Principal's Report

The talent show has been a big hit this week, with some enthusiastic acts so far. We've had singing, dancing, raps and magic tricks. This annual event is always organised by our Year 6 student leaders - this year the SRC and Performing Arts Leaders were the organisers. The audience has been equally as enthusiastic...and vocal!

We've also had the illustrator Adam Wallace in to share his skills with the students this week. From all reports, Adam was very engaging and thoroughly entertained all students. Thanks to Nonie Kay, our LIteracy Leader for organising an illustrator visit to tie in with our Book Week.

With only one week left of Term 3, there is a lot still to happen over the next week. I've outlined the details of each upcoming event below.

Book Week Parade

Our Book Week parade is tomorrow morning...a belated celebration for us due to our recent Arts Festival and swimming program. We ask that all students bring in a copy of the book that they have based their character on, or a print out of a book front cover.

The Lamont Book Fair has been popular this week; it will be open again tomorrow for any last-minute purchases.

Footy Day

We're getting into the footy finals spirit with a Footy Day on Monday. Anna has a special footy-themed lunch order available - orders are still open. Students are welcome to wear their footy colours.

Monday's SEL lesson will be footy themed with a focus on teamwork. The students will also get to take part in some footy drills, organised by our Year 6 House Leaders. There may even be a visit from some AFLW players.

St Finbar's Feast Day

Next Friday we will be celebrating St Finbar's Feast Day. St Finbar's actual feast day is 25th September, which always falls during our school holidays so for the past few years we have celebrated on the last day of Term 3. We will celebrate Mass at 9:30am. The students will be treated to a sausage sizzle lunch. If your child is happy to eat a sausage in bread for lunch, there is no need to do anything. If your child can't/won't eat sausages, you will need to provide their lunch. Anna also has some snacks and drinks available to order on this day.

After lunch we have a special surprise organised for the students to finish off the term before our 1pm dismissal.

RU OK? Day

Today is RUOK? Day. At St Finbar's we often focus our attention on our student's mental health and have many supports in place to assist children who are struggling. Today is probably a good opportunity to recognise that we may also have parents in our community who are struggling for various reasons. If this is you, we'd like to be support you in any way that we can. Please reach out to myself, Peggy, Steele or any other staff member that you feel comfortable with. If we can't help you directly, we may be able to point you in the right direction as to where you could seek support.

Afternoon Drive-Through

We are constantly looking for ways to improve our Drive-Through system, especially for the afternoon dismissal. Our goal is to clear the Drive-Through as quickly as possible, whilst moving the children into their cars safely. In an attempt to get the cars moving quickly, we are inviting Drive-Through children to move down to the steps just before the bell. We are finding that Wallen St clears very quickly these days, and you may consider picking your children up from Wallen St, especially if you can time your arrival for about 3:35pm.

Education Consultant - Glenn Pearsall

On Monday of this week our leadership team gathered to work with Glenn Pearsall, a highly-esteemed education consultant. The main focus of his session was building our skills as leaders in instructional coaching methods. Glenn ran us through a series of micro-data tools that can be used to record data on specific aspects of classroom practice. He is a big advocate for using videos of classroom practice as a stimulus for initiating coaching conversations, and we have many teacher-leaders that are keen to trial his approach and are prepared to be videoed as they teach. Naturally, the purpose of any initiative that we take on at St Finbar's is improved student outcomes. Our work with Glenn ties in perfectly with our current focus on Explicit Instruction. As a leadership team, we are very excited about our work in this area and look forward to rolling it out further next year.

Glenn is also booked to work with our whole staff at next year's Staff Conference in February.

PS - Glenn mentioned that he has a connection to a current St Finbar's family, but he remained tight-lipped on who it was. We'd love to solve this mystery so please let us know if it is you.

Engagement Congratulations

A huge congratulations to our Year 4 teacher Bianca Antonio who became engaged to her partner Nick last weekend. Bianca and Nick are heading off to Europe tonight so no doubt there'll be plenty of opportunities for wedding planning conversations.

Parent/Teacher/Student Conferences

I'm putting out a last call for families to book in a time for a conference with teachers next week. The conferences will be held Tuesday 17th September and Wednesday 18th September from 2:15pm until 6:15pm.

The students in Years 3 to 6 participate in these conferences as well. Each conference begins with an opportunity for parents to speak privately with teachers. The students are then invited in to join the conference in order to talk about their learning, their goals and how they are working to achieve these goals.

You may click on the link here to book your time https://www.schoolinterviews.com.au/code/mcjb8 or use the QR code

Our specialist teachers will also be available to meet with parents during our conference times. If you would like to meet with a speaciliaist teacher please email them directly to arrange a time:

Jenny Allen Phys-Ed jallen@sfbrightoneast.catholic.edu.au

Lisa Douglas Visual Arts ldouglas@sfbrightoneast.catholic.edu.au

Lena Sirianni Italian lsirianni@sfbrightoneast.catholic.edu.au

Susan Williams Performing Arts swilliams@sfbrightoneast.catholic.edu.au

MACSIS surveys

As of today, we've had 30 families respond to our annual MACSIS survey. We would love to have more families participate before the survey closes on September 20th. You can find your login details in the email sent on Monday 2nd September.

New psychologist

I'm happy to announce that our new psychologist, Michaela Hughes, has now started at St Finbar's. Michaela will be with us on Wednesdays. She does have some capacity to take on some new students at the moment, so if you feel that your child may benefit from meeting with Michaela, please reach out to either myself or Peggy McDonald and we will talk you through the process.

National AeroSchools Championships

A final reminder that the students heading to the Gold Coast for the Aerobics championships arte holding one more Cake Stall tomorrow afternoon from 3pm. Feel free to purchase something in readiness for the weekend.

2023 Annual Reports

Our 2023 Annual Report has now been finalised and published on our website.

It may be viewed here as well. You may be interested in the MACS Annual Report, which is also attached below.