PRINCIPAL'S REPORT

Term 3, Week 7 Newsletter

It feels like spring is just around the corner, and we’re entering the final straight of Term Three with only three weeks remaining. There are always plenty of things happening at St Agnes’, but the past few weeks have felt particularly busy and exciting, with so many extracurricular learning experiences and special opportunities taking place across our school.

It was great to drop down to the HOLT District Athletics Carnival on Monday and see our students represent St Agnes’ so proudly and perform so well. At the other end of our school, I’ve loved seeing our Playgroup continue to grow in popularity. It has been particularly pleasing to see many of our incoming Prep families for 2027 taking advantage of these sessions as an opportunity to connect with one another, meet some of our current families and begin building a sense of belonging within the St Agnes’ community well before their children officially begin school.

This week we also began our annual review meetings with staff members. These meetings provide a valuable opportunity to reflect on the year so far, celebrate the successes and small wins in our work, recognise what is working well at St Agnes’, and identify areas for continued growth across our school. A consistent highlight raised by staff has been the exceptional professional learning opportunities we have been able to engage in throughout 2026. This has included a clear focus on explicit instruction, coaching and the Science of Learning, alongside developing a deeper understanding of student wellbeing and how we create supportive, structured and inclusive environments for both neurotypical and neurodiverse students. These conversations have provided a valuable chance to reflect on our progress throughout 2026, while also identifying the practices we want to strengthen and laying positive groundwork for our planning and priorities in 2027.

Next week promises to be another special one for our community as we celebrate Father’s Day and recognise all of the dads, grandfathers and special male figures in the lives of our students. Thursday morning is shaping up to be a wonderful celebration, with Mrs Gorski and our Social Justice Leaders working hard behind the scenes to plan another memorable morning. We look forward to welcoming everyone along and celebrating the important role these special people play in the lives of our children.

Book Week

Book Week in 2026 was another huge celebration of all things literature at St Agnes’. Kicking off with our annual Book Week Parade, I was so proud to see just about every single student dressed up and ready to embrace the day. Led by our Library Captains, students proudly showed off their creative and eye-catching costumes, with a number interviewed in front of the large crowd of families who joined us for the morning.

Following the parade, our students took part in a range of multi-age activities celebrating this year’s nominated Book Week texts. It was wonderful to see students from across the school working together and sharing their enjoyment of books and reading. The day culminated in a live Book Week performance from a visiting theatre company, bringing many of the nominated books to life on stage and providing another memorable experience for our students.

A huge thank you to Mrs Baker, Lynn Miller and Mrs Barton for the enormous amount of work they put into preparing for Book Week and making the day such a highlight on our school calendar. More importantly, thank you for the passion and energy all three bring to promoting literature and a love of reading at St Agnes’ every day. Our students are incredibly fortunate to have such a passionate and dedicated trio championing books and reading throughout our school.

Maths Information Evening

It was great to welcome so many of our families to St Agnes’ on Tuesday evening for our Family Maths Evening. The evening provided a wonderful opportunity for our teachers to share with families what Maths learning looks like across our school and, importantly, the thinking and evidence behind the way we teach it. We also used the opportunity to connect our approach to Maths with the Science of Learning lessons our students have been engaging in this term, helping families better understand how children learn and how we can empower our students to become more effective learners.

The sessions focused on three important elements of Maths learning at St Agnes’ and the purpose each plays in the learning that takes place in our classrooms every day:

• Fluency – building students’ automatic recall of important number facts and mathematical knowledge, freeing up their working memory to tackle more complex learning.
• Daily Review – regularly revisiting previously taught concepts to strengthen recall, address misconceptions and ensure important knowledge is retained over time.
• Rich Tasks – providing students with opportunities to apply their mathematical knowledge to challenging, open-ended problems where they can explore different strategies, make connections, explain their thinking and learn from the approaches of others.

