Dear Parents,

Staff Conference

Our annual staff conference is next week; this year we will be in the CBD. This is an opportunity for the staff to have two days of learning together, as well as the chance to spend time as a team away from the distractions of school life.

The focus for Thursday is on staff wellbeing, and we are fortunate to have Dr Jo Mitchell from the Mind Room working with us. Jo's session will be all about managing stress and burnout. On Friday our focus will move to faith formation - we will venture out into the CBD to walk The Way of the Cross, 14 statues placed around Melbourne churches remembering Jesus' final journey to the cross. We will also spend time in the NGV viewing examples of religious and indigenous art.

Just a reminder that there is no school on Thursday 7th March and Friday 8th March, and there will be no newsletter next week.

Parent Teacher Meetings

Our first round of Parent/Teacher meetings are scheduled for the 19th and 21st of March. Bookings are now open. You may book your appointment using this link https://www.schoolinterviews.com.au/code/b8dpp or by using the QR code

SRC

Our first SRC meeting was held this week, ably facilitated by our Year 6 SRC leaders. In our next newsletter, I will be able to share what our student population believe is great about St Finbar's and what they feel would make St Finbar's even better. From this list, we will be able to identify a couple of projects that the SRC can work on in 2024.

School Wide Improvement Forum

Members of our leadership team were off-site yesterday at the Southern regions' School Wide Improvement Forum (SWIF). Each term school leaders from nearly 60 MACS schools in the south gather to hear from high quality keynote speakers and have powerful conversations about the direction that St Finbar's is heading in regards to our teaching and learning programs.

Yesterday we were fortunate to be working with Dr Simon Breakspear, who led us through some of the core principles of how students learn. This included the limitations of working memory, cognitive overload and how we transfer knowledge to long term memory.

We also had the opportunity to explore MACS' new Vision for Instruction document, with a move towards aiming for consistency in pedagogical practice across all MACS schools. St Finbar's is already well on the journey towards using the principles of the science of learning in our practice, it is affirming to read that we are on the right path.

St. Finbar’s School Principal Appointment

The position of Principal of St. Finbar’s will be re advertised on the weekends of March 2 and March 9. The panel will then meet to review applications and interview for the position by the end of Term 1. We ask that you keep the panel members in your thoughts as they work through this process.

School Google Calendar

The St Finbar's Google calendar continues to be updated as new dates are locked in. You can use the link HERE to stay up to date with all school events.

Friday April 26th is a closure day giving families the opportunity for a four-day weekend following ANZAC Day.

Friday June 7th will be a staff professional development day with staff being trained in the Seven Steps of Writing.

If you need childcare on any of these days, TeamKids will be available.

eLearning Parent Evening

At the moment we have 44 families signed up to attend. While this is wonderful, we do have 255 families here at St Finbar's so we're keen to see more uptake, especially from our families in Years 3 to 6. As children start to have greater access to their own devices and spend more time online, it is important that parents are aware of the current trends and potential risks.

Session: Raising Kids in a Digital World

Delivery: Onsite Presentation - School Hall

Presenter: Martin McGauran & Carley McGauran

Date: Thursday 14 March, 2024

Time: 7pm (90 mins)

Martin McGauran & Carley McGauran will deliver content on topics such as; the impact of screen time, cyber bullying, gaming, social media etc.

We would love as many parents as possible to attend, free of charge.

Please book via the link here - bit.ly/stfinbars2024

Prep Sibling Enrolments 2025

I know it's early to be talking 2025 already, but I ask that parents who have a child commencing in Prep 2025 to please enrol their child by Friday 1st March so we can see how many places will be available to new families for 2025. All siblings are a guaranteed enrolment at St. Finbar's, however, we do require completed paperwork to make it official.

We expect that our 52 Prep places will fill up quite quickly. Enrolment forms can be downloaded from the following link: St Finbar's Enrolment Information

Sibling enrolment interviews will happen this term via appointment.

Harmony Week

This year Harmony Day is on Thursday 21st March. This is an opportunity for us to celebrate the many cultures that our students come from, and our whole school celebration will take place on Thursday 21st March at 9am. Students will be invited to dress up on this day in colours/clothing representing their own cultural background or students may choose to wear orange, the official colour of Harmony Week. Traditionally, orange signifies social communication and meaningful conversations. There will also be some "homework" for each family to complete at home, which will contribute to our whole school Harmony display.

Tag On

On reviewing the Tag On system, we have decided to only use it for its main purpose, which is to let the parents of children who walk or ride to school that their children have arrived safely. We will no longer be using the system to accrue house points.

This means that children will only Tag On if they walk or ride to school independently, and you as parents would like the peace of mind that they have arrived safely. Prep children will not automatically receive a tag this year.

Many parents have emailed me directly to let me know that your children will continue to use Tag On. You can also use this Google Form (link has been updated for those who have tried previously). If your circumstances change, you can always go to the office to set your children up with a Tag On tag.

Thank you and God bless,

Michelle Hill,

Acting Principal