Principal's Report

Dear St FX Parents and Carers,

Welcome to Week 11, St FX families - you’ve made it! Thank you for a wonderful term, particularly with regard to making me feel so welcome here. 

Attendance - Explained, Unexplained and Late to School

Your child’s attendance at school is a factor that directly contributes to their academic progress, wellbeing and social development. As a result of this, attendance rates are heavily monitored both at a school level and system (Armidale diocese) level. In fact, aiming for the Armidale Catholic Schools Office aspirational goal of having a 90% attendance rate 90% of the time is a metric we're using here at St Francis Xavier's to measure the effectiveness of one of our two Annual Improvement Plan goals.

Each week, unexplained absence letters are sent home to give families the opportunity to provide reasons for these absences. This is a non-judgemental process that allows us to work with families to keep our records accurate by updating student absences from unexplained to explained. 

This week, letters are being sent home to families who have a large number of unexplained absences still outstanding. This letter is to request families to book in a time to meet with me in order to discuss their child's attendance and ways we can support them to increase their attendance.

Whilst one may not regard one day absent each fortnight as problematic, over the course of a 10-week term it equates to one whole week of education missed. One day of absenteeism each week results in two weeks of education missed across a 10-week term. Across a whole school year, missing one day each fortnight equates to missing almost half of a term’s worth of education and social interaction - an alarming figure! 

Similarly, students who attend school but regularly run late, are missing huge chunks of learning and the opportunity to develop academically. For example, arriving at 9:15am each day, results in the equivalent of over an hour of literacy lessons lost each week. Again, when looking across a 10-week-term, your child would have lost over two school days’ worth of literacy development, simply by arriving at 9:15am each day!

It goes without saying, your child’s attendance at school matters. Their attendance at school means they are forming the positive connections with their teachers and peers that they will need in order to develop socially and academically. If you feel there are factors that are hindering your child’s ability to attend school regularly, please feel free to contact me so we can discuss it and look at ways we can support you and your child whilst they’re here at St Francis Xavier’s Primary School.

Supervision before 8:30am

Thank you for your assistance with maximising safety before 8:30am each morning. Since my previous correspondence, less students have been arriving early. Those students who have been arriving early to wait for the gates to open have been doing so calmly and, most importantly, safely. Thank you.

ANZAC Day

This year, ANZAC Day falls in the second week of the upcoming school holidays. Please keep an eye out for information regarding our school’s involvement that will be distributed to students this week. 

P&F Meeting - Term 2

On Thursday 2nd May, we will be hosting our P&F AGM. P&F committees are an important part of a school's community as they work in conjunction with the school to provide valuable resources that will assist the teaching and learning for the upcoming years. It would be lovely to see as many St FX parents there as possible!

Holiday Message

I hope you all have an enjoyable and, especially, safe holiday period. For those families travelling away during the break, I hope you experience a safe and easy journey to your holiday destinations. Holidays are a wonderful time for students (and their families!!) to rest, recharge and enjoy doing things at a different (hopefully slower) pace than usual. I hope you all have the opportunity to take the time to reflect on the term that’s been and to anticipate with hope and joy, the approach of Term 2. We look forward to seeing you back at school for Term 2 on Monday 29th April. 

Kind regards, 

Mal Frend