It was wonderful to see our teachers so confidently breaking down and articulating the purpose behind each of these elements before giving parents the opportunity to see them in action. I particularly loved hearing our teachers educating families about concepts such as working memory and cognitive overload, and explaining why the structure and sequencing of our Maths lessons matters so much for student learning.

Rich tasks have been a relatively new area of focus at St Agnes’ this year and something we have worked particularly hard on throughout Term Three. Importantly, these tasks complement rather than replace the explicit instruction already taking place in our classrooms. Once students have been explicitly taught the knowledge and skills they need, rich tasks provide opportunities to apply that learning in more complex situations, reason mathematically, justify their thinking and consider multiple ways of solving a problem.

Well done to our teachers for running such an informative and engaging evening for our families, and particularly to Mr Otto for leading the evening as part of his work as our Maths Leader. I’d also like to acknowledge Mrs Gorski for the significant amount of work she does across our school, leading our Maths extension program and providing further challenge for our students. Our students are in great hands, and we love having opportunities like this to share the excellent work taking place in Maths across St Agnes’.

P&F Social Night

Two weeks ago, we had a fantastic turnout for our annual P&F Social Night, with the St Agnes’ hall transformed into our very own music festival for the evening! There was no shortage of festival outfits, music, dancing and plenty of laughs as our parents enjoyed a great night together. The trivia was a huge hit with Laura Stewart taking out the hotly contested final.

Community connection continues to be one of the great strengths of St Agnes’ and something we should be incredibly proud of. It is also something I regularly hear from both current and prospective families who have heard about the strong and connected community before they even walk through our gates for a school tour. Events like our Social Night only strengthen these connections, giving families the opportunity to build friendships, enjoy each other’s company and feel genuinely part of the St Agnes’ community. It was also wonderful to see a number of our staff come along and spend time with families, another reflection of the strong relationships in our school community.

A huge thank you to our P&F and everyone involved behind the scenes for the time and effort that went into putting together such a memorable evening, and to all of our parents who came along and embraced the festival spirit! Judging by the energy on the dance floor, I suspect there may have been a few tired heads around Highett the following morning!

A few special mentions:

• Sarah Bibby-Gardiner and Bree Walsh, the work these two put into our school is enormous and we are so lucky to have such a passionate, fun and inclusive pair leading our P&F.
• Peter and Dayna Wilkie for taking out the best dressed award.
• Our generous sponsors for the silent auction prizes: Tash Castellano (Richmond and Carlton Football Jumpers), Amy Anderson (The Buttercream Studio) Bonne Stralow (Winston's Restaurant), Viktoria Ozerova (Styled by Viktoria), Luci Churchill (Inner Strength Bayside), Pietta Damianos (Victorian Skin & Laser Hawthorn)
• A huge thank you to our Saturday morning clean-up team, again led by Bree and Sarah. A special mention to Sarah Hannan who even came to help despite not attending the function. What a kind gesture!
• All of our families who were able to come along, and more importantly, those who stayed home and babysat so their partners could come along and have a fun night.

Thanks again to all who made it a great evening. I’m already looking forward to our 2027 edition.

Confirmation Family Faith Evening

Last Wednesday evening, it was lovely to welcome our Year Six students and their families to school for our Confirmation Family Faith Night. Led by our Religious Education Leader, Mrs Gorski, and our parish priest, Father Alan Fox, the evening provided a meaningful opportunity for families to come together as our students continue their preparation for the Sacrament of Confirmation.

Father Alan led a particularly fascinating discussion about the history of the Catholic faith and the sacraments, explaining how Baptism and Confirmation developed over time from being celebrated together to becoming the separate sacraments we know today. 

Thank you to Father Alan and Mrs Gorski for leading such an engaging and informative evening, and for continuing to support our students and families as they prepare for this important milestone in their faith journey.

