PRINCIPAL'S REPORT

Welcome to Term Two

A very warm welcome back to all St Agnes’ families for Term Two. I hope you enjoyed a restful Easter break and are feeling refreshed for another great term of learning, connection and community.

Term Two shapes as a settled and productive period, with strong opportunities for sustained teaching, learning and assessment as we move towards Semester One reports. It’s been wonderful to see the children, staff and families return in such positive spirits, reconnecting quickly in both the classroom and playground. It has also been very pleasing to see a smooth and settled start in our classrooms and on the yard. It's great to see our students responding so well to high expectations.

As this is our first newsletter for the term, you’ll find an overview of key events through to late June. Class newsletters will follow shortly, providing more specific information about curriculum focus areas and key dates for each year level. I encourage you to read carefully and mark these key dates in your calendars. 

ANZAC Day

On Wednesday we came together as a school community to mark ANZAC Day, with a respectful and thoughtful commemoration led by our School Captains, Niamh and Leo. The service helped students understand the significance of the day and the symbols associated with it.

Niamh and Leo will also represent our school at the Highett RSL Dawn Service on Saturday morning, where they will lay a wreath on behalf of our community. We encourage others who would like to join us to come down tomorrow morning.

A sincere thank you to the many families who supported our ANZAC Day initiatives, particularly those who baked ANZAC biscuits. And a big thank you to Tennille and Lauren who came and sold the biscuits today at school. Funds raised will be donated to the Highett RSL to support returned service men and women and their families, an important and valued connection for our school.

Easter Liturgy and Celebrations

The final day of Term One was a rich and meaningful experience for our students, centred on social justice and faith in action. The day began with our Easter Liturgy in the Church, where every child in the school participated in a reverent retelling of the Easter story, from Palm Sunday through to Easter Sunday. It was a beautiful and reflective celebration that brought our community together and deepened students’ understanding of this significant time in the Church calendar.

Students also took part in our annual Walk for Water initiative. Each child was invited to bring a bucket from home, fill it with water, and walk a sustained distance. This powerful experience helped students build empathy and understanding for those around the world who must walk long distances each day to access clean water. The activity aligned closely with our Term One Religious Education focus on solidarity with the poor, where students, through the work of Caritas, learned about the challenges faced by communities across the globe in accessing basic necessities.

Throughout the term, students raised funds to support this important cause. A highlight of the day was the creation of class ‘coin lines’, where students physically lined up their donations, providing a tangible and visual representation of their collective impact. It was a simple yet powerful way for students to see how their efforts contribute to meaningful change.

A sincere thank you to our Religious Education Leader, Mrs Gorski, for her outstanding work in bringing this day together. Her dedication ensures that our Catholic faith is not only taught, but lived, connecting scripture and Catholic Social Teaching to authentic, real-world action. We are incredibly fortunate to have her leadership in this space and I’m really looking forward to the Religious Education initiative she is planning to culminate our Term Two learning.

Our final day of term also featured our much-loved Easter Bonnet Parade, where our students, along with their families, truly outdid themselves with bright, colourful and wonderfully creative hats and bonnets to celebrate this important event in the liturgical calendar.

A special thank you to our School Captains, Niamh and Leo, who did a fantastic job as MCs, showcasing and celebrating some of the standout creations with our community.

A sincere thank you to our P&F Presidents, Bree and Sarah, for their wonderful work in organising the Easter Raffle. Their efforts continue to support the raising of important funds for our school, and we are very grateful for their ongoing commitment to our community.

Thank-you Assembly

Thank you to all our families who attended our thank-you assembly for the fete in the last week of term. It was wonderful to acknowledge our platinum sponsors, fete committee and our whole community for their generosity.

We’re pleased to announce that our fete raised $50,257.84. This will go towards the building of a new playground. We sincerely thank all of our school community for the work they did in helping us reach this incredible figure. We are hoping that our new playground will be ready to go for our students by the beginning of Term Four.

We sincerely and wholeheartedly thank our platinum fete partners: SecNet, KPA Lawyers and Bendigo Community Bank Highett for their generosity and support.

Please head over to our fete page to find out further information about an exciting opportunity that one of our platinum sponsors, KPA Lawyers, are offering our families.

St Agnes’ Golf Day 

Well done to Edan Crohan for once again organising a fantastic St Agnes’ Golf Day. With over 30 parents taking part, the event raised close to $2,000 for our P&F while also providing a wonderful opportunity for members of our community to come together. It’s terrific to see this event continue to grow in its second year. A sincere thank you to Bad Shepherd Brewing for their generous support of the day.

Fete Evaluation Meeting

Next week, our Fete Committee will come together to reflect on what was a fantastic community event, and to consider how we can build on its success to make the 2028 fete an even stronger experience for everyone.

Earlier this week, a survey was shared with families via class WhatsApp groups to gather feedback on this year’s fete. These insights will play an important role in shaping our discussions and future planning. Thank you to all those who have taken the time to respond, we greatly value your input.

Athletics Day

What a wonderful day of action at the track last term! Our school Athletics Day was a fantastic celebration of participation, effort and school spirit. Students took part in a wide range of events including sprints, long jump and triple jump, shot put, vortex throw, as well as some fun favourites like the sack race, frisbee golf and egg and spoon race. There was a wonderful buzz across the track and field, with students eagerly giving their best and encouraging one another throughout the day. A real highlight was the energy around our house chants, passionately led by our Year 6 Sports Leaders, which added to the sense of pride and teamwork across all houses.

