements for 2026, which also includes budgeting and staffing. It is important that if your child is not returning in 2026 that you notify the school in writing. We encourage you to do this now or as soon as possible. 

Prep Enrolments 

We are pleased to advise you that our school has engaged Semper Dental to provide your children with the opportunity of visiting the dentist at school commencing on Thursday 11 September 2025.  

Semper Dental is a well-respected catholic family business and is a significant provider of oral hygiene education and dental treatment services with programs running in more than 70 schools in greater Melbourne.

The program is available to participating students from all year levels at the school. The basis of this offer will be fully explained in the Semper Dental parent consent forms and in the Semper Dental information flyer.

Semper Dental provides a preventative treatment program involving an oral examination and treatments such as scale, cleaning, fluoride application and fissure seals where necessary. 

Semper Dental will then provide you with a treatment plan for your child following the visit and will inform you if your child requires additional dental care.

Further information and parent consent forms will be sent home via Operoo in coming days. Please complete the consent form to enable your child to participate in 2025.

MACSSIS 2025

Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools – School Improvement Surveys (MACSSIS) are conducted annually for schools in the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne. This year’s MACSSIS window is from Monday 1 September to Friday 19 September 2025.

Throughout each year, we pause to listen to our students, families and staff to gauge how our learning community is travelling. This feedback is invaluable to our progress. 

A significant and formal way in which we engage and gather data is through MACSSIS, the Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools – School Improvement Surveys. 

Each family will receive an email with a link to complete the survey in coming weeks. We encourage our families to participate in this confidential feedback. As a school we evaluate and adjust and change our plans informed by data we gather. MACSSIS data is a key source on information that informs our school improvement and our 2026 Annual Action plans.

Christine White

Principal