From the Principal

Welcome Back to Term 3, Semester 2, 2024

We are delighted to welcome all our students, staff and families back to St Francis de Sales for Term 3. We hope you had a great break with your children and we are now all refreshed and ready for an exciting term of learning and FUN activities.

Air-conditioners are Installed!!

We are delighted to announce that 21 new 14KW ceiling cassette Daikon air-conditioners have been installed and are all now working in our Learning Spaces. There are seven in each Learning Space. The units can be used for heating and cooling and are very efficient. There is a consistent temperature flow across the entire space and it is a comfortable working climate for learning that we can all enjoy.

The school was built in an era when natural venting and air-circulation was essential design elements. In fact loans were only approved if environmentally friendly designs were being implemented as part of the construction. While this works for the majority of days, the design struggles to cope with consecutive extreme temperature days. Thus necessitating a change. As we are paying off loans on the existing stage 1, stage 2, stage 3 and admin buildings we were not in a position to add to our loans and add to our debt. The cost of this project was $180000 excluding GST. We are thankful to the Parents and Friends who contributed $30000. The balance $150000 has been achieved by the school saving for this expensive item over several years and gaining approval to use contingency funds to make it happen. It has been a BIG achievement to realise this goal for our school community.

Congratulations Andi!!

Andi came FIRST!!

We are thrilled to announce that Andi received the GOLD medal for a first place in the School Sports Victoria State Cross Country race this week. Andi will now go on to represent Victoria for the third year in a row in the Nationals.

Well done Andi, you are a STAR!!

Announcing our SRC for Term 3, 2024.

What is an SRC and why should students be involved in decision making at SFS?

Informed decision making

students know things that others don’t
decisions will be more effectively implemented

Improved student learning and school results, including:

improved learning about active citizenship
improved engagement with learning

Happier and safer school: better relationships within the school

Students have the right to be consulted and have their voices heard about decisions that affect them: UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CROC)

We had strong interest by students who wanted to become an SRC member. Thus we decided in 2024 we will trial a term membership in order to give more children the opportunity. We will review this at the end of the year.

SRC Term 3 2024

CONGRATULATIONS to:

LS1 S - Gr 5: Neslin Thomas (MJ) and Gr 6: Devaprayag Menon (Deva) (MG)
LS2 S - Ivy Franco ( Grade 4 - AC) and Christen Roy ( Grade 6 - RJ).
LS3 S - Ashlyn Abraham Yr 5 and Alexander Shelton Yr 3
LS1 J - Angela Derin (Yr 2 LY) and Ashwin Gogulanath (Yr 1 MA)
LS2 J - Gisele Leveque Yr 2 and Lucas Youssef Yr 1
LS3 J - Paloma Patton Yr 2 and Coleen Mirasol Yr 2

NAPLAN Reports have arrived.

We have just received the school's results and are pleased with the mean scores that indicate we achieve a consistent trend of strong proficiency levels in all areas tested in Year 3 and Year 5. We are pleased to see a growing group of students with results that are exceeding the proficiency level for their age. These results will be analysed in depth by teachers along with other assessments. They will be used to ensure explicit teaching in clinics and focus groups continues to challenge students at their point of need and personal goals are set to ensure improvement.

Reading the NAPLAN report

NAPLAN is a valuable tool that can give useful insights into a student’s performance, but individual reports should be interpreted with care as they reflect the student’s performance on the day of testing.

Information for Parents and Carers 2024

Olympic Opening at SFS

On Monday 29th July at 2:30pm we will gather in the hall for our own SFS Olympic Opening Ceremony. Parents and Friends are invited to join us.

Children may come to school dressed in the colours of the Olympic flag, colours/clothes linked to their cultural background, their favorite sport or athlete.

A gold coin donation is requested to support the Australian Paralympic team.

School Uniform

Just a reminder that in Term 3, all students must be in the full St Francis de Sales winter uniform.

Winter Uniform
Girls	Boys
SFS Tunic/Skirt	SFS Black Trousers
SFS White Shirts	SFS White Shirt
Black Tights	Black Socks
Black Leather School Shoes	Black Leather School Shoes

Children may also add the following items during winter:

St Francis de Sales School Pullover.
St. Francis de Sales School Weatherproof Jacket.
St. Francis de Sales School Beanie and Scarf

All students except Year 6 boys are required to wear white shirts with their winter uniform. Please ensure that your child wears our uniform correctly and always wears black school shoes (not runners) on the days they wear the school uniform. Runners are only permitted when students are wearing their sports uniform. Hair longer than shoulder length must be tied back and hair ties can only be in school colours - Red Black or white only.

The wearing of correct school uniform reflects pride in our school and creates an atmosphere of being a member of a larger community. We ask for your co-operation in seeing that your child/children wear the correct school uniform.

Cars - Before and After School

A reminder to parents that the car park in the school grounds is ONLY for staff use.
Parking in the school grounds is not permitted before school to drop children off and enter the school for any reason.

We are lucky to have ample street parking.

We just have enough parking places for our staff.

The Drop off Zone is just a Kiss and Go Zone.

Parents are asked NOT to get out of the car so that the traffic can move and children can be safely dropped or picked up without unnecessary delay.

Do not angle park or STOP beside the rainbow playground. Do not leave large gaps between cars. Children need to be ready to get out off the car. A 2 minute time should be ample. Children need to get out wherever the car stops in the Drop Off, pleae do not just stop and get out close to an entrance or gate.

Please do not hold up the traffic. It is important that the Drop Off and Pick Up zone flows to accommodate all cars and enable safe movement of students and cars.

Parent parking is only available in the Drop Off Zone between 9:30 am to 2:30 pm or before 8am and after 4pm.