We were thrilled to welcome so many parents and grandparents who came along to support, cheer and even lend a hand on the day. Your presence helped make the event so special for our students. A huge thank you also goes to Mr Kost for the incredible organisation and preparation that went into making the day such a success. Days like this are such important events on the school calendar and we love the opportunity to get together as a whole community to celebrate the efforts of all and successes of our students.

Congratulations to the Blue team on taking out the athletics carnival in what turned out to be a very tight contest, narrowly edging out the Red team.

SSV Soccer

What a fantastic day we enjoyed at the interschool soccer tournament today. Congratulations to both our Girls and Mixed teams on coming runners-up in their respective grand finals.

What made today even more special for our students was the range of experience across our teams. Some students play soccer at a very high level outside of school, while for others, it was their first time playing in a formal soccer competition. To come together, work as teams and achieve such success is a wonderful reflection of their effort, teamwork and school spirit.

Thank you to our coaches, Mr Otto, Mrs Miller, Mrs Moloney and our very own Ted Lasso, Mr Kost, for their work supporting the students. Their work ensured a positive and successful experience for all involved.

Instructional Coaching

This week we took our first steps into the instructional coaching journey at St Agnes’. Instructional coaching is a structured, ongoing process where teachers work alongside a coach to refine their practice through modelling, observation and feedback, with the goal of improving student outcomes. You might have your children come home in the next few weeks and share that their class is being filmed, this is a part of the process so teachers and their coach can watch back their lessons to get timely and objective feedback. A huge thank you to our incredible teaching and learning leader Mrs Baker who is doing an incredible job leading this valuable initiative in the school. And to Mrs Gorski and Mr Otto, and our teachers taking part as coaches. Again, we’re so fortunate to have a staff so keen to grow and improve in their teaching practice.

Photos

You may have noticed the beautifully curated photos featured across our social media platforms and newsletters. We are incredibly fortunate to have members of our community who so thoughtfully capture the life of our school.

A special thank you to our own 'jack of all trades,' Lynn Miller, who never misses a moment and consistently captures our students in action across a wide range of school events. On top of all the other beghind the scenes work she puts in to help our school and enrich life for our students. I would also like to acknowledge and thank Alishia Boot, who does a wonderful job photographing key moments and helping us share the story of our school with the wider community.

Enrolments

Enrolments for Prep 2027 have now closed. We are delighted to announce that we will have two full Prep classes next year, alongside a strong and healthy waitlist of applications. This is a significant milestone for our school and a clear reflection of the consistent, high quality work that has taken place over many years to build St Agnes’ into the thriving community it is today.

I would like to sincerely thank our parent community for their role in this success. Word of mouth within the Highett community remains our greatest strength when it comes to enrolment growth, and we are deeply grateful for your ongoing support and advocacy.

I would also like to acknowledge and thank our former principal, Lachie Foote, along with our current Deputy Principal, Amanda Baker, and all staff, past and present, for their dedication and commitment in shaping the school over many years to reach this point.

We do have two remaining Open Days scheduled for 2026; however, these will now cater for families seeking Prep enrolment in 2028 and 2029.

PSG Meetings - Commencing Monday 27th April

Program Support Group meetings will take place next week. Families involved have been contacted directly by Melinda Phyland to arrange meeting times. We thank those families for making the time to attend these important discussions, which play a key role in supporting student learning and wellbeing.

SSV Cross Country - Thursday 30th April

The past few Tuesday mornings our Year 3-6 Cross Country Team were ‘pounding the pavement’ around the school, training for the District Cross Country on Thursday the 30th of April at Bald Hill Park in Clarinda. The final training session will be held at 8am next Tuesday morning. Further details regarding the event have been communicated via nForma. A huge thank you to not only Mr Kost, but to all our amazing staff who have been out supervising our students at training before school. We are so fortunate to have such a giving and caring staff at St Agnes’.

Transition to Winter Uniform

As in previous years, all students are expected to be in full winter uniform by the beginning of the third week of Term Two. The second hand uniform shop is open this coming Thursday and Noone Imagewear in Hampton have all your needs covered for Winter. Please see below, an outline of winter uniform items. A friendly reminder that the maroon spray jacket is to be worn over the top of the school jumper, not instead of.

Container Deposit Scheme

Keep up the fantastic work bringing in containers to support our fundraising efforts. We’ve already filled our bin multiple times, which is not only great for the environment but also helping to raise valuable funds for our school.

Congratulations Lily

Today we welcomed back Lily to St Agnes' after a whirlwind trip to the UK. Lily is a dedicated and talented soccer player and over the last few weeks has been on a soccer academy tour, playing against junior premier league teams across the country, including a match against a junior Arsenal team. She was also able to fit in a few Premier League games and a Champions League game on her travels. Congratulations Lily, what an amazing opportunity and we can't wait to hear more about your travels.

Once again, it has been wonderful to welcome everyone back to St Agnes’ this week. As we look ahead to Mother’s Day, I am looking forward to the opportunity to celebrate the mothers, grandmothers and the many special women who play such an important role in our students’ lives over the next two weeks.

Please head over to our Parents and Friends page to find out further information about the events and celebrations taking place over the next few weeks. 

With a few more days of warm weather still with us, I hope you are able to enjoy it. We look forward to seeing you all on the gate on Monday morning.

Tom.