Dear Families,

Thank you for your support over the last couple of weeks.

We have been involved in many events that have either required your attendance or creative support.

Feast Days

Our school community celebrated the following Feast Days with Father Justel and our Parish community.

St Mary of the Cross MacKillop (Thursday 8th August)
The Assumption (Thursday 15th August)

At each of these celebrations our school choir sang, students read and some were altar servers. It is wonderful to see our stduents being active participants in our Masses.

Confirmation

Our Senior students are continuing to prepare to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation. Each candidate attended a weekend Commitment Mass last Saturday/Sunday. At the end of the Mass Father Justel invited the stduents up to the altar to make their commitment in front of the congregation and receive a medal. This medal ws blessed and the students will wear this when they receive the Sacrament on Friday 23rd August at 5pm.

The candiddates are participating in their Reflection Day today.

Please keep these students and their families in your prayers this week.

A Prayer for the Confirmation Candidates

God our Father,

We thank you for our young people who are preparing for the Sacrament of Confirmation. You call each one of them by name and promise that whatever happens in their lives,

you will be with them always.

We pray that this journey to Confirmation will be an opportunity for them to deepen their faith and renew their hope in you so that your love may shine through them to the world. Send your Holy Spirit upon them to be their helper and guide.

Give them the spirit of wisdom and understanding,

the spirit of right judgement and courage,

the spirit of knowledge and reverence.

Fill them with the spirit of wonder and awe in your presence.

We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Promising News

Holy Family embarked on a process of continuing to improve our teaching and learning in 2023 and this has been extended to all classes in 2024.

Our focus has been around researching the Science of Learning and Reading, implementing behaviour and learning routines and evidence based teaching practices such as Explicit Direct Instruction (EDI).

In recent days there have been articles around NAPLAN results and high impact teaching strategies. I have included one of the articles below.

NAPLAN results confirm St Michael's Primary Kaleen is making big learning strides with high-impact teaching

17 August 2024 | Ian Bushnell

St Michael’s Primary School Kaleen principal Judy Egan reads with students. The school is posting impressive results with the Catholic system’s Catalyst program.

A small Catholic school in Kaleen has posted impressive results in the latest NAPLAN testing, supporting the value of its adoption of high-impact teaching methods in 2021.

St Michael’s Primary School may not be Catholic Education’s top performer but its consistent improvement since implementing the Catalyst teaching program shows what is possible.

Principal Judy Egan is particularly proud of her school’s reading scores in this week’s NAPLAN results.

In year 3 reading, 87 per cent of students achieved Strong or Exceeding, exceeding the ACT average by 16 per cent. Year 5 was similar at 86 per cent for both categories, beating the ACT average by 8 per cent.

In both years, no students were deemed as Needing Additional Support, compared with 5.5 per cent of ACT students, on average, who were in this category.

Ms Egan said St Michael’s introduced the Catalyst program in 2021, displaying learning goals, bringing in coaches for teachers, and deploying evidence-based practice in the classroom, including explicit instruction and methods based on the science of reading and learning.

She said Explicit Direct Teaching and decoding, including phonics, had turned around reading outcomes from the previous whole-language approach.

School Advisory Council Meeting

Our School Advisory Council met last Wednesday night.

Some of the key issues we discussed were -

2025 School Fees (further information to follow)
2025 Capital Levy (further information to follow)
2025 Year 3 Chromebook purchasing options (further information to follow)
Grant Feedback
International Students
2025 Classes
Parent Curriculum Evenings in Term 3 and 4
Staff Professional Learning
Holy Family Tier 2 Intervention programs in Reading and Mathematics
Student Achievements (Mini Vinnies - Science Extravaganza, RoboCup Junior and sporting events)
Community Connections (Avila College - Book Buddies, Nursing Home visits and Kindergarten visits)

Capital Grant Feedback

As I mentioned at our SAC Meeting last Wednesday Holy Family was once again unsuccessful in obtaining a Federal Government Grant to improve our facilities.

Over the last week I have had meetings with Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS), Victorian Catholic Education Authority (VCEA) and Catholic Capital Grants (CCG) to obtain feedback on why our school was unsuccessful.

