Principal's News 

Dear Families,

Welcome back to Term 4! A warm welcome to what is shaping up to be an action-packed, energetic, and exciting final term of the school year. 

Leadership Update

At this stage, we have no formal news regarding the appointment of the next Principal for 2027. I am confident, however, that an official announcement will be shared with our community in the very near future. 

School Review Update – On Thursday 8 October, the leadership team met with Craig Tanner and staff from MACS to receive our final Review outcomes. I have included a snippet from each sphere. It was a very successful Review outcome, and I would like to thank all the parents who participated in the process over the 2 days Craig was in the school. A huge congratulations to all the staff for the outstanding job they continue to do throughout the school. 

Religious Education 

Faith formation at St Louis de Montfort’s School is visible via the scope of activities and events held annually. All year levels have an annual faith formation night involving students and their families. Every class has a scheduled Mass during the year with students writing invitations for family and friends to participate. Faith formation is also enhanced by student involvement and representation as faith and social justice leaders. Students in Year 5 have the opportunity to become Friends Igniting Reconciliation through Education (FIRE) Carriers. Among other duties, FIRE Carriers aim to raise awareness and promote indigenous perspectives aligned with cross-curriculum priorities contained with the Victorian Curriculum. One pupil free day per year is dedicated to supporting staff faith formation. On this day, leaders and staff members come together to lead the mission of the Church, thereby supporting individual spirituality and nurturing faith formation initiatives. Staff perception data MACSSIS (2025) for the Catholic Identity domain was above the MACS average for the 2023-25 period, indicating the strength of the school’s program The school is encouraged to continue with this approach in order to make faith formation both relevant and authentic in the eyes of students and staff.

Learning and Teaching

Student achievement data indicates high academic performance over the review period. This achievement is evidenced by both NAPLAN and teacher judgement data sets. The school’s commitment to deliver contemporary evidence-based instructional practices is evident in daily practice. These practices are visible and consistent across all classrooms and provide staff with an explicit instructional model based on the Vision for Instruction. Key model components such as daily reviews, explicit instruction, modelling, and guided and independent practice, provide teachers and students with a clear teaching and learning framework. The school’s graduate teachers spoke with enthusiasm about the school’s instructional approach as a means to improve their own practice and the learning outcomes of their students. This group confidently articulated the explicit instruction model based on the ‘I Do, We Do, You Do’ gradual release of learning responsibility framework. The school is looking to further develop and embed consistently applied instructional practices across all learning areas. As a consequence, work has already started to devise processes to enhance and monitor consistencies of practice via learning walks and WalkThrus techniques. These processes are still in the earlier stages of implementation and require further consolidation in the new review period.

Leadership and Management

The parents, staff and students view the school leaders as both supportive and inclusive. Both teaching and non-teaching staff mentioned that they feel valued and appreciated by the school’s leaders. Staff, parents and students find them approachable, accessible and helpful. The school’s vision and strategic intent St Louis de Montfort’s has been clearly articulated to all staff members leading to high levels of collective efficacy and collaboration. This is evidenced by 90% of staff responding positively to perception data MACSSIS (2025) for the Collective efficacy domain. Staff members noted a commitment from school leaders to invest in educational initiatives that aligned with evidence-based research. The school leadership is encouraged to build on this visible intent moving forward.

Student Engagement

The school offers a robust student wellbeing and engagement program, accommodating the social and emotional learning needs of all students. Students have the unique opportunity to visit The Hive, the wellbeing sensory room. They can tend to a large range of animals on site and cultivate the vegetable garden. The school’s exploration areas enable them to play and observe the pondage areas and construct tunnels and waterways. Students seeking more active pursuits can enjoy extensive adventure playground equipment and major games on grassed areas. The school is encouraged to continue these opportunities to extend student engagement and social and emotional learning.

School Community

Parents identified the school’s priority in developing the ‘whole child’ within a Catholic context, as a key factor when enrolling their child. Family perception data MACSSIS (2025) for the ‘School climate’ domain supported this finding, with a positive endorsement score of 77%. This score has been consistently high over the review period. Parents noted that all staff have a genuine care for the students which is recognised and appreciated. All members of the parent forum agreed their children love attending the school. The school enjoys a positive reputation within the community and has developed a strong sense of community. Overall, parents trust the school to do its job. The school might consider using this trust to encourage feedback to enhance learning partnerships.

Celebrating Student Achievements

• Division Athletics: A massive congratulations to our 17 student representatives who competed so wonderfully at Division Athletics. Congratulations to Lucy B, Alyssa B, and Jamie C, who will now participate in the Regional Athletic Carnival. A special thank you to Mr Giosis for coaching and supporting our athletes throughout the carnival. 
• Hot Shot Tennis: Congratulations to all students who participated in yesterday’s Hot Shot Tennis tournament hosted right here at St Louis. Congratulations to the Girls A team in 1st place, the Boys A team on 2rd place and both Boys and Girls B team on their 3rd place. Thank you to Mr Andrew for expertly organising and running the event, and to Mrs Traynor for supervising and enthusiastically cheering on our team! 

Faith & Learning Connections

• Reconciliation Family Faith Night: Year 3 families are invited to join us on Thursday 15 October for our Reconciliation Parent & Family Faith Night as our Year 3 students prepare to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Please keep these children in your prayers during this meaningful step in their faith journey. 
• Prep 2027 Orientation: We are thrilled to welcome 110 new Prep students to the St Louis community for 2027! Their very first orientation session takes place next Friday 16 October. 

Community Engagement

• School Advisory Council (SAC) Meeting: The next SAC meeting will be held on Thursday, 15 October at 7:00 PM. If you have any agenda items or topics you would like discussed, please email them to office@stlouisaspendale.com. 

Important Announcements & Reminders

• 2027 Class Placement Requests: If you wish to request that your child be placed separately from another student for the 2027 school year, please email me directly. Please note that requests for specific classroom teachers cannot be accommodated. Submission deadline: Friday 30 October. 

• School Uniform Guidelines:
  • Skorts Policy: Skorts are strictly reserved for designated PE lesson days and may not be worn as part of the standard daily uniform. 
  • Uniform Transition Period (Mon 5 Oct – Fri 30 Oct): Students are permitted to wear either full summer uniform or full winter uniform. 
  • Full Summer Uniform (From Wed 4 Nov): All students must be in full summer uniform. 
  • Hats: School hats are now mandatory during all outdoor play. 

• Biketober
  • In support of Kingston's Biketober initiative, which encourages all of the community to ride through the month of October, some of our Year 6 students will be handing out raffle tickets at the bikeshed to all students who ride on a Monday and Friday. At the end of the month, 5 winners will be drawn to receive bike-themed prizes. The class with the most amount of riders in October will also receive a surprise reward.
  • For more information about the initiative, check out the poster below.

Upcoming Dates for Your Calendar

• Working Bee: Saturday 24 October (8:00 AM – 11:00 AM) — Any time you can lend to help beautify our grounds is greatly appreciated! 
• Christmas Festival (Save the Date): Thursday 3 December (End-of-Year Celebration) 
• Move Up Day: Monday 14 December 
• Last Day of Term 4: Tuesday 15 December (1:00 PM early dismissal) 

Warm regards,

Carmel Stutterd

Principal