From the Principal 

Bonjour tout le monde

It has been lovely to get a taste of summer yesterday and today, even if it is short lived. 

Today I have attended the Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS) eSafety Summit. There were presentations from the eSafety Commissioner Education Manager, members of the Victorian Police SOCIT and JACET teams, and a presentation on balancing screentime and children's development and wellbeing. Proactively protecting our children and young people online is so important and an ever changing environment. As you may be aware on December 10th, new 16+ social media age restrictions will introduced to give young more time to build digital literacy and greater resilience before using social media. How this will look on December 10th we will need to wait and see, but the following Fact Sheet from the eSafety Commissioner gives some general information about what the new laws mean for parents and our young people.

Division Athletics

11 students across years 3 to 6 competed at the Division Athletics on Tuesday. While faced with much tougher competition, many of the students I spoke to achieved personal best performances on the day and should be extremely proud of themselves. Congratulations to all these students, the school community are very proud of you.

Confirmation

Our Year 6 Confirmation candidate will receive the Sacrament of Confirmation on next Tuesday, 21st October. Last night the candidates and their parents participated in a Faith Night to development their shared understanding of Confirmation, why it is important for their family and recognising the Gifts of the Holy Spirit in each other. Thank you to Justin MacFarlane, Kristina Ferentinos and Stephen Walsh for facilitating this evening and for preparing the candidates during their RE lessons.  Please keep these students and their families in your prayers as they prepare for this special occasion.

Confirmation Volunteers

On behalf of Justin McFarlane, the Year 6 teachers and students, we would like to say a very big thank you to Summer L(mother of Jaylen in Year 2), and Lisa M(mother of Emily in Year 2 and Sarah in Year 4). These very generous parents took time out of their busy schedules to support us in preparing the Stoles for our Year 6 students making their Confirmation next week. Merci beaucoup Summer and Lisa! 

School Closure Days

Monday 3rd November (day before Cup Day) - Time in Lieu (TIL) acquittal

Monday 24th November - Religious Education/Faith Development Professional Learning

Class Groupings for 2026 

In preparing for the 2026 school year, our teachers will soon begin the process of placing the children into class groupings. As you can appreciate, there are a number of considerations for classroom placement, including but not limited to the following: 

• Gender balance 

• Academic ability 

• Social and Emotional learning needs 

• Behavioural needs

• Separation of siblings / relatives 

I ask you to trust the teachers’ judgement and professionalism in making a decision that is in each child’s best interest. However, if you have any relevant information regarding the placement of your child, please email me directly on principal@sbedesbn.catholic.edu.au to request a ‘Consideration for Placement of Student Form 2026’. This information will be taken into account when teachers are placing children in classes. The form needs to be submitted directly to me, not to the classroom teachers, by Friday 31st October. Any previous discussions with your child’s teacher/s, must be redirected to me via this form. No requests will be considered after this time. 

Please note, requests for children to be placed together or with a specific teacher are not relevant factors and will not be considered.  The students have the opportunity to request students they work with and teachers are aware of the children’s friendships. Social factors such as children not relating well together may be considered, but this reason must be submitted on the official form. 

If you are not planning to return to St Bede's in 2026, please let me know as soon as possible.

Que Dieu bénisse

Kathryn