Leadership & Management

Week 6 Term 4

St Fidelis School is committed to the care, wellbeing and protection of children, young people and vulnerable people in our community. 

Dear Parents and Carers,

Remembrance Day Ceremony - Monday 11th November 10:50am

One Minute's Silence

Each year on this day, Australians observe one minute’s silence at 11am, in memory of those men and women who have died or suffered in all wars, conflicts and peace operations. 

At St Fidelis, the children participated in a short prayer service at 10:50 a.m. and observed the one-minute silence at 11:00 a.m. outside near the flagpoles. The Coburg RSL has provided us with some poppies to sell to support the work they do for the returned soldiers and their families. They will be on sale every day this week at lunchtime. Prices range from $2.00 to $5.00.

Yesterday, Olivia Servello (Year 5) sang the National Anthem at the Coburg RSL service. She was wonderful, and everyone really appreciated having her represent our school and the community. It was a truly memorable experience for Olivia and her family.

Don't Miss our Art and STEM Showcase!

Join us this Thursday from 4:30-7:00 p.m. for our exciting Art and STEM Showcase! Each child will display at least three unique pieces of artwork to share with our school community. Some students will also present impressive STEM projects, showcasing their creativity and problem-solving skills.

Available for purchase:

• 3D-printed key rings
• 3D-printed plastic ornaments

Silent Auction

Each class has created a beautiful collaborative art piece, which will be up for silent auction during the event. All proceeds from the auction will go toward purchasing new art equipment for 2025. Don't miss this opportunity to support our young artists and innovators while celebrating their art and STEM projects.

Welcome Fr  Brendan Reed & Fr Tien Tran

We are excited to welcome and get to know our new Parish Priest, Fr. Brendan Reed, and Assistant Priest, Fr. Tien Tran, who officially joined us this weekend, November 9th and 10th. Here’s a bit about them, which was shared in the Parish newsletter. As a school community, we look forward to meeting and working with them in our parish and school.

Greetings from Fr Brendan Reed and Fr Tien Tran

My Great-Great-Grandfather moved from London to Melbourne with his second wife and the youngest of five of his five children in 1853. He was a musician and set up Reed’s Music Warehouse in Bourke Street. The family lived not far away, on the corner of Bourke and Swanston. Later, they moved to King William Street, North Fitzroy. By the 1890s, however, Brunswick was home to the Reeds. My family history tells us that from about 1890, “Brunswick held the highest concentration of Reeds in Australia, for a generation if not for 50 years. If they weren’t Reeds, they were Coleman, Biggs, Schmidt, Sanders or Hall, but they were all cousins.” I still have a couple of siblings and some nephews and nieces in the local Brunswick and Moreland area. 

I am very much looking forward to moving ‘back home’ and joining the Brunswick Moreland Catholic Community. I am curious to find out if I still have any distant relatives around the neighbourhood. For the last two decades, I have been a Parish Priest in the Deepdene, Balwyn, Camberwell, and Surrey Hills Wattle Park Parishes. In the last couple of weeks, those five communities have amalgamated into the newly formed Our Lady of Pentecost Parish. So, I am no stranger to partnered parish communities and I am looking forward to seeing what the particular characteristics, strengths and challenges face us at BMCC. Before any of that, however, I am simply looking forward to meeting you all and to getting to know you and your families. I am excited to be sharing this ministry with Fr Tien Tran who will be our Assistant Priest. We are both looking forward to sharing parish life with you and to serving the Catholic Community of Brunswick Moreland.

I would like to thank Fr Linh Pham, Fr Tho Tran and Fr Greg Burke for preparing the way for us and for making this transition so smooth and positive. Thanks also to our parish staff and, in particular, to John Maulden for assisting us in the move to St Fidelis Presbytery, where Fr Tien and I will be living. Some of you will meet Fr Tien this weekend, and then from 9 and 10 of November, we will both do our best to get around to each of our Churches and introduce ourselves in person.

With best wishes, 

Fr Brendan Reed

Dear parishioners of Brunswick and Moreland Catholic Community,

My name is Tien Tran. I was born and grew up in the province of Dak Nong in the central highlands of Vietnam from a family of two children. My younger sister is currently studying and living in Melbourne. Both of my parents still live in Vietnam. 

I came to Melbourne at the age of eighteen as an overseas student, studying international trade. I entered Corpus Christi Seminary, Carlton in 2017 and was ordained a priest in November last year. Since January of this year, I have been at St Peter’s Parish, Epping. I enjoy sports, including soccer, tennis, and cycling. There are a lot of exciting reasons to be living in Moreland but one of them is certainly the cycling trails. I love the outdoors and I’m a quite social person. I like music and art (though I’m not good at either of them). I love good food and drink and enjoy cooking when I get the chance to do so.

So moving to Brunswick and Moreland and working in the area is quite exciting for me since the areas are well known for lots of things that I take an interest in. I’ve been a priest for less than a year so there is still lots of learning to do. For this reason, first of all, I’m grateful and excited to be living and working with Fr Brendan and together with the parish staff I am sure we will make a great team. My hope in coming to Brunswick Moreland Catholic Community is to continue and further the important and necessary works that Fr Linh, Greg and Tho have done since the three parishes coming together. I also look forward very much to my engagement with the students, parents and teachers at our three primary schools. 

Even though there are hopes and excitements that I look forward to in coming to BMCC, at the heart of being a priest is to be a shepherd to God’s people. Thus, I’m truly looking forward to meeting and getting to know many of you in the weeks and months ahead. I hope that together we can hear afresh the Good News offered to us and so to be the good news for the world. 

Fr Tien

Outstanding School Fees - Important Notice

This is a friendly reminder to settle any outstanding school fees by the end of this week. Timely payment helps us maintain a safe and well-resourced environment for all students.

For parents whose youngest or only child is completing primary school this year, we kindly ask that all fees be fully paid by the end of this week. 

Please contact the school office if you have any questions regarding your balance or payment options. The office is open from 8:30 to 4:00 pm each day if you want to pay in person. 

If you prefer to pay by direct debit, please use the bank details below. If any families need to discuss alternative arrangements for the payment of fees, please contact me directly.

Included are the Bank details for your ease of payment:

Please note once you have made a payment, can you email Ann Russo 

annr@sfmoreland.catholic.edu.au   with the amount you have deposited.

Have a great week, and enjoy the sunshine.

Manuela