From the Acting Principal

Dear families,

Congratulations to the five Gr6 students who were Confirmed by Fr Colin last Friday night and one student who was confirmed at St Matthews recently. This was a significant step in their faith journey as they were able to stand up and make a definite commitment to their faith.  I pray that we can all open our hearts and allow the Holy Spirit to continue to guide us and to work through us in our interactions with others. Many thanks to our Religious Education Leader and 5/6 teacher Ms Dorothy Mash, and our 5/6 teachers Ms Kyla Lancaster, Mrs Daniela Lazzaro and Mrs Maria Barbanera, and LSO Mrs Susan Clark for all of their hard work in preparing the students. Also thank you to our staff members who came along to help out and support. 

Please Note: Confirmation Certificates will be presented at Assembly this Friday, August 28th at 9:00am

MACSSIS - Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools – School Improvement Surveys.

Monday 31st August - Friday 18th September 

Every year, we pause to listen to our students, families and staff to gauge how our learning community is travelling. This feedback is invaluable to our progress as an effective school community and is backed by evidence-based research and best practices. 

A significant and formal way in which we engage and gather data is through MACSSIS, a set of surveys that have been built specifically for Catholic schools in Melbourne by the School Effectiveness team at MACS, in partnership with researchers at Learning First and in wide consultation with principals in Catholic schools in Melbourne.

In 2026, students, families and staff are invited to participate in MACSSIS via a secure and purpose-built online platform. The online platform is where our school leaders will access the summary reports that visualise the results of the student, family and staff surveys. 

The survey is only available online, can be accessed from next Monday 31st August and needs to be completed by Friday September 18th. This survey may only be completed once. 

For families with more than one child attending our school, we ask that you focus on the eldest child attending the school. We invite all families to respond via this survey and participation is completely voluntary. There are no "right" or "wrong" answers – all responses are completely anonymous and at no point are any of the responses from students, families or staff identifiable by the school.

Participating families will be emailed a code and PIN. Surveys are available for families in Arabic, Chinese (simplified and traditional), English, Tagalog or Vietnamese.

Sacrament of Reconciliation - next Wednesday 2nd September at 7:00pm, 14 of our Grade 3 students will receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is one of the most unique and beautiful aspects of the Catholic Church. Jesus Christ, in His abundant love and mercy, established the Sacrament so that we can obtain forgiveness and reconcile with God and the Church when we make mistakes. The sacrament “washes us clean,” and renews us in Christ. Through this process, we are reconciled with the Church and continue to live as disciples of Jesus. 

As a community we pray for these children and their families and commit to supporting them in their sacramental journey. We pray with hope in our hearts – “For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, ‘do not fear, I will help you’.” (Isaiah 41:13)

Can you help?

Chicken Coop clean up 

Weeding

Cleaning nesting boxes

Removing debris

Tuesday 1st September from 9-11:00am 

Email Ms Wright via the button below

Planning for 2027

Currently, all Catholic schools are working through planning and budgeting activities for 2027 to ensure we are well placed to support our staff, students and school communities in the coming year. This includes looking at how we can accommodate the changes likely to flow from a new Enterprise Bargaining Agreement (EBA) with school staff.

We recognise the significant financial pressures many households are facing, and we are making a conscious effort to ensure these costs are not passed on through significant fee increases. We cannot promise that there will be no fee increases for 2027 but I will work closely with the MACS Business Manager and the School Advisory Council throughout this process.

I will continue to keep our parent community informed. As always, our focus remains on maintaining a strong school community and continuing to deliver a high-quality Catholic education for every student at St Mark's.

Semper Dental Van 

27 students used this service last week and by all reports the students were polite and enthusiastic when visiting the van. Parents of all students who attended were provided with a Dental Report or a follow up phone call from the Semper Dental Team. If your child attended the Dental Van and you did not receive a report - please contact the School Office.

Visting Primary School Nursing Program  - is a free health assessment service offered by the Department of Education to all children during their first year primary school.

Envelopes have been sent home this week with all Prep students. The questionnaires are due to be completed online by Friday 4th September. If your child is in Prep and you did not get the envelope please see your childs teacher.

Family holidays and students' extended absences

The Attendance Policy and guidelines for MACS Schools outlines that family holidays and extended absences during school term dates require Principals approval. Parents and Carers are encouraged to plan holidays for students during school holiday periods and pupil free days. However, if your child/ren will be away from school for an extended period of time, please email their teacher, together with Ms Claire White - Acting Principal (principal@smfawkner.catholic.edu.au) in advance, for these days away from school to be considered an approved absence. 

Dropping off items at school

There are times when the students forget things at home (brain food, a drink bottle, library books or lunch) or they get left in the car after drop off. If this happens, parents are asked to come to the Office and drop them off there rather than entering the building and going to the classrooms themselves if it is after 9:00am. An unexpected visitor to the classrooms is often disruptive to the teaching and the flow of learning for the students. Office staff or a member of the Leadership Team will pass any items on to the students at the classrooms and learning areas. We appreciate your understanding with this.

Safety reminder

A reminder to parents, guardians and supervising adults to not encourage or allow the children to press the door release button at the double door when exiting the main building. Staff can press the button from the Office counter on behalf of the students and adults must be the only ones using this button. This is a procedure that we have in place to keep all of out students and family members safe.

Assemblies - Assemblies in Term 3 are usually held at 2.45pm on Fridays. However, there will be occasions when Assemblies will be held in the morning.... so for the next two weeks...

The Book Week Parade will be at 9:00am on this Friday 28th August. Following that will be the Father’s Day Assembly which will be held at 9.00am on next Friday September 4th (details to be advised).

Save this date - Father's Day Stall - Thursday 3rd September

Dates to Remember - all the the Term Dates and School Closure days have been published on the Dates to Remember page since the start of the year. Add these to your diary! The events and special days for Term 3 and Term 4 have been added. These are added to and updated each fortnight. 

Save the Date! - St Mark's Art Show - Thursday October 22nd, please see the Art Show page of each Newsletter in the coming weeks for updates. Erin B, our Visual Art teacher and her Art Show Committee have some great things planned for 2026! 

Staff leave updates - best wishes and safe travels to Lisa (Office Admin) and Sue C (Yr3-6 LSO) as they head off next week for some Long Service Leave. We welcome Sue back in Week 9 and Lisa in Term 4. 

St Mark’s Family Disco - Our Family Disco is only two sleeps away! This Friday August 28th, 6:00-7.30pm in our Hall. This will be a fun filled night for all the family to come along and dance the night away. There will be music to suit everyone’s taste, no matter which era you grew up in! Ticket sales and pizza ordering has now closed. Please bring along Cash or Card to purchase drinks, lollies or glow sticks on the night. Final reminders will be sent via Audiri and Seesaw tomorrow.

The Student Action Team consulted with their classes and decided that there is no dress up theme for this year's disco. 

But... we can't wait to see everyone's Book Week Costumes on Friday! 

Ms Claire White - Acting Principal and Learning & Teaching/Literacy Leader

claire.white@smfawkner.catholic.edu.au

‘The St Mark’s Catholic Primary School, Fawkner Community promotes the safety, wellbeing and inclusion of all children.’

St Mark’s Catholic Primary School respectfully acknowledges the Wurundjeri People of the Kulin Nation, who are the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we live, learn, work and play. We pay our respect to their Elders past, present and emerging.