District Athletics

Well done to the 61 students who represented St Agnes’ at the HOLT District Athletics Carnival this week. This was our biggest-ever team at a District Athletics Carnival, which is a fantastic reflection of the growing participation and enthusiasm for sport across our school. Our students did a wonderful job throughout the day, competing with determination, supporting one another and representing St Agnes’ with pride. They should all be extremely proud of their performances.

We will find out how manyof our students have qualified for the Beachside Division Athletics Carnival early next week, which will take place early in Term Four. Clearly, Mr Kost’s early-morning training sessions paid dividends, with our students well prepared to give their best on the day!

A big thank you to Mr Kost and our staff for the time they put into preparing our students, including attending the early-morning training sessions in the lead-up to the carnival, as well as supporting and encouraging our students throughout the day. Congratulations again to all 61 competitors, and we look forward to cheering on our Beachside qualifiers next term!

Father’s Day Stall

A big thank you to our wonderful Father’s Day Stall helpers for giving up their time to make this week's stall such an exciting experience for our students. There was plenty of excitement as the children browsed the gifts and made the very important decision of what to choose for their dads, grandfathers and special male figures in their lives. It was wonderful to see plenty of proud faces leaving the stall with gifts safely tucked away.

We’re incredibly grateful to our parent volunteers for helping make days like this possible and creating another special experience for our students in the lead-up to Father’s Day.

After-School Soccer and Golf Programs

Our new after-school soccer and golf programs have been a wonderful addition to the range of opportunities available to our students at St Agnes’.

On Friday afternoons, James’ golf sessions provide a fantastic introduction to the sport in a fun, engaging and high-quality environment. Meanwhile, on Thursday afternoons, 

Coach Paolo puts many of our students through their paces with his popular soccer program, helping them develop their skills while enjoying plenty of time out on the pitch.

Both programs have been extremely popular with our families and are designed to cater for a wide range of ages, skills and abilities. It’s been great to see so many of our students getting involved, learning new skills and enjoying being active with their friends after school.

As mentioned last week, Brad Crosher has kept our before-school tennis program operating this term. Please get in touch with Brad if you are interested in signing up for Term Four lessons. You can contact Brad via www.bgctennis.comor brad@bgctennis.com.

We also have Kelly Sports again running their holiday program over the Term Three break. Paul and his team have an exciting series of events planned for the sessions.

Please head over to the Community news page to see more and book your child into the programs for the holidays or Term Four.

Playgroup

As previously mentioned, our Playgroup continues to go from strength to strength, led by our amazing Mrs Baker. Each session we are seeing more and more families come along, including many of our new and prospective Prep families for 2027 and 2028.

Following each session, Mrs Baker takes our Playgroup families on a tour of the school, giving the children an opportunity to explore our classrooms, meet some familiar faces and get a glimpse of what life at primary school is all about. It’s a wonderful way for our future students to begin building a sense of familiarity and belonging well before their first day of school. Thank you to Mrs Baker and everyone in our community who continues to make Playgroup such a welcoming and positive experience for both our current and prospective families.

Bully No Way Day

Last Friday, we recognised Bully No Way Day at St Agnes’. Our students and staff wore mismatched socks to celebrate the fact that we are all different, unique and deserving of respect.

Across the week, our classes also took part in age-appropriate activities and conversations focused on what it means to be a good friend, how our words and actions can affect others, and the importance of being an upstander when we see someone being treated unfairly. These conversations are an important part of continuing to build a school culture where every child feels safe, valued and that they belong.

A big thank you to Mrs Phyland, our Wellbeing and Learning Diversity Leader, for the passion, care and knowledge she brings to this important area of our school and for her ongoing work supporting the wellbeing of our students.

