Learning & Teaching 

LITERACY - Vira Pirrotta

Children’s Reference Group

The Merri-bek Children’s Reference Group was established to encourage and empower

children to create better connections with local government and have a say in decision-making on matters that impact them. 

The key aims of the reference group were to: 

• Increase children’s voice and participation in Council decision making
• Promote children’s civic engagement
• Increase children’s leadership capability.

This year, our Curriculum leaders, Kiara and Alex, have had the opportunity to participate in the Children’s Reference Group. As members, they had the opportunity to share ideas and give input and feedback on projects and strategies that the Merri-bek council is working on. 

Kiara and Alex had the opportunity to learn more about the role of the Council and how decisions are made. They worked with 10 other students from the school across the Merri-bek council zone. They learnt skills such as negotiation, planning and collective decision-making. 

Kiara and Alex attended four 90 meeting minutes where they had the opportunity to give feedback and input on projects such as the Child Safety Initiative, which the council is promoting. They had the opportunity to help design the poster and give feedback about the type of language and messages for the poster. They also had the opportunity to share their ideas about how the council could make travelling to school safer and what the council can do to create more spaces and facilities for young people. 

Kiara and Alex enthusiastically and actively participated in the discussion. They shared thoughtful contributions and worked collaboratively with the other members. Kiara and Alex did a wonderful job representing the voice of our school at the meetings. Well done. They will now have the opportunity to choose our next Year 5 representative for next year’s reference group. 

STEM - Joe Frazzetto

FIRST LEGO LEAGUE CHALLENGE

On the 13th of November, 10 Year 6 students went to St Oliver Plunkett Primary School to compete in our very First Lego League Challenge. We competed in all three rounds throughout the day. 

Our first round started off with a bang getting 135 points for our team. After that round, we were 8th on the leaderboard. Our second round was awesome! We scored a huge 200 points! Our whole team was cheering like crazy. After our second round, it was our turn to show the judges our robots and our special project. 

Madeleine, Emily and myself presented the sensory toys that our 5/6 students made. Mr Frazzetto was so proud of all of us that he was on the brink of tears. Our final round scored 130 points, a great end to the day. 

At the award ceremony, we won an innovation trophy for our project! We were all so happy with our achievement.

Finally, they announced the winners. And…. We won! We are going to Nationals which are in Tasmania! We are all so excited to go, excited to do this again, but better. We had been preparing for this for a month and our hard work paid off so much. Many special memories were made on this day, memories that we will all keep forever. 

A big thank you to Mr Frazzetto for helping us the whole way through. We wouldn’t have made it this far without his encouragement and support. Our whole team deserved this win, the teamwork was remarkable. 

Written by Madeleine Leahy & Maya Woodhouse

CLICK ON THE LINK TO WATCH A YOUTUBE CLIP SHOWCASING OUR FIRST LEGO LEAGUE CHALLENGE.  The St Fidelis FLL Challenge

Congratulations to the St Fidelis' ROBO League who participated in our FIRST LEGO LEAGUE CHALLENGE and successfully advanced to the National Championships in Hobart.  Unfortunatley we had to withrdraw from the Nationals on this occasion but 

I am SO very proud of the students and what they have achieved this year but I am not the only one as you will read in the following email from Ryan (LEGOMASTER).

Back Row

Emily, Christian, Isabella, Daniel & Raphael

Mr Frazzeto (Coach)

Front Row

Maya, Ethan, Madeleine, (Captain), Luca, Catherine

EMAIL FROM RYAN EVANS

Hey Joe,

Mate, I’m so proud of your crew for that win! And the progression to nationals - so very, very exciting! I do hope you can work out a way to get there (even if it’s not the whole team….) but I totally get it. It’s short notice, it’s not just a matter of driving up the Hume, and it’s a real commitment financially and with the silly timing… but I really do hope you can get there!

We had our comp today and the kids ripped out a brilliant second run and scored 305 points (or highest possible!) and so we ended up winning robot performance award. Beautifully, my children nominated me and I ended up scoring my first coaches award - which is ironic, because it’s probably the team I’ve been least involved with thanks to going part time - but it has been the the year I’ve been quite deeply involved with FLL and with many teams, so it’s kind of perfect timing! Sadly, we didn’t get an invite to nationals so a few of my kids are a bit upset, but I’m hoping with a good sleep, tomorrow they’ll take a spoonful of gratitude and be proud of their fantastic achievement! I’m still secretly hoping I somehow make it down to nationals and with any luck as a guest or with some role with the presentation - I rather enjoyed Monday!! Haha! 

Btw, love the video - such a great team of kids! And what a brilliant coach! You really are an inspiration, and I hope you know that. There are a lot of great teachers out there, but you are an exceptional one. I’ve met a few mate, and your dedication to the best for your kids is instantly noticeable. Really an honour to have met you and worked with you mate. 

And of course, Merry Christmas and all that stuff, but I hope by some miracle that we get to catch up on the 16th of December ;)

Anyhow, better head to bed - it’s been a big day!

Talk to you soon mate, 

Cheers,

Ryan Evans

Digital Technology Specialist

Brickulum Creator

SPORT & PE - Michael Jennings

 St Fidelis' Annual Sports Carnival - Nov 30

The St Fidelis' Annual Sports Carnival for students from Foundation - Year 6 will be held on Thursday 30 November 2023. The venue will be St Fidelis' Primary School.

• ALL STUDENTS NEED TO WEAR SPORTS UNIFORM
• HATS ARE COMPULSORY
• PARENTS & FAMILIES ARE MOST WELCOME TO ATTEND TO SUPPORT THE STUDENTS AND THEIR TEAMS

If possible, the students can wear coloured socks, or coloured ribbon in their hair, on their hats or on their t-shirts to distinguish the teams apart.

It is advisable that students wear sunscreen. Sunscreen can be in the colors of the teams.

Please note that in the event of extreme weather conditions, the Sports Carnival will be cancelled.

The timetable follows for parents/carers reference.

Michael Jennings

Sports Day Coordinator

Please note that when and if the students are supporting their teams, they do not have to spend the whole time outside.

ITALIAN - Rosa Fokianos

BUONGIORNO!

Salve a tutti! I hope everyone had a good weekend. I'm just informing the St Fidelis' community that the Italian Festa for 2023 will be on this weekend! Si, domenica 26 novembre. See below:

Note: the Italian Festa has now moved from Lygon Street, Carlton, to the Royal Exhibition Building, Carlton.

There will be various events happening throughout the day both inside and outside the Royal Exhibition Building including singing, tarantella dancing and cooking demonstrations, just to name a few.

Full program details: https://www.melbourneitalianfesta.com.au/program

I will try to be there sometime during the day. Hope you can make it too!

Ci vediamo alla festa!

Saluti

Signora Rosa