PRINCIPAL'S REPORT

Week Nine Newsletter

It’s hard to believe we are nearly at the end of Term One. What an enormous few weeks we have had here at St Agnes’. Parent/teacher interviews, information evenings, leadership speeches, beginning Prep, NAPLAN, Lent, Welcome evenings and picnics, swimming, Bike-ed, First Reconciliation, our athletics carnival, not to mention our incredible fete! Despite all of these exciting events, we’re so proud of the learning and growth that has already taken place in our classrooms this term.

We certainly have hit the ground running in 2026 at St Agnes’ with so many opportunities for us to connect and grow as a community. I’m so grateful for the work so many have done to ensure our students and families are in the best school environment possible. Our leadership team, staff, P&F, Fete Committee and School Advisory Council have all played such a pivotal role in getting us off to a great start for the year. I’m so excited for what is to come for the remainder of 2026 and I know we’ve had the best possible launching pad to begin our year.

Swimming Success

A huge congratulations to our swimming team who last week took out the HOLT district swimming sports, the first time St Agnes’ have ever won the carnival. Our 26 students who attended did a fantastic job representing the school in and out of the pool, with Mr Kost reporting the students were wonderful ambassadors for the school with their sportsmanship and behaviour. 20 of the students made it through to the Beachside swimming carnival, which is also the most students we’ve ever sent. A wonderful achievement. Thank you to Mr Kost for your work in preparing the swimming team, including running trials and training before school.

Coaching Professional Learning

This week our teaching and learning leaders took part in professional learning around classroom instructional coaching. At St Agnes’ we recognise the importance of coaching staff has on improving student learning outcomes. Research shows that instructional coaching can add up to two extra months of student learning growth per year and is the most effective way to improve educator performance. We’re very excited to see the growth this instructional approach will have on our teachers and students. Mrs Baker, our resident teaching and learning expert at St Agnes', was very excited to meet one of her educational heroes, Ollie Lovell, who ran the course.

First Reconciliation

Congratulations to many of our Year Three students who this week undertook their First Reconciliation. This is a significant and special milestone in their faith journey, and we are incredibly proud of the reverence and maturity they showed in preparing for and participating in this sacrament. We thank our dedicated staff, our Religious education leader Mrs Gorski, and our Year Three teacher Miss Mair, for the care and guidance they provided in supporting students throughout this process, and we are especially grateful to our families for the important role they play in nurturing their child’s faith. Thank you also to Father Fox for guiding the process so well. Moments like these are a beautiful reminder of the strong partnership between home, school and parish.

Georgina Manning

This week we were excited to welcome Georgina Manning to our Prep Resilience Evening. Georgina, an expert in parenting, adolescent development and emotional wellbeing, shared practical and insightful strategies to support our youngest learners as they begin their school journey. Her engaging and relatable approach provided families with a deeper understanding of how to build resilience, foster independence and support children in managing big emotions.

We are incredibly grateful to Georgina for giving her time and expertise, and to the many families who were able to attend. Opportunities like this strengthen the partnership between home and school, ensuring we are working together to support the wellbeing and growth of every child.

Athletics Day

Unfortunately, due to the weather, our Athletics Day has been postponed to Tuesday, March 30. While this is disappointing, we look forward to what will no doubt be a fantastic day filled with fun, excitement and active participation for all students.

We’ve loved seeing our Sports Leaders this week leading their teams through their paces and ensuring everyone is well rehearsed with their colour chants. It’s a fantastic way to build excitement, friendly rivalry and strong team spirit ahead of the day.

Our first cross country training session for the year will also take place on Tuesday morning, commencing at 8:00am. Students are asked to meet at the double gate. A big thank you to Mr Kost for all the work he does in ensuring sport is such a highlight at St Agnes'.

Harmony Day

These past  week we have been celebrating and acknowledging Harmony Day at St Agnes’. This has provided a wonderful opportunity for our students to learn about and reflect on the importance of inclusion, respect and belonging within our community. Across all year levels, students have engaged in age-appropriate activities and conversations that highlight the richness of our diverse backgrounds and the shared values that bring us together.

Our school captains have taken great initiative in this space and, alongside Mrs Phyland, have thoughtfully considered how we might celebrate as a community. Together, they have decided to host a BBQ for all students on Thursday, our final day of term. A shared meal is a wonderful way of bringing people together, and this event reflects the spirit of Harmony Day: connection, inclusion and belonging.

Most impressively, Niamh and Leo took the initiative to source generous donations for our BBQ from local community businesses. It has been wonderful to see our student leaders embody the message shared by Brad Rowswell: that true leadership is about doing good for others, without expecting anything in return.

