Week 9, Term 4

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This will be the final newsletter of the year, as we have but 10 days remaining before we dismiss the children for the final time in 2025. We have some events to look forward to over this time and the details for these are included below. Also included in this newsletter are some thank yous, farewells and our staffing overview for 2026, outlining the roles of our staff for the next academic year.

St Agnes’ Snippets - The year that was!

When you look back on it in totality, it’s astonishing what we can squeeze into a year. Prep Welcome Drinks, School Production, Bully No Way Day, Swimming/Athletics Carnivals, Grandparents/Mother’s/Father’s Day; all in and around some incredible teaching and learning achievements.

Thank you to our Staff

As we enter the final days of the school year, I would like to extend my gratitude to our staff. Our teachers have a special role in the lives of the children as they foster their social, emotional and academic growth. Their professionalism and commitment to the students of St Agnes’ is incredible. A special mention must go to Amanda Baker for her leadership of our staff, students and for supporting me so very well. Thank you also to Shannon and Naomi in the office who are always bright, positive, welcoming and helpful. They ensure that this school is consistently attentive to the lives of our children, parents and staff.

St Agnes’ Christmas Carols - Tonight!

This night has arrived quicker than most anticipated! This evening we gather for one of the most loved events on our school calendar, as your children will entertain the community with our annual rendition of Christmas Carols. The evening will start with the Prep to Year 2 student leading us through the nativity with narration and song. This will be followed by the Year 3-6 students singing a combination of traditional and contemporary Christmas carols. I encourage all families to get along to the event. It is a picnic-style event, so please pack a chair or rug; it commences at 6.30pm and will run for about an hour. The children will need to be at school at 6.15pm for the performance to commence at 6.30pm sharp. This is a whole school event, so all students are expected to attend and participate please. The children are asked to go straight to their classrooms to meet their teachers in preparation for the performance.

St Agnes’ Christmas Raffle, supporting our school

Tonight at the Christmas Carols, we have the annual Christmas Raffle. First prize in the raffle is a 20 or 24 inch bike from Giant in Hampton, to the value of $550. There are also many other school holiday-friendly prizes to be one. Tickets can be purchased online via the St Agnes’ Parents & Friends website and manual tickets will be available for purchase prior to the draw at the carols tonight.

2026 Staffing

Below is an outline of our Leadership and Classroom Teacher appointments for 2026. We are excited to have put together a strong staff team to continue to ‘raise the bar’ at St Agnes’ next year. We have 4 new staff: Nadia Hobart, Jess Mair (Teaching), Amanda Molony and Silvia Torner-Bertacco (Learning Support). Amanda joins our school in an increased capacity after working with us two days a week at the back end of this year. We also welcome back Anthea Georgiou to our teaching staff part-time. Pleasingly, our staff profile is very settled and given the change in leadership, we have been deliberate about keeping the year level movement to a minimum for next year.

Leadership Positions

Principal - Tom Hartney

Deputy Principal - Learning, Teaching and Literacy - Amanda Baker

Faith and Community Leader - Aggie Gorski

Learning Diversity and Student Wellbeing Leader - Melinda Phyland

Mathematics, Science & Technologies Leader - Levi Otto

Learning Enhancement Leader/Teacher - Aggie Gorski

Junior Leader - Judith Barton

Senior Leader - Tracey Law

Classroom Teaching Allocation

Prep B - Judith Barton

Prep H - Nadia Hobart

Year 1M - Jacque Murphy

Year 1H - Lisa Hampson

Year 2 - Amelia Bell

Year 3 - Jess Mair

Year 4 - Tracey Law

Year 5 - Josie Miller

Year 6 - Levi Otto & Nicci Murdoch

Leadership release/part-time classroom roles - Nicci Murdoch will have a 0.3FTE in Year 6 releasing Levi for his leadership duties. Aggie Gorski will each spend 0.1FTE in Year 5 and Anthea Georgiou will work in Prep and Year 1 one day per week each, as Judith Barton and Jacque Murphy work 4 days per week.

