Principal's Report

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome, St FX families, to another school year. I trust you all had a wonderful holiday break and were able to enjoy the change of pace from how things usually feel during a busy school term.

Our staff certainly found some time to recharge their batteries and are excited at the prospect of working with your children throughout 2024.

Western Conference

 Last week, we gathered at the Crossing Theatre for the Western Conference where we were joined by staff from St Joseph’s Mungindi, St Joseph’s Walgett, St Joseph’s Wee Waa and St Joseph’s Warialda, as well as some staff from the Catholic Schools Office in Armidale. Across the two-day conference, we heard from a number of keynote speakers, including a presentation from the incoming CSO Director, Regina Menz, as she explained our System’s vision and mission and helped show us what this looks like in our individual contexts. Staff also engaged in breakout sessions led by CSO and school leaders that targeted key elements of our work as educators. It was a rich couple of days and an important event that promotes the systemness that we have been working hard to achieve across the last decade-or-so. I would like to thank Alistair Stewart (Wee Waa), Donna Fiechtner (Walgett) and Michelle O’Connor (St FX) for their help in getting the 2024 Western Conference up and running, as well as Fr Sabu for leading us all in worship during our Western Conference Mass on Tuesday morning.

Welcome Kindergarten Students!

We welcome our 2024 Kindergarten students to St Francis Xavier’s Primary School this week. Miss Wheeler and Mrs Brooks were so excited to work with all the students during the Best Start Assessment last week and are looking forward to teaching them this year. 

Platform & Co - Wednesday Sport

This term, we have engaged Jake and Ellie Packer from Platform & Co to provide specialised PDHPE programs to our students. These programs will run on Wednesdays and will not replace Friday sport - meaning all St FX students will be required to wear their sports uniform on both Wednesdays and Fridays. Primary classes will work with Jake and Ellie in Weeks 3, 5, 6 and 7, and the Infants classes will participate in their lessons on Wednesdays in Weeks 8, 9, 10 & 11.

Ash Wednesday Mass & 2024 Leaders Induction Mass 

This Wednesday, St FX staff and students will be celebrating Ash Wednesday Mass with Fr Sabu. This Mass will be held at 12pm in St Francis Xavier’s Catholic Church and will be led by Fr Sabu. Families of St FX students are more than welcome to join us for this special liturgical celebration that starts us on our Lenten journey.

Next Monday, Fr Sabu will lead us in another celebration - our 2024 Leaders Induction Mass. This Mass will start at 9:30am and will see our Year 6 students receive their leadership badges during the Induction Ceremony. This is a special Mass for the Year 6 students and we warmly welcome the families of our Year 6 students to a Morning Tea at school afterwards. 

General Message

Thank you all for your warm welcome to St Francis Xavier’s Primary School. I really appreciate you going out of your way to introduce you and your children to me when you see me. Please forgive me if I call you the wrong name once or twice in the process of getting to know you all! I really look forward to working closely with the students, families, staff and parishioners in order to provide an environment where everyone feels safe, valued, respected and cared-for, and where everyone, particularly our students, feel like they can be learners.

I hope you all experience a smooth start to the school year. Please always feel welcome to come and see me if you ever have any questions or concerns. 

Kind regards,

Mal