Fete and Fundraising Update

The dust has started to settle on our wonderful fete and the final financial result looks to be an incredibly impressive one. This will be shared with the community at our thank you assembly this Wednesday, Once again, thank you to every single person in our community for your support and generosity in making this day the success it was.

We would love to see as many parents and families as possible attend our special assembly this week where we will acknowledge and thank so many of our wonderful sponsors and committees. These businesses have been incredibly generous in giving to their local communities and we’re so excited to thank and acknowledge them this week.

Bendigo Community Bank in Highett have also announced that they will contribute $5500 to our new playground. We are again so grateful and thankful to them and encourage you to find out more about them in our newsletter page about them.

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

Parent Expertise

We love welcoming parents into our school to enrich and bring to life the learning happening in our classrooms. Guest speakers provide real-world context and new perspectives, capturing students’ attention and making learning more meaningful, while also building the background knowledge that strengthens understanding.

Our junior school has been exploring health and communities as part of their Term One Topic learning, and this week we were delighted to welcome Sarah Navarria, a nurse at the Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne. Sarah shared insights into her role and helped students learn more about how their bodies work. The students thoroughly enjoyed the experience and were highly engaged throughout the session.

Open Days

Our open days are proving very popular with our local community, with over 20 families attending our third and final open day for the term last week. We can confirm we will have two Prep classes again in 2027. Our third consecutive year. What a wonderful celebration for our school and the word of mouth of our community. 

As many have noted to me recently, we are fast running out of classroom space to ensure we can meet the need of our growing student population. In order to meet this need in 2027, later this year we will undertake a minor building renovation in our senior classrooms that will give us a further classroom for next year. Further information about this development will be communicated to families in the coming months. We thank you for your patience and support of this exciting next step in our growth at St Agnes'.

School Uniform

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.

Literacy Helpers Course

This week our literacy leader Mrs Baker and junior school leader, Mrs Barton, conducted our annual literacy helpers course. This course, run for our junior families, aims to upskill our parents who volunteer their time to support in the classroom. It gives parents important background knowledge that supports their work in the classroom, and handy tips to help our students learn. We love having families being able to support in the classroom and see huge benefits in this targeted support taking place on a daily basis. If you’d like further information about supporting in the classroom, please don’t hesitate to contact Mrs Baker for further information.

Young Leaders Day

This Friday our school captains Niamh and Leo had the chance to take part in the Young Leaders Day. This wonderful opportunity gave them a chance to hear from exceptional young leaders who are great role models in their fields. Below they're pictured with Jacqui Bell, the youngest Australian to complete an ultra-marathon, and the lead role in the Moana live action that is coming out later in the year. Thank you to Mrs Phyland for taking the time to support our school captains and SRC each week, and for taking our school captains to this incredibly worthwhile event.

School Photos

A reminder that School Photo day is on the first day of Term 2, Monday April 20th. The children are to wear full Summer Uniform. Please head over to our School Photos page to scan the QR code for information on how to order your child/rens annual school photo.

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.

A special shoutout to Ace and Benji, who this week almost filled the bin on their own, an outstanding effort!

Final day of Term

The final day of Term One is fast approaching, and it promises to be a joyful and meaningful way to conclude a wonderful term. Students are invited to wear casual clothes, with a touch of orange to acknowledge Harmony Day and celebrate the diversity within our community.

We will begin the day with our much-loved St Agnes’ Easter Bonnet Parade at 8:50am on the running track (weather permitting). All students are warmly encouraged to create and wear an Easter bonnet or hat as we celebrate the joy and hope of the Easter season.

At approximately 9:30am, we will gather in the Church for our Easter Paraliturgy. Parents and friends are most welcome to join us for this special time of prayer.

From 10:00am, students will participate in our “Walk for Water” as an act of solidarity with those who face daily challenges accessing clean water. This will be accompanied by our “Coin Line”, where students will line up the coins donated to Project Compassion in their class donation boxes.

For further information, please refer to the Project Compassion section of this newsletter.

A sincere thank you to Mrs Gorski, our Social Justice Captains and the Mini Vinnies team for their leadership and efforts in preparing such a meaningful and engaging conclusion to Term One.

As this will be our final newsletter of the term, I’d like to take this opportunity to wish you all a safe and relaxing Easter break. As mentioned, it’s been a huge start to the year and our whole community deserves a very well earned rest.

Thank you all for a lovely start to the 2026 year. I look forward to seeing you all back at St Agnes’ on Monday, April 20th.

Tom.