PRINCIPAL'S REPORT

Week 5, Term 4

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I trust this newsletter finds everyone relaxed and refreshed following the extra-long weekend, ready for the charge to the end of the year. Schools become very ‘dynamic’ places in the final weeks of the school year, and St Agnes’ is no different. While it is a busy period and there are challenges, there are also many little gems to celebrate growth, progress, community and to look ahead with hope for what 2026 will bring.

The Joy of Community

Community spirit of St Agnes’ was well and truly alive last week, with the Book Fair, Grandparents Day and the annual Walkathon. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the people who made each of these events possible. Thank you to Lynn Miller for her efforts in coordinating the Book Fair to enable the children the opportunity to explore and be immersed in the world of literature. Thank you to our Faith and Community Leader Aggie Gorski for her work with the children and staff to bring together the beautiful Grandparents Day Liturgy. Thank you also to our Parent Helpers across both Thursday and Friday of last week at Grandparents Day and also the Walkathon. Without your support, neither event would have been as successful. Please pass on our gratitude to all of the special people who were able to be present for the liturgy; we know time is precious and it was wonderful to see the children engaged so well with the older generation. I loved the email below, from one of our Prep grandparents.

Trash and Treasure

While we are celebrating community, I would like to again acknowledge our Trash and Treasure Market leaders. Led by Amy Anderson and the broader Fete Committee, the day was very successful, raising funds to support the Fete, somewhere in the vicinity of $2000. All fundraising efforts prior to the Fete go a long way to covering the costs and therefore increasing the likelihood of a strong profit on the day.

Walkathon

Thank you to all parents, grandparents, neighbours and friends who have agreed to sponsor the children for our recent Walkathon. We kindly ask that all sponsorship be finalised and submitted by Friday 14th November. This can be done via the P&F Website or directly into the P&F Account, with your name/class as reference (BSB: 083347/Acc: 173603985). As previously outlined, we are working towards the replacement of the main adventure playground equipment (proposal below). We are grateful for any and all support to bring this project to life, sooner rather than later.

St Agnes’ Snippets

Year 4 Camp

Thank you to Tracey Law, Amanda Baker, Levi Otto and Maddi McKee for accompanying the Year 4 children to Summit Camp in Week 3. I’m told it was an incredible experience, full of teamwork, risk taking and challenge for all involved.

Book Fair - For the love of Literature

It was great to see the Book Fair getting lots of love on Grandparents Day. As we heard from our Year 3/4 students during the liturgy, there is nothing quite like grandparents spoiling grandchildren! Thanks again Miss Miller!

Grandparents Day - Precious time together

What a beautiful morning it was for our community and the people who make it a special place. Thank you to all who made it along and contributed to it’s success!

Assessment and Reporting

Through this middle part of the term, our staff are busily completing assessments with the children to gauge their progress across the semester. From these assessments, there are a variety of data sources utilised to inform decision-making for end-of-semester reports. Recent work samples, one-to-one, whole class and online tasks make up the suite of assessments completed. The teachers are looking forward to celebrating the broad range of successes in the reports, which will be sent home on Friday 12th December.

It has been no secret that this year, the school has placed significant emphasis on improving number fact fluency across the school. In the Junior years, the focus is on counting and addition/subtraction. From Year 3-6, the focus is on multiplication/division. Recently, the children completed their termly Westwood-One-Minute-Number-Facts test to gauge their progress. When completing Westwood, the children are required to correctly answer as many of the 33 questions as possible, in one minute. Below are the average benchmarks vs St Agnes’ average achievement in specific areas. I think you’ll agree, some incredible outcomes…

As you can see from each of the above data sets, in all instances, St Agnes’ students are achieving outcomes well-above the age-expected achievement level for the Westwood. Not only that, the children have made exceptional growth and progress, even when their starting point was much higher than the ‘expected’. With strong number fluency knowledge and skills, our students are able to access all areas of the Mathematics curriculum with greater ease. I’ve been looking at Westwood Data sets for many years and never before have I seen progress across cohorts of students like we have seen from St Agnes’ students this year. A shout out to our Mathematics Leader Mr Levi Otto for his wonderful work in this space and also to our teachers for their consistent effort throughout the year. Practise, practise, practise.

Looking ahead

Hooptime Regional Finals - Year 5/6 Boys

Our successful Year 5/6 Boys basketball team will head to the Regional Finals tomorrow, Thursday 6th November, at Nunawading Stadium. Details have been communicated via Operoo. We wish the boys all the best as they represent our school at this event.

Year 1/2 Parish Mass - Friday 7th November

The Year 1/2 children will participate in Parish Mass on Friday 7th November at 9am. All parents and families are welcome to join this mass and we kindly ask you to leave coffee cups in the car. Thank you for your support.

Fete Committee Meeting - Monday 10th November

The Fete Committee will gather together to continue planning for the 2026 Fete on Monday 10th November at 7.30pm.

2026 Prep Parent Information Night - Tuesday 11th November

The Prep Parent Information Night will be held on Tuesday 11th November at 7:30pm. This will take place at school in the Year 4 classroom. At this session, we will go through some of the specifics about our school and tips for helping your child to make a great start at school. It is also a great opportunity for new and existing families to connect. The final Prep Orientation session will follow on Wednesday 12th November.

Monday 10th November - Prep-Year 4 Swimming Commences

All students from Prep to Year 4 will participate in a swimming skills program at Toby Haenen Swim Centre from Monday 10th November to Friday 21st November. These sessions will happen every day in these weeks, with the exception of Wednesdays. Further information will be communicated via Operoo and Class Newsletters. We encourage families to keep a ‘low key’ schedule during these two weeks, as the children will become very tired, especially the Preps and Year 1s.

School Advisory Council - Annual General Meeting

The Annual General Meeting for the School Advisory Council will be held on Tuesday 18th November at the special time of 6.30pm. All parents are invited to this meeting. There is one or two spaces available for joining the SAC in 2026. If this is of interest to you, please get in touch with me. The role of the School Advisory Council is to advise the school's leadership around matters pertaining to the educational community that is St Agnes’. We aim for diversity of skills, backgrounds and expertise in this advisory group.

School Fees

Term Four School Fees Statements were sent out last week. Thank you to those families who have settled their accounts for the year. Fees are payable via EFT, cash or credit card. Please contact Shannon (sshine@sahighett.catholic.edu.au) in the office to organise payment. All fees for 2025 must be finalised by the due date.

Assembly- Wednesdays at 2.40pm 

Assemblies are in the Hall on Wednesday afternoons . Parents are welcome to attend. At assembly, there will be presentations from classes, student awards, birthday acknowledgements and special announcements from student leaders.

Wednesday 12th Nov - Year 1

Wednesday 19th Nov - Prep

Wednesday 26th Nov - SRC & Mini Vinnies

Wednesday 3rd Dec - TBC

Thursday 11th Dec - Year 6 Final Assembly

Have a great week.

Kind regards,

Lachie.