From the Principal

Welcome Back to Term 4, 2026

A warm welcome back to all our students, staff and families as we commence Term 4. We hope you had some lovely family time with your children over the past two weeks. Our staff have had a chance to rest and are ready for an exciting final term  to complete the 2026 school year. There is lots to look forward to and lots of great learning to engage in. 

Colour Explosion and Fun Run

We concluded the first week of the term with a huge Colour Explosion!! Our Parent and Friends organised the major fun raiser for the year on a glorious day. The children all arrived at school in their light colour tops excited and eager to participate. The event commenced after lunch with the juniors, followed by our seniors.  There were a variety of stations to run through and tricky to dodge the colour showering down. By the looks of the happy faces, laughs and colourful children, they all had a fabulous time. Many thanks to the P&F for their organisation of this event and to our staff for their on-going support.

If you have not registered your child it is not too late. 

Please support this major fund raiser and sponsor your child. 

Walking in the Footsteps of St Paul

Over the final two weeks of Term 3, I had the amazing opportunity to join 14 other Principals from the MACS South East Principals Network and Father Fabian to retrace the steps of St Paul. Our pilgrimage took us to Greece and we began our Pilgrimage in Corinth. We did the journey in reverse to the way Paul did over 2000 years ago. We visited places like Athens, Meteora, Veria, Vergina, Phillippi and Thessaloniki. Then we travelled to Turkey and went to Izmir, Ephasis and completed the journey in Istanbul.

Walking in the footsteps on St Paul provided us with a wealth of knowledge about his journey, his struggles, the history of the time and about Paul and his resilience. Paul continued to write his letters to the people despite being imprisoned. Despite danger to himself he journeyed into a land where people were worshipping several Gods to successfully share the Story of Jesus. 

Rozeta our Religious Education Leader also walked the Steps of St Paul with the Archbishop of Melbourne Peter Comensoli. Just two weeks after I did. We are working together to process what we have witnessed and plan to find ways to share this knowledge and understanding with our staff and the wider Catholic Education Community. We look forward to sharing this with our St Francis de Sales Community during this term.

On a very sad note

I ask for your prayers for Michelle Verna. Michelle travelled on the Pilgrimage with us till Meteora. Unfortunately, she had a fall and had to return to Australia after just three days. We were devastated yesterday to hear that Michelle, Principal of St Joseph's Springvale past away suddenly. Michelle is related to a school family and is the first cousin of Louise Franco.  This is so difficult to process and our hearts go out to Michelle's family and the school community and people who have worked with Michelle and have known her. We hold her family and Michelle in our prayers. Our Principal group will gather at St Francis de Sales on Monday at midday for a Mass with Fr. Fabian. 

Eternal rest grant unto her O Lord and let perpetual light shine on her. 

May Michelle rest in peace. Amen.

Reminder

Working Bee

Saturday 10 October

9am-12pm

We need your help

MACSSIS 2026 Survey

Thanks for all the parents who participated in the 2026 MACSSIS survey last term. The Home group with the most sponsors and the winner of the special prize is MP. They will get their reward next week.

We also had a lucky draw for a $100 gift voucher. This prize was won by Lorraine Frederick - mother of Jeremy. Congratulations, your prize will be available at the office next week. 

The results of the MACSSIS survey will be received later this term. It will help to refine our directions and inform our Annual Action Pan for 2027. 

Class Placements for 2027

Our teachers will soon commence the complex tasks of deciding class placement of students for 2027. Thus it is important that you have informed the school if your child will not be returning before we commence the task of placement. Please email principal@sfslynbrook.catholic.edu.au to inform us of your plans at your earliest convenience. We would appreciate an email by Friday 23rd October or earlier if this has already been decided.

Teachers consider a number of factors when developing preliminary Learning Space and Home Group lists. They consider academic ability; special skills, needs and talents; social competencies; students who work well together and students who may not work well together. Skills needed for building new relationships are also an important part of our educative process. Our children will get asked to name three friends and we will consider their requests and place them with at least one friend in their learning space. Parent input based strictly on student learning needs, is also considered.

Parents who have specific concerns about their child's learning needs for 2027, are invited to provide written information via email to the principal. 

Please be aware that parent request for particular teachers will not be accepted.   

Please email principal@sfslynbrook.catholic.edu.au by 3pm Friday 23rd October 2026.  

A request is taken into consideration with other factors but is not guaranteed. Please note that we are not able to consider information received after the 23/10/2026, as once class list are made up they are extremely difficult, if not impossible to change. The ultimate responsibility for student teacher allocation rests with the Principal. Our school processes are most comprehensive and professional with decisions always made in the best interest of our students.

Parents will be informed about their child's Home Group Teacher in the Semester two report in December. Students will meet their Home Group teacher for 2027 on Tuesday 15th December at our whole school orientation morning.

School Uniform

In Term 4, we move to wearing our summer uniform. Children are reminded to wear a hat when playing out side and add sun cream to protect them from harmful UV rays. The P&F have a second hand uniform shop that is available at school and open on Friday mornings or afternoons. All items are $5 and support the P&F fundraising for the school. Alternatively new items of uniform can be purchased from Beleza in Hallam.

Please note black leggings are not to be worn with the girls summer dress.

Have a great weekend. Enjoy the sunshine.

Christine White

Principal