Principal's Report

Dear St FX Parents and Carers,

Welcome to Week 9! I hope you all had a lovely, restful weekend and are finding ways to stay warm! 

Semester 1 Reporting

Next week, Semester 1 Reports will be made live to families on Compass. As stated in the ‘Leader of Pedagogy’ section of the newsletter, areas that teachers report on in English and Mathematics will look different, particularly for students in Years 3-6. These changes are in line with changes made to the teaching and learning of English and Mathematics during the recent curriculum reform in these subjects. Families who had students in K-2 last year would be familiar with the new format.

Linked below is some information from NESA (NSW Education Standards Authority) for parents regarding these changes.

Early Stage 1 (Kindergarten) - English & Mathematics

Stage 1 (Years 1 & 2) - English & Mathematics

Stages 2 & 3 (Years 3, 4, 5 & 6) - English & Mathematics 

Reminder: St FX is an allergy-aware school

Just a general reminder about the importance of understanding that we have some students at St FX who have a severe allergy to nuts, and contact with nuts can cause these students to have an anaphylactic reaction. While we do not claim to be a nut-free school, we do ask families to consider these allergies and avoid sending nut-based products to school where possible. This is so we can limit the risk of your child coming into contact with a student that has a severe nut allergy.

Sacrament of Confirmation

On Saturday night, I had the great pleasure of witnessing a large group of our Stage 3 students make their Sacrament of Confirmation. It was a special celebration that was led by our Parish Priest, Fr Sabu. Generally, candidates are Confirmed by the Diocesan Bishop, but since the Diocese of Armidale is currently without a bishop, Fr Sabu was delegated the authority to confirm our students. Congratulations to all the students who received this sacrament.

At Saturday's Confirmation Mass, Fr Sabu announced that he will be moving on from our parish, as requested by the Diocese Administration. Fr Sabu will be moving to Tamworth towards the end of July and will be replaced by Fr Paul Aguilar, who is moving to the St Francis Xavier’s Parish from the Sts Mary and Joseph Cathedral in Armidale. We are saddened to be saying goodbye to Fr Sabu and will ensure we farewell him as a school community before he leaves our parish.

Reminder: Pupil-Free Day on Day 1, Term 3

Just a friendly reminder that the first day back to school for students in Term 3 will be Tuesday 23rd July. Monday 22nd July is a Pupil-Free Day for Staff Development work. 

End of Term Message

Since this will be the final newsletter of Term 2, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your continued support, especially throughout the busy-ness of this term. For those of you who are travelling away during the upcoming holiday break, I hope you travel safely and reach your respective destinations without concern. For those of you who are staying around Narrabri during the break, I hope you and your family find some time to unwind and recharge the batteries.

Kind regards, 

Mal Frend