Feedback I received was that our project outcomes and readiness was 'perfect' and the condition of our school was classed 'medium' (I have requested a site inspection).

I will continue to apply for grants until we are successful.

Book Week

The theme for Book Week this is 'Reading is Magic'. All students and students had heaps of fun dressing up as either their favourite book character or as a magical character. I am always amazed at the creativity of our staff and families for these special community events. Many thanks to Mrs Standfield for organising a great week of activities.

Science Extravaganza

What an afternoon!

Congratulations to our Year 4 Mini Vinnies Team for organsing and running such a successful event. Thank you to Miss Lark and our parents for supporting our students during the event.

A BIG thank you to Avila College for providing Holy Family with the use of their VR headsets and robots.

$2,262.60 was raised to support the work of the Mount Waverley St Vincent de Paul Conference and support people in need in our community.

Year 5/6 Camp

The excitement is building in our Senior Classes as they prepare for their camp at Alexandra Adventure Resort next week.

Miss King has already carried out a site visit to ensure that this experience can be successful for all staff and students attending.

Bully No Way Day- Friday 13th September

If there are any families who would like to donate packets of orange jelly for this day, please send to the office.

Professional Learning

Our staff continue to lead by example by participating in the following Professional Learning this term .

Catholic Social Teaching
First Nations Spirituality
Daily Reviews (Maths and Spelling)
Engagement Norms (Maths and Spelling)
Effective Peer Feedback (Maths and Spelling)
Gesturing (Maths and Spelling)
Knowledge Based Curriculum
UFLI (Spelling Prep-Year 2)
PhOrMeS (Word Reading and Spelling Year 3-6)

Biggest Parent/Carer Community Event of 2024

Don't forget to purchase your tickets for our Trivia Night on Saturday 31st August . This event is a wonderful opportunity for the adults in our community to get together and have fun!

To join in the fun please purchase your tickets and arrive in summer/beach gear (sunhat, sunglasses, zinc, beach towel, ..)

You can purchase tickets using the following link https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1249222

You can donate prizes via the link below

https://volunteersignup.org/DW4XP

Father's Day

Our school community wishes all the men in our Holy Family family a wonderful day on Sunday 1st September. Thank you for the love, care and support that you share with your families.

Heavenly Father,

Bless all fathers and grandfathers as they care for their families.

Give them strength and wisdom,

tenderness and patience,

give them ability to love in a way that reflects your love.

Support them in the work they have to do,

protecting those who look to them,

as we look to you for love and salvation.

Help us to love them in a way that would bring honor to You and them.

Bless and heal all those wounded by the imperfections of their fathers and grant an eternal rest to our fathers you have called from this life to yourself, through Jesus Christ Lord.

Amen

Father's Day Stall

On Friday 30th August our Parents and Friends Committee are holding a Father's Day Stall for all students to purchase a gift for their dad, uncle, grandpa or another significant male in their lives.

Please purchase a token for your child by 22nd August using CDF Pay. Price point for gifts are $4 or $7.

Father's Day/Special Friends afternoon

Don't forget dads/special friends! Please respond via Operoo if you havn't done so yet.

2025 Intentions

I am beginning to plan for 2025 and need to know if your family is going to be at Holy Family next year.

Can you please notify me by 30th August if you are not returning to Holy Family as we have some children on a waitlist?

Carpark

Thank you for not parking in the church/staff carpark during drop off and pick up times. Your support ensures the safety of our staff and students.

Term 3 Dates

August

Thursday 22nd - Confirmation Reflection Day

Friday 23rd - Sacrament of Confirmation (5pm)

Monday 26th-Wednesday 28th - Year 5/6 Camp (Alexandra Adventure Resort)

Wednesday 28th - Parents and Friends Meeting (7pm) TBC

Friday 30th - Father's Day Celebrations (2:20pm)

September

Sunday 1st - Happy Father's Day

Friday 6th - District Athletics

Wednesday 11th - Parent Maths Curriculum Evening

Friday 13th - Bully No Way Day

Friday 13th - P&F Special Lunch Day

Thursday 19th/Friday 20th - Visual/Media Arts Expo

Friday 20th - Last day of Term 3 (1pm finish)

Wishing you a wonderful weekend,

Mrs David (Principal)