Prep to Year Two Geography Incursion

Our Prep to Year Two students took part in the Habitat Helpers Geography Incursion as part of their Geography learning. During the interactive session, students became ‘Habitat Helpers’, working alongside Earth Girl and Earth Guy to explore local and global environmental issues including pollution, deforestation and overfishing. Through drama and a range of activities, students considered how their own choices can impact the environment and the actions they can take to make a positive difference. The incursion linked closely with their classroom learning around sustainability, recycling and environmental responsibility. Thank you to Mrs Barton for the great work she does organising rich learning experiences for our younger students as our junior school leader.

Art Show

Each week, many of our students have the opportunity to take part in our Wednesday lunchtime Art Club. Mrs Murdoch, along with Brooke and Kristina, generously give up their own break each Wednesday to work with our students and help create some seriously impressive pieces in preparation for our Art Show later in the year.

It’s fantastic to see so many students getting involved and expressing their creativity, and we’re incredibly fortunate to have staff who are so willing to give their own time to provide these additional opportunities for our children at St Agnes’. A big thank you to Mrs Murdoch, Brooke and Kristina for making Art Club such an enjoyable part of the week for some of our students.

Second-Hand Uniform Shop

With the weather hopefully beginning to warm up over the coming weeks, now is a great time to start preparing for the change of seasons and the transition back into our summer uniform.

Our Second-Hand Uniform Shop will be open on Friday, 11th September at 3.30pm, providing families with a great opportunity to pick up any uniform items they may need ahead of the warmer months. Thank you to our P&F for the work they put into running this valuable resource for our families and for their ongoing support of our school community.

Science Week at St Agnes'

While National Science Week officially took place last week, at St Agnes’ we will recognise Science Week in the second week of Term Four to coincide with our whole-school Science units of work. Across the week, students will take part in a range of Science-related activities and hear from guest speakers working in various scientific fields. We look forward to sharing some of the learning taking place across the school during the week.

Father's Day Breakfast

Father's Day is creeping up, and I know Mrs Gorski is quietly working away on a few clever ideas to make this year's celebrations one to remember. A few important reminders as we get closer to the big day:

Father's Day Breakfast: A huge thank you to our amazing team of mums who will once again be putting on our annual Father's Day Breakfast on Thursday, 3 September, kicking off at 7:30am. We hope to see as many of our fathers, grandfathers and special men in our students' lives there as possible for what is always a wonderful morning together. Tickets to go out next week via the WhatsApp

Father's Day Liturgy: Mrs Gorski and our Year Six Social Justice Leaders are also about to begin preparing another special Father's Day liturgy. We anticipate this will begin at approximately 8:15am and conclude around 9:00am. We would love as many of our dads, grandfathers and special guests as possible to stay on after breakfast and join us for this special celebration.

Italian Day

Italian Day is coming up! Signora Talarico has been working hard behind the scenes to plan and prepare what promises to be a memorable day for our students.

On the day, students are encouraged to come dressed in an Italian-themed costume and will take part in a range of fun and engaging cultural activities designed to deepen their knowledge and appreciation of Italy and Italian culture.

A big thank you to Signora Talarico for all the time, energy and creativity she has been putting into preparing the day. We’re looking forward to a fantastic celebration of all things Italian!

MACSSIS

Each year in Term Three, students in Years 4–6, families and staff are invited to complete MACSSIS – the Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools School Improvement Survey. The survey provides an important opportunity for our school community to share feedback about St Agnes’. The results help us identify our strengths, as well as areas for continued growth and development, and are used to inform our School Improvement Plan and Annual Action Plan. We encourage parents and carers to participate in the survey. Your feedback provides an important parent voice and helps shape the ongoing improvement and future direction of our school.

Survey instructions will be sent via email from principal@sahighett.catholic.edu.au. Please keep an eye out for this email and take the time to complete the survey during the three-week survey window. The survey will open on August 31st. We greatly appreciate your feedback and ongoing support of St Agnes’.

Thank you again for another wonderful fortnight at St Agnes’. It really feels like it has been a big one! I hope everyone has a relaxing and enjoyable weekend with family and friends. As always, I’ll see you on the gate on Monday morning!

Tom.