Learning Support - Rebecca Emmerson, Kristina Eterovic, Lynn Miller, Brooke Jamison, Alisha Quattrone, Maddison McKee, Silvia Torner-Bertacco, Amanda Molony

Administration - Shannon Shine (Office Manager/Finance - 4 days), Naomi Field (Enrolments/Communication - 2 days)

Specialist Programs

Physical Education & Sport - Simon Kost

Performing Arts - Anna Gugliucciello

Visual Arts - Nicci Murdoch

Italian - Marie Talarico

Parents & Friends Committee Annual General Meeting

Last week, the P&F Committee held their Annual General Meeting for 2025. At this meeting a successful year of parent engagement, social connection and fundraising was summarised. Attached below is a the P&F Report, from Co-Presidents Bree Walsh and Sarah Gardner-Bibby. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our P&F Committee Executive for their efforts this year. Bree, Sarah, Lauren Karpathakis (Secretary) Laura Stewart (Class Rep Coordinator) and Gerry Murphy (Treasurer) have kept this committee on track and focused on its key remits. I would also like to thank all of our Class Reps for 2025 who have fulfilled a vital role in the function of the school. The communication and support provided by these parents is a cornerstone of the successful operations of school. We are still seeking Class Reps for Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6. If you are able to assist the school with this communication role, please get in touch with Laura Stewart (lauranicholson1@me.com).

School Advisory Council Chair Report

A little over two weeks ago, our School Advisory Council met for the Annual General Meeting. At this meeting, there was a report from the council Chair, Felicity Langley and also from myself as Principal. The Chair’s Report and AGM Minutes are attached. In 2026, we welcome Jenny Cummings (Y2, Y4, Y5) to the SAC with Caroline Cunningham (Y4, Y5), Martin Cox (Y3, Y5), Josh Ryan (Y4), Fiona Newington (Y5) Felicity Langley (Y2, Y6), Karen McGoldrick (Y2, Y6) and Carly Monahan (Y2, Y5) continuing on the council. These parents are representative of the parent community at our school, so please feel free to reach out to one of these if there are governance matters in the school that may require attention.

Looking ahead

Year 5/6 Beach Program

Tomorrow and Friday, our senior school students are headed to Mordialloc Surf Lifesaving Club for an Open Water Safety program, run by Life Saving Victoria. The children are looking forward this and are hoping for some improvement in the weather forecast!

Choir Excursion to Abberfield Retirement Village - Friday 5th December 2025

Our Choir has been busily practising over the course of the year in anticipation of performing in front of an audience. This week, St Agnes’ Choir will visit Abberfield Aged Care in Sandringham to perform for the residents. The students will walk to/from, accompanied by teachers and parents. Thank you to Mrs Gugliucciello for organsing this wonderful community-facing activity for our choir to engage in.

Vinnies Christmas Appeal

Our Social Justice Captains and Mini Vinnies leaders communicated so beautifully at assembly last week, we are currently supporting St Vincent de Paul’s Christmas Appeal. We are asking families to make donations of supermarket or department store vouchers (value to be determined by each household) to be given to families who are struggling this Christmas. We are aiming to generate at least $500 worth of donations as a community. Last year we managed to collect $1000, so this should be easy! Should we reach our target, we will have some special Christmas activities on Monday 8th December and the children can wear Christmas accessories with their school uniform!

Year Six Final Assembly - Thursday 11th December

We commence the ‘farewell tour’ for our Year Six students at a special assembly on Thursday 11th December. This assembly is where the Year Six students will have the opportunity to share some of their most treasured memories from their time at our school. I encourage all Year Six parents to make a special effort to be present at this one. Please note, there is no assembly on Wednesday 10th December.

2026 Orientation Morning - Friday 12th December

Next Friday, our students will spend the morning (9-11am) with their 2026 teacher and classmates. This orientation session gives students and teachers the opportunity to get to know one another prior to the end of the year. Students from other schools who are joining St Agnes’ in 2026, will also be present on this day. Our Year 1 children will find out their teachers on this morning.

Semester Two Reports

Academically we have much to be proud of this year, with the children continuing to do well. It is amazing to see the growth in learning across all areas of the school curriculum over the past twelve months. Reports will be sent home with the eldest children on Friday 12th December and included will be a notice about 2026 School Fees. Please feel free to contact your child’s teacher if you have any questions about the report.

End of Year and Graduation Liturgy - Monday 15th December at 6pm

The final event of the school year is the End of Year and Graduation Liturgy. At this liturgy we will celebrate the 2025 school year as a whole school community. Again, we ask that all children are present for this event and dressed in full summer school uniform. It will also be the time to farewell leaving families, staff and of course our Year 6 cohort, as they graduate from primary school. All year levels will be involved in the liturgy in some capacity. Following the liturgy, Year Six students and their parents will move over to the hall for dinner, speeches and further celebrations.

Conclusion to 2025 School Year

The 2025 school year will conclude on Monday 15th December at 3:30pm for the Year 6 children and on Tuesday 16th December at 1:30pm for the Prep-Year 5 children.

Farewells

Farewell Year Six Students

We are very proud of our Year Six students and we wish them well as they embark on the next chapter of their education. I am confident that each of them are equipped with the skills, knowledge and confidence to excel at secondary school, having been well prepared by parents and teachers alike. I know they are excited, but nervous as well. Excited for the new opportunities, but nervous about the new environment. One thing that stands out to me is the endearing, but low key way this cohort have led the school. Not ones for a big fuss, but very connected and aware, they have each added significant value in their leadership roles and that will be a key part of their legacy at our school. I wish them well and trust they will remember their time at St Agnes’ fondly. We look forward to acknowledging them in the events are to come.

Farewell Leaving Families

This year will be the final year at our school for a number of families. Some families have been here a short while and others have been part of our school community for many years. Over the years, many of the departing families have made significant contributions to the school. For all the families who are leaving, I would like to thank them for their contribution and hope that they are able to leave with positive memories of their time here at St. Agnes’. We wish you all the best for the future.

Thank to you departing staff

This year, we farewell two staff members who have each made valuable contributions to our school community in recent times. We thank Cass de Kretser for her work in Prep with some of our youngest learners. Cass will move to London in 2026 to pursue a teaching career abroad, while ticking off some bucket-list items across Europe. We acknowledge and thank Liz Graydon for her work over the past two terms as a Learning Support Officer. Liz is moving to the Northern Territory to commence her teaching career. We wish both of these young educators the very best with their immediate future.

Thank you to our school community

I would like to thank all the families who have assisted in the school this year. St Agnes’ students and staff are so very lucky to have such a committed group of parents who work tirelessly around the school to improve the conditions for the benefit of all children. I have said it before and I’ll say it again; I’ve never seen such a high level of support from parents in a primary school, as what we see here every week. The school could not operate nearly as effectively without the assistance of these helpers and on behalf of the school, I thank you very much for your time, expertise and effort.

On a personal note, I would like to extend my sincere thanks and gratitude to all past and current families for your support during my time as Principal of this incredible school community. It has been an enormous privilege to lead this school, its students, staff and families. I am so very grateful for the trust you have placed in me, my leadership of the staff and of the community more broadly. Thank you for choosing the school, for continuing to choose it and for making every day fun and interesting. We often talk about the intangibles at St Agnes’ and for me, it’s the people. Down to earth, hardworking, quality families who want the best for their children; that is what gives this school much of its identity and I have loved being part of it. There have been many memorable moments that have made the journey very special, but it is the relationships built that will stick with me.

It is every school leader’s wish to leave a place better than they found it and it is my hope that what we have collectively achieved at St Agnes’ in recent times will sustain for some years to come.

I hope to catch up with many of you in person over the next 10 days. If I don’t see you; wishing all St Agnes’ families a very Merry Christmas and safe, happy and prosperous 2026.

Kind regards,

